Stats Of Inactivity

The other day, I was working on a brochure.  I needed some facts to correlate two things that may not normally go together in an attempt to prove a point.

First, 33.9% of US residents over 20 are obese and 34.4% are overweight (source).  Seemingly unrelated at first, it is estimated that 6-8 million animals enter shelters in the US each year (source).  It is estimated that 9000 treatable/adoptable animals are euthanized each day in the US (source).

We live in a society that eats too much and exercises too little.  We're also fairly careless pet owners. I see it every day in my own neighborhood so decided to take it a little further.  

I am known in the neighborhood as 'that lady who runs all the time' (as I overheard some neighborhood kids talking when they walked past my driveway the other morning) and 'that girl who is always walking those dogs'.  Because of running, walking, working from home and being a homebody when I'm not working, I tend to know a lot that goes in the neighborhood just by general observation.  I know who lives where, if they have any dogs and sometimes I'll know if they have children (I'll get to this one).

When I'm walking or running, either by myself or with the dogs, I often think how sad it is that so few of the dogs in this neighborhood get out for even so much as a walk on some sort of regular basis.  I tried to do some math in my head of those I actually see out on a walk from time to time but it wasn't working.  So, I made a map and did the actual calculations.

My immediate neighborhood is a very typical sub-division.  All of the houses were built somewhere between 2004-current.  If you walk the outer perimeter of the roads and the 2 cul-de-sacs, it is about 1.5 miles.  In it, there are 118 houses.

I have calculated that a total of 82 dogs live within the neighborhood in a total of 62 of the houses.  This means 52.5% of the households in this neighborhood own at least one dog (higher than the US statistic of 39% of households owning at least one dog (source)).  Six of them are permanently outside either tied, in pens or fences.  Out of the 82 dogs, I am guessing that nine get a regular walk (meaning ~once/week) outside of their own yard.  Only nine dogs or 11%.  Out of those nine, I estimate only six get a walk more than 4 days a week...and three of them belong to me.  Laziness on the human part?  Most likely.

Earlier I mentioned the children in the neighborhood.  There have been several mornings over the past couple of weeks where I've walked or run during school bus time.  Normally, I like to avoid this because it's one big huge cluster but it has proved interesting lately.  I honestly thought I knew most of the kids in this neighborhood but they seem to be popping out of nowhere at the bus stop.  So many kids.  Why do I never see any of them outside?  Either they are all living permanently indoors with electronics or they are all so overbooked with activities that they are never home.

The biggest thing that annoys me about the bus stop is the number of parents who must DRIVE their children to the bus stop and wait there with their hazard lights flashing.  More fun facts?  It appears the neighborhood has 3 regular bus stops for elementary school age kids.  I'm estimating that from every house in the neighborhood the closest bus stop is going to be no more than 0.25 miles away from their front door.  Seriously?  You can't walk with your kid a quarter of a mile to the bus stop.  If you exit our sub-division and drive another 0.25 miles you hit the elementary school so the whole driving to the bus stop and waiting creating the biggest cluster of people and cars you have ever seen makes no sense to me.  No wonder our society is filled with lazy, overweight people.

I have also witnessed two of the laziest acts I've ever seen on a regular basis in our neighborhood.  First, those who seemingly cannot walk to the end of their driveway to the get the mail.  I have witnessed several people who do lots of driving past their house, turning around, and more odd maneuvers just so they can stop at the mailbox in their car.  The second lazy act is the guy with the trash can.  After trash pick-up, he pulls up to his driveway, rolls down his window, grabs onto the trash can and then pulls into the driveway dragging the trash can with him.  Is that really worth it?

Obviously I'm of the mindset that people should live active, healthy lifestyles.  Not everyone needs to enjoy running a marathon but isn't walking your own dog or just going for a walk yourself knowing that statistics prove it makes you healthier (soure) a wise idea?  If you don't have a dog, I've found plenty that would like a buddy.

Who has lazy people stories?!?  

