Close Your Rings Challenge - Day 7

I woke to a 40+ pound puppy literally standing on my chest, face to face staring at me waiting for me to open my eyes, at which time his huge tongue slobbered a big wet kiss the entire length of my face. It was at that moment I realized the landscaping mishap of yesterday has now impaired by ability to breath without wincing.

 

The weather would have been perfect for an early morning 5K with my pup, however after 6 straight days of running, a concussion to my ribs, too many beers and a late night all made it impossible for me to drag my tired body out of bed.

 

Since it barely reach 60 degree by lunchtime, another afternoon speed walk through the Riverfront park continued my streak.

 

Closed my rings and made an early night of it. Weather permitting, I hit the trail bright and early tomorrow morning. With or without pups, haven’t thought that far in advance yet.

Close Your Rings Challenge - Day 6

I had the bright Idea to trim hedges and cut limbs off overgrown trees in the backyard the morning of my Beer and Bacon 5K. While working on a particularly thick branch the clippers slipped and the handle rammed me square in the ribs. Took my breath away and knocked me to my knees. I knew right away I was going to have a large bruise as well has difficulty breathing later today while running.

 

My Nuun order arrived yesterday, which in included the pint glass that finally came back in stock. Plopped in a tablet and got dressed for this afternoon’s 5K. 

Many stares from pedestrians in the park and horns honking in support of the crazy lady running in a full bacon suit. 

Once I crossed the finish line I was rewarded with crisp bacon freshly grilled on the BBQ and not one but several craft beers from our neighbor’s brewery, Humble Abode. 

We wrapped the afternoon off with karaoke, Beers in Heaven to the tune of Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven. FYI, you always sound much better after a few beers, however when you listen the next day…. Well…. Let’s just say, the audio quality is just not the same.

 

A late evening airport pickup turned later when I discovered Baxter gets car sick if riding in the back. He was fine, happy and curious to all other traffic on the way there. However, when banished to the back of my SUV it didn’t take long for everything he has eaten since birth to come up. Worse yet, I watched in my rearview mirror as he back up to the back hatch, lifted his butt in the air and proceed to paint the door with brown chunky liquid. Nothing I could do but watch it all happen in slow-Mo since I was driving on the freeway late at night. I just rolled down the windows to share the fragrance with the outside world. Once we arrived home, he had a huge drink of water and feel into a deep happy slumber. I scooped up vomit and diarrhea with a dustpan and spackle tool. Puppy parenthood is such a joy. 

 

Closed my rings and hit the pillow at 10:30pm, way passed my premature geriatric bedtime.

Close Your Rings Challenge - Day 5

The huskies and I love Saturday mornings. We sleep in and then I enjoy my first cup of coffee on the back porch watching them run around and burn off all that energy built up from a long sleep. 

My 5K had to wait until all my Saturday chores were complete. I usually split up my errands over the weekend, but since I have another virtual run tomorrow I can to get everything done today. Stay tuned for tomorrow's sizzling fun 5K.

First stop is either Starbucks or Dutch Brothers, today was Ducth Brothers and I had an iced Golden Eagle, a must if you love Carmel. 

The rest of the afternoon was grocery shopping and my big purchase was a hedge trimmer, ya I know I get excited over the strangest things. One our way home it started to rain so I decided todays run would have to be on the treadmill. 

I actually don't mind running on a treadmill. For years I would get up at 3:30 and hop on the treadmill for a 3-5 miles run. It's especially nice in the winter when it's not light enough in the morning or after work to run, and let's not forget the hot hot hot summer days of August. Ours is in the basement where it's always cooler no matter what the temperature it outside. We installed a tv on the wall infant of the treadmill so I can enjoy my favorite shows or catch up on YouTube. 

5K number 5 done! 

Close Your Rings Challenge - Day 4

I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I looked for every excuse in the book, until I realized that it was going to be another 90+ degree day. 

 

I decided to leave both huskies at home. Baxter was delighted, Blitz not so much. 

 

The run was relatively uneventful, little did I know that was the only uneventful thing about my day. 

 

I hate to complain about my job, I obviously love it since I’ve decided to stay over 22 years. You see, I work for a private Club and the pandemic has made my position very difficult at times. I am usually pretty easy going, letting member comments roll off of me. Today however, they came unleased. It’s funny how the true nature of people comes out during times of crisis. I wonder how they would react if someone were to speak to them in an unkind fashion. Bullying and profanity are not characteristics I imagine people in their position to have. I guess they have gotten their way in life by intimidation. I have to keep reminding myself where I live and being polite, courteous, and well behaved is not always the norm. Grace and well-bred are qualities I left behind when I moved back from the posh Florida Country Club that introduced me to the most refined gentlemanly people I have ever met. Little did I know when I was hired at my current employer, I was not to have the same experience. 

