Lockdown day whatever. Liz in her house day 3 at least

 Today was a super sad day.

I've talked a lot about the city of Buffalo on this blog.  Some of my favorite lake spots and running spots are out there.  As well as a lovely cider orchard that Dungeon Master and I hit up one time.

There was a horrific shooting at a medical clinic in Buffalo today.  I will say I'm familiar with the clinic.  Victims have not been named but I'm fairly certain I'm going to know either the person who was murdered or one of the critical patients.  One person was shot, treated, and released. One person has died.  Three are in critical condition at this time.

So, yeah.  My day stopped around the time my phone blew up with people checking in with me. 

I'd originally planned to actually leave my house today, run on a treadmill, and attempt a weights workout.  That didn't happen.  Instead, this is day 3 of my Living Room Mile streak.  (That's one streak that can end any day now.) It's day 2,000 of me not seeing another human being.  (Not really; it's Tuesday and it's been since Saturday?).  I was so emotionally wrecked, I pretty much stopped and walked it out after I knew I'd hit my mile.  That's not a thing I do too often.

I am apparently the captain of Doom Scrolling.  Found that out today as well.  Sigh.

We're going to try it again tomorrow.  I've invited the Qat Lady over for Jazzercise and more fried squid.  And Captain Smiley for squid.  I don't think he's into the Jazzercise.  We'll see.

COVID Diaries - Before and After

One of the unexpected side effects of quarantine is that I've started drawing.  A lot.  Apparently I am fascinated with the color of water, because that's what most of my drawings have involved.
The original photo here was taken in late 2014 in Buffalo MN.   Here's today's rendering. 

Thursday Second Long Run - Ugh

Plan:  Be in Buffalo at the end of the work day.  Park at the park, change there, and have a run. Keep the heart rate low.  It's okay to walk up that hill at the end.

Route: This is an out and back, starting at the northern end. By the lake, and then south along the  County 12 bike trail.  Around the lake itself there is a sidewalk.  South of the lake is a crushed limestone trail that I've been on before

Weather: This is where the wheels fell off the wagon.  All day it'd been 65* and cloudy.  The moment I go in to change my clothes, the clouds instantly burn off and it is 80* and sunny.  It was a hot run and I'm sporting something of a sunburn for it.

Execution: This run was all over the place.  My heart rate was high from the beginning.  In the middle of the run I walked a bit for a couple different reasons, and then I used the 5:00 run, 2:00 walk interval to get me home.  I definitely did walk up that massive hill at the end.

Nutrition: Did I mention I forgot to bring my gummy chews?  Yup.  I am a genius. I did have water though.

Bonus: There was a fair going on in town so after the run, I got a massive diet coke with a very cheap refill and drank it all.

Short Runs around Big Lakes

Friday I found myself in Buffalo, MN at the end of the day.  I'm a bit over the Buffalo to Montrose trail at the moment, and wasn't wanting to go that far anyways.  Instead I went around Buffalo Lake.  In theory this lake has a running trail around it, and some nice scenery.  It practice is has a sidewalk part of the way and then a wide shoulder on the road with the word "RUN" and an arrow painted in it.  I found it almost safe feeling and opted for the grass track off to the side of the road when it was available.

Saturday I ran just over a mile on the treadmill.  Just enough to keep the streak alive.  The big deal then was Zumba.  I've really missed Saturday morning Zumba.  An unfortunate combination of laziness, scheduling, and training for the Loony Bin made me miss Saturday Zumba for almost a month straight.  It felt good to be back, dancing with all my friends and having a good time.

Sunday I both wanted to work out and wanted to be lazy.  I opted to run 2 miles around the back side of Lake Nokomis, and then walk back, totally just over 4 miles.  I used the walking time to take lots of pictures.  I was at no loss for subjects.  The maple trees look like they're on fire with sunshine and fall colors.  The planes' flight paths had them going over the lake in droves.  It was nearing sunset so the light was amazing.  And there were lots of people enjoying it with me.

7 Miles of Farm Land

I hit up the Buffalo to Montrose trail only one other time. A series of random and mildly unfortunate events conspired to prevent my running here again until today.

Plan: 7 miles.  The trail is an out-and-back, so run 3.5 miles south, then turn around and head north.

Weather: Not quite as hot as the last time I was here.  It started around 77* or 80* and ended near 73*.

Nutrition: I changed in a weird place and so was not able to fill my water bottle.  Le sigh.  I had no food during the run, and totally forgot to eat my gummy chews after the run.  When I got home I had two bottles of water.

Execution: I certainly was not in a hurry on this run, but I did run the whole way.  I tried to 'attack' the hills that came towards the end of the run because I know that's how the 10-miler will feel next week.  The moment I stopped running, the mosquitoes swarmed.  I was a bit afraid of severe blood loss from the damn things.  I put on my running sleeves and a t-shirt I'd packed so that I could cool down and stretch in peace.

Pictures: Nobody says I didn't take enough pictures today.  The light was really fantastic.  I'm ignoring the fact that the sun was setting as I was running at 6:30pm. 

4 Miles in the Rural Minnesot Heat

I found a new trail today.  The Buffalo to Montrose Trail is so new, it hasn't even made it up onto TrailLink.  So instead, I will review the thing properly.  I only got to run part of the trail today because it was hotter than fire and I didn't want to run 20 miles.  And yes, I am impressed that rural Wright County has a protected bike trail.

Description: This trail runs along the side of CSAH 12, separated from traffic but a boulevard of grass at most places except for the Crow River crossing where runners go on a wide shoulder of the bridge with cars.  In Montrose, the path moves to sidewalks for the last few blocks.  I thought the cars zooming by would be annoying.  Really it's a rural road with some traffic but not tons and it didn't bother me.  The suburban traffic from this day was much worse. 

Trail Surface: Crushed limestone; a few patches of asphalt on larger hills.  I can only assume they are trying to prevent washouts. 
Distance: 8 miles or so.  I'm not totally clear.
Best For: Running, hiking, biking
Connects To: Buffalo Lake, US 12 in Montrose it seems to just stop there?
Use During Winter: It seems this path will be designated for snow mobiles in winter and not cleared for running or biking.
Parking: Seems to be the drawback for this trail.  I found an obvious parking spot at the trail head in Buffalo and no other parking until some side streets in Montrose.  I wonder if Farmer Bob would mind if I parked my car in his yard one day for a run.