You Remember That 1000 Miles Thing?

Chances are if Charlie gets to be a part of the 1000 miles, they will be walking miles.
He's adorable, but horrible to run with.

So, yea, I'm still doing that. I'm less than two months in.  Quitting is not going to happen. But well, complaining happens everyday.

My calves are hurting in a way they've never hurt before.  So I've been doing A LOT of walking (and stretching and RICE-ing) and a little running.  Like walking at least 3 miles a day and only running once a week. seriously.

So, are you interested to hear how far ahead or behind I am in my mileage?    Here's a clue ... I talk a big game but I'm mostly lazy.

In March, I should have logged 54 miles.  But I only did 35.42.  That put me 18.58 miles behind.
In April, I should have logged 84 miles (102.58 if I wanted to make up the March deficit) But I only did 83. Putting me 19.58 miles behind.

I'm still going in the wrong direction ... but improving.  In better news, I logged 15 miles in the first 4 days of May.  So, there's that.  I have hopes to be back in the black by mid-July.

Son has been walking/running/skipping/galloping about 2 miles a day with me while Daughter is in Pre-K.  And that's been fun. He's also been going to bed about 20 minutes earlier.  We've been going on family walks most days when Husband gets home from work and I've been logging a few boring treadmill miles here and there.

I got a new sports bra.  And that's pretty much been the highlight of my month of 1000.

Fun in the Yard

I like it when the weather is below 90 degrees.  It means more time outside.

Son took off his shoes and socks and picked up a shovel for garden digging.  (They are allowed to dig in the empty part of the garden)

Tree climbing after sandcastle building

sun bathing

and poor old Charlie is just waiting for me to sit down so he can crawl in my lap.  What a baby.

A Garden Update

Lots has been going on in the garden.  Lots. And lots is already finished.

When the squash bugs came a couple of weeks ago, I pulled up the cucumber, squash and zucchini.  It definitely wasn't the "oh no, will I? won't I?  I can't give up on my plants wah wah wah." that is was last year. I didn't have the time or energy to inspect every leaf for eggs everyday.  Up they came.  

While they were still in the dirt, the cucumbers did great, I was picking 5 or 6 a week and I used all of them for either salads or tzatziki.  The zucchini did really well too.  I was picking about 3 huge ones a week.  And either grilled slices or used them in vegetable curry.  The yellow squash didn't do so swell.  I think I only picked 4 all season. I think it was mostly because of being crowded by the zucchini.  The 4 I did pick were fantastic.  I'll have to be smarter about garden placement next year.

a musk melon.  We've already cut into 1 and I'm excited for this one

the biggest and best butternut squash.  The plant this one is on gets the most sun.  The rest of them are much smaller. 

the sweetest cutest (not smart) mut I know.  Every time I tried to take a picture of a plant, he'd step in between me and the plant until I took his picture. Come to think of it, maybe he's not so "not smart" after all.  :-)    

One of Husband's fennel.  We've both excited about these.  There's 7 of them.

one of the carrots.  The kids are excited about these!  Some are clumped together more than others and of course the ones that have more space look like they'll be bigger.

bell pepper

Thanks to these babies, it had been a bench mark year for us in terms of canning.  Wow, they taste fantastic.

Daughter's husky cherry red.  MAN, this thing is a SUPER producer.

I dug up the onions a couple of days ago.  And that's really all for the garden.  The basil and mint are still doing their thing and growing and growing.  It's been a good year for the garden.  And it's not over yet.

The Daughter sized towels

Until very recently Daughter has had no problem with what towel or robe she is dried off with after her shower. We still use a few larger hooded towels and 5 robes for both kids. Last week she decided she did not want to use a "baby towel" or a "baby robe" Yes, EVEN the fabulously cute bunny robe that I love so much.

She wanted to use my (and Husband's) over sized bath towels. You know, the really big ones. They're like beach towels, except they're bath towels. Anyway, we only have 4 of those so her using one every other day (sometimes every day) was out of the question.

I started talking to her about [Daughter] sized towels. They will be just her size and she can pick out whatever color she wants. She seemed jazzed about the idea. Sunday night we went to wal-mart (I really dislike how much we shop there, but in our town we don't have many options) and she got to pick out 3 [Daughter] sized towels. (they were $3.22 each and nice and soft)

She picked out yellow, green and purple.

Breaking in the yellow towel. She loves it.

Look at Son being a creeper in the background.

Now Son gets exclusive use of the blue hooded (formerly a clearance beach cover up from Target) robe.

See the pictures of our pets in the background? Son loves to point them out. EVERY time we're in the bathroom.

"Dack" = Jack

"Glacie" = Gracie

"Char-wee" = Charlie

He also says "Where Hen-wee?" = Henry the turtle.

