Reasons to Smile

This weekend was probably the best 2 days I've had since Christmas.  I got a lot done and had a great time.

1.  First it was making orange "cups" to encourage the B to get more fiber into her diet.  She's been making little poop pellets lately.  My dad used to make these little orange treats for us when we had dinner guests. 

Wouldn't you have rather seen pictures of her rabbit poo?  Sorry to disappoint.

She's leaving me unsupervised with a toothpick, this is SO much fun!

2.  My wonderful husband let me run amok with his tools and build this activity table and chair for the B.  (I followed Ana White's plans.)  I cut and assembled the boards.  He helped me set up the miter saw for a double bevel after I used up all my 2x2s for the legs because I forgot the second bevel.  Before that, Jason also rushed to the store to get me more wood.  He also served as my custom-clamp-guy and my table-saw-guy.  Table saws freak me out.  I don't think I'll ever learn how to use one.  At the end of each cutting session, Jason counted my fingers to make sure I still had 10.  And where was the B for all of this you ask?  That's where the best part of this weekend happened.  Jason spent the whole weekend entertaining the B so that I could play! 

3.  Last but certainly not least, I broke my 20 year PR for distance of 10 miles.  I ran 10.77 miles in 1:41:39.  Very very exciting for me!  I feel proud considering I was running 3 miles @ 12 min/mi just 6 months ago.  What I wasn't super proud of was jacking the B's water bottle for the run because I don't have one I can easily hold.  I love my Nalgene for hiking but it would be like carrying a copy of A Dance With Dragons on a run.  Good thing she was still sleeping when I left so she couldn't protest.  Her new favorite word is MINE, said emphatically and loudly.  



Gloating at my PR and water bottle jacking skills.

So what did I learn on my run?

1. Fueling mid run is going to take practice.  I had too much water with the bloc chew and gave myself a pretty bad stomach cramp for miles 7 and 8.
2. I need an arm band for my phone because shoving it down my pants messes up the GPS.  During mile 6 while I was refueling, I accidentally shut off the GPS app and had to restart it.  After that, it kept saying my pace was 10:30 but I thought that I was going faster.  But then I thought, maybe I really am going that slow, so I sped up and it said I was going 10:45.  I restarted the app again and it sure enough, my pace was 8:30.  Oddly enough, the summary was correct in spite of the issues.  Which brings me to . . .
3. I can run faster.  I'm afraid of getting too tired to finish, but I really can go a little faster without dying.
4. Running in pants = no chaffing.  I guess I'm going to have to hope that the race isn't hot so I can wear my pants to run.