Good week

Running:
January is the beginning of the rebuilding of the base cycle for the year.  The last several years after my fall (October) marathon my running totals fall off.  I run just enough to not start completely over to give this old body a bit of a break.  Just completed the first full week in January with a total of 51 miles and 69 YTD.  This is a pretty good number to start back with.  All 69 miles have been outside this year.  Pretty good considering how cold it has been. 

Thursday was a lunch time run at work.  This was in the middle of the 8 inch snowfall we received that day.  It was a little slower going, but not bad.  The Arctics worked great on the 7.5 mile run that I completed in 1:04:21.  Friday was another lunch time run.  The roads were a little more sloppy so I opted for several loops through the plowed subdivisions to get to the total of 7.5 miles again.  A little faster run because there were no hills involved and I ran on clean pavement for the most part.  This run took 1:01:44.  Saturday morning I got out early for an 11 mile run.  I did this run in 1:29:41.  This run was interesting in that I only passed five cars on the entire run, but three times had to jump/step into the snow bank on the side of the road to keep from being hit.  Two times cars passed me going both directions at the same time.  With the narrowly plowed roads and the drivers on my side either not seeing me or refusing to yield it made it feel too close.  The third time a truck came around the biggest corner hugging tight to the right and seemed to have no clue I was there.  It wasn't dark and I was wearing a neon yellow vest.  Just crazy.  Sunday morning I got out for another 10 miles.  I ran this one in 1:21:57.  No mishaps or close calls this time.  With the wind chills this run felt colder than Saturday's.  I had sweat icicles hanging down from where my glasses met my face mask.  I'll have to get a picture of this on the next cold day. 


Hunting:
Kind of a bummer hunting season is over already.  I could go out after squirrel or rabbits through the end of this month if I wanted to.  No one would eat them anyway except for me so probably not.   I will likely get out over the next few weeks ice fishing or hunting for fish I guess you could say.  I have seen lots of deer tracks and trails on my runs through the neighborhood.  This is a good sign for next year in that plenty of deer made it through the hunting season.  


Gardening:
Not much going on in this category.  I continue to monitor and nurse my pond through the cold weather to keep it running.  I have a drawer filling up with garden catalogues to go through one of these weekends.