Running Again (sort of)

At least in my dreams.  Does that count?  Nope.  But I did dream last night that I was out for a long run with Toblerone.  We actually ran to a party or something that was far away and I was in the process of running back home.  It felt good.  Only if it were true..

The good news is my hip pain is A LOT better.  Considering I couldn't even bend my leg or tie my shoes last weekend (Christina had to tie my shoes – I kid you not).  Since Monday I'm proud to say I could tie my shoes again and since Tuesday I can cross my left left over my right.  Simple tasks that caused immense pain Saturday and Sunday!  So no running yet but I did go on a few pain free walks this week, including my longest one last night (a whopping 1.5 miles).  Things are looking good but I'm not fully healed yet for sure.  We have softball practice tomorrow (if it happens in this monsoon).  I'll take it easy there and if all is good maybe a short run on Sunday. 

Winter is back here with a vengence.  Apparently we didn't get enough crappy winter weather so nautre is back to corret that mistake.  It's been cold (temps down in low 30s again overnight) and very rainy all week.  We had a short break yesterday and it's all back again until next Thursday.

One of the things I love about trail running in Portland is Mt. Hood.  Only problem is almost all the good trails are above 4000' elevation.  That means many of them don't start becoming clear of snow until May-early July.  Since snowpack has been very low this year I was looking forward to an early snow melt. Well – no such luck now!  Earlier this week the mountains got about 18 inches of snow in 24 hours and they've had snow all week.  Another foot or so is expected this weekend as snow levels drop down to 1000-2000'.  Good for those worried about a lack of water here (seriously if there is only 84 inches of snow on Mt. Hood in March instead of 120 then suddenly everyone is worried about near drought conditions here in the land of eternal rainfall).  Over the past week at 2700' the snowpack went from 0 to 7 inches.  At the 3000' snotel station there is 27" of the fluffy stuff.  And at 5300' we've gone from 100" to 117".  I'll bet the ski area owners are very happy right now!  But it will be a while before we can run up there without a compass and snowshoes.

I am hoping that I can train for a Mt. Hood circumnavigation to be done in late August.  I need to find some suckers to go with me but I've been wanting to run around Mt. Hood since I moved here.  It's 41 miles with 10,000' of climbing and all but 7 miles of it is above 4500' elevation with a peak at 7400'.  Want to join me?

Finally – what the hell happened on American Idol this year??  First Lilly Allen (and the mullet guy) went home way early and now Didi went home over Tim Urban when he is one of the worse singers the show has ever had.  Who the hell is voting?  If crappy people keep making it through then they are going to keep having problems with their ratings (like they are).  Didi was arguably a top 3 to top 5 singer and she doesn't even make the top 9???

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica