Shut Up Already!

A message for all of us and one we should share. Our bodies are amazing with all it can do. We should revere it; rather than revile it. 

Why You Should NEVER Cheer "You're lapping everyone on the couch!" to a Back-of-the-Pack Runner.

First and foremost, thank you race spectators who cheer for complete strangers! Especially those of you who are still there at the end when us back-of-the-packers are coming in. It’s quite a let-down to be running a long course only to see pretty much everyone has gone home when you’re still working through the last segment. And honestly, it does so much good to have someone there cheering for you to keep going and shouting other greetings of encouragement to you. It really does help!

But please! Oh please, I beg you do NOT call out ….”You’re beating everyone on the couch!!!!!!!!!!!!”

That ‘cheer’ will shut me down faster than falling on my face! I HATE it! I will even go so far as say it OFFENDS me greatly. I cringe when a well-meaning spectator shouts it at me and I have to smile (with my teeth clinched) and pretend it encouraged me.

It didn’t.

Why?

I don’t give a flying fig if I’m faster than a freakin’ couch potato!!!! What’s praise-worthy about that? Oh, you got off your couch today! Hurrah!

Phffft!!

Of course, I’m beating those who didn’t try! That’s nothing to be proud of. There’s no challenge in that.

What IS challenging is that I have gone to bed early every weekend. I have declined late night invitations from friends. I’ve passed up good beers and tempting junk food.  Lived a life of basically only the following activities: eat, sleep, work, train; for how ever many weeks it took to train for this particular race. 

I did hill repeats, speed work, long runs, farleks, tempo runs. Balanced training loads to avoid injury and if I didn’t do a good balancing job I may have rehabbed an injury during training and still made it to race day intact. I balanced the demands of work/family/fundraising and still got in my runs. And in my particular case, I have to do it all while trying to manage my narcolepsy.

THAT is praise worthy. Beating someone sitting on a couch is not.

I wonder if this particular phrase started for us back-of the-packers because people see us waddling along at the back of the pack and assume we’re new to running. Maybe they think all of us are doing our first race. Do they see our slower bodies trudging down the course and assume we feel bad that we aren’t in one of the top ten places? Do they assume the ones in the back wish they could beat someone for once? Anyone?

I’ve been running for six or so years. (I forgot when I started running). I have completed three marathons, a century ride, and have lost count of how many metric rides and half marathons I’ve done. This is not my first race. I have been off my couch a very long time. 

I think I get offended when people yell “You’re beating everyone on the couch.” because it makes me feel like that person assumes I’m out of shape because I’m heavy and coming in at the back. It makes me feel like they can’t imagine I’m fit and seasoned and a true athlete.

Even if they are assuming that, can I blame them? What do they know about me except for what they see? And I think many of those spectators aren’t runners themselves. So they may not realize that there are a lot of runners out there that don’t aspire to place in the top ten. That many runners love to run for other reasons that are much more fulfilling for them.

So yeah, I know their hearts are in the right place and I am only bothered due to my own ego-centric weaknesses. But I never claimed to be ‘enlightened’ or objective. Especially in the final miles of a marathon or other long distance course when most runners (even the fast ones) can find themselves feeling a little……fragile.

So well-meaning spectator, please keep cheering on those strangers. ESPECIALLY us in the back! May I offer, however, some alternatives to the couch potato reference? 

How about:

“Good job!” 

“Keep it up!”

“You’re doing great!!”

Yep. It doesn’t take much to encourage this back-of-the-packer.  Just don’t mention the d@mn couch!  

Dear Diagnosis..........

Dear Jill, 

Congratulations! You finally have an accurate diagnosis after all these years. Yeah! 

Guess what? It’s only just beginning. I know you are excited to get down to the business of fixing this condition.... But here’s the bad news: you can’t fix it. No, people don’t grow out of it either. Your symptoms may change over time. But, pretty much, this is it. 

Yes, there are medications. But, there are very few, with limited results and they all come with side effects. 

I don’t mean to discourage you. I just want you to have a realistic outlook so you can confront this head on. 

Don’t slide into denial. You’ll do this without realizing it. So I’m just going to warn you against it now. Don’t try to deny that you can get through the day without a nap. Don’t try to deny that you need to take meds. Just accept the fact that you have narcolepsy and do what you have to do. 

