Perfect summer weather!

High of only 19 C today!  Such a luxury!  My energy has been low, but once we got out this morning and I felt that cool weather, it was on.  We started jogging once we got to the 45 mph road and its mostly generous shoulder--I don't want to run the puppy on asphalt just yet--and we ducked into the forest kept going for two solid hours.  (and then I blasted through yard work and shoulder exercises.  PUMPED)

The run was just super.  Yeah, I was tired, because I'm out of shape, but I got into the zone.  No heat, no horses, and very few passerby, which was great.  The puppy is still very easily distracted, the footing is poor, and I'm still getting used to running with two dogs.  It's more tiring, I think, although I know I'm actually unfit.   But the weather will be great all week, and it's going to get better--I just have to get out there.  The job is a bit of an issue because I'm actually stuck with normal hours for the first time in years, 9-5:30.  Gosh, this eats up so much of the daylight, and there are too few streetlamps (like, none along some roads) and too many pitfalls here.  I have maybe an hour in the morning, and an hour in the afternoon, which is better than nothing, but it's easier to tire dogs out given one larger chunk.

Fortunately, the hours are just temporary.  In a few weeks, I should be back to my usual ghoulish schedule, with a nice big chunk of daytime for outside endeavours.  The downside is that I've been learning Spanish from some of the 1st shift staff, and nobody on 2nd speaks Spanish as far as I've heard, and I still have so much much more to learn.  Duolingo has been great too, but it doesn't target as quickly the stuff that's useful for me*.  No me gusta limpiar mi casa.

Anyway, it's exciting running again, especially with a new additional companion.  I also hope the increased symmetry will actually improve my form.  Unfortunately, my leash arm goes into T-Rex mode when I'm running, but with two T-Rex arms, I'm not leaving enough space for my ribs to expand.  Just a small adjustment, though.

There is also a mental block of sorts that is gradually approaching: I presently weigh about 3.5 pounds more than the dogs combined, and the puppy is still growing.   They won't recognize the threshold, but I can't shake the thought of an impending mutiny, even though either of them is strong enough to drag me on their own NOW (of course, they don't know this!)  Meanwhile, I'm trying to recharge my appetite and/or sneak in the cals somehow--I've dropped over ten pounds during the past few weeks.  Sure felt the lost gains during shoulder presses today!  :(

But at least I now have two tired dogs and some measure of improved fitness, and winter* is coming!

*ok, I was just thinking, hey, Duolingo isn't as whimsical as Rosetta Stone because it's not asking me to learn the word for "elephant"--and, BAM, today, el elefante.  I don't know why the elephant irks me so much, especially SINCE I was once in a loose elephant (five of them) situation in a foreign country, and I couldn't understand why the police were not letting me pass until I found one who could speak English.  If anyone needs to know the local word for elephant, it's apparently me--but I'd rather learn "Where is the toilet?" and "What time does this close?" and "Does this have wheat in it?"

**down here, just a long fall.