Corn! and Sun! and Corn!

I had a great fucking run today.. I swear I must be solar powered. The last thing I wanted to do when I got up this morning was run, but then the sun came out and I figured I should put a couple miles on my NEW shoes before tomorrow. So I reluctantly dragged my ass out the door, no real destination or mileage in mind. I'm bored with my neighborhood so I decided to break out and cross the state line... it was time to run in Miss-our-ah. Luckily I only live a mile or so from the border, so it's really not that hard. I took the pedestrian bridge under the highway and over the river and hit the West Bottoms, which is a yucky industrial area that is slowly being taken over by art studios and lofts.. unfortunately where I was running was not the art fag area. I wandered throughsome shady areas and got lots of "what tha?" looks.. I guess the truckers aren't used to seeing a girl in bright pink shoes running through the area! Found my way to the City Market and did a couple of laps through there. I was feeling great and loving the sunshine and my new shoes.. did I mention I got new shoes? Thank you Dad & REI.
On my way home as I was crossing the pedestrian bridge that takes me back into Kansas.. I heard this loud boom and at the end of the bridge it looked like it had started raining. As I got a bit closer it turns out a semi had over turned trying to get on the highway and spilled his corn kernel load.. I was about 3 minutes from being buried in corn kernels! It was about knee deep as I waded through and watched as the fire trucks & ambulances started arriving. Crazy! If I hadn't taken a wrong turn at one point I probably would have been right underneath! Disaster narrowly averted. I got back having done a bit over 9 miles and I feel fan-fucking-tastic. Obviously my cold only lasted a day YIPPEE!!
Now I have some shopping to do and then later a "Congratulations you fucking quit that hell hole that is Sprint" party to go to for my friend. She's starting her own personal chef company, and since she's such a great cook, I know she's going to be uber-successful at it.

JINX!

Haha! I totally jinxed myself by blogging about how healthy I was... today I am sick. Stupid!

Enjoy your health!

So the other day when I was at Whole Foods, the bagger told me to "enjoy your health" as I was leaving. My first instinct was to roll my eyes and think "fucking hippy" but then I started to think about it....and I realized I really, really do enjoy my health. Today is the one year anniversary since I went Raw Vegan and it totally changed my life. I was a crappiest food eating, alcoholic, smoking, lazy, fat, aging girl... in one day everything changed, DH & I threw out all the food we had in the house, went to the farmers market stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies and started eating our way to health. The first few weeks were ridiculously hard, we both went through major detox as we had given up caffeine, alcohol, sugar, salt, meat... all in one blow. Let me just say that I hated fruits & veggies, I would only eat them if forced to, so for me this was a real leap of faith. We persevered through the rough patch and just continued eating nothing but fresh, raw fruits & veggies & drinking nothing but water. Once my body got used to what I was feeding it, my energy levels went through the roof and I dropped 15 pounds like it was nothing.
It wasn't the easiest thing, commercials for pizza were driving me crazy and our social lives suffered since very few places serve raw foods.. salads were always too small and overpriced and since we had stopped drinking even bars were no fun. It was just supposed to be a 30 day thing.. which then crept to a 45 day thing and then a couple month thing and here we are a year later. We've adjusted a bit... we'll drink red wine sometimes and we've gotten better at knowing which restaurants have good stuff, now the way we eat is just 2nd nature.




It has totally changed me, in September I started running because I couldn't sit still any longer and running sounded appealing, and if you know me, you know that I always swore I'd never become a runner. Oddly, I took to it like a fish to water, getting up at 6:30 am to go run is something I look forward to! I know that it's all due to giving my body the best, freshest foods possible and avoiding anything that is processed and has un-pronounceable ingredients in it. So back to the Whole Foods bagger... I really love my good health, I love how I feel in the mornings, I love how strong my body is, I love how it all seems to work right and I love that I feel much younger than I am. I'm sticking with this whole healthy eating and running my butt off thing.. cuz life is so much better like this.

sloppy slidey lovely mud

One of my uber talented friends was nice enough to draw up a super cool design for Sophia & I for Brew to Brew. I'm so lucky to have talented friends that are kind enough to share their talents with me. Travis Fox does hilarious comics for the KC Star, spot on political rants and has great taste in music. I'm so excited to see how this looks on some shirts!

