December 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

i waited a bit. ended up with a fourth foster.
there are five other applicants for the yorkie so hopefully someone who's had experience with his disorder will be willing to adopt him. max needs to lose weight so he'll be coming on the shorter runs. sweet baby whose owner died.
the run itself was nice. i tried a new part of the rails to trail. i could not believe the amount of dog poo ON the trail. the other one i run has some here and there but maybe because there are more trash cans. Speed Demon want to go fast. we've only been doing 2 miles to build back the fitness so little did she know five was planned. i thought about six since i had missed 2 on saturday and 4 were on the calendar. i could tell she was getting a little tired so we did five. the first miles were lying and told me i couldn't do it. speed demon was all for those miles. it wasn't hard hard. i thought i had shin splints but later saw i must have banged my shin at some point this weekend. my peroneal tendons are not thrilled. it as 40ish and not too dry so the weather was comfy. there wasn't much wind. the closer i got to lake michigan the windier it was (about 7 miles away). i had gone west and turned back east so when i was feeling hot and tired the wind was nice. as i was leaving, i saw someone approachable and asked him what the trail was like in the dark and he said it was pretty safe and hadn't seen too many questionable goings on. so maybe i'll do that. better than sidewalk running.

i had to trick speed demon into the car but as we pulled up to the trail, i could barely keep her from going thru the window. she much prefers noncity running.
Hank Aaron Trail

December training:

1: strength training
2: rest day
3: 5k run
4: strength training
5: 2.5k run
6. Strength training
7. 5k run
8. rest day
9. strength training & 5k run
10. rest day
11. strength training & 5k run
12. rest day
13. strength training
14. 5k run
15. rest day
16. 4K run
17. strength training
18. 4K run
19. strength training
20. rest day (and work's Christmas party!)
21. 5k run (a bit later than usual due to hangover...)
22. strength training
23. 4K run

44.5k for December so far

I also outran two hordes of zombies today - generally they catch me as I don't speed up enough 😁

@AlphaHowls WOW! That's a lot of miles! Great job

@mbaker566 nice pictures, looks like a fun place to run.

I did a track workout this morning, 6x800 meters at the dirt track. School track looked too crowded, plus soccer practice going on. The dirt track is shorter (about 350m) so I jogged until the watch says .2 km, then hit the lap button and go fast until it beeps for the next km and then repeat. But I had my watch on the wrong screen and thought I was slow. Figured out halfway through, that I was actually looking at overall average pace (including walk/jog recovery breaks) instead of the current pace. I decided to leave the watch on that view and run fast by feel. It turned out faster that way

@mbaker566 - love all the puppies! I hope they all find wonderful homes! Also I would prefer that trail to city running too! People not cleaning up dog poop is one of my pet peeves. We have 'poop' stations on our trail and the city provides poop bags and people will leave it no more than 5 steps from the station. How difficult is it to walk over get a bag and then throw it away! I think people believe it is biodegradable, after all wild animals go along the trail. But it isn't with all the preservatives added to the dog foods. The trail I run is also right along the river and ponds that feed our aquifer and primary water source. Yes the water is cleaned before it ever gets to my tap but still.
@AlphaHowls - you are just AMAZING!! Congratulations on your newest milestones!

I went out yesterday morning for a little run with the pup to get some energy out. I knew I might or might not be running that evening so wanted to get something in just in case. I had a holiday lights run on the schedule with a group of women but it was supposed to be pouring rain. The predictions were all over the place from heavy rain starting at 4pm to holding off until after 11pm. As it ended up there was no rain at all and I probably shouldn't have run the 4.8 miles in the morning. I had fortunately invited a friend to run with me as I knew the other ladies were way too fast for me to keep up with. After the 1st mile we had completely lost sight of them so went our own way. We did pass them at one point going different directions but never saw them again. We were supposed to all go out to eat afterwards but I suspect they were finished long before we were. Where we ran to is an island with canals lined with huge, expensive homes and lots of boats. The decorations are amazing and there were lots of people out walking. We did hit some really crowded areas where we had to walk and stopped to take pictures then ran down some canal areas with pretty lights that weren't nearly as crowded. All in all a bit over 4 miles for this run too. Going back to the car (about a mile from the island and canals) we walked quite a bit as my knee was letting me know it wasn't happy with this 2nd run. Lots of pictures below but they don't really do it justice.
Date........Miles.......Total
12/01......6.75........6.75
12/02......5.58......12.33 - + Agility Class
12/03......0.00......12.33 - + Strength Training
12/04......4.79......17.12
12/05......0.00......17.12 - + Strength Training
12/06......6.83......23.95 - 6.4 Birthday run plus a bit extra
12/07......8.32......32.27
12/08......0.00......32.27
12/09......4.62......36.89 - + Agility Class
12/10......0.00......36.89 - + Strength Training
12/11......2.11......39.00
12/12......4.41......43.41 - + Strength Training
12/13......0.00......43.41
12/14......5.56......48.97
12/15......0.00......48.97
12/16......6.48......55.45
12/17......0.00......55.45 - + Strength Training
12/18......2.05......57.50
12/19......4.78......62.28 - + Strength Training
12/20......2.39......64.67
12/21......0.00......64.67
12/22......9.20......73.87 - 2 Runs Including Christmas Lights Run
12/23......0.00......73.87



2019 Planned and Completed Races
02/03/19 - Surf City Half Marathon - Deferred to 2020
05/11/19 - Santa Barbara Wine Country HM - Complete
09/15/19 - Jack and Jill Downhill HM - Boise - HM #25 Complete
11/23/19 - USA Women's HM
02/02/20 - Surf City Half Marathon