Take a damn NAP! I know there is never enough time in the day to do what you want to do and taking time out to nap drives you crazy. But you drive everyone crazy when you crash in the afternoon or struggle with a headache because you didn’t take the time to take a nap when you should. Think of it as an investment. A nap during the day, makes for a better evening with your family. Isn’t that worth it??

Find others with narcolepsy. You’re going to have to go online for this. You’ll feel like the only one out there with narcolepsy. Especially when you start sharing the news with others and they’ll have trouble understanding even the most basic concepts. Also, you need to find other narcoleptics to get ideas of how to best manage your symptoms. 

Find Julie Flygare. She’s a PWN (Person With Narcolepsy) and a marathoner like you! Find her and you’ll find the others. There is a community out there and they need you as much as you need them. Go do this now and then come back and read the rest of this letter. 

Now that you have found the community ask them questions, try things they suggest. Then be sure to share what you learn with others. Someone out there may benefit from your experience. That’s the best thing about community. You help each other out. 

Keep trying different things to find the best way to relieve the symptoms. If you can manage it just by lifestyle, great! Keep looking for improvements. But be honest about your quality of life with and without medication. 

Don’t try to hide symptoms. I know you’ve been called lazy by people in the past because you sleep so much. I know you’re afraid they won’t believe you and just think you are trying to get out of things. It’s only because they don’t understand what it’s like to have narcolepsy. They don’t understand how it feels when the symptoms hit. You look  ‘normal’ from the outside. So they have no way of knowing how the symptoms make you feel inside. 

But what they think doesn’t matter to you. Stop trying to put a good face on it all the time. It’s exhausting and just makes your condition worse. Plus, it’s not a very honest way to live. 

Tell people when you are tired and when you just need to lay down for awhile or not run a million miles an hour and instead find some ‘veg out’ time. Tell them, ‘no, I can’t take on that responsibility right now’. 

“But if I don’t do it no one else will.” 

Yep. That’s right. So it won’t get done. So what. Either someone else will step up to pick up the slack or it wasn’t that important in the first place. Take care of yourself so you can take care of others. Not the other way around.

I wish you luck on your journey. It’s going to be an interesting ride......

A Call To Action!

On Sept. 24, 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will conduct the Narcolepsy Patient Focused Meeting to better understand the patient perspective on narcolepsy. This is a unique opportunity for people with narcolepsy and their caregivers to help shape the future of narcolepsy treatment, with FDA decision-makers eagerly listening!

Unite Narcolepsy is conducting an anonymous survey to make sure everyone’s experience with narcolepsy is represented. There will also be weekly webinars leading up to the meeting - the first will be on Aug. 29. Details & registration here. 

Narcolepsy affects each of us differently, so we need many voices to capture our community’s full experience. So please,  reach out to anyone you know who has any form of Narcolepsy or loves a Person With Narcolepsy (PWN) and ask them to please give their input by completing the survey. 

Curious about more details on the meetings and how you or a loved one can participate? Visit Julie Flygare's website info here (http://julieflygare.com/fda-narcolepsy-survey/)

Speaking of Julie, she is a wonderful Narcolepsy advocate who has written an amazing book about her narcoleptic experience. It's one of those hard-to-put-down books and is a great account of what having narcolepsy is like and how elusive diagnosis can be. I invite you to check it out here. You'll enjoy it! 

Third Times The Charm!

Well, I'm deep into training for my third marathon. Too busy to blog! But of course I am running for a charity again. I'll let you try to guess which one! :) www.gojillgo.org.

Felt good tonight. Even after 12 on Sat with no ice bath or massage.http://runmeter.com/d39d755f4ef7413c/Run-20130805-1824?r=d.

Season 2 of Zombies, Run! Now Available for iPhone and Android

Season two of Zombies, Run! is out! Let the fun begin!!!

Zumba Class. I want to be this lady when I grow up!

Bookended with Zombies

I had a really good run Saturday afternoon.

We had a packed day (as usual for a weekend). I was looking forward to a dinner date with hubby at my favorite place! I was worried about finding time to get my run in. I asked Kris if he would mind if I ran home from the last store our errands would take us to. He said 'sure. '

So I got in my running gear and we headed off to knock off our errand list. Our last stop was Target. So I prepared to run 2.5 miles on a busy road home. That'll get a run on the books. But my sweet husband asked if I'd rather be dropped off at our local park.

It was out of his way, but "I'd rather you run from the park than down Betteravia with all the cars."

Sweet! So that was a great start to my run. I turned on my Zombies, Run! app and after Sam briefed me on the mission my first song started. It was "More Human Than Human" by Rob......Zombie!

