Running and Poultry

As a runner (ha, 10 miles a week for the last few months, can I still call myself a runner??) in rural New England, I expect to see some wildlife and animals while out on my run.

Countless squirrels and birds, hundreds of dogs and kitties, equal amounts of horses and cows, as well as the occasional deer or so.

I run in general on back roads with minimal traffic, but enough that rarely am I scared of seeing some sort of animal that will cause me harm--though when dogs start barking and lunging at me, I always tense up.  But in general, I feel pretty safe.

Until yesterday's run in my parent's neighborhood.

I was just getting to this huge hill, and I knew I would need a lot of focus and attention to make it even 3/4 to the top without having to stop for a little walk break.  At the bottom of the hill is an old farm.  Just as I pass the farm, I hear this rustling in the leaves and I casually look over to see a rooster the worlds LARGEST rooster coming after me.

Yup, this looks like an accurate description of the cock.

He puffed himself up, CAME OUT OF HIS YARD, and started chasing my ass up the hill.  I shit you not.

There would be no "slow and steady, take it easy" up that hill, no sir.  That fucking rooster, hand to god, was on my heals chasing after me, sprinting as fast as I could, up the hill.  

And I never gained on him!  He was always right there.  

(Fact: roosters scare me a bit, because they have claws and beaks, and this one was the size of a small dog.)

I finally had to reach down and grab a rock and throw it at him, at which point he got the point.

I continued to sprint up the hill of death for a few more feet until I felt I was at safe distance to stop and keel over in agony. 

And that my friends, is how you do hill sprints.

Memphis by the Numbers

6 number of ribs consumed (this is an extremely pathetic attempt on my part;  I have been known to easily put back 20 ribs in a sitting.)

2 number of runs along the beautiful (and flat!) Mississippi Delta

1 number of times my travel wife and I sang "Walking in Memphis" while in fact walking in Memphis.

3 happy hour cocktails for less than $3

.25 Fishbowl cocktails consumed

1 number of homeless men who stole our fishbowl cocktail

3  number of cocktails purchased for me (I've still got it!)

4 number of ducks seen walking on a red carpet

1 late night trip to Denny's

1 cheeseburger flatbread purchased

3 minutes it took for 1 person to consume cheeseburger flatbread (I am hanging my head in shame)

2 number of aliases I had while out and about in in the city

12 hours of sleep needed to recover

(oh, and 1 conference actually attended)

Why I Normally Do Not Wake up at 5 am...

You know how I can tell I am not a morning person?

This morning in my 5 am haze to get ready for my early morning flight, I grabbed my under eye gel in the dark and started to apply it.

Which is fine and dandy.

Until I realized it was peppermint lipgloss and not eye de-puffer gel.

It's Been Awhile

The last time I blogged, the first sentence of the post contained the phrase "this summer."  And was in August.  

It is now autumn and nearly October.  

I have been a bit preoccupied!

Mountain man and I bid adieu to the beautiful country home we had been living in and bought our own house earlier this month.  It has been exciting and fun, but also stressful and overwhelming.  Lots of sweat, work, and tears have been put into this effort.

The new Goodwin Ranch is a cute new little ranch on her own private 3 acres.  There was not much to do (other than unpack and make her our own) but we did have some painting to be done and some trees to remove.  Which is what we have been steadily working on the last 4 weeks.

Other than that big excitement, we have been trying to fit in some fun at seasonal fairs, apple picking, running, and playing with my puppy nephew, Willy Nelson, as often as possible.  And adjusting to the wacky new iOS7 (anyone else think it is slow as sin?).

In between the move (and some fall fun), I have been busy at work with lots of meetings and galas and travel prep.  Rest was taken where I could get it.

Now I am gearing up for a month on the road, lots of traveling across the country.  First up in New Orleans next week.  I will report back after I have gained 12 lbs and lost all self respect.

Sorry for the lack of fun and exciting blog posts, I hope to be back at it again shortly!

Happy fall, y'all!

Running Lately

This summer, for the first time since starting my journey with running in 2011, I am not training for something or trying to keep my mileage up for a future race.

And it feels great.

I have gone from running between 20-25 miles a week to running a wonderful 10 mpw.  After (and during the training for) my last half marathon, I was feeling burnt out and wanted to break up with running.

Now, I don't feel guilty if I "miss a run," and I can run two miles if I decide that I only have twenty minutes, or five miles if I have the time.  I don't have to rearrange the rest of my life to fit in a run.  I don't need to do speed work, tempo runs, long runs.

I still run on average five days a week, but I run at the MOST four or five miles (aka, the number of times that has happened this summer fits on one hand).  Two days a week I just do a quick 2 mile warm up run and then focus on strength training--something I have not done regularly for a few years.

I find that now that my running is "just for me" and not for training, I generally enjoy it more.  It makes me WANT to train again and work to see improvements, it makes me remember how much I love running.  But it also reminds me that if I have a shitty ass jankity run that it is not the end of the world and that I will not fail running my next race.

I have three 5Ks coming up this fall, that I am really looking forward to.  I will not be speedy, but I hope they will be enjoyable.  For once I have no halves on my horizon, and while I am so proud of my accomplishments of completing multiple half marathons, and I think I might want to do more in my future, right now I am really just enjoying running for me.

Husband vs Wife

In the hour it took took me to pack an entire room top to bottom (including two closets and moving furniture):

Mountain Man "contributed to packing" by sorting through the old boxes of junk he had to have and couldn't throw away from the last time we moved.

This is going to take longer than I thought.

Peace, love and packing,

Granny

Saturday Morning: an Age Comparison

Saturday Morning at Age 24:

Sleep until 11

Take an advil

Lay in dark room watching tv or reading a book for at least an hour before getting the energy to go on with your day

Saturday Morning at Age 28:

Sleep in until 9

Make a veggie scramble

Clean the house

Treat the pool

Bake a dish for a potluck

Do two loads of laundry

Lace up the shoes for a run

Go on run

Seize the day!  Happy beautiful adult Saturday, everyone!