Heat Fail

This morning, I didn't run first thing.  I'm trying to be a little less structured in my weekend routine and not have running consume my weekend mornings every single week. Since Saturday morning was entirely related to running, Sunday would be a day for sleeping in, going to breakfast and then household chores.  Once I got all that stuff out of the way, I'd find a time to run.  Turns out this was a bit of a bad idea.  I'm going to officially complain about the heat.

Saturday morning, I got up and headed out for 8 miles.  It was slow thanks to some sore muscles from a P90x workout on Friday.  I ate some quick breakfast then headed out to pick up 2 dogs for a Miles and Mutts (click over for more info on this week's dogs) run.  I have a new car barrier that should keep the dogs in the back of my CR-V.  The last time, it worked perfectly.  This week...not so much.  But, I think I have the issue resolved for the future.  By the time I pulled out of the driveway from the shelter, one dog was in the front seat.  One minute later and both of them were up front.  It was an interesting drive to say the least.  At least the run was successful!  On the ride back, one managed to get through the barrier again but the other was tuckered out enough to just lay down.

Abigale taking a little rest on Cricket after the run.

The rest of Saturday was spent doing various yard chores including planting more trees.  One day we'll be finished planting trees in this yard.  We have to have enough eventually.  It was hot and by the end of the day, I was worn out but productive, best feeling ever.  Perfection!

Sunday morning was filled with breakfast out then dog walking, planting the rest of the garden, weeding all the flowerbeds and helping to seal the driveway.  By the time all of that was complete, it was after 1 PM so I decided to make lunch and then aim for a late afternoon run.  I headed out around 4:30 PM with the intention to go 8-10 miles.  I wasn't feeling it and still sore from the P90x.  The heat was bothering me and lunch was causing some lovely belching.  I stopped after 4 miles.  Run in the heat-fail.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow and at least I got out for a few miles.  

A few little things

Some little things I'm loving this week.

• Getting back to running after Capon Valley 50K and feeling good!
• Local strawberries.  I must make time to go strawberry picking this weekend.  It is quite possible I'd be able to win a strawberry eating contest.  I can pack them away quickly.
• Walking to our small garden in the backyard to pick lettuce for salads each day.  Salads never tasted better.

Things I'm not loving.

• Thunderstorm season.  It seems like the yard needs mowed every 3-4 days and these storms are not occurring at convenient times plus I have one dog who acts like a maniac with thunder.
• Doing a pitch that I thought would generate some interest in Miles and Mutts and getting no new volunteer interest out of it.  Apparently there aren't as many eager beginners who want to set a goal of completing a 5K in the animal group as I thought there might be.  Oh well.  Two events are coming up that I'm feeling really good about and should hit some good people!
• Having a beagle that I'm not sure how to help.  She hurt her back 3-4 weeks ago.  At the beginning, she was not able to walk at all and there were 2 days where I had to carry her outside and several days where she needed hand fed.  Vet visits, several medications and tons of phone calls later, she is better and completely off all medications.  But, she isn't 100% and can't complete a walk around the block without being completely beat.  She seems completely happy otherwise though so we'll continue with the rest and very reduced exercise.

Capon Valley 50K

The short version - I loved this race.  We had good weather, the course is scenic with a variety of terrain and I felt pretty good all day, both mentally and physically.  There were some good climbs to get your heart pumping with a mix of runnable trails and several stream crossings, though all that required wet feet happened during times when they actually felt refreshing.  I enjoyed the day out in the woods and had the best experience yet from start to finish.

The long version.  I woke up at 4:10 AM and headed out at 4:30 to make my way to Yellow Spring, WV.  Originally, I was a little worried about finding this place but once I spent time to really look at a map to figure out the vicinity we were going, it seemed to make more sense.  I couldn't find either of the original locations on my GPS but picked the nearest road and figured I should be able to find it from there.  I made it there with little problems and met up with my sister who also found it coming from an opposite direction.

During packet pickup, they were out of small shirts, which is what I'd requested but offered to either give me a medium or wait and they'll send out the small.  This was really the only issue all day long and certainly not a big deal.  As I was heading back to my car, I spotted Running Becca, who, although she doesn't live locally to me, connected a few virtual dots and introduced me to some local runners back in 2010.  The same local runners who I run with most often these days.  When I went back inside to make sure they'd checked in my number for the start, I spotted Shelly of It's Just One Foot In Front of Another and introduced myself.  We've been at no less than 4 of the same races over the past couple of years and have mutual friends so it was nice to have an official hello.

