Sniffle, drip, cough

Usually weather doesn't bother me but the other night when I took Tinsel and headed out, there was a viscious wind going. I had on ear protection but still...by the end of the run, my lungs were burning from the cold and I started coughing. It is not a bad cough, just annoying.

It has now morphed into clogged sinuses, with the headache to go with it, a sore throat and cough. Other than that, I feel fine. Still, with wind chills putting our temperatures near zero outside, I figured it is not a wise move for me to venture outside no matter how well protected.

Much as I hate to do it, until we get back up closer to 30 (or no windchill), I am going to have to resort to the freaking deadmill. Treadmill, how I loathe thee! I am hoping to tolerate it a bit better than the last time I had to use it but it is not something I am looking forward to. Tomorrow, I can bring the little kiddies down into the basement with me, pop in a video for them and get up on the hamster wheel for a bit.

ORN: none

Brr!

Yes, I wimped out tonight of my run. I took the older boys to a Court of Honor for a fellow troop member who got his Eagle rank. I had every intention of running but the bitter cold and wind chill lost to the feeble warmth of our gas fire.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike our gas fireplace? It sucks. You literally have to sit on the hearth to feel any heat from it. I think the previous owners has it for show, not for warmth. We just need to get a better set of logs for it. I would like to check into the cost of converting it back to a wood burning stove but I think the cost of wood here may be horrific.

I feel crummy, I am going to bed.

ORN: none

2008 Goals

Wow, what a difference a year has made. At this time last year, I was high on running and looking forward to moving to a new place. Things didn't work out quite the way I had wanted them to and my running suffered. This was through a variety of things, mainly me letting other things take higher priority than my running.

My goals for 2008 are simple. I want to consistantly run again. I liked running on a regular basis and I had fun doing it. I am bringing my dog with me on my runs so I have a ready partner at a moments notice. I would like to lose weight but ya know, that is a perpetual goal. I know that weight or at least inches will drop when I consistantly run. I plan to run the Women's Distance Festival again and take part in the Women's Training Program. I plan to start going out for the weekend runs with the Reston Runners. I think those are plenty enough goals for right now.

We can't find our arm blinkie lights so I ordered some more off of eBay. While I was there, I got Tinsel a blinkie for her collar. I do wear reflective gear but I will feel better when she has something reflective as well.

Happy 2008!!

ORN: 3.11 miles with Tinsel

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.