Thursday, December 22, 2011

Friends and Running Buddies

Yesterday I continued my Christmas shopping on my lunch break and thankfully I am almost done! I'm debating taking off work on Friday since 1) no one will really be here and 2) I still have tons to do!

Last night I met up with my friend Sharon who is in town for Christmas from Florida. She is originally from the Chicago area but currently lives in Florida with her Air Force husband. She is not yet used to the Chicago weather and misses that Florida sunshine! Last time we hung out over the summer, we went out to dinner and then planned on going for a run together. She knew I was training for the marathon and I was her motivation to get out on the trail and get in some miles while in town. Now, it has become sort of a mini tradition for us to hang out and go for a run when she comes home. Last night was the continuation of this tradition as she came by around 6:30 (I just will never make a meeting with the F'N runners at 5pm) and we went for a 5 mile run with the pup.
Total Distance: 5 miles
Total Time: 48:22
Average Pace: 9:40
Total Moving Time: 47:21
Average Moving Pace: 9:28

I am kicking myself for not taking a photo of us together, so a picture of our stats will have to do!



The weather last night was gorgeous for a run, in the mid-low 40s. If any of you have ever run with a dog, you know that they mainly have 2 speeds. Super fast sprint and slow as molasses. Like me, Pepper (the dog) likes to start of really fast so it took a little while to get her into a steady pace. Once we got moving, about a 1/2 mile in, she finally got the hang of it and stopped trying to jump up in Sharon's face while also chewing her leash. Our splits were pretty consistent, all things considered, and we leisurely enjoyed looking at the Christmas lights. Towards the final stretch, all of a sudden Sharon says "There's another dog!" As I glance, an adorable bulldog starts running towards Pepper to greet her, across the street as a car is coming. Thankfully the car saw the dog and slowed down. The bulldog was friendly so it made the greeting much easier, but I felt bad as the owner comes running over and thanks us. We had to stop and make sure everything was okay, just as I hope any other dog owner would do if our dog did the same thing! Ironically, the bulldog had a "Bad to the Bone" dog collar, as the owner was dragging it across the street by its collar saying "Bad dog!" Since I'm a crazy dog person, I apologize if this is too long to be talking about a dog greeting, but I just had to share!

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I slipped and fell on the trail during the last mile of our run last Saturday. I ran a 5k on Sunday and felt fine. However, during my run yesterday, my ankle started bothering me during the last mile. I ran through it since it wasn't severe and massaged it when I got home. I am now sitting at my desk, icing it in hopes that will make things better. It doesn't hurt when I walk or sit still but I don't want this to become an injury. I plan on using the foam roller on it today or tomorrow, and I plan on resting the next 2 days. I might do some cross training tomorrow, if there is time.

Now, I will leave you with a video of one of my favorite Christmas songs. I never get sick of it and HAVE to play it on full volume in my car. I'm not joking.


Do you have friends that you like to run with when they come to town? Who is your favorite running buddy? If you have a dog, do they run with you (and do you have the same pace issues as me)?

6 comments:

  1. I really have no friends that run so you will have to be my favorite running buddy Kelly! :)

    I ran with my dog once and yeah, impossible!

    Rest that ankle Kelly! DOn't

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  2. Haha, I fully plan on resting the ankle tonight and tomorrow! I'm going to just take it easy and see how it goes. I plan on running a virtual 10k so we'll see how that goes. If the ankle pain worsens though, I'm going to see a doc, for sure.

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  3. As you may have read in my blog, I love running with my friend Vera when she comes home. She's the one who inspired me to start running in the first place. I think she's still a little shocked that I'm a runner. She spent years trying to convince me to run and I wasn't interested.

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  4. I have a friend from work that I run with and my husband when it works with our schedules. I need someone to motivate me! Even the dog can be a motivation and I can run pretty well with him, but he prefers not to do more than 3 miles ;)

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  5. That is awesome! I always love running with friends that don't live close by. A hobby you get to share across miles for most of the year, but together for a small part of the year! Ultra runners are inspiring to me. It is a whole new level of crazy that is definitely worth commending!

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  6. I keep trying to convince my husband to run with me but he wants nothing to do with that. Haha... Aww, what kind of dog do you have?!

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