Welcome Back, Old Friend.

I welcomed my Garmin 305 back into my life this morning. It has been a while. In fact, I have not used it in over 10 months! I still think that my attention to improving my pace, beating my previous times, etc, played a role in my injury with the Garmin on my arm. It felt good to use it again...I did catch myself looking down at it A LOT and I had to stop myself to just enjoy running.

It was a nice sunny cool morning and I surprised myself...what I thought was a 4 mile run is actually 4.36...so a little bonus!

Distance--4.36 mi of rolling hills
Pace--9:31
Time 41:29

This time last year I ran a 10k....the same one is coming up this weekend....not quite there yet, but still pleased with my progress.

River Trail

I went on a run and walk with my oldest daughter yesterday...The river trail at Burns Park, which is a gorgeous trail by the river and through some wooded areas. Gracie wanted to walk mostly, so I would run ahead a little and circle back to her. I also walked with her some. It was great mom and daughter time and I enjoyed our conversation a lot. I can't believe she will be leaving for college in a short few months. Exciting times ahead for her and we are so happy to see God's plans unfold for her life. It is such a blessing to pray for her as she enters this next stage of life.

It was a beautiful day, but really windy. It felt good to be in the sunshine, enjoying God's beautiful creation and thanking Him for His all sufficient grace in my life.

Run--about 3 miles
Walk--about 3-4 miles

Overall, great workout and even better conversation.

Running

The weather has been gorgeous here. I ran 5 on Sunday and 3 today. I am feeling no pain from my hip and I am really, for the first time in 10 months, feeling like my old self again...a bit stiff after a run, but no injury pain! I am very excited about that!

Today

I ran 6 on Wednesday and 5 this morning. I rested from running yesterday, but did some weights....lunges, squats, arms, push ups, and abs. Running is feeling much better these days. I wonder if it is my new shoes?

I am taking Gracie to LR today to go on a short weekend senior trip. She is really enjoying all of the senior things going on. We are happy for her and still trying to adjust to more freedom for her. It is a good thing, but after homeschooling all of these years, it is an adjustment to think about her being gone out of our home. But...we are excited for her!

I am hoping to have a Tandori salad from Za-Za's today since I will be in LR for the afternoon. It is so good...spinach and romaine with chick peas, cucumbers, red onion, a little roasted chicken, and a yummy yogurt cucumber dill dressing.

Running at Dusk

After dinner last night, Abigail decided to go run just on our street and stay close by. It was still light out, so we said that was fine, but I don't like her being out there by herself, so I went to get my running clothes on. By the time I made it out the door, Abigail was finishing up and it was starting to get dark. Since I already had my clothes on, I decided to just make a quick run(I can't resist a chance for a run)...not my normal longer route. After about 3/4 of a mile or so, I heard some howling to my left, which at the time I did not think that much about. It seemed out in the woods a ways and it wasn't quite all the way dark yet. But then, before I even had a chance to figure out what was going on, what I thought was a fox(it was a dark orangy color) ran out in front of me. He froze as I startled him and he just sat there staring at me....then another came out of the trees on my right side. This one was BIG and grey and looked like what I saw months ago on an early morning run in a horse pasture across from my house. The big one went off the road and into the brush and sat there very close to the road...I think he thought I could not see him. I switched to the other side of the road. I wasn't sure what to do...I didn't want to turn around and go back. That seemed wrong to me, so I just kept running at a slower careful pace. Then about 20 feet further down the road, there came another big one in the street. It stopped like the first one then went into the brush and kept his eyes on me. It was like a pack of them trying to cross the road or something. They were trying to go towards where the howling was coming from. (I realized this later.)

After passing by the animals, I was pretty spooked. I clapped all along my run...especially in dark areas, because I knew if they heard me they would stay away and wouldn't be startled like when I ran up on them. You never know what a wild animal will do if they are scared or caught off guard. So, I clapped all through my quiet neighborhood as I ran a very quick pace 2 1/2 more miles home. That was the longest 2 1/2 miles ever! It seemed to take forever to get home.

I thought it was foxes at first, but on facebook a friend said that foxes hardly ever travel with more than one fox at a time and are actually usually alone. Even I was thinking that these animals were larger than the foxes I had seen before....so I googled it when I got home and figured out it was coyotes. In fact, I found a picture that looked exactly like the big one I saw. Afterall, I was literally only a few feet from the largest one so I got a good look at him.

So,you will NEVER find me running at dusk or night again. Nope, I am done.