Viper was right.

I know his nemesis will hate to hear this, but it's true. I should have listened to Viper. I apologize, Viper, as I recently ridiculed your suggestion that I NOT run in the morning and instead just sleep off the previous night's alcohol consumption.

Had I heeded (is that a word?) that advice, today would have gotten off to a much better start.

I woke up before my alarm this morning, to the sound of my coffee pot (thanks for the tip, aron) starting (5:55 am) and had grand intentions of exploring a local park that apparently has some trails I've never been on before. Parsenn was going to come along, too, whether he liked it or not.

Parsenn, begging for mercy, and his bed.

So with a cup of coffee I got my morning started by looking for some inspiration via Google Reader. I settled for Mostly Bulls**t. GQH is the kind of morning person I strive to become, so to see he had already posted this morning, I took the time to post a comment to show I, too, was up early. After that, it was time to step into the cold and get to the park. Parsenn definitely did NOT like this part. Anyway, into my car and pulling out of the lot, I noticed something didn't seem right. Either this road was REALLY bumpy or my M1A1 Tank otherwise known as the '93 Bonneville was experiencing technical difficulties:



Now, if this happens in Wisconsin in June (okay, let's say July to be safe), the changing of the tire isn't a big deal. Unfortunately, it's currently December in Wisconsin (and everywhere else, I guess. Not sure about Canada, though). December in Wisconsin means that whenever the weather is discussed, the phrase "feels like" is included. Example:

"The thermometer reads 14, but with the wind, it feels like -62."

Oh, the joy of changing a tire is these conditions. What could possibly be better?

When your spare is flat, that's what.

So off to the local gas station to fill it up. The spare specifically reads "Fill to 60 PSI" right there on the side of it. So I grab my pressure gauge to check it, and BOY-INGGG the gauge splits into 7 pieces and pops apart like a champagne bottle. Fan-friggen-tastic.

After filling up the tire to what I deem 60 PSI (when I can no longer feel anything below my elbows), it's back home and inside, where I decide it's time to finally start following Viper's advice. I brewed some coffee, dusted off the whiskey bottle, and warmed up a proper cup of Irish Whiskey.

Disclaimer: I didn't. But I'm going to later, when it's not 8:15 AM, in Viper's honor.

I am still bound and determined to run at some point today, so check back for an update (DO IT!). In the meantime, here's some GQH dashes:

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UPDATED: This afternoon I got my run in on the trails with Bonnie. Fortunately, the Ice Age Trail had been broken in by a couple snowshoe tracks and a single, very brave CC skier. I really can't imagine navigating that trail on skinny skis as it's narrow and steep. The unfortunate part of having people already tracked it in a bit is that it became a bit iced over and wasn't exactly pillow soft. I rolled my left ankle, from here forward as "The Wonky One," on 3 seperate occasions. I really need to get back to rehabbing that thing if I want to run the Glacial Trail 50 next fall. I ran about 7-8 mile on the trail in an hour and a half, but that entire time my heart rate was pretty high. I don't wear a bra heart rate monitor but instead do it the old fashioned way--using my carotid, counting for 10-15 seconds and doing some quick multiplication. Four seperate times I checked my HR and found it to be between 160 and 130, depending on how good I was at math at that particular moment. Now, some Irish Whiskey :)

Only 10 more miles to get to my goal of 1800 on the year!