Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

The chicks had a pretty big week this past week. On Wednesday they moved from their brooder box in the garage into their coop!

Don’t mind the wet floor… I had a mishap while filling up their waterer.

Before the chicks made their big move, we made some final repairs to the building. On Monday evening we Barry put the new roof on.

Basically all I did was keep him company, hand pieces of metal roofing up to him as needed, and pick up fallen screws from the grass. Barry did a great job and now the chickens have a brand new roof to keep them dry and out of the weather.

On Wednesday evening we put up mesh on the gaps on the front of the building. This allows the coop to be ventilated while protecting the chickens from predators. A coon would easily climb through that gap if we didn’t have the mesh there.

Once that was finished we set up the feeder (which is elevated) and waterer, put down some bedding, and set up the heat lamp.

Then we brought the chicks outside to their new home. There was a lot of exploring and pecking that went on.

They’re not big enough, yet, to get up onto their roosting poles, but we put them up there just for fun.

They seemed pretty content up there and I think when they are bigger they will like sleeping on the poles.

The chicks settled in to their new abode and seem to be enjoying the new space they have to move around. They were definitely getting too big for their little brooder, which is funny because the brooder seemed so big a week and a half ago.

We still have to finish up the chicken run area for them, so for now they will pretty much stay in the coop except if we let them run around in the yard. We will also be putting a few other touches on the coop, including a window to the right of the door (where the roosting poles are). This way when the sun rises in the morning the chickens, who will theoretically be sleeping on the roosting poles, will know it’s time to get up and go lay an egg!

Oh and this is how the coop looked like before we started converting it. I’m pretty proud of how far we’ve already come 🙂

Are you doing anything special for Cinco de Mayo?
I bought some Sol yesterday (my favorite beer… it’s like Corona but better), and we are going to a friend’s house warming cookout this evening.

What do you think of the chick’s new abode?

This morning I met up with my running buddy, Kim, for a long run on the Dora Trail and New River Trail. We hadn’t seen each other or run together since March! That’s like a decade in girl world and a century in running world. We had lots of catching up to do 🙂 It was great to see her and great to catch up and share the new things going on in our lives.

We ran 8 miles and my legs were feeling pretty sore and tired. I guess they may still be fatigued from Thursday’s track workout, even though I took a rest day yesterday? Other than that I really enjoyed running with Kim and it was the perfect weather outside for a long run: 52 degrees and overcast.

After our run, I stopped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up Sol for a cookout we’re going to tomorrow. I discovered Sol when I went to Mexico my freshman year of college for my cousin’s wedding. It’s similar to Corona, but better!

Once I got home I iced my shins. I have a history of having shin problems (shin splints, stress fracture) and they have been bothersome since I ran on the boardwalk at the beach. I will be doing lots of extra stretching, icing, and foam rolling to try and keep my shins and calves healthy.

I did a big grocery store trip yesterday (yes, I went to the store two days in a row, but the one yesterday did not have my beloved Sol). They were having a big summer sale and had a lot of produce on sale. I got strawberries, apples, pineapple (99 cents for a whole pineapple!!), pears, bananas, tomatoes, avocado, mango, and a cantaloupe. Safe to say I love fruit. I also stumbled across these new Cheez-Its.

They are delicious! Provolone is my favorite type of cheese to have on a sandwich. If you like provolone you should definitely give them a try! I also picked up this bottle of wine for the cookout we are going to tomorrow. It is a house warming cookout and I hope this Hokie Bird wine warms their house 🙂

 I have no idea if it’s any good, but how can it not be when it has the Hokie Bird on it, right?

Do you have a problem area/injury that comes back to haunt you over and over?
My shins!!!

Have you ever tried Sol? If you drink alcohol, what is your favorite drink?

Have you tried any new foods lately? What were they?  

First of all, thank you all for your advice about how to start doing speed work! It was really helpful as I was making my plans for this evening. I went back and reread all of the comments.

This totaled 5 miles for the day, with an overall time of 47:18. Huh… faster than when I just go out and run 5 miles. Interesting. The 400’s were tough, especially the last 3 or 4, but they were manageable. Barry asked for “time” halfway through each one, and that gave me something to look forward to and helped to break them up.

Got my picture with the cougar, post-workout! Before the start of a football game the players run down the stairs and pass by the cougar before taking the field.

