chasing coyotes.

i'm back in iowa city after an aborted trip to waterfall glen. after getting stuck in chicago last night because of the snowstorm, i set my alarm at 5:30am and planned to hit the limestone loop at waterfall glen by 7am. when i got there, however, it was closed! it turns out the dupage forest preserve district opens their parks one hour after sunup and fines people for entering the park illegally. so, i hopped back in the car and started the trek back west to iowa - planning to run the north route at lake macbride (twice) when i got there. thankfully, i stopped at one of the iowa oases and chatted with the very nice "welcome to iowa!" woman who gave me a bunch of iowa state park maps. i checked them out, threw caution to the wind, and decided to head towards palisades-kepler state park, just west of mount vernon. and thank god i did!

palisades-kepler is a bee-you-tee-full park. i wish it were about four times bigger than it is (~800 acres), but i'll take what i can get! the park sits on top of the cedar river, with a bunch of park up on top of some bluffs and a bunch of park down below along the river. there were plenty of geese, ducks, and racoons. there were also - though i didn't see any actual coyotes - plenty of coyote tracks. which brings me to my theme of the day: chasing coyotes.

when you spend as much time as i do driving down the interstate - alone - and running for hours - alone - you tend to have alot of big thoughts. and this is today's: chasing coyotes. as i ran up and down the snowy bluffs at palisades-kepler, attempting to retain my sanity while running and re-running over my own tracks in the snow, i invented a game to keep me going. in my darkest hour, the moment at which i found myself trying to convince myself that 8 miles might be just as good as 18 (yeah, right!) and that i should just pack up and head on home, i noticed how all the coyotes in palisades-kepler state park seemed to follow the park trails. the same trails that i was running, had been run sometime in the last few hours by either one endurance-crazed coyote, or a whole slew of them. everywhere i looked were coyote tracks, and i made it my business to follow these tracks - to chase the coyotes.

now chasing coyotes is a pretty ridiculous pastime. for one thing, they can outrun me. for another, what the hell am I going to do if I actually _do_ catch a coyote? but "f&ck it!" i thought, i'm going to spend my afternoon chasing coyotes, which is exactly what i did. instead of throwing in the towel at 8 miles, i chased those tracks for a good three and half hours - up and down bluffs, through the trails, across roads, over downed trees, along the river, across the cliffs. and i loved it.

and that, of course, is when it occurred to me that chasing coyotes makes a nice metaphor for trail running - for the absurdity of running through the woods for hours at a time with no destination and no specific goal. just a chance to embrace the hunter gatherer in all of us. a chance to focus completely on the (absurd) task at hand. to lose yourself in pain, yes, and also joy. and i know i could use some more of that in the rest of my life - embracing the hunter gatherer, forgetting the bullshit, losing and finding myself, chasing coyotes.

no news is good news!

hmmmm... long time no write.

i seem to be noticing a pattern. when all is well, i'm too happy to bother writing! training is coming along well. i'm still on the wagon. i'm up to 35 miles a week. and, after the saga of trying to find a neutral trail show, i think i did! i just picked up the montrail streak after reading rave reviews here, here, and here. huge thank yous to ann h. for helping me with the search, drew for putting up with my bitching, and to kara at the scheel's in iowa city for actually having the shoes in stock. i've only done a quick 3 miles in them, but so far so good.

things i'm thankful for this week: my darling husband, my wonderful marriage, my sweetie pie kittens, my sweetie pie daughter, my amazing parents, sister, and bro-in law, my wonderful town, my health, my sanity, my energy, and my future. kisses to all.

let go and let (the running) god(s)...

things are still rolling along. i'm up around 30 miles per week and just completed week four of marathon training. my body is definitely feeling the training - i'm having some trouble sleeping and am just plain tired - but i can tell i'm getting stronger and faster. i had a lovely xc ski outing this week in chicago and a hard 60 minute run on the hills in hickory hill park to cap off the week. onward and upward!