Training for 1/21/11

We were supposed to get one to two inches of snow overnight, but I never saw a single flake. This morning, it looked like it might have rained at some point judging by the few puddles I saw on the roads, but that was it. Second “winter storm” in a row to produce nothing. I like this trend.

It was a clear, sunny, cold and breezy day for my 9.5 miles at goal marathon pace. Yesterday, I went to the Queenstown outlets before an evening assignment to return a pair of shoes I didn’t want, still had time to kill and went to the Under Armour outlet. Wouldn’t you know it, all of their winter gear was on sale or clearance. So I got another sweatshirt and a third compression mock neck top.

Something about new gear, even if it’s just like stuff I already have except in a different color, is very exciting. I don’t know if it was the thrill of the same outfit in new colors, the relief of missing the snow or what, but I had another great pace run. Again, I was aiming for 9:00/mile, but felt good at a faster pace, and wound up running the loop at an average pace of 8:39/mile. The winds started picking up in the last mile and a half. I’m glad I got out there early enough to avoid that for the most part, because it got a whole lot colder.

Tomorrow is my 19-mile long run, so I’ll do the 9.5-mile loop I ran today twice, and slower. According to the training calculators into which I’ve plugged my race times, my long run pace should be between about 9:15/mile and 10:24/mile. The last few have come in at 9:15/mile, so I’m right at the high end. I could stand to slow them down a little more.

As for the rest of the weekend, I’ll take Pepper to the trail Sunday morning for a short trail run, and then I’m finally meeting my friends to exchange our Christmas gifts. Also, the football playoffs continue Sunday, but it’s not as exciting now that the Ravens are out. Boo.

And now I will tell you about the most disgusting thing I have ever seen… or touched. Last night, I had the aforementioned evening assignment, and Clark had to go to dinner with his boss and a potential customer. Clark came home after work and fed Pepper, but he didn’t have much time to let him run outside before he had to leave to meet everyone at Suicide.

I was the first one back home, and when I opened the door, the first thing that hit me was the stench. The dog had taken a shit on the floor — and then run through and smeared it EVERYWHERE. Every inch of the floor was covered in it, and it was on the table and bench, the door and even some of the walls.

What. The. Hell.

I threw Pepper out of the house. He ran circles outside for a while until he realized I was still in the house, so he came running up to the door to beg to be let in. Not a chance in hell, dog. I knew he’d either squeeze by me when I opened the utility room door and spread the shit through the rest of the (carpeted) house, or, if he stayed in the utility room, jump all over me and get shit on my clothes. I threw a poop-covered mat and towel outside as well, got the bathroom surface cleaner and a roll of paper towels, stripped myself down and just started scrubbing.

It took at least half an hour to clean up all the shit. The whole time I had to breathe through my mouth. The smell was just unbelievable. I had been starving and looking forward to making some spaghetti when I got home, but that appetite was gone. Pepper sat outside the glass door, watching me clean up his poop, continuing to beg to be let in.

Finally, I didn’t see any more poop anywhere, so I let Pepper back in. After I scrubbed on his paws to get the poop off them, he slinked off to a corner to pout because I’d left him outside so long. Like I cared. He could stay there all night.

Clark got home not long after that and decided to clean some more with Mr. Clean instead of the bathroom cleaner. The smell had pretty much faded away by this morning.

And that was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.