Running Against the Wind...and other stuff

What a great weekend.  On Friday night I headed straight from work to Springfield, MO with my sister Tracee to go visit my niece Ashley.  It was Ashley's 20th Birthday.  It's so hard for me to believe Ashley has grown from a sweet baby girl to a beautiful woman.  And if I found it too hard to believe, all I had to do was remember what we were going to do first - look for her wedding dress!!  Yes, Ashley is getting married in November.  We headed over to David's Bridal and she began to try on dresses.  Of course everything looked beautiful on her, but in the end she found "the one" - she will be the most beautiful bride on her wedding day - sorry - can't share any pics yet :)  After finding the dress, we headed over to a Japanese steak house (Ashley's favorite meal) and had our month's worth of sodium.  Ugghhh...I always feel like crap after I have eaten at those places. 

Tracee and I then headed back to our hotel where apparently on the third floor they were either racing the 50 yard dash or herding some elephants until about midnight.  The next morning we hung out a little more, did some shopping and had lunch with Ashley before heading home.  After I got home Jim was in the mood for a movie so we went to see Limitless - hmmm......it was just ok.  I thought it was kind of boring - well except for the part where you get to stare at Bradley Cooper - he's pretty easy on the eyes.

So this morning I got up and prepared for my 5 mile run.  It was a great day - it was sunny mid 60s.  However, there were also 20+ mile per hour winds.  Those winds were awful.  I did a 5 mile out and back loop.  The first 2.5 miles the wind was at my back and I was thinking - wow, this isn't bad at all.  It's so nice and warm and sunny, but then I turned around and the next 2.5 miles I was running directly against the wind.  There was one point when I was running up a large hill against the wind and I looked at my Garmin, my pace was 15:20 - really??  At that point I decided to take a walking break.  I ran the first 3 miles of my run - wahoo, but I have to admit, I walked alot of mile 4 (mostly all up hill), and ran mile 5.  Overall I finished in 61 minutes - so I had an average pace of 12 minutes 12 seconds.  It wasn't speedy, but I never am, so I was pleased overall.

When I got back from my run I took Jack for a couple of cool down laps - both mine and Jack's favorite part of running.  Jack enjoyed the winds much more than I did because that meant lots and lots of smells in the air.  It was hot out - at least for Jack.  He was really thirsty when we got home.  Jack only drinks out of the bathroom faucet.  I have no idea how this really happened, but it did.  So now he is totally spoiled.  After a drink Jack was tired and ready for a nap!  I stretched, took a couple of ibuprofen, and iced my back.  I'm hopeful my back won't be too sore later today.  Fingers crossed.



Jack - Happy Dog on a walk!



All Smiles - but squinting a little bit in the sun

Getting a much needed drink from the faucet



Jack sticking his tongue out at me!




Resting after his walk