Back on track

Well after weekends of labor I’m about done with my backyard renovation. Beside the trip to the Big Ditch, I’ve done little running of late. This was mostly due to my injury and then the backyard project. When I did run I was usually too broken down from the digging, etc to go far. Between the constant physical work and planning I was pretty drained mentally and physically.

This Friday I should complete the path and patio. The flagstones are dry set in sand over a gravel base. Instead of fill sand for the joints like I did in the backyard pre-home addition. I’ll be using polymeric sand this go around. When you wet the polymeric sand it hardens like mortar, (nice). This should be my last back yard renovation. This is the 2nd time in 10yrs I’ve had to renovate my backyard.

All that will remain to complete the project is a little more planting, a drip system, low voltage lights and ground cover. Lily and I also bought a HUGE 6ft fountain at Potteryworld that I have to hook up. (Ok so I still have a lot to do, but the labor intensive stuff is done).

My plan now is to get back on track with some consistent running and recover my lost fitness. A plus to all this work has been a little boost to my muscular strength. You don’t know how weak you are till you try to dig and shovel for days and hours on end.

I will probably pass on the Auburn 50K in favor of training. The Canyons are calling for me to go run them.

In June my next training group will be starting up. I’m becoming anxious for this to get going. The structure the training group gives me is helpful to me. It will be interesting to see what the new group will be like. If you or someone you know is interested check here: Fleet Feet Fair Oaks

Tahoe Rim 50 mile will be my next event as I build to the Wildest 100K in August.

Here are some pictures of what I’ve been up to:

Here what things looked like early on, you can see one messed up backyard:

Then it changed:

This is the BBQ patio add on, the installer is a stud:

The rough lay out of the stones, the big ones are 3-4ft wide and F*^n heavy:

What I looked like at the end of each day:

This weekend I'll have some great pic's of the finished patio and walkway.

AB