How appropriate.

I started running knowing as soon as I got home I'd clean up and enjoy a great dinner date with my husband. Needless to say, I had one of my fastest times!

And the last song to play as I came in from my run? "Cherry Devil" by ......Rob ZOMBIE!

My Zombie mission was bookended by Zombie! Ha! Ha!

My First "Bad" Zombies, Run! Mission

This was my first run back to the regular missions in the first season of the “Zombies, Run!” smart phone game. I took a couple months off to ‘play’ the “Zombies, Run! 5k” game. I had come off a marathon season fraught with injuries. So while I was already a long distance runner, I thought it’d be a good idea to step back, start over, and re-build strength and speed by completing a 5k training cycle. Besides, I heard the 5k program was written to take place between Mission 1 and 2 of the regular mission game and had additional content to the regular story. Well I didn’t want to miss any content! :) 

So I took my time completing the 5k program and felt great! I definitely feel like I am stronger, faster and ready to resume the regular missions. And tonight was the first run. 

I choose mission 3 for my re-entry to the regular game as I wanted to run the earlier missions over as a reminder of all the details of the story. And the first thing that was a bummer, was that I confirmed that a ‘friend’ I made during the 5k training didn’t survive long after my last 5k run. I suspected that during my last run of the 5k program, and it was confirmed in mission 3. 

Shortly after that bit of bad news, I got chased by Zombs. During which, I had to stop and fix Kenai’s pack. We weren’t stopped for long, but I heard the zombies getting louder and louder as the started to overtake me during the game. 

I started running again as soon as I had Kenai’s pack situated and ran hard. I heard the narrator call “15 meters”, then “5 meters” as usual. Then the narrator said something I couldn’t quite hear because the sound of the Zombs were so loud! In fact, they were loud and sounded like they were in a feasting frenzy!

What was this? I know the app was updated a couple times while I was playing the 5k version. Was this new? Did I evade the Zombs? I didn’t hear the narrator say, “Zombies evaded.” as I was used to. 

Soon, we were in chase mode again. I had both dogs tethered to a belt at my waist. I noticed Heather was ahead of me but Kenai was dragging behind. Neither of my dogs drag. Ever. So I turned around to check on Kenai. She wasn’t limping or looked distressed. But she was running so slow she was actually a drag on me. 

Meanwhile, I hear the zombs getting louder and louder in my headphones. So I call to the dogs, “Come on!” and ran. Again I heard the narrator say something about zombies but I didn’t hear “Evaded”. 

I pulled off to the side to check on Kenai. She’s never drags behind like that and I wanted to check her feet and pack to make sure nothing was amiss. Everything was fine. I usually put two pounds of weight in her pack to even things out between her and Heather. Maybe she was just too tired tonight for the weight? 

Before I took the weights out, I looked at my phone. The app builds a run log during your run. So you can look back and see what was going on, (what songs have played and what bit of story was told.) Well, it also logs zombie chases. On both chases, it showed I had to dump supplies to distract the zombies. (If you don’t run fast enough you have to dump supplies to distract them so you can get away.) I had never had to dump supplies before. So that made me mad. But not only that, on my phone, was the notice “Zombies Caught You”. 

What? What!?

When I had played the regular mission games before that had NEVER happened and I felt like I was running better tonight than ever. I was NOT happy. I figured something must be wrong or they updated the app to be more challenging. 

At any rate, I still had to finish my run. So I took the weights out of Kenai’s pack and carried them for her. That meant I ran with a one pound weight in each hand. Yeah, that’ll make me slower for the next zombie chase. Great. 

There were two more chases. Both of which I was able to evade the zombies. It just didn’t make sense. 

When I got home, I checked the settings on both my phone and my profile on the Zombies, Run! website. I figured there must be a place where you can set your chase pace or something or find out that my GPS was intermittent and that’s why it thought I wasn’t faster than the zombs. 

But no. There was no place to adjust chase paces and according to the run map, my GPS had been working just fine the whole run. 

I turned my attention to the chase graphs on my zombies profile. For each zombie chase there is a graph that shows a flat red line representing the speed at which the zombies chase you and a blue line that shows Runner 5’s pace. That line is usually not flat. 

In the first chase, I saw my blue line was lower than the zombie’s red line for the first 20 seconds of the chase. That corresponds to when I was fixing Kenai’s pack. But I was well above the zombies’ pace for the rest of the chase. So it didn’t make sense they would ‘catch’ me. 

