Elaine and Her Rope Toy

Happy CeCe

CeCe was happy this morning. She was eager to run outside, not stiff as before. Had to take her in early though as the noise from the construction across the street was freaking her out.

Running with a Cough (& Christmas Run)

I still have that nasty cough. Interestingly, the cough does not bother me at all during the run. But as soon as I stop, wham! cough my lungs out.

Oddly, tonight's run gave me my fastest pace for a 5K.
Time: 34:38
Distance: 3.11 mi
Steps: 5299 (setting for 37" per stride)
Pace: 5.39 mph (11.09 min / mi)

I also ran Christmas evening (before the nieces and nephews arrive). It was only a short 2 miler but it was nice since I was able to run at a faster pace (for me). I may need to do these shorter runs more often to work on my speed.
Time: 23:29
Distance: 2.16 mi (Tech 4o calculated it to 2.029 miles, w/stride length at 36")
Steps: 3573 (stride length 38" for this run!)
Pace: 5.52 mph (10:53! min / mi)

Merry Christmas!

Caught in the act. Elaine went digging around the packaging and got the sticky side of a bow on her collar. Got my Treo to record her playing but she stopped when she saw me approaching. She sat up with the "what did I do?" expression. Couldn't resist the almost perfect holiday camera-phone moment, complete with the red bow. In many ways, Elaine is one of my gifts --- and not just for today. Blessings are all around us. Sometimes we're too busy searching to actually see and appreciate what's in front of us.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

CeCe - Christmas Morning

CeCe is not as stiff and not overly reacting to external stimuli today (which is good). Took the opportunity to clean her up a bit. We had not been able to clean her much (other than wet towel wipes) this past week since we had to minimize her handling to avoid causing her to seize and stiffen up on us.

Good to see her slowly but steadily improving. Click on image to enlarge.

Rudolph Running

I got home a little later than I had planned -- it being Christmas Eve and all. The family was still chaotic, my youngest brother had not arrived with his family yet. Following the don't think about it plan, I asked Priscilla if she wanted to go for a run.

She was finishing up her presents and cards but she was ready for a break. Lil' Bro arrived as we were about to take off so we stayed a little to greet them. Gosh, how the boys have grown! Then off we went.

Andre, my nephew (Priscilla's younger brother), was cool to lend me his bike light. It clips onto my iFitness belt and is visible through my tank top.It worked quite well; I may look into getting one for these evening runs. Sis wanted me to wear the light on my nose a la Rudolph. I am not that crazy :)

CeCe - Best Part of the Morning

CeCe continues to improve. The tetanus still makes it difficult for her to open her mouth wide to eat on her own. But, as you can see, she does superbly well when handfed. We slice the canned food into pieces that would easily go in her mouth.

Running Partner

Tonight was a first for me --- running with a partner :)
My niece, Priscilla, is home for the holidays. She runs most mornings at UC, about 2 miles every morning. She was game to come running with me even though she has never ran 3 miles before. We had a good run. She held her pace back a little, I'm sure. We still ran faster than I ever did for this route --- 11:21 min mi :) (did I say I am slow?).

A running partner is nice. I kept going in places where I knew i would have slowed down if I was on my own. I was also glad to see that she had a good work-out also. Part of me thought the run would be too easy for her --- it was easy the first 2 miles then she had to work harder for the last one. I'm glad to see her in such good shape though. No one in the family (other than moi) runs so it was a pleasant surprise to see her running.

Time: 35:30
Distance: 3.13 mi (Tech 4o calculated it to 3.11 miles, not bad)
Steps: 5474 (stride length 36" in setting)
Pace: 5.29 mph (11.21 min / mi)

I thanked my sister for having Priscilla when she was relatively young --- so that my niece is old enough to go running with me (and I'm still young enough to do so!).

Don't Think About It

That was close. For a moment, it looked as though I was not going to get another run in until Saturday or Sunday, one short of my goal of three runs a week. My last real run was on Monday. I ran a 2 miler with my niece on Tuesday as part of the family weekly walk but nothing since then.

Coming home from work today, I thought about doing an evening run but I did not get home until after 7:30 pm. I considered not running and just doing it tomorrow instead. I wavered back and forth during the walk in from the car. The sky was clear. The air was cool and crisp. Holiday lights were up. Got into the house and decided to go for the run. Not slowing down to give myself a chance to change my mind again, I changed and laced up my shoes and head out the door. It was a beautiful run.

Time: 35:50
Distance: 3.13 mi
Steps: 5503 *** stride length 36" in setting
Pace: 5.24 mph (11.27 min / mi)

My legs tired soon after mile 1. Not sure if it's due to low energy since I had not eaten much the whole day. But my breathing was great, nice and easy.

I love my Tech 4o watch. It was right on with the mileage. I'm going to keep the setting at 36" for the running stride for now. It's good to see my time improving even though my legs were tired.

So looks like I'll meet my goal of 3 runs this week (4 if counting the 2 miler). We have a family gathering on Sunday but I should be able to get a run in late at night. The trick is not to think about it. If I wavered back and forth then the reasons for NOT running were probably not that important. Don't dwell on whether it's a good idea or not to run. Don't give yourself a chance to talk yourself out of a run.

Don't think about it. Just run.

Too Well to Pose

Thumper is recovering amazingly well. His kidney values are stable with only the canned KD food. He still has a small lump by the right underarm but gradually decreasing in size. I cannot explain how he is doing so well. I'll take it though, no questions. Just glad that the little guy is doing so well. As you can see, he is too well to hold still for pictures now!