I’m pretty happy with how this first workout went. I went into it not really knowing what to expect or what I would be capable of. I was expecting to run them around 2 minutes each, but I worried about how fast I should run the early ones and if I’d be able to maintain it to the end of the workout. We were shooting for 1:40 on #8, but 1:44 was all I had. That’s okay with me, though.

Thanks again for all of your wonderful advice and guidance!!

I will leave you with some randomness from my workday. I observed this while I was sitting in a gas station parking lot:

Do you see the guy sleeping in the grass? Yea, he just backed his motorcycle in, climbed over the guardrail and laid down and went to sleep like it was the most normal thing to do. After about 30 minutes the owner of that black SUV was walking back to her car and she saw him there. She walked over and woke him, to make sure he was okay. Then he went back to sleep for about another 5 minutes before going into the store for a bit and then getting on his motorcycle and driving off. How bizarre.

Where should I go from here? Add on more 400’s, stick with 8 and try to do them faster, or something else??

If you do track workouts (or speed workouts in general) what is your favorite?

Tell me something bizarre that you saw at work/school/during life this week.

This evening I went for a 4 mile run on the roads around our house. I went for my run sans watch, which is a pretty big deal for me. I have absolutely no idea how long my run took and I don’t know the distance down to the hundredths like I usually do.

Usually if I decide to run without my Garmin, I still wear my Timex watch. But today I decided to be a “zen runner” (isn’t that what they called it in Spirit of the Marathon??). There were two times that I had to stop at intersections because of cars, and each time I reached down to stop my watch only to find nothing there. It made me laugh both times, and I bet the passing cars thought I was smiling because I got to stop during my run.

I also had two unplanned pick ups during my run today (sooo technically I ran fartleks today), when I got chased by a smallish brown dog. This house has a larger white dog that has a collar on for their invisible fence, but today I learned that the small dog does not wear one. It ran out into the road and proceeded to chase me down the road. Usually I can outrun small dogs without too much effort, but this guy was kind of fast. I had to pick it up on the way out and again on my way back to the house. On the way home I encountered him after coming up a big hill, which made things interesting.

When I filled out my running log for today’s run, it bothered me that the time box was just empty. I fixed this by putting “NT” for no time, which made me feel a tiny bit better at least.



Don’t mind my inability to remember that there are 30 days, not 31, in April. I don’t think today’s run was anything spectacular anyway. My legs were a bit sore and tired feeling and I was also tired. I was up in the middle of the night last night with a migraine, and that always makes me really tired the next day. I usually get them about once a month and each time I feel like I’m going to die. But once again, I survived.

I have something new and exciting (and scary) happening tomorrow! Stay tuned! And there are big things happening in the world of chicks… but you will have to wait until Sunday to hear about them 🙂

Do you ever go out running without a watch? Does it bother you?

Do you get migraines? What do you do for them?
Yes, and they almost always happen in the middle of the night. I take Excedrin and put ice packs on my head/neck.

Do you keep a running/workout log?

This evening Barry and I headed to the trail in town for a run. I ended up with 6.21 miles at just under 10 minute pace. Not too bad since I was planning on 3 miles. Sometimes not following a training plan has its benefits. Barry ran with me for the first half of the run and then took off for the second half of his run.

It was one of those days today…. you know what I’m talking about. All of us have been there at one point or another. Half a mile into the run I was fighting a losing battle. Finally at the halfway point I saw a beautiful sight:

Thank goodness and thank you to whoever decided to install a restroom at the head of the New River Trail! After that pit stop I was good to go the rest of the time and never had any more issues. The trail was really pretty today. We’ve had a lot of rain recently and everything is super green.

I’m so happy spring is finally truly here! I also saw some fresh hoof prints from a horse (and some fresh horse turds) but I never saw the horse. Maybe next time.

Now for some random stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with running. First, this is how Hank laid with Scout this afternoon while she chewed on a toy:

I think it’s safe to say he’s just a little possessive of her? And then there this:

There are two points to this picture. One: Hank likes to have his forearms rubbed. He will walk up and place his paw in your hand to ask for a rub. Two: Hank looks like a huge dog when he sits in front of Barry while Barry is on the couch. Maybe he really is that big and we just don’t notice because we’re used to him?

What was your run/workout today?

What other types of trail users do you see besides runners/walkers?
On the state park trail I see cyclists and horseback riders in addition to runners/walkers.