Michelle Runs

🏡937 | ☀️702 | ☔️816 🌶️575 | 🏔️719

[witchesversuspatriarchy]

[michellol]

Casper, WY looking green and gorgeous today. A great course and greater weather - 10/10 no notes.

[michellol]

Week 39/52

I originally picked this race in NE solely because it is close to where we live, but it turned out to be SUCH a great experience. It was super foggy until around 11 am, so no views, but it was so well staffed and the course was great and would have had great views. My mom and I went to Scotts Bluff after the fog cleared and the views were, in fact, incredible.

12/10 would run again.

[michellol]

Week 37/52

Today felt amazing, even though I haven’t done much running in the last few weeks. I have two more races on the schedule before the end of 2023, and I feel like today really reinvigorated me for them.

[michellol]

Week 32/52

I fell off the wagon with our move, so today felt harder than I hoped. 12/10 course though; would run again.

[michellol]

I spent the last two falls combing the alleyways of my neighborhood collecting hollyhock seeds.

Today I caught my first bloom 🌺

[michellol]

Week 22/52

I originally signed up for the 8 mile, but decided to drop down to the 3 miler at the last minute. The first 1.5 miles were a truly delightful jaunt through the woods, but that last 1.5 was straight uphill. I’m very glad I went with the 3 miler 😂

[michellol]

Week 20/52

12 miles for this week.

I spent the 4 weeks before this traveling, eating, and boozing, so this week felt like starting over. Today in particular felt especially hard, but I hope it’s nothing a good’s night sleep won’t fix.

[michellol]

Week 14/52

I ran 14 miles this week and am currently snuggled up on the couch after 5 miles today with the whole family.

I signed up for 3 upcoming races - a 8 mile trail race in June (I came in dead last last year - someone’s got to, right?), a half in August, and another at the end of September.

We’re moving in July, and I’ve decided to look for a new job. I’ve been at my current job for 6 years, and while I like it, I think I’m ready to move on. I’ve just started applying, so fingers crossed my upcoming funemployment stint doesn’t drag on for too long 🤞🏻

[michellol]

Week 11/52

Tucson Shamrock Shuffle ☘️ in the AM & Saguaro National Park 🌵 in the PM

I saw the words “cactus forest” in one of the hike descriptions, and I immediately started telling anyone who would listen that this is my Disneyland. We didn’t get to do a lot of hiking, but what we managed + the drive in was everything I could have hoped for.

[michellol]

She’s beauty; she’s grace.

She ran 5 miles today and she’s exhausted.

[michellol]

Week 9/52

No wagon-falling, just trying to make it through the weeks now.

I want to do a nice, long base building phase this summer to get me into the 20-30 mpw range regularly, but there’s a lot of chaos scheduled for this summer - another move, a new job, etc.

I’m the kind of person who always expects a change of scenery to change me, but I’ve moved enough now to know that’s not true. Change will come when I commit to it, but damn, I just love being uncommitted, wild and free 😂

[hjarta-deactivated20260124]

just learned that magnolias are so old that they’re pollinated by beetles because they existed before bees

[scienceoftheidiot]

They existed *before beetles*

[somethingaboutsomethingelse]

[spacedandelions]

Why is this sad? Why am I sad?

[ignescent]

https://xkcd.com/1259/

Bee Orchid

[sepdet]

This is how I feel about Joshua Trees. They and avocado trees produce fruit meant to be eaten and dispersed by giant ground sloths. Without them, the Joshua Trees' range has shrunk by 90%.

(my own photos)

Not only they, but the entire Mojave ecosystem is still struggling to adapt since the loss of ground sloth dung. their chief fertilizer.

Many, many trees and plants in the Americas have widely-spaced, extremely long thorns that do nothing to discourage deer eating their leaves, but would've penetrated the fur of ground sloths and mammoths. Likewise, if you've observed a tree that drops baseball or softball-sized fruit which lies on the ground and rots, like Osage Oranges, which were great for playing catch at my school, chances are they were ground sloth or mammoth chow.

You can read about various orphaned plants and trees missing their megafauna in this poignant post:

The Trees That Miss The Mammoths - American Forests

Trees that once depended on animals like the wooly mammoth for survival have managed to adapt and survive in the modern world.



[modernvintage]

First quote from the linked article. Found it poetic.

[fantasysclerosis]

You may even wish to see ghosts.

[michellol]

Another state for my map today 🏃🏻‍♀️💨

My husband hasn’t read 80/20 Running, so he’s always a little frustrated when we run our training miles at 13:30 - 14:00. He wants to go fast, he says, and I have to remind him that we can go fast… on race day.

After two 3+ hour halfs in a row, we finally got under that today - at the exact pace I’ve been wanting to make. I’m still not where I was at the beginning of 2020, but I’m hanging in there, and I proved to him that all those slow miles are working.

[michellol]

Week 5/52

14 miles for the week - 3 on M/W/Th and 5 on Saturday. I ran on the treadmill Saturday, which prompted this act of protest from the dog:

Don’t feel too bad for her - we had a nice, long walk today and lots of snuggles.

[michellol]

Week 4/52

We ran 7 miles today as a family. Afterwards, I caught someone relaxing by the fire, which is something she doesn’t normally do - she’s normally a couch and pillow girly, like her mama.

[michellol]

Week 3/52

Week 2 of running exactly as many miles as I set out to run.