Happy New Year

I'm not sure how what started out as a once a week blog has degraded into a once a month blog. As I was talking to my dad, the wise one, on the phone yesterday he said that I need to write a new blog post, and he's right. I have a whole bevy of excuses for why I haven't written and they are pretty good excuses. But I woke up early, got my run done, and now I'm going to try to quiet this restless brain and spew some thoughts on the page before work.

The picture above features my number one excuse for not writing. We got a puppy! We named her Acadia after the National Park we visited on our honeymoon, but we just call her Cadi. We have been told she is about a year old, but behavior-wise she has needed a lot of work. It's taken a full week but now she doesn't go to the bathroom in the house and she finally knows how to sit. She is a ball of energy and will try to eat the iPhone out of my hand so that I will pay attention to her. The trade-off for her rascally ways is that she is a trail-running phenom. She bounds ahead always staying within sight, she doesn't bark at other dogs (she actually tries to avoid them), and she has enough to endurance to go many miles. So far her longest run has been 7.5 miles but we don't want to push her too soon. Needless to say I'm exhausted but it is kind of nice having an adorable alarm clock to wake me up to run at 5am. Mayla seems relieved that we don't try to make her run anymore in her old age.

Old pup and young pup napping together

If I'm honest with myself, my main excuse is that I don't like how my blog has become all race reports and none of the deep, thoughtful things I used to write about. Back when my blog got only a few views a day I felt like I could empty my brain out because, lets face it, those views were probably my mom and dad. Now I get a lot more viewers checking out race reports and gear reviews, which is super exciting, but I feel less inclined to share the things I'm really thinking about.

Lets face it, if you know me at all or if you regularly read this blog, you know that I really struggle in the winter with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Living in Colorado has greatly eased the symptoms that I experienced when I lived in Wisconsin, but I've come to develop a coping mechanism that includes just not let myself think about things. If I'm feeling down, stop thinking about it. If I want to quit my job and be a puppy shepherd, just go for a run and deafen the thoughts with my iPod. I know the feelings will pass. When you feel the downward spiral begin all you can do is dig your feet in and refuse to be sucked down.

Depression is like that scene in the Princess Bride where they are walking through the fire swamp and Princess Buttercup gets pulled into the quicksand. I'm just going to assume you all have seen the Princess Bride because if not, what the hell have you been doing with your life?! Anyway, the princess is walking along and falls in and Wesley immediately grabs a vine and dives in to save her. They come clawing their way out gasping for air, obviously relieved and astonished just to be alive. That's what it feels like trying to return to the land of the living after going through depression. And you learn, wouldn't it just be easier to avoid the quicksand?

So what does this mean? It means that in the winter, I'm not running races and I'm not thinking things. I'm thinking: breakfast, run, second breakfast, work, puppies!, dinner, walk, bed. Doesn't make a very interesting blog post does it? So what's going to be on this blog the next month or two. Damn sure it's going to be pictures of puppies and nature.

One big piece of news is that I got selected to be on the Pearl Izumi Champions Run Team for next year! Basically not much will change. I'll still be evangelical about how much I love their shoes. But now I'll be using a lot more hashtags and I'll have a sweet singlet to wear at races.

As promised, pictures of puppies and trails:

Fog above Green Mountain and Dino Ridge

A glorious morning on Mt. Morrison

Cory the cloud walker

We dog-sat this guy, Jack, who convinced Cory that it would be ok to get another dog

Mayla got really excited about Christmas

She was really not excited about her antlers

Mayla came to visit at the bank a lot

And missed a lot of balls

We had some below zero days... nbd if we were in Wisconsin but we ARE NOT!

Someone told me on Facebook that I should have run through the Mines of Moria instead

We met the new puppy and, to Mayla's dismay, we took her home

Acadia wants you to know that I got on the Pearl Izumi team and that their shoes taste good

Someone appreciates the sun as much as I do

This face!

This morning on Green Mountain

Trail dog

Cadi went to check out the coyote poo

I can't stop taking pictures

Ok winter, I guess you are pretty