Summer 2015 BEGINS!

Slugger and I have some major plans this summer - primarily, lots and lots of walks with Dad and cousin Tuck!!

Yesterday was the last day of school and graduation. This morning I slept until 10am :) Although I have to go back to school on Monday to sign off on grades and such, and for a stupid all day math meeting on Wednesday, SUMMERTIME IS UPON US!!! And we are SOOOO glad!!!

I decided that we needed to "get out of town" for a bit. If you don't live here or haven't been watching the news, Texas has seen some rain. Okay, A LOT of rain. I saw a graphic this morning that said we have had enough rain to cover Manhattan 4 times, or something like that. Slugger and I have been able to walk - between storms, in the rain, short distances several times a day - but we're getting tired of our neighborhood. Several of our walks entail grassy parts, which are currently just muddy green parts. We haven't been to the Nature Reserve because I can only imagine what those trails look like. They're muddy after a normal, one day storm.

So, we drove out to Weatherford where the Lake Mineral Wells State Park trailway begins. Or ends? I thought that the first two miles were paved, but that's the OTHER end apparently! But it was hard packed gravelly path that was actually mostly dry except in a few places. We went out almost 2 miles and then went back. The best part is that it was sunny-isn and relatively cloud-less. Okay, no storm clouds, so good enough!! We even stopped to take a picture or two, because it was just that beautiful.

 

Slugger had a great time dancing through puddles and chasing lizards. He did very well considering this is the farthest we've gone in almost a year! It was a very slight uphill on the way out, and of course downhill on the way back. Parts of the path had been under running water at one point recently. One stretch was still wet with a very small stream running by it and through it. About halfway back, Slugger was apparently tuckered out. He walked through a puddle and drank from it. And then laid down in it!! He moved around a couple times but seemed to enjoy the refreshing water on his belly. 

I almost had to force him into the running water later. I was hoping it was cleaner and perhaps would make him not quite so dirty and smelly in the new car on the way home! 

Pretty sure this isn't a creek normally!!

 

The knee likes to be in its brace after being iced.
It didn't start to bother me until about mile 3. Progress!
I'd like to point out that puppy is wet lying on top of me.

We've both done a lot of nothing (after baths for everyone) since we got home :) 

So far, summer is off to a FABULOUS start!! 

A New Endeavor?

I have always wanted to run a marathon.  But I'm not a runner. REALLY not a runner! I don't even run to get places faster. I just walk very quickly. My natural walk is pretty fast anyway. Who needs to run?! But, then again, if I don't run, the marathon dream will never happen. I've even thought about how long it'd take to WALK a marathon. Or at least a half. Too long was my conclusion.

As you know, Slugger and I walk. Every day (almost), most days twice. We don't always go far, but we go. If we're lucky, it's a hike on trails somewhere. But usually, it's the streets in our neighborhood. Slugger and I both enjoy this time immensely. He likes to chase after trucks with trailers, motorcycles, bicycles, and joggers. When he tries to go with the jogger, I always tell him that we don't go that fast but we have just as much fun.

Yesterday, the absolute strangest thing happened. I RAN!! We crossed a busy street and jogged a little to beat a car. I kept jogging! I jogged a block and walked a block for several blocks. ON PURPOSE!!! And the whole time I wondered if I was logging extra steps, and marveled at what my heart rate must be :) Indeed, I got into the "cardio" zone according to fitbit, for the first time!! And it seemed to last longer than the amount of time I actually jogged. Interesting. My (surgery/arthritic/patella issue) knee hurt a little when I got home and a little today, but it's probably just shock!

Anyway, running isn't completely foreign to me. My dad was an ultra runner in my formative years. I often ran in with him to the finish line. You know, two hundred yards or so. I even ran track in junior high (late elementary?). In late junior high and early high school, I ran on trails, because I could. They were steps from my house! I enjoyed getting away, into the woods, listening to my Tiffany cassette on my walkman. I honestly don't remember if I enjoyed the actual act of running. I guess not too much since I didn't continue - seems like the end of my running might have coincided with getting a driver's license...

So... am I now a runner? No. Might I try it again? Yes! Do I think I'll ever run that marathon? It's a possibility!! It would give me a goal, that's for sure!!

Oh, also, an update of sorts from my last entry... I have not lost a pound, have not had the best will power (free teacher appreciation lunch, how could I say no?!), but I FEEL fitter!! I have energy, my brain is mostly working, and I'm sleeping. Life is good :)