Monday, February 22, 2021

Twelve Hundred Forty-Four

 


February 22, 2021
7.66 Miles in 1:21:13
Mood: Thankful for a lovely February day for a change!
Soundtrack: Radical Face "The Family Tree: The Leaves"

When last I ran at Southglenn, all of four days ago, it was an icy dangerous mess. This morning, the skies were perfectly blue and the roads were dry and perfect. It felt good to not have to worry about slipping, and it was warm (by February standards, at least). So basically, it felt amazing, and I felt grateful to be out in it. I decided to take a picture of this sign for a local eatery because I like how simple it is, and how obvious it is that this is a place you can eat. (Either that, or a place to buy table settings, I guess.)





 

Twelve Hundred Forty-Three

 


February 19, 2021
6.78 Miles in 1:08:27
Mood: Back to Back runs, low blood sugars, and yellow signs
Soundtrack: U2 "Songs of Experience"

I haven't run two consecutive days in quite awhile. However, Saturday is Pokemon Go: Kanto Tour, and my son and I have bought tickets to play, so I didn't want to start late because I ran on Saturday morning, so I decided to get up early Friday morning, do my work, and then get in a run in the afternoon after I was finished with work. Work cooperated by not being overly busy, so I was able to get out into a BEAUTIFUL Friday afternoon and get in some miles. The first three and a half miles were just lovely, but then I had a little issue with a low blood sugar, which kept popping up for the rest of the run. I made a couple of different stops to get food to raise the blood sugar, and salvaged nearly seven miles. They weren't pretty, but they count, and now I'm good to go for PoGo on Saturday morning!

The photo today was taken because the bright yellow of this sign looked really cool against the bright blue sky, and i was amazed at how well they made a stick figure look like a kid. I was a big fan of this sign!





Twelve Hundred Forty-Two

 


February 18, 2021
7.44 Miles in 1:20:12
Mood: Slippery and Foggy. 
Soundtrack: The Shins "Port of Morrow"

After a night of snow, the streets were snowpacked and as you can see above, the world was foggy. Southglenn had a surreal and spooky feel to it, especially for the first 20 minutes or so. The fog began to slowly lift, and things began to warm up, but it was slippery the whole dang time. So much ice everywhere. This is another morning that I might have skipped had it not been February, and I need to get in the miles to make my goal. Since it's that dang second month of the year, I put on long underwear and lots of clothes and once again made progress to a difficult goal to reach in only 28 days. I had better make it! It was kinda cool to see so much fog hovering over Southglenn, though. We don't get that too often. 





Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Twelve Hundred Forty-One


February 16, 2021
7.09 Miles in 1:15:13
Mood: Birds!!!
Soundtrack: Good Old War "Come Back As Rain" and Grouplove "Never Trust A Happy Song"

This picture does not accurately capture the situation, but it was the best I could do. I had just departed on my run, and had only been going for about 2 minutes when all of the sudden the entire sky was filled with birds. In every direction there were birds. Hundreds and hundreds of them. The sun was just coming up, and it looked almost like they were just trying to soak in some warmth from it's rays. I don't know that I have every seen anything quite like it. There were birds of all sizes and they were flying in every direction. It was madness. So many birds. It was kind of cool, but also a little worrying, as if the bird uprising were beginning in earnest. Pretty wild way to start a Tuesday morning run.





Monday, February 15, 2021

Twelve Hundred Forty

 


February 14, 2021
7.53 Miles in 1:16:41
Mood: Brrr. This is too cold.
Soundtrack: Iron & Wine "Our Endless Numbered Days"

The cold snap was in full force on Sunday. This was the coldest Valentines Day I can remember, and so just like on Friday, I did NOT run in the morning when the temps were a balmy negative 8, and waited until the afternoon. The temperatures did not rise nearly as much as they did on Friday, so I bundled up in long underwear and multiple layers and drove up to Wash Park. It was 3 degrees as I set out, and that is too cold. This is one of the coldest runs I can remember going on. On the plus side, it definitely inspired me to keep moving, if for no other reason than to stay warm and to get the run completed so that it would be over and I would be back in my warm car. Look at that photo! You can FEEL how cold it was. If it were any other month than February, I'd probably have skipped my run, but with only 28 days in the month, if I'm going to hit 100 miles, I can't take any breaks, so I was on my grind getting my miles in temperatures that only a penguin could appreciate. I remain on target for 100 miles for the month, it's amazing what having a goal can make you do!  




