Where’s my Spring?: Spilling over tea/coffee March 2019

~ Chocolaterunsjudy

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The groundhog said it would be an early Spring. Tell that to the wind, cold, and snow we’re having lately. What does a large furry rodent know, anyway?

Confessions of a Mother Runner

Pull up a chair and mug with Coco and Deborah and me for the ultimate coffee tea date, cause I have lots to share with you and want to hear what you have to say, too.

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February 2018. How long ago that seems. Always in my heart, Giz.

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
Almost all of the cat stuff (and there was lots) has been sucked out of our house (well, into the garage/storage). The house is so much more open. Life is easier. I can wear clothes without worrying too much that they’ll be shredded.

Life is also a lot emptier and sadder. There’s just a huge cat-sized hole in my life. For a variety of reasons it’s not a good time for us to be adopting a new cat/s.

Still, when we went to pick up the bag that Mr. Judy had left at the pet store, there were cats waiting for fostering/adoption. I may have said we could foster, after all the room had been set up for a cat for months (but of course now all signs of cat has been removed).

Then as we were walking the dogs this beautiful Maine Coon came stalking towards us. I may have said that obviously the cat wanted to come home with us. He was also walking towards us the next day, too. He is not a stray; I know where he lives.

Yes, I’m very comfy, thank you. It’s MY couch.

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
I’d tell you that Lola has begun to act super clingy (which was happening before Gizmo “disappeared”, and we had Lola & Bandit sniff his body anyway). She just seems to be somewhat reverting to the super anxious dog we adopted (although thankfully not that bad).

She used to love to lay on the bed, but now she’s rarely found there. In fact, she’s driving me bonkers because I get into bed, turn off the lights, and suddenly she wants to go downstairs (where Mr. Judy is — Chester also started hanging out with Mr. Judy at night as he got older, and he was my little shadow). I thought maybe it was the diffuser which is somewhat new, but I’ve tried leaving it off and she still does this (unless she doesn’t, but that’s rare).

She stays on the bed when Mr. Judy comes to bed later. I am now making sure she goes downstairs before I get into bed so I don’t have to get up.

In addition, she is picking up bad habits from Bandit. She now drags the dogbed on the couch from its corner to the other end of the couch. She never did this before Bandit arrived in our lives. Why can’t they pick up good behaviors from each other?

This was just one dessert on race day. I never did take pic of the Chocolate PB Cupcake. 

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
I’d tell you that I enjoyed every decadent, rich, fried, chocolate bite I had in Savannah.  I’m also glad that essentially we only ate there four days. As it was I felt as though you had to roll me home (although thankfully the scale wasn’t too bad — and again, lucky it was only four days!).

Originally I’d planned for it to be a week’s vacation. I had visions of visiting Tybee Island, too, and staying there a couple of days. I feel like we barely scratched the surface of Savannah, but there are still so many places to see in this country — it is actually part of why I am trying to run a half in every state.

Doesn’t that scream beach to you? Well it does to me!

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
I’d tell you that the mug I finally settled on is a winner. I’m extremely picky about my mugs, I have a whole set of criteria I am aiming for when I pick one (see my post about choosing mugs here).

As if my criteria didn’t make it hard enough, there’s also just the whole feel of the mug, and much like running shoes, you really don’t know if it’s right until you drink from it (or run several miles for running shoes).

No dribbling.

I was afraid I would have trouble with tea spilling from the lip, as I’ve found lips like that have a tendency to dribble, but the first drink was a success. I have found when the mug goes in like that, even if it’s larger, it tends to keep the tea warmer longer. And I just love the design — it reminds me of the beach (even if we never went to the beach in Savannah!).

I further runfess that some of my walking-too-much the day before the race (read about it here) may have been in search of the perfect mug, but at least I was successful.

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
This should have been a runfession, but of course I already had plenty of those to share last Friday here. It occurred to me one day that it’s not so much that I hate running in the cold — even if I’m not very fond of getting started — who is?

No, the problem is that I’ve always been a heavy sweater. It doesn’t matter how little clothes I wear; I sweat. It’s the getting sweaty, and then getting super chilled afterwards as the sweat dries (because after all that’s the job of sweat), that I just have trouble facing.

I am chilled for hours after a cold run. Even when we have a mild winter, there are usually a lot of cold runs here. I get tired of being that uncomfortable!

Do your furkids pick up the bad habits from each other?

Have you worn something new on race day that was a problem?

How long do you think people can really improve with running?

I am also linking up with the  Fridays with Fairytales and Fitness from Fairytales & Fitness.

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33 thoughts on “Where’s my Spring?: Spilling over tea/coffee March 2019”

    1. Simba and Gizmo really didn’t (although I think Simba definitely could instigate some bad behavior). I really don’t remember Lola picking up bad habits from Chester, either.

      Apparently Bandit is just a bad influence. 🙂

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    1. I hope you have great weather in FL! It’s definitely draining my running mojo.

      I really do think I could foster. Mr. Judy . . . well, he’s not really a cat person so he probably could. I don’t think he could do it with a dog.

      I’m really practical and I know my limits — I volunteered for years with the humane society/cat rescues. Never brought a cat home.

      I still don’t think it’s going to happen but there really is SUCH a need!

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  3. My friends fostered a dog … who they then adopted, so it’s a slippery slope! I definitely get cold after a winter run. I take a hot shower and warm my fuzziest clothes on the towel warmer and drink a pot of hot coffee to try to get over it.

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    1. It’s called a foster fail. I’m not sure that Mr. Judy could do it with a dog.

      OTOH, we did a trial adoption of a dog before Chester. We really liked him, but he had too many issues for first time dog owners (as adults) so after a couple of days we gave him up. It was hard!

