Remember those short , chilly winter days of sleeping late and going to bed early with the sun? I kinda miss them!  Here in Texas it’s been summer-like for the past month and the long hot days have been very busy . I know the world has stopped for many people due to you know what, but my family has been keeping me very busy. Along with moving my middle child into his first apartment, my youngest son had a birthday at the end of April, we had our wedding anniversary getaway, my husband and sons entered a mini bike race, our washing machine broke, our ice maker broke, Grace had a doctor appointment, we went to visit my mom, did lots of cooking and laundry and tried to keep the pantry and freezer stocked ! And those are just the things that I can remember. Along with that I’ve run and walked 187 miles this month. I told my kids I’d pay them $50 if they’d walk 50 miles in May . Only one of them has taken me up on the offer. I’ve been doing some of the miles with him. Sadly I have not read any books this month. I read several in March and April, but then I got busy. We also wrapped up our Bible study classes and homeschool. I am still attending ZOOM church and Sunday School, which has been a real blessing, but looking forward to going back to church soon. 

Looking back over my posts I see that I wrote a bunch when the virus first hit the U.S. then I slowed down as things got worse and finally I just didn’t feel like writing much.  My views on the virus seem to upset some people , so I stopped talking about it except with like-minded people on Facebook and in my personal life. It’s very sad that our country is so divided and has become even more unbalanced with the stay home versus open up debate. So I don’t plan to discuss that. I really just wanted to write a journal type blog about life. 

Along with the virtual trail races I wrote about before,  I also signed up for a 1000k (not a typo) virtual race called the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee.  I , along with 19,000 other people who needed something to do while all the races and events are cancelled,have four months to complete the distance. This challenge has given me greatly needed renewed motivation to get back out there and run. I had burned myself out and cut way back on my mileage since last fall . Unfortunately I also started eating way too much junk and gained weight! I’m happy to report that I’m getting my shape back now, slowly but surely. It’s not easy when you lose your hormones. I miss you testosterone! But I don’t miss the other stuff at all, pms and heavy periods. I’ll take the weight gain if that’s the trade off . I’m much more tolerant and less moody and irritable nowadays. God has been so good to help me through all the many changes and difficulties of the past year.

My running has not been easy since it got so hot and humid, but I am starting to get acclimated again. I much prefer cold weather running, Texas cold anyway. This virtual race is really interesting. The guys who started it, Gary Cantrell of Barkley Marathon fame, along with race director Steve Durbin, were not expecting so many people to sign up for a virtual version of their Last Annual Vol State Race. Evidently there were many of us who thought it was a great idea and wanted to be part of the Laz tribe even if only virtually. The daunting logistics for the directors and their helpers include shipping out thousands of T-shirts and medals and maintaining a daily database of everyone’s miles and a Facebook page for the runners. Naresh Kumar and some others have worked impressively hard making the tracking website work. People from around the world are entering their daily mileage which is put into a PDF and displayed on a map across Tennessee. The are also posting daily photos and stories in the Facebook group. It’s quite inspirational.  Gary, aka Lazarus Lake , is a veritable Pied Piper for ultra runners . He often writes long , poetic musings about life and running and encourages people to test their limits . Two years ago,in his mid 60s, he walked across America in 126.5 days. His running podcast interviews are always fun and interesting mental meanderings that inspire me to get out and have journey adventures on the roads . Well speaking of running, I need to go do some of that now.

All done. I ran 6 miles this morning. I’m still adjusting to this increased mileage and my body is sore! But as they say, no pain, no gain. I won’t get stronger if I don’t push it a little. The temperature was a lot better since I started early, only low 70s, a welcome but temporary break from the summer temps we had last week, heat indexes in the upper 90s. There were many people out walking in town this morning, enjoying the nice weather. We live out in the country and I sometimes get tired of running the same places, so I will drive about 13 miles to either of two nearby towns and run the roads. On Monday, which was a holiday, I ran 18 miles around town. Still feeling that. I’m looking forward to getting back on the trails after they dry up from the recent heavy rains. The state parks have reopened here but are at reduced capacity and require reservations. Well that about wraps it up for now. I hope you all have a good day or evening!