Saturday, December 22, 2012

The Dog That Ate Christmas

I'll get to the dog-eating-Christmas part soon but first things first. I truly believe that testosterone makes you sweat more. 

I woke up this morning at some God-forsaken hour to run with the group only to find that, yet again the thermometer hadn't dipped below 23.5C which is about 75 in American. Ugh! And that was the lowest it's been all week. Add to that 90% humidity and you know you've got a sweat-fest ahead.

Coach Chris kindly decided to take us the hilly route and against my better judgement I went with. Could have done my same old-same old flat route but a good friend was up from Canberra and I thought I'd risk the pain and suffering so we could get a little gossip time in. Note to self - gossip and hills don't mix. Gasping monosyllabic answers and hills definitely do.

The first kilometre was fairly flattish and that's when we got all the good goss in. The second kilometre held a few more challenges but it was somewhere around the fourth or fifth kilometre that all conversation ceased (at least on my end). I find that you need some oxygenation to produce sounds that others can understand and yes, grunts count. All I can say is thank goodness for drink stops. 

We got to one point where there was a choice to cut the run down to 12k or to continue on to 14. I, of course, bit off more than I can chew and opted for the 14. After all I'd managed my 11 fairly comfortably on Thursday. But I didn't factor into it the lack of hills on Thursday or the ridiculous humidity. My shirt was sticking to me. My shorts were sticking to me. And at every water stop I guzzled water.

I managed to keep going till 12k and then took a little walk break. Thank goodness it wasn't too far to the end. And I hung around after to have a coffee and a little more chat time. I knew I'd sweat a little more than usual because every time I shifted in my seat I could actually feel the puddle of water I was sitting in - gross! And when I took off my shoes my toes had become wrinkled little prunes. I have never sweat so much before in my life. Definitely thinking it's a side-effect of the testosterone.

The run left me totally dehydrated and stupidly tired so as soon as it was feasible I had a nap. Toby was locked out of my room and started to get a bit lonely and bored. A bored and lonely puppy invariably gets up to mischief. Let's just say that Santa has put him on the 'Naughty' list.





And that's why I decided the table top Christmas tree was the only option for us this year. I can only imagine what he would have done with all those carefully-wrapped gifts.


Such a pity that the tree's not six foot. Imagine just how big those gifts would be proportionally. And bigger's always better - right?

Just a couple of days to go now till the big fat man visits. Christmas shopping is done. Now to get rid of the bah humbugs and start to feel a little Christmassy. And if I can't quite manage that by December the 25th, I'm sure an early morning run will keep me from using the turkey-carving knife in ways that it wasn't intended for. 

I hope you're all starting to get into the spirit. And if you're not - go for a run.






11 comments:

  1. I need to do all my wrapping, still shop and cook! But I do love Christmas.

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  2. Hey, I think someone is getting a pillow for Christmas!

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  3. Toby didn't mean to be bad :) That video was too cute. How can you be mad?

    It's totally freezing here. We had a ice/snow storm on Thursday and took me 3 hours and 4 minutes to commute to work. I'll take your sweat fest any day :)

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  4. Nawww, Toby, Toby, Toby... It used to make me laugh so much when our dog knew she was in trouble and she would get all coy and sulky. It was so hard to be mad when I was laughing so much :)

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  5. I hear ya on the bah humbugs but I do pretend I like them - at least half of the time! Thankfully, only a couple more days and the pretending ceases! :)

    Poor Toby. Haha. He is just too damn cute to be mad at for long.

    Great job on the oxygen depleted run!! And if I don't pop back over here before the big day, I hope you and your family has a very Merry Christmas!! :)

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  6. We have a very short tree too, this year. I was thinking it makes all the presents look bigger!

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  7. Your dog provides some great stories for you! I wonder if it is harder to get the "Christmas spirit" when it is so hot? I'm looking outside at snow and a high of 20 something today - wish we could trade!!

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  8. Merry Christmas and happy new year to you and family.

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  9. I send the warmest Christmas wishes to you and your family.

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  10. Merry Christmas Char! I hope Santa brings you some estrogen to help you out ;-)

    Merry Christmas Toby..... Be nice to mum's things!
    Xoxo

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