Weekly Review Through Feb. 17

Another week in Fitness, Farm, and Life!  I just realized I never did my weekly review post for last week. Oops!  Oh well. It was a relatively quiet week for us anyway. Here's a look at this most recent week

Fitness:
February 11- rest. Daily #RLYCORE challenge pose.

Executing a side plank!

February 12- rest, again. Daily #RLYCORE challenge pose.
February 13- Evening treadmill hike, 30 minutes. Daily #RLYCORE challenge pose.
February 14- Rest. I had planned to exercise when I got home, but Jeff surprised Genevieve and I with a surf and turf dinner! Daily #RLYCORE challenge pose.

This was such a fun surprise and Jeff executed it all PERFECTLY! SOOOO GOOD!

February 15- Treadmill hike, 45 minutes.
February 16- Indoor cycling via Rouvy for 50 minutes, covering 11.3 virtual miles in Kona!
February 17- 45 minutes of snowshoeing outside with Harvey!

This week, I did a one-week-long challenge from @runnersloveyoga (find her on Instagram!) called #RLYCORE, with a new pose each day focusing on core strength. It was a lot of planks and plank variations. I am proud of myself for sticking with it and doing each pose each day!

This was a fun, quick challenge. Can't wait to see what she does in March!

Even though I didn't have a ton of dedicated workouts this week, I was still happy with my overall step counts. I've been working hard to walk more while at school, breaking up the time I'm at my desk. I actually had a great week in our Shape Up Montana team, too, and I'm on my way to reaching my goal of scoring 600 points overall throughout the three month duration.

Farm:
Wow- thanks to everyone who checked out Jeff's guest post on Country of Origin Labeling for beef and meat products! It had a great response! Jeff actually went to Helena to testify on Tuesday in front of the Ag committee. He said it was a great experience and that he learned a lot. He has also done a few radio interviews, which were aired on AM radio ag stations this week. Did anyone happen to catch any of them? We'll keep you posted on how the bill ends up, but either way, I'm really proud of Jeff for his hard work on this! 

Life:
Temps have been very frigid outside! It hasn't been above zero for a week at least, with no end to the freeze in sight! We are doing our best to entertain ourselves indoors, but we are also all getting a little cabin fever! Yesterday (Sunday) it was one whole degree above zero, so I bundled up and took Harvey outside for a snowshoe hike in our field. The windchill was still -20 or so, but we hiked right along the shelter belt and honestly, I didn't feel the wind at all! I was actually OVER dressed!

Harvey and me, enjoying some chilly sunshine!

He has the sweetest face! He was so happy to be outside!

I also attempted some yeast baking, and I'm happy to say it turned out great! I've always been pretty intimidated by baking with yeast, and yet it's something I'd like to get better at. I love the concept of possibly grinding our own flower from the wheat and grains we grow, and then baking them into bread and other treats, right here on the farm. So, this being a very simple recipe from Bettie Baker, I thought it would be a good one to try. Jeff, Genevieve and I all gave it a thumbs up! I'm definitely going to check out more recipes from her website.

That's all for this week! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend, we'll catch up again soon!

What Can You Learn from a Vizsla in the Winter?

What Can You Learn from a Vizsla in the Winter?

Lately, it’s been frigid cold in north-central Montana. We haven’t been above a HIGH of five degrees in over a week now, with the cold temps expected to last through this coming Sunday. As a farmer, my husband follows weather like it’s religion, and he said the cold air is literally air that has come from Siberia.

Needless to say, we’ve been spending most of our time indoors. At school, the kids have had indoor recess for a week now, and my treadmill has been seeing a lot of love at home. Waaaay too cold to run outside with windchills in the -20s or worse.

Harvey, our short-haired Vizsla dog has been surviving the cold as well. Vizslas are definitely NOT an outside breed in the winter. They have no undercoat and their hair is short. Harvey spends most of his time inside anyway, but even moreso when it’s this cold. I started thinking about what Harvey does to “survive” the coldest days of winter, and thought it would make a fun post! There may be a few tips for humans in there, too! 

Bundle Up!

