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Sunday, October 29, 2017

Day 1, Week 9: Sycamore Pumpkin Run Chaos--Taco Dogs Everywhere

The workout on the training plan was for 15 miles.  That didn't exactly happen today because of two reasons:

1) I ran a 10K race this morning way faster than I should have run it, and
2) While the wedding food last night was amazing, it wasn't so amazing waking up early and running a race.  Or 9 more miles after that.  Ugh.

The 10K race, as I mentioned yesterday, is one I like to do with the dogs in costume because, you know, dogs in costume plus running = all sorts of awesome.  Here's a nice pre-race picture for you where neither of the dogs is looking at the camera because we simply gave up trying to get them to look at the camera.  If you take our dogs anywhere but home, the attention deficit starts ramping up to 11 and you can forget about getting their attention at all.


It was in the 30s at the start, hence the hat and gloves.  But holy cow did I warm up that taco costume nicely by mile 2.  The gloves came off at mile 3, and it was all I could do not to rip my hat off by mile 4.  It was only the thought of how crazy my short hair gets when it's been shoved in a hat that stopped me; I didn't want to hurt anyone with the sight of me, after all.  So I sucked it up and ran with my large taco dog, who of course didn't pull me at all like he normally does and upstaged me at every spectator spot.  It was all "OH LOOK AT THE CUTE TACO DOG....and a taco running with him" every. single. time.

The hubbs sacrificed his morning to go to this race with me, mainly to look after the small taco dog while the large one and I were on the course.


But his other job was race photographer, which he dutifully did even though small taco dog took off after his brother at the end of the race and caused the hubbs to fall, tearing up his knee.

This is the EXACT MOMENT all taco hell broke loose for the hubbs.

I heard the commotion and looked back to see the hubbs on the ground and small taco dog running around freely about the course.  So I did what any dutiful wife would do--keep running until I hit the finish and then go check on him.  Priorities, people.

The other thing I had to deal with during this race besides rogue taco dogs and falling husbands was what was going on with my stomach. A combination of last night's wedding food and me having to pee right before the race yet not hitting the port-a-john caused a huge knot in my stomach at mile 2. This knot didn't let up until 3 hours after I got home.  It also prevented me from doing the last 9 miles of my scheduled run, as I kept starting those miles but kept having to turn back after about a quarter of a mile to use my own indoor facilities.  So I decided to listen to my body and stay near a toilet for the rest of the evening.

What did large taco dog do for the rest of the evening?  His usual "it looks like I'm guarding the house with the cat but it's really just a ruse so I can eat the cat's head when he least expects it" activities.

The cat's head is never safe.  

Small dog came home and held his favorite gator captive to tell him all about the fun chaos he caused this morning.


I didn't have time for holding gators captive- I had to look at my splits and say bad words because I ran this way too fast...and I'm feeling it now.




Race day learnings coming your way:

  • That costume was not aerodynamic at all and provided you with no peripheral vision.  Sorry, all you runners that I cut off without seeing you today.
  • I am so bummed about not finishing the scheduled workout for today.  But my legs are not.
  • Small taco dog also slipped his collar after the race started and bolted towards the course again.  Troublemaker.
  • You know that runner rule that says "don't eat food that isn't familiar to you the night before a race?"  Yeah, that one is there for a reason, kids.
  • Everyone should have a captive toy gator to which to tell their troubles.  The world would be a much nicer place, I'm sure.


Tomorrow's workout:  Upper-body weight goodness.  And I may do some miles to make up for today's loss of mileage due to gastrointestinal crises.  We'll see!


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