Hoofing It

Yesterday my chatty cat decided to wake up the household around 4:45 AM.

Since he won't shut up until you feed him, I acquiesced and in a stupor feed the critters and tried to go back to sleep. Alas! Sleeping was no longer an option because in the time it took to feed the animals, my brain turned on and wasn't about to turn off. SIGH.

So I decided to give up and go for my morning run with Zoe. It was earlier than usual which meant it was a little bit cooler too. That's never a bad thing. So off we went toward the Constitution Trail - the first time I've been there with Zoe in weeks.

As I've mentioned before in this blog, Zoe isn't thrilled about running in the warm weather. I've debated retiring her . . . but am too selfish not to have her company. Being the dedicated dog she is, she went, but her heart just wasn't in it.

The trail is about a mile from my home and by the time we hit the trail, she was lagging behind me. I gave up keeping her leashed - it's much nicer for both of us to run with her off leash - and as it was early there were few others using the trail. So she would TROT behind me - YARDS behind me - and I would run ahead until I reached a street crossing, then run in place until she caught up. Not the ideal way to get my miles in, but better than running slower than I can walk.

We hit her usual swim spot and the water was very low. We had a very rainy period there but it has been warm and dry for many days now. So she waded a bit and then we continued down the trail toward Normal.

At our half-way point, she grabbed the leash to "boss" me - a routine we've had for years, but as I said her heart just wasn't into it and she dropped the leash and once again lagged way behind. It makes me said to see her get older.

But she's a tough old girl and she hung in there for the entire hour we were gone. Perhaps tomorrow we'll hit the golf course route so she can really go for a swim along the way.

After I got home, I finally took my car to the body shop to fix the back end damaged in a fender bender in April. Fortunately, the body shop isn't too far away, so I figured I'd walk back. Along the way, I stopped at Panera Bread for a bagel and coffee (a little treat for me) and then hoofed it home.

It was a nice walk and still not terribly hot, but I was happy to rest a bit when I got home.

Later in the day, I needed to go to the post office and figured the one downtown wasn't terribly far away and while I was at it I would go to the public library and check out some summer reading.

So I strapped my mini-backpack on my back and off I went. The trip to the post office was fine, but I got all turned around when heading to the library and ended up going at least a mile too far north. UGH. Fortunately, I met a nice man who was on his lunch hour walk and going past the library so he invited me to join him in the walk.

We chatted easily along the way - he builds models for Electrolux and spent some time in the Air Force (he just missed having to serve in Vietnam but he did serve in the "foreign country called Texas"). Before we knew it, we were at the library and I was off to locate something to help fill my leisure hours.

Four books later, I was standing in line to check them out. Of course they don't fit in my little backpack so I had to carry them home.

While in the library, the temperature went up quite a bit and though the trip home wasn't horrible, I was happy to collapse on the couch upon my arrival.

What I discovered without my car was that Bloomington is a relatively walkable town and I grow more fond of the downtown area with each visit. I even found an Arts Center and they have an annual MARGARITA NIGHT! How fun is that??? I must get the Fight Guys to join me for that one.

I am still car-less today. That's okay . . . I think I'm just going to walk to the pool. Tonight I cross-train and though I had hoped to start going to Main Street Yoga, I'm not certain I can afford it right now. We'll see. I may just do it anyway.

And I hope to embrace more car-less days even when I get my car back. I plan to get my bike in running order as part of my cross-training too. But until then, I can just hoof it.