July was a busy, busy month, but it culminated in a much needed racecation. I’d tell you I’ve added yet another tea mug to my collection (I try to get a mug from each state I run a half in — read more about that here).
Pull up chair and mug with Coco and Deborah and me for the ultimate coffee tea date.
If we were enjoying high tea . . .
I would tell you there wasn’t a lot of chafing going on . . . until there was. In all sorts of odd ways. First there was my half — the hydration vest did end up chafing me, but I was completely unaware of it. Some was on my shoulder, some was on my back. And here’s the really weird thing: I never felt it, not even when I showered after the race.
And then there was more on my 15 mile run last week. The problem this wasn’t the hydration vest. First there was chafing in an unmentionable area — that one I could definitely feel developing, although not until the last few miles. It wasn’t too bad.
I also chafed underneath the pocket where I had my phone. I ran a half with my phone in the very same pocket, for cryin’ out loud, and no problems. I have done a lot of shorter races and some long runs in that skirt. No problems.
Again, I didn’t feel this at all. Not until I took my skirt off. In fact, I could swear it wasn’t there when I used the restroom after my run but it suddenly appeared at home.
If we were enjoying high tea . . .
I’d tell you you’d think I have plenty of Skirt Sports skirts. And I do . . .except I don’t. I like to wear Happy Girl Skirts in the summers pretty much every day (use code 522CRJ for 15% off of non sale items). They’re awesome for walking the dogs, for instance — enough pockets to stash my phone, plenty of poop bags, and treats. Or going to the store — again, enough pockets for my phone and a couple of credit cards. Not to mention I can do yoga and strength training easily in them.
The only problem? I have about five of them. I usually run out of them before I do the next batch of laundry. I fill in with Mod Quad on the hotter days. But it still just barely gets me through the week. #firstworldproblems — for sure!
If we were enjoying high tea . . .
I’d tell you that our heatwave before we left for ID made it difficult to eat. Despite the fact that I don’t spend a lot of time out in the heat, that I ran more on the treadmill, I found most days while it was really hot that I actually had trouble eating enough. So not like me.
If we were enjoying high tea . . .
I’d tell you that before my ID half, I felt like I was running so strong. I don’t know if it’s just something to do with the dog days of summer — which seem never ending this summer — and even though I’m not running badly, it seems like it’s more of a struggle.
Quite frankly I’d rather struggle in training and do well in my race, and my only goal for my race is to finish within the time limit — well, actually, I would like to keep all my toenails and not get injured. So there’s that.
If we were enjoying high tea . . .
I’d tell you we did have one disturbing incident with Bandit this week. Gizmo was markedly weaker when we got back from vacation — he was having trouble jumping on things — although he seemed to rally after we were home a few days.
Anyway, one day I was on the couch, watching tv. Bandit was laying in his bed at my feet. Gizmo walked by, Bandit narrowed his eyes, and just jumped off the couch towards Gizmo. I was able to stop him, and I made him do a little training. He really doesn’t respond well to negative reinforcement (aka punishment), so I have to be careful to be firm but not too firm.
It was clear that he knew I wasn’t happy with him, but also clear he had no idea why. I’ve no idea why he did it, either. It was scary because there was no warning growl.
The odd thing is that he seemed to have accepted Gizmo as his alpha. Gizmo lays in Bandit’s crate a lot, and Bandit won’t go in there — even if it’s dinner time — when Gizmo is in there. Did Gizmo smell differently because of his illness? Lola hasn’t seemed to notice anything.
So it was a little nerve wracking to go out to brunch and leave them all together, but everyone was just fine when we got back. Thankfully. And then we went out to the movies, and again, everything was fine.
Then one day we heard a strange noise. I thought maybe Gizmo had got locked in the bathroom and had knocked something over, but when I went to investigate, turned out Bandit had knocked over a small (closed) trash can in the bedroom and was happily coming towards me with a tissue in his mouth (and tissues strewn all over the floor).
I guess he’s feeling pretty darn comfortable here now. He’s never gotten into anything before — other than socks, if they’re available.