Even though he wears a fur coat at all times (ha!) Harvey wears extra layers when it’s this cold outside. Even if he’s only going out for a short time, he wears at least a hoodie or his wool coat. Sometimes he even wears both! He’s not a huge fan of putting on the layers, but once he has them on, they don’t seem to bother him.

Frankly, I tend to agree. It can be cumbersome to bundle up and pile on the scarves, hats, mittens, coats, boots, etc. BUT I also like to be WARM! Bundle up out there, people!

Harvey wears his wool coat. Actually sort of like a cape. 

Harvey also has two different hoodies just like this one. One red, and one black.
Sometimes we layer his wool cape over a hoodie for extra warmth.

Fortify Yourself

When Harvey comes in from outside, he almost always hits his food dish first. Something about the cold seems to make him extra hungry. Even if it’s just one or two kibbles, he pretty much always gets a snack. I’d recommend the same for we humans! There’s nothing better than a warm hot chocolate, cider, or cup of tea after coming in from the cold.

Harvey was extra spoiled this past weekend, though, as Jeff and I were working on processing deer meat into jerky. Harvey was very interested in what we were doing, and in waiting for the odd piece of ground venison to drop!

Jeff is loading a jerky gun and is about to squeeze it out onto the dehydrator tray.
Harvey is VERY interested in these proceedings. 

Find a Warm Place to Lie

Harvey excels at finding the warmest places to lay down. Whether bundled up on “his chair,” or curled up on the rug in front of the kitchen sink… which is conveniently located right under a warm air vent… Harvey knows just where to go to warm up!

Seriously... look at that face!

He also has already claimed this old quilt I was finishing up as his own. He likes blankets and furniture that are the same color family as his coat, I think!

 

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been keeping blankets in heavy rotation during these cold days. Harvey is onto something yet again!

Exercise Indoors

When temps are sub-zero and wind chills are dangerously low, it’s time to take the exercise regimen indoors. On a typical nice day, Harvey gets at least 30-60 minutes of off-leash exercise pretty much daily, whether running or walking with us outside. Vizslas need A LOT of exercise, and this gets challenging when it’s so cold outside. Harvey will typically go out and “help” Jeff with some farm chores, and romp in the snow while doing so, but this doesn’t really cut a dent in his energy level. We have to get a little creative with keeping him entertained and helping him burn off steam inside.

Harvey does have his toy crate, but frankly prefers plastic water bottles over just about any dog toy you could buy. We’ll toss some of these around the room for him to pounce on and tackle.

Another favorite activity of Harvey’s is wrestling with Jeff, and something we call “back and forth,” which is where Jeff and I each go to different places in the house, and then call Harvey to us. He’ll go tearing at full speed from one of us, back to the other, and back and forth again and again. Preferably, one of us will be upstairs in the living room and the other downstairs somewhere in the basement. Those stairs really tire him out after several trips at full speed!

Once again, Harvey is on to something. Jeff and I have both been exercising indoors lately. In between games of Back and Forth with Harvey, which is in itself fairly tiring, we’re using our treadmill or elliptical and doing other things inside. You can always get creative and find ways to stay in shape, even if it means staying inside.

Distractions

Even Harvey can be distracted from the cold outside by things like Christmas decorating and wrapping presents.

 

Ok… he was definitely more interested in attacking the wrapping paper tube than in wrapping presents! People can definitely stay busy with all the trappings of Christmas, too, and maybe even forget that it’s too cold outside to do anything fun anyway… right?

Settle In for the Night

At the end of the day, it’s always nice to snuggle in to a warm, soft dog bed…

Who am I kidding?! Harvey sleeps in the people bed! It works out great for us, too, because he’s like a little space heater!

Stay warm out there, people! And learn from a Vizsla that the coldest days of winter are survivable with a little creativity! 

Weekly Review through July 23

Apparently, for the summer I'm adopting an every-other week schedule to post a weekly review... no matter! Enjoy the happenings in fitness, farm, and life!!


