Breakin' in the Bikilas

Allie Running in Bikilas

Bikilas are my new barefoot running shoes.  Don't I look cool in them?

I'm starting off Thanksgiving week on a good foot.  I have officially transitioned from my half marathon training plan to full on marathon training.  I have 22 weeks to get in tip top shape and raise $3065 more for the Melanoma Foundation.  Funny how "April" sounds so far away but "22 weeks" feels like it's right around the corner.   I wanted to loosen up and break in my new shoes with an easy 1 mile run.  Micah and I grabbed the dogs and set out on our usual 1 mile loop.  Sota was not in the mood to run on a leash.  As soon as we got down the steps she broke into a run, dragging me behind, and went straight for the park across the street.  I got her under control and untangled myself from the rose bushes in front of the abandoned house at the end of our street and continued on our way.  These random bursts of speed from Sota make my running times look a lot better.  It doesn't matter that I am flailing behind her, I figure I am still covering ground and should count that toward my running time.  Of course, she makes up for it on her pee breaks in front of houses 42, 44, 46, 48, 50...  I tell her bad dogs pee during training runs.  She doesn't seem to care.  Minus the constant stopping, the dogs do pretty well on our short runs.  Buttercup starts showing her age after 1 mile and Sota starts showing her lack of attention span at about 2.  We leave them at home on our longer runs, and then they join us on our cool down W-A-L-Ks (I have to spell it out, otherwise there will be two very excited dogs harassing one very tired Allie). 

With Turkey Day coming up, my training will be off a  little bit.  I'm headed for Nashville, TN Wednesday night and will get back on Friday.  I probably won't do any training while down there - I'll be too busy eating.  But I'll be back in time for our first Running for Cover team run where I can embarrass myself in front of the teammates who have run 10-18 marathons (yikes).  My long run this week is 7 miles, which means my fundraising goal is $70. Help me hit my goal so I can run off my second helping of turkey and sweet potato casserole!