I hope everyone was able to go out and celebrate National Running Day at some point today! Barry and I celebrated this evening with an easy 3 mile run.

In honor of National Running Day, I decided to share a bunch of motivational pictures that I have saved on my computer. Some of these came from Run the Edge and some came from Distant Runners , both on Facebook. I know a few came from Pinterest but I don’t know for sure exactly where they all came from.

The next one is so true. Who doesn’t drive past a bike path or trail that you’ve never been on before and yearn to go explore it?

For real:

For really real:

This next one pretty much sums up why I run. I couldn’t have said it better myself:

Everyone runs for so many different reasons, and I love hearing other runner’s stories about why they run and what got them into running. I know personally there are many different reasons that I not only started running but continue to run today. But the above picture sums all of those reasons up nicely. I have been at this way too long to even consider giving up now.

Why do you run?

How did you celebrate National Running Day today?

This evening I drove down to Wytheville to run with a group called the Sole Sisters. About 8 or 9 people came out and we ran a little over 3 miles around town. Wendy invited me down to run with them. I first met her, along with Anita and Glenda, at the Color Run 5K at the beginning of April.

This morning I started my day off with some cross training in the form of level 3 of Jillian’s 30 day shred. I tend to do this workout about once a week, but it had been awhile since I worked out before work. It was a good way to start my day.

Instagram [turkeyrunner]

Speaking of work, I spent part of the day today at an ostrich farm.

Last Sunday Barry and I spent the majority of the day digging a trench around the two sides of the chicken run that separate it from the rest of the yard. Then we attached chicken wire to the inside of the chicken run, pulled it under the fence, and buried it in the trench. The chicken wire is buried between 8-10 inches in the ground.



Click to see larger

This will keep the dogs and other predators from being able to easily dig under the chain link fence to get after the chickens. Here is a closer picture of it, since the chicken wire is difficult to see.

We also installed top rails across the top of the run to support the chicken wire we would use to cover the run. Then on Tuesday evening Barry got to work laying the chicken wire across the top of the run.

Having the cover on top serves a dual purpose. It protects the chicken from predators, such as hawks, but it also keeps the chickens from being able to fly out. They’re not very good fliers, but they’re good enough to get over the 5 foot fence.

You can keep them from being able to get out by clipping their wings, but I didn’t want to have to do that. I decided the cover was the best option, since it both keeps them in and keeps predators out.

The chickens enjoyed some more fruit (cantaloupe, honeydew, and apple scraps), which we first introduced to them last week. They have now learned that the blue bowl we put the scraps in means there’s a treat coming and they get excited when we carry it out to the coop. Lastly, here is a picture of them this week to show you how they continue to grow:

It’s getting harder to get a good picture of them because they seem to never stop moving!

This week we have plans to finish the covering on the top of the chicken run. As I have mentioned before, once this is done the chickens will have free access to the run area during the day. Currently we let them access it in the evening when we are home. Once the sun sets they usually go back in the coop on their own to go to sleep and all I have to do is go out and close the coop door for the night. I’m expecting this trend to continue when they have full access to the run area throughout the day.

Did you know that chickens can fly but are not really great fliers?

This morning I met up with my running buddy, Kim, for a long run on the Dora and New River Trails. We did 6 miles and I really struggled today. I think a big part of that was that I did speedwork last night, and I’ve never done speedwork the night before a long run. I guess it’s good to learn to run on tired legs before my first full marathon this November. Fortunately, but unfortunately, Kim was also having a rough day. Fortunately because that means I wasn’t slowing us down. Unfortunately because it’s no fun that she was also having a tough time today. Either way we got it done.

My car, whom I call “Hey Car”, claimed it was 60 degrees at the start of our run. It felt much warmer than this, most likely because of the humidity. At the end of our run it had already warmed up to 79 degrees! Hot hot hot.

Shortly after I got cleaned up from my long run and had some breakfast, I headed up to Blacksburg to visit my best friend, Laura, who was in town visiting for the weekend. It was great to see her!

Funny story about the matching sunglasses: I bought mine yesterday on a whim while I was out shopping. She bought hers 5 days ago. Neither of us knew the other one had a pair until we saw each other today. That’s the norm for us. I like them because I feel like a state trooper while wearing them 🙂

Our friend Jackie was also down visiting for the weekend. We decided she needed to get a pair of aviator sunglasses, too, so we hit up Wal-Mart after having lunch at Macado’s. Here is our “Top Gun” pose:

Say hello to Goose, Maverick, and Ice Man! Once the picture-taking shenanigans were over we hung out for a bit, watched the movie “No Strings Attached” (which by the way is a very funny and cute movie in my opinion), and then headed downtown for some drinks.

We hung out at a bar called Hokie House with a bunch of other friends for a few hours and then I hit the road for home, about 20 minutes past my bedtime. It was a great day with old friends, though, and I’m so glad I got to visit with them all day!

If you ran or worked out today, how did it go?

Have you ever seen the movie “No Strings Attached”?

Do you keep in touch with college friends? How often do you get to see “old” friends?