Tea? Iced Tea? Coffee? Decaf? Green smoothie?
What running clothes can you never have enough of?
Do the furkids suddenly do something out of character that surprises you?
Are you constantly being surprised by new areas that chafe?
Today I am also joining up with the Friday Five 2.0 from Fairytales & Fitness and Rachel @ Running on Happy. I’m pretty sure this won’t be readable in five minutes so I apologize in advance!
Chocolaterunsjudy 
I feel like I never have enough running tops. And I can’t find any I like enough to buy. I’m sure I can “make do” with what I have. Haha!
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Finding something I like is never the problem. 🙂 Quite the opposite!
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I end up wearing the same favorites every week because they are on top in my drawers. I try to mix things up for my classes, but probably wear the same 2-3 things. Scooby is getting worse on his walks — he is nutzo for squirrels — but has good manners at home — unless there’s a squirrel on the patio.
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I really do wear a wide variety of things! I guess I like variety in all things.
The weird thing is that we’ve had Bandit for 2 years now, and these are totally new behaviors. I won’t lie, it was scary leaving them all together when we went out.
In the past I knew Giz could probably get away from Bandit, but that’s no longer the case. 😦 He’s much weaker now.
Although the odd thing is that Gizmo still just basically almost walks over Bandit to get to me, in fact jumping up on me yesterday while Bandit was already laying on me. I really don’t know what to make of it!
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I only run 4 days a week and have more than 4 Gym Girl Ultras so you would think I don’t need to buy anymore.
I have never chafed…knock on wood.
This rain and humidity are seriously messing with my runs. I keep saying that it doesn’t matter because I’m not training for anything. Have a half in 7 weeks so I guess I better going….
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I only wear Happy Girls for walking the dogs/working out in now — and since I do that daily, 4 wouldn’t work for me — unless I wanted to do even more laundry than I already did.
When I first started wearing Skirt Sports, I did run in them, but now there are other skirts I prefer for running. But I really like Happy Girls for every day use in the summer.
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I don’t have any Happy Girls but then again, I only wear Skirt Sports skirts or running & sometimes tennis. They unfortunately won’t work for work.
I wear my skirts more than once too. I do change my tops after each run. That saves on laundry.
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I started out running in Happy Girls, but then demoted them to dog walking — and they’re really great for that (I think some could work for work — they’re skirts, after all, but obviously depends on your work & the print).
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True. But not my work unfortunately.
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I started buying “Run PA” tops and I love them – not only for running, just for wearing around town. They are so comfortable and fit great. I can only get them online, so buying them is sort of a gamble, because I like to try stuff on before I buy it, but they have always worked out great.
Dogs are so weird, aren’t they? But we love them anyway!
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Well, Bandit in particular has issues. It’s really kind of sad, because if he’d had a loving, secure home from the get go, I doubt he’d have these issues.
Gizmo shows zero fear of him, so I suppose that’s something. And Gizmo doesn’t like dogs (he was five before we got our first dog). He has mellowed with age, though — both of them, that is!
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I hope the furbabies don’t get weird again! Mine all gat along and have never done anything odd. But they have all grown up together
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Gizmo was 5 before we got our first dogs.
Bandit is a senior rescue who definitely had many issues when we got him 2 years ago. And Gizmo is now very old and in kidney failure so he’s also a lot weaker. 😦
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When I chafe, I rarely notices until I get home. It’s a terrible surprise in the shower!
Yes my kitties have had some random incidents that were very scary. One time, my cat Christmas attacked me and bit me for no reason (other than misplaced aggression) and it was so scary. When I say he bit me, I mean I needed to go to the doctor type of bite. 😦
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Often I definitely know there is chafing going on. While I don’t like to be surprised in the shower, OTOH, it would be nice to feel it while it’s happening!
Cat bites can be really, really scary. I have been bitten by my cats a couple of times, but usually not enough to really break the skin (and usually involved some giving sort of medication).
