See ya 2016!

I meant to write this yesterday, but well, I didn't.

The year 2016 is now over. It will go down in history as the year all the famous people died, and Trump won the presidency. With any luck, 2017 will be the year no one dies, and Trump gets impeached. Or something.

For Slugger and I, 2016 saw a few excitements. We went backpacking again. I made my 3rd prom happen. We bought a new A/C unit because Slugger peed on the old one. I ran a 5K. We spent about 7 weeks in California over the summer. That included backpacking, hiking, and hanging with Grandpa and Tuck. Always a fun time. And fabulous visits with my buds. I didn't go see Grandma which was a bummer, but the A/C wasn't cheap!

The most excitement came this fall. In September, Slugger started limping after chasing a frog. The two things may have been unrelated but I will always blame the frog! After several weeks became a couple months of trying to get him to rest, I finally took him back to the vet who sent us to a surgeon. Yup, Slugger had his first surgery (and hopefully last!). He tore his ACL. The very nice surgeon  performed a TPLO the day before Thanksgiving. He had to spend the night but we survived the separation. We've been living in the bedroom ever since.

About the same time that Slugger wasn't improving, I had some weird hip thing and took a few weeks off of running too. But, oddly, I missed running! I think this new hobby is a keeper :)

We have spent the entire 2 weeks of Winter Break hanging out in the bedroom watching movies and TV. Except for my almost daily runs and a couple meals with friends. I feel like Slugger and I have bonded even more through this ordeal. I REALLY don't want to go back to work on Tuesday! But, in just 6 more weeks, we get to leave the bedroom!!

What do we want in 2017? Lots! New adventures are definitely on our horizon. I'm planning a 10k and half marathon; a trip to an Astros game; lots and lots of time with family and friends. Hopefully, Slugger and I will get several backpacking trips. Maybe even multi-night!! But, of course, all we really want is love and happiness for all, and world peace :)

I finally get it!

For years, I've sat, in the middle of the night, wearing five layers, wrapped in a sleeping bag, shivering, wondering how on earth runners come in wearing practically nothing and not dying of hypothermia! Seriously, men in just shorts, women in tanks and shorts, looking fresh as morning dew and not at all cold! I get it. I totally get it. 

Today is a PERFECT gorgeous 70 degree day in Texas. It's 73 now, 3.5 hours after I got home from a 6.4 mile run. So it was probably between 65-70 while I was out. I sweated like a pig!! I was hot. Part of that is because I got to enjoy Texas blue clear skies that songs are written about. It meant the sun was beating down on me, even with the nice cool breeze. 

Anyway, I can totally see why after running miles and miles and miles, one would still be hot even when it's much cooler outside! I no longer think they're crazy!!!

Other interesting things occurred this morning on my run... 

I've been trying to do more interval like training on my shorter midweek runs, 3 minute run and 1 minute walk. And an actual run, not a loping jog :) But on my longer weekend runs I run when I want and walk when I feel the need, though I do keep track. For example, last week's first 6+ mile run, I did lots of 2:1 in the last couple miles. Today, I tried to push myself to run longer the whole way. I also ended up walking longer in between. Runs were 3-5 minutes, walks 1-2. I really felt stronger though! I knocked a few minutes off my 10k time too! 

I learned it's hard to read a map on the phone while moving. I knew where I wanted to go but hadn't really committed roads and turns to memory. Took a couple wrong turns but got it sorted out! And I met this guy:

I was so excited that it was totally worth the struggle to get my phone (camera) out of its pocket and stop for pics!!! 

It's so beautiful outside that Slugger and I sat outside while I iced. We then went back outside after I ate lunch. In fact I'm only inside so I can write this!! 

One last note... I came home from CA almost back where I was, weight-wise, when I started losing as a new thing. I've started running more and further. I've stopped eating quite so much junk. I haven't lost hardly any pounds, but I feel fitter and my clothes fit better which is really what matters most! In fact, last night, I wore the belt and buckle that my dad gave me this summer. I could get it cinched then but it was way uncomfortable so I didn't actually wear it anywhere even though I was so proud to have it! Now I can wear it!!!

This was the end of the evening and I'd given up on my hair! The buckle is from the Old Pueblo 50 miler that he ran on my 12th birthday. We both have vivid memories but not the same ones!!

That's all. Have a nice day! 

