Running and staying Healthy in Durango

Running in NY

2009-03-18T10:47:00.001-07:00

Well well well...
For those of you who don't know the car story, I will recap. The day my dad was flying into Durango, I brought my car to get checked up on...I thought the thermostat was broken because the heat hadn't been working, so I was just going to fix that and be on my merry way. AAAAHAHAHAHAHA...if life were so easy. Turns out, my car had a blown head gasket...i don't even really know what that means, but it costs 1,800 dollars apparantly and would take a week to get done. Well, we obviously had a problem. We didn't have $1800 or a week to spare, so I began looking for cheap cars or rental cars. My dad called from Chicago on a layover and I told him the good news, I told him I was sorry to stress him out and his only response was, "I don't get stressed anymore Kellie". Good thing!!!!
I actually managed to find a 2000 Honda Civic for 1600 dollars and we took it. It had a huge dent in the side from hitting a deer, but we got that taken care of as soon as we got to NY and the car looks and runs fabulously. The drive from CO to NY was pretty uneventful...we discovered some "twilight zone" towns that we will never return to and encountered the coldest weather possible. Aside from that, all went well and we made it from Denver to Athens in two days...sleeping for about 7 hours in Moleka, IL.
March 1st, we flew to Florida which was great. I got to see my seeeester! and my mom and aunt and grandma. We had a blast and got to tan for a few days. My sister and father both celebrated their birthdays while I was there and that was nice also. I flew back to NY on March 9th and have been looking for a job constantly (between watching episodes of Sex and the City)since then. There seems to be one promising position, but I don't want to jinx myself by talking about it. I have applied to every single nanny position listed on craigslist with hugely poor luck. People in NY seem to think that nanny pay is around $3/hr. WTF! hahaha, I just laugh in their faces and walk away. Speaking of money...I still haven't received the money owed to me by the Common Sense Cafe and I ask all you Durangotangs to please boycott that place.
I have seen a lot of old friends and started volunteering as assistant coach for the high school track team. It's a lot of fun and I'm trying to keep my spirits up. I miss Durango and my friends and Andy a lot, but it's for the best and I just have to remember that. If anyone hears of a job in NY, let me know!!!!
Best wishes to everyone and I hope to visit before the end of the year...smiles!!!!!

Happy Heart Day

2009-02-14T10:17:00.001-08:00

Hello all!

Happy Heart Day...even though I don't really celebrate it. That's ok, I see it's appeal.

Everything is going well here in Durango. I'm getting ready to leave in a week and a half. I cannot believe it's so soon! I'm waiting til Sunday (tomorrow) or Monday to start packing because Andy will be out of town and that makes it a hell of a lot easier to think about leaving. It's amazing how you can care for someone soooo much and yet know that you're better off apart. He's going on a skiing "hut trip" Monday, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday, so I think I will have plenty of time to pack my bags and clean my car. AND! Since I got my tax return I can take care of my car before I leave and do everything I need to do. It's such a relief to have a little extra cash.

I did yoga with Tanya again this week...she's crazy, but it feels amazing. I wish I could have gone to her classes before (I usually had to work), but maybe I can find a similar class in NY. It's only $5 a class!!! Since I'm working this morning, I couldn't do the Valentine's Day 5K, but I think I'm going to run the course when I get off of work. I feel like I've done very little in the last week, but I've been busy and sick, so I guess that's ok.

I can't wait to see my New Yorkers (and Floridians) soon, and I'm going to miss all the Colorado peeps. :)

Have a great Valentine's Day and don't forget to love with all your heart on every other day of the year as well!

Long time no blog...

2009-02-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

It was just brought to my attention that I have been neglecting my blog!!! Dear lord, I must not let that happen. There is a lot to update...

I am moving on Feb 24th...back to NY. Bet you never thought you'd read that. Well...I applied to Teach for America and will hopefully get in and be doing that by the beginning of May, so it's very temporary and basically I am just trying to get all of my stuff in one place before they place me. I requested San Fransisco, but I think they put people wherever there is the most need and honestly, I don't care where I go.