It was a great run today, we did 20 out at Clinton Lake again. I really just love those trails, I can't wait for the race! There was a big turnout this morning and we even had an additional 4 women! They didn't go the full distance but it was nice to see some other ladies on the trail.. especially funny ones that gave as good as they got. There was plenty talk about faux lesbianism, cocks, certain runner harassment, and mud... plenty of ooey gooey mud. I had forgotten it poured rain all day Monday so things were still pretty wet out there. By the end Greg was stomping in mud puddles hard enough to soak everyone. It was pretty hilarious. I felt pretty good, and it seemed like we were moving along at a pretty good clip, I haven't compared my Garmin data to other runs but it felt quick today. Took a couple of S-caps and maybe that helped contribute to my feeling so good. My toes didn't fare quite as well, I really have to get this blister issue under control... it's the same two toes every time... Once my shoes dry out I'm going to try the lacing style that Ben recommends... I'm hoping it'll help! If I could get my knee & toe problems under control, I'll be golden!
On my drive home I saw I terrible accident..SUV lost control, went off the highway and up a hill and ended up flipping all the way over, first time I've had to call 911 in ages. I didn't stop since the 5 cars in front of me were pulling over and since I have no first aid training I figured I'd just be in the way. I really hope the person(s) are OK. Made me slow down a bit and call DH and tell him I loved him.

Happy Spring!

Sophia named our Brew to Brew team"Bad Ben's Mud Babes" Hilarious! Brilliant!
I was a bit of a mud babe today.. did a loop out at Wyco Park and it was almost too hot! Almost! I was silly enough to wait until midday to run.. at the hottest point of the day, but I wanted to wear just a skirt and tank to run in.. that's it, that's all... OK, well that and my pack with water, dates, phone, keys, camera & iPod. I felt like a pack camel today! I don't usually carry my camera since it's not small and light nor do I usually run with my iPod on the trails but for some reason I took it today. It was a fabulous day, and surprise, surprise it wasn't very muddy!!! I acted like a little kid today and just had a great time running around, taking pictures, and dancing on the trails.... it made up for the last wretched time I ran out there. The park was packed with people but I had the trails to myself until the very end when I ran into a guy carrying a huge frame backpack wearing flip flops (?) Things that make you go HMMMMM. Most everybody else was either fishing or playing on the playgrounds, I did have to watch a bit more carefully on some of the road crossings since all the roads are now open.
My iPod quit at about 4 miles but I'm really glad it did, otherwise I would have missed the million croaking frogs at about mile 5.. it really sounded like summer. Unfortunately the weather isn't supposed to hold.. Saturday in the 50s, Sunday in the 40s. I'm hoping that the trails at Shawnee Mission will be open tomorrow, I'd really like to do a few loops out there.

I picked up a pair of Injinji socks at Gary Gribbles on the recommendation of pretty much everyone and amazingly they fit! I had been holding off getting any because I have such small feet & toes I thought there was no way they would work, but yippee skippee they do! Ran in them today and had no blister problems, and got them all muddy. I think I'll go back tomorrow and pick up a few more pairs.. maybe in black this time.

Spit-take

This morning I had a real bonehead moment when I got back from my run. I must have still been in a "zone" because the first thing I did when I walked in the door was spit on the floor. WTF? At least it wasn't a snot rocket, but still! So classy.
It was a pretty run this morning, it was all sorts of foggy, so it looked like downtown KC, MO had totally disappeared. Knee hurt for the first mile or so but then loosened up, I would really like to be done with the pain all together. It's really starting to get old.

I found this picture of even- littler- me the other day, I must have been 8 or 9, Arbor Day 5k.. I can still remember how hot I was that morning. I was wearing a turtleneck, t-shirt and my oh-so-cool purple jogging suit, it had been cold when I started, but then got warm real quick. I wish now that I would have actually been serious about running back then.

NERRRRDDDDDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

Yesterday at Clinton Lake there was a Nerd party on the trails! Got there at 7:15 and met up with 5 others to do 17 miles. It was chilly and overcast but not bad, the knee was feeling pretty good (thank you advil!) but I ran pretty cautiously for the first few miles... I also had to pause and give the rocks I fell on last week the middle finger. The run included the usual mix of silly stories, dirty jokes and good knowledge. A few miles in we ran into 4 other nerds, they had had already done a lap! There was a bit of socializing and picture taking and then we went our separate ways. One of the guys in the group had just done his first 100 at Rocky and finished in 20 hours.. YIPE! I can only dream about that, but since I don't actually do any speed work, that's all it will be.. dreams. The knee started talking to me the last few miles, so I was glad to see the cars (the mud the last few miles didn't help either).