 

Running Lessons #217 (+/-)

My goal for today was 6 miles. I "only" went 5.5. My route was that long and now I know! Here are some of today's (and last week's lessons/observations).

- Running in the rain is fun. And not so fun. I don't like wet, soggy shoes. The rest of me didn't mind being wet. I even had a lady offer me a ride! I was only a mile or so in. If she'd asked a few miles later, I might've thought about it!

- A long run the day after my first gym workout in 3 years was probably not the best idea. The legs felt today more than they have in the past. But I suppose that's actually a good thing.

- There are a LOT of hills in my neighborhood!! I sort of got myself lost today and ended with a nice long one. I knew where I was but the street names weren't what I thought they should be, ya know!? Next time, I'm thinking I'll go backwards and START with the large hills :) There were hills at the other end but a little more gradual. Fitbit says I did 59 floors today!!

- I like my new watch!! I can set intervals - I started with 3/1 minutes to run/walk - and it just keeps cycling through. I did this to start and ended up pushing myself a bit harder than I might have otherwise. My plan is to, for now, use this on my shorter runs, and then use the lap memory on the longer runs, so I don't push as hard the whole time (I gave up in the intervals after about a mile) and can see how I'm doing on my own. The lap timer part of the watch basically lets me track my splits so after the run I can analyze. Today, I was all over the place on my splits of run/walk :) We'll see what happens!

- From last week - I really don't like out and back runs. It's too easy to turn around when I get tired!! But it was nice being on the bike path for most of it and seeing so many other people out there.

That's it. I think. I am REALLY enjoying running!! Who'd have ever thought??!?!?!?

Sunday Morning Run Observations

I ran over 5 miles today! My farthest yet!! I felt good. It wasn't quite as hot but still not exactly cold. I'd say I probably ran about 4 of the miles overall. Not bad! Here are my observations:

- some churches have better attendance than others
- I'm not the only one out and about burning calories
- I like having Nuun with me, but not in a leaking water bottle
- running is actually kinda fun
- my new shorts are still working right after I washed them (you never know with spandex)
- always make sure strava is actually recording
- I like running more with Slugger cuz he gives me an excuse to slow down, stop and smell the flowers, etc.
- my new (4th try) hydration pack is great
- dogs don't bark as aggressively, if at all, when I don't have Slugger with me

Seems like there was more...

FINALLY "In This Life" LIVE!!!

First , let me apologize to readers for not blogging more in the last month! I did in fact get home from CA and started back to school. Life has been busy!!

Collin Raye is my all time favorite artist ever. His song Somebody Else's Moon is what made me fall in love with country music. But somehow I've never seen him in concert! A couple years ago, he was going to be here in DFW somewhere but it just didn't work out for me to go.

August 2015, I saw that he'd be in Arlington on a Saturday night in May 2016. I immediately bought tickets!! I splurged a little (still only $30!) and got front row of the balcony - my favorite place to sit. I bought 2 tickets. Why not? It was months away and one never knows!! I figured I'd find someone to join!! I did :) In early Spring, I invited my good friend Sheila to join me. We were both SO incredibly excited!!

The Friday before comes around and I called the venue to ask about my "will call" tickets. THE SHOW WAS CANCELLED!! WHAT?!?! I cried. Seriously. It had been cancelled in November because the ticket selling company went out of business. I didn't get the email. I suspect it actually went to junk and I deleted it, but the effect was the same! To make a long story short, I bought tickets to the rescheduled event and the credit card company gave me back my money.

Well, the actual show was last night!! I was excited but hesitant because I had been disappointed once! But, Collin tweeted about it, I got an email about it from the venue, and I was pretty sure this was the real deal!! Not sure I truly believed it until I saw this:

I had never been here but Sheila had, as a kid, when it was a movie theater. She said it hadn't changed much! It was a GREAT venue for a concert. Totally felt intimate and like we were just having a private conversation and show with Collin!!

Not zoomed.

Zoomed. And this was really how close it seemed we were.
We could see their facial expressions and such!!

I knew he wouldn't play ALL my favorites. We didn't have all day, after all!! But this is the one of my top three that he did play. I captured most of it which blogger wouldn't let me upload. So here's a clip of the chorus. I videoed so I wouldn't sing and cry. I was still tearing up. I teared up on several. There's just something about hearing these ballads live!! 