Fitness
The biggest fitness accomplishment of the past two weeks (and the summer, and the year...) is the completion of my first traithlon, on the 17th. The week leading up to the race was a taper week, and I took it easy for a few days after the race, too, before starting to ease gently into running. Even so, I kept it pretty light with just some short runs at an easy pace. I'm planning on a 10K at the end of August, so I'll be ramping up a bit again, soon.

Also, even though the triathlon training is done, I don't want to completely forego my swimming and biking. Swimming especially is something I really love and didn't realize how much I missed it until I started doing it again with my tri training. I'd like to continue to sneak over to the pool when I can, although I probably wouldn't go completely out of my way for it. Hard to justify the drive. Anyway, check out how the weeks went and how the year is adding up!

July 10-16
Sunday- complete rest.
Monday- 2000 yards swimming in Havre
Tuesday- 4.2 mile easy run.

Harvey after our run on Tuesday. 

Wednesday- 8.2 mile bike, 2 mile hike
Thursday- rest.
Friday- 3 mile easy run.
Saturday- Complete rest. Day before triathlon!

July 17-23
Sunday- Montana Women's Triathlon! 500 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run. Read Full Race Review HERE!

Monday- Rest. Obviously.
Tuesday- 4.4 mile hike with Jeff most of the way up Mount Helena.

Wednesday- Rest.
Thursday- 3.2 mile run.
Friday- 30 minutes HIIT and elliptical machine
Saturday- 3.1 mile easy run.

Year to Date:
Running: 329.65
Walking/Hiking: 93.6 miles 
Yoga: 1190 min 
CC-Ski: 500 min / 14.1 miles *Done for the season
Alpine Ski: 3 days *Done for the season
Mountain bike: 174.6
Swimming: 11500 yards

Our Golden Retriever, Abby, out in the pasture. 

Farm-
We continue to be very busy on the farm. It is summer, to that's sort of how this works! The biggest projects have been baling hay, and a mix of weed control methods in our farm fields including both spray and cultivating. Wheat prices are terrible right now, so it's hard to justify spraying weeds when the product doesn't work anyway. We've been doing a lot more summer-fallowing this year, which is basically just plowing our fallow fields. That's not completely ideal either because we lose moisture when we break ground, and in this high plains desert, we can't always recoup that moisture.

A few days ago, we also brought our cow herd in from pasture and separated the bulls out from the cows. Party's over, men! ;) We also treated them all for flies, and then we drove them back out to pasture. I helped with this process when we worked them in the corrals. I'm happy to report that there were no incidents with gates this time! The cows and calves look really good. Validation of this came yesterday, actually, when our cows sold in a video auction. Cattle prices aren't great, either, but our calves sold for higher than many other groups in the sale and they looked great in the video. The sale is an auction, but the buyer was the same person who bought our calves last year. Repeat business is as pretty good sign that you're raising your calves right, so that felt pretty good.

The herd returns to pasture after the bulls were separated and they were treated for flies.

You can see the video of our calves that was used in the sale by CLICKING HERE. We will continue to keep and feed the calves, in other words they'll stay with their mamas, until mid October when they are shipped.

Lastly, harvest is nearing closer and closer on our farm. Jeff and Tom are helping some of our neighbors cut their winter wheat right now because we don't have anything ripe yet. Soon we will, though, and the craziness will begin!

Life- 
I have been working a bit on starting to promote the race we hold on our farm, called 5K On The Farm. You can find more info on the website, on our RunSignUp page, and on our Facebook Page.

Otherwise, I stay busy with keeping the garden alive in this dry heat! haha. Right now our raspberries are on, so I've been out to pick raspberries every other day or every third day or so. Such a fun summer treat! I've also been prepping some freezer meals for the busy days of harvest.

Chicken enchiladas, white chicken lasagna, and beef and cheese manicotti. It's a start, anyway!

How has your summer been going?! I can't believe it's almost August... 

Guest Post by Harvey: Running with Mom

It's been a while since Harvey has done a guest post on the blog, and after our run yesterday, he thought it was time he share his point of view again. Harvey is getting to be a middle-aged dog-- he'll be six in August. He's getting a little more particular about things as he ages, but he still loves to run. I hope you enjoy this post from Harvey!