My job...
I had actually quit my job before I left for Christmas because the owners are sadistic assholes and bounced my paycheck twice (three times now). However, while I was home for Christmas, they sold the cafe and I was relieved and decided to pick up whatever hours I could since the economy is not one in which you want to be jobless. *****sigh***** Unfortunately, the new owner isn't much better than the old. She's not as mean or assholish....but she bounced my first paycheck and got the next paycheck out late...my rent was almost not paid on time because of it. It's very stressful to live day to day and not know if you're working for a paycheck or not. So, I applied for unemployment and am working on an 'on-call' basis. I'm picking up some babysitting gigs to pay for stuff and hopefully my taxes will be in soon so that I will be able to travel across country and have money for food!!

Andy and I have decided to call it quits. Of course, I'm sad...I love him. It is a good decision though, we have been fighting ALL THE TIME lately, and I think we need some space.

So, my dad is flying to Durango on the 23rd and he will be driving with me back to ny!

As far as running goes, I'm just getting back into the swing of things. I was sick and stressed and neglected my running as well as my blog. Last week I did a pretty intense abs workout and a crazy hard yoga class on top of running, so I'm feeling good about the workouts. I am going to workout at the rec center today for a little bit and then go see "He's Just Not That Into You" with Kristi. I hope it's good! Anywho...I will try to write more and I will still be loving Durango even when I move away...

Happy February!
Love
Kellie

2 weeks till Election Day

2008-10-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

and I cannot WAIT until it's over. This whole mess is giving me a big fat headache. I know I am not the MOST informed voter...but I do my research. I don't just say I like someone for no reason. The reason most people like John McCain is they believe the bullshit that he says about Barack Obama and his plan for the US. If you don't know what you're talking about and you just really like McCain because he's a war hero...then send him to Iraq...he'll do a great job. Don't make him President!!!!!!

Firstly, one of my main objections to him becoming President is he will want to overturn Roe V Wade. Before you exlpode at me, I understand that he can't just do this on his own...but I think you'll agree with me that the President of the United States certainly has a lot of power (which the current administration showed by taking away American citizen's rights with no resistance). McCain has already stated (I have video of it) that he would like to nominate (appoint he originally mis-spoke)those to the supreme court that would be in favor of overturned Roe V Wade. This is TRUE people...look it up. If one more person tells me I'm ignorant for telling them this, I might flip my shit. I just want people to know that I am informed. I know most of America is not...but I know what I'm talking about and if I don't...I admit it. For instance, I don't know a lot about Barack Obama's tax plan. I do know that he wants the middle class to exist in this country again and to do so, we need help from the upper class. You can spare some change. I also know that the small business tax is NOT for business's that gross 250,000 a year. That would be ridiculous. There are exemptions if you don't actually see that money...he can't take it from you. People are not focusing on the facts this election and rather they are focusing on the glitz and glamour that Obama and McCain are parading around.

I am going to vote for Obama. Overall I like his policies and past voting record better than McCains. I am in a swing state, and therefore I will definitely be voting for Obama. However, if I were not in a swing state I think that Nader would have my vote for the fourth election in a row. This country needs to get it's shit together and remember what the founding fathers wanted for this country. NO BI-PARTISAN LEADERSHIP, seperation of church and state, and FREEDOM. W made sure that many of our freedoms were stripped from us these past eight years...an unconstitutional measure...thereby impeachable. Nader wants to excercise the right to impeach a President with multiple reasons. If we really want to be constitutional Americans we will fight for the re-institution of the constitution and the rights that were stripped from us.

I'm sorry for the rant. I'm in a mood.

Let's move on...Durango!
I love Durango in the fall. The leaves and the smell...it's intoxicating! I love running this time of year and it's been amazing. Perhaps this weekend I will get the chance to take some pics and put them up. I love Durango...have I said that already!?

