Cats and Selfies

I was pretty hung over this morning, but I managed to drag my ass out of the house to go run. 6 miles. 6 pretty slow miles. But 6 miles non the less.

While I was on the way back to my car, a cat crossed my path. Except it wasn't just any cat. It was a BIG cat. Like, a 40 lb cat. It wasn't until it registered that it didn't have a tail that I realized I had just seen a bobcat. 

The bobcat had seen me too. Once it crossed the path and was in the cover of the trees again, it stopped, sat down and looked at me. 

Do you see him?

Look closer.

So I stopped and took a picture of it. Then I took a selfie because, like the rest of my generation, I'm a narcissist. A couple of dudes crested the hill as I was taking the selfie and I got really self conscious that they caught me taking a selfie. I started running again and didn't warn them that there was a really cool cat just a few feet away. 

Bad selfie. Don't care!

That was the first bobcat I've ever seen. But not the first time I've been busted taking a selfie. 

Little Jerk

Every morning I am attacked at work. Assaulted. It is quite the hostile work environment. Because of this asshole:

I get it. I know what you're thinking. He's just a bird. A little song bird. What could possibly be so bad about this little cardinal?

Well, for starters, he's a punk. He attacks my vehicle every morning. He lands all over my car. He searches for weak points and tries to make entry. I can tell he's talking shit the whole time. He fluffs up and pecks at the glass. He's a huge bully.

And he's there every morning carrying on like this.

It's not just me. This bird has it out for all the employees at the MSTC. He's become quite the topic of conversation at work. He has yet to attack anyone's person. He sticks strictly to vehicular attacks. I sometimes wonder what his plans exactly are if he were to ever get into my car. 

Just what is this little jerk capable of?? I hope I never find out. 

Friend of the Year

I've been walking my good friend Tracy's dogs for her while she is in Drill Sergeant School. Every Sunday I go over to her house and pick them up from her mom and take them on a 4 mile walk through the back wooded area of Fort Campbell. My job is to wear them out. 

The dogs are two giant and beautiful German Shepherds. One thing I didn't know about this particular breed is that they are very vocal. And when I say vocal, I mean these dogs howl. They are so excited to go on these walks with me that they just scream in the car the whole ride out there. Yodeling and barking, and jumping from the front seat to the back seat. Paws on the dashboard. Accidentally rolling down windows and shifting the car into neutral while I'm driving. Barking right in my ear. I literally drive with my a finger in my right ear to try to protect my eardrum from these dogs.

They are so excited. And it's flattering. But I really feel like I should be winning Friend of the Year for doing this for 10 weeks! Thank God I'm not transporting these dogs in my own car. Tracy's mom lets me borrow her Jeep.

Once we actually get out onto the trails they are wonderful. They mind me. They don't run off. They don't need to be on a leash. I love them. On the way home, they sit quietly and look out the window. It's just the ride there... its a three ring circus. 

Today's walk was in the snow. It was so beautiful. I took the dogs back onto a range I've never personally been on. Special Forces train back there, and since it's President's Day weekend, I figured no one would be training. I was right. It's a nice MOUT site. I liked the change of scenery, and I think the dogs actually did too. 

Only a few more weeks walking the dogs until Tracy comes home. I'm going to miss the walks. 

But not the drive. 

8 Miles

I set a goal to run 8 miles this morning. 

You see, the bigger goal is to run the Nashville Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon in April. So I'm going to train for it. Train better than I did for the last half marathon that I did in Egypt. To train for that, I ran 4 miles a lot of times and complained a lot. The experience of the actual 13.1 miles was miserable, to say the least. Because I wasn't really prepared. And it's so damn hot in Egypt. But mostly, I wasn't prepared.

So as I was driving out to the area I was going to begin my run, I started to talk myself down. The usual, well maybe I'll just do 6. Or if I just do 4 that's better than nothing. I do that because I hate the feeling of failure, and if I set my sites low, then I can't be too disappointed. I think the Army has trained me to never get my hopes up high and to aim low. Isn't that terrible?

I started running out in the back 40 of Fort Campbell with the plan of 8 miles, but the bail out option of 6. I figured I'd see how I felt at 3 miles and make a decision then.

Well 3 miles went by and I felt fantastic! So I ran 4 and turned around for a total of 8. I killed those 8 miles, too. NO WALKING. And no complaining. There wasn't any complaining because I was alone, but I didn't even do any mental complaining. 

My average time was around 9 and a half minutes a mile. My two fastest miles were 5 and 6. I ran those in around 8 and a half minutes per mile. It felt so good! I actually felt like I could have gone further. I am confident I will destroy the half marathon in April.

Goal (unaltered) complete.