When I got home DH was just getting home from rock practice and we decided to treat ourselves and hit the Bluebird Bistro. It was the first time we'd gone on a Sunday and it was packed! Unfortunately we ended up with the horrible waiter that I had just been bitching about a few hours before during the run. DAMN. We waited forever for our food, but no big deal since it was busy and we were people watching and talking. At one point a group of girls randomly broke into song, and oddly enough they sang a bit of "Strawberry Fields Forever", which just happens to be my DH's most favourite song ever.
Sadly, when our food finally arrived it was pretty freakin' awful. We thought about sending it back but by this time we were starving and didn't want to wait another 40 minutes for our waiter to check back with us, so we ate it anyway. Between the crappy food, dirty utensils that I had to keep sending back, and in-attentive waiter, it wasn't the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon. If it had been the first time we'd been there, it would have been the last time too. It just taught us not to go back at "brunch" time.
We finished off the day by watching "No Country for Old Men" and "Dan in Real Life". No Country was good, Dan was OK. I found myself going back over bits of No Country in my head all day today, I think I like it even better today than yesterday.

SXSW (sniff)

Just a small note to say that I should be at SXSW right now.... that's 2 years in a row that I have had a pass and didn't go. DUMBASS! This year I voluntarily gave up my pass so I shouldn't really be upset but I am still feeling kind of sad. Of course it's also cold, rainy and snowed a bit here so I'm probably just feeling sad for some warm Texas weather. Today I am going to attempt to do 10 miles and hope the knee holds up, tomorrow is a 17 mile Clinton Lake run. Icing and Advil!

NRL season started and DH's Sharks won their first game, my Dragons have yet to play. We always bet on the games, but this year we bet on the whole season.. but I can't tell you what the winner gets... I'll leave it to your imagination. If we could get the games on TV we might actually break down and get cable.. but alas... it's America and dog forbid that someone should actually care about what goes on in other countries! /snark.

Petite Peas

The last 2 days I have done no running, just had lots of peas in my life. My knee hasn't really been hurting but it's been pretty swollen so I bagged the running and just iced. This morning, however I had to get out and run.. besides starting to go stir crazy, it's a beautiful, sunny, warm morning. We have crappy weather moving in again tomorrow, but today will be a high of 73! I ran in a skirt this morning & no gloves! WHOO-HOO!!!

Sophia asked me to run Brew To Brew with her as a 2 person team on April 6th, which works out perfect as my last long run before Free State. 22 miles each, and there's a section where you have to be rowed across a river in a boat! How fun! I'm really looking forward to it. I'm off to enjoy the beautiful day!

I never realize quite how short I am until I see a picture like this. Am I standing in a hole or am I really midget sized?

Friends, Snow & Knees

Woke up Friday morning to snow! WTF?? GRRR! It was about an inch (I think) but it was still rather deflating after having had some half way decent weather. It was my running day off anyway and a day off from work too, so I figured I would stay in all day and clean the house. About 9:30 my friend Venus called and invited me to lunch & shopping at Costco, she was playing hooky from work and wanted some company. It took very little to convince me that the house cleaning could wait. Away we went to the Bluebird Bistro , which has AMAZING food, mostly all organic, local, fresh ingredients. I totally cheated and ate cooked food! Holy crap.. the raw police are going to come and take me away! I had the vegan green curry which is too die for and it was worth every (slight) guilty feeling I had.
We popped over to Costco after that and V picked up a bunch of stuff, but since I had just been there yesterday I only got some oranges and dates. From there we hit a thrift store and I totally scored by finding a pair of Nike running tights with the tags still on for $1.98! YES! I love thrift stores!! As we were heading back to my house V suggested finding a dingy bar to while away the rest of the afternoon, and since we weren't done talking (are we ever?) we headed to Fat Matts up in Strawberry Hill. Fat Matts is named after a beautiful, friendly orange kitty that lives at the bar. Some mornings when I run past the bar, Matt is hanging out outside so he always gets a scratch from me.
We caused a bit of a stir when we came in since we were the only girls there.. I guess 2 pm on a Friday is not prime drinking time for the ladies! I felt positively naughty.. it had been ages since I had started drinking so early! I settled in with a glass of cheap, crappy merlot.. which is good because if it's good wine, I'll drink too much of it. We yakked, and yakked, and yakked and at 3:30 we called the husbands to meet us when they got off work (4:30). When they got there, we moved to a table and I had a second glass of wine! It was a totally naughty day for me.. cooked food, 2 glasses of wine, holy cow! I was loving being bad!
Of course after a few beers the guys were hungry, so back to the Bluebird we went... did I mention it's REALLY fucking good? I had a second plate of the curry.. YUM! After that I was ready to go home, it had been a long day of eating and drinking and talking.