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Coffee. Green smothie. Coffee in the smoothie as someone turned me on to
The laundry is insane. It’s sports bras I run low on as I’ll usually re-wear shorts after a rinse. I was at mom’s so able to do some laundry the last few weekends, but the 15 lbs I dropped off at the wash and fold was majority run stuff.
My new weird chafe spot is on my chest above sports bra yet I never remember to body glude it
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oh and I love your mug!
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Luckily for me I’m not well endowed, and I’ve grown to love the Skirt Sports tops that have built in bras (and cleavage alley pockets!). So much easier than wearing a bra. 🙂
I’ve been getting these weird chafe lines on my bag. I’d say it’s the hydration vest, except it doesn’t go that far down.
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My parents cats do weird things. When one was started on new food, the other would hiss at him because he smelled weird.
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Simba (he has been gone 5 years) & Giz were brothers. And Simba was a terrible bully — he would attack Gizmo — never enough to really hurt him, but more than just playing — on a pretty regular basis.
Still, they were really bonded & it was usually Gizmo who initiated cuddling (and they were so cute!).
So when Simba passed, I thought Gizmo would be devastated. Nope — he never missed him. At all. In fact, he seemed much happier because now he has me all to himself (well, if you don’t count the dogs, of course).
It’s why we didn’t get another cat when Simba passed. Gizmo was much too happy being the only cat. Even the pet sitters are always commenting on what a sweet cat he is.
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So the reason I did my whole closet organization was bc I felt like I was continuously wearing the same few skirts and capri pants. I am so much happier now! I have not run much the past 2 weeks and find it’s easier to do indoor workouts with the heat. September will be here soon right?!
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It has not been a fun summer weather-wise — and that vacation in ID with the low humidity (even if it was high 90s in the afternoon for some of the trip) was very, very welcome.
Although the last couple of weeks have been tough!
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I’m always on the lookout for new running gear, though I really have a pretty ample supply. I really like arm sleeves, so those are my current search-and-find item.
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Does any female runner truly “have” enough gear? LOL!
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They are always so sweet and innocent when they are sleeping. I have no skirt sports skirts but I know many people just love them for the pockets.
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They are angels when they’re asleep. 🙂
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My dogs have always done things to surprise me. But that’s what I like about them!
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Well, this wasn’t a fun surprise. At least the difference between now & when we got him is that I’m confident that if I’m here, I can control him.
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I have so many running clothes yet I’m always buying more… it truly is a problem. I love the few Skirt Sports skirts I have mainly for the pockets and gripper legs. Love the grip on the legs!
I’ve only chafed a couple of times and it was in the same area ….unmentionable. What’s odd is that it was in the winter when I was training for my first full. I just knew I’d chafe there again while training for Denver …nope. Not even once. That was odd.
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I’ve had that happen — the unmentionable chafing in the winter & that one is always a completely unwelcome surprise!
Mine tends to be the underarm area, and I got it in both arms yesterday — I could definitely feel it happening — but thankfully it wasn’t horrible. And it was a horribly humid day, so I’m fairly hopeful that even if it happens on race day it won’t be anything I can’t handle.
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Oh… he looks like a little angel when he’s sleeping (don’t they all). Ours seem to be afraid of our cats, but the younger one still tends to herd them on occasion… it’s a little nerve wracking. I have such trouble finding tops that I like, I end up finding one that fits me up top, then I have to take it to get it hemmed, because it hits me around the thigh.
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I hear you on tops being too long! I’m only 5’1″.
Normally the dogs really give Giz a pretty wide berth. Lola occasionally tries to elicit play — no idea why since he’s never liked the dogs.
It was definitely one of those weird things, although when we first got him, there was a lot of guarding.
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Hopefully Bandit’s little leap at Gizmo was just a strange one-time fluke. It sounds like everyone is getting along well.
I have to try one of those Happy Girl skirts! I never have enough pockets when I’m running errands and I can’t stand carrying a purse.
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Happy Girls are really great for the pockets! Some people do like the shorter skirts, and a few of those (like Hover, which I do like for summer, too) have a lot of pockets, too.
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