I Keep Plugging Along, and It's Working

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Days Run: 46 Nancy's 2013 Mileage: 171.1 Elly's 2013 Mileage: 89.7 Money Found For Food Bank: $18.92

Has everyone recovered from your St. Pat's celebrations?! I hope your festivities were fun. Ours are minimal but pretty excellent. I mean, you can't get much better than green peanut butter, amiright ? That is, until you take on a new venture and make green biscuits for dinner:

Just add the green dye to the milk, and voila! I know, it's
completely amazing.

The best part of this day is how my young Crewers marvel at something as simple as green biscuits. That's pretty fantastic!

The biscuits accompanied a crustless breakfast casserole specifically chosen not just because I could turn it green but also because eggs are such a great running fuel for me personally. Between having a lot of protein and being easy on the stomach/digestive system, they are my easiest and best fallback when I'm out of ideas for dinner (which is often ...). I have never, ever been one to carb load before a big run (not that today's counted as such); I joined in a couple of team carb load dinners before soccer tournaments, but I only wound up feeling sluggish the next day. So, I learned this lesson for myself early on. (And, oh my gosh, if I felt sluggish in my 20s, I cannot even imagine what carb loading before a race would be at 45. Come to think of it, it's actually a pretty funny visual ...)

Everyone is different, so you have to figure out what fuel works for you. It's complicated ...

hahahahahaha!

So, well fueled and reasonably rested, the hound and I set out for what I thought was supposed to be a 5-miler by now on the training schedule. Spoiler alert: The schedule was for 4 miles, I just didn't consult the calendar. And, when I suspected I might be wrong, I still didn't look because I was geared up for 5, so why kill the buzz?

It was super windy out ...

Elly preparing for take-off ...

If she tried, she could not naturally make
her ear do that! Big gust of wind, anyone?!

... but, you won't hear me complaining about it today! I know, I know ... miracle! But, I realized early on in the run that neither my leg or back were hurting, and, I was so thankful for that that any other topic for complaint just did not matter! What a relief it was to go over these miles without pain during or after!! Whee!!!

Very purposely to make sure I was taking care of what I'm certain are some tender, just-waiting-to-be-pulled muscles, I still went pretty slow today. Although, if I'm being honest, I love going slow. It's just fun.

Also fun is, of course, scoring the big bank! Seventy six cents of mostly gross coins today! Now, okay, tell me something ... how does someone who sees this on the fly ...

My big toe is basically pointing right at it toward the top. Yay!
Money!

... wear this shirt for years ...

... and, not even notice that's a green runner coming away from the Shamrock?! No kidding, I never even saw that runner until I looked at myself in the mirror while brushing my teeth yesterday. I was just standing there minding my own teeth brushing business when I said, out loud around my electric toothbrush, "Hey! There's a runner on there!" For crying out loud. And, then I had to throw my shirt in the wash because, let's face it, if you're brushing your teeth and then say something out loud while doing so, you're probably not keeping all of that toothpaste gunk in your mouth, just sayin'.

Oh, wait, we were running ...

Okay, so today's run gets chalked up as a great one for all kinds of reasons and none of them having to do with any kind of speed. In fact, today's run -- pain free! -- was a reminder that I am in this for the longevity of the activity. I could work really hard to be pretty decent in the speed category for a while, but that would most definitely eventually go away. Instead, I'll take what comes naturally -- awesome speedy run or site-seeing tour of my fair city -- and just go with it. Both work for me!

They work for Elly, too:

"If I'm voting, mommy, I'll take the
slow ones ... that's how I roll."

Tomorrow's another day and another run! I already can't wait to do it! We'll check in after we keep on going!