Hi Friends. We've had this blog going now for almost 3 1/2 years. When Stephanie and I began, we thought we'd try a few months and see how it went. I enjoyed it a lot and even now like to go back through it and reminisce. When I was doing a combination of running races, training and tons of spectating, there was a lot of material. Well, that sort of dried up with the good old coronavirus. The Un-Canceled Project is fun and I will continue to participate in that, but won't bore you with the details. If one good thing has come of all this so far, Deb and I have increased our weekly runs together from 2 to 3. We both enjoy that and appreciate the motivation of a friend waiting on the curb at 5:00am. I'm officially going to take a break from blogging for now. Perhaps in the next few months when there is a little more going on, I'll have things to say and want to return to regular posts. If something really cool happens, I may just throw in a random post. Thank you everyone who has continued to follow the blog through well over 400 entries. I am NOT taking a hiatus from running and don't want you to either. Running is NOT CANCELED. Happy running! Missee
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Somehow the days have gotten away from me and I haven't reported back on the last two Un-Canceled races. Last week, courage was not canceled. After three half-marathons, we opted for a 15K this week. That is about 9.3 miles, a very nice distance for a long, but not grueling run. Our color was purple, but I didn't have any. At about two miles, Deb and I saw a bright purple car with a MN Vikings logo. That is some courage to drive a car like that. In Minnesota, people like to say that they are set up for and disappointed by the Vikings every, single, year. The run went very well; we cruised along at a steady although not super fast pace. At around 8 miles, we remarked that the run was comfortable enough, but we were glad we had 2 and not 5 miles left like the past three weeks. Here is our finisher bib and photo. Don't you love how it always looks like one person is a photo-bomber? 15K was a fun distance, so I planned to do the same the following week. I knew I'd be doing that one solo as it was going to be opening fishing and my husband, Charlie and I would be going to our son's new house and the guys would fish from there. This past week at school was Spirit Week. That felt a little odd with no students around, but the kids were encouraged to dress up and show their teachers on Zoom calls. On Wacky Hair Day, I wore a French braid which was out of my pattern, but not especially wacky. Thursday was Jersey Day, so I wore the jersey of my favorite track team! Friday was Husker Spirit Day, so everyone wore Husker gear. Most of us opted for our coronavirus themed shirts. Here we are at the end of the day. My work group has needed to use all of their Un-Canceled skills to pack and serve meals to the district's children since school went to distance learning March 18th. We've used our Hope, Humor, Gratitude, Inspiration, Commitment and Courage every day. Here are a few photos of packing the meals, our jam-packed coolers of lunches to give you an idea of what school nutrition staff all over the country have been doing to get food out to the students. This week, Commitment was Un-Canceled! I enjoyed doing this run in Duluth, much of it near where I was supposed to run the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in June. Along the way, I saw the mile markers for Miles 17, 18, 19 and 20 for Grandma's Marathon. The half follows along the 2nd half of the course, so I saw those markers as well. There were lots of runners out enjoying the sunny morning. Those of you who live in large cities may not have thought it was a lot of runners, but for us more rural folks, it was nice to see. Here is my starting photo: and my finisher's bib, 15K later: After I was done, I was treated to "going" to yoga via Zoom with my daughter and future daughter-in-law. It was a challenging class, but we still looked pretty peppy at the end...except the little dog in the corner. Later in the day, we all worked on a service project for Haley's pharmacy fraternity. She needed to make fleece blankets for a domestic abuse shelter and chew toys for an animal shelter. Someone tried out the blanket and approved of the craftsmanship. Today was also Mother's Day, so Happy Mother's Day to all the running mothers out there. I think we'd all agree that running keeps our mothering skills at their best by burning off excess stress. My kids were very good to me today and I was treated to a car wax, chocolate, flowers and cards. I even got my first "Mother-In-Law" card this year. We will be adding two extras to our family this summer with a daughter-in-law in July and a son-in-law in August. The more the merrier!
