
Greetings from rainy cloudy windy sunny windy sunny cloudy rainy sunny cloudy Oregon! We are here for a dog show staying on the show grounds with the other crazies. (Yay free WiFi!) Bennie was a complete spazz in the ring this morning. He might’ve won if he’d behaved (although the dog that won was very handsome), but he got Reserve Winner’s Dog, which is essentially runner up. The judge asked Bennie’s handler if she let him drink her Starbuck’s this morning. At least she had a sense of humor.
It was pouring when we walked the 25 yards from the motorhome to the show building at 7:45, but when we came out it cleared up. It was windy and dark, though. But it was dry! So I decided to get my long run in today (even though I got abou 2 hours of sleep because T Junior kicked me in the back all night). I’m running with Kim, (Just) Trying is for Little Girls, tomorrow but I’m not sure how many miles we’ll be able to get in and it’s supposed to rain.
So I changed into my cold weather pants and my fave red Nike zip-up (fave, as in it’s in all my pictures lately), and set out for 7.5 miles with the goal of sticking to about an 8:50 pace — it’s what my half training will call for when I start it next week, so why not just do it today, right? I like to get things started early (except when it’s something I don’t really want to do, then I like to procrastinate).
But first I took Bennie for a short walk. It would’ve been longer but he was being a freak and getting his foamy lips all over my black Under Armour tights. It’s all fun and games until someone wipes their slobber on my running clothes.
Finally, I was heading out of the fairgrounds for my run. There’s a pretty park across the street with pathways I thought I could run. I ran up to it and saw I probably wouldn’t be able to get 7+ miles out of it and went around the edge of it at first. The sun came out and even though it was windy, I was hot. Not good times.
I didn’t go too far that way before my nice sidewalk ran out and I turned around so I wouldn’t have to run on a main road. I ran past the entrance of where all the dog show RVs are and then went in the other direction. But then I ran out of sidewalk that way, too. I decided to go back and check out the park paths. About half-way into my run, I got really hungry. I daydreamed about the tuna fish sandwich I would make back at the motorhome.
The park paths were all dead ends. I felt like a mouse in one of those mazes. This way, no this way. Nope. This way. Maybe this way? Argh! None of them connected, so I kept back-tracking. It was annoying! I ended up heading out the first way I’d gone and then back and past the RVs again and around the show grounds and out to the freeway. Finally, I could turn and head back — just one more mile! Tuna fish sandwich. Tuna fish sandwich. Tuna fish sandwich.
Back at the motorhome, I had a banana instead and gathered T Junior and Lucy, who is finished with her show career but loooooves dog shows, and we headed back out to feed the ducks at the park. Since it was sunny, I wanted to go right then. We had fun and it added another half-mile onto my day…probably more, but I didn’t bring my Garmin for duck-feeding hour.
I made T Junior a PB&J sandwich and then got out the mayo, the relish and the can of tuna. Then my stomach sunk. No can opener. DAMN IT!
(I also forgot toothpaste and me and Mr. T had to use kid’s bubblegum-berry “toothpaste” and it is disgusting. I also forgot the bag of French fries for tonight, and the judging program that tells us what ring Bennie’s in and what time we show. Yeah, I forgot a few things.)
After the tuna disappointment, I made PB&J, ate it and then Mr. T reminded me that I’d brought Ramen. DAMN IT! I’ve been craving it but don’t want to eat it unless it’s a running day. After my run tomorrow, we’ll be on the road so it’ll probably be PB&J again. I like PB&J, but COME ON.
Also, Mr. T has been on a call for work since I went for my run at noon. It is now 4:03. COME ON!
Some good news: The 8:50 pace on the long run is very comfortable. Here’s how it went:
Mile 1: 8:54
Mile 2: 8:43
Mile 3: 9:02 (dead-ends in the park!)
Mile 4: 8:55
Mile 5: 8:46
Mile 6: 8:39
Mile 7: 8:34
.5: 8:35
Just a little note: Thursday was hard. Obviously. Friday and today have been better. Thank you so much for your comments, emails and tweets. Those darn doggies. Why do they have to have such short lives? They simply are not with us as long as they should be. And now…
Can you smell me through the Internet? I haven’t showered yet. Doing any pranks for April Fool’s Day tomorrow? And WHAT is the deal with all the dead-end pathways in the park?
3 comments
Smelly girl!! Just kidding! I’m not very good at pranks so probably not. That sucks you had a bunch of dead ends in the park! I have run down a couple of dead ends and it always seems like I lose a little steam having to turn around and go back.
Sorry about Timber Linn Park. It’s just a bunch of fields next to each other. There really should be a running path loop through there. Dang. I hope we can get a bunch of miles in tomorrow…
So sorry to hear about the loss of your dog. 🙁