Oh, Monday ...

It's Monday, everyone, so I thought I'd start the day off with a little quiz! Which of the following did I grab right after running this morning:

Your choices are (A) the Diet Coke in the middle or (B) the
bottle of water on the right.

The answer in a minute as I have some critters to show you. No, not running road kill, I don't take pictures of grody stuff. You see, it was raining earlier this morning (frankly, all night long), so my brain had already shifted to putting my miles in on the treadmill. While running today's 4 is stinky on the mean machine, I counted my blessings that I avoided the forecasted rain this weekend allowing that long run outside! I'll trade 4 inside for 10 outside any day!

By the time I was ready to run, I noticed it was barely sprinkling. I took a step outside to see what was really going on, and I found out I was being joined by a new friend:

I have no clue as to what he was doing, but he was having fun.

Then he saw me and got, well, squirrelly!

At this point, the new friend didn't know it was being stalked by the fierce kitty:

Lizzy worked hard to intimidate the squirrel. It didn't work, but
she worked hard trying! Isn't that what counts sometimes?!

All the while, Elly could not have cared less about the happenings on the deck. She was trying to be patient while hopeful that she would get to join me for a jaunt:

"This is not looking good ... this is not looking good ..."

Everything worked against Elly's hopes today, though. It was only sprinkling, but I'd also already decided that I could get the laundry started while being on the treadmill and I had some shows recorded that I'd now have an opportunity to watch. Oh, and can I just tell you what wet roads do to the underside of a trotting pooch? I wasn't really in the mood for the post-run towel rub down she would require ... the one that never gets her very dry anyway.

What pushed my decision over the edge was that moment of standing still, listening and wondering, "Was that just thunder? I don't think it was, but I'm not sure. Wait! Was that? Or, was that a truck?" To quote Charlie Brown: "Arrrrgh!!" Enough is enough! I gave Elly some behind-the-ear scratches and headed to the mean machine!

I'm here to report that while I did get a jump start on the laundry, the shows I recorded were terrible, so the tv distractor was not up to par today! I just hate the treadmill, I really, really do. But, you know, the feeling I get on it isn't all that different from the one I get when I hit somewhere around mile 7 with more to go, so I did embrace the mental training it provided me today. That's worth quite a bit whether I enjoy it or not! I'm banking that in my Half marathon decision-making meter!

So, I finished, deleted my recordings and headed outside (where it had stopped raining altogether, of course !) to enjoy my post-run beverage:

If you chose B, you were correct! I used to
really not like drinking water at all. Running
has not only made me appreciate its value,
but it also tastes oh-so-yummy when I'm
oh-so-hot-and-gross!

My new friend was out there again, too (driving Lizzy crazy inside!):

It's pretty appropriate that today was a treadmill day. It's a Monday after all, so why not punctuate that groove with treadmillin'? The miles are logged no matter what, though, so I call it good! It's off to get that Diet Coke and get to work. Tomorrow, I'll see you from the kitchen ... JUST WAIT 'til you see the most recent scrumptious addition to our dinner repertoire!!