Got up on Saturday at 5 am to drive to Lawrence to run Clinton Lake again, not quite as nice of a day as last Saturday, but it was sunny and clear. The ground was still frozen which meant NO MUD! Happy Dance! It was Ben, Kyle, Chris, Sophia and I this week... Kyle is really stinking fast so it was looking like it was going to be painful. Sophia and I just hung out off the back of the guys and let them go, I know that they were going slow for us and they were still leaving us in the dust. Really fast runners are so inspiring to watch, they usually have such amazing form and stride. I had forgotten my Dirty Girl Gaiters and unfortunately I paid for it! About mile 2 I got a stick caught in my laces and it tripped me up hard, of course I went down on some big rocks and cracked my right knee really hard, luckily I got my hands up in time to keep my face from eating the same rock. My nose was inches off the rock, I could smell it and practically taste it. The knee hurt like a mother fucker, I contemplated going back to the car, but I kinda hobbled around a bit and jogged real slow until the pain subsided. I figured I was OK as long as it continued to bear my weight and not hurt.
Sophia is great to run with, she's an absolute darling, smart, funny, gorgeous and talks nonstop so it really helps take your mind off the miles. We have pretty much the same pace so it makes it real nice. She's run a bunch of road marathons and Bad Ben is getting her hooked on trails. I'm so grateful to have her on these runs! We saw some bald eagles and deer and nary another soul out there. It was beautiful once we warmed up and the trails remained mud free until the last few miles. Got in 17 miles and by the end my knee was making it's presence known. Ben & Sophia went off to Wheatfields to have breakfast and I went home to ice and then go to work.

By 9:30pm my knee was hurting pretty bad and was pretty swollen so I was on the fence about racing on Sunday. I set the alarm for 5 am figuring I would take stock in the morning and if it was still ouchie, I could just go back to sleep. Luckily the sleep seemed to do it good and it felt fine when I got up, a little stiff, but the swelling was down and felt pretty good. So the race was on! Red Bridge Ramble is a low key race put on by Bad Ben, which means a fun course with a few "evil" sections thrown in. Alas, due to a too high, swiftly moving water crossing, the race had to be shortened to 6.8 miles. I hadn't run in this park before, but I'm adding it to my list of ones that are worth a bit of a drive for. Some nice easy hills, fun stream crossings, and just enough rocks and stuff to make you pay attention. It was a really fun race, I settled in behind a girl who had a really great stride and was easy to follow and stayed there up until the last mile when my knee started to complain and the 17 miles from the day before hit my legs. I couldn't hang on to her "wheel" so I dropped back a bit and just stayed comfortable... results aren't up yet but I think I was 10th or 11th female. 6.8 miles in 1:15:22. DH was there to snap a few shots and kiss me at the finish.. I love having him there to support me! I'm going to take a few days off running and see if I can get the knee back up to scratch.
This afternoon I was going to fold my clean clothes that were piled on the guest bed, but instead I climbed in amongst them and took a nap. Woke up to my dog and husband joining me, so now I guess I need to do laundry again. Took Otis to the dog park and watched him boss all the dogs around again. There was a sweet harlequin dane puppy there... so gorgeous! Otis totally wanted to eat this min-pin that kept yapping at him so we had to keep an eye on him. Weather is supposed to be nice this next week... hopefully Friday was the last of the crappy weather and we can get on with the business of spring!

I'm such a dork!

So on the agenda today was 1 loop at Wyco Park, a fun 10 miles with lots of hills. I get out to the park, start on my way and then had to turn around and go back to the car 'cause I forgot my gloves, ... start off again... and forgot my phone, and due to everyone harassing me about not running with a phone I promised to start doing it.. so I go back for that... start off again and went into paranoid mode that I forgot to lock the car, so I go back a third time. Ugh, probably should have called it a day at that point, but no, I'm determined to get my 10 miles in today. Off I go finally and it's muddy but I expected it that, and this is the first time I've run this trail with NO snow on the ground anywhere. The whole no snow thing made the trail look really different, which meant my little pea brain got confused and I promptly got lost.. well not really got lost per say, just off the trail a bit so I had to do some backtracking. Then it started getting warm so I started shedding layers. I'm having a really hard time dressing for these 20- 40 degree days, I always end up either freezing or broiling. So now I have a shirt, a jacket and my fanny pack around my waist.... I really fucking hate things tied around my waist... I tolerate the fanny pack only because my hand held bottle bugs me more. So now I'm grumpy and sweaty.

