Christmas

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

New distance, better times, lower weight

Things have been going well for me in the running world!  I have increased my distance to 4.5 (i:n 44:22) and my 1 mile times have been getting better also (all were sub 10 during my last 4 mile, yeah!).  So now Im to the point where running anything less then 3.5 feels like Im not accomplishing my running goals and really, 4miles is about my standard. 

I had been running with great friends however the last 2 days I have run alone.  Yesterday, it was raining, and cool but really nice.  I enjoyed it so much I choose to start my morning running today.  At 615am I was out the door.

So peaceful.  Relaxing.  Calming.  I ever turned off my iPod so I could listen to, well, nothing.

Then Husker dragged me back into reality by find the deer and chasing them across my path.  Nothing like 15 deer crashing out of the trees and running across the road 20 feet ahead of you.  Thank you wonder-mutt.

Anyway, thats my new running time...first thing in the morning.  I have had more energy today and accomplished more then I usually do.  Plus, I didnt have to sacrifice my running to the other things I on my agenda today.

My final announcement.....I have 10 lbs to go!  10 more pounds and I will be down to where I was when I got pregnant.  Im already in pre-preggo jeans, down several sizes from what I was...I may not be at the scale number I want, but I am in better shape then I have ever been in my life. 

Thank you running!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Todays Run

Im not running my "normal" run today.  Why?  Well, Mother Nature hit us with what is one of the worst and hoepfully LAST (got that MN...LAST!!) snow storms of the season last night.  She dropped off 12 inches of snow in 12 hours and then, cause that wasnt enough, sent in 30-50mph winds. 

These are the times when most people hunker down in the houses and wait out.  Which is what we also do, for part of the night.  Being a ranching family, during calving, the worse the weather, the more there is to do. 

Hubby, his dad and brother were on cattle watch last night, all night.  Every 3 hours someone was outside, driving in the above mention conditions, hanging out the window with a spotlight, looking for newborns and out calves that might be need some help. 

My "run" today was from the barn to the trailer, grabbing the extra horse blanket, and back to the barn to cover the shivering calf.

Animal rights groups forget to tell you that part when they slam agriculture based familes.

Actually, they dont forget...they just dont  

They havent looked in the barn, under the pile of horse blankets and the heat lamps, to see the calves that were brought inside, so they didnt freeze. 

They forget to mention the near ditch experice when hubby hit his brakes while driving through a 2 foot snow drift, because there was a calf on the side of the road who got blown through the fence. 

They dont watch the ranchers and their wives sit and bottle feed the calves, so they can get strong enough, or walk out to the barns to check on them every hour or so, they dont drive through the cows and calves that are outside still, watching and waiting, making sure those babies are doing alright.

After all that is done, then chores can be started.

Im new to the ranch wife job....its only been a 2 years.  My heart still breaks when I look at the calves, their  noses peeking out from under the blankets and yes, I send up a few prayers for the little guys.  Ultimately I know that nature will takes it course and what is going to happen, will happen.  I also know, that it wont be because of lack of trying on the ranchers part. 

I also know that the animal activists wont mention that part, either.
 

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Hills and Wind

Being that I live in the Sandhills, running hills isnt something I can avoid.  I have to embrace the hills because I have such a tragic relationship with the dreadmill that unless I only want to be inside, I gotta run conquor the hills. 

And the wind.  Apparently thats never going away either but Im not going to waste valuable blog space complaining about that.  Again.

So yesterday the wind was out of the South so I had to run North, I figured it was a good a time as any to venture down the road and run some hills.  BIG hills...bigger then I really care to run but hey, they were in the first 1.5 miles so I was still fresh.  Got my 3 miles in 29:30 which includes the last .6 into the 20mph winds so I was really happy. 

Felt good today so I kept my previously schedule running date with Katie and we opted for a 4 miler.  Only the second time I have gone that distance and those dreaded hills would be at the end of the run this time, but I knew with someone kicking my booty, I would make it.

And we did!!!  Took us 41:30 with a 10:23 pace, so I am way happy about that!  Im super pumped that our second half splits were faster then our first 2 miles AND the last 2 miles were exactly the same (10:34).  Since those were the ones with the hills AND the tailwind had become a side/head wind, Im very happy with our time!

Really loving the 759 calories my Garmin said I burned.