Hanging In There

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Days Run: 33 Nancy's 2013 Mileage: 96.5 Elly's 2013 Mileage: 49.5 Money Found For Food Bank: $10.04

Oh my oh my oh my oh my I am so over the ice capades!! I mean, I know it's out there, and I try to plan for it. But, you know what you can't always plan for? ICE.

I expected this ...

... which is just a sample of the 1.1 miles of nothing fun. This is exactly the stuff I've been crankin' about that melts during the day and freezes overnight. And, there is nothing that can be done about it. Good times. I went down to my knee once, and I slipped only two other times. And, that's when I was being super-Über careful. Just think of how this all would have gone down -- literally -- had I not been on the lookout?

There were clear spots along the way, but, before I knew it, something like this would pop up:

And, you know what blows about that? Where you see snow, it's actually ice. So, I couldn't crunch my way through any of it, but I could have fallen on my butt any number of times. Thank goodness for the grass when I had it!

This was fun, too:

Running along  ... doo-doo-dooooo ...
and, then, not so much as the snow plow
blocks another sidewalk!

*sigh*

But, before I characterize the entire run as a drag, I have two highlights. First, we found 14 cents taking us over the $10 mark. Wahoo!!

And, second, here was my favorite and most unexpected moment ... There we were, plodding along on some sidewalk, when two street sweepers headed our direction. (I thought it was pretty funny seeing as the gunk they would normally sweep up and away was frozen under the ice, but whatever.) You know Elly tends to get a little nervous or even spastic when a truck is near her, right? Well, I stopped when the sweepers got closer because stopping sometimes calms Elly. Then I felt a wee tug on the leash only to turn around and see the girl had jumped up and over a retaining wall. You know, for safety.

"Beauty and brains, mommy. Beauty. And.
Brains. I've got it all."

Seriously.

It was soon after that we, thankfully, finished our miles. I actually felt mental relief doing so because I could get my brain off of high-alert status! Friday's long run is going to take some considerable planning. I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do, but I have a day to figure it out.

Be careful out there! These suddenly nicer days can be deceiving in the mornings! I'll check in tomorrow on the rest from running day and share the next new thing the fam is going to participate in! See you then!