Hi Everyone! It's Harvey, here! Harvey T. Dog. Mom says the "T" stands for "the," which is kind of boring. Why didn't they give me an actual middle name? I'm a person, after all! I suppose it's OK though because I also have some cool nicknames. My people sometimes call me Harvinator, and Red Rocket, and Harv McGarv, and lots of times they just call me Buddy. I like all my names and I love my people. They can call me whatever I want, I just want to be with them.

One thing I love about my people is that they take me on a lot of runs and walks out on the farm where we live. Yesterday, my mom took me on a run and I had so much fun, I wanted to share it with you and tell you all about it, from my perspective! I love to run. 

I knew we were going for a run before Mom even said the word run. I knew it because she had her special shoes on that means we're going for a run. When Mom or Dad put their shoes on, I know it's almost time to go and I like to try to help them get ready faster by doing my happy dance and jumping on them and putting my head right where their hands are. I just get SO EXCITED to run!

Mom takes forevvvvver to get ready to run. She likes to stretch and do other silly exercises before she runs. Not me. I'm ready to go all the time. I am always ready to run. When Mom was finally ready, she said "Let's go!" and I ran out ahead. I like to be first. I have to be first. 

Mom says I should tell you that I don't wear a leash or collar when we run. I almost never wear my leash or collar except when we go to town. Honestly, I don't really like going to town that much. I like my farm where I can run free. I would never, ever leave my people and we barely ever see any other cars when we run, so Mom says she's not worried about me out in the country. That's good because I hate wearing a leash. This Vizsla cannot be contained! 

Lately, I've been becoming more choosy about when I like to run with my Mom. If it's too dark, or if it's too hot, or if it's the same old boring route she almost always runs, I don't like to go as much. Also if it's too windy. Unless I'm really, really excited and it's been a long time since I've had a run, I'm getting a bit more picky. This time was one of those times. I was excited at first, but then Mom was headed down the same old boring path. Ugh. Why doesn't she just run out in the fields and grass like me? Who needs roads?!  I decided to tell her how displeased I was with her route selection by stopping in the middle of the road and sitting down. Mom seemed nonplussed. She acted like she really wanted to run. Uh... Mom? This road is the same as it's ALWAYS been! Chill out! 

I was just about ready to just turn around and go home when Mom said that maybe I could "Get the bird!" Oh boy! Oh boy! I LOVE to get the bird! Getting the bird is one of my most favorite things in the whole world! Mom pointed a little ways up the road, and I began to sniff... and she was RIGHT! There WAS a bird there! I could smell him with my nose and I knew it was the bird that Mom and Dad call a Hun (Hungarian Partridge). I showed her where they were by giving  my special point, and then she told me to "Get 'em!" and I pounced and not just one bird, but a whole big bunch of birds flew up and I got to chase them and it was so, so fun! Guys, I got the birds! I was so happy! I was so proud of myself. Mom seemed happy too, especially because after that I was excited about running again, even on this boring old road. Mom kept going and I stayed right with her because clearly she knows where the birds are at and maybe she could find me another bird. 

Then Mom did something that surprised me. Instead of going straight down the road like she always does almost every single time we run this way, she did something that I wasn't expecting and she TURNED and started running along in the grass! Mom said it was because the farmers who own this field mowed the grass next to the field so it was short enough for her to run there. Me, I don't care how tall the grass is, I just run. I was so excited that Mom turned here that I sprinted way ahead!

The short grass in the middle is where my Mom ran. I ran all around. On the right side is a field of winter wheat. It's almost ripe and it kind of rattles when I run through it. I have to run/jump when the wheat is high because it's taller than I am! Mom says I look like a mule deer when I do that. We didn't see any deer on this run, though, but sometimes we do. 

 Just a little bit after my mom stopped to puparazzi my picture (again!) she asked me if I knew where the bird was. So, I began to use my nose again and sniff around, and there they were right there in the wheat! Guys, I got the bird AGAIN! Two times in one run I got to point a bird and then flush him and then chase him! Mom likes it when I chase the birds because she says it gets me really tired out. She's probably right, but it's just so, so, so much fun. I am pretty much the best hunter that I know.

I don't know why Mom took this picture of the alfalfa. I guess she thought it was pretty. I don't know why she wasn't taking a picture of me. I'm the star of the show, after all. I'm not even in this picture!

Moving on to my favorite part of the run. Guys, I don't know if you know this, but we dogs really love to roll in things that smell good to us. My nose told me that something dead was laying in the alfalfa field next to the road where my mom was running, so I took off and found it and I rolled and rolled and rolled all over the dead thing! I was so happy to roll on it! I was overjoyed! Guys, it smelled so good to me! My Mom said it smelled horrible and she could smell it from the road, but, oh man, guys, I thought it smelled amazing! Plus, if I roll all around in something that smells great like that, then it covers up my normal dog smell and I can hunt better without my prey knowing that I'm coming! After rolling on the dead thing, I could be even better than the best hunter!

 I ran off ahead again, but Mom had stopped to wait for Abby, my dog friend, who also was rolling on the dead thing. I decided to head back and make sure Mom was OK. She didn't pet me when I got there, though, and she called me "Stinky," which isn't one of my usual nicknames.

 Mom took us on a little further, right up to this creek. She told me to go down and get some water. She said she hoped it would make my dead thing smell go away. Whatever, Mom. I was thirsty and hot, so the water looked good. I decided all on my own that I wanted to wade into the water. I don't like to swim because I like my paws to be on solid ground, but I had a good drink and I got all wet and I felt so good! Mom says this is one of her favorite views on the farm.

 After I got out of the water, I was all wet and it felt so good! I think Mom was disappointed though because now I smelled like dead thing AND yucky creek water. That's just her opinion though. Obviously, I smelled great! And, I'm so handsome. I'm pretty much the best that I know.

 Finally, Mom said "Let's go home to our house," and I knew the way, so I decided to lead. There were a lot of hills, so I stayed on the road because it's the easiest path. I wanted to make sure Mom could see me. She seemed like she was really struggling. I'm faster than she is, but I looked back to check and make sure she was OK and to see if she was still coming. Even though my Mom is slower than me, she's getting faster.

 Finally, we made it home and Mom gave me some pets behind my hears, even though she was still calling me Stinky. She said it didn't matter because she was going to shower anyway and then she said that I was going to have a bath. I hate baths. The best part of having a bath is when it is over. Usually I get a treat after I have a bath. I guess that's one downside of living on the farm- I have a lot of baths.

 Guys, I just want you to know that I love to run and get the birds and go places on the farm with my people. Even though I wasn't too sure about this run at first, I made the right decision to stick it out. I got to get the bird twice, and I got to roll in a dead thing, and I got to cool off in the creek. This was pretty much an epic run for me! I'm so glad my people take me running and hunting and that we live in the country so I don't have to wear my leash and I can go wherever I want!

Also, I wanted to show you this picture my Mom took of me in my little pickup. Mom and Dad call it the Ranger, but it's actually my little pickup. If my little pickup is going somewhere, I'm going too. And I'm sitting in the front, because I'm a person, and I'm important. I love my little pickup.

After our run and after my bath (ugh!) I was so happy to just lay down on the porch in the sunshine. Mom says a tired Vizsla is a happy Vizsla-- she's probably right. :) Catch you later, everyone! Harvey T. Dog, signing out!

I hope you enjoyed Harvey's guest post about running on the farm! If you'd like to read the other post he did, you can find it by CLICKING HERE! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Weekly Review May 1-7

This was possibly the busiest week of track and field to date with two meets and an overnight trip, coinciding with the biggest push of farm work we've seen yet this year, and the start of my Triathlon training. Read on!

Harvey on the trail!

Fitness
First week of May and first week of Triathlon training this week. Really, it didn't look much different from a normal week of training for me. Here's what went down:

Sunday- AWESOME 6.4 mile trail run through our pastures. At times, I was really bushwacking it, but it just felt so good to be out there. I did occasionally give worry to the thought of ticks and rattlesnakes, but never did have any run-ins. I took a lot of photos.

Taking a photo break on a trail run through the pasture.

Monday- My birthday, and a track meet in Rudyard. No specific exercise, but, you know, track meets are tiring.

Tuesday- Junior High track meet in Havre. I got up early and put in a few miles before school with dogs, so I had my workout covered.

Wednesday- I ran after school with one of our track athletes. Just an easy 3.4 miles. We talked a little about her plans for potentially running track or cross country collegiately after high school. Good stuff. Also, 15 min yoga.


Thursday- rest.

Friday- Triathlon "mini brick" workout. 4 miles on bike, followed by about 1.5 miles of running. Read more detail about my tri training and goals in my Tri Tuesday post!!

Awkward bike photo... as if there's any other way.

Saturday- I was out of town with our track team for the weekend. We took some of them to the Spartan race, and I was a chaperon, but I did manage a short trail run early in the morning on Saturday. 2.5 miles on a forest service road in Swan Lake, MT. Uphill was tough. Downhill was fun!

Trailhead. Started off pretty mellow uphill for about 100 meters, then it was like the death march!

Here's my YTD Stats through May 7:
Running: 201.5 miles (16.4 miles last week! For me, that's more than normal)
Walking/Hiking: 65.7 miles 
Yoga: 930 min <-- I gained 110 minutes of yoga last week! Wow!
CC-Ski: 500 min / 14.1 miles *Done for the season
Alpine Ski: 3 days *Done for the season
Mountain bike: 38 miles

Farm
I was SUPER BUSY with track this past week with two meets and the Spartan trip, but the farm was just as busy. The guys worked really, really hard and put in some very long days to get our spring seeding efforts more or less wrapped up. There will be a few places they'll have to go back and fill in later- places that were too wet to seed the first time around. There is also our organic farmland yet to seed, and I'll write a bit more about that in a future post. The guys really wanted to roll through seeding some major acres and get it done before the next rain storm, which hit Sunday night. They took turns running the tractor/airdrill (seeder) and helping fill the drill, driving truck, etc. The tractor ran from 6:00 a.m to 11:00 p.m. in those last few days until they were done. That's a lot of tractor time! I know they are glad to have it done, and to have put in the hours.

Pea seedlings. Aren't they cute?!

This year, we seeded yellow field peas, barley, and spring wheat, along with a bit of hay. So far, we've had a rainy start to the growing season, which bodes well for the success of the crops.

Life
Last Monday was my birthday. I turned 32. I don't feel like I'm 32 in a lot of ways- I feel younger. I guess that's a good thing. We didn't do much to celebrate my birthday since Jeff was working and I was at a track meet. I did talk to my parents on Sunday, the day before, and I got some nice cards and small gifts. All in all, it was a good day!

The other big thing for me last week was attending the Spartan race with some of the track team. The race was in Big Fork, MT. They held a Spartan Beast race on Saturday and the Spartan Sprint on Sunday. Myself and our head track coach drove a group of seven high school track athletes over on Friday (about a 5 hour drive), and we camped/stayed at the cabin of a local community member for two nights. We all spent the day on Saturday volunteering at the Beast race for 12 hour shifts. Then, on Sunday, five of the kids participated in the Spartan Sprint race. The rest of us watched, cheered, and took pictures. It was a busy, but fun, event. I will plan on doing a separate post about it-- there is a lot to say about the Spartan experience!

Checking in at the Volunteer tent, about to begin the Spartan experience.

How was your week last week, everyone?

Horseshoe bend in Sage Creek, in our pasture.

Shape Up Montana "Virtual" 5K Fun Run Review

For the fourth consecutive year, my Montana family and I are participating in Shape Up Montana. It's a three-month fitness and nutrition program offered through Big Sky State Games. Each team member earns points for their team based on the activity they do. Teams compete against each other based on an average points-per-person comparison. This year, in addition to participating on my own team, I also helped organize and coordinate three teams at the school where I work. All of our teams are having a lot of fun getting in shape through friendly competition.

Registered Shape Up Montana participants receive a t-shirt and a printable bib to wear for the Fun Run.

Each week, Shape Up Montana issues a different Weekly Challenge. The week of March 21-27, the challenge was to participate in a Virtual 5K Run/Walk. In the past, my family team has done this together on the farm. This year, I thought it would be cool to organize a fun run on a slightly larger scale and invite anyone from any of our area teams to join. So, I organized a very informal "All-Comers 5K Fun Run/Walk," which was held this past Saturday of Easter weekend. It was a free, un-timed event for anyone to come and do, whether they are in Shape Up or not. No t-shirts, no race bibs, no swag, no post-race snacks. Just fitness and community.

With 36 people participating in Shape Up Montana on our four local teams, I thought there'd be a decent chance that some people would want to come and do it together, but I didn't really know what to expect for turnout.

Jeff and I arrived in town a little past 9:00 a.m. and marked the course with orange spray paint for the run/walk, which would start at 10:00. Around 9:15 or so, the first participants began to show up. You may recall that I'm one of the Track and Field coaches for our High School team. As coaches, we decided that the student-athletes could participate in the Fun Run as a optional track practice-- these were the first attendees to arrive. I ended up having eight High School and two Junior High tracksters participate in the Fun Run, which I thought was pretty cool.

Here's the route. We started in front of the school and went around the block once, then around "The Loop" once before finishing back in front of the school. 

We warmed up as a team in the gym, and as it began to approach 10:00 a.m., other community members, Shape Up Montana participants, family, and friends began to trickle in. I didn't count, but I'd estimate we had a turnout of 35-40 people. I consider that to be pretty successful. It was about 35 degrees outside with a little bit of wind, so I don't know whether that affected anyone's decision to come out or not, but overall, I thought that was pretty good weather for this time of year.

I gathered everyone at the start/finish line a little before 10, thanked them for coming, explained what Shape Up Montana is and described the route we'd be taking, and then we were off!

Jeff and I ran very close to the same pace, and Harvey ran with us, too. We decided this time to keep him off-leash and see how he would do. He stayed near both of us the entire race, and he had the good sense to do "his business" out in a farm field where we wouldn't have to pick it up. Harvey was a little nervous with all the people gathered around at the start of the race, but once we started running, he seemed to enjoy himself. If we continue to take him to fun runs, I'm hoping we can continue to do it off-leash. After the race, Harvey enjoyed lots of pets and scratches from the track kids and other race participants. And, he was the First Place Dog (aka only dog)- I think that sealed the deal for him having a nice time!

As far as my own "race," well, I struggled to catch my wind and the whole three mile run really felt like it took more effort than normal. I timed myself using my Strava app and I finished in 28:51, which is on the slower side for me. To be fair, I didn't really warm up adequately, and I had slept very poorly the night before, so maybe that's why I didn't run that fast. Either way, the event was more about other people having a good time than it was for me to get a PR or anything like that, so it didn't bother me too much.

Jeff was really happy with his time, which was about five seconds behind mine. He has been working really hard to bring his 5K times down, and has had a lot of success on the treadmill that hasn't translated outside. This "race" was a good confidence booster for him, and a new outdoor PR!

Jeff and I waited around the finish line for other people to reel it in. I cheered especially loud for my track athletes as they crossed the line. Our season has just begun, and many of them are not really in shape to run 3.1 miles yet, but their performances really impressed me. We even had a few throwers who came and ran and did very well. As soon as all the track kids came in, we went back in the gym to static stretch as a team and I congratulated them on a job well done.

Then, I headed back outside to watch more people finish and cheer on family members- Tom and Carol both walked it. Afterwards, Jeff and I joined them and another group of walkers at the Cafe for some post-race fueling.

All in all, I consider the event to be a great success. I organized it with minimal effort and tagged it as a Free, All-Comers Fun Run/Walk. No goody bags, no t-shirts, no bibs, no awards or prizes, no post-race snacks-- just fitness and community. I am really pleased with the turnout on a cool day with minimal advertising. All in all, the numbers were pretty good. As I said, we had 10 track athletes, plus 9 or 10 Shape Up Montana participants, and many other community members. Most of all, everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and to be glad they had come out. To me, that is the most satisfying feeling- that I helped organize an event to build community through fitness and exercises. Mission: accomplished!

Getting ready for the start of the run!

