Puppy Pictures!

Here he is! After stringing all of you along for many weeks I thought I'd post a baby pic of my new little munchkin. Love his face. You can't appriciate how teensy he was because I am roughly the size and shape of a 5th grader. But hot damn, if he is not cute then I don't know what is!

We have not seen the sun in 14 days.
Ah well, who needs it?
To spare you all from my weather musings (and yes, I'm from Maine! ALL we do is moan about the weather. Seriously, we enjoy it!) I'll just post more puppy pics. Prepare to DIE from THE CUTE!

Here he is! Lester Danger my-last-name. Doing what he did best for the first few days, which was to sleep under a chair with a friend.



Lester playing with his big bro Rufus. Clearly badass.

AKKKK SO CUTE! 8 weeks old playing in the yard. Well... sitting...

Another post that has nothing to do with running.

We all read running blogs for the non running chit chat, correct?

I was trying to remember why I like living here and who even likes the snow, I mean REALLY? WHO? Then I remembered who.


This Guy! My best friend! Worlds cutest Doggie!

"My Mom says I'm slow but I'm NOT! I'm speedy and graceful with my mouth of snow, I have legs like a gazelle and the heart of a champion! And epic coordination!!"

WHOOPS!!! So much for that elegant and graceful way of running....
HAHAHAHA!!!

Too bad that I don't enjoy the winter as much as Mister Rufus does. He gets pretty pumped about the whole mess and runs around like a crazy pants yelling "BALL! BALL!" like a weirdo. Love his little face.....
(I guess I run around like a weirdo too though, screaming CANDY! CANDY! BEER! PIZZA!" so perhaps it runs in the family, How disturbing.)

Anywhoo. Back on topic tomorrow with stories of mileage in the frozen Death On Mount Everest weather conditions!

No such thing as TGIF.... and other nonsense....

Most people look forward to the weekend, TGIF and all that jazz.
Me? I work like a fricking maniac on the weekends (and most days of the week too, because why be relaxing, seeing the Huz, eating, playing with the yellow dog when you can WORK!)
When Monday rolls around I'm typically quite relieved, especially now that school is back in session. During the summers my days are more typical- insanity rules Mon-Fri and then my weekends are a tad more laid back. As in, I might be coaching (or running a race, GO MEE) or spending 27 hours each day picking up the mess that the week has left behind and preparing for the mess that the next week is going to bring! This time of year brings madness on the weekends to the point where I don't have time to stop to eat (tragic) find my extra warm mittens (the horror!) or to go pee (not so awesome dudes.)

I had zero plans to run this weekend since I had zero time and was on my feet from the ass crack of dawn to the dead of night every day. After my death march of a run that you all heard about in my last blog I wasn't pleased- but managed a much improved 4 miles the next day.

Then?? My ankle started killing me. Which directly irritated my SHIN. What WHAT?? I had to reflect for a bit on my shenanigans and what I possibly could have done to myself that I had blocked out, forgotten, or just not noticed. My suspicion is that I must have given it a good twist when I fell in a hole.. Yes, I fell in a hole- so what? It could happen to anyone. Stop laughing. Yesterday I barely noticed it anymore but still could feel a twinge so I took all the doggies for a few miles of walking exercise, stretched that sucker out and crossed my fingers to get back in the running shoes today.

One thing I've learned this year: If something hurts in an abnormal way stay the EFF OFF IT for a few days (not taking into consideration the 1.2 million miles of moving around I do while working. That doesn't count.) I think it's better to miss 1 extra day then six weeks, DUH!

Counting down to the 10K on January 1st. Trying not to feel pressure/impending doom/flabby and unfit. In my epic "training plan" I listed "not getting sick or hurt" tops of the list as far as being prepared goes. Hopefully disaster has been averted.

In which I get very, VERY serious about my running skillzzz.

May had arrived all full of sunshine and flowers. And Spring stuff. After completing the C25K (more or less) in 3 weeks (give or take) I was prepared to claim my spot alongside the champions (obvi.)
I deemed it fully appropriate to leave my slow yellow dog home and to systematically add a few minutes to the old run each day/ish. I was counting down the days to my race and already fearing that I would finish in dead last place, partially broken and fully unconscious. It was a very worrying time for me....

