Birthday Bear

salty & sweet: b-day ice cream and bacon treat!

Today is Bear's second birthday! Well, at least that's what Casey and I decided. Granted, we can't be sure how old he is, but we took the estimate from the dog rescue, vet, and our own experiences and just took a stab. Originally, we gave him a birthday at the time we adopted him, but reassigned it for (what we see as) the necessary adjustments. Plus, we kinda wanted to celebrate it too. As you can tell, it was a big deal.


So, how do you determine a Bear's birthday? Use your Secret Language of Birthdays book of course! 


July 20th is for those that are adventuresome, active and practical, but also restless and dissatisfied - a little bit moody, but mostly awesome. Play all day at the park with new friends, know how to get your treat when you get home (sit for mom and 'be a bear' for dad), and throw a melodramatic tantrum when your people don't go to bed on time - you're so tired! Why won't they sleep?!

What does a birthday pup do on their special day? Enjoy a little ice cream treat flaunting a designer hat. Play with your new squeaky ball, and go to the park! Seems like a good day to me - pup or person.

Yes, I know we're a bit silly for our dog, but how can you not get a little carried away for this handsome fellow?

I'm glad we're the ones that got to adopt him and give him a home. And I really hope we are right that he's just turning two, because that means many more action packed, silly, melodramatic years are ahead!

Birthdays are so exhausting!

Evening Runs

My body just doesn't seem to agree with running at the end of the day. I know theoretically I should be able to run at anytime with equal misery, but 9 times out of 10, evening and night time runs go awry long before they're over.

I will admit that a handful of my best runs have happened right after work or class, but those experiences have been few and far between. Usually when this happens I feel an immense sense of accomplishment that I fueled my body just right before running - the perfect balance between not enough and too much in my tummy. And what's there has to count; no junk allowed. I can do all kinds of other exercise at the end of the day, even an hour or so after eating, but somehow running plays out a little differently for me. Well, it almost always ends the same way: with some sort of horrendous gurgling in my gut.

Even today, when I couldn't drag myself out of bed in the morning to run, I resolved to run in the evening (because let's face it, this time of year the only other option is insanity). I was careful about what I ate all day, and even had a pretty light dinner. I probably should have had more water throughout the day, but that was my biggest fault. A little less than a mile into my run came a fierce combination of heartburn and the burps. WTF stomach?! I took myself a little further, just past a mile, and then determined it was no longer worth the risk - there was too far left to go and too much that could go wrong. There would be walking. There would also be a little more running not walking, but it would be mostly walking.

So, about half of tonight's run turned into speed-walking. If I was going to walk, I was at least going to get a workout. I'm not out here to pick up shirtless jocks (but if you're in need of one, I suggest Memorial Park). There was also extra motivation in the form of mosquitoes. I don't have to be faster than the mosquito, just faster than the next tasty guy/gal. I'd like to think another benefit is working muscles differently, but I'll have a much better idea of that in the morning.

I'm tempted to schedule in evening runs once or twice a week just to force myself to clean up my diet. Maybe it will even make me like the morning runs more. But I also know the "best" time to work out is when you'll actually do it.

And now to end with a visual representation of what my night time runs feel like:

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You MUST do it.