I've come to realize that my fears in running have very little to do with distance. There is a brief fear of being cold- this is mostly because most of my running attire consists of warm weather stuff. I'm slowing getting things I need to keep warm, but the fear of being too cold, then getting too hot is definitely there. It was 42* Friday morning. I layered up, but not too much since this run was meant to be a "hard" run, 4.5 miles. I set The Nag to pace me at 10:45. I managed a 10:28 average pace and felt really good through out. The dogs kept up well, but it was tougher on Reina. A few months ago, she could barely walk over 2 miles without being overcome with exhaustion, tongue hanging nearly to the ground, the pads of her feet bleeding from being worn down. Now, 10 lbs lighter, she is running and walking over 15 miles a week (maybe more) and she can last 5 miles, tongue hangs low, but her feet have toughened up. Then I ran her 4.5 miles hard. She did fantastic, but both her back paws had wear spots and tracked little spots of blood all over the house! Poor thing. Good thing Saturday is our official rest day & I only take her 2-3 miles of Sunday's long day.
One other Reina note. She is a rescue, we got her when she was around 3. She has always had severe anxiety around small dogs. I have my theories on that, but I won't get into that now. If a small dog is around her whole being just amps up. Sometimes to the point of shaking all over. I don't think she wants to hurt them, but I don't trust her since she did once kill a sweet, precious chinchilla that she clearly thought was out to get us all. The groomer we take the dogs to loves her to pieces and is very good to her. Usually they have to crate her and cover her crate so she can't see the other dogs, especially the little ones. Buka usually has the run of the joint, wandering about as he pleases. Friday when I came to get them you could have knocked me over with a feather. My Reina was calmly, quietly sitting on the floor, tethered, but not attached to a person. She was sitting there watching a little dog get groomed. No anxiety, definitely very attentive, but so incredibly calm. It was amazing. I never thought I'd see the day! Buka was the one in the crate this time- he was getting to be too much of a busy body getting into everything. LOL! I am a huge fan of Caesar Milan, and have never been consistent with the most important of the three things dogs need (in order of importance). Exercise, discipline, affection. She rarely needed discipline, and she got lots of affection, but rarely enough exercise. I feel like we might be changing her life for the better a second time and it feels so good!!
Saturday is rest day. Sleep in day. No alarms at 5 am day. Except the car alarm that went off down the street and woke me up anyway. Grrrr. That's ok, I fell back asleep and got up at 6:30 so all was not lost. We had lots to do, Ben had to go to work, which meant the boys had to go to ballet with me. Just as we were leaving the house, right after inset the alarm, I heard a thunk on one of the back windows. I disabled the alarm and went to investigate. Sure enough a little American Goldfinch knocked herself silly on my back window. Poor thing. I held her for a minute, then went and got a tea towel for her to recover on. We were already running late for class so I couldn't stay with her to see if she broke her neck. I figured the least I could do was give her a warm little spot to recover. In the few minutes this all took she was already almost able to perch on my finger, so I felt ok about leaving. Came home to a towel with a couple of turds and no birdy! Yay!
(Please excuse my awful nails!!)
Saturday night we had a wine tasting/silent auction fundraiser for the girls ballet production. It's is our 3rd or 4th year going, I can't remember (I don't think it has anything to do with the wine either!) We always have a wonderful time. The venue is a personal estate and it is just beautiful. It was too cold to mingle outside unless you were under a heater, so I was sure to go up to the top of the property as soon as we got there to catch the sunset and take in the gorgeous view. This year was especially fun because we knew more people than we usually do. We had lots of great conversation, yummy food, a bit of wine and we bid on too much stuff, but love what we won & it is for a great cause.
(One of our auction wins...just a wee bottle of wine!! The one in the background is to give a little perspective).
This morning I had all my alarms set to go off in the dark, but it was 40* and the Weather Channel app said it felt like 37*. My fear of being cold kept me in bed for another hour or so, then I had no choice but to get on the road. It didn't make a bit of difference, TWC app said the same thing at 6:30 as it did at 5:30. Oh well. I put on 500 layers (of every different obnoxious color I could manage) and got moving. I didn't want to push Reina too hard so I ran the 'hood for 2 miles then dropped her off at the house along with a layer of gear. She was not happy. After the bleeding paws though, I really wanted her to heal.
(Me in all my colorful glory- sporting my Santa socks)
Buka and I then took off for the beach. I am testing out various things as I go along this journey. Today I wore a water belt. It holds two small bottles. In one I put plain water and in the other I put one that was flavored and had caffeine type stuffs. I also brought chocolate flavored Gu. Before leaving I ate half an Ezekiel English muffin. The water belt has a pouch that could fit my phone, but it would be on my back, I don't think I would be able to hear The Nag, so I also wore my regular pouch on the front. Everything seemed to fit well and was comfortable. For the long run days I actually do not use The Nag, however I do have her tell me each mile point. Helps me know when to turn back for home and also let's me know my pace, though I am not concerned with pace, just comfort.
I had to take a quick peek at the ocean, it was so clear you could see Yellowbanks out on Santa Cruz Island. I let Buka take a quick dip in the ocean and were off again. I felt great for the whole run, very comfortable. My left foot had some pain in the spot where I tore the tendon two years ago, and at one point my lower left butt cheek hurt, but nothing was run stopping and mostly I felt awesome. The only time I picked up the pace was in my last mile. I wanted to negative split and I want to get used to picking up the pace and pushing the last bit of the race. When. I hit 8 miles I dropped to a walk and checked out my splits. Have to say I am very happy with them! I averaged 12 min miles which is great as far as I'm concerned. Except for mile 5, I was either at a 12 min/mile or 11 min/mile. Mile 5 was nearly 14 min. Might have been when I was on the beach, not sure, will have to look t the map. The best part was that mile 7 was a 10:09 split, then my last mile- 9:55! I won't be bringing home any prize money, but I think I have a good chance at being a strong middle of the pack finisher LOL! I spent a half hour stretching, using the foam roller and working out any aches. All in all a great week of running, time with friends, and we will finish it up celebrating Gampy's birthday tonight.
And for those of you that are wondering, no sign of Mr. Cranky Pants, Barefoot Bathrobe or the Odd Couple. I think I have scared everyone off.
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