Usually I don't see anyone out on these trails except for other Trail Nerds, but today there was 2 guys standing just off the trail with shovels, dressed in blaze orange jackets, I say hi as I pass them, and they say nothing.. so now I'm sweaty, grumpy and kinda freaked out too. They have shovels! They could bury me in the woods and no one would ever find me! Ohmygosh! So I ran a bit faster and kept looking over my shoulder waiting for one of them to come after me. At about this point you leave the main bridle trail and head off into the "Triangle" which is about a mile of back and forthing switch back stuff in the trees... a lot of fun to run and I figured any pursuers would end up lost so I was safe. I slid at one point and totally landed on my ass in a mud puddle, so now I'm sweaty, grumpy, freaked and muddy, and I'm not even 1/2 done. Turn around and call it a day? Never! Keep running /sliding. Then I get to a big ass mud bog that promptly sucks my right shoe off. ARGH! Fish around in the mud, get it and kinda hop to the side of the trail and figure my ass is already muddy might as well just sit in the mud and get the shoe back on. Made sure both laces were very tight before setting off again.
Finally get to the backside of the course and slip and fall on my face while going up a steep hill..OK, so I caught myself before I could faceplant but now my hands are covered in mud.. wipe them on my tights and keep running.. I just want done with this damn run.

Got to Festers Wander and had a very bittersweet moment. Festers Wander is named after Bad Bens dog Fester, who is responsible for designing the course, and unfortunately Fester died this past weekend, so of course I was thinking of him while running his "wander". There was tons of dog paw prints out there in the mud, which made me think that Fester was still running his course and he brought along some pals from the Rainbow Bridge to run with him. So now I'm sweaty, grumpy, muddy, and sad.

I had time to fall one more time and by this point I'm sure I look like the abominable mud monster, and I'm real close to crying. In my mind I have regressed back to high school and I'm a fat, dorky, ugly nerd and everyone is pointing and laughing at me. It's amazing the tricks your mind can play on you in the woods. I slog to the end of the run and call my husband to tell him about my horrible run and he just laughs and laughs. And now a few hours later, I guess it is kinda funny, but It might be awhile before I run at Wyco again.

Spring has sprung!

Yep, I don't care what the calender or the weather says.. road construction has started here in Kansas and that means SPRING! And it seems as if the weather is slowly catching up, we have had some snow in the forecast, but it hasn't appeared.. thank dog!

Monday night I did my first night run, one of the Trail Nerds, Caleb, has been leading beginner night trail runs on Mondays. Unfortunately this week the trails were closed so it was an evening road run instead with one short loop on a jeep road. I bought a flashlight to run with thinking that a headlamp would bug me too much, but I think I'm going to go back and get one. I move my arms too much when I run and I was starting to get seasick from my flashlight motion. Running at night was really cool, but my legs feel so crappy when I run after work so I think I'll have to keep the night runs to a minimum....either that or get a job where I don't stand on my feet for 8 hours a day. We did about 4.5 miles and I just could not find my rhythm, we started out pretty fast (for me) and I just couldn't ever settle in, but I'm glad I went and I'll go again. Next week, I'll try and sit more at work and skip the Pilates in the morning and see if that helps.

Tuesdays run was nothing special, just 3 miles up on Strawberry Hill, but my shins didn't bother me at all! I bought another pair of shoes that seem to be my ruby slippers. I swear I tried on every pair of shoes at the store and ended up with a lightweight tri-trainer. It was the only pair of shoes that felt like a slipper and didn't have some huge built up heel. Ran in them again this morning, 6 miles, and my shins still felt great.. go fucking figure... the $50 shoe feels great and all the $100 shoes are crap for me. If only I had figured it out a few hundred dollars ago. My run felt great, felt really fast and easy this morning, I hope to hold that through the race this weekend. Took the big dog out for a mile trot when I got back from my run and, as usual caused a bit of a ruckus. I need to get a picture of the two of us running it probably looks pretty damn amusing. Short little me and big huge dog.

