Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Snow Day!

Hey guys! The weather has been so incredibly strange lately! The rain that started during our Monday night run continued all day, all the way through to Tuesday evening. The rain that was so nice and refreshing during Monday evening turned to one of those cold rains all throughout the day Tuesday and dropped our temps like a lead balloon.

We headed to the gym Tues night after work since it was so nasty outside. I did 5 quick miles on the treadmill and called it a success. It's amazing how 'just' cutting back 10 miles a week off my mileage has really made my legs lighten up and start to have some speed again. I was easily able to work the pace up on the treadmill where for the last mile I ran around a 8.30 mile. Yeah!! I was also motivated by the two annoying people on either side of me on the treadmills at the gym. We refer to them as "The Strollers". I haven't seen them there since before Christmas, and they're quite the Odd Couple. She's fairly young (20's?) and he HAS to be in his 50's. Nothing about them looks right together. Typically she will putt around on the elliptical and he will crawl along on the treadmill and they flirt the whole time and never so much as lose a drop of sweat. For whatever reason the gym was packed Tues night and the only two treadmills left were on either side of me. Brent and I both saw the absolute look of despair cross their faces when they walked in together and saw they wouldn't have adjoining machines. They circled a few times and then faced facts - I was the fast moving, sweaty cream filling in their Oreo. And honestly, I wasn't happy about it either. She was wearing some cheap floral perfume and it only made me run faster. From time to time they'd glance across me and wave. Ugh. I swear they couldn't have walked a mile in the half hour or so they were on there, and once again neither one broke a sweat. What's the point? I was half tempted to throw a harness on them and have Pips show them how to walk AND get a decent workout.

Anyway, we left the gym and headed home. We'd only been home about 5 minutes when I noticed out the back windows that it was snowing! Big, fluffy fakes! The nice wet kind that would be great for packing. I danced around and ran out on the deck with Pips. This is his third winter now, and we've yet to have a decent snow. He quickly decided he didn't care for the falling white stuff so he wanted back in - pronto!! It piled up to maybe a .25 inch overnight. And of course that means one thing - school was canceled. Pathetic, right? I agree. It warmed up quickly today and by lunch every last flake was melted. Obviously a reason for an entire snow day! And the roads were completely clear, nothing at all one them. One spot in our subdivision was pretty icy this morning, and during our am walk Pips discovered he HATES ice! When his feet would start to slide he'd panic and try to pull harder, knocking me a bit off balance! I have a good pair of shoes for ice, but they're buried who knows where and my old sneakers definitely don't have ice traction left! We ended up walking through people's yards some and we even stopped to watch one car slide around on it. We only did two laps this am, Pips was NOT feeling his first semi-decent snow experience and a lot of people weren't hardly scraping their windows enough to see so I didn't really want to take my chances with squirrely drivers this morning. We made up for it this evening and Brent walked a mile with us, giving Pippin a grand total of 1 and 2/3rds miles today. (Plus a lot of ball tossing this evening!)










This taper thing.....makes me antsy! My appetite has reduced, which I am pretty happy about. Tonight was my first non-weeknight run in a LONG time! (Except for Friday's which are always off). It's very weird....it will be extremely strange not to walk into work tomorrow and jot down my mileage on my calendar! It's going to leave a strange whole in a nice block of numbers. I don't think I'm a good taperer. I'm fidgety and most likely qualified as an exercise-aholic. I ended up doing 25 minutes on our elliptical tonight (easy pace, no sweat displaced) while watching the strange new Skating with the Stars show and then 20 minutes of stretching/toning. Oh well, maybe I'll get better at the taper as we go along!

Make sure you check out Brent's new video of Pippin vs the String!! What a nut!!

Exercise Log (I keep forgetting this!)

Wed- 1 mile am walk with Pippin;6 miles, outdoors
Thurs - 1 mile am walk with Pippin;6 miles, indoors
Fri - 1 mile pm walk with Brent and Pippin (am thunderstorms!)
Sat - 12 mile run, 2 mile pm walk with Brent and Pippin
Sun - 2 mile afternoon walk with Brent and Pippin, 40 minutes toning/stretching focus: abs/thighs
Mon - 1 mile am walk with Pips, 6 mile outdoor run
Tues - 5 mile indoor run (Major am rain, no walk =( )
Wed - 2/3 mile am walk with Pips, 1 mile evening walk with Brent and Pippin, 25 minutes elliptical, 20 minutes toning/stretching focus:butt

9 Comments:

At 8:14 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

The walks with dog sound very relaxing. With 4 children my 2 dogs are neglected. We are bad doggy parents for sure.

 
At 9:12 PM, Blogger Cliff said...

.25 inch of snow and school is cancel? Hahaha. :)

My friend once took his dog out in the winter. The dog stop walking b/c the salt they throw to melt the snow hurt his legs.

Better get some booties for Pips.

 
At 4:58 AM, Blogger Simba's Mom said...

Okay, this time I believe you about the snow! :)

 
At 8:07 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

As for snow and ice... if ice and/or snow are FORECASTED for here in East Tenn then schools either cancel or go in late. In all fairness, we do have some crazy country roads here that are dangerous when dry...


I think most people are horrible taperers have you listened to Phedippidations on Tapering? But stick to it and you will have fun in the sun at Miami!

 
At 12:34 PM, Blogger Kim said...

Enjoy your taper.

The treadmill gym scene had me laughing hysterically. I kinda miss those days - sometimes the gym can be the best source of entertainment.
Andw who puts on perfume to go exercise? My Sunday run had me wondering when I passed a lady going the opposite direction...on a windy day...and I could still smell her perfume 40 yards later!

 
At 1:45 PM, Blogger Tammy said...

T-10... Yoooouu're Neeeexxxxt!!! :) You have done so much more training than I did though... you're gonna kick some serious marathon ass girl! :)

 
At 2:46 PM, Blogger Beanie said...

aaah, to live somewhere where snow is unusual....

 
At 6:20 PM, Blogger onepinkfuzzy said...

The snow sounds so cool. I loved Pippen vs. the string video (v. cute)

Tapering is strange...not sure what to think of it yet. Especially since mine started with a big, giant, emptly black hole of a stomach that couldn't get enough food!

 
At 2:18 PM, Blogger Hilda said...

There are people who go to the gym to socialize, and people who don't sweat... funny situation. But as always the best is the way you describe it.
Be patient, the marathon day you will use all that energy.
You know? I thought snow use to stay with out melting the whole winter...lol, I don't know anything about snow!!
I thought that as there are so many marathons in your conutry, that you could know many runners, strange you don't.
I keep remembering your phrase, "respect my feet" sounds so nice, I was only trying to take care of them.
I Love all your photos.

 

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