May 5th, 2010: 2.2 miles 25:54 for a pace of 11:46 "A good run. Getting better. Clearly Olympic bound."

May 7th, 2010: 2.4 miles 27:00 pace of 11:15 "A CRAP run today." Could hardly do it and heaved and wheezed terribly. Will have to take up knitting..."

May 11th, 2010: 2.4 miles, 26:00 pace of 10:50 "A miracle occurred and I ran less craptastically today."

May 13th, 2010: 2.5 miles, 26:00 pace of 10:24 "I am obviously on some kind of freakish and advanced learning curve."

May 18th, 2010: 2.7 miles, 27:00 pace of 10:00 "Ran a different route today in very warm (almost 80) weather. Legs/ breathing felt pretty good although the ground was very uneven. Just in a bad headspace for running today. Never really got happy about it..."

May 19th 2010: 2.6 miles, 25:00 pace of 9:37 "Not a bad run at all considering the intensity of yesterday's workout. Ran my regular route and found it to be pretty great after running by the lake yesterday. Sore in ankles- need new shoes. Or new ankles?"

May 20, 2010: 2.7 miles 26:00 pace of 9:38 "Good: Breathing felt good, legs were good after 1st 1/2 mile Bad: Right ankle very sore. Finally remembered that I fell down a hill the other day and twisted it because I am uncoordinated douchebag. Also, very hot out! Despite the heat it wasn't a struggle though- my head was in a pretty good place. Hmmm.

This is where I'm going to stop today's excellent installment. Coming up are such dramatic things as: Getting new shoes, the joy! The countdown to the race, I haven't run 3 miles yet: Will I MAKE IT?? And the all important: My race goals, lofty or pathetic?? Stay tuned....

Very Serious April Training. VERY serious....

I had signed up for my first race, to be run with great gusto on June 2nd. Not one to leave anything to chance (and not one to just do things "for fun") I had a PLAN.
As soon as the roads were clear enough to avoid the very real possibility of falling on the ice and getting run over by a cranky snowplow driver I headed out to test out my old legs, slow poke yellow dog in tow.

April 11, 2010: 2.2 miles, 36 minutes pace of 16.22 "Getting started with no wish to break leg/neck, tear ACL or similar horrific injury. Henceforth, mostly walked per the bossy C25K. Did about 4-5 sets of wimpy little jogs, about 1.5 minutes each. The dog was reluctant...."

April 13, 2010: 2 miles, 30 minutes pace of 15:00. "Attempting to follow C25K since they should know what they are yammering on about. Walked like old woman, did half ass 2 minute run sets, about 5 of those.. I think.."

April 17th, 2010: "Attempted to run but deemed it unwise due to absurd and epic snowfall. Shall stay inside and eat chips and donuts to rebel against all things athletic, HAH"

April 20 & 24 2010- 2 miles, 29 minutes pace of 14:30. "Tried to up the challenge on these days with the 2 min walking 2 min running. I'm moving the C25K along a bit faster as I am already in good shape and do not have major heart problems and am not 87 years old. The dog is seriously impacting my situation as he needs to stop frequently to pee. Very bothersome indeed."

April 26, 2010: 2.2 miles, 27 minutes pace of 12:16: "Ran the whole thing today. Was not bad, and certainly have not followed the Couck to 5K very religiously. Might pay for this tomorrow, and have to take months off to recover. Sorry C25K, I feel like a naughty child."

April 29, 2010: 2.2 miles, 26:56 min for a pace of 12:15: "Ran again- focusing on breathing, stretching post run. Tend to gasp a bit, and flounder around like a beached whale. My legs feel better than my lungs, which feel like that of a 50 year old smoker who hits up a pack a day. Which is fully riiiidic since I don't smoke at all. PS to the other day. I wasn't really sore after the big bad run. Booyah. And sorry yellow doggie, you are too slow for this Mo' Fo'"