Latest Runs

The Myrtle Beach Half is on Valentine's day, and this weekend coming up is our longest run, 12 miles. Usually when we travel, we pack all this running gear then wind up wimping out and not running and we've just lugged our shoes and clothes across the country for nothing. This trip home I knew that wasn't an option because of where we were in the training, it was a pretty critical week and we couldn't afford to just be lazy all week. So the first morning home, it is freezing out so we bundle up in our warm clothes. Rich forgot to pack running socks so I'm feeling all high and mighty that I packed extra and had to loan him a pair. I'm pretty sure I teased him about it a bit, then I go to get my shoes and this is what I find....
Now we all know that figuratively speaking I do in fact have 2 left feet. However, since I do actually have a right foot, I wasn't going to make it very far in these 2 left shoes. Now it was Richard's turn to laugh at me. I managed to make it 5 miles in my mom's size 9's, although I usually wear 11's in running shoes. Later in the day we made a stop to the athletic store in my hometown where I picked up these babies....

I ran the rest of the week in them. I was a little worried because they are not my usual motion control shoes, although they did have pretty good stability. They were great though, and I managed to get about another 20 miles on them while we were out of town. My parents live in a neighborhood that is basically just one 0.6mile loop, and so we ended up doing 4 runs between 3 and 5 miles around the loop. It was boring but we made it. Then we did an 8 mile long run down in south Arkansas on some country roads. We were chased by a couple dobermans, and let me tell ya, that will make you pick up the pace! It was a great 8 miles, and after we finished I felt like I hadn't run at all which was a nice feeling.

Here we are all bundled up, and looking like a running Nike ad, before our run the morning it was 19 degrees out.

I slacked off yesterday and skipped my 3 miler. I have no good reason other than it was hovering around freezing and dark by the time I got home. Oh, and all 4 dogs needed baths after being boarded for 9 days. I don't like to bathe the labs in the shower because they get hair everywhere, but it was way to cold to even think about getting outside with a hose and scrubbing them down. By the time I had showered them all, the girls with Bath and Body Works Winter Candy Apple (don't be mad Kristen that I used your Christmas gift on the dogs) and the boys with some coconut Herbal Essence, the bathroom was covered in water and dog hair from ceiling to floor. I was left with icy cold water for my own shower, and a messy bathroom to clean, but now the dogs smell great. The boarding place charges $30 per dog for a bath, so we always just bathe them ourselves when we get them home.