Wow, it's been a while

2008-09-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have to make mistakes in life to "get it". Ya know?

Instead of saying "why does this always happen to me?" when i'm unhappy...I am saying "Why do I always do this to myself?" And miraculously, I actually get answers. Everything that happens to me, is in some way, a result of my own actions, and in extreme circumstances when it's not, I am the only one who can do anything about my own situation. I know wow this all seems so simple, but it took 25 years to come to this conclusion. I am HAPPY! Imagine that. I am happy just knowing that I control my own universe. I control my own destiny. I do...just me.

So no onto my life. Here in Durango. School. Work. Running.

I am taking physics, biology (intro), and organic chemistry. Really enjoying Chem and bio. I think I would also like physics if it weren't for my inept professor.

work is going well. I'm not doing full time because I don't want to kill myself and I'm trying to take care of myself. I am running and working out. I have a race this weekend up Animas Mountain!!! 6.6 miles....3.3 up and 3.3 down. Crazy stuff. But it's fun...I love it.

I'm back with Andy after our brief come apart. I love him like crazy. We started talking about Christmas plans recently and I'm hoping above all hope that we can be together for atleast part of the holiday. I would love for him to come to NY. We are doing really well. We aren't living together right now which is working out so well for both of us. I know it sounds weird and it is weird to kind of step back from where we were. It's also healthy though. I think we were a little enmeshed in eachothers emotions and this step back is doing us a world of good. I have a great feeling about my life right now. I'm going to school for what I want. I'm living where I'm happy and I'm with the man I love and I think we're treating eachother better than we ever have. All in all...life is good. Good Kharma to everyone!!!! I'm sending it your way. I love you all!!!! Happy September!

Life

2008-06-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to do.

yuck

Chemistry done!

2008-05-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

I feel like I just started this Chemistry class and here I am after the final...phew. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, but that could just be me not understanding the material and thinking I know more than I do! haha. Anyway, one class down, five to go. I hope this is not all for nothing. Perhaps it is...what if I take all these (hard) classes and then don't even get into Naturopathic school. That's not going to happen if I can help it, but I can only do so much! Oh dear, I have to stop worrying about it, there's nothing I can do buy try my hardest.

So tonight I am going on a killer run with Jen(hopefully). She is taking me up the "Secret Trail" also known as Chad Cheney's Trail. I've never run it before because I was afraid that I would get lost, but if someone is with me, I'll be fine! I ran the day before yesterday with Andy. We went on a 5 mile loop behind our house...really hilly...he wanted to kill me...it was a good time! I've been doing some pilates in the morning on our back porch. It's so nice to have an apartment here in town! I love being able to stretch in the morning sun and run from my front door and still be minutes from downtown. I love Durango!

Tomorrow I am going on a short run after work and then....Sex and the City!!!! I am unreasonably excited about this movie. I hate being addicted to TV shows! hahaha. Girls night @ 7 @ the Gaslight...if anyone is interested in joining us, please do! I am buying tickets tonight for me, Kristi, and Sarah, so you might want to go early and get the tickets. It's a big deal! See, I told you...overexcited. I'm like a small child. I work again on Saturday so I probably will just do a little pilates or a small run. We are probably going to go to Penitente on Saturday night to camp with Jen and Ian and climb on Sunday! So excited! There's a really cute 4 mile loop I like to run there also. We'll see how I'm feeling. Yeah Weekend!

To my New Yorkers: I miss you all! However!!! I am coming to Cape Cod the first week in August again...come meet me...stay in Katie and My cabin, eat lobster, tan and be merry. (Those in CO are also invited...it may be a little more costly for you though!)

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-05-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

So I'm at work. Then I have class...a test...yeah my birthday! poooey. Then I come back to work til 3...then i have an appointment to get my hair done...and i don't know what i want to do to it! I can't decide! help!

