You Know You're Running in Montana When...

...the wind's in your face and it's uphill both ways

...you run through at least one herd of cattle on your route

...the ranchers raise two fingers off the steering wheel and shake their heads as they drive by

...you're more worried about running into a moose than a bear

...it starts out 70 degrees and sunny, and ends up 50 degrees and raining sideways

...you're excited to see the mud because it means the snow has melted

...there are more animal tracks than human on the trail

...your hand cramps up from carrying bear spray

...stream crossings, log hurdles, and mud wallows are par for the course

One Wild Workout

The best training partner and garden helper ever

I must be crazy to keep running.  I believe the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.  Every time I start training, I tell myself it's going to get easier, and every time I curse the universe in short, gasping breaths when it doesn't.  I just get used to not being able to breathe for longer periods of time and learn to ignore my aching legs and lungs.

Maybe the lack of oxygen is starting to affect my brain because not only have I signed up for a marathon on October 6, I just registered for the highest half marathon in the country.  The Madison Marathon (http://themadisonmarathon.com/) takes place at around 9,000 ft in the Gravelly Range, southwest of Ennis, and if you're in town on July 28 you can watch me huff and puff and grunt my way through 13.1 painful miles.  After that, running 26.2 in Minneapolis in October will be a piece of cake.  Or so I tell myself.

To that end I've started going on longer and longer training runs.  Right now my options are long dirt country roads that run straight for miles on end or silly steep hiking trails that are a delightful melange of crusty snow and shoe-sucking muck.  One of the few passable trails is the Pot Trail and Trail Creek, which run into the hills to the east of Ennis Lake.  Luna and I headed up there on Wednesday armed with energy chews and bear spray, and proceeded to climb.  And climb, and climb, and climb.  There was a lot of breathless hiking and swearing on my end, while Luna kept looking back and wondering what was keeping me.

We climbed from 4500' to 7600' in about 4 and a half miles, then turned around and tumbled all the way back down the hill.  There were old bear prints frozen into the mud, amazing views of Ennis Lake spread out below us, and snowy mountains all around.  Bubba was waiting for us back at the car (running is not one of his favorite activities) and we all headed down to the Madison River for stretching and swimming, respectively.  At that point the river is deep and slow as it leaves Ennis Lake, and absolutely brimming with avian life.  I counted at least a dozen loons, sliding dark and low through the water, a pair of common mergansers with their distinctive mohawks, a singular grebe, and a large immature bald eagle pursued by a pair of noisy crows.  Things like that make running, however difficult and stupid, completely worth it.