Cat Psychology and Christmas Trees

My husband and I think there may be some sort of deeply buried dog issues within my cat, Newton. I'm not sure when these dog issues might have had time to develop since we've had him from kittenhood and he does not go outdoors, but they must be there. The evidence is on the Christmas tree.

One of my clinic's great clients gives Christmas ornaments to our staff each year. They are always pet themed. A few years ago she gave us reindeer ornaments made out of milkbones. Not sure why she chose milkbones seeing that we are a cat-only clinic, but they were very cute and clever and I always put the reindeer on the tree.

This year marks the first year in Newton's six years that he's managed to climb the Christmas tree. Now he can't get enough of the tree. He's in it daily. I've noticed over the past few weeks that he seems to frequent one area of the tree - the one where the milkbone reindeer resides. I didn't think much of it until yesterday I found the reindeer decapitated, the body still hanging in the tree and the head on the ground. Murderous cat.

I set the reindeer head on the corner of the desk with the intention of glueing it back on in the morning. Then my husband crawled into bed last night and told me that while he was sitting at the desk, Newton crawled up next to him, spotted the head and whacked it with all his might across the desk and back onto the floor. Reindeer head hockey.

This cat has milkbone issues, reindeer issues, dog issues, or all three. Either way, the reindeer is history. Newton wins.

And with that, I must get dressed for a 10 - 12 mile easy (but chilly!) run at the park - day three of Boston training. Day one was fantastic - a 9 mile run with 4 at tempo pace, which was supposed to be HM pace (about 6:55 - 7:00 for me). I felt so good that I did mile one right on pace at 6:59, then found myself at 6:44 for mile two and accidently got up to 6:34 for mile three AND four! Wooo! Of course, I was dying by the last 1/4 mile and will have to slow myself down for the next tempo run which is 5 miles.

Anyway, Boston training is off to a good start! I plan on enjoying today's run with my husband and then strength training at the gym afterwards.

Happy Winter to all!

Icy Roads and Indoor Runs

I woke up to roads that looked like sheets of ice. That made the question of whether to join the running club for a group run this morning an easy one. No way in hell!

Fortunately, the temperature rose to several degrees above freezing and the trucks did their jobs. Several hours later, the roads were in good shape and I made my way to the gym for a 10.75 mile treadmill run. Meant to do 12 - 14, but my knee had other ideas. It started bugging me at around 10.5 miles and I thought it best to stop there. It feels fine now. Glad I stopped. I wonder if it would have been fine had I been able to run outside. One will never know.

I almost felt like someone was trying to tell me not to run today. I had to make detours twice to get to the gym. Like I said earlier, by the time I went out, the roads were very passable, yet two of the roads I tried to take to get to the gym were closed and I had to make U-turns. Weird. That was the longest drive to the gym I've ever made.

Run Like the Dickens 10K recap (Holly, MI)

Well, I finally had a race that didn't go like I had hoped. I wouldn't necessarily label it a "bad" race, but it wasn't good either. It fell somewhere in between. After all, I was only 25 seconds off my PR on a hilly, slippery course (yes, a bit of snow and ice!). Also, I simply didn't feel like a strong runner today. I was surprised I came in just over 42 minutes. It felt more like a 44+ minute effort. So that says something, I guess. I held in there! But I knew well before I hit mile 2 that I wasn't going to break any records. It is still hard to argue with a top 5 overall finish (I came in 4th) and first in my age group. I also found out that I am ten years older than the oldest gal in the top 3!! Hope they can still run sub 42 10Ks in ten years! :-)

I was expecting (and they advertised for) hot soup, hot coffee, hot cocoa, hell! hot anything after the race. All they had (literally) was cold water, cookies and brownies. What the?!? They didn't even have bananas or bagels! I really expected more from a well-known race in our area with more than 1000 participants. Also didn't like having to dodge cars along the entire route. My hubby kept saying how much fun the race was, but I was quite disappointed. Not so much in myself - didn't mean to make it sound like that in the first paragraph - but disappointed in the traffic problem and lack of decent refreshments afterwards. Brownies!? C'mon!

At least I was able to take advantage of some awesome late-season sales on running apparel at the race. Bauman's Running Shop showed up with several racks of 50% stuff. I treated myself to an early X-mas and picked up two long-sleeved Mizuno tops and one pair of Mizuno loose-fitting long pants.

Last Race of 2009 *sigh*

The easiest of easy runs today. Felt good to just run comfortably for six miles. Did it on the beast again, but it was quite enjoyable today.

Tomorrow is, most likely, my last race of the year. Run Like the Dickens (love the name!) 10K in downtown Holly is tomorrow morning. Hot soup and hot cocoa after the race! Then we pick up my mom and treat her to Bob Evans!! Mmmm... We had some winter weather the last two days which made me a little nervous about road conditions, but the snow stopped and roads are pretty clear by now, so footing will hopefully not be an issue. Goal (if conditions allow): 41:30. Wish I had a santa hat to wear. :-(

Just got reminded of the New Year's Resolution Run right here in downtown Lake Orion. I could literally walk to the race. No, I'd jog there for my warm-up. I can't really pass that up, can I? Will have to run it by the hubby and see if he'll do it with me. What's even nicer is that it is at 10am. I can race and still sleep in!! Woo!!!

Less than two weeks until I am officially on my training plan for Boston. I chose the 55-70 miles/week plan from Advanced Marathoning. Lots of tempo runs the first few weeks. Then it transitions to lots of intervals. There are many marathon pace runs throughout. I'm going to tweak the long run schedule since it doesn't go as long as I would like. Doing several 20+ runs really helped me last time, so I plan on doing them again this time.

Keep warm all my fellow northerners!