Hubby broke new ground!

  The hubby drives me nuts.  Why is it that I have such a competitive impulse with him.....  When I get stressed, all the things that he can do that are seemingly easy as pie start to grow even brighter on my competitive meter.
 I am proud of him regardless and I do know that even when I am freezing due to not being graced with a beard, huge muscle mass, larger reserve, and so on I celebrate his success even if it sounds grumbly.

  Today he broke the 11 mile barrier! He wore through a pair of socks and could have used some calories at mile 9 but he finished and seems to be spry and not suffering this evening.  When he picks me up from my desk chair while swinging me around saying I need to get away from my computer and get my blood flowing, I am led to believe he is recovering rather well from his longest run to date!!   This is fantastic since it seems as if my injuries  issues are resolving so the more miles the better.

  We have been running while our son Jupiter is in therapy in Altoona.  We have a little over 2 hours to play with.  Today, I went to take a photo of a ginormous praying mantis sculpture in the coolest public garden I have seen in a long time when I discover I have not replaced the camera battery after charging. Blurg.  So no pictures today.

  Today we were reminded that a barefoot runner means you run quietly.  You become aware of your surroundings on an auditory level since you can hear so much more when there is no pounding of the ground to distract the ear.  My necklace is a lovely sterling silver disc with a copper disc on top of it and when I run it jingles.   Even when I am running with a gentle form it still bounces enough to jingle.  We kept thinking it was dog tags and would think to look around for dogs.

 Everything pleasant seems to have some kind of unpleasant counterpart.  Diesel engines STINK!  At the end of a run when you are hauling arse on that last mile and feeling great, the last thing you want to taste and smell are diesel fumes.  I must say though that this short time of discomfort was completely canceled out by all the wonderful paths away from the roads to run on.  The gardens, neighborhoods, public fountains and ponds are truly amazing.  We have come across 3 tunnels for pedestrians and I don't think those were the only three in town.  How cool is that!  Altoona Iowa people, thats the place to run!  Where the library movies are still free and they have blue bottle trees in their public gardens.

I won't make the same mistake with the camera again!  I am enjoying my Sockwas still although the hubster was a bit uncomfortable at the end of the run when he wore through his socks and his feet became cold.  In other news I  discovered the joys of hot apple juice with Saigon Cinnamon!   We looped around to the car for nuun, Clif gels, and a hot drink.  It was hot sugary heaven and I recommend it to any cold runner out there.  Off to have some now!

Stay warm out there and happy running friends!