Wednesday, March 25, 2020

One Thousand Ninety


March 24, 2020
7.00 Miles in 1:10:27
Mood: Watching a ghost town happen in real time.
Soundtrack: Better Oblivion Community Center "Better Oblivion Community Center"

I am able to run places other than Southglenn, and I probably will soon, but more and more it's been the place I find myself running when I'm not going to Wash Park on Sundays. It is becoming more and more of a ghost town, which has been interesting to watch over the past week and a half. I guess that is good, but it's like everything with this time in history. It's good that people are self-isolating, but it's also surely taking a massive financial hit.




One Thousand Eighty-Nine


March 22, 2020
8.25 Miles in 1:18:33
Mood: Not as alone as I expected.
Soundtrack: The Shins "Port of Morrow"

I think this used to be a snowman, or possibly two. I'm not sure which.

Also, Wash Park is less busy than normal thanks to people self-isolating to fight the spread of Covid-19, but it's still got a lot of people. More than I would have expected to see. Then again, I'm one of those people, so I'm not really in a position to judge.


One Thousand Eighty-Eight


March 20, 2020
6.59 Miles in 1:10:22
Mood: Mostly just trying to not slip and fall.
Soundtrack: The Avett Brothers "Emotionalism"

After a few days of working from home and a snowstorm that was severe enough to keep me from running at all on Thursday morning, I was ready to get out and run. The problem was that the whole world was icy. Ridiculously slippery. There were a few times on this run that I thought for sure I was going to hit the ground. I managed to avoid falling, but just barely. I stayed at Southglenn just because it was less icy than everywhere else, but unlike my Tuesday run where it was beautiful, I was staying there just to avoid the rest of the more slippery places, and even Southglenn let me down a little because it too was still quite slick. I ended up with slow times and a short run total for this run, but I didn't fall and I got a decent amount of mileage in for the circumstances, so I called it a win.

The thing that amazed me is that I kept running past 24 Hour Fitness, and they are of course closed due to Covid-19, but I must have seen four or five people trying to get in. Most of them try to open the door, but it's locked. Then they try to open the door harder...Then they finally read the sign on the door that says the gym is closed, then they walk away in confusion. It's like half the world is unaware that most of the world is closed to try and fight a virus from spreading. It'd be funny if it wasn't so annoyingly serious.



One Thousand Eighty-Seven


March 17, 2020
8.01 Miles in 1:19:19
Mood: Feeling good on my final day as a commuting worker.
Soundtrack: Grouplove "Big Mess"

This would be my final day going in to work...at least until the Covid-19 nonsense blows over. I didn't know that at the time, but starting the very next day I would be working from home. I spent this historic day running around in circles at Southglenn, because of course I wanted to load up on Pokemon supplies. It was a really pretty morning, highlighted by the very pretty pink skies of sunrise, as seen in the photo above. I felt very good on this run and got over eight miles in while averaging under 10 minute miles, which is rare for me while running at Southglenn.



One Thousand Eighty-Six


March 15, 2020
7.10 Miles in 1:07:16
Mood: Sometimes it's okay to meet your heros...so long as they are as cool as Bret Saunders.
Soundtrack: The Head and The Heart "The Head and The Heart"

As the Coronavirus reality was setting in, I was running in Wash Park. I still had not yet decided to work from home, and was thinking that I would still be going in to work, so I was enjoying my normal Sunday morning weekend run at my favorite running spot. The sky continued to be gray and overcast, which totally fit the mood of dealing with the oncoming virus and the way it was going to overtake our lives. It was foreboding weather in a foreboding time.

The coolest part of this run by far was that I recognized a local radio star by sight! That's pretty weird, but I was able to do it because I follow him on Instagram, so I actually knew what he looked like. His name is Bret Saunders, and he's the morning DJ on KBCO, a Denver radio institution that broadcasts out of Boulder. He is unquestionably my favorite DJ in Denver. I ran past him on my second lap of the park, and I was thinking to myself..."Is that Bret Saunders?" I kept moving, but on my third lap, I stopped and did and said, "Brett?" He looked at me as if he was supposed to recognize me, but of course he didn't. I quickly said I was just a fan, and he doesn't know me, but I wanted to say hi. We talked for about a minute or two, he was as nice as he could possibly have been and was super cool to me, which was very cool. It's always nice when someone you genuinely like turns out to be an awesome person when you meet them. He gave me a fist bump, told me to stay safe (with thoughts of the virus dominating the world) and we parted ways. Bret Saunders...cool guy!