After the show. 

I tweeted this when I got home. Collin liked it  :) 

Sheila and I had PeiWei before the show. Yummy!! What a fun, fantastic evening!! Collin TOTALLY lived up to my expectations, which were pretty high after waiting 24 years to see him live!!

YUMMY!!!!

In our seats!! (I still suck at selfies!)

TOTALLY would see Collin again over and over!! EXCELLENT performer, and of course, I love his music. And now I'm completely in love with Arlington Music Hall. Not a bad seat in the house! Next month is Shenandoah for $15 (cheap seats) and in November is Sawyer Brown for $20!!!

Backpacking the PCT

I brought along my backpack to CA cuz Dad and I had talked about doing some sort of excursion. We wanted to take the dogs so it needed to a well thought out adventure! After much discussion, we came up with a plan that would work for everyone. We wanted to carry everything on our backs that we needed to camp. But we didn't want to go too far. Also, this was Tuck's first camping trip so we weren't completely sure what to expect from her. Of course, she sleeps in the front yard many nights, even in the snow, by choice, so chances were good she'd be a great camping dog!

We set out for Yellow Post site #31. This is a campsite on a dirt road, but still in the woods. The key is that when campfires are allowed, you can have them there. If you just go camp anywhere in the woods, you can't. These days there are no flames allowed anywhere. Except a propane stove with a permit, which Dad happened to have! The Yellow Post sites are a great place to camp in the woods, away from other people, but still have your car with you. Site #31 was quite large, with a picnic table and a fire ring (with bright pink tape over it so we wouldn't use it) and several cleared locations for tents. However we didn't set up camp at this point.

We donned our backpacks, fully loaded for camping, including Slugger, and we set off down the road that we had just driven in on. We hiked up the road to the PCT and then went North (toward Canada) on the PCT for a little ways. Dad had put in his GPS device a spot where we needed to turn right off the trail to go cross country back to the campsite. I'm not a big fan of "bushwhacking" but we got there eventually. We hiked about 2 miles in all.

Slugger with his backpack on, heading up the road.

My companions

One of the views on the PCT

Taking a little break

Checking for lizards. 

The backpack doesn't stop him from exploring!

Now that we had hiked with our backpacks, we could set up camp. We pulled everything we needed out of our packs and started pitching tents!

He got right in to check it out!

Slugs helping Grandpa 

Our tents! And an adorable pooch!

Once the tents were set up, we wandered around a bit and just sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

It was soon time to make dinner. We had bought prepared backpacking meals at REI that just need boiling water. Dad has a fancy, tiny, lightweight stove that we set up to boil the water. Then we had to wait for the food to rehydrate. I had chicken with risotto, and Dad had Mexican chicken with rice.

I need to get me one of these!!!

Rehydrating

After dinner, we relaxed some more and watched the sunset through the trees. So peaceful and wonderful!

Sunrise the next morning was also beautiful but I didn't snap a picture until the sun was basically up. But still absolutely gorgeous.

We packed up and drove away!!

Tuck did GREAT as a camper and I am SOOOO proud of Slugger. He never gets to be off leash because he's a sight dog and if he sees something, he goes after it. Fast and far! Well, not this time! Slugger spent most of the evening and morning off leash and did incredibly well!! He never wandered very far from me and when he did, he came back when I called him!! The site was big enough that he could go exploring and never be out of my sight which was nice. There was, however, one little incident when he saw a deer. He took chase. Tuck then chased Slugger. Neither really came when we called (while running after them) but they definitely took notice and stopped their chase. They then wandered around sniffing looking for where the deer had been. I wouldn't say they came even then, but they didn't go further away either. After that, I put Slugs on his tie out but it was about dusk and he needed to be. And we were just minutes from heading into the tent anyway. The next morning I let him be off leash and he was a model puppy :)

I had Dad take pictures before we left. 

Me with the backpacking dogs!! (both off leash!!)

The In Betweens

You might think that while on vacation in sunny Southern California, I only do stuff on the weekends. Nope! Well, okay, there is a lot of sitting on the couch reading and playing iPad games, but we do other stuff too!! 

For example, we hike!! 

We wrestle!

We selfie!

We sit on the front porch, and chill in the front yard!

We ride in the car!

We look adorable while relaxing!

But most of all, we just enjoy being with Tuck and Dad/Grandpa.