Soon, we were off and headed down the road.  We crossed the road to turn onto a side road which headed up.  Next, we took another turn and started up a gravel road which had the first good climb of the day.  My legs were tired and tight and not at all warmed up.  It started out looking like it might be a long day.  I did not pay attention to where aid stations were throughout the day.  I knew there were 6 and planned on just taking the course aid station to aid station.  We hit the first aid station quickly and passed through.

The trails were pretty and are on mostly private land.  They range from singletrack to doubletrack but are quite runnable and not rocky.  The trails are mixed in with several ups and downs and some of the ups were a tougher than the description led me to believe.  This meant lots of walking during the climbs.  The course is well marked the entire way.  The trails were mixed in with several sections of gravel roads.

At one point early on, you exit the woods to the power line section which has a nice view.  By this point, I was actually warmed up and my legs were feeling good.

The aid stations were wonderful with lots of volunteers who were all eager to help.  They were attentive to checking in numbers at each aid station and always asked if each person needed anything and were certainly on top of things.

During the day, the only time I struggled was between aid stations 4 and 5.  By this point, it was getting quite hot out and I was in need of something other than the water in my pack.  I kept having the urge to walk, even on the flat sections and was really looking forward to another aid station.

We came out of the woods and saw a table that had people's drop bags.  We passed over a road but there was no aid station so I thought maybe there wasn't a real aid station at this point, just the drop bags (I hadn't really read the details about the stations and where they were).  But, just a quarter mile or so after that we hit the aid station.  It was great when we ran up and they said, 3.2 to the next aid station, 6.6 to the finish.  Really?  That was a great feeling because I didn't really know how far along we were and the finish sounded so close.  I got some of my magic fuel (Coke) and was ready to keep moving.

During the day, I went through 1.5 liters water/Nuun (1 tablet/liter), 5 salt pills, 2 cups gatorade, 3 cups Coke, 3 orange segments, 2 PB&J squares, 2 handfuls M&Ms and 1 handful Goldfish crackers.  This is only for my own reference in the never-ending science experiment of what seems to work for me.

Soon enough, we were back to the finish.  The later miles were all pretty easy with quite a lot of downhill which was also a nice feeling.  Well, kind of a nice feeling, those kind of hurt your quads by this point in the day! My sister and I crossed the finish line in 6:52:05.

We cleaned up a bit and headed inside to get our meal.  The meal was also wonderful.  They had BBQ chicken or veggie lasagna plus salad, baked beans, pasta salad, rolls and a wonderful array of desserts.  I spent the longest time staring at the desserts trying to decide which one to pick (I ended up with pumpkin pie - it was great!).

Soon enough, I headed back home.  I definitely felt the best start to finish and after this than any other long race.  I enjoyed the day out in the woods and just had fun, which is really what this is all about.  Capon Valley 50K is a great race.

Post race, I'm feeling good.  My body is a little sore the day after but the normal challenges, like the stairs, are presenting no issues and my stomach is normal as well.  All in all, great race and a great time.  I'm ready for the next adventure.            

*Photo Source:  The ones of me are from PHDispatch.com 

Ready to Go

I'm not exactly sure what happened but the little mini-funk I've been in the last few weeks disappeared today.  Suddenly, I'm extremely excited about Capon Valley 50K tomorrow and ready to go.  This race is my last super long planned run for the 40 miler in June.  All the plans made late last year are coming together and everything is quickly approaching.

My leg is starting to look normal again.  This is a full one week after my fall last week:

The kitchen island has transformed into the dumping ground for odd items only runners will recognize.  They'll be packed up and loaded into the car tonight.

Then, tomorrow morning hopefully I'll somehow figure out where in the world Yellow Spring, WV is as I'm driving.  It's not exactly on a lot of maps but I think I can get to the general area.

Time to go run my 3rd 50k.  When did that happen?  My only goal is to enjoy it and try not to be last, although I think I'd even be OK with last tomorrow given my euphoric state right now.