I checked the other three chase graphs and my blue line showed a faster pace than the zombs the whole time. So why did one of them show I was caught? I have no idea. Is there something wrong with the app? I don’t think they did this by design. And I couldn’t find any information on the site about what’s the criteria for evading zombies. 

So I trolled the internet for answers. I found a great post from Mur Lafferty of Escapist Magazine that indicated you must increase your speed by roughly 10% for about a minute to evade the zombs. This made sense. 

I don’t really have more than one speed I run at. Unless you count “Slow” and “Slightly less slow” as two different speeds. So while three of the four chases showed that I was above the zombies’ speed, I may not have sped up more than 10% and that’s why I was caught. 

Good thing the zombies don’t eat you when they catch you. Rather, they take all the supplies you gathered and you arrive back at base empty handed. Not good! 

Which is the other thing that surprised me this time out. When I got back, I visited my base online to allocate the supplies I gathered. But there were no supplies to allocate. I thought the site didn’t sync with my app like it does automatically when I end a mission. So I did a manual sync. Still no supplies showed. I figure the site was having issues. 

Nope, when the zombies get you, they take ALL your supplies. Even the ones you pick up AFTER you’re chased. Damn zombies!

So, there are a few changes in the regular game since I’ve been gone. Much more challenging. But I like a challenge. Now that I know the deal, those zombies had better watch out! I’ll be back, and I’m bringing my cricket bat with me!

Narcolepsy Notes #2 - The Trouble With Mornings

"You were born tired!"

I'll never forget my mom's words to me when I was still a grade-schooler. I had been complaining of being tired all the time. I think she may have just been annoyed with my frequent complaints or it might have been that she herself was always tired. She was a working mom after all. And maybe she just had the 'welcome to my world' attitude. But I took her literally. I thought that I was just a person who was always tired. 

Also, when my mom would come to wake me up for school in the morning, it was incredibly hard for me to wake up. My mom would get so frustrated! We had a schedule to keep after all and she would come in to wake me up only to walk past my room five minutes later to find me back asleep.

"Get up!" she'd admonish as she pulled on my arm to get me out of bed. 

"Mommy, my heads hurts." 

"You're a kid. You don't get head aches. Now get up! You can't be late for school and your father and I have to get to work!"

Waking up with a heavy head happened every morning of my life and still does. I never knew anything different. My poor mom thought I was just lazy and didn't want to go to school. Besides, my dad was the same way. He was terrible waking up in the morning. 

I remember him often running around the house in the morning trying to scramble to make it out the door on time because he often slept past his alarm. My mom probably thought I had just inherited my dad's "night owl" tendencies. 

Through high school my trouble in the mornings continued and I too always scrambled to make it to school on time. Like father like daughter. My first period teacher asked me to please do my make up at home rather than sit in her class and do it. Like I had time to do my make up at home? I'm sure!

I was a really good kid. But I was often in detention. But never for anything other than being late to home room. I wonder how many hours I spent in detention over the years. It had to be in the hundreds! The ironic thing is that detention occurred before school. How I made it to detention on time I don't remember.. But I'm pretty sure I used it to put on my makeup.

My last couple years in high school I was on the color guard and we practiced everyday before school. Every day I was late to practice. I tried everything to get out of the house on time. Going to bed early. Laying out my clothes the night before. Setting more than one alarm. Setting alarm clocks in other rooms so I’d have to physically get up and walk to them to turn them off. Have friends call me in the morning to wake me up. 

But even with these tactics, I would still fail. I would sleep through the alarms or wake up late to find that I had gotten up, walked in the next room to turn the alarm off only to return to bed with no memory of getting up in the first place. It was maddening! 

I did not want to sleep late everyday; trust me. It sucked!

One time in junior high, I had a friend sleep over. It was the middle of winter in Iowa. So we used electric blankets. My friend was sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor with an electric blanket over it and I was in my bed. When I woke up in the morning my friend said, “Finally!” 

“What?”

“You’re finally awake. I’ve been awake for hours! I turned your electric blanket off hoping to freeze you awake. When that didn’t work, I turned it all the way up hoping the heat would wake you up. But you just kept sleeping!” 

I found out decades later, this is a symptom of Narcolepsy. Many people with narcolepsy (PWN) have a really hard time waking up. Some, like me, wake up feeling exhausted, head achy, heavy-headed, or (like on my worse days) sedated. Somedays I wake up and I feel like I’ve been shot with a heavy sedative. The extreme grogginess and foggy head takes hours to go away if not all day. It’s horrible! 

