With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams...

Best quote from runnersworld.com !

No matter our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.

 Dale Turner

Got out for a terrific-ly cool morning run.  Put my running sleeves on :-)  It was 50-ish degrees and just perfect!

Not sure why I chose to go down the "dog" road, but that's the road I took for my 6 mile run.  I usually don't take it because of the dogs- but my legs took me down that road.  I blame my legs because my mind really isn't functioning that early in the morning.

About 1.5 miles down the road, a car stopped and turned around in front of me.  Kind of odd, but not "scary."  Then a quarter of a mile later, the same car came up from behind me and came to a stop in the lane next to me, and rolled down their window.  I had my hand on my pepper spray and used my meanest pirate voice to demand "What can I help YOU with?" I was ready for action!!

A timid little voice comes out of the car, "Sister Harsch...I am soooo lost!"  It was one of the girls going to seminary and she'd just started driving on her own & got turned around in the dark.  Poor little thing, she was on the verge of tears.  I got her turned around and back on her way.  A while later I stopped again to call and make sure she'd gotten there okay.  She did.  I wondered to myself if that was the reason I ended up going down the dog road, so I could help her get un-lost.  Either way, glad I could help her out this morning.

After being helpful, I kept running and found the dogs.  They were out in the yard running free, and ran right into the road to try and get me.  I had my pepper spray out, but tried a new line of defense today.  I kept the spray handy and just stared screaming "NO!" at the top of my lungs over and over again. Finally someone woke up and came outside to call their dogs off me.  Mission accomplished.  If you want to let your dogs run loose and chase me in the road at 6 am, I will scream and wake you and your neighbors up.  Next time I will scream and call animal control.  I have been chased by those dogs for 3 years now, and I've had enough.

The dogs were inside when I ran back on the way home.  I actually got to run home un-interrupted.  3 stops going out, none coming home.  I enjoyed my run today.  Missed the moon because of high cloud cover, but I had enough distractions to make up for missing my friend.

Had to get out early this morning and drop bucanner #1 off at the National Guard Armory to send him on his way to boot camp.  I had planned on running in the afternoon, but the hole in my heart kept me home feeling sorry for myself.

Ran home from work.  The first 3 miles were trudgery.  I just wanted to walk.  Then something magical happened, and it started feeling wonderful.  So I ran another 2 after getting home.  They were slow miles, but I didn't care.  It was so nice to be out in the sun with a nice cool breeze and some shade to make it perfect.

6 miles in the morning with the waning moon and stars.  sleeves and gloves today, loved seeing my breath in the light of the headlamp.  Got some new super reflective vests from my neighbor, and I've been wearing them this week.  I've also switched to using the red light on my headlamp.  It does actually make it easier on my eyes than using the white light, but I'm not sure it's helping cars see me.  (I'm kind of hoping the bright reflective vest will do that part).

Then 5 miles home in evening after work.  3 runs in a 25 hour period, and I'm happy to say that each run was progressively easier and faster ap.  Not on purpose, but it just worked out that way.  I enjoy running in the late afternoon and getting some time with the sun and letting the stress of the day roll off me and onto the pavement.  It makes cooking dinner tricky, so we're eating later and meals are a lot less complicated- but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I was delighted today to finish my run and when I walked in the front door, I smelled home made cookies!  That little pirate girl is one awesome cookie maker!!  YUM!

30 minutes elliptical to wake up and get my day started

the weather cooled off nicely here so I decided I could sleep in and get a run in today without worrying about the "heat of the day."  I knew it was going to be nice when I opened the garage door to head out, and there waiting for (like a gift from the pirate king) was this:

Yep, it's half a dead mole.  Boo-ya!

I got a couple mile warm up in, stopped at the house for a drink and potty break, and MR and I were off on our grand adventure for the day.  I planned on doing something between 13 and 15.  After a few miles more, I decided to take a different approach to a route I've been running, and do more of a "p" shaped loop than the "D" I've been doing.  It ended up being longer than I'd thought.   It was a good run, and the only negative was the wind that found me for a few miles of the run home.  I stopped to fuel with gu at miles 6 and 12.  I think that I perform better refueling every 5 miles rather than every 6.  I'll stick with the 5 from now on.

MR found a build a bear rollerskate for the treasure box.  It's only one, but what peg-legged pirate needs two?