Run to You

Lots of love & food going toward this guy!

I'm back running.  :)  It feels great to run again.  I've been running at a local park and went there again on Wednesday.  We just had a front come through and there was standing water in some areas plus it was chilly (38 and windy).  I was scheduled to do 3 sets of 8 min run/2 min walk.  Everything was going good and then I started the 2nd rep.  Tied to a pole in the middle of the park was a dog.  Skinny and afraid.  I went up to him and he was starving for attention, but timid.  I grabbed the tie out they used to tie him up with and brought him to my truck.  He was afraid of getting in at first, but after some encouragement, we managed.  He's around 55 pounds right now and has been abused.  Looking at his teeth, he's just under a year old (I figure the might be able to give me a better idea tomorrow).  He's decent on a leash and just a bundle of gentle energy.  This morning while I was playing with him I'd sit on the floor and he'd get real low and wouldn't get rough.  As I stood up taller, he'd get a little rougher.  Pretty sure he's an American Pitbull Terrier, but no way to know for sure if he's mixed or not.  We think someone wanted a fighting dog and he wasn't a good option.  He has a few fight marks on his ears and nose.  There is a mark on his head that we cannot figure out if someone tried to brand him or beat him so hard he has a scar either way, he's with me and he'll be staying. In my house the cat rules the wild kingdom.  Quetesh thinks she rules all food (as we've seen with her trying to steal the 10# bone from him).  He just looks at them both like they are nuts.

Who could beat this sweetheart!?!?

The only signs of any fight were when Quetesh nipped him.  He didn't bite, just barked and baked up, so not aggression, but submission.  Still we will keep on our toes with them since he's still young and getting comfortable and Quetesh is cranky in her old age (and I need to stay on her).  Bonus:  I have a running buddy.  It's good that I have him now, since you need to start them out slow as well, and I'm more likely to take it easy on a pup than I am myself.  :)  I survived telling my husband pretty well in tact and I think he wants to keep him.  He fits well in our dynamic, a couple of broken people with broken animals.  Love is the glue that puts us together and makes it all work.  When I told him I figured he'd ask why I didn't just leave the dog.  Instead he said, leaving the dog would have made you just as bad as the person who abandoned him. When he got home from work, the dog backed behind me then when straight up to him and sat giving my husband his head for a good loving.  This won his heart, pretty sure.  We do need to decide on a name for the guy (preferably before tomorrow so that I can give the vet an actual name for him).  I already have dreams of him with a doggie back pack carrying his water bowl and a hands-free leash on a run...

Those bones might be bigger than I am, but they are mine!

It's funny how what you need finds you just when you need it.  Despite my acceptance of infertility, I still have my bad days and all I want to do is cry.  Running and dogs are the best cure for me.  On top of helping a less fortunate baby, which allows that motherly instinct to come out, I feel better.  Ovulation is just around the corner and maybe we can complete our family with 2 sweet pups, a crazy cat, and the joy of a new baby. I can dream can't I?   Here's to my New Year hopes!

So this is Christmas.

"So this is Christmas, and what have you done?  Another year over and a new one just begun."  John Lennon

Being raised in a Christian family I grew up celebrating Christmas.  Most of the celebration focused around 70 people in one house and more kids than an orphanage arguing over who's toy was the best.  Somewhere along the way we missed the point.  Tired parents drag us home and we reset to our misbehaving ways.  My birthday is January 2, so I would also get my birthday present (usually a combined gift) from many family members.  It didn't take me many years to figure out that I was getting the short end of this deal in the material world.  The whole point of Christmas is not to receive, but to give.  With all of the commercials you'd never know.  I always look at the families who go to the soup kitchen or who take their kids shopping for another family instead of themselves and think, "Man, I wish I was raised with those values."  Don't get me wrong, my family did a great job raising me, I just feel that this would have made me a better person, given me a more rounded life.  I never felt the draw towards Christmas that others felt, maybe it was my birthday being so close, maybe I was just frozen from the cold, maybe it just wasn't what my heart felt was right.

