A snake and a fox and mini crabs—Oh my!

Eeeeeeek went the steppy!!

I was astounded by the beauty of my parents’ neighborhood on my long run this morning … and I had the opportunity to get up close and more personal than planned with nature. As I completed my first loop I made the mistake of taking my eyes off the sidewalk. Given my history of graceful maneuvers, I should have known better; then again, I’m me… I looked around, slightly mesmerized by the landscape maestros grooming the green… they have the craziest machines and brushes to make each part of the course look its absolute best. When I returned my gaze to the area in front of me, I jumped high in the air to avoid a green and black snake on the path. Well, I freaked the little guy out more than he scared me, because he immediately pulled the “roll-over-and-play-dead” technique. He stayed there for zip point 3 seconds, then raced off toward the water. Good thing I wasn’t wearing a heart rate monitor—it probably would have shorted out!

 I recovered and moved on to my favorite area on the course. This location features the clubhouse, practice areas for perfecting the golf stroke, and a pool. You may be thinking that I decided to take a dip in the pool, but we aren’t members of the “club.” No, this place is my favorite pitstop because it happens to be where most golfers start there day. And any self-respecting southerner knows that one must have a cooler full of ice when s/he plans to be outdoors all day. The ice machine is out in the open, and it features a water fountain. So, I stuffed my hat and my tank top with ice, gulped some water, refilled my bottle, and went on my merry way to the marina. As I was about the cross the street, I noticed a scrawny Conan lookalike on the green. Yep, a red fox was checking me out! He skittered across the road before I could snap a picture... too bad, but I sputtered out to everyone I passed on the path that I had just seen a fox.

Called a gray fox, but it looked red to me!

teeny crabbies!

I then moved on to the marina, another awesome part of the run. Why? Because there’s a potty there, and I drank two cups of coffee before I headed out, not to mention the water and ice I took in on the run. By then, my head and shirt were ice-free and soaking wet, and I had to GO… NOW. That’s about the time I heard the sound of autumn leaves rustling in a brisk wind. One problem with that sound, though—it’s August, not November, and the air was dead calm, with no nice breeze to cool me off. I look down to find dozens of fiddler crabs scuttling out of the way and toward the docks. These little guys have bodies that are between the size of a penny to a half-dollar, and they were not excited to be moving so quickly so early. Well, to be honest, neither was I!

But I had planned to blog about GEAR in this post. Please note, I am not a natural born runner. Though I own the book and am reading it, I was not Born to Run. In fact, I have used many excuses to explain my utter lack of speed, grace, and general running prowess. Wrong shoes. Cotton clothing(A, you were right on the money). An overall dislike of sweating, spandex, and shorts. Humidity. The sun. Less than stellar nighttime vision. Heat. Cold. You name it, I’ve used it. Well, given all my fun new running gear, I can’t use those excuses anymore. Why?

• Well, I got the right shoes… I talked about those on Father’s Day. They are fantastic, and I feel like I’m running on little blue clouds.

Sweet logo

I own this shirt!




• Cotton is no longer an issue. Although I had a few dri-fit things from Nike, and had listened to my Dad extoll the virtues of Coolmax for years, I found a new favorite fabric. It’s made of cotton, bamboo, and lycra. It has an spf rating of 50+, wicks moisture, breathes well, is utterly soft, and is anti-odor. That’s right, it doesn’t stay soaking wet and reek after a long run. Plus, they make tops and bottoms for all types of weather, and you can’t beat the colors. Do you remember the Claritin commercials, where they’d lift the edge of the tv screen to show brighter, happier, healthier colors? Well, Thriv clothes come in colors that remind me of the Easter M&Ms, with the Claritin-clear effect. In other words, AWESOME! Plus, their logo is a panda face in a sweat drop, and they operate out of New Orleans. Does it get any better?
• Well, if you want to know where in the hell you went, it sure does. I got this sweet Garmin Forerunner 405 watch with reward points from my credit card, and it pretty much kicks ass. It tells me distance, speed, altitude change, calories burned, and even whether or not a turn is coming up (after all, I should be focused on the ground in case more snakes are lurking in my path, right A?). AND, if I get around to reading the instructions, it has a heart rate monitor that is supposed to improve my life immensely. All that information is wirelessly transferred to my computer, where I can check out my history using google maps. Like I said, pretty kickass. Plus, it’s GREEN. 

  

  My new buddy ;)
  

nano nano nano

• Speaking of green, Casey noticed that my green nano was pretty overloaded. At 4gb, I filled it with podcasts and too much old stuff to download new music. So, for our first anniversary, he bought me a brand new GREEN nano that is the size of a cheez-it but holds 4 times more than my old-but-awesome mp3 player. It has a fun little clippy thing and a touch screen. How sweet is that?!?! Good job hubby, good job.
• And against his better fashion judgment, Casey also bought me a hydration waist pack. Read between the lines here, people… fanny pack with a water bottle. I wear it shamelessly. And this one doesn’t bounce, which reduces the frustration factor by at least 7!
• I always go out with a hat and sunblock—with cancer in the family, it’s just the sensible thing to do. The nice thing about the hat is that if I see another person while I’m running, I can hide the agony on my face by looking down until right at the last second, then I can look up, flash a smile, and say hi without anyone realizing what the pavement-pounding is really doing to me.

  

  My sweet fanny pack-- jealous??

What about you? What’s your favorite gear? I’m in the market!!