Fall

Fall has begun in West Virginia, despite my pleading for several more weeks of warm sunshine filled mornings.  We have already had temps dip down into the forties, and I turned the heat on a few nights ago.  There is an oak tree outside my office at work and everyday I see more and more leaves turn.  The trail near our house that we normally run during the week has more and more leaves on it each day, which drives me crazy cause I trip on the rocks and roots hiding beneath them.  I have a love hate relationship with the fall.  After living in the eternal summer town of San Luis Obispo for five years its hard to when the reality that winter is coming which means being cooped up indoors sets in.  Sure, we will go run/snowshoe/hike etc, but you can't enjoy a lazy afternoon in a lounge chair, or a cool evening watching the fireflies.   But the cool weather and the crisp breezes remind me of the Falls in the mountains of northern California that made Fall my favorite season as a kid.

Clay ran the Boulder marathon over Labor Day, and did really well for not having a lot of training him.  He is still working on a race report.

Our life has had some curves in it the last month or so.  Clay's dad went to the doctor about a month ago with some chest pain.  We thought it was maybe a cracked rib or pulled muscle.  It turned out he had a mass in his lung.  After several appts. with the world class facility at University of Virginia in Charlottesville, they decided that everything in his lymph nodes was ok, but they thought the mass was probably cancer, and needed to take out the middle lobe of his lung.  They did the procedure on Friday, Clay went with his mom to wait with her, and to our answered prayers, once they got the mass under a microscope, it appeared as just an abscess, not cancer.   He still has a long road to recovery will be at UVA until at least Tuesday, but he did sign up to run the Boston marathon again this year so having that to look forward and work toward will keep him going, he really is a very talented and motivated runner.

After Clay's long day waiting at the hospital with his mom, he drove him, getting home at 10:30.  We woke up the next morning to drive down to Kingsport, TN for a 15 mile trail race.  I have not been running much lately so I did not run.  I have been battling some plantar faciaitis for nearly a year now, but hope and think I am recovering and starting to talk with Clay about hopefully doing my first 50k next fall (2012).  (I want to run a 50k before we have kids).  Anyways Clay ran a really great race for having a long and emotional week.  He got 2nd place, getting beat by a mere ten seconds or so.  He held first place for quite awhile but got passed in the last mile.  The race was held at Bays Mountain Park which is a sort of nature park with wildlife exhibits (wolves, deer, bobcat, river otters, owls, etc).  They have lots of great trails and a lake.  I just hiked around and sat and read while Clay ran.  Below are some pictures.  Also, on our way back up to Beckley we stopped and ate at our new favorite restaurant! The Harvest Table, is located in Meadowview, VA and is associated with Barbara Kingsolver and her book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  They specialize in serving food produced locally.

Clay finishing the race

A lilly pond