A wet July

I try my best to never complain about the weather. It's one of those 'if you can't control it, enjoy it'. Sometimes it's more of a 'deal with it' instead, and from temperatures in the upper 90's that caused the grass to brown out, to torrential rains, July has been a 'deal with it.

I'm really enjoying the weather for running, it's nice and cool in the mornings and usually not raining until I'm done. This weekend was a 16 mile run, much flatter than my usual routes (3500 ft. of elevation gain vs. 5000 ft.) but not any less taxing on the body since it consisted of more running and almost no hiking. The more I run, the harder I run, the more brutal the course... the more I crave the experience. It's really hard holding back and limiting the hours and miles each week, tying to be smart about the progression.

6AM stumble running through a tunnel

Finally light enough to see where I'm stepping

The majority of the state is nice and green, greener than I can remember for this time of year and the water levels are really high. This weekend I was in town so I could attend some training, without a long early morning drive. Had I not been in town, I wouldn't have heard the drops of water hitting the hardwood floor in the bedroom (the only upside to PTSD and very light/little sleep habits). Idk, we have a leak somewhere in the roof and I cannot find it. It actually makes no sense as to how the water could be getting in, but it's a roof and there is a leak so we will have to call an expert on this one.

Perhaps the word 'expert' isn't correct, we will call someone who can come over and give us a guess. This exact same spot had a leak before and we ended up redoing the entire back roof, and hindsight should have had us extend the metal roof on the entire area... hindsight is cruel. Since the leak just started, has it been there for a while and does that mean the insulation and drywall have simply had enough now? Black mold? Spiders (hey, why not)? If it's bad, insurance will be involved, so t his is why we need someone to 'best guess it'. If they are clueless, it's time to start demolishing some drywall.

The upside to the weather pattern is I haven't had to run the sprinklers for almost 2 weeks and the garden is crazy big. I need to harvest beans and of course zucchini always needs harvesting. Green tomatoes abound and cucumbers are starting to show. I'm going to pull a carrot and check the size, I don't grow them normally so I need to check visually vs. google guess it.
One rose bush is still blossoming nicely, it's about 9 feet tall. The grass in the yard is almost a foot (waiting for someone else to cut it, bluegrass allergy doesn't appreciate when I do it) and has filled in a few needed spots. The cabin grass and clover looks amazing, we are paying to keep the grass trimmed and it's been money well spent.

4 months in the books

Sometimes I just want people to 'shhhh'. I figure this has a lot to do with me trying to be more of a listener instead of a 'control every aspect of a conversation'.

I've enjoyed my no blogging time, not that I didn't have things to post/say, but everyone needs breaks from whatever. Those breaks should be enjoyable, and I've been enjoying myself.

We took a trip to Italy and the surrounding area, including Croatia. That trip stirred up some interesting emotions (although I'm not sure that's the right word), but it was nice to see the area thriving since my peacekeeping mission to the area many years ago. We did a lot of running and it was hot, mid to high 90's with about the same humidity. Sicily, Montenegro, Croatia, Rome, etc. Everything was really nice but of course Rome was filled with trash and I don't think we will go back anytime soon. Next year we will drive to Alaska and place my fathers ashes on a mountain somewhere.

The garden is ready to bust out a lot of veggies, I'm going to be giving away most of it as we can only eat and store so much. Each year I think 'is this worth it' but we both are glad we have things in place should we need to rely on whatever.

I'm running more, and more, and more. Mountains are there to run up... right? I passed whatever barrier was physically/mentally holding me back from being better and things are really dialed in great. The biggest barrier now is honestly having to haul my ass out of bed at 4am so I can run before it gets hot, or at least run most of the trail. I get a lot of great thinking and zen moments while in the mountains, on a trail, trying not to die on slippery rocks while wondering where the oxygen went.

I hope everyone is well, I'll bounce around some and see who still exists in the blog world and get back to updates often. They might be all about running, but do what you love and tell others to be happy and love what they do.

13k feet, somewhat dry conditions on the trail

Horseshoe lake inviting me to swim, but that would slow me down

The trail up, rocky and nasty but perfect.

This was a wet day, the trail is essential a creek.

Game of Thrones 'castle' and 'blackwater bay', Croatia.

Most of the rooftops in the above photo are new, being destroyed during the 'homeland wars' 91-95.

Montenegro, a nice 10 mile run in absurd heat from the bay below.

Our usual pizza spot in Rome.

Added some 'flair' to my new Rover.

Snow, sleet, hail, rain. The summit is a few feet away over the glacier.

Life is really good for us, a lot of work with smaller paychecks, but we are trying to remain positive and have a great time. We are older longer than we are younger and each day is one less marble in the jar. Don't know how many marbles I have left and I could die on a trail somewhere, but I'll have been doing something I love and everyone can stop calling me crazy.

Cheers!