Dogs?

Look! Two posts from me in the same week. Try not to have a heart attack.

I was reading through some old posts and realized I haven't updated on the dog situation lately. I still have plenty of encounters, I guess I just stopped thinking about it as much. However, I had a run a couple of weeks ago that had plenty of dogs so I thought I'd tell the story.

Ryan and I went for a run and decided to do a new route. Well, I decided and he's only 11 so he has to do what I want. Plus, I'm bigger than him so I win. Anyway, I really like to run loops so I'm trying out some new routes. We embarked on what we now call the Ghetto Route. If you know much about Elk City you know that it's not exactly the nicest town in the world. It's pretty crappy. Most of the houses are old and run down and it's just....not very aesthetically pleasing. See how I use a big word? Go me. Anyway, it's no suprise that we would run past some pretty special houses. We sort of ran around town. We took the roads on the outer edge. When we were getting ready to go by one house Ryan informs me they have a really big, really mean dog. Thanks for telling me now! Anyway, he tells me to stop talking and run really fast and light. Ummm, sure. I'll get right on that. I'm channeling my inner gazelle. Yeah right. I don't have an inner gazelle. Inner rhino maybe. Luckily, we made it past this house with no harm.

A few blocks later we are going past a place that looks like a junk yard. Seriously, it's bad. I swear you can barely find the house for all the old cars and misc. junk. A little dog comes out and starts chasing us. It isn't big so I just kept going. Then we get to the next house and two dogs come out barking! These dogs are not as nice. Fortunately, their owner is really on top of things. He's always right out there to get them. That day was no different. He came right out. Unfortunately, since the other dog was out too there were some issues. Mainly that the dogs didn't want to listen to their owner. The guy kept yelling at his dogs, whose names appear to be Ginger and Cheyenne. Since I think they are both boys I'm a little confused by this. Anyway, it's freaking hilarious. There is no way for me to describe how this guy was trying to get his dogs under control. I should take a video of Ryan impersonating him because it's awesome. Picture Grizzly Adams, except skinny. Wearing a really old sweatshirt and a hat and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. The dogs both outweighed him.

The rest of the run Ryan was imitating the guy and I couldn't quit laughing.  I think a few more funny things happened on that run but there were so many I can't remember. I can tell you it was one of the most fun runs I've ever done. And also, we scratched that route off of our list. No more Ghetto Route for us.

Oh, and in case you are wondering? 3 miles. No pain! I'm pretty darn happy these days.

~Mel

Patience

I'm impressed with myself. I have never been a patient person, but having an injury and needing to return to running very slowly has really helped with that issue. It's not easy, but I'm doing it.

Right now I'm doing an abbreviated version of the Ease into 10K plan. You are supposed to do each week 3 times, but I'm only doing it 2. As long as I stay pain free that is. So far so good! I've not had pain once while running.

The hardest part of this is not being able to do races. There are so many this time of year and I want to be out there with everyone else. Last weekend were two races I really wanted to do. I obviously couldn't have done both, but I would have done one. A long time ago I put one of them on my calendar and forgot. Saturday morning I got up and went for a run. It was crappy. Just a miserable run. I got home and turned on my phone and saw a reminder for the race. I almost cried. It was just so depressing. I didn't cry and just texted my cousin who offered gentle encouragement. I send her whiny texts about running at least once a week. I feel blessed that she hasn't blocked my number yet ;).

I feel so fortunate to have so many people in my life that offer encouragement and continue to listen when they have to be sick of me talking about running or my lack of running. I expect someone to eventually yell at me to just shut up. I hope that doesn't happen, but I keep expecting it.

Right now, I'm running 2.5 miles at a time. As of Thursday I will be increasing that. I'm not sure how far I will run as I'm doing it by time instead of distance. I should get to 3 miles. It's been a while since I was super excited to hit 3 miles!!

I will do my best to update a little more often. Since my running is so boring at the moment it's hard to think of anything to say.

Happy Running!

~Mel

Easing Back In

As you know from my last post, I was taking an extended break from running. I ended up taking a month off. This made my hip pain go away completely. Before I took the time off, I couldn't do anything without pain. Running, walking, elliptical, bike, etc. Honestly, even sitting for long periods of time and sleeping were painful. I was losing sleep because my hips  and lower back hurt so bad. I originally planned to take a week off, then was in the accident and had surgery. I decided to take another week. Then I decided to run again March 1. Well, March 8 would be a month, so I figured I should go ahead and wait.

A few days before I was supposed to run again I got all panicky. I was afraid I shouldn't run, afraid the pain would be back, etc. Basically, I was just scared. My awesome support people on the C25K forum encouraged me to go ahead and try it. My plan is to ease back really slowly, so I ran a mile. Wow! I didn't know I would lose so much of my fitness in a month. For most of the mile I felt like I was going to pass out or throw up. But I did it and had no pain! That was Thursday. Saturday I ran again, another mile and it was also pain free. Yay!! Today I will run another mile. If I'm still good, I will go up to 1.5 miles on Wednesday. My plan is to run 3 days per week and increase each week by half a mile.

At some point I had to give up any hope I had of doing races this spring. I'm really disappointed because there were a few I really wanted to do. I just can't. Maybe by May I can find a 5K or something. We'll see.

In non-running news, I got a new car!! It is the current love of my life. Well, besides my husband who let me get exactly the car I wanted. He's the best.

This time of year is extremely crazy for us. The boys are starting soccer soon and Ryan is still playing basketball on a traveling team. Rick is coaching softball, finishing his Masters and also helping his physics class build a Moon Buggy. They will be going to Alabama to race it in April. He leaves for Chicago this week for the senior trip. Life is just a little crazy right now! I'm ready for May to get here and school to be out.