Day 59: Thurs Oct 10th - I miss Seattle

Day Fifty-nine: 
If ever there was a morning that reminded me of Seattle, it was today. Misty rain, mild temperatures and a slight breeze accompanied me on my run. It was peaceful and quick paced.  Leaves are starting to cover the trail and the river had some flow to it today which created a nice rhythm as I ran past it.
I miss the Pacific Northwest.  
It is a 'wearing pajamas, fleece fuzzy socks, hot cup of coffee, reading the newspaper while listening to the rain outside my patio' kind of day...if only I didn't have to work :)
What is your favorite running / walking weather?

Day 58: Wed Oct 9th - Asthma

Day Fifty-eight: Poopy day
 

Photo A: What my lungs feel like                       Photo B:  What my lungs feel like without asthma
with my asthma spray......                                    spray....

Today was one of the poopy days.  Quite an unpleasant run. 
 

(Yes, that is indeed a real photo of dog poop (not my dogs)... and yes I used the word poopy in my title).  

 

Also, in case you are wondering... I did pick it up. 

 

May the buggers who don't pick up their dogs poo........be damned!

 

~ Peace ~ Happiness ~ Air ~

~ Poop free world~

Day 57: Tues Oct 8th - Short and Sweet

Day Fifty-seven: A short and sweet run this morning. I was scheduled to work earlier than normal, so I had to hustle through this morning's run - which was sad considering how breathtakingly beautiful the skies were.  Photos captured the beauty pretty well considering they are taken via my cell phone camera and usually a quick 'stop and shoot' photo moment on the run. But of course, nothing compared to the true beauty of staring up at the sky with your own eyes. If only I could stare upwards while running and not fall on my face... if possible, today I would have done so :)

 A glorious morning... so beautiful.

Day 56: Mon Oct 7th - Dog Park Run

Day Fifty-six:  Fun morning!  Girls were off school due to 'teacher work day', so we went to the large trail dog park and ran together.  Jax played at the rivers end with a multitude of dogs and had a blast.  There we saw a cute pit bull fearless dog jumping and sliding down a large cement river ledge that was at least 12-15 ft high and very steep, over and over.   Jax whined with excitement trying to gear up to follow the pit to the top.  Finally after several minutes, Jax overcame his anxiousness and ran up...  once at the top the look on his face screamed "oh shit!" and bow legged he had no choice but to slide down.  The girls and I laughed.  It was quite a sight!  I wish I could have gotten the moment on video to post. It was very funny. 
Afterwards Jax was having no more of that!  LOL

The weather and the trees were beautiful. We saw a young squirrel chirping at us.
On the way back,  Siena full bodied turfed it, but handled the jarring fall, scratches and pain like a trooper. 
Now time to do more baking and projects. Love days like this! 

 
 

Day 55: Sun Oct 6th - Farmer's Glory

                                       Day Fifty-five:  Lazy run... lazy Sunday. 

Went running and searching for sticks to make Wizardly wands for a school project. Afterwards went to the farmers market.  Lastly bought the ever important iced coffee from Wholefoods while buying some lovely cheese.  Going to watch Downton Abbey for the rest of the day and relax. 
 

Day 54: Sat Oct 5th - Morning Routine

Day Fifty-four:

Time is funny. I blink and it's morning  - again. I rise. I shake off the sleepiness while pulling down my down comforter (definitely the hardest part). I pull on my running clothes, brush my teeth, get a big drink of water and creak down the stairs daintily, warning my

my Achilles to behave and loosen up. Next I grab my hat, my mp3 (one ear in, one ear out so I can hear traffic and coyotes...not really... lol), Spibelt on, key, phone (for photos), my miss-match gloves, jacket and lastly I harness up Jax. 

 

 This is the second small struggle each morning.... getting Jax ready.

Waking him up is not easy. Jax (yellow lab, 4 years old) likes to pretend I am not calling his name, while I put on my gear. "Come on buddy, let's go..."  Each morning, still he stays, curled in a ball on his cozy dog bed. He blinks at me slowly, keeping his head on it's resting place atop his paws. His sleepy eyes look in my direction to see if I'm still there. I give him an excited "Come on Jax...let's go!" He blinks again, darts his eyes away, then looks my way one more time. I give him 'the look'... finally he stirs.  He gets up with a dog audible sigh, stretches and slowly (very slowly mind you) walks with his head down toward the door.  I put his running harness on, throw the newspaper in the house and out the door we go.  By this time his tail is wagging excitedly behind as we head down the road.

This is our morning ritual....

and I love it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 53: Fri Oct 4th - Mrs Miss-Match

Day Fifty-three:
                                                 SOMETIMES......

 

....SLEET HAPPENS

 

 

Brrrrr..... it was a chilly 36 degrees outside this morning (according to my outdoor temp gage) and it felt like it. Luckily, I found a miss-match pair of gloves to wear, though I probably looked a bit ridiculous wearing funky gloves, black shorts, long sleeve running shirt, bright blue Mizuno shoes, green hat, and a fluorescent vest.  A colorful, miss-match, cold weather run.... but still a great 'sleety' morning :)

                                                

 

Day 52: Thurs Oct 3rd - Favorite Running Quotes

Day Fifty-two:  My favorite running quotes:


"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."  ~ Jesse Owens

“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.”   ~ Dean Karnazes

“All I do is keep on running in my own cozy, homemade void, my own nostalgic silence. And this is a pretty wonderful thing. No matter what anybody else says.”    ~ Haruki Murakami

Day 51: Wed Oct 2nd - Top Ten Autumny Things

Day Fifty-one: Holy Moly October is here!  As I've mentioned too many times before, Autumn is my favorite time of year. So I was thinking, while out running, of my top ten favorite 'Autumny' things:

1) Homemade chocolate chip cookies with hot coffee in a nice mug.
2) Reading / watching potentially stormy weather reports with excitement.
3) Down Comforters and fleece blankets.
4) Fuzzy socks and my favorite sweatshirt.
5) Trail running or hiking while kicking leaves or collecting them.
6) A good novel.
7) Bubble baths after a cold day outside.
8) Cooking with fresh ingredients just purchased at our local farmers market.
9) Teaching my daughters how to cook and learn about food and what is in season.
10) Anticipating the holidays, crafts, decorating and glorious smells Autumn brings us.

Day 50: Tues Oct 1st - Do The Run... then SMILE

Day Fifty:  Great run despite (another) night of not great sleep, but that is okay, that is why coffee was invented... or so I imagine. I am amazed at how, even when I feel like a zombie upon waking, I can still muster enough 'umph' to have a good run -  at least most of the time. It is amazing what our bodies can do when we tell the brain to be quiet. My mantra to myself is just simply "Do It". I would say "Just Do It"... but Nike stole that line  ;)  Kidding aside, for me, I don't let myself over-anticipate or dread any run. If my brain even attempts to, I just tell it to be quiet and just do the run.  Just like my sister-in-law always says "you never regret a run, even a bad one".  This is so true!  Good sleep, no sleep, zombie body, healthy body, pain, bad mood or even a stomache... after the run you are always glad you went, regardless if it meant you had to push through every step along the way, and even on the days where crawling felt like the better option.
I'm sure there are a multitude of theories, numbers, facts and ideas about the ratio of brain to body exertion in running, but for me... running is 98% mental and 2% physical. Once you break through the hurtle of the brain and are out the door, moving forward, one footfall at a time.... you just 'do the run'.  Then after, you smile :)