5:30am. My alarm goes off. I peek outside and see it's still dark. Roll over and go back to sleep for another hour. This whole getting back into running and dedicating myself to training is going super well! On one hand I need to suck it up and go run despite the darkness, on the other hand I should probably get my community gym card activated and go use the fitness centers. If it wasn't the rainy season, with thunder, I feel like this wouldn't be an issue.
After deciding that the run was not going to happen this morning, thanks to needing to go do Paralegal things, I got up and immediately got yelled at by the cats. Apparently having all their food on the mat as opposed to in their bowls is a crisis. Tweedles, if you didn't shove all the food out of the bowl then we wouldn't have this issue!
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| You've got food Bailey. Stop yelling at me! |
Once I was done with everything on my to-do list at work for the day I headed over to the barn. The drive there kills me, it takes an hour and the drivers are insane. At least once every drive I'm cut off with very little clearance or tailgated by someone who could easily pass me. But it's worth it for the pony therapy time, and getting to make sure she's doing alright. Because it was extremely hot and humid today I didn't want to work her too hard. The dressage ring is used for turnout so I can't ride in it at night, and no one has mowed the jump field in a few weeks so I don't feel comfortable working patterns. We just did a few laps at the walk while asking for her to go long and low, trot work while asking for a frame and lengthening/collection, and a few laps of the canter focusing on our turns and staying balanced. Our work at the trot needs a lot of practice but Cupid works so hard to do what I ask and it's amazing to see how far she's come since our first ride last year.
After our ride, I gave her a bath including working on getting her used to having her face wet. Because I think she expects me to aim the water up her nose and in her ears I'm currently using the mist setting on the hose. Once she's comfortable with the mist setting I plan on using a light trickle on her cheeks and possibly the center of her forehead. So far she allows me to mist her face but doesn't look thrilled. She has started to play with the hose and take drinks when I offer it to her, it's this little action that lets me know she's getting more comfortable with the wash rack.
I got home after the barn and wanted nothing more than to skip my run. It was still hot and humid, and I'm super lazy. After going through various stages of bargaining, including offering to reward myself with chips and salsa, I got myself off my floor and went for my run. The plan was to just run as much as I was comfortable with. I'm not starting my official 10k plan for another few weeks so I just want to get myself to a steady 3 mile pace that's hopefully under 11:00 minutes per mile. As always my times aren't good by any standards but they're something I can do and I can only improve from here. I settled into an easy 1 mile run which resulted in an 11'24" pace. Once I finished my mile I continued for a little more just to get myself closer to my house. Overall, I feel good with myself. I got out for a run even when I didn't want to and I didn't talk a walk break until I got to my cool down starting spot.
If anyone has any suggestions for how to keep myself from getting a stitch in my side when I run in the humidity I would love you forever!
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