This week in running - and sad news

First the sad news: a Minnesota author - poet and essayist - has passed away. A great loss. Bill Holm was from Minneota, Minnesota - son of Icelandic immigrants. Big guy, loud, in your face at times (had me sitting back in my seat at a reading years ago), opinionated, funny... We in the wildknits household are big fans. Own most of his books - loaned out and have had to buy a couple more than once. Coming Home Crazy... about his time teaching in China was my introduction to his writing. Moved on from that to Boxelder Bug Variations, The Dead Get By With Everything and then more collections of essays. Had to search for his latest book The Windows of Brimnes at Christmas.

Went to every reading we knew of in the Duluth area. Even brought the kids to one... not sure they were impressed at the time. I am sure they wondered why we dragged them to see some giant read and play piano ;-> Planting a seed....

Found out about his death yesterday at work. Got home, dragged out two books of poetry and sat and read in his honor. Reading about boxelder bugs brought back memories of these insects from growing up in the Twin Cities (I have never seen them in Duluth - and we had boxelders in the yard). Today I went to the library and checked out a couple more of his books that we do not own. Only seems right to spend some time reading his work and sharing it with friends.

On to other news:

In the last post I stated I planned on playing 1.5 hours of soccer on Sunday - and I did. Rolled my ankle in the last 10 - 15 minutes, hard. Hopped around for a bit, then back to the game. Didn't feel too bad, no pain but uncomfortable enough that I grabbed an ice pack before heading out the door for home. Iced it at home too. Woke up to a swollen ankle! Now, my right ankle is a bit of a mess to begin with and I roll it on a regular basis - with no pain or swelling in most cases. Needless to say I was a bit surprised by the swelling. What to do. Still no pain unless I really poked at the ankle, but nothing I would describe as excruciating. No pain when walking. Doesn't really fit the guidelines for sprains. Lucky me I work with doctors so asked about treatment. Confirmed what I was doing: RICE. Lucky for me it was a slow patient day, heavy on the phone calls, so could keep my foot up and iced most of the time. Tuesday: still swollen. Opted to not run and give it another day.

Wednesday I ran 5.2 with no pain, then when I got home iced the ankle. Thursday ran 2.7 (run to work day) on icy roads with a dusting of snow. And that may not have been a good thing. Because of the ice and the hill I ended up running on uneven snow in an attempt to not go skating down the sidewalk - rolled my ankle just a little. Ouch. But, again no real pain and ankle felt fine the rest of the way. Glad I had arranged for a ride home as Duluth got a bit of snow and it would have been a treacherous run home. Lots of accidents and difficult driving - no time to be a pedestrian.

Friday was a day off of running, but got in an hour walk (wussed out and hit the skywalk for that - it is cold out!). Tomorrows plan: 10 miles on snowmobile trails. It is time to get off the roads. Hoping the snowmobilers have been out packing the trail - the below zero temps will help the snow set up nice and firm making for good footing.

Getting to the point where I need to bring along food and water. Will be below zero in the morning, so I will get to see how long it takes to grow ice in the water bottle and freeze a cliff bar.

On the knitting front:

Continue to work on the socks for my niece. It is interesting working on something so small. Next up may be a pair for my nephew who will be two in a couple of weeks. Nothing like quick projects!

Take some time to go look up Bill Holm and do some reading (or listening).