Roomies

Well, this is a first! In almost three years since we rescued Callie, she has ALWAYS slept in our room, mostly, I admit, at the end of our bed. When I awoke this morning, she was nowhere to be found. After further investigation, I discovered her snuggled on the guest bed with Jack E. Boy! She had stayed there the entire night. I took her out for her morning pee, went to make coffee and noticed her bed in the entryway was empty. I found her, once again, back on the guest bed with "the boy". I just thought it was adorable that she wanted to hang with him.
Dogs are smart, intuitive creatures. They know good people with gentle souls. Who wouldn't want to snuggle up next to him???
This picture just makes me smile!

Where's My Law?

Last week, California passed a law that states a car must allow three feet of room for a bicyclist. On my run this morning, I couldn't help but wonder, what's the law to protect runners? This was brought to the forefront of my mind about mile four, when two young girls, in a silver Camry, came within about four inches of running me over. They were so busy, laughing, chatting and, what appeared to be, changing the radio station, they never saw me in the crosswalk. I, being me, yelled, "You almost hit me! You almost hit me!" which finally caused them to look up in horror. I am pretty sure they were both shaking for the next few miles of their drive. At least I hope so. Hey, girls, you came within four inches of making my husband a widower! It was, seriously, that close!!
My husband always admonishes me that I have to be the one who is always watching. He takes the "drive defensively" to the level of "run defensively". He says I need to assume that they are going to hit me. He says it's on me to be vigilantly watching at every corner, just in case they are not.
This takes my fun run and turns it into a job! Bah!
I know I have blogged about this before, but PLEASE be careful. Look BOTH ways when making any turn. Really STOP at every stop sign. Someone may be about to cross. That someone might be me.
My husband would make a lousy widower!

Enough

Although my life is FAR from perfect, today I am looking into a glass half full. Grateful for the small things that really are the big things. Enough to eat, enough to shelter me, enough people around who love me, enough things going on in my life to make me feel useful, enough awareness that I can and do help others regularly, enough to laugh about, enough health to keep me moving down the road.
ENOUGH!
And that is good enough for me!

The Countdown

Not to wreck your day or anything...but it really is 100 days til Christmas!!! Sorry, but I love the countdown. I love the anticipation. I love the looking forward to it. I love the season and the joy. I love telling people, "Merry Christmas" instead of "Have a nice day."
Not to wreck your day any further, but I've already started my shopping! In fact, I expect to see my friendly UPS man today with some goodies.
Ho! Ho! Ho!

What Are You Waiting For?

Limbo sucks. Love me. Hate me. Yes. No. Waiting is missing the whole point of life. Living in the present feels so much better than waiting for something to happen. We all wait for things...but the trick is to enjoy the now as much as the wait.
Enjoy this Tuesday while waiting for this Friday.
Enjoy the winter cold while waiting for the summer heat.
Enjoy life now (even with all its bumps & bruises) and you won't ever have to wait for happiness. It will be staring you in the face!

What's That Smell?

I never really thought of myself as smelly or having BO very often, if at all. Then, I took up running. At first, I didn't notice it every time I ran, just on long runs or especially hot days. I would be in the kitchen after a run, turn my head and get a wiff of what my running hat smelled like! Oh man, it was awful!!! Even after it dried out, I would get assaulted by that smell of old, rancid sweat. It was nasty!! Now, after each run, the hat gets tossed into the washing machine along with the clothes. Occasionally, my husband will kindly say, "Boy, you stink!"

Sometimes in a race, you encounter a person who is especially stinky. I find this highly motivating to kick up my speed a notch and get past them as soon as possible. Once I forgot to put on deodorant before a race, and I am pretty sure, I was that stinky person people wanted to pass! Sorry fellow runners. My bad!

My husband is in construction, so I know sweat and stink! I must admit, after a run, I am probably on par with him after a long work day. It really is rather unladylike, but I don't see any way around it when you are putting in the miles.

Then, I happened upon a study done by Canadian scientists. They proved through research that exercise can help reverse the signs of aging! They had subjects, age 65 and older participate in workouts twice a week for three months. Guess what? The skin biopsies at the end of the study looked similar to what you'd expect for people 20 to 40 years younger!!! 

Now, I don't know about you, but that is reason enough for me to keep running and getting sweaty. I may stink, but my face will look younger as a result!

What's that smell? It's me!! Sweaty, beautiful skinned me!!