In this odd state today, I did something I've been avoiding like the plague for quite some time.  I gave in and signed up for Twitter (@highermiles).  I'll see if I give in completely and stop saying "I don't get the whole Twitter thing"...not counting on that yet.

May Days

Exactly one year ago, our house went from having 2 canine residents to 3.  Dogs outnumbered people and they could now be considered a pack.

It took over an hour of introductions on neutral ground before we felt no one was going to kill each other.  We brought everyone back home and monitored more playtime in the backyard.  Together, they killed the first rabbit of the season, at least it wasn't each other.  A total of 4 bunnies lost their lives in our backyard last summer (thank goodness only one rabbit carcass made its way into the house).

The first few weeks were spent trying to get Hannah over a mystery allergy/illness she had on and off for several months in the animal shelter.  The funniest thing was taking her to the vet in the first week and having a few people gush over her in the waiting room.  A man with his pristine Sheltie was waiting when Hannah started hacking.  She had a terrible cough.  It was NOT kennel cough and not contagious (my other dogs never got sick and I let them with her the entire time) but of course he thought it was and promptly wanted everyone in the waiting room to be disinfected and for me to get my disgusting sick creature away from all of them.  I didn't and just kind of laughed it off which infuriated the man even more.  She was cleared up in just a few weeks and only had one small episode of it again in the 2nd month we had her.

That was a year ago but the more I thought about it, May is typically a month with lots of changes for me.

10 years ago, in 2002, the month of May brought the following:
-graduated college
-turned 21
-moved back home with my parents in Maryland
-had no idea what I was going to do with my life - went on interviews, pondered law school
-took a 'temporary' job until I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.
-met my now husband at the 'temporary' job location
-decided I needed more time to figure out my life and would stay at the 'temporary' job a little longer
-moved out of my parents house into an apartment

I guess a lot of stuff happened a decade ago that led me to where I am right now.  Sometimes I feel like I have my shit together and know what I'm doing in life.  Most days though, I feel like I still have no clue.  One thing is certain, I can't believe the past 10 years flew by so quickly.

Two moves, buying a house, adopting 3 dogs, getting married, having 6 different positions at the 'temporary' company, losing a bunch of weight, starting to run, running a ton of races.

I wonder what the month of May will bring this year?

Slow and Easy

Saturday morning, I picked up this girl for a Miles and Mutts run.  She must have known my legs are feeling really dead lately because she had one pace - slow!  When I took her back, I asked again if she's normally a high energy dog because she didn't seem like it to me.  Apparently she is at times, maybe she was tired too.  I think I have my dog for a beginning runner though.  She's incredibly sweet, super easy to handle and enjoys a very slow and easy pace with an occasional walk break.

This actually worked out really well for me.  It seems my legs are little more tired than I realized after a lot of miles in April and a marathon.  I think the 5K just a few days after the marathon followed by a pretty hilly and partial trail run at a faster than normal trail pace last Sunday played a factor as well.  I took it easy over the last week and my legs still feel a bit dead this weekend.

On Friday, I went out on trails again.  Capon Valley 50K is this weekend and I wanted one more time on uneven ground.  My pace was slow on the trails but it was going pretty well since I'm beginning to feel more comfortable on trails.  I did a loop of fairly easy trails with some roots/rocks then hit a looped trail that is rocky with a good climb for 1.5 miles and then 1.5 miles back down.  On the way down, I had quite the fall.  It wasn't the normal, catch my foot on a rock and then stumble, stumble, fall.  It was one minute I was running, the next second I was flat on the ground.

My right shin is quite bruised with various cuts and scraps along my right leg.  I could feel soreness with each step even at the incredibly slow pace with Trinket on Saturday.  On Sunday, I continued to take it incredibly easy with just a short six mile run.  With a long race this weekend, easy days and plenty of rest is probably the best option as much as it conflicts with my mind's desires.  Of course, maybe the fall was meant to be since it forces me into easier days.  Funny how that works out sometimes.

