Time: 40:28
Pace: 10:48 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Abby does not want to get out of bed
Most Inspiring Moment: The glorious, never-ending wave of Harvard lacrosse players
It was my hope, having been officially training for three weeks, that these early-morning runs would get easier. Maybe not easier in the "running is still hard" sense, but that I'd at least stop feeling the bone-crushing despair that comes from leaving a warm bed to run in cold weather.
My saving grace, most days, has been Abby, whose default setting is pretty much let's do this. So you can guess how it felt to haul myself out of bed only to see this:
That, right there, is a dog who does not want to go outside. She was so cozy! She was so sleepy! This may have been because the night before, Iris (Official Baby Representative for 2015 Marathon Training) spectacularly broke her amazing sleeping-through-the-night streak with half an hour of solid shrieking. Twice.
"Abby! Go for a run?"
[averted eyes. silence.]
"Run? Run!"
[puppy expression that says "Please. Now you're just embarrassing yourself."]
I seriously wondered if I'd be running solo today, except, of course, that the dog still needs to pee. Luckily, by the time I'd put in my contacts and stared at myself in the mirror, psyching myself up, she'd come around and her little puppy tail was wagging its usual furious pace.
We headed out and had a nice run until we got to Com Ave, where I discovered that Abby apparently has a thing for heavy machinery, because when she spotted this bulldozer(? or mover? loader? Whatever, I'm not a construction worker or three-year-old boy), she lunged after it with all the gusto she usually reserves for squirrels and small yappy dogs.
I'm still not quite sure what she was thinking. Did she want to catch it? Was she scared of it? We ended up racing it to the end of the street, which wasn't so bad, since it was cruising at a speedy 5mph. Then we turned the corner and she seemed genuinely disappointed to leave it behind. Or possibly relieved.
The semi-nice weather meant that there was a crowd out today, and I was bummed to confirm that I am still the slowest person out there, by, like, a lot. I mean, a lot.
Also bumming? Someone stole the name of my boat:
But as I was running home, feeling sorry for myself, what should I pass but wave upon wave of handsome Harvard lacrosse players, blond and chiseled and running in the morning light like some Abercrombie TV ad come gloriously to life. They were cute.
And they kept coming! Every time I thought the last had passed, another crowd of runners would emerge, apple-cheeked embodiments of The American Ideal. I would have taken a picture except some of them are probably ten years younger than I am and I already feel weird just writing the previous paragraph.
We made it home, and I felt once again that post-exercise endorphin rush that makes it all worth while and fills me with all the energy to carry me onward through my day.
Abby went immediately back to bed.
It's Thank-You Friday! (Favorite Donors Friday? Friday-For-You? I'll come up with a better name...) Thank you to my brother- and sister-in-law, Steve and Jenna Toniatti, for your donation! (and for commiserating about running in terrible weather) Thank you also to Charles and Michele Toniatti!
With the holiday season soon upon us, why don't you do something nice for some kids who need it, and throw my CrowdRise account a few bucks? It'll take less than 5 minutes (less than 2 minutes if, unlike me, you don't have to search your whole apartment for your wallet), and then you can stop feeling guilty when you read this blog.
Happy weekend, everyone!
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