Twelve Hundred Thirty-Nine

 


February 12, 2021
7.56 Miles in 1:18:47
Mood: Let's wait until the sun is shining.
Soundtrack: The Shins "Oh, Inverted World"

An Arctic front moved into the area overnight, and the temperatures had a minus sign on them during the morning hours when I'd usually go running. I was not interested in running in negative temperatures, so I got up at my usual time and started working, finished early, and then went running in the heat of the day when it got up to a balmy 13 degrees. It was cold, but it was sunny, so I didn't notice it TOO much. I managed to get in a nice seven and a half miles and even took a picture of this frozen stream which looked very cool. (Pun intended)







Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Twelve Hundred Thirty-Eight

 


February 10, 2021
8.04 Miles in 1:29:58
Mood: Peeping into boutiques. 
Soundtrack: Blitzen Trapper "Furr"

This is a picture I took while outside. It was very early in the morning at Southglenn, and there were a LOT of lights on inside "Carla's" a weird home furnishings boutique that kinda looks like a living room. All the lights on in the inside with darkness outside gave me a clearer view into this store than I have ever had before, and while looking in, I discovered that I'm probably never going to buy anything in this store. I'm actually probably never even going to go inside. Not for me. 

On the running front, I have never felt slower in my life that I was on this run. I felt like my legs were made of lead the whole time. I actually started feeling a little stronger about 5 miles in, but this run was embarrassingly slow, but I felt good once it was over, like I had pushed through something rough. 







Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Twelve Hundred Thirty-Seven

 


February 8, 2021
7.69 Miles in 1:21:58
Mood: Flexing that state pride!
Soundtrack: The Bill Simmons Podcast / The Gist

You can tell how good your state flag is by how many people will incorporate that flag into their decorations. Colorado has a good flag, and you see it everywhere...including the side of this shed. You never see Utah's flag on the side of sheds, and you know why? Because Utah's flag stinks. No seriously, it's bad. Google it. You'll see!






Twelve Hundred Thirty-Six

 


February 6, 2021
7.23 Miles in 1:13:16
Mood: Does this scare away the birds? Really?
Soundtrack: The Beatles "The Beatles"

Saturday morning at Wash Park has a different vibe than a Sunday morning. It feels like there are more people out and about, and since I don't have a certain time I have to be back home, I generally feel more laid back, too. It was a nice sunny day, so I threw the Beatles on and decided to get three laps of the park in before I would quit.

The most interesting thing I saw was this dog cutout on a stick. It was connected with a little spring, and the light breeze was making it jump all over the place. It was so black that it felt like it was absorbing all light around it, and it had a little orange dog tag with a website that advertised it's services to other potential parks that might want dog silhouettes to scare away geese, I guess. It was a weird thing, but it made for a cool photo.   





Twelve Hundred Thirty-Five

 


February 4, 2021
7.17 Miles in 1:14:40
Mood: Time for a Highline hit.
Soundtrack: Jars of Clay "Who We Are Instead"

It had been awhile since I did a run that was entirely on the Highline Canal Trail, and I figured it was time. It hasn't snowed in quite awhile, so the trails were clear, and shut off my mind and just enjoyed my trail time. Felt good.

Today's photo is an art piece on display outside of Goodson Rec Center. The artist is named Kyle Ocean and for some reason this piece is called Dragonfly. They rotate art in every so often, so I like to catalog it on the blog when there is a new piece. 





Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Twelve Hundred Thirty-Four

 


February 2, 2021
7.04 Miles in 1:14:56
Mood: Focused on the Jam
Soundtrack: Faye Webster "Run & Tell"

After doing my silly circling Southglenn thing for five miles, I initiated my plan. I had this in mind all morning, and at just the right moment, I sprang into action. I ran down to King Soopers, bought a jar of raspberry preserves, and then ran home. Operation Peanut Butter and Jelly For Lunch was a resounding success. I also learned that running the final mile of a seven mile run while holding a jar of jam is much more taxing on your hand than you'd think. My grip was strong, but my hand was quite tired by the time I got home. I was very thankful to be able to put that sucker on the kitchen counter. 







Twelve Hundred Thirty-Three

 


January 31, 2021
7.23 Miles in 1:12:01
Mood: Free the Noibat!
Soundtrack: The Killers "Imploding the Mirage"

The photo above is of the Phipps Mansion. A palatial estate in a very fancy Denver neighborhood. I'm certain it's worth many millions of dollars, and yet the only reason I came there was Pokemon related. This fancy (and kinda ugly) house is also a Pokemon Gym, and I had a Pokemon that had been in said gym for two weeks. It was stuck, and I had plans for it which couldn't come to fruition until it was freed from the gym. So my goal for this run, in addition to getting my seven miles in, was to free the Noibat from it's captivity. I did a loop and a half around Wash Park, and then made a beeline for the mansion and used my alternate Pokemon account to defeat my own Pokemon and thus free it from it's obligation to protect the gym. This was a very good reason to run to a mansion, and the fact that it was a beautiful day didn't hurt either.





Twelve Hundred Thirty-Two

 


January 28, 2021
6.98 Miles in 1:12:25
Mood: Merry and Bright!
Soundtrack: Lord Huron "Strange Trails"

In case you can't make it out, that is the word "JOY" spelled out on the front yard of this suburban home. The J is made of wood, the O is a a trampoline decked out with evergreen branches, and the Y is a living tree. It's even better that I saw this for the first time over a month after Christmas ended. This is the type of do it yourself Christmas decor of which I approve!