The Un-Canedled project was originally supposed to be 4 weeks, extended to 6 and now they have added an extra 6 weeks of virtual races. This time, they said it's free if you cannot afford it or you can choose to make a donation to continue and also purchase a medal if you want. The donations they suggested were very small, so Deb and I will continue on another 6 weeks. I forget which race is next, but the next things not canceled are dreams, kindness, joy, community, perseverance and life. I'm just hoping we are not still on the stay at home directives by then! One thing that I know for sure will be canceled, or at least over, in the next three weeks is the current school year. On Star Wars Day this past Monday, I saw this meme which completely sums up how everyone who works with schools or school children feels about the current distance learning situation. Everyone is doing their best and trying to be positive, but it's a workout of massive proportions. I hope you are feeling more like Baby Yoda these days, but if not, don't worry, keep running and don't forget what good things are NOT CANCELED! Happy Running--Missee Oh my, we have made it to Week 4 of the Un-Canceled Project races. I'm glad they added two more weeks, because clearly the rest of the society is still canceling a lot of things. This week, MN announced that students would not be returning to the classroom this spring. Even though I pretty much figured that was the way things would end up, I was really sad. After I got the notice to come to the Google Hangout (still not as fun as it sounds LOL), I spent the next hour cleaning bulletin boards and stuff out of my office that I wouldn't need with no students eating at school. The next two weeks, Courage and Commitment are not canceled; Deb and I have not chosen race distances, but I'm hoping for something other than a half marathon next week as my legs are a bit tired. This week, our theme was Inspiration and the color was teal. Deb found a pretty teal shirt from a local marathon that she often volunteers for in the food area at the finish line. I dug out this shirt that commemorates a runner I knew as a teenager and she was the little sister of one of my tiniest teammates with the biggest heart. Johanna grew up to be a fabulous runner winning many titles along the way including Division III Cross Country Champion AFTER recovering from a brain tumor. She went on to qualify for the Olympic Trials in the marathon although her brain tumor recurred 3 more times before ending her life at age 33 just over 7 years ago. You can read more about her story here or just Google Johanna Olson and you'll find articles from Runner's World, ESPN and others. Here is how I most remember Johanna and Marney...as WDC runners of the 90's. Johanna was lucky to have such a great big sister as Marney who took her to treatments and took care of her quite a bit while she was fighting cancer. Here is our starting line photo and the back of my shirt...I was delighted to find a shirt that was teal-ish in color as well as containing the word "inspires." You may have noticed that we do not appear to be in front of my house as usual, nor is it dark. Well, today was the original date of the Earth Day Half Marathon and we had pledged weeks ago to run the course today whether or not there would be a virtual race...which there is in addition to a make-up date in September. We also moved our usual running of time of 6:00 to 7:00 so we'd for sure have daylight. Since the course changed a little last year in honor of the 20th anniversary of the race, we were a little unsure of a few spots along the way, but it went pretty well. In order to finish in two hours or less, I knew we'd need to average 9:10 per mile or less. This was sometimes a challenge, but we were pretty steady between 8:55 and 9:10 for most of them. The weather was perfect for a nice long run, 40's warming into the 50's by the end and virtually no wind. It's really too bad the actual race couldn't be today; people would have a lot of personal bests in this kind of weather. Last week I'd felt like I was dragging a giant trailer through the last few miles. This time I felt much better, even surging a bit at the end and I don't mind bragging just a bit that mile 13 was 8:38...one of the fastest along the way. I've read statistics that all World Records have been set with negative splits...running faster at the end than at the beginning. While I'm not setting any world, or even personal records these days, I do like the feeling of finishing strong...very inspirational! Our finish line photo was taken in front of a local bar that burned down a couple of months ago and turned out to be arson. We chose to take the photo here because the missing building really changed the landscape of downtown and we wanted to capture that. This week's run was inspiring for a number of reasons. It was a refreshing change of pace to go somewhere else to run. The weather was so beautiful that I'm more exciting for spring weather. The fact that we were nailing mile paces under 9:00 or under on 7 of the 13 miles was a reinforcement that training pays off. Running the race course made me hopeful that we'll be back there with 1,000 or so of our closest running friends in September.
