A fairly uneventful holiday weekend

At one point, my boyfriend and I were planning on driving to South Carolina for Thanksgiving to visit his family. Then, we decided that wasn't going to work. So, we stayed and celebrated by ourselves (with a begging dog named Chloe).  

Yes, this is too much food for two people.

Never fear. Chloe is here.

After we ate, we watched football the rest of the day as one should. Well, I did anyway. Somehow my boyfriend ended up in line for a good deal on a TV at Walmart. Not sure how that happened ... he went out to get gas in his car at halftime of the Cowboys-Redskins game and called telling me he'd be in line until 10 p.m. I didn't go because I didn't want to miss any of the game, although I wouldn't have minded missing the Kenny Chesney halftime show. Well, now knowing the outcome of the game, I wouldn't have minded missing that, too. It's rather painful to be a Cowboys fan these days. 

Thankfully, now I can watch the Cowboys' demise on a 60-inch TV screen. Yes, that is extremely big. Probably too big in my opinion, but I wasn't the one standing in line for 3+ hours to get it (so I'll probably keep my mouth shut on that).  

I feel like we didn't do anything else the rest of the weekend besides a few trips to the dog park and one to see Christmas lights.

These icicle lights are the coolest. A photo doesn't do them justice.

Oh, and last night we went out to eat at Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa with a friend. They have the absolute best oysters. I love raw oysters. Love them. I also love people-watching at the casino. I also love wine at the casino. With all of the love, we ended up staying there pretty late; by the time I got to bed, it was 2:30 a.m.

So waking up for our 7:30 a.m. run today was somewhat unfun. But that is really no different than any other day. Mornings and I just don't get along. 

But, I made it (we ran 50 minutes; 4.5 miles). And after breakfast, I promptly took a long nap. And, I really don't like naps. 

How was your holiday weekend? Did you cook? Did you do anything fun? Did you run?

Things that Rock Thursday

Well, since I have the day off today, Thursday is pretty darn sweet. It reduces my need to cheer myself up for this typically dreadful day. So, this TTRT is about everything that rocks about this Thursday (usually, I'd never say a Thursday rocks ... never).

Things that rock this fabulous day:

• Having a guest post on Healthy Happy Runner ... check it out!
• Having a vacation day
• Having a long weekend ahead
• Having a friend watch Chloe instead of sending her to the kennel 

I don't wanna go the kennel!

• Having time to explore Texas today 
• Having family time in one short day
• Having family dog time in one short day

My brother's dog, Dude

My sister-in-law's dog, Rodeo

• Having a Diet Dr. Pepper to celebrate vacation (YUM!)
• Having time to get my half marathon training run in today
• Having a Kindle (this thing is so beautiful for travel)

What is rocking your Thursday?

The 16-minute run

I used to think that I needed to have at least 40 minutes if I was going run. Why I thought this, I'm not sure. If I had less time than that, I always picked another workout option.

Well, not anymore.

Enter SELF magazine.

A 16-minute workout? Can you really accomplish much in 16 minutes? 

A sweaty, worn-out turtle says, "YES!"

I ran almost 2 miles in 16 minutes. Pretty speedy for this slow girl.

The hard intervals seemed extremely doable because they were only one minute. The whole workout seemed extremely doable because it was only 16 minutes. 

I'm going to love this for days with limited time. Maybe I can even start doing this in the mornings. Oh, who am I kidding? Even 16 minutes in the mornings is too much to ask. 

Day 21 (Sept. 25)

The day: Sunday. The time: 7:30 a.m. My mission: run 7 miles.

Mission complete!

I'm so happy I made it to our group run on Sunday. It's so much better to run with a group and knock out the run early in the morning.

The first 2.5 miles of the run were really smooth, and then I hit a hill. I know I said Florida is completely flat, and it is. The hills are bridges. Since we added more mileage to our runs, we have to run a bridge across the bay (a very small portion of the bay) to get to an area to increase our mileage. Curses! So, I hit the hill, and I walked.

Once I got across the bridge, I wasn't sure of the route, and I lost the faster folks in front of me, and the slower folks were too far behind me. So, I had no idea where to go. I picked a route, which was a very bad choice (lots of street crossings). I ended up getting to an area where I could run along the bay fairly uninterrupted, but it was a frustrating process getting there. While frustrated, I walked. I managed to get my 3.5 miles in, took an energy gel and headed back. 

I missed the bridge entrance on my way back (argh!), but managed to realize it and correct myself in a  reasonable time. I walked the bridge again. Pesky, hilly bridge!

But, back on the flat land (and after a water refill — it was blazing hot by this time), I managed to run the last two miles without a walk break. I was super-impressed at myself, as was my assistant coach (who ran with me). Yay!

And, I'm super-impressed I felt as good as I did. My legs weren't sore. And, they weren't sore later in the day or the next day. I defnitely felt like I did some physical activity, but they weren't overly painful. Sweet!

I learned three things from this run:

1. I need a bigger water bottle. My baby bottle didn't cut it (despite its cuteness). Thank goodness there is a water fountain (with surprisingly cold water) along the route, so I could refill it.
   
2. Plan your route before heading out on your run. Kind of a duh!, I realize, but I never really experienced the misfortune of not doing this. It is extremely frustrating to not know where you're going or stumble on a bad route.
3. Training really works! I never thought I'd be able to say I ran 7 miles (with minimal walk breaks). And, not be in excruitiating pain from it. Mind-blowing!