Part of the problem with narcolepsy is that the brain is messed up on when to make you tired or alert. So while you fight like hell to stay awake during the day, you may have insomnia at night. Yeah. That’s fun. Spouses love it too! :) 

Besides, having trouble waking up, I also fought most days to stay awake during the day. But that’s a story for the next post. 

Below is a link to a really good article about Narcolepsy if you’d like more information on the disorder itself

http://www.narcolepsydiaries.com/about/ 

Good Bye Zombies, Run! 5k Training...

Tonight was my final 5k run in the Zombies, Run! 5k training program. As I expected, it was a great run! Oh, and I thought it'd be cool if I got a 5k PR (personal record) on this run.

****Minor Spoiler Alert****

I knew before the run that my mission would be to run a very important package to Bert Airfield. So I thought it would be fun to do the run at our local airport. It's just down the street from my house. So it was a common running spot for me. Also, they have a museum of flight at one end of the property with old retired planes, etc. So I thought it'd lend itself well to the 'stage' of the story. (You know, because my imagination alone isn't enough). HA HA!

As I ran some of the characters from previous runs popped up. And I started to make connections between these characters and the characters in the regular game that I had been playing before I stopped to play the 5k version. I realized I knew the future stories of these characters and not all of them were happy. Then I was sad.

But I had to keep running. Sam was counting on me!

I assumed the 5k would entail running out to the air field and back to the base. So I routed the run so that I'd reach the air museum half way through the 5k. I reached the air museum half way through the run.  I was wrong. It took the whole 5k to get to the base. So I was nowhere near the air museum by the time I reached it in the story. Oh well.

Of course, the end of the mission was dramatic and very very satisfying. The guys at Bert Airfield had an especially great surprise for me. I won't tell what it is because it'd be a MAJOR spoiler for those who will be doing the training runs. (And you all should because they are just so fun!) :)

So after the official mission I was so excited to see if I had PR'ed on my 5k. So I pull my phone out to check and  I touched the screen where I shouldn't touch the screen and LOST MY RUN!!!!!!!!

Oh crap!!! Is the mission finished? I didn't hear the "Mission Completed" announcement. Oh no!! Is it going to show I finished?? Am I going to have to do the whole thing again? Can I recover it? Oh man! What a horrible end to what was supposed to be THE run of the series. I can't believe this!

So I started to frantically touch the screen on my phone hoping to recover it. I found an option to "Restart?" Yes! Restart! Phew!

But the time/distance started over. I had no idea if I would be able to find the first run on the site when I  got home and if it would show I finished the last run.

So I just kept going hoping for the best. There was quite a bit more commentary after making it to the drop site. I was happy I kept going and I did hear the "Mission Completed" announcement.

I loaded the girls and myself in the car to head home. After giving my husband a blow by blow of the run, (he's a very patient man) I checked the web-site to see if both parts would show on the site or just the last 12 minute run. They were both there! Phew!

But I missed my 5k PR by ....one minute.

I'll be starting the regular Zombies, Run! game again. I think I'll start back on Mission #2 as I want to refresh my memory of all the little details of the story. Because as I remember when I switched to the 5k game... there were some pretty fishy things going on at Able Township. .........

The Narcolepsy Notes #1

Just over a year ago I was diagnosed with Idiosyncratic Primary Hypersolmulance. Sounds impressive eh? It's a type of Narcolepsy. A sleep disorder where the brain puts a person to sleep at inappropriate times.

At first I was thrilled to have a diagnosis because I was living with symptoms for years and years and nobody could figure out what was causing them. In fact, most doctors didn't try too hard to find the cause when the 'usual suspects' had been ruled out. (But more about that later).

So I thought, now that we know what it is, let's get on with 'fixing' it. However, I found out there is no cure for Narcolepsy. Moreover, very little is known about it. Most sleep research is done on Insomnia and Apnea. Very little has been done to date regarding Narcolepsy. So medical treatment is limited.

Also, most general practitioners aren't familiar with Narcolepsy and miss the symptoms. Therefore, diagnosis of Narcolepsy is very rare. Which means, there are a lot of narcoleptics walking around out there who haven't been diagnosed.

It also means, newly diagnosed narcoleptics have a hell of a time finding other narcoleptics! We are quite isolated in that regard. I went on-line to find information and discussion groups and didn't come up with much. I was shocked! You can find anything on the internet today right?

