Mel & Zoe's Excellent Adventure

That's a big one-five there, roger that. 15 miles, bay-bee!

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Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday! Who's ready for the New Year?

This weekend was a "back-on-track" kind of weekend. Yesterday I ran 5.5 miles around the neighborhood in a T-SHIRT and my red running skirt! It was gorgeous outside! For the first time in a while I had an old friend running with me...my shadow. :) I tried to snap a picture of her, but it turned out horrible while running. Oh well. She was fast, too. Man, how does she only run every so often and stay in shape? I don't get it...

On this morning's schedule was a 15 miler with Tall Mom Mel...which would be my 5th double-digit run and my longest distance yet. My plan was to just do it and stay alive/breathing/moving/etc. The weather was amazing and just like yesterday in terms of clarity. Last time I ran with Mel on this trail it was dreary and foggy, so I had no idea how close Mt. Rainier looked! I had to take a early AM picture of it from my car because it was a site to behold.

I actually got to the trail start before Mel! Ah ha ha ha! I didn't want to be late like last time because I hate having people wait for me. :) Apparently the temperature outside was not t-shirt weather, and I'm glad I brought my long-sleeved pink shirt to change into before we set off. Duuuuude, it was cold! Thank goodness for the new long running tights I got for Christmas! Cheapy black gloves came in handy too! And my new Dollar Store earmuffs from my mother-in-law were perfect...I need to invest in about a dozen more and give them away (stay tuned!).

This trail run was no different from last time when it came to animal sightings. We saw a poor cow on the wrong side of the fence just moo-ing her little heart out for help. There were blue jays (I think), seagulls, ducks, geese, osprey, horses, llamas, more moo cows, a dog, a couple kitties and....a freakin' bald eagle! It was just chillin' at the edge of the river just eating a big fish at mile 14. He looked over our way once or twice as we gawked at him and all his glory. It was a great ending to our long run!

Eagle says "nom nom nom"

Anyway, jumping backwards to mile 6ish, Mel and I were talking about our little fear of dogs. Well, wouldn't you know, up ahead we saw this big, black mass of an animal and we had a Kerrie moment of "what the hell is that??"

Me: Is that an R.U.S.?!?*
Mel: (laughs) It looks like a sloth.
Me: That's a huge sloth.
Mel: No, wait. It's a dog.

Oh, but of course, we must run straight into what we fear...and a rottweiler to boot. But this little/big doggie just continued to sniff along the trail, owner-less, and didn't even give us a second glance. *PHEW!* Holy crap. Crisis averted. Breathe...

GAME ON!

So, one of the big goals on this long trail run is to see the 8 foot wooden latte and you know you've made the halfway point. :) What a sweet little piece of wood that was.

After chillin' (literally, I might add) at this halfway mark and gulping down some water and halfway frozen Chomps and Shot Bloks, we set off to finish that bad boy of a run. The only other wildlife we encountered after that was their remnants...aka poo. Lots of poo. This was by far the crappiest run I've ever done. Heh heh *snicker*

Mel was awesome and bought me a very yummy latte after the run. We sat, chatted and came up with many "-athon" jokes and I recommended for her to watch "The Hangover." Then we had to go because it was already after noon (say what?!). But, there was some difficulty standing up from the table. Oh boy! We're going to be sore tomorrow!

Thank you, Mel, for the opportunity to run a new distance with you! You rock!

*Extra points for those Princess Bride fans! Woot! "Rodents of Unusual Size!"