Go While You Feel It

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Days Run: 83 Nancy's 2014 Mileage: 381 Elly's 2014 Mileage: 173.5 Money Found For Food Bank: $31.26

First thing's first:

A thank you to all who have served, past,
present and future, and have fought for
the freedoms we enjoy. Thank you.

This morning, I was back at it! (When I got up in the middle of the night, my thighs were all, "Ha, ha, haaaaa ... you think you're going to run when you get up!" But, somehow, that feeling of 'my legs are made of concrete' passed.) I've learned I may as well use the residual delusions of grandeur adrenaline that follows a Half Marathon and go ahead and run instead of taking a break. I've noticed a pattern where I'm still pretty pumped after a Half only to be totally over the running thing and wanting a break a few weeks after. So, run now, rest later. That's the plan! (And, there will be a rest coming; I've also figured out that not resting is just a stupid idea.)

 

BESIDES, I HAD to take my new shirt out for a spin, right?!

I figured sacrificing my eyesight to put
the purple bling directly in the sun made
 a whole lotta sense ... ha!

I also had to take my pooch and my favorite running pal even though it took no time for Aaron to point out, "This run is not at all what was advertised!" Translation: I had more spring in my step than I anticipated last night when I told him he was going PLUS it was huuuuuumid. Gross humid. Look at Aaron right after the first mile:

Look close, and you can see he's melting.
At least he found money in the process,
right? hee hee hee ...

Elly was panting it up early on, too:

I might have been, ummmm ... we'll go with 'somewhat annoying' at my unadvertised pace in the muggy weather, but these two had their own special moments. Elly was her usual must-investigate-everything-off-path self. And, then there was Aaron. Check this out ...

... and, now, allow me to caption the picture with his own words. Verbatim. "Ooo, let's see if there's a snake under here." Okay, I didn't even know (a) that cardboard was there. Yes, I spy coins and miss crap like this. And, (b) that he'd stopped, and (C!) much less stopped to investigate for live critters.

If he thinks that will make me uninvite him from now on, he's wrong. Snake looking. Seriously.

We saw lots of pretty stuff along the way, though ...

The thistle is coming back in droves!

This is actually by someone's mailbox ... soooo pretty!!

It was totally worth heading back out today. Not only was it a great opportunity to give the muscles a bit of a shake-out, but we also found 35 more cents for the Food Bank. And, fortunately, we found no snakes.

Oh, and in an unexpected-yet-refreshing moment, we ran into a friend of ours who was out running. She noted the humidity before saying, "Yeah, my run sucks. I've done a lot of walking!" to which I high-fived her and said, "But, you're doing it!" and we parted ways.

I don't think I can explain how relieved I am to have abandoned the walk-break stigma. It's saved my can more times than I can count in hot weather. It's a smart strategy; I'd rather walk a few yards than have heat stroke, just sayin'.

With a run that turned out to be almost five miles (as we went out of our way to check out one more look-for-money possibility!), we finally arrived home:

That girl in the middle had fun, but she
is HOT!

With that, I'll be back out there tomorrow! It's fun to run the training routes without actually training on them! It's also good to capitalize on every moment I feel like running because there are enough where I don't! So, I'll check in after! Enjoy the rest of your three-day weekend!!