Monday, January 16, 2006

Running in the Rain

So how many of you can't remember how you lived before 24 came back on? Ok, maybe you don't watch it but you should. I would trade every other show we watch (which isn't much) for 24. It's THAT good. But if you don't watch it go back to Season 1 or it won't make sense.

Anyway, the executive summary is that we're very happy 24 is back on. Nothing else is very interesting on TV right now. Saturday night for some running motivation we watched Chariots of Fire. I don't know that I had ever seen it, but my mom loves the music from it and played the infamous theme song on the piano all the time growing up. It took a good half hour for me to figure out the plot and I'm not sure that I ever figured out how to tell some of the guys apart. It was OK, not the best movie ever and not overly inspiring, but still pretty good.

Sunday was a big day. We have a TON of CRAP in our house and this is the year it's all finding a new home. Or else. We cleared a huge mass of the crap out and took it to Goodwill, which was a huge feeling of relief. We still have a long way to go, but that made a nice dent. We also had a ton of grocery shopping to do and we seriously loaded up! For a couple of weeks I have been craving cereal, and in particular I've been craving what I had when we met up with Shore Turtle and Redhead Fangirl at Cereality in Philly. Very strange. So, I picked up all the sugary cereals I NEVER buy to make it and when Brent caught up with me in the store he let me have it. He didn't beat me or anything, more of the mental guilt trip. But, I've earned it so I bought it! Yeah for me. I had a bowl for dessert yesterday and it was good. Not as good as the original, but pretty close! It's not something I'll have every day but I deserve it every once in a while.

When we got home from the grocery we took Pippin for a walk. I try to get some sort of exercise in every day and since it was a non-running day and it had warmed up quite a bit. We went a different way from the norm walk, and we walked past our local fire station. I used to walk Pips on some warm summer evenings and on nice nights the firemen will sit outside and enjoy the weather and the people out exercising. This also meant Pips would whine until we'd walk up there so he could lick them and jump on them. It's been MONTHS since we've walked that direction, and once we got to the fire station he sat in the driveway and wouldn't budge. He was waiting for his firemen. How strange? Sometimes it amazes me how smart and how LONG he can remember stuff like that!

Today was a BLAH day at work. I've never been lucky enough to work anywhere that acknowledged this as a holiday. I didn't want to be there and some things went on that REALLY accelerated that feeling. I had a dentist appointment this afternoon so I got to leave 45 minutes early. Yeah! I really like my dentist so I don't mind going. On today's plan was a 6 mile run. This week's taper will knock another 10 miles off. Last week was 35 miles, this week will be 25. 6 tonight, 5 tomorrow, 6 Thursday and 8 Saturday. Brent got home right when I did, so we geared up and headed out for our 6 mile run. I was mentally tired from work and being scraped on at the dentist, so I left it all for my legs tonight. I can tell already that the taper is starting to give them more energy back. We did one loop of the hospital and at the start of the second loop I saw trouble ahead. A woman, oblivious to the world, "walking" her large lab who most certainly was not on a leash and most certainly was doing whatever he wanted. Perfect! Of course she never acknowledged us coming up, since she exists in her own dream world in which things like the leash law don't apply. You know, the type of people that give all of us dog owners a bad name. And of course as we approached the dog started to leap towards Brent and she was nowhere near it to grab it. So, I effectively Dazed the hell out of it, Brent yelled and of course she pleaded that she didn't hear us coming. Of course that wouldn't be a problem if SHE HAD A LEASH. We yelled at her to buy a leash, she stood there all frightened looking and we continued on. Then it started raining lightly and I had to relinquish my nano to Brent's pocket. We thought about cutting the run short, but it was only light rain and it was pretty refreshing. (Nothing beats a nice summer rain run, a winter rain run can go both ways!) We decided to continue on, and all the excitement from our run in picked our pace up a bit TOO much. We slowed it down, headed to the park and were headed back towards our house before the rain really started coming down. It felt great though, and we saw about 3 other runners out enjoying it as well. We made it back with an average pace of 9.47, not bad for an easy run on a day both of us really didn't WANT to run.

That's it for now! Have a great Tuesday!

10 Comments:

At 6:20 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

There are a number of running motivational movies out there. For some reason, I don't tend to watch *those* movies for motivation before marathons. I prefer to watch films where the main characters are just about down and out but their perserverance saves the day...

You just have a way with animals. For some reason here in Knoxville, there aren't as many free range animals roaming around.

 
At 7:29 AM, Blogger Cliff said...

Dogs are very smart. There was a study that they can detect cancer. Amazing.

 
At 7:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know if you already watch it, but if you don't, check out House on FOX. Though It's on a two-week hiatus because of American Idol coming back. I have the feeling you'd really like the show's humor.

And Cereality is awesome!

 
At 8:05 AM, Blogger Hilda said...

I wish I could reach that pace someday... I will.
I've been thinking about dogs and now there's two post about atacks.
Some dogs are runners enemies!

 
At 8:34 AM, Blogger ShoreTurtle said...

Hey Rae. There's a Cereality in Chicago. Team Brent will have to go there.

 
At 2:57 PM, Blogger Tiggs said...

I am so jealous you went to cereality. I really want to go there!!

 
At 3:31 PM, Blogger Kim said...

Cold rain is miserable. We've had our share lately. Not that I'm complaining. Well, I am but...it's still warmer here than much of the country.
You two are awesome dog parents. Not only do you obey the leash law and help others feel comfortable knowing the dog can't get to them...it keeps Pippin so much safer too! It's awesome that you guys get out to walk him like you do. I don't get up at 5:30 for my kids...let alone to go walk a dog...guess that's why we don't have one. Someday...when the kids don't take so much work...and they can help too.... :)
Have a great day!

 
At 5:00 PM, Blogger Trisaratops said...

OMG--I'm soooo addicted to 24! Glad there's another one of us out there. :) I feel ya on the dog thing...I was once almost attacked by a non-leashed dog when I was on a run! Luckily it was interested in my bright red gatorade bottle when I threw it and i could break away. Good thing my dog is 17 pounds and only thinks he's ferocious. :)

 
At 6:11 PM, Blogger David said...

Like Susie, I never caught the 24 bug. Pips is so smart to know where the firemen are supposed to be. That's amazing.
In my taper I am getting really (a) lazy and (b) hungry. The runs are almost a bore/chore and the food is just not enough. A very strange place after the weeks and weeks of build up ... and we're only halfway through the taper. Wait 'til next week at this time!
P.S. Forecast for Jan. 27 in Miami: sunny with a high of 74 and Saturday morning low of 64. Can you handle it?

 
At 7:23 PM, Blogger Darrell said...

Cererality sounds like a neat concept. Maybe I should be the one to bring it out here to southern CA. Good luck with the taper.

 

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