 

I know tomorrow will be a better day, and if it’s not. I’ll put a smile on my face, hold my head high and do as my mother taught me. “Be polite and respectful Rose, you set the example for others to follow” 

 

Thank you, Mom, for being the better person, I’ll try not to let you down.

Close Your Rings Challenge - Day 3

My alarms goes off at 4:30am and I begin evaluating life choices. Knowing I do not want a repeat of yesterday’s heat walk, I call over to Blitz and ask him if he wants to run a 5K. His answer is always YES!

 

Baxter watched with anticipation in his eyes which soon turned into confusion since we have never put a lease on just one husky before. As I was locking the front door, the most horrific howling commenced from my living room window. Continuing to hear his cries of orphan hood an entire block away, I regretted leaving the window open for the cool morning breeze.  Good morning neighbors, just me going out for an early morning run, pay no attention to the screaming husky pup!

 

I turn up the tunes and let Blitz lead the way. He loves his one on one time with his humans. Since Baxter, his life has been one that can be understand only by those who are an only child that now has a baby brother.

 

We run along his very familiar 5K route and I am filming and chatting into the camera (what must people think?). When I go to put the camera back into my shorts pocket I realize something is missing. My house key must have fallen out when I pulled the camera out several minutes earlier. A wave of panic comes over me.  I immediately made an about face and hysterically begin running back over the path I had just ran. Blitz thoroughly perplexed because he knows where the turnaround point is and THIS IS NOT IT! Thankfully there was no one out at this time of the morning and I didn’t have to go too far until a shiny object caught my eye.  My house key, right there in the middle of the sidewalk. 

We continued our run and head back to the house. When I opened the door, everything seem fine. UNTIL I realized I didn’t shut tight the bathroom door. My new sonicare toothbrush, a hand towel and several makeup brushes barely survived the wrath that is Baxter. 

 

All in all day 3 went fairly well. Closed all my rings by 4:30pm. 

Close Your Rings Challenge - Day 2

This morning I fully intended to get up early and run with Blitz, since I had taken little Baxter yesterday. Well, how does the expression go “the best-laid plans”. The air conditioning was on all night and the bedroom was very chilly. When the alarm went off at 5am, Baxter snuggled up to me and burrowed his nose into my neck. Blitz rolled on his back, groaned as he stretched and then curled up like a cinnamon roll. I followed their lead and cuddled under the blankets and heading out the door for an early morning run was soon forgotten. I did however begin a morning stretch routine (can you call it a routine if you’ve only just done it once?)

 

Noon rolled around and the temperature was climbing. I decided I had to get out and walk my 5K before it hit 90 degrees. I walked over to the park that is only blocks away for where I work - Riverfront Park.  I love this park and there is 5K route I know very well. This is where I do many of my training runs for the Dopey challenge. It’s also used regularly for local race, remember when we had in person races?

 

History lesson: Spokane Falls and the surrounding land has long been a gathering place for people. Native Americans gathered and fished at the falls. In the late 1800's, pioneers settled here and started the city of Spokane. The railroad industry fueled the city's growth and rail yards covered Havermale Island, the present site of Riverfront Park. In 1974, Spokane hosted Expo '74, "The World's Fair." In preparation for Expo '74, the Spokane River was cleaned up, the rail yards were removed, and the Great Northern Railroad Depot on Island was demolished. The beautiful Clock Tower is all that remains of the 1902 depot. 

 

This is the first walk I’ve done at the park since the beginning of the year and I everything is in bloom. Even the ducks are out for a walk with their ducklings.

 

Yes, those are black pants I’m wearing. 

I’m having regrets on my fashion choice this morning. By the time I finished my 5K walk it was 88 degrees and the sweat was pouring off of me. The salty sweat was dripping in my eyes and stung so bad. The only thing that made this toasty walk palatable was I closed both my exercise ring and move ring. AND if made me drink extra water! Crushing my June goals!

 

By 5:30pm all my rings were closed. SUCCESS!

 

Tomorrow I am determined to get out of bed and do my run/walk early as temperatures are predicted to soar into high 90’s (97 degrees to be exact!)

Close Your Rings Challenge - Day 1

Ever since I purchased my Apple Watch I have been obsessed with closing my rings and earning awards. Today marks a 1250 day streak of closing my move ring, that's almost 3 and half years!! Woot Woot. When this virtual challenge pop up on my Instagram, it took all of 3 minutes to decide to register (that's how long it took to grab the credit card from my wallet).

The swag was super nice. The medal is a whooping 4 inches and comes with a cute burlap storage bag. Both the medal and the bib have "finisher" on the back. 

Bright and early this morning, Baxter and I head out the door to begin my first of hopefully 30 5K's I'll be doing this month to earn my challenge medal.

 

It was such a nice morning, we decided to extend our 5K to four miles. Baxter chased birds and squirrels, ran through sprinklers and tried to make friends with everyone that passed by. 

 

By 4:30pm, I closed all my rings. Yes, you read that right, I get up at an unthinkable time each day.

 

Phew made it through DAY 1.