Snow Globe, Part Two

I am sitting in my favorite worn brown leather chair enjoying coffee and the bright sunshine. As I peer out the east facing sliding glass doors the landscape has been turned into a desert of smooth deep snow. The homes in the houserizon look like puffy white marshmellows with all the snow accumulated on and around them. Shoveling was part of my workout routine as the snow globe kept getting shaken again and again. For now the storm has past and moved on leaving 12 to 15 inches of fluff.

Chico is healing nicely and is really getting used to hobbling around on three legs. He has not yelped in a couple days from pain and can stand on all fours. My concern now is curtailing his running and jumping for the next 6 to 10 weeks. I went to Petsmart yesterday to see if there was something I could use that Chico might like. I ended up buying a big mettle cage/crate. My other dog, Barclay, has his own crate and enjoys spending time in it. His door is always open and he can come and go as he pleases. I thought Chico might like a place of his own.

After I set up his new abode I put in his pads and blankets, a couple toys and his food bowl. He went right in and I could tell he liked it. He started eating in it and laid down. I was relieved at the ease in which he accepted and wanted the new home. I will only put him in there and shut the door when I leave for a while. He will enjoy it. I don't want him getting overly confident and trying to jump on the couch or run to the front door if someone knocks or rings the door bell.

Yesterday my workouts consisted of swimming and running. Another brick. The swim was only 1100 yards. I was bored after that and decided to leave and go to Petsmart. Maybe my mind was more on Chico than swimming. Who knows. Then I went home and ran 6 miles of inclines and declines. I really have not done hill repeats which is what Hal's plan called for. I would rather run at inclines like you would encounter in a race at normal running speeds. I also am doing more declines than Hal's program calls for. It seems like the declines are the killers in Boston so I want to condition my legs to handle them and possibly capitalize off of them.

The inclines got up to +6 on the treadmill and declines -4. Speeds on the inclines were 6-7 miles an hour and declines 8.5 miles an hour.

Feel free to comment on my methods above if you think I am missing something with the hill training.


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" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

* It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anais Nin