Exciting Morning

For my dog, that is. He had a little morning visitor.

Look how cute it is. I was tempted to try and domesticate it. 

Thanks to this little guy, my dog went into a barking frenzy that started at 5AM and lasted for a good part of morning. So an easy shake out run did not happen. 

Dante, my dog, actually barked right on top of the opossum with his spit dripping on the little guy. But he didn't attempt to bite it or any other thing that normal German Shepherds might do. He just got super excited and wanted to play. 

Please play with me? 

As a result, instead of going for a run, I took Dante out on a long walk in an attempt to let the opossum get over his fear and escape. 

Fun Fact: LA county animal control does not remove wild animals. I've always thought that was what animal control was for. I guess now I know. 

But tomorrow, I will definitely get in some more of the "junk miles." Although, I do think that they are helping me love running. And I will have company. 

Remember when I said that I've been learning tennis from my parents' friend. And how the lesson went on for over two hours? If not, here you go.  Well, tomorrow he wanted to run at least four miles with me. Revenge time! J.K. I will hopefully start him on a road to a marathon. He has the desire, but has a hard time running more than two miles due to boredom. So I'm supposed to force him to run four. 

I love running with people along the beach. It feels very relaxed. And there are no hills. 

Hopefully, I can run faster than he can. Otherwise, it will be embarrassing. Since he's considerably older (my parents' age) and hasn't ran in a long time. That's what sucks about being known as a person who runs a lot. Everyone expects me to be fast. 

Hope everyone's New Year is starting off nicely with a good run. And I forgot to mention this last time, but I plan on running 1000+ miles this year. Who's with me? 

Moving Hurts

All this sudden influx of activity is definitely affecting my muscles. This morning, I woke up with back soreness which I assume is from wildly flailing in front of the kinect.

But I kind of enjoy muscle soreness from a workout in a weird masochistic way? I just feel accomplished when my muscles are sore the day after a workout.

Today was a rest day from running, because I met up with my parents' friend for a tennis lesson at 7AM. Here's a small picture of me blending into the background.

Don't worry, I didn't wear the same shirt again. This picture is just from last time. 

Today's lesson started off fun but by the end, I never wanted to look at a tennis ball again. I'm not being ungrateful. I know people pay a lot of money for private tennis lessons that I'm now getting for free.

But two hours and twenty minute of a private lesson? It was a little too much and way too tiring.

Part of it was my fault. I had a little too much pride to say that I was tired. So I kept on smiling and swinging. And now it's hard to think about anything other than sleeping. And I'm rhyming.

So here's a nicer random photo that I took at the beach for you to enjoy while I sleep.

A doggy water fountain! What a fun idea. 

Happy Wednesday! 

Back in California

After a hectic few days of packing and flying, I am finally back home with my family in California on winter break. Which means back to regularly scheduled programming of running and blogging.

Yesterday, to celebrate my first day of being home and because my parents insist on waking me up before 7AM on breaks, I went for a first morning run in a while.

It's hard to look happy when tired. 

I ambitiously thought I would do 4miles. But then almost immediately, I started having stomach cramps and felt super thirsty.

I also sped off at 8:07/mile pace for the first mile. My body was probably thinking "Yay flat road and sea level elevation," instead of remembering the month of little running. I stopped a few times during the rest of the run to slow the pace and to stretch out the heaviness out of my legs. In the end, I covered 3.2 miles at 8:28/mile pace which is a great pace for me. But probably not a good idea.

Today, I was planning on running, but my parents convinced me to go get lessons from a family friend for tennis. So no morning run, but tennis was a harder work out than I thought.

Yeah, I'm wearing the same top. But it's been washed, I promise

Not as good as running, but cross training is always good, right?

I hope everyone's having a good weekend! And having less of a trouble with training.