Here's (in my opinion) the best of what I found on the internet:

Narcolepsy Information Site: www.narcolepsynetwork.org

Narcolepsy Research Funding & Awareness: www.wakeupnarcolepsy.org

Personal Blogs on Narcolepsy:

www. julieflygare.com (AKA the REM Runner)

www.stridesagainstnarcolepsy.com

So you would think my doctor would be able to connect me with other narcoleptic support resources, right? Not.

My sleep doctor didn't direct me to any resources. I went to a neurologist to get a second opinion and to see if she had any alternate recommendations for treatment. She did direct me to a site for rare diseases.

"Great!" I thought, "That's the resource I've been missing! Rare diseases. That's where I'll find my answers."

I went home and looked up the site right away. There was ...... nothing on narcolepsy.

Basically all the information I could find on narcolepsy said, "There is little known and most doctors miss the diagnosis." I think the fact that narcoleptics aren't getting diagnosed is why it's so hard to find other narcoleptics out there.

So I decided I would devote my blog to talking about narcolepsy and hopefully other narcoleptics can fine me and we can start connecting with others. I also want to share what works for me in managing symptoms and what ever information I find.

So here we go. I am officially starting to blog about my narcolepsy. (Don't worry. You know my running exploits will still be heavily featured here. Incidentally, the bloggers I featured above are both runners. Go figure.)

My first post will start at the beginning which actually is when I was in grade school. It's apparent to me I had narcolepsy as a kid. It seems that my symptoms got worse as an adult and finally prompted me to stop taking "We don't know." as an answer and finally find someone who was willing to help me.

I hope you'll follow along and help me raise awareness, reach out to other narcoleptics, and recognize the symptoms so others can get proper diagnosis. And I promise I'll try to make it entertaining! I would hate for you to fall asleep while learning about narcolepsy!!! Ha HA!

Before I end, I want to introduce a book my friend Julie Flygare wrote about her narcolepsy experience. It's the only book I know of that tells the story of a narcoleptic from the personal stand point. While Julie has a different type of narcolepsy than I do, it gives a great account of what it is like to live with narcolepsy. I highly recommend it!

Wide Awake and Dreaming: A Memoir of Narcolepsy 

Cool Things I Saw on My Run Tonight!

We had some really good rain storms today. I LOVE rain! I love running in the rain. However, today's rain was a little heavy for even me to go out. So of course, I waited until there was a break in the weather. Then I made a 'run' for it! :)

I was worried about the rain starting again while I was out only because I had to run with my glasses on. (I had liner tattooed on my eye lids. So contacts for at least a week).  Not only do glasses fog up in the rain, but they get wet. Try wiping them on a sweaty shirt. Gross. So I was hoping to get back in before the rain came back.

But it was a run of 'firsts'. It was the first time running with my new running tattoo. (Even though it was cold out today, I wore my capris just so I could 'show' it off).  It's on the back of my calf so when I race the runners can see it as they pass me. LOL! :)

I wore my Runner 5 shirt for the first time today too.

Speaking of the Zombies, Run! game, the story still is getting better and better. (We found out who was stealing from the base, I made a new running friend, and have a 'solid' in with the guys at Bert Airfield. Sweet).

Runner 7 came out to run with me today. Or as I call him "Mr. Sexy Voice". I may be developing a small virtual crush on that character!

I dug out my 'leash belt' today too. I haven't ran with it in a long time. I don't know why I stopped. It's just a one-inch webbed waist belt that you can clip the dogs' leashes to so the dog's are tethered to me. That way, I can run hands free without breaking the leash laws by having the dogs running loose. I found the dogs don't pull as much when tethered and my form is much better too!

Tethered running is actually a sport called Canicross. It's a form of urban mushing. I'll have to remember to do that from now on. I love running with the dogs and they love it too! A great way to spend quality time with them!

Then, when we were only about a mile out, we saw this:

Then as I turned back into our neighborhood, we saw this:

Yep, it was a great run tonight!

New Year's Day Run

New Year's Day Run. Kris, I and the dogs met the End Cancer Now! team for a NYD's run. Heather & I went with the walkers for a 5 miler. Kris & Kenai went for 10k trail run. 

Kris had joined an on-line challenge to run 50 miles in 9 days between Dec 24th and Jan 1st. This was his last run of the challenge. He ended up with 60 miles in only 9 days!!!!