Sherpa running in SC

If I did some bikram running in Chile last week, thanks to the hotel gym's 78-degree-nonbudgeable thermostat, yesterday I did some sherpa running here in SC.  The mighty sherpas of the Himalayas struggle with loads like this:

By contrast the sherpas of B'ton, SC struggle under the weight of multiple bags of Cheetos or flats of Mountain Dew when they're on sale.  In my case, a full-up water bottle belt stuffed with gels, some dog treats and a cell phone and a improvised hands-free leash made my run feel pretty clunky yesterday.  Here is a dramatic reenactment of my running rig (note: I'm wearