The time I workout, shoes I wear, haircuts and — wait for it — cute pictures of a pug

I’ve been doing all of my training in the morning for most of January. This was true in the summer, mostly because it was too hot to run when the sun was out. After the marathon, I promptly gave up the 5 a.m. wakeup calls and only did evenings. But dinner at 9 p.m. got old after awhile, and I really like the feeling of starting my day with some “me” time, some quiet personal reflection before being bombarded with media all day.

This doubles as both visibility gear and rape-protection gear.

But getting outside time early in the morning hasn’t been without sacrifice.  It’s cold, so even though some days its been above freezing, the sidewalks are all icy. I’m trying to make at least 3 runs a week “real” runs, not treadmill runs, so this morning, I had to decide between five miles through snow or 50 minutes staring at the Shaws bakery awning from the Planet Fitness treadmill.

Yeah, that’s what I picked.

It’s weird; I could have just got in my car and drove to a decent route that was plowed and didn’t have much traffic, but I am so anti-driving when I don’t have to do it. It seems odd to get in a car to go run.

But I find that I like running more when I run in the morning. I’m coming to it with more purpose. And I get to enjoy that accomplished feeling all day, especially on Wednesdays, which are the long training day.

Miles are running out on my shoes, I can tell.

The look pretty awesome, don't they.

They say to replace them every 500 miles and mine are in the upper 300’s. But they feel … less cushiony. I think that my gait has changed, too. When I started running, I might have been a normal or maybe even an over-pronator, but now, I run more on the outside of my feet. So much so, Google was making me afraid I was going to develop tailors bunions

My last three pairs of running shoes were Asics GT-2150s and I want to try something a little different. A little lighters. I’ll keep you updated.

In other news of things I’m thinking about replacing: my haircut.

Before I was caught by my coworkers using my iPhone as a mirror.

I was growing is out, and now its in this weird place where its too long to be short and too short to do anything with. Short hair is really convenient. But not very versatile. So I’m thinking about going back. Yay? Or Nay?

To reward you for getting this far in this post, here are cute pictures of my dog.

WHAT a little prince.

Just maintaining my membership in the fitness bloggers with pugs club.

 

 

 

 

Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.