Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Conference, Fire...and A Little More Running

The view in Boulder now looks something like this:

A lightning strike today sparked the blaze they're calling the Flagstaff Fire. I first saw it driving down to Boulder to pick my kids up from preschool. The school is right on the side of the ridge just north of the one where the fire is. You can imagine my good driving manners went out the window a little. Please pray for the firefighters and the people whose homes are near there. My family is safe, but we know a lot of people who are probably facing evacuation.

It was a dramatic way to come home. I spent the weekend at a different kind of marathon, the American Library Association Annual Conference. This year it was in Anaheim, CA, right next to Disneyland, but alas there was no Magic Kingdom time for me. The days were packed with programs on topics like "Social Media in Libraries" and "Serving Underprivileged Library Customers," as well as discussions of ebooks and other hot topics. There was also a giant expo with publishers and other vendors who sell to us. Famous authors visit (George R.R. Martin spoke about the fantasy and science fiction genre), and other famous people who have written books turn up to sign copies (I saw Molly Ringwald of 80s movie fame; apparently she's written a book of short stories; the line was far too long for me to stand in).

Each night I retired to my cool, quiet hotel room and crashed. Other librarians partied far into the night. Yes, it's true! Librarians unleashed love to dance and cut loose.

I, of course, couldn't do that. Too much alcohol and too many late hours aren't compatible with my exercise addiction. I rose every morning of the four days I was there at 5:30 a.m. for my workouts, which included my second return-to-running session, this time on the hotel treadmill. While it wasn't as fun as running outdoors with Cynthia, it was still much more fun than the recumbent bike, and a definite confidence booster. Not such a confidence booster was the ALA-sponsored yoga class I attended on Sunday morning. My back was not pleased with all the forward folds or the quick flow of the sun salutations. No more yoga for me for a while.

This morning I went to Pilates with Patty (MUCH better than yoga) and followed it up with another treadmill run, this time increasing the running time to 35 minutes. I felt great, throwing in eight 30-second pickups and stretching well afterwards. My back is doing fine now, away from sitting in conference sessions and on airplanes and shuttle buses.

It was the first of THREE runs on my schedule for the week. I'm starting to add in a little running time on Saturdays, though it will continue to be supplemented by low-impact machines for at least a little while. Saturday will also be on the treadmill, but I will try to up the fun quotient by doing Friday's run outside (unless smoke moves into town, in which case...treadmill).

I apologize that I've been such a bad commentator on everyone's blogs. I'm going to play a little catch-up.

Stay tuned for a review of Scott Jurek's Eat & Run (amazing how much reading I get done on planes when the kids aren't around and there's no wi-fi to tempt me onto the Internet). Will Terzah go vegan? Doubtful....but Scott was more persuasive than I expected.....

14 comments:

  1. Glad you had such a nice time at the conference. I'm impressed that you didn't throw rotten tomatoes at George R.R. Martin - excellent restraint!
    Three runs this week - I'm loving this!!
    Want to try to run together the Friday after Aspen Valley? I'd be happy to come up!

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  2. I was wondering how this Tuesday's run went.  Darren is prescribing 8 strides not 7?  or is 8 your version of 7.  ;)  I haven't gotten to Scott's book yet (plowing through the Dark Tower series) but I'm tempted to take a break and read it after your comments.    excited that you have 3 runs this week!   yeah - the fire is a bummer - I was hoping the rain would hit that side of Flagstaff but alas no luck.  I hope they get in under control soon.  welcome home!

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  3. Jealous that you went to the yoga class! I was bummed that it cost money, but I think there should be a few more morning workouts at ALA. It would be nice to counteract all the sitting and standing in lines.

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  4. Envious of you and all your running! So awesome your back is cooperating :)

    Interesting how pilates is working better for you than the yoga. And good that you figured that out :)  

    Hope the fires are quickly put out and that you and your loved ones are not in any danger :)

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  5. What no dancing into the night? Glad you had fun and got in your run. My myofascial release guy warns me about yoga all the time. Ok those fires are scaring me shitless. Praying for everyone. Come to Chicago. We're sweltering hot but not burnning....yet.

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  6. I used to be a vegan.  Can't say I recommend it, but Scott Jurek>>>>>me, so I'd ignore me.  I really want to try real Pilates sometime because I hate yoga and I hear it's much better.

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  7. Glad you and running are becoming friends again...slow but safe!
    Very scary about the fires...hope they are under control soon!

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  8. CO has been in our news a lot lately- glad to hear you're all safe, but that's scary.  I'm so excited you're feeling good on your runs!  And curious to hear more of your vegan thoughts.  :)

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  9. That library conference really sounds cool.  And I so know what you mean about early bedtimes because of exercise.  I go to bed so much earlier on weekends than most people I know...in fact, my friend Robin and I were laughing on the way home from the bike race at midnight because we were so surprised to see how many cars were out..."Oh, this is how the normal people roll..."

    I can't imagine how happy you are to have an extra run on the schedule and have things going well.  I'm mighty happy for you from here! :)

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  10. His article in Runners World was pretty convincing -- but I still don't think I could do it.

    Very good with three runs this week!  Very good news.

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  11. I wish I would have known when the conference was since I work 5 minutes from Disneyland and I could have met you!  Glad to hear that running is going well for you!  

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  12. Great for you for the 5:30am workouts while out of town.

    The Soc Doc is not a fan of vegetarian diets.  He's pretty convincing, too.

    Happy you're up to 3 runs, that's fantastic!!

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  13. I've been thinking of everyone I know who lives in CO and I feel so awful about the fires! I hope the air clears soon and all the fires die out!

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  14. I am very impressed at your commitment to 5:30am runs!  It doesn't seem to matter how early I go to bed, I still find it so hard to get out of bed and workout. Heck, I have trouble talking to anyone for the first hour I wake up.  I'm always happy after I get the workout done, but I just can't seem to make morning workouts a habit.

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