Sorting Cows for Calving

Yesterday, I stayed home from school to help Jeff with some work on the farm. I have a bunch of use'em or lose'em personal days I need to use before the schoolyear ends, and we had lots to do to get ready for calving. Our tasks for the day included tagging our first calves, sorting all the expecting cows and heifers into groups in the corrals, feeding bales, and hauling hay.

Our first step was tagging the three calves that had already been born.

 We corralled the three pairs of mamas and calves in a small pen, then one by one Jeff would bring a calf to the ground and I would attempt to hold it down. Jeff would then use a scale tape to get an approximate weight of each calf, check for horns that might be starting to grow, and prep and install the ear tag. We had one bull calf that had to be banded, too. This process went pretty smoothly and without incident. One mama cow came up and really sniffed me pretty intensely while I was holding her calf down, but she wasn't aggressive at all.


Next, we trailed the rest of the herd of cows into the corrals and began the sorting process. This also went overall very smoothly. Jeff had lured them into the corrals with a bale of hay and then we trapped them. We took groups of about 20 animals at a time into our sorting lane and split them off into groups of "experienced cows," and "young cows." It's nice to keep them separate because the young cows- heifers and second-time calvers- are the ones who are more likely to need assistance with calving. It makes walking through the bunches and doing checks a little easier.

Once we had split the two groups apart, we further split the older cows up, sorting out animals we thought would be calving later on in the season. No need to include the in the big group being checked all the time if they're not going to go for a while anyway. Plus, it's nice to separate them out for the sake of space. Too many animals in a pen can lead to confusion and chaos. As calves are born, we'll tag them and kick the pairs out into the larger calving pen and eventually will move some of the late-calvers into the main calving pen in their place.

If only we could have the cows self-sort by filling out a form like this...

Photo from my friend Adria, who I think found it on Facebook.
Let's ignore that the wrong version of "your" was used in this poster.
I suppose cows don't know the difference anyway...

The entire sorting process took about two hours. Then, Jeff used a tractor to put hay bales in the feeders in each pen. I helped by opening/closing gates and cutting twine off the bales.

Almost ready to drop a bale into this feeder.
Don't worry-- the cows will get their heads out of the way!

Munching on fresh eats!

Again, the cow sorting process went really well. Sometimes sorting animals can be tense and stressful. They're pretty large creatures and at times can be stubborn. While our animals are really pretty tame and used to being around people, they still are animals and can be unpredictable. Additionally, sometimes it's hard for someone who hasn't grown up around animals to learn the best ways to move and interact in the corrals. Likewise, it can be hard for people who HAVE grown up with that experience to communicate clearly to a novice what it is exactly that they want or need that person to do. We only had a few brief moments of snapping at each other, and that was usually because one of us didn't hear what the other had said, or misinterpreted. Jeff complimented me and said that he could tell that I've learned a lot and my instincts around the cows have improved. That made me feel good. :)

Later in the day, I saw this from PinkTractor.com on Facebook...

I can't imagine that statistic is anywhere close to true. Yes, there are moments when people get hot and say things they wouldn't normally say when they're stressed, sorting cows. I tend to be more optimistic about it and would like to think that working through a stressful time might actually make a marriage stronger. 

When we ended our time in the corrals, we were both smiling. 

Jeff snapped this photo of me. Thanks, Jeff!

After the cow sorting and feeding process, Jeff and I had a little lunch and set about our afternoon task of hauling some hay from our former yard at Stan's over here to the corrals. I wasn't as involved in this process, but I did help a bit with shuttling vehicles. Notably, the red truck. Of course, Harvey wouldn't be denied an opportunity to ride along!

As for the rest of this weekend, I'm off to Bozeman for a baby shower, leaving Jeff at home alone. We've had four calves so far (there was another one born yesterday afternoon after our day of sorting- I guess we jostled one loose!) but it doesn't look like too many more are imminent. The weather's going to be good, too, so Jeff should be OK on his own. 

As for a re-launch of the blog with new URL, I'm thinking that will happen within two to three posts. I think I'd like to coincide it with my 400th blog post. This is post 398, I believe. Stay tuned! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!