Weekly Runner Photo Challenge: Favorite Race Picture

I've been enjoying reading MagMileRunner's Weekly Photo Challenge and decided to participate this week.  This week's topic:  Favorite Race Picture  It ties in with a post from last week as well where I asked if anyone purchased race photos.  I mentioned purchasing two but I don't think I've ever posted them (although one is my blogger profile photo).

My top three favorite:

1.  My first marathon (first photo purchased, I think it was $10).  It was my first marathon so it was a big deal.  This photo is in Antietam Battlefield and I think it was around mile 19.  It was before I completely died which happened shortly after leaving Antietam.  It doesn't do much for me anymore so it's getting ranked as #2 favorite.

2.  The Hoover Dam Half Marathon (second photo ever purchased, I think it was $15).  This was my worst half marathon so far but I still love this photo.  Why?  I love the background combined with the fact that my sister and I are running together.  The trip to Utah and Nevada in 2010 was definitely one to remember.  My sister's laid back approach to long-distance running is probably the only reason I started, stuck with it, ultimately fell in love.  Now, I've found it within myself to want to continue to push the limits and I love the mental game that comes with long distance running.  Therefore, this is my favorite.

3.  Gettysburg North-South Marathon.  I still just like this picture but it'll get a ranking of #3 because there is no other legitimate reason.

What's your favorite race photo?

Guess I'm Sticking to Distance

At the beginning of the year, I had my plan through June.  I was going to try to get myself through Highlands Sky 40 mile, somehow, someway (I am pretty much terrified of this race and am already freaking out).  After it, I would figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of the year and not think about the 2nd half of the year until June.

Remember last year when I spectated and played support crew at the JFK 50?  It changed my opinion of wanting to the do race.  I never had any desire to do it until I was actually there.  I wrote this last November:

I honestly had no desire to run JFK previously.  It has become insanely expensive over the past few years and the thought of 26 miles on that towpath sounded terrible.  We were on it for about 14 miles during Freedom's Run marathon and I was dying to get off it by the end of just 14 miles.  It's flat and monotonous.  I ran the Appalachian Trail section several times over the summer and enjoy it, although cussing at the rocks is inevitable.  Therefore, I really didn't have it on 'my list'.  Of course, that all changed after spending the whole day there Saturday.  I'll probably have to do it.

I thought I had it all figured out.  JFK 50 mile registration would open in July and I could decide if I wanted to stick with distance for the fall or just back off and try something different after attempting Highlands Sky.

But, they changed the JFK registration process this year.  It opened May 1st and will fill really quickly, especially because it is the 50th anniversary of the race.

It is the oldest and basically best known ultramarathon around.  I live very close and know the area.  Suddenly, it seemed to make sense that I need to do it once in my life to say I did it.  My old marathon time put me in the 'B' group...but I could try to snag one of the local entries.  Or, I could make sure I got a decent marathon time at Gettysburg to get me in the 'A' group and not rely on that whole 'local entry' thing.  Thus, the reason for the goal at Gettysburg.

So, with all the other crazies, I mailed my registration in on May 1.  I figured if I was supposed to run it, I'd get in, if not, I wouldn't.  I started seeing others getting their confirmation and started to freak out.  Guess I had made my decision that I wanted to do it.  And, so with a little more waiting this showed up in the mailbox.

Guess I'm sticking with distance for the rest of the year.

Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter 5K-9

Hannah ran her second 5K on Friday evening.  We got to the location of the new (yet to be open) location of the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter, grabbed our number and headed back to the car to put it on.  I was a little worried when she hopped back into the passenger seat of the car and seemed to want nothing to do with getting back out.    

Maybe she's thinking, 'Why did you bring me to an animal shelter?'

Luckily, she was easy to coax out of the car and started mingling with some of the other dogs.  

It was Friday evening and it was hot for PA in early May.  I broke one of my Miles & Mutts rules which is do not run with a dog when it's over 80 degrees.  It was hovering right around that temperature but I figure I know my own dog's limits pretty well.  The fact that I was 5 days out from a marathon, it was hot, and I expected the start to be a bit of a nightmare, I wasn't expecting much from this race but just hoped it would be fun. 