What is inspiring you these days? I hope you are using your quarantine time to get some extra steps in running or walking...maybe your dog is losing a little weight like mine, which his vet wanted him to do anyway. Enjoy the sunshine whenever you can; Vitamin D really does boost moods so go soak it up. Happy running! Missee Here we are in Week 3 of the UnCanceled Project and this week it is humor that we remember is not canceled by social distancing or calling off all the fun events we had planned for a beautiful spring weekend. This week's color was orange. I opted to wear my Boston Marathon jacket from 2012 to both celebrate this project but also to honor all of those who had worked so hard to qualify for the 2020 race scheduled for Monday that has been postponed until fall. Here we are at the start. Note that we had on headbands and gloves yet. The weather this week was pretty good. The temp was around 30 and there was a slight wind that was a headwind at the beginning which gave us a lot of hope for a tailwind heading back. Around two miles into our run, we noticed a large brightly colored sign on the side of a garage that read, "Stay Strong!" How did they know a virtual race would be passing by??? Another mile or so, we noticed a small half log on the ground. Deb figured it was a pedestrian speed bump because we were running too fast. Humor abounds! As far as race results, this week did not go as well as the week before. I was lacking energy fairly early and that only got worse. The last couple miles were slow, but we got it done and even managed to be in good spirits. Deb noted that I don't drag like that very often to which I mused that I'll appreciate runs that go better all that much more. Here is our finisher's bib photo. The weather had warmed up and the headbands and gloves were stowed in pockets miles ago. Hooray for spring! Also, we did not bring along reflectors or headlamps due to the earlier sunrises. Many people would say there is nothing humorous about running half marathons two weekends in a row, so how about making it three? Next week, inspiration is Un-Canceled. It is also the original date of the Earth Day Half Marathon. Our plan is to try to run the race course if possible. If not this week, we still have commitment and courage to un-cancel. I am so thankful that humor is not canceled during all the chaos and confusion during this time. Sometimes if you couldn't laugh, you'd cry. Thankfully, I still don't know anyone who has become seriously ill during the COVID 19 pandemic. If all of the disruption to society is helping keep people safer, it will be worth it, but I think we are all in the same boat of wishing we knew when we could do some normal things such as getting a haircut or enjoying a cup of tea with a friend at a local cafe.
In the meantime, try to keep smiling and happy running! Missee P.S. I've been doing a lot of sewing while at home these past weekends. The quilt camp that we missed out on this spring posted this today: Here we are at the end of week 2 of the Un-Canceled Project by Run The Edge. It is definitely not too late to join in as they just announced this morning that there will be two additional weeks of races going into May, Courage and commitment are also not canceled! That is excellent news and they also added two new race distances, 8K (approximately 5 miles) and 15K (9.3) miles. I haven't seen Deb since this announcement; I'm confident we will continue on our un-canceled journey, but not sure what distances we'll choose. Yesterday, we ran the Hope is Un-Canceled Half Marathon. Here we are at the starting line which is also my driveway. We have not run more than 12 miles since last fall and not more than 10 miles since early February, so our goal was simply to finish. There were things we'd hoped for along the way that happened...Deb hoped for a light breeze after several windy days and we were also blessed with very courteous drivers who gave us plenty of room. Around mile 3, we REALLY hoped those large wild turkeys would stay where they were and not chase us. Again, we lucked out. Yikes! There was also hope for porta-potties which appeared just where they were needed, and the finish line that was an effort to reach, but still a lot of fun. This week, we averaged 9.22 per mile, definitely not our best, but a great jumping off point for two more half marathons the next two weeks. Next up: Humor is UN-Canceled next Saturday. These days it's pretty safe to assume that wherever you are there is a stay at home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. It's very difficult not to be out and about. My dad described it very well as that I don't know where I want to go, but it's hard not to be able to go there. Exactly! Today is Easter and while sitting at home with my husband and Charlie is not wholly unpleasant, I miss the kids, their fiances, our parents and extended family. I've got a ham in the oven, but it's not the food, it's the people around the table that make holidays special. I'm still really hoping that the summer wedding plans don't need to be adjusted. See, hope is everywhere! One thing I've noticed on my at-home days is that I choose my outfits in the spirit of a toddler...only the most comfy items come out of the drawer whether they go together or not. For instance, here is my Friday outfit. These are super comfy pants. I chose this shirt because it says "Hello Sunshine" even though it is a tank top and who wears those when it's 30 degrees? The zip jacket I chose because it is from quilt camp and I'd really like to be there. At least I have a text group with my quilt camp roomies and can watch the cute ladies from the quilt shop on Facebook a couple times a week. What are you wearing these days just because you like it--not for looks?