Anyway, big day, big day. Quarter of a century. phew. gettin old. :)

9 mile run and 3 mile ouch

2008-05-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a little while since I posted. Monday I decided I needed to do my long run since I totally blew it off on Sunday. I ran 4.5 miles down the river trail with Kristi...her husband picked her up, and I ran home. I felt really good, walked some of it, but it was really hot so that's ok. That's my first long mile run in a very long time!! So since I did that Monday, I took yesterday off running and did some pilates. Today I ran three miles and felt like crap! I think my body is just still recovering from the 9 miles on monday, but it felt yucky! oh well.

Tomorrow is my birthday so I will not be working out. Friday I am going to run 4.5 miles before my party and this weekend is the 5k on Sunday! wish me luck!

Birthday week!

2008-05-19T06:23:00.000-07:00

hahahah, at least I'm not celebrating the whole month like last year! Yesterday was Hermione's 2nd Birthday! We got her a dress and a hoody and she got to have an egg for breakfast. Later in the afternoon we went to the dog park with her. She's never been there so it was fun. I think we should take her there more often. She's such a good dog, but she's so scared of big dogs that she tries to bite them in the face when they run up to her! not good! So I think I'm going to take her to the dog park more so that she can get used to it.

I got my party dress yesterday! So awesome! I love it! I'm having my party on Friday and it's a "Sex and the City" party, so basically it's a dress up and wear heels party or if you're a guy....just look decent. hahaha.

I did a bunch of pilates this weekend and i'm going to run a long one this afternoon i think. We shall see. I gotta run...i'm at work...so I will write again tomorrow. Til then!!!

Telegraph

2008-05-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Ran telegraph yesterday after work. Andy did it with me, which was nice. I felt better running it yesterday than I did on race day! hahah. Oh well, not much you can do about that. I stretched after and felt pretty good. If I can shake the hangover today I will do some pilates. It's 6 am and I'm at work! how I wish I were in my bed!

Aaah, Durango

2008-05-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

While I'm at work right now, I am enjoying looking out the window at this lovely day and thinking about my run later. I love this town. I know I complain about it a lot. There are downfalls to living here including the overcrowded summers, expensive housing, and crazy dogs. However, I really love living here. I am going to get out of work at 2 and probably by 2:30 I will be on a trail with nobody else it sight and spectacular views. Awesome

Anyway, yesterday's workout consisted of a short 3 mile hike with Andy and Hermy and some Pilates. Not too much, but I was planning an easy day, so that's ok. Today the plan is to run telegraph or something similar. My back's a little sore but other than that I am feeling fine, just tired. I went to bed at 9 last night (I have to get up at 5:30am, I'm an old lady), but it just didn't seem like enough sleep....maybe 8 tonight! hahaha Wow, I really need my sleep, huh?

Well, I should probably get back to work. Love this day!

Speed work

2008-05-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

So today I decided that I needed to do a little speed work. I was planning on running at the track up at the college after class. I got out of class, however, and it was FREEZING! Again! Jeez. Anyway, I went into the life center and jumped on a treadmill. I ran a mile chill (which still felt like a lot of work...yuck) then I did a couple of fast 400s followed by chill 400s. I felt pretty good, so I did a fast mile. By the end of the mile, I was dying! my heart rate was about 190 and I was just about to pass out...hahaha So I followed it up with a slow mile and called it a day. That's pretty good for me, cause I never do speed work. I think I'm going to do a chill three miler tomorrow and some pilates. I need to work on my abs. It's the one part of my body that could def use some TLC.

Now I'm at work. Tired and I have to close and then open tomorrow. yuck. Oh well. Then I get to get out of work at 3 tomorrow and go running and hang out with my boy. I'm really tired, so I'm just babbling now. Thanks for listening!

Telegraph 10K

2008-05-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I woke up not really wanting to run, but thankfully I have a boyfriend who knows that I would have been pissed at myself had I not run the race and he pushed me out of bed.

There were a lot of participants this year! I was really happy to see that these races keep expanding. I was not feeling my greatest however, because of being sick and the allergies, but I gave it my best and finished in just under an hour. Going up Telegraph wasn't that bad actually. I got to the top and looked around...breathed a sigh of relief and made my way down the hill. After making it back to the meadow loop the last thing I wanted to do was go around Stacey's loop...ugh, but that's the way of it, so there I went. I walked a lot around that loop! Until I made it to the downhill, then I trudged my way through it, all the while trying to catch up with two girls ahead of me. I caught them about 20 feet from the finish and sprinted in for under an hour. I was happy with that. I just hope these allergies go away soon so I can breath and do well in the next race which is an ass kicker. It goes up hogsback and down the other side. Craziness!

So today I am going to do a trail run after work at 3ish. I haven't talked to anyone who's running today so it will probably be a solo run. My next race is May 25th...a 5K. I'm hoping to be feeling a heck of a lot better by then! cross your fingers.

Good job to everyone who raced the Mother's Day Telegraph 10K yesterday!!!!!

Starting a blog....

2008-05-10T16:45:00.001-07:00

So I have decided to start this blog to help myself. I think it will make me accountable for my goals in training and just being healthier in general!

It's May!!!!
My favorite month. For many reasons; not only is it my birthday month, but everything is blooming and it's getting warmer and the first races of the season that count for anything are in May. I love May. Although this May didn't start out incredibly well I still like May. I had a pretty bad virus at the end of April/beginning of May. We (Andy and I) moved into town(yeah!) on May 1st. Poor guy...I pretty much whined for 24 hours straight and yelled at him, told him to shutup, made him sad and angry and irritated. I am so lovely when I'm sick! Oh well, he knows I was just sick. I feel much better now, but my allergies are still ungodly.

Our new house is really cute. I will have to put some pictures up. It's the bottom floor of a house. We have a decent size bedroom with a great closet (plus for me), a nice livingroom with a wood stove, and I love the kitchen. It's a big kitchen with brick red tile flooring which is cold but pretty. And...drum roll please...we have a washer and dryer!!!! You have no idea how exciting this is to me. I love it. No more packing all the dirty laundry into the car and making a day of doing laundry. Plus. we have a little back porch and a great big yard! The yard is going to be perfect for my birthday celebrations.

Now for health and training, which is really what this blog is for! I have a race tomorrow that I am pretty sure (unless I feel really great in the morning) I'm going to treat like a training run. I just have been too sick to try to race yet. I've been running some, but not enough. Now that we live in town, I have no excuses. Tomorrow's race is 6.4 miles, up telegraph, down anasazi descent, and around stacey's loop. I've done it before and it's pretty killer. Last year I did it in an hour and 5 ish minutes. This year we shall see. Perhaps I will feel amazing; you never know. As far as staying healthy, I am giving my all to stay away from sugar and wheat. I even made myself these wheat-free, sugar-free peanut butter cookies the other day. They're pretty gross, but I gave it a shot! Today I had some soup and salad, some of those cookies, rice almond toast with salmon and goat cheese, and lots of life elixer(best tea ever). So, no sugar yet. I really need to stay away from it. My body doesn't like it, so I must listen.

I also want to start climbing a little more. I feel like I could get a lot better, but I don't go enough. It might be a little hard at the moment when I am trying to focus on running, school, work, selling life force products, doing passion parties, and generally being happy. :) After tomorrow's race I have a 5k in two weeks and a half-marathon in six weeks. Depending on how I am feeling I may even do the Kennebec Challenge. It's a crazy 14-16 mile run uphill. I really do want to do it, but I might need to find a partner crazy enough to try it with me. hmmm.

Durango's awesome in the summer! I'm so excited! Visitors are always welcome here, so pack it up and come on out here...it's gorgeous and sunny and just plain fabulous. I am going to really try to keep up on the blog here, so please comment and keep me busy!