But who's the chick and who's the duck?

When you sleep with two dogs, it's hard to really say when you first wake up in the morning. Do you remember that episode of Friends (I know you do, Lizzy) where they're playing the trivia game and this happens:

Monica: I got it! How about, if we win, they have to get rid of the rooster?

Rachel: Oooohh that’s interesting.

Joey: Hey, no way, that rooster’s family!

Rachel: Throw in the duck too!

Joey: What do you have against the duck?! He doesn’t make any noise!

Rachel: Well, he gets the other one all riled up.

That's how it is with the two dogs. Mugsy is a little jerk. He's 40+ lbs of muscle and lacks subtlety entirely. He spends his mornings rocketing on and off of the bed until I can't take it anymore and I get up to give him breakfast and walk him. Ronin is very very sweet, a wee beagle (wee-gle) of only 25 lbs. You can definitely tell which of them is standing on you at any given time. Even though Ronin tries really hard to be sweet and not get into trouble, Mugsy gets him all riled up, which means that I'm never entirely sure when I first wake up in the morning...I just know when I can't take it any longer and I get out of bed, resigned to the fact that it's a losing battle with those two. 

So that's how my day started yesterday, but it was good because it meant that I went outside early enough to realize how great the weather would be for my long run. I was all geared up and on the road by 10 am, but strangely my Garmin was flashing "low battery" signs at me as soon as I turned it on. But wait - didn't I charge it before I left for San Diego? I thought so. I left it plugged into the socket and assumed it was charged after a few hours - what I didn't realize is that no electricity was coming through said socket. 

Sigh. 

So it lasted for a few miles, but died shortly after I crossed into my 3rd mile. This meant I was winging it from there on out - approximating how far I'd run based on routes I'd run before and the time I was out there. 

The run was alright. The weather was wonderful - misty and about 70* for the first couple of hours. The sun came out around noon which was rude. I really did not appreciate it shining in my face, but honestly after so many runs in 80 - 90* weather, I took it. My body was...what's the right word for this...resigned to the run? That's really the best way I can describe it.

I had my first Gu yesterday, I tried vanilla bean flavor on the recommendation of a friend, and it wasn't bad! I was expecting to be totally grossed out by the texture & flavor, but honestly if I'd closed my eyes I would have believed it was just vanilla pudding. When your eyes are open you notice that the Gu is actually kind of an opaque gel which confuses your brain and starts up the "uh-oh, is this disgusting?" warnings. But anyway, it wasn't hard to get down, and it got 100 calories in my body quickly and effectively. So I think I'll buy some more, maybe try some other flavors. Other runner friends - any flavor recommendations for me? 

for noodle.

Annie please note I'm making an effort to include more pictures specifically for you, even if they're just pictures of Gu. 

Moving on - I thought about 9/11 a lot as I ran yesterday. Every time I tried to get whiny with myself I was like you shut the hell up, you're alive and well and you get to choose to spend your mornings running. There are a lot of people who don't get to make that choice anymore, so you can just calm down and be quiet. I ran by a 9/11 Memorial Dedication ceremony in the Inner Harbor. They had pieces from the World Trade Center buildings in NYC - you know, those twisted beams of steel that you see - and that was quite sobering. Then as I was running through Federal Hill towards the end of my run (I went that way specifically to see all the drunken idiots because the first Ravens home game was about to start, and Fed Hill is insane on Ravens game days), I got to run right under a fighter jet flyover as it was on its way to the stadium. Nothing makes you want to simultaneously cry and/or pee your pants more than fighter jets flying over your head in formation when you've been running for literally hours. 

Molly I know Kenny doesn't fly that type of plane (right?) but if you could ask him to do so and then just keep zipping over the marathon course for me that would be really helpful ok thanks bye. 

SO WHATEVS, when I thought I'd run for long enough I went back home and checked the time - I'd been out for about 3 hours and 20 minutes. My last really long run - the 15 miler - was about 2h 50m I think, so I thought that I must have reached my distance goal yesterday, even though I didn't have my Garmin to confirm. 

I've mapped the run twice and both times it's told me that I ran less than 15 miles. How that happened I have no idea. Did I black out at some point and take a nap in the middle of the street for 30 minutes? Did I run in place for a while? WTF. I did walk sometimes because I was in a lot of pain (WTF, toes? What did I do to you?), but I don't think I walked THAT much. So I'm not sure. Someone's lying here, and it's either the Garmin or MapMyRun.com. 

Over the course of the run I drank a ton of water (refilled all 4 bottles on my belt twice), ate almost 2 entire packs of Shot Blocks (Lemon-Lime and Tropical Punch flavors, my fave) and the 1 Gu mentioned above. When I got back I walked the pup, stretched, took a short ice bath followed by a warm shower, and then ordered a large pizza and ate half of it (the other half was dinner, don't hate). I wanted to wear my compression tights to see if they'd help my legs recover more quickly than normal, but the tights were at Jeremy's so I was out of luck. I wore jeggings instead. Pretty sure that's almost the same thing. 

So, what hurts today:

• My ego 
• My toes
• My back 

I think I need to do a better job of maintaining perspective - I keep saying I "only" ran 15 miles yesterday. That's still 15 miles. Which is further than I could run a few months ago. 

So yeah. A month and a few days to go.