We ran outside!

Bungee and I braved the cold yesterday to check out the roads for running. My 5 things Friday will be 5 things from yesterday's run.

1. I have a bunch of different short loops/runs that I do through the surrounding neighborhoods. I know, in general how long they are, but not exactly. Yesterday, I picked the 6ish mile long route for my 6 mile run on schedule. My watch kept telling me I was running excruciatingly slowly and I still felt like I was dragging Bungee behind me.

Then, when I got home and mapped it out, I realized that the run was actually 6.5 miles, not the 6 that my watch told me. So, I really ran 6.5 moderately slow miles instead of 6 extremely slow miles.


2. You'd think that after being cooped up for so long, Bungee would be a speed racer on the roads. She's certainly insane every time we let her out to play in the back yard.

But now the roads are completely covered in either ice or salt and dirt. Bungee's little paws are taking a beating.

I've been joking about buying her boots for a while now, but I really think they might be necessary, especially if I want her to stay my running buddy.

This is what I'm imagining.

3. Boots, though, won't cure Bungee's new fear. Since the roads are all super narrow, Bungee has become paranoid. She can't jump in someone's lawn when a big truck or a giant dog goes by, so now she spends half of her run looking backwards to make sure we aren't being followed. One of these days she's going to run into a snow bank and I will laugh and laugh.


4. Based on yesterday's run and the weather reports, I think I can run at least half of Saturday's 20 miler outside. WOOOOOOOO! I've been dreading the inevitable loss of my sanity after that many hours on the treadmill.

The roads are still narrow and patchy with snow and ice, but they are runnable. I'm just going to stick to running almost entirely on back roads to avoid traffic at high speeds.


5. Today is finally a rest day. My legs are tired and I want to eat absolutely everything in the house. Today is the perfect day for Mike and I to celebrate Valentine's day with pre-long run pizza and Die Hard. It's going to be a good day.


How many rest days do you normally take?