11 miles and some fencing

I got back on the wagon and made up for last week's lack of an 11 mile run. I took it slow, as is recommended for a long slow distance training run. Normally, I race out as quickly as I can, but lack the endurance to keep running as the miles slip away. This happens in my marathons as well. So I decided to take training recommendations seriously and gave it a shot. Guess what. I kept my pace the entire 11 miles, and I feel GREAT today. Usually, when I burn out my training runs, I end up crippled for a few days after. 

Huh, imagine that. I don't know everything!

My Garmin tells no lies...

Except it leaves out the part where a wiener dog almost got hit by a car
in order to try to attack me in my last mile. He almost got pepper sprayed...

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the Surf City Marathon to cheer on my friends from MBFC and the Las Vegas Marathon, but I will tell you De'Anna got a PR (personal record) with 4:09:xx in the full marathon (oh, I am a wee bit jealous of that time) and Nell reported success for the girls running the half marathon, despite some sushi-colored blisters.

But staying home allowed me to continue to edit a DVD for Paul and help Travis put up more fence along the front of our property.

We might have gotten all eight sections up, but we had a lot of visitors, which is nice...except Travis was going to a Super Bowl party at his boss's house, so we had to cut the afternoon short. The nice thing about these larger sections of fence is they cover a lot of ground, so it seemingly goes up pretty quickly. I am very excited about it. Travis hated the old fence and it's nice to see his vision take shape.

I took a break from video editing to ride Drifter. Details at my horsemanship blog.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Don't Fence Me In

Managed to sleep in and squeeze 4.5 miles in before fencework today.

The run, first since last Sunday's marathon, was shared with Siri and her dog Tierra. Siri is on damage control from the holidays and get-fit prep for her July wedding. Tierra couldn't care less to run alongside like a good little doggie. There are critters to chase, other dogs on the path to kill and needed much correction. We didn't break any records, but 4.5 miles done today and that is always a success.

Over New Year's weekend, we assembled the northwest corner of the fence and the west entry gates.

The mud might have been the worst part of this day

Don't look at the weld flash...it will burn your retinas.

Today, there's a storm on the horizon.

Travis asked if I wanted to help put up some more fence that he built from scratch, so three horses were turned out in the arena, we bundled up, and headed to the northeast end of our property line.

Filling in the blanks

Travis had spent much of his time in recovery building the sections of fence that would go in between the installed posts. We drove five sections to the front and Travis began leveling, shimming, cutting and welding the sections into place.

Custom installation

Travis was frustrated with the welder, but I tried to gently remind him that the only person who might nitpick his welds, other than himself, might be a professional welder. Of course, our neighbors across the street are welders, but they never come over...so I think we are in the clear.

Protective eyewear required to look at this picture.

Rounding the corner to the driveway

Grinding to fit

After about a half hour of staring at the corner to figure out alignment, level, a slight incline to the entry gate posts, Travis attached the last two pieces and all five sections east of the driveway were complete.

So, on top of welding and custom building a fence, he can golf, dirt bike (arguably), play tennis, play poker, drive RC cars, play shuffleboard, play almost any sport very well, road and mountain bike, run, do laundry (thank you), work on VWs, change the oil, change the transmission fluid, put air in my horse trailer tires, repair barns, build homes, remodel homes, drive tractors and bobcats, clip pets' nails, pick up food when his wife doesn't want to cook, feed horses when I am out of town riding horses or running marathons, and the list goes on and on. He can also make a girl laugh...and make her feel good (and beautiful). 

Yep, he's a keeper.