Adopting a Dog |

Monday: 10.3m easy 8:45/pace

Tuesday: 7m easy 6 x 800s 7:00/pace

Wednesday: 45min total body

Before I clog your page with a million Colorado pictures from last week’s trip, I have to celebrate a very important thing. This month last year I adopted little L.E. (I say little because she was 35 lbs when we adopted her and she’s now 60 lbs.)

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I can’t believe it’s already been a year and can’t imagine life without our walks or sharing peanut butter and apples together.

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yes, she drools when the pb comes out.

LE has been a dream dog. She listens, gives hugs, is super smart and hops in the bathtub on her own. I’m not joking, she’s like a unicorn and going to ruin any future dogs.

She’s learned the doggie basics: sit, lay down, roll over, shake, high five. And she knows some really cool tricks, like the bang trick–>where you say “Bang!” and point a finger like a gun, she falls on her side and lays there, but wait it gets better…then you say “stick em’ up!” and she raises her paws up. lol. She can spin and she’s working on saying “mama” so hopefully we will get there one day. She’s pretty incredible.

I have one last race on my schedule next week–Zooma’s half marathon in Annapolis. As much as i thought this would be a redemption half, cutting back on speed work for the Spartan and taking a vacation doesn’t give me much confidence in actually racing this race. However, I’m not too sad over this. I took a much needed break from hard workouts during vacation and getting back to running is feeling good. Slow, but good. I’m excited for the warm weather and mileage building heading into fall races. My game plan is to build slow and possibly race a few 5ks over the summer and do what I can to prep for the fall. I’m still unsure if i’m ready to run a marathon (cause i have no clue which one i would do) but never say never. 😉

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Have you ever adopted a pet?

IF I run a marathon this fall, which would you suggest (it needs to be one I can sign up for and not do a lottery!)

Monday: 30 min legs/shoulders

Tuesday: 30 min legs/mobility/skill work, 10 min rope pull

Wednesday: 6000m row

I went to PR Running Store in Falls Church, Va in the middle of my work day to get fitted for a pair of running shoes. Good news is i’m still a neutral fit & the shoes I wanted to buy a few weeks ago, were confirmed a good fit for me 🙂 Guess i’m a New Balance/Saucony girl now. I used to love Brooks (and still have a pair) but i’m not a fan of this years line.

Just goes to show you shouldn’t buy running shoes based on looks! I always recommend new runners check out a local store that can size your feet & analyze your form so you can feel good for miles and miles in your shoes. I think i’m going to buy every color of these…

I also brought in my Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Bib because they had a coupon on the back for free socks with a shoe purchase. Boom! Can’t wait to try these out when I’m back to running.

So the big new news! I adopted a puppy! Say hi to L.E.! (pronounced ‘Ellie’)

Her full name is L.E. Phant. Or you can just make up whatever could stand for L.E.—I’ve had waaaay too much fun with her name. “Loves Everyone” “La Enchilada” “Little Elephant” She’s a big sweetheart and is incredibly smart & has been easy to train so far. She’s a midwestern girl from Missouri, a 6 months old wheaton terrier, mixed with some sort of herding dog. She’s already 40lbs so i’m hopeful I have a new running buddy 😉

Adopting a puppy was a little work for sure, i felt like i was trying to adopt a kid. You fill out an application with the agency, you do a phone conversation with whomever is in charge, they contact your landlord to confirm you can have pets, then they contact a vet of your choosing in the area, they send a local volunteer out for a home inspection (to make sure you are who you say you are, and live at the address on your application and the house is a safe environment and you can talk more with the volunteer about pet adoption), and finally once everything is cleared and you are approved you can see the dog you were interested in and decide to adopt or not. Phew!!— It felt like a lot of work, but L.E. is such a good fit, i would do it 1000x over again.

If anyone is interested we started our search with Petfinder.com and Adoptapet.com and we eventually found L.E through Dogs XL Rescue on one of those pet sites. Every person we spoke to and worked with through Dogs XL Rescue were so kind and helpful and made it very clear they are here to help if you have any questions or concerns with the puppy.