Long Run + Great Weekend + 1 Rant

Have I mentioned yet how much I love the 4th? It's great.  :)  Taylor and I went to his friend's lake cabin and had to use the wipers the whole way there.  Yup.  Rain.  :(  With no sign of sunshine in sight.  We got in around 4pm and since it wasn't sunny, decided to break into some beverages.  I had some Fat Tires.  My new favorite beer.  Yum.  Since his dad's house is insane, we played some pool, some shuffleboard (yes they have a shuffleboard table) and just kind of hung out.  It was a blast.

Saturday morning we woke up expecting to have sunshine pouring through the windows, but again, just clouds.  :(  We decided to go out in the boat anyway.  We loaded up the coolers and headed out.  Day 2's bevs were Lienekugel's Honey Weiss.  My 2nd favorite beer.  :)  We boated over to a friend's cabin to pick them up and headed out.  Many, many MANY bathroom breaks were had throughout the afternoon.  At least 10 or so by me.  :(  Whoops.  At one point we got caught in the middle of a rain shower, but it was still a blast.

Saturday night we ate some good grub and hung out by the water watching the fireworks.  There were some seriously awesome fireworks.  It was great!  I also played bartender and made the most amazing vodka tonics.  Wowsers.  So good.  :)  We ended up crashing EARLY and tented out next to the cabin since one of the guys inside kept us up ALL NIGHT Friday with his horrid snoring.

Of course, sleeping in a tent causes you to wake up at 6am because of the sun, so we were up and at em early.  SUN!  We ran to grab our suits and went out in the boat.  Too bad that the couple we were with had to leave by 10am to head to work.  So off to the waterpark Taylor and I went.  :)  Shocking.  Most of our friends were either there or on their way there, so it was a great time.  EVERYONE was questioning why I was drinking water instead of chugging the booze like them, and I had to explain again and again that I was running 9 miles that night, and didn't think the alcohol would help me any.  The responses I got was that I was crazy/9 miles was a LONG ways/and probably again that I was crazy 10x.  

After 7 hours in the sun, and dinner at Old Chicago with Taylor's family, I was ready for my 9 miler.  Luckily for me, the sun was beginning to set, and the temp was down to 75-ish.  The run was pretty uneventful so I'll throw out some highlights (and lowlights).  

First up, the RANT.  My run took me past one of the country clubs in town.  As I was running up, I saw a lady, walking backwards on the trail, in the middle of the trail.  Keep in mind that this trail is very busy, and bikes are constantly whizzing by me.  Behind her was a tiny little "purse puppy."  As I approached, she turned around and started walking forward, and I noticed her dog wasn't on a leash.  I assumed the dog must have great obedience skills, so I soldiered on.  Of course the dog ran straight at me, and I had to stop.  Jump over him.  And continue running on.  Who does this lady think she is?  After this incident, 2 cyclists went by also, and I believe yelled something at the lady about not having her dog on a leash.  It wasn't TOO difficult for me to dodge the dog, but I can't imagine if I was on a bike.  That's just a wreck waiting to happen.  In my head, I was already formulating my screaming match at the lady.  In it, her name was Muffy (totally the old-money type of country club go-er) and her dog, Poopsy.  Either way, I vented completely in my screaming match in my head.  :)

Other than that, I tried a new Gu at Mile 4 of the run--strawberry.  It was disgusting.  Yuck-o.  It did the trick though and the run was a success.  It was kind of scary running the last 3 miles as I was pretty far away on a part of the trail that is very infrequently used, and surrounded by industrial buildings, and it was getting DARK.  I get spooked so easily.  :(  I think it helped to make me run a little faster.  :)

9 miles in 1:23:33 for a 9:17 pace.  

1 9:34 
2 9:30 
3 9:22  
4 9:24 
5 9:23 
6 9:30 
7 9:22 
8 9:00 
9 8:27 

Very consistent, which I'm proud of, minus the last 2 miles where I picked it up a bit, because I just wanted to be home.

When I came home I found Tay zonked out, fast asleep.  I definitely felt like the cooler/stronger one in the couple by going for a long run after the exhausting weekend.  WHOO!  Post-shower I was practically passing out waiting for my leftover calzone to reheat.  Wowsers, the tiredness hit me like a ton of bricks, and I slept HARD.

I have the day off today too, yay go me.  :)  I think Round 2 at the waterpark is in store.