He's Baaaaa-aaack!

Good Monday to you!! For me, the day starting off in lower temperatures takes the edge off it being a Monday! So, you know it being 35 degrees when we set out to run this morning was fab-u-lous over here!

Check this out for a Monday, too!

Like I needed another reason to side-step or otherwise blow off stretching and warming up! Well, needed or not, this picture is now going to be burned in my brain for my daily dose of excuse to just set sail and go where my feet take me (at least until I'm back in the double digit miles again!). WooHoo! I know it wasn't your intention, I <3 To Run Facebook page, but I'm running with it anyway!

Before we get to today's adventures, let's do some house keeping ... I have to report on these little buggers:

The unanimous (that's hard to do!) household verdict: Snap, Crackle, DELICIOUS! Never again will we roast boring-old-plain-with-some-salt seeds ... these are fabulous !! I used just enough sugar to taste in the background, but I went heavy with the cinnamon. It doesn't look like I did, and here's why (story time!) ... Aaron approached me with his newfound sugar-cinnamon idea for the seeds. I was in a bad mood, so I snarled (a) because it sounded disgusting, and (b) because I said I didn't feel like putting any effort into doing that. For real. Sprinkling some sugar and cinnamon on some seeds I was already roasting sounded daunting. What a whiner.

Fortunately, my being-a-human-being tendancies kicked in, and I said I'd make two batches, one his way, one the now-boring way. They came out of the oven, I tried his and immediately dumped my boring ones into his delicious ones and mixed them all together. I'm sure it diluted the yummy a bit, but they're still wonderful!! We highly recommend!

In case you care ... Pumpkin seeds: high in calories but chock full of protein, vitamin and antioxidant goodness. Even better with cinnamon and sugar, just sayin'.

Okay, the other order of house keeping ... Remember when I asked what this ...

... has to do with running? It's a good thing there really was no prize involved for the correct answer because Aaron would not have won. His answer: "I guess you sewed up your running shorts or pants." As if. That's too (a) true, but I did that two weeks ago (c'mon !) and (b) obvious.

The answer ... drum roll, please ... rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat ...

Jacques is back!!!

You might recall our new addition last year ... by the end of his running season in January (he's not just a jockey, you know ... he also becomes Jingle Jacques!!), he was in need of some TLC ... one of his hands disconnected from the saddle (of course seeing as he's all about going faster and faster and he has to control his ride!). One of his boots also detached ... clearly a function of the ol' side kick for the puppy turbo boost. And, upon further inspection yesterday, he's rear needed a little reinforcement to the saddle. He doesn't like to talk about that, so let's move on.

When I got him off of his perch yesterday, Elly had a very clear, "Could it be ?!" look on her face. She's lazy, so Rest Week suits her to a point, but by the end, she's ready to get out into the world again. When I plopped Jacques on my lap instead of on her back, she got the message. When I picked him up this morning, however, it was a whole different story, and the let's-go-let's-go-let's-go dance began! I didn't take any pictures because they would have been too blurry. But, we did get one good one today:

Well, good enough. Jacques is hiding. He's tired from all of
that riding and bouncing.

Elly only cooperated with that one because it was after our run. She's good about the celebratory pose, but she balks before then because she has important things to do. Like GO ...

Off they go! There's really nothing quite like the amount of
rubber-necking that happens when people see these two. And,
when Jacques gets his jingle on, it's even better!

... and, be annoyed that I've stopped for any reason whatsoever:

Elly, might I remind you this detour was
so I could throw away your poo? So,
happy up, pup, and give your mama a smile!
Orrrrr ... not.

It was a great get-back-out-there run today. I saw cool last-remnants of Fall ...

There's not much left out there!! What's there is cool, though.

... and, I couldn't help but be suprised that we actually had to dodge this:

Elly saw the sprinklers on and crossing the sidewalk before I
did. She had no intention of going through them ... she never
does, but today would have done her in for water if we'd gotten
hit! Don't mind my surprise .. it was 35!!

Out and back, we're back in the saddle (a nod to Jacques!)! Tomorrow's a scheduled Rest Day, so I'll see you then!