Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge Run

Sachuest Point NWR offers a beautiful little ~2.5 mile trail that loops around the refuge


BAH loves posing for my blog pics more than me wanting to stop at every National Monument from San Diego to Newport


228 acres of rocky shorelines, sandy beaches, freshwater and salt marshes, and grassland habitat


After a good 50 minute run, I realized upon reading all the signs that I have no idea what poison ivy looks like. Hopefully it will be like poison oak and I won't get a reaction from it. By the look on his face in this pic, BAH is not that concerned either :)

Is everything dipped in butter from Arizona to Ohio?

We still have not unpacked the car; therefore, my Newport running pics will have to wait. So far, this place has been a phenomenal inspiration for runs; the weather, the company, and the routes. I feel 100% healed with the whole plantar fasciitis thing, which I swear lasted about a year from injury to total healing. So many lessons learned with that one, mainly balance.

BA Husband and I are learning that we are strong influences on one another when it comes to food. This can be good and very, very bad; usually, whatever it is, it’s just plain fun.

Running while roadtripping started out good and with the best of intentions. Morning run #1 was Camp Verde, Arizona on a dry and cool sunrise, at an elevation of 3147’. We ran a total of 20 minutes, and did some calisthenics. Nothing crazy, just a run to get the oxygen moving through our lungs. Interesting fact: Yavapai County contains the world’s largest Kokopelli, who is a fertility deity.

The following morning, we found ourselves in Amarillo, TX and in the midst of this mysterious place called Waffle House. The excited look on BAH’s face as we came upon the sign told me that it was most likely not going to have egg whites and vegetables, but it would probably be yummy. I was honestly just going to roll with it. Have an open mind. Not be a snob. I have never seen anything like this place in my life, except maybe my single experience with an eatery called the Cracker Barrel, which I tried hard to forget.

And when I picked up my egg and biscuit, butter literally dripping from the egg, which was covered in Velveeta, served with a side of mayo and 2 dime-sized slices of warm pickle, you can imagine my slight surprise/dismay. I am no health nut. Everyone close to me is well-aware that I eat tortilla chips and salsa for dinner when BAH is away, but I guess I just never took to putting butter on my food. I use it in cookies…sometimes to sautee garlic, but normally I am just not really aware of butter as an actual food item. Truth be told, it’s really hard for my tummy to digest without beer or wine.

I digress.

We did not run in Amarillo, TX.

Our next idea was to just drive straight through the night after that. We got a hyperactivity bug and decided to "just go". Get to the destination. Forget slow driving sessions, waking up and running. Just go. So…Taco Bell, McDonald’s…yep. It was all out the window. Fell off my vegetarian Subway sandwiches bandwagon, big time.

The good news is that we didn’t beat ourselves up over it. The first morning in Newport was spent running 50 minutes around the Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge and enjoying black coffee and eggwhites on multigrain afterward. Every morning since has been lovely and motivating, to follow suit.

And the great part of it is that I am really for real back into my skinny jeans from last summer. I think not freaking out every time you get crazy is pretty key (one of the many pearls of non-Type-A wisdom I have learned from BAH).

A Change of Scenery

Upon a safe return home from deployment, I am happy to report that The Badass (BA) Husband and I have enjoyed a most celebratory and adventurous first week together. Being married is awesome, and we have made the usual adjustments to each others' quirky habits (him) and unnatural surges of morning hyperactivity (me). There's always a running metaphor for everything in life, and I think this one is like when you start out running a long run with a badass, totally hot partner, and you are trying to match each others' pace; you listen to them breathe, so you can either tune them out or wire them in, if their rhythmic patterns match yours; you pay attention to where their arms are as they run so you know whether to give them more or less space, whether they run in a straight line or veer into you, and you relish the peace that comes with being part of a tiny but amazing team of two in this world.

A day after his return, we found out we were about to embark upon yet another change of scenery, which was unexpected, albeit welcome, in our new life together. So, tomorrow we leave for New England for the fall and winter seasons. BA Husband and I have decided to roadtrip it from San Diego to Newport, and plan on doing morning runs at each stop, the first of which will be Flagstaff, AZ.

This runner/nerd is looking forward to large quantities of seafood and beer, new runs, leaves that change color, bluffs, wind, cold, new geology, east coast bird watching and botanizing, and creating some new works of fiction, and of course, the assortment of gypsies, hobbits, athletes and angels that I get to meet along the way.

What I have found so far, is that the BA Husband isn't really an arm flailer or a path veerer (yeay). This is good. You have to be able to run side-by-side with someone who is capable of maintaining a straight course.

A Quickie

I love Marc Parent’s “The Newbie Chronicles” in Runners World. I was really touched by his writing in the latest issue (Going “Long”; A first attempt at a distance that once seemed impossible – three miles) and actually scanned it in to my “Inspiration” folder the other day. He is basically writing from a humbled perspective, by way of reaching his goals through chronic underachievement and focused wit. I found it appealing due to my own recent sense of peace with the anti-goal.

I highly recommend that you give it a read; whether you are running 20 miles a week or 20 miles a day, you will be refreshed and inspired by it. The first paragraph reads:

"When starting something new, you are undoubtedly and through no fault of your own bad at it. Your launch may be good, your progress encouraging, your potential promising, but compared with others who have been at it a while, you will fall short - possibly shorter than you can imagine or even bear."

He had me at hello.

The Dengue and The Dubliner

My Mom and Dad get farm fresh vegetables and milk delivered to their doorstep, and what they don’t can, freeze, or use fresh goes into a compost pile. So, last week, I stuffed myself on fresh veggie sandwiches and got in a few good runs in the temperate mist of the island. This is the kind of place you can pick blackberries as you make your way back from the morning’s run, and you don’t have to worry about whether or not they are sprayed with herbicides. I collected some insects and spiders with my nephew, finished my crochet project, and got in a good dose of family quality time.

I was feeling pretty good and rested, when a couple of days before we were headed off to the mountains, I came down with this weird cold/flu thing, which, I figured, is bound to occur when the person sitting next to you in a lab is coughing and sneezing all over you and your microscope 10 days prior. Why? If you have the dengue, who do you think you are helping by not staying home? Can anyone explain?

By the time we got up to the cabin, which is located in the heart of the Coeur d'Alene Mountains along Tepee Creek, full-blown dengue misery had set in, so I opted for some leisurely walks and exploratory botanizing/tracking strolls instead of the mountain meadow runs I had planned. Nutrition-wise, we grilled out a couple of the nights and brought an entire chunk of The Dubliner, my favorite cheese ever, which, I hear, combined with a cold ale, is supposed to be really good for colds. Ahem. My sister in law made this amazing chili one of the nights that had lentils and turkey sausage in it. It was a hearty, meaty, salty little stormy weekend! Just what the doctor ordered.

By yesterday, I thought I was in the clear, and then last night, after I got home from a long day of travel, it re-struck…chills, fever, some other stuff which I will not mention, and ears that seem to be on fire.

The good news is that I am getting this out of the way before the Husband comes home from deployment and getting a good rest before the next half marathon training. The bad news is that I seriously wanted to try out my new Brooks (Ghost model) this morning on an easy, mid-distance pavement run, down a pot of coffee, and spend the rest of the day looking at beetles under a newly sanitized scope.

So, as I sit here, sipping my miso broth and not looking at my training spreadsheet and not being irritated about someone hacking all over my microscope, I focus on thoughts of Kerrygold Dubliner and the crusty bread and roasted yam slices on which it should be warmed.

I know I don't take my nutrition as seriously as I should for a runner, but I have been lucky enough to find a couple of really great sources of inspiration and recipes from other runners who care:

http://gofasterfood.blogspot.com/

http://eatoxygen.blogspot.com/

Have a great week, and stay healthy and inspired!