lia ran

Does snow shoveling count as cross-training? The shovel we brought over from the East Coast got to live up to its purpose for the first time since we moved to the desert. Neighbors took gleeful turns at borrowing it. I spent hours yesterday digging up my car from under the snow.

It’s winter in New Mexico again. Albuquerque got a foot and a half, the heaviest snowfall in recorded history.

Was it madness or just the customary commitment to running that made me drive out to the Academy track today? Let’s just call it cluelessness. The snow was knee-high. I could not walk, never mind running. What was I thinking? Back in my car I got a new insight. I had cleaned the parking area at home. I did not clean out the parking lot at Academy. I got stuck there.

Three guys got me out. One pushed the car, one pulled with a rope attached to a snowmobile, one drove it. He was so big not even when he pushed the chair back as far as it would go did he fit in my driver seat. They were grinning their mouth corners up to their ears when they were done. I gave everyone of them a big hug. I am a lucky girl.

Plan B: the treadmill. I ran my 14 miles. It was boring, but it was not wet, and I did not need to worry about the car. When I was finished I could not envision ever running more than that.

So here is the overall perspective.

Today: 14 miles.
This week: over 29 miles.
This month: over 112 miles.
Year-to-date (call it life-to-date, although it started at the end of February):
- 819 + miles
- three races (two 5Ks and one half-marathon)
- one injury incurred while stretching
- two months on the sidelines
- hundreds of dollars spent on running gear
- a half pound lost - I actually lost more, but they came back, and brought friends, and then they all went away, and some came back again – they must like me, he, he...

And… 819 miles. Did I say that already? Okay, so it’s not that much. It’s 800 + more than I thought I would accrue in a lifetime. I grew up with kilometers. That is more than 1,300 kms, enough to run across my homeland in Europe and back.

Life is good. Have a wonderful New Year!