Bliss

What a bliss full day! I decided last night that I needed to spend today with my family and skip the long group run this morning, even though it was going to be a glorious day. DH & I slept in and enjoyed some morning nookie... my getting up early and running has really cut into our morning sex routine! After a tasty fruit smoothie for breakfast we loaded Otis into the car and took him to the dog park... the good dog park... the one with the lake! It was a balmy 70 degrees (!) and sunny with some strong wind, but glorious none the less. Otis had such a good time running around being sociable with all the other dogs, he doesn't swim but he gets in the water up to his "knees" and roams around. He also likes to break up fights between other dogs, he acts just like a dad. He gets all the love where ever we go due to his size, I swear, I should have gotten a Great Dane when I was single! We bugged out when the unfixed dogs started showing up. Otis is fixed (of course) but he has a wee problem with unfixed males.
As we got into our car, a beautiful collie dog got in with us and jumped right on top of Otis and sat on him in the backseat. We laughed and looked around for the owners but no one seemed to be looking for him. I roamed around a bit and asked but he didn't seem to belong to anyone, so finally we coaxed him out of the car and he immediately took off running.... right into the street he went.. so now there are a bunch of us trying to catch him, but he took off really fast into the woods... poor baby, I hope he finds his family.
From the park we went to the pet store to let Otis pick out a new "baby". He loves his squeaky stuffed animals, but they only last so long... after a few weeks of loving it gently, we'll come home to carnage... fluffy guts all over the house. I also got him a new leash that I think will be better for running, Tuesday we'll test it out and see.

Then we went home and I cleaned up a bit.. I find it really hard to clean when the weather is yucky, so come spring I'm all about the super clean, organized house! Did some laundry, ate a big salad for dinner, finished off season 1 of "Dead Like Me" and now it's raining and the temps are dropping, but I think I can handle the snow tomorrow... I feel like I had my batteries recharged. All in all it was a great day with my wonderful husband and great dog.

60's and Sunny!

Wow! What a fabulous day! It was sunny and in the 60's... very windy, but I can deal with that when it's this nice out. Did an 18 mile group run today at Clinton Lake Park, ran part of the course for the Free State Marathon, which is my next race. Getting up at 5 am to drive an hour to Lawrence pretty much sucked, but the run was so worth it. The trails are beautiful, and well marked with coloured blazes on the trees to indicate what trail you're on. It was muddy (gosh I'm sure getting tired of typing that phrase), but not as bad as Wyco park. This is a very runnable course, a bit technical but nothing bad, a bunch of little water crossings, and just some minor hills. It's a fast course! There was 4 of us today, Gary, Bad Ben, Sophia & I, there was 2 other Trail Nerds already out running, but they were doing 40 miles today and had gotten an earlier start. For the most part I was able to hang, just a few times I had to drop back and catch a breath. Sophia is a trail newbie, but a fast road marathoner, and super nice. I'm meeting her out later tonight to see a friends band play at the Brick. At one point we were running along the lake and it looked nothing like Kansas... cliffy and gorgeous, the wind was whipping along and pushing the ice floes against the shore causing a huge crashing sound and the sun was making the ice look like diamonds.... AMAZING! I MUST get a small lightweight camera to carry with me on runs. Just a great, enjoyable run, with tons of great stories... Sophia talks nonstop and has seen/done a ton of stuff so between her & Ben it was all entertainment. Between the company and the views, the miles just sped along. My Garmin only recorded 15.5 miles but Ben swears that the loop we did wheel measures at 18.

Yesterday was a fun run also, I conned a friend into hitting Landahl Park with me for an easy 3 miles. Becky is getting married in May and she's been trying to get in shape for that.. lots of running on a treadmill so I made her get her sneakers muddy yesterday. I think she was kinda pissed at first 'cause (suprise suprise) it was muddy! I ran real slow with her and we had a good time enjoying the sun and the trees, and by the end of the run she said she wanted to do it again! We spent part of the afternoon going over wedding details (I am the matron of honour) and then I went home showered up and met DH at an auction. There was nothing good, so we bugged out before it even started and took Otis to the dog park and let him have a good romp.

Thursday night DH & I watched "Running on the Sun" and it reinforced his idea that it was totally stupid to do that race, but he thought running on trails for stupid distances would be a bit better. Which is kinda what I was hoping for... show him the worst and then other races seem more "normal". I have no intention of ever doing Badwater... the thought of running that far on pavement in that kind of heat.. no thanks! He was telling a friend about the movie on Friday and our friend said (referring to me) "yeah I can see her doing ultras, she has it in her" which is about the best compliment I have ever gotten (even though I wasn't even around to get it!)