Smooth Move!

Since I had a later start going out running today, I could not run the trail near our house. The trail is closed after dark even though no one enforces it. There are deer out there and I don't really like the idea of one leaping in front of me so I skip the trail if I know it is going to get dark.

I went to MapMyRun to verify an alternate route that would give me the milage I wanted and still keep me in relatively familiar areas. To ensure this, I wrote the roads on my hand that would take me to a road I was familiar with.

I leashed up the dog and off we went. I consulted my hand to confirm we were on track and before I knew it, I was back in familiar territory.

As we passed by the road that lead back to the house, it was so tempting to just hang a left and go on home but I didn't. I kept going down until I got to my turn around point and then went home. When I got closer to the house, the run didn't feel like it was the distance I thought it was but I shrugged it off.

I downloaded the info and sure enough, it was almost a half mile short. Whaaaattt?? I went back to MapMyRun to see what I did wrong. The roads around here are kinda strange. The same road can cross a different road more than once. My first turn was a street too early, had I written 2nd Street Name, I would have been okay and gotten the milage I thought I had. Smooth...really smooth. Oh well, it was still a good run.

Grrr! and Woo hoo!!

I just noticed that my exercise ticker over on the left is no longer working. I have no idea how many miles I had on there, I am going to have to go through my logs to get a ballpark figure of my milage. I can get most of it from running-log.com but not all of it. I kept an actual paper log (still do) when I first started to run. Once I started running with Chuck, I went to running-log. I also do Sports Tracks with my Garmin.

Word to the wise kids, back up!

I think I found my perfect running parter. It is my sweet dog, Tinsel. She really is the nearly perfect running partner. She is always ready to go, she never complains that I am going too fast or that I am going to slow. She doesn't complain it is raining, it is cold, it is dark, it is hot. She stays with me no matter goes on. She doesn't talk to me and she doesn't get offended if I don't talk to her during a run. She is always willing to give me a kiss and doesn't care if I am sweaty or I stink. Good girl, Tinsel.

Speaking of Garmins...I got Greg a Garmin Forerunner 205 for Christmas. I have to admit that I have a case of Garmin envy even though I am happy with my 201. I like being able to see my pace, how far I went...all the stuff that the Forerunner will track for me. I was admiring his 205 and he asked me if I wanted one for my birthday next month. Ya think? Of course I do! I went web surfing and found the best price on Amazon (where I got his) Then I went to Zappos.com since I knew they have a 110% price match policy. Sure enough, they had the same model for $255. After the price match, I got it from Zappos for $139. It has already been shipped but I will have to admire the box until my birthday.

Dog Running

Now that my dog is a year old, she can come with me on some runs. Since it is sorta running related as well as dog related, I guess I will just double post the info here and on Tinsel's Blog Expect more heavy on the running here, more doggy there.

Tinsel has always gotten excited seeing me get into running gear because she knows I am going out on the trail. I have held off on doing any running with her because she is a puppy. Or, she was. She just turned a year old so her major growth is about done. She is still going to grow a bit but not any significant amount.

Just like a person, you have to build up your dog when running. She was not pleased with that, I don't think she ever went over a fast trot while we were out. We did 3 minutes of running (her fast trot and occasional bounce around) and then 2 minutes of walking. She did very well with it, stayed on my left side and kept a fairly loose lead.

It was raining and she seemed to love fording the creeks (I had stepping stones).

We did just under 3 miles so she gets tomorrow off and after checking her feet, we will run/walk again on Friday. The stinker, even after that, she was Miss Bouncy Happy Nutcase during class.

Bummer

Unexpected repairs to our heating system have taken Disney out of the question for me. Even though I am registered, I can't justify the expense of flying, hotel and food in the face of this. Yeah, having heat in the winter is a bit more important. If this was a family expense, I could do it but I just can't bring myself to spend that much on me right now.

Even though I am bummed, I will try again next year. Both my husband and I are signed up for the GW Parkway 10 miler. He ran it last year but we will be doing it together this year. I say together but what that really means is that we will both be on the same course for part of the time. He will finish long before I will.

He is thrilled that he got a new Garmin for Christmas. Maybe I will get lucky and get a similar one for my birthday next month.