What do you think Hannah is thinking here?  'That Corgi isn't running, right?' 

Eventually, we were lined up and off.  As suspected, the start was rough and it took some coordination on my part to stay upright until we spread out a little.  Hannah assumed we were participating a 50-yard dash, not a 5K after the starting gun.  Within the first half mile, we started up a hill and I'll admit it took some major effort on my part to work my way up this thing.  My legs were tired and I wasn't used to these temperatures yet.  

By this point, Hannah figured out what we were doing and trotted right alongside.  I'll admit that a little over a mile into this, I was a little angry at myself for not being able to get my legs moving any faster and thoughts of 'I hate 5Ks' were definitely crossing my mind.  Eventually we hit mile two.  Around 2.5 miles, my husband went driving by and pulled off the side of the road and snapped the following:      

Then, Hannah realized who was standing on the side of the road and could not figure out why we were running away from him.  He stopped by after work so she had no idea he was going to be around.

We eventually got to the finish though...and, it was fun.  Mission accomplished.

Relaxing a bit before heading home.  Certainly no PR here but Hannah got one, 25:52, an improvement over her last race.  Plus, this one was hot and had some hills.  We'll take it!

The Magic of a Mile

Lots of interesting running this weekend - a 5K with the dog in the heat, four miles with a shelter dog on Saturday, a few more hot, muggy miles on my own and then some trail miles today.  All on some fairly tired legs.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow's day off from running.  

The highlight was by far the 4 miles with the shelter dog where we hit the magic of the mile.  I explained here:   http://milesandmutts.com/2012/05/06/the-magic-of-the-mile/

Gettysburg Marathon Photos...

...that don't suck.  This is amazing.  Race photos that don't suck and I was able to save them from the site as well.  Impressive!

Somewhere in the first mile or so, at the top of the first hill.

Somewhere in the first half since I still have my shirt tied around my waist.  I dropped it with friends around mile 13.  I actually really like this one for some reason!

Somewhere in the second half.  This one is a little rough, looks a little more like a normal race photo but still better than most.

I had to include this one.  Mister huffer puffer dude was running the relay and went sprinting past me into the finish.  He looks very serious.

OK, this one isn't so good but I'll take it.  That's the finish.  If I didn't look a little rough, it wouldn't be a marathon, right?

Race photos.  Your thoughts?  I've actually purchased two in the past that were half way decent and not an outrageous amount of money.  Most are overpriced and crappy but I love that many of the races I run are small and I can still get a few memories from the day without paying some ridiculous amount.

April Recap

Total Miles Ran:  200!
Number of those miles that involved me holding a dog and a leash:  52
Songs with the most airtime on my mp3 player:  Gavin DeGraw - Sweeter, Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe (yes, it appears I reverted to the musical tastes of a 12 year old here).
Number of P90x or Jillian Michaels Workouts:  7


April turned out to be my highest mileage month ever.  After the Gettysburg North-South Marathon, my monthly mileage was 196.  I looked at that number and decided if I felt fine on Monday, I'd run to make it an even 200 for the month.  I actually feel really good post marathon so 200 miles complete for the month (but I did take Tuesday as a rest day to not be too over-zealous!).


With Miles and Mutts getting off the ground slowly my dog miles number is increasing as well.  Yay!


I'll be taking it fairly easy the rest of the week and then hitting up a local first time race Friday evening, the 5K-9, which benefits a local animal shelter.  It's the shelter Hannah came from and the one I've volunteered with in the past (but not the one where I'm running the dogs from for Miles and Mutts - could make this a little awkward!).   


I told Hannah she was running.  She seems ready.  Let's hope she behaves herself and is a good model for how running can make an energetic dog happy and calm.  She's really good when she runs with me anymore.  She stays on my left side and falls into pace easily.  But, I always run with her solo so she's not used to the whole group thing.  The start of the first race I did with her was a bit chaotic .  I started in the back and she seemed to want to lead the pack of runners (and dogs in particular), not fall within it.  Hopefully we'll have a better plan for this one!  Maybe if we start towards the front we can PR.    Not counting on that, this one's just for fun, but I'm on a pretty good streak lately when it comes to races.