Urban Sled Training and Multi-Tasking

4-5 hour sled pull on the training calendar and the list of chores grows. Solution: Urban sled pulling and multi-tasking. Dropped off van downtown for the overdue oil change and began the slog down 5th Avenue pre-light. Worked on the power walk and began returning phone calls ( I had made a list of calls received DAYS ago). First stop Costco. Strategy: power walk for an hour or so and then add weight. Arrived at Costco 30 minutes prior to opening so  I continued down Debarr heading east.  Spied a woman walking erratically along the side walk, but I powered by and said, "How's it goin'?" Her reply, "You wanna get pushed into the street?" Nope I didn't, so I made a beeline for the trails.

Ahhh, better. I'd  prefer the bull moose that appeared on the trail in the dark earlier that morning on our morning run over some whack job threatening bodily harm any day. But the before -mentioned list needed attending to, so back onto the road system I went.

Arrived at Costco, threw the sled in the cart and off I went. Kimchi, nuts, cheese, coconut, salami, check. One of the highlights of the day came when the receipt checker watched me load my groceries into my dry bag and my dry bag into my sled and said, "You ain't got no kids!" Sure I do. I have two girls. " Well. look at you, you got your 16 year old body back. You must be healthy. You eat bad food?" Sure. "What's your bad food? Lasagna?" I laughed.  Holding her arms up, as if to model, "Well my bad food is fried chicken, can you tell? You don't eat no fried chicken." I'd eat fried chicken." Well, I'd make you some."

Checking the area for the whack job that wanted to throw me in the street, I proceeded with caution down Bragaw. Two folks waiting at the bus stop informed me that I had " a long way to go to get all that stuff to China" and with that I picked up the pace and trotted onto the trail for a break from human contact.

It was then my phone rang and thus began the parent/ teacher conference. I talked shop with one of my parents from Northern Lights and Bragaw all the way to Valley of the Moon. Not sure of how long it lasted in time, but I'd say it was a 2.5 mile conference.

Passed my exit off the Chester Creek Trail while discussing educational interventions, so I had to back track a bit to get to the bank. Lifted and carried my Costco grocery-laden sled into the bank and asked the security guard to keep an eye while I made a deposit and used the restroom and from there I hit the school office on Fireweed to make school copies for the week.

My errands were now done and so it was time to head toward afternoon coffee. I made my way North on A and hopped back on the Chester Creek Trail.

It was about this time ( 4 hours into the pull) that I remembered I was pulling the sled and it was heavy. The distractions of errands and short stops were a nice break from the monotony of dragging the liability behind me. Moments later, pulling into Ship Creek, I caught a glimpse of the mountains and pined for a quiet, distraction-free trail.

BUT...I was very close to coffee. The final destination before the last slog back to Alaska Sales and Service.

A 20 oz. Americano with WHIPPED cream made the sled dragging on concrete worthwhile. I didn't even think  about the challenge of neatly manicured, snow-free sidewalks downtown. 

By 2:30 I was back to pick up the van. Successful day. About 6 hours of sled pulling and multiple to-dos checked off my list.