A dreary 3 after a dirty dozen

It's Friday so I'm working from home.  A colleague of mine who will remain unnamed told me there is nothing better about getting tenure than ceasing with the whole "working from home" charade.  So hopefully this time two years from now I will be divulging what I'm really doing at home.  But it's hush hush till then...

So, yes, it's Friday which means I go running with Alice around lunch time.  It is dreary today.  Like bleak and gray and chilly.  Take a look:

(I think that overturned drywall spackle bucket makes it look even more bleak.  But that's just me.  We keep these things around either because a) we're lazy or b) they might be useful one day...when we want to make our yard look bleak.)  

I kept waiting around for the sun to peek through and checking the Weather Channel website hourly forecast searching for that 30 minutes of uninterrupted sunlight that I was sure was there somewhere.  No dice. 

Around 11 Alice had sufficiently demolished the house that it was really time to get her out on a run.  She had a great time.  Although the slightly off guy who stands on the corner in the main square warming up for his rap/R&B career did bellow something at us as we passed.  I turned around and gave him the shhhhhh sign as we passed (mostly because I was pissed that he spooked Alice) and he seemed to simmer down.  I kind of felt like I was in Berkeley again.  Although this man did not have a drum so not quite.

On Monday I told my head cold to take a hike and did 11.5 miles!  It felt really good probably because I followed my own advice and didn't overdress.  Alice came out with me for the first 6 and then I went out for another 6 mile loop.  This was the first time I used my fancy amphipod hydration belt (i.e., it holds water bottles) and consumed a Gu (I had to walk while I was doing this because I'm not that extreme of an athlete that I can eat and run at the same time.  I mean, I can eat and run in a hork down burrito and go to class way but not in a literal way.  You get it.)  It was a "two belt" run since I used the hands free leash to start and the hydration belt to finish.  I felt very well kitted out.  And now feel the need for even more belts.  Maybe something like this to finish the half marathon with panache:

My only hesitation is that I'm shaped like a surfboard and thus have no hourglass figure to accentuate.  Then again, neither did this guy.

I head to Chile at the end of this week and am bringing my running shoes!  I don't think I'll be pounding the streets of Santiago but at least I can chug along on the treadmill in the hotel.  Thankfully the elevation is not as crazy as when I was living in Mexico City.  Running at over 7000 feet is tough!  Especially when the treadmill is a manual one.  Yes, you read that right, a MANUAL one.  They also had belly jigglers in the gym I went to.  This photo looks like it is from the 1930s, but it is actually from my Mexican gym:

I don't know what that guy on the right is mixing up but I can imagine this machine being much more enjoyable with a cocktail.