You have to be a warm blooded pet to have a framed picture in the bathroom, kid.

it feels nice

I just got back from a two-ish mile jog with Jack (the good jogging dog) to pay our local utilities bill.

I definitely haven't been pushing myself like last year. I've been walking about 4 times a week ... but no jogging.

I needed a nice mind cleaner-outer tonight before going to bed to start the week anew. Feels good.

tingly legs.

achy feet.

cramping hand. (from gripping the dog leash)

the sweat.

the breeze on my face.

it really feels good.

and helps me sleep better at night. Jack had fun too. He got to smell 7 new things before I pulled him along to keep up.

Wordless Wednesday: Jack, the jog dog

the all inclusive jogging update

Meet Charlie. He's one of the best dogs in the world. such a sweet sweet baby. We found him a little over two years ago dirty, skinny, covered in fleas and trying to get into our garbage can. We convinced him to stay long enough to get a bath, a meal and to meet Jack, our dog we found at the Horton Mill Covered Bridge the year before. The two dogs hit it off, so when we couldn't find anyone to claim Charlie we weren't too upset about it because he was already a member of the family.
One of Charlie's favorite things to do (beside sit in your lap) is just to trot around. He likes going on walks. Friday night I took him with me on my jog around downtown. Jack went on Wednesday, so I figured it was Charlie's turn. Charlie is a bad jogging companion. He does the usual dog stuff like wanting to stop and sniff, but he also likes to zig zag in front of you. No matter how little slack I gave him on his leash he still wanted to trot all around me.

About mile 1 into my jog, Charlie, darts in front of me while a car and its headlights come glaring down on us. I tripped over Charlie and fell into the bright light. Luckily, I was not hit by the car. my knee was throbbing and tingly, so I hobbled home with my trot dog.

4 days later, the scab is much smaller and the two bruises are much larger and darker. lovely, huh? I had to take a day off, but now there's only the occasional tenderness when I hit or brush up against something with my knee. And that's my first jogging injury, brought to you by the cuddly Charlie Dog.

Another possible obstacle to my first 5k race was my iPod and iTunes. I created a new superb 5k play list. All the songs were 135-145 beats per minute, keeping me at a nice steady pace. I had about half of the songs already on iTunes and bought the rest. I made the play list almost a month ago, but I rarely sync my iPod these days, so the old play list was still on Fergus (yes, that's the name of my iPod). Monday, I downloaded the latest version of iTunes then tried to sync my iPod.

no dice. it just charged. so then I go through all the Help advice. restart computer, in disk mode, won't come out of disk mode, not showing up in My Computer, USB cord works. blah. I definitely did not want to uninstall itunes and reinstall. I was starting to have mini panic attacks about how this would ruin my race mojo and other none sense thoughts. finally, yesterday I was able to successfully put Fergus in disk mode and take it out and BINGO sync. glory, glory. I was giddy. now that's one less thing I have to worry about.

Sunday night, I completed the first day of week 8. I had a 5 minute warm up walk and then jogged for 27 minutes. and I did it. I jogged for 27 minutes (with Jack, as Charlie has been banned from all future jogs). When I jogged up to the porch, I announced I was back from my jog and I finally feel like a runner. I finally feel like I'm not just "training" but I am actually "a runner" wow. it was liberating. I really feel accomplished. For someone who in the past has never run more than a mile, so feel like "a runner" is amazing.

Tonight I'm going to try out said play list and see how it goes. The HYT 5k is this Saturday. I'm excited. trying to plan what to wear that will be most conducive to jogging with regards to the weather and time of day. making sure Fergus is completely charged. I'm ready. almost. I know I'm going to be super nervous/anxious/excited come Saturday morning. Bring it.

HELP the puppy

that's right. we found a puppy. or rather, a puppy found us. Husband woke me up Sunday morning to tell me there was "a friendly puppy on the porch."

We're easing up on 30 hours of having a puppy on the porch. He's been splitting his time on the porch in our baby playyard that we bought to put around our Christmas tree last year and the backyard. He loves rolling around in the grass. He's pretty stinkin cute. and he seems to be somewhat potty trained. he hasn't gone to the bathroom in the playyard yet. He's been holding it until he's on grass.

As much as I'd love to keep him, we can't. He needs a good home, but that's not ours. Have I mentioned that Daughter is pretty smitten with him? She's been petting him and playing ball with him. She thinks he's a pretty great toy.

Our vet's office doesn't recognize him and he doesn't have a chip. No one has responded to my post on a community forum and no one but a few kids wanting to play with him has acknowledged our "Found Puppy" sign in the yard.

Want a cute little dog?

UPDATE:

Puppy has been reunited with his family. I cried.