Now as an adult I understand the meaning behind Christmas.  It's not that my family did not teach me, it's not that I was led astray, their teachings led me here. No matter what religion you practice, it is about giving, it is about loving, it about looking forward.  I am a Druid and proud to admit it.  I discovered Druidry a few years ago and everything about it was what I had been looking for.  Today, Alban Arthran (Winter Solstice), is the day I celebrate.  Today is when I will open the cards given to me by my dear friends and family. I will be thankful for every one of them and what they have given me and I will do my best to return the blessings to others.  Today I will be thankful that the sun will set a little later and that today is always one day out of the past and one day closer to the future.  The future that holds a little one that I can teach about giving, loving, living.

To me this season is too busy.  There are too many people who rush, too many people period (if you go to a store), too many who still need help who are forgotten.  This leads to short tempers, hurtful words, damage to our souls.  So for the next week, slow down, look around, and take in the world around you.  Help those who need it, love those who need it, love yourself and remember that you are a small piece of this world.  You are not the center of it, but just a piece.  This does not make us unimportant, without your piece, we leave hole in our puzzle.  Remember that others have accepted that they do not believe everything you believe.  That beliefs are our own heart's feelings and if you do not feel the same way, it is not your place to place judgement on someone.

Tonight I will practice a special yoga ceremony.  I will take in the chill of the air, the love of nature.  I will think back on the year, the good and smile, the bad and weep.  Most of all I will look forward with acceptance, with gratitude, with respect for myself, others and the planet.

So Happy Holidays!  Merry Christmas, Happy Alban Arthran, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa ...  The list goes on.  So when someone says Happy Holidays, it is not that they are disrespecting the baby Jesus, they are respecting him by the acceptance of other beliefs.  Bring peace in your heart and peace shall find you.

Starting Over

The big day is here.  After 10 weeks, I'll be able to run again!!!  I will reintroduce my feet to the motion of the run on "The Beast" trail.  We will be helping our friends with Forge Racing out this weekend with a night time 10k Sat and 1/2 marathon on Sunday morning.  It might be raining, so I'll get to make my first run back, an excellent first run back!  I LOVE running in the rain, it is so relaxing and amazing!!!  So I will split away at some point for some opening up of the legs for a mile or less.  If all goes well I can do 3 by my birthday!!  HA!

I did let the legs open up a smidgen a few weeks ago at the Cajun Coyote 100 mi race at Chico State Park.  We were working the aid station, and would run to greet runners as they came out of the woods at all hours of the night and day.  Can I say that was the most AMAZING feeling!  It was nice to know they still work.  The race consisted of 20 mile loops, there was a 20 mi option, 100k, and 100 mi option.  The winner was a very pleasant man, Mosi Smith.  His nickname should be smiles!  Every time I saw him he had a smile plastered on his face.  I was grateful to be the person greeting them as they made their stop into AS2 (Aid Station Number 2).  Over the course of the day(s), I had the opportunity to get to know these wonderful people.  They ranged from first timers, to one man (Scott) completing his 25th for the year (I wonder how his 26th went this past weekend?).  There was undoubtedly a winner in the insanity category-AD Marshall-he ran from Baton Rouge (100 mi) then ran the 100 mi race.  If I ever lose enough of my mind to do something like that (I said that about marathon's before and I've ran one of those, so it's all relative-ha!) I hope that I look as good as he did on that last lap.  He looked strong and was pushing through.  His times were great and his spirits high.  There are not enough words to say how lucky I am to have been there for everyone.  I love to run, but I also love to be there for the runners when they need me the most.  Even if it is just a bowl of chicken broth.

Chicot State Park is beautiful, I cannot wait to explore that trail myself some day. I love cypress, they are beautiful trees! As far as the babymaking front goes, this month is a no go.  I started Vitex, and it extended my luteal phase out.  I started my normal (when not on Progesterone) spotting at 4dpo and it tapered off.  I started flow on 12 dpo, but it lightened up and my temp hasn't crashed yet, so I'm thinking that I'll really start today.  I did take a HPT today, but of course it was BFN.  Had to make sure.  I was surprised that the Vitex affected me the first month, maybe the Vitex was all we needed?  Maybe next month (this month) is our month?