Running with Wolves.

Or in this case, wolves' descendant.

My new house is tucked just behind Rhode's Jordan Park, a gem of a little recreational facility. There's a small lake, an aquatic center, tennis, basketball courts, you know, the usual. They also have a community center with classes ranging from martial arts to cooking to ballet. Pretty snazzy stuff.

So today I donned my new running pants (they have these yellow stripeys on them that make me happy and feel like a pro runner) and braved the cold. I brought Abby, my 60lb wimpy mutt with me, to keep me safe--ha--and also to just get her out of the house, because she's a lazy bum. I tried out my GPS watch for the first time too (a birthday present from my dad back in August. Yikes. Shows how much running I did this fall). I didn't have the manual on me, so I kinda clicked and mashed buttons til it beeped and started tracking my GPS location.

My ankle was feeling locked up (probably from sitting on it while on my laptop this morning... I've gotta kick that habit. It's awful for my legs! Grr. So I mostly walked speedily along with occasional slow sprints. The thing is, though, that my slow sprints are somehow a speed my dog cannot walk/run. She can either go slower, or must go much faster. So I was either dragging her behind me, or, more frequently, yanking on the leash to try and keep her next to me. And when she wasn't next to me, she was criss-crossing in front of me and I'd accidentally trip on her.

I got so frustrated running with Abby--and I'm pretty sure my hand will have a blister from where the leash was rubbing it--that I'm not sure I'll take her again for a while. It was so distracting! Does anybody run with their dog and have any advice? I've taken her with me a few times before at different locations and it's always like this!

I did have a cool moment when I stopped at this swingset and swung, eyes closed, sun on my face, cold air blowing around me. I felt like I was hovering in a place that was free from the problems that clung my feet to the ground. When I was done, I leapt off the swing like a kid, and the flying feeling before hitting the ground was exhilarating. And I gotta tell ya, yoga has made me a lot more agile, because I landed like a cat. I realized after I did it that it could have gone really awry, seeing as how only 20 minutes prior my ankle was bugging me...

By the end of the jog (it was almost 3 miles from my doorstep, around the lake, and back to my house) my whole body felt warmed up and I freely sprinted the last couple hundred yards.

I realized while I was running that the path is large enough to bike and run on, and with the pool facility right there by the trail, that this is an AMAZING opportunity to train for more triathlons. So I think that will be in my future again. :)


In other news, I got Ben Davis's book 'Do Life' in the mail yesterday, so I'm pretty damn stocked to get rockin' n' rollin' on that read (along with the other like, 6 books I got at the library yesterday).

In other-other news, I got fat over the holidays. Did you? Because I know I did. YUCK. Like, ya'll, I got faaat. Well, fat for me. The lowest I weighed in at in August, I think, was somewhere around the low 180s. I may be imagining this, but I'm almost positive one day I was 179. But maybe not. Probably not (I think I just wanted to be). Either way, this morning I weighed in at 194. WHAAAT. Ew. I know that some of this is water weight and bloating, and not fat, from all the indulging that was done over the last few weeks and months, but iiiick. I feel so gross! Actually, to be fair, I felt gross. I feel okay now. Chris and I got back on track with our eating habits after officially unpacking and setting up the kitchen yesterday, so we're back onto the Paleo thing. So before yesterday I felt nasty. Now I'm feeling a bit cleaner, but the leaner/lighter/more slender feeling is on the other side of a few weeks.


So I'm going to go drink some more water and maybe cook up some stew and do some of this Bollywood Aerobic Dance DVD I got at the library. Because why the hell not. Ha. :)