Tuesday, March 24, 2020

One Thousand Eighty-Five


March 13, 2020
7.41 Miles in 1:15:46
Mood: Heavy heart with Covid-19 planing preparation to come.
Soundtrack: The Beatles "The Beatles (The White Album)"

I went running on the Highline Canal, and while things seemed fine, there was definitely an air of weirdness to come. The sky was gray and gloomy, and I knew that there was a company wide meeting pending to talk about how we were going to proceed as a company when the need to socially distance ourselves from each other was so big. I could feel a heaviness in my heart preceding such a big meeting to come.




One Thousand Eighty-Four


March 11, 2020
7.65 Miles in 1:15:46
Mood: The last morning of normalcy before panemania kicked in.
Soundtrack: Burlap to Cashmere "Burlap to Cashmere"

This would be the day that the world would vastly change, only I didn't know as I was running around Southglenn. I would get home from work, take my kids to Youth Group, and while they were there the entire NBA would shut down and Tom Hanks would announce that he had Covid-19, and the fact that we were entering a pandemic that would shift the world would become real for first time. This particular morning, however, I was just running around Southglenn before going in to work. No idea things were about to get very weird.



Monday, March 9, 2020

One Thousand Eighty-Three


March 8, 2020
9.12 Miles in 1:28:36
Mood: Drinking in early spring with thankfulness.
Soundtrack: Nathaniel Rateliff "And It's Still Alright" / Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps "Backyard Tent Set"

The bad news was that it was the Sunday morning of "Spring Forward" in which the whole world decides to randomly change our clocks in an act of mass stupidity robbing us of an hour of sleep. I woke up a bit tired, but all that drowsiness disappeared into the glory of a warm March morning. For the first time in I cannot remember how long, I did not need to wear a sweatshirt to combat freezing morning temperatures. It was downright balmy feeling! (I complained a lot in February about the miserable winter, but March has been knocking it out of the park. I'm loving it.)

I did three an a half loops around the park and felt amazing pretty much the whole time and ended up with nine miles at a decent pace and went home feeling like a million bucks. Plus I got to see a road sign leaning against the tree where it made absolutely no sense, so that too is a win.


One Thousand Eighty-Two


March 6, 2020
7.46 Miles in 1:15:43
Mood: Marching into "The Ranch"
Soundtrack: The Wood Brothers "The Muse" / The Wombats "Glitterbug" / Waterdeep "Sink or Swim"

After staying close to home on Thursday morning, I decided to venture way out on this one. I rarely even venture into Highlands Ranch for a run, but I hadn't been in so long that I figured that it was time. It's kind of a weird place to run because you can end up in places like you see in the photo above where you are basically in a wilderness area, but also in thousands of people's back yards at the same time. The only real bummer is that they pave ALL of their trails, which wouldn't be my first choice. Still, it can be pretty and makes for an interesting run.




One Thousand Eighty-One


March 5, 2020
7.68 Miles in 1:17:21
Mood: Keeping it close to home.
Soundtrack: AJR "Neotheater"

After a miserable Tuesday run with an annoying low blood sugar, I wanted to stay close to home on this run. Plus, I needed to replenish my Pokeball supply, so I just did my standard run around in circles at Southglenn routine. It was a glorious sunny day, and I felt good the whole time, and I resupplied, so a win all the way around! (Although it's getting harder and harder to find things to take pictures of at Southglenn.



Tuesday, March 3, 2020

One Thousand Eighty


March 3, 2020
5.54 Miles in 56:48
Mood: Low blood sugars are the worst.
Soundtrack: The Killers "Wonderful Wonderful" and Josh Joplin Group "Useful Music"

This run started out promisingly, as I was able to run on a section of the Highline Canal for the first time in awhile. However, after about two miles I started feeling weird. My legs were stiff, and it felt like a low blood sugar was coming on. I ate my peanut butter which I carry for such situations, and it helped a little, but I ended up walking the last couple miles as the blood sugar hit and as it always does when that happens, my body just couldn't sustain a run. I ended up with a disappointing amount of mileage, but still decent at five and a half miles. Here's hoping things work out better next time.

On a positive note, this house that always decorates for Saint Patrick's Day is all decorated for Saint Patrick's Day. This is a unique one, as I don't see too many places that get all decked out in the green like this.



One Thousand Seventy-Nine


March 1, 2020
7.52 Miles in 1:14:09
Mood: Big Beautiful Blowup Bear!
Soundtrack: Nada Surf "Never Not Together"

I love a giant inflatable polar bear. I've posted this bear before, but how am I NOT going to post it again. Look how big it is! That's a full sized adult man in the green hat. That thing is ginormous.

Also, February ended, and on the very first run of March there was no ice, and I was able to run on the outside track at Wash Park. More ammunition for my belief that February is the worst. Thankfully, we are a long way away from it coming back again. No rush.