Flashback

I had flashbacks this morning of the Halloween when Pit Crew #2, who was 4 years old at the time, approached a house to trick or treat only to get the ever-lovin' crap scared out of her by the scarecrow-turned-out-to-be-human on the front porch. I will never forget that little girl dressed in her Winnie the Pooh costume -- the kind where the character face actually sits on top of the kid's head -- making a beeline away from the house and toward the street so fast I could hardly catch her, all the while the Pooh head furiously bouncing and the treat bucked white-knuckle safe to her side.

I've never seen anyone move with such fearful, reckless abandon until this morning when a truck passed me and Elly as we were jogging on a sidewalk. This story is familiar, I know. We were safe, Elly didn't understand, she skitters, we collect ourselves and move on. Only, this morning, she took off like a shot with speed I don't ever think I've seen from her. Her ears were flapping backward as she ran for her life (so much for being a loyal rescue dog, huh?) only to, of course, come to a very abrupt halt when she reached the end of her leash.

I just stood there, watched and waited for the inevitable end of her display. When she realized there was nowhere else to go, she took her position back by my side. I love that doofus.

I also love that right before that very moment, I'd stopped at an intersection waiting for the lights to change so I could snag this:

Oh, yes ... that's a quarter!!

With money in my pocket and the pooch under control, we went about the rest of our run:

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorrymommysosorry
IthoughtIwasgoingtodieI'msorryI'msorry..."

We were a couple of miles and almost 30 cents in to our run when the shenanigans began. With perfect weather, including the threat of rain not really reaching us, I couldn't complain. Evidently, though, during the aforementioned hustle and bustle, I lost one of the empty poo bags. That's never good as those are often the days I end up needing to use one. We happened to run past a doggie clean-up station, though, so I took advantage of both the opportunity to have necessary supplies on hand and the moment for a quick pic by the pretty plants:

So, we blocked a lot of the pretty plants
except for the one that makes a nice wig
for Elly. Whee!!

When I review today's outing, I wouldn't call it as much of a run as an adventure! We saw all sorts of new things and took all kinds of new paths detouring construction or, in this moment, just seeing some sites. To me, that's a great day of running!

We did get to a point where I felt the need to focus as I turned a corner and saw the sky looking a little less agreeable:

Perhaps I should focus and at least attempt to outrun the rain ...

While we did pick up the pace for our last mile, the rain threat did not deter me from investigating just one more not-yet-open drive-thru! The detour was totally worth it -- 5 pennies worth it!

The daily totals: 5 miles and 44 cents, most of which was found old school in random, totally unexpected places. And, the Food Bank total sails well over the $12 in change mark! Booyah!!

Hey, when your routine needs a shake up, shake it up!! It's fun! We're back at it for a short run tomorrow, and I'll see you then!