Happy Valentine's Day Cheryl And Ethan! I Run My First 10 K And Survive!

I know Valentine's Day is not for another two days.... But Cheryl and I decided to Celebrate Early!  The way it was Pitched to me:  

Cheryls Car is Easy to ID... With Rocket and Haru's muddy paws all over the hood.

I had envisioned  her coming up.    

We would exchange treats and cutsie stuffy things. 

We would go Shopping for Beer. 

 She would put on a Fashion Show of Sexy Attire....   

And then we would have a night to remember!  Filled with Hot "R rated" frisky things....

Instead....  Cheryl signed us both up for a race.

I know, I know.... " What were you expecting from a runner?"  You would think that by now, I would be used to such things.   But every now and then,   I let my imagination get the better of me.  ( And my Imagination is Awesome!)  What else could I do but run the event and hope I did not die or humiliate myself in front of a bunch of strangers. 

To be honest,  I was a little scared.   I have never run that distance before. ( that I know of.... We did run in the Army a lot)  Officially, I wanted to beat 50 minutes.   I had been running 8 minute miles all week.   But when the rubber finally met the road this morning,  I ended up running a solid 9 minute mile pace.   On a bright note,  I DID manage to keep the run under an hour. 

Cheryl was a little disappointed as well.   She managed to get her age group award, but did not finish the overall race as one of the Top three finishers.  Too bad, Because they were giving away a free bag of coffee to the overall winners!  

I got 4th in My age group...She tells me.

She wondered why her performance was so bad in comparison to her previous races... and I offered the weather and lack of training as possible reasons. Cheryl, however, blamed the previous night of "excessive drinking." 

Personally,  I felt that the adult beverages we had consumed would boost our hydration and push back our pain threshold.  I mean,  Isn't that why they offer beer after races to begin with?   

But, apparently,   enjoying beer Before a race is somehow "bad."    Sometimes I just can't figure out these runner rules that athletes place on health and fitness.   I personally felt fine during the race.   I was happy it ended though.   That is for sure.   And I doubt I could have run much faster or for very much longer.   I finished! And that was all that mattered. 

The Human Element.  We need to Name him.

As for the rest of the weekend.   I will say that Cheryl and I stumbled upon a Human Element and decided to rescue him from the sad conditions where someone abandoned him.   I am currently  in the process to clean him up and revive him.   Every Stuffed Animal deserves a happy home.   Just like real cats. I will post updates as the process unfolds.  

I finally finished the Dragon I began a week ago.   You may notice that he is black instead of the initial pink I started with.  That is because I could find neither black nor red as the initial paper color.  So I knew I would have to paint him.   And I was curious about using spray paint instead of trying to paint the paper and having it crack as I folded it. I hope the guy I folded it for likes it well enough.   And now I have no origami projects on the horizon.  

Sunrise At The Warehouse!   Days are getting longer.

The last several days at the Zebra have greeted me with spectacular sunrises.  The days are getting longer again, and I am looking forward to being able to travel in the sunlight of the morning rather than in the darkness of Winter. 

 I hope everyone had a great weekend this weekend.  And if you celebrated Valentine's Day early,   I hope you had a great time as I did.   Nothing says "I love you!"  better than running a 10 K with the one you are trying to impress... Right?

Who wouldn't want Mushrooms for Valentine's Day?

And all this time I was thinking Flowers and Chocolates were the answer.  And to be honest,  that would have been a lot simpler to pull off.  

Thanks for stopping in.