Soaking It In

Today's numbers: Nancy's Days Run: 170 Nancy's 2013 Mileage 802.2 Elly's 2013 Mileage 374.6 Money Found For Food Bank: $20.04 in change, $25 in bills

2012 Found-Money Food Bank Donation: $7.83

Baby ... It was cold. Very cold.

Indeed, those are leaves on ice!

However, you know  that did not deter the dynamic duo from taking it to the streets! Here we go!

I was bound and determined to take Elly with me today as she's not been able to join me as much lately given her traffic neurosis and all. A little extra time to study a map did the trick, and I routed us a very fun little adventure! (Never mind the fact that I forgot exactly where to go at the end of the run and wound up over-shooting turns, back tracking and otherwise finding alternative routes on the fly, but whatever.) This morning's route featured quite a number of end-of-Fall scenes like this one:

Look close! The leaves are raining down!

Elly looked so pretty against that blanket of yellow leaves that I had to take her picture, too:

I like to call this picture Elly the Contrarian. I told her to sit, and she refused  because her delicate butt couldn't sit on the leaves. She only sat when I pulled her on to the (very cold) sidewalk. And, of course, she's not going to look at me. She never does mid-run. That was okay, though, because I love the color of her eyes when the sun's right on them. So, the laugh's on you, dog !!

The wind was whipping (which is why the wind chill made it "feels like 10 degrees" according to the weather person on tv!), so we didn't stop very long. That made for a happy pooch:

"Let's go, let's go, let's goooo !! Good times running, mommy!!

We made our way to what has become one of my favorite spots to run. Check out how this spot on October 18th ...

... looks like this today:

The leaves are sparse and not as varied in color, but it's still pretty fabulous! This tree was, too:

This tree knows it rocks, and it's holding on
to its last bit of leaves as long as possible!

Elly and I took a few minutes to soak in the colors because they'll be gone very soon:

I would have hung around even longer than we did if it hadn't been so cold. The cold itself didn't bother me, but it does make my muscles tighten up, and then I'm just a big baby for the rest of the run. So, we went on our way ... but, I still had to stop when I saw this:

I saw a handful of these thingies on the ground only to look up
and see a bunch. I thought they were cool, and then I thought I
should move before one falls on my face.

It's a zombie brain.

I have no idea what these are, but I was very intrigued!! Moreso, I was glad I didn't step on them. That would have been one heck of an ankle roll and/or spectacular sidewalk tumble! I could do without either ...

I guess if I were to choose when to pay attention, it was when those whatever-they-ares were on the ground because I sure wasn't paying attention during the last mile. That's when I seemed to just wander regardless of what I mapped. Oh well. It worked out. And, guess what:

My Food Bank change stash is over $20 as of today!!!!

I found no money today until the last tenth of a mile which is when a penny then a nickel called out to me. WAHOO!!! With 2 weeks to go until donation day, these were great finds to send that change counter over the top!!

For the record, the last tenth of a mile was in the original route, so my wandering around did not produce the finds. Also for the record, it appears my end-of-the-year mileage goal has a buffer of almost 14 miles on it, so I'm pretty confident I'm going to scale back a couple of my longer runs by a mile or two. Because I can. WAHOO!!!

With that, I'm off until tomorrow's run when Elly will join me on some very familiar territory. That ought to keep her from being too spastic! Soak in the Fall colors while they're here, and I'll see you after the morning run!