      Oddly enough we went on to experience almost all his issues in our 3 dogs (not all at once, though). Still, he’s the only one that actually tried to eat our bathroom when I went out — ironically to buy a crate since we didn’t have one.

      Bandit still has separation anxiety, but thankfully he’s not destructive.

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  4. I love those mugs. I’ve only got one dog so he has his own set of funny habits. I think anyone can improve if they work hard enough. For me I’m just happy to still be running after all of these years. I don’t worry about speed as much as I used to. Happy Friday!!

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  5. I agree with Wendy. I think I would totally get attached if fostering an animal – how can you not? Animals are so amazing!

    I’ve heard that Savannah has amazing food so I’m not surprised that you enjoyed so many yummy dishes while there!

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    1. Of course you get attached. But sometimes you realize that someone else can give them a better life. Which is how we ended up with Bandit — who was NOT a foster, as my husband likes to claim, we agreed to adopt him the day we met him (and of course that was one of the biggest roller coaster rides ever).

      Actually, one of our pet sitters did find someone interested in adopting him eventually, but by that time it was months later and at least we weren’t keeping all the animals separate any more!

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    1. I can keep the tights on, it’s really the bra that’s mostly the culprit! Even though I sweat a lot, the Wonder Wool does a great job of wicking it away. The bra, not so much. Weird, huh?

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  7. I love y our animal stories– their personalities really come through in your writing.
    Length of improvement is something I’ve been thinking about. I had wondered if my speed improvements peaked, but then as I’ve worked in some speed work for the first time in three months I realize maybe it hasn’t — it’s just been lost in the distances. Trying to find that balance

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    1. How long have you been running? They say most people peak after 10 years. But some people defy the odds. I’ve been running roughly 10 years, and of course there’s also the whole aging thing.

      Thanks. I’m pretty sure people roll their eyes at “another animal story”, LOL, but it’s my blog so I’m gonna write what I want.

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      2. Oh yes, you no doubt will see a lot of improvement! It took me almost 8 years to push past the 2:45 point for a half — not sure the same will happen with the 2:30ish point (I’ve run a few below 2:30) but a girl can dream. 🙂

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      4. My best times are downhill races. 🙂 I’m sure my race would have been faster in Savannah if it had been about 15 degrees cooler, but I’ve also pushed through much worse. You really just never know!

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  8. I could never foster. I had problems last night at yoga not bringing home all the cats.

    Peaking?? They say 10 years but it depends on injuries, what age you started and how slowyour times were when you started. It gets harder to improve once you get faster. That’s what I love about running and races, you don’t have to get faster to enjoy the experience.

    Sometimes I think I’ve peaked (but of my 10 years, there were years of no or not much running so I’d say I got serious in 2011 but skipped 16 mos in 2012-13).

    But maybe I haven’t. I won’t be able to tell unless I run some 5ks. There are too many other factors that impact speed in longer distances.

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  9. So sorry to hear that you have a “cat-sized hole” in your heart, Judy. Gizmo had a wonderful, loving home. I’m sure you spoiled him.

    That chocolate dessert looks amazing! Now I am hungry! I need to spend more time in Savannah. I think we barely scratched the surface as far as places to eat and things to do. Maybe next winter/spring!

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  10. That dessert looks so tasty. I never feel guilty splurging on vacation. Especially a racecation. I always feel like we earn it.

    I am always so sweaty after a spin class. I like to run sometimes afterwards but still fee like I need to shower before hand because I’m freezing from the sweat.

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    1. It’s really hard to overcome a lifetime of being mostly overweight — and of course, it really becomes harder as you age, too. I feel like I could eat a whole lot more just a couple of years ago & still maintain my weight — right now it’s more of a struggle.

      That’s really interesting about feeling the need to shower before running after spin, although it makes total sense. I wouldn’t want to shower twice though!

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  11. That’s a really unique and beautiful mug! Having never been a coffee drinker, I don’t have much of a mug fetish…but I do have a very basic white mug (with a very faded logo) that I prefer because of its shape. I don’t have the cupboard space to even start collecting mugs from our trips or my races. We collect shot glasses, though LOL They take up much less space 😉

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    2. I actually don’t really have the cabinet space either, but they are things that make me smile — and I use one every day. 🙂

      I missed a state here & there (but there are a lot more to go). Shot glasses aren’t as useful for me.

      And then of course there are the pint glasses . . . yup, it’s a problem.

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  12. Elvis went to the rainbow bridge months ago, and the other 3 cats are still acting weird, but most especially Priscilla. She is constantly reminding the other two that’s she’s the “boss” now which means a lot of unnecessary challenging and chasing around the apartment is going on. I wish they were just normal. I can’t be mad for tooling because they are just so damn cute.

    I sweat a lot too, Judy, and the same happens to me. All the layers get soaked through and then I’m just chilled to the bone.

    I think it’s aleays possible to improve. Maybe not always in tempo but in endurance or technique. At least that is what I believe. I feel like as long as I never stop seeking out something that can help me, I will always have the possibility of improvement

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    1. Even though Gizmo really loved Simba, he wasn’t at all sad when he was gone — because Simba had been the alpha, so Giz didn’t get as much lap time as he wanted. Then he had me all to himself!

      I’m truly not sure which dog is alpha. Neither one really acts like one. Bandit, I guess, Lola has always been a very submissive dog.

      My endurance is absolutely one of my problems. Not really sure I can improve that! But form, yes — or working on strengthening imbalances — a good perspective, Renee!

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  13. Totally agreed – we need spring to hurry up and get here!

    We really enjoyed Savannah for our honeymoon trip – tried to do as much as we could, but there’s always something that you miss! Clearly I should have had more desserts! 🙂

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