Keep on the lookout for what is not canceled! Since they added two more weeks, consider joining the Un-Canceled project with us. You can walk, run, bike, elliptical or whatever works to get you to your finish line. Running outdoors is one thing that still feels normal--happy running! Missee Yesterday, Deb and I participated in the first of our Un-Canceled race series. We decided on a 10K for our first "race" of the season. This week's theme was gratitude and we were directed to wear something blue and take photos before and after the race. Since we are unable to stand or run close together, the pics look a little like a selfie with a photo-bomber! Our final goal for the day was to do 10ish miles, so we started out with a 2-mile warmup in which we were permitted to gripe about all the things that were frustrating this week...work, trying to shop, quarantining with family members, etc. Once we got to two miles, we restarted our watches and tried to only talk about things we are grateful for...from opposite sides of the bike path which is about 8-10 feet wide, so we definitely maintained our 6 foot social distancing rule. It was not hard to be grateful!
All races need results! We completed our 10K in 9:06 per mile. I would rate the weather as fair. It was mostly calm, but the 17 degree temp is a little chilly for April. Here is my finish photo taken along the banks of the Mississippi River. The water was raging over the dam and made us feel like we were on vacation looking at a waterfall. I also figured out how to put a photo into those cool race bib photo frames that Run the Edge provides. They also had a cool video to watch after finishing the race telling us how awesome we are for crushing the challenge. Next up: Hope is UN-Canceled Half Marathon this Friday. With so many fun events canceled, try to keep searching for what is still available and be grateful for that. Perhaps something you really didn't want to do IS canceled and you can be grateful for that, too! Happy Running--Missee
What is your favorite musical? I love musicals, whether a play or movie, so I probably have a lot of them...Oklahoma, Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, Annie, Pete's Dragon, Joseph and the Amazing Techincolor Dreamcoat and MANY more that I just can't think of right now. The other day Mom sent me a video of Donny Osmond responding to someone's online challenge to sing "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Donny was Joseph in the production the first time I ever saw it. Super dreamy in his dreamcoat, that's for sure! After hearing that one song, which I may have sung aloud in my office at work, I was inspired to listen to the whole soundtrack again. It is available in it's entirety on Amazon Music for those who have Prime. I downloaded it and Charlie and I set off running to "Any Dream Will Do" this morning in this weather. The parts that don't look slushy are about an inch deep in water. I hate wet feet, but after the first block, they were just cold and didn't notice the wet so much. It would have been a pretty gross run without hearing about Joseph's dreams and Potiphar's wife who wasn't a very nice person. With the exception of the one song when Joseph was in prison which is kind of a ballad, the soundtrack makes good exercise music. We were pretty wet when we got done. When we returned, I immediately wrapped Charlie in a towel and put him in the bath where we continued to belt out "Go Go Go Joseph!" Charlie is not a fan of bathing, but he stood in there pretty well today. Perhaps the singing was confusing enough for me to get the job done before he knew what was happening. We've been done an hour already and Charlie is still wet and holding a bit of a grudge. He likes to hide but isn't too good at it, like one of our favorite lines from another fun musical movie, Wizard of Oz, "Disregard the man (little dog) behind the curtain!" Did you see Charlie’s foot sticking out? Please add your favorite musicals to the Comments! It would be fun to see if we could make a good running playlist of soundtrack songs. “Brazzle Dazzle Day" from Pete’s Dragon would be a good one for near the end of a race. Happy running! Missee
Have you ever participated in a virtual race? Personally, I love to get a few new shirts each year from races, enjoy the challenge of trying to run a given distance in a good time on command, but really couldn't care less about the medal...unless it's an age group prize and then I don't care much about the medal itself, but do like to earn a prize. Most virtual races charge an entry fee and then somehow you log your time and they send you a finisher's shirt and medal. In the wake of many race cancelations and postponements, I found this challenge on Run the Edge--the Un-Canceled Project. From what I've been able to gather, I get to run a race distance once a week, any distance I choose. I wear sort of a "team uniform" by donning a special color to symbolize an intention such as humor, hope, gratitude and inspiration. It looks like fun! No matter what gets canceled or amended while we weather the cornovirus, running is not canceled; I hope it doesn't get moved indoors, but still can't get canceled! A whole project based on positivity sounds like fun and you can't argue with the price because it's absolutely free! Who will join me? I'm supposed to be able to add my own picture to this virtual race bib, but I can't figure out how to do it. Just squint real hard and maybe you can see me in there inviting you to join... Speaking of trying to use new technology, all the social distancing is really flexing my tech skills. This week, I've learned how to have a Google Hangout (not as fun as it sounds when it's an admin meeting) and go to a Zoom Room (much more fun than it sounds when it's yoga class). My yoga instructor is hosting our regular yoga classes via Zoom at no charge. She shares the link and password to those of us who regularly attend plus posts it on Facebook and anyone who wants can join. I'm sure the intent is that when this quarantine period is over, we all are ready to go back to being paying customers at the studio. The instructor is a really sweet person and I'm sure she'd love to have you in class even if you don't live nearby. Perhaps you'll seek out an in person class near you someday. If someone wants the link to the next class, post in the Comments and I'll send it to you.
Have you tried something new since the COVID-19 pandemic begun? Would you like to try a virtual race or exercise class? Let us know in the comments! On a bright note, spring has sprung in MN and everyone is getting out and enjoying the sunshine plus the inability to go anywhere else so many families are out walking. This is not Charlie, but some days he probably has the same thought! Stay healthy and happy running--Missee Since I last posted frustrations with coronovirus, the situation has become much more intense. Schools in Minnesota closed no later than Wednesday this week and schools were directed to provide meals to any student who needs it and childcare for families whose work deems them essential such as healthcare, law enforcement, corrections and schools. This big shift put me at work for a few long days this week getting meal plans and delivery plans in place. By Thursday, life was feeling much more calm.
With schools out, restaurants, bars, churches, hair salons and gyms closed, it comes as no surprise that races are being postponed or canceled left and right. Just yesterday, Earth Day Half Marathon announced that their race is postponed until September 5th, Labor Day weekend. Deb and I have been talking about looking for a fall race, so this will work out fine for us. The race has a no refunds policy, but they will allow people to switch back and forth between the half and the 5K or transfer their entry to another runner at no cost. There was a brief mention of a virtual event in the works for this spring yet which might also be fun. We had already decided that if the race were canceled or postponed that we would still like to go run the route that day. There has been a lot of speculation that Minnesota could go to a shelter in place model soon to keep the spread of coronavirus to a minimum. In other states people are being allowed to exercise outdoors, but not in pairs or groups other than who lives in your house. I got a little worried about that and did a little research to see if I can talk on the phone via my Aftershokz to virtually run "together", and I can! Mom called after I found the information, so I tried it out with her while walking around in my house and it works great! In the event we are no longer permitted to run in pairs, we will be chatting along on with my pink headphones looking a little crazy talking to myself, but who cares?!? As for today, I met up with two running friends and we all ran along several feet apart not facing each other, so social distancing runner-style. Running stores and shoe companies are working hard to encourage Americans to get out and exercise because fresh air and exercise is good for our physical and mental health. We did a 10-miler; that is the furthest I've run since straining my hamstring four weeks ago and it went great. With Earth Day postponed until September, I've reset my training plan to aim for June 20th Grandma's Marathon events, so back to Week 2 and working it back up from there. I sure hope we don't get to a point where running has to be treadmill only, but I'm set up for that if need be. In the meantime, I'll be out in the sunshine social distancing runner-style. Happy running! Missee Am I alone in feeling like the coronavirus hype is a little over the top? Running races are starting to be postponed or canceled. I hope Earth Day is still on 6 weeks from now. If not, I’ve got another one on my calendar. In the meantime, everyone should keep washing their hands, covering their cough and stay home when sick. I got an email that quilt camp is still on until further notice. I’ll be so sad if it gets canceled. Running moderately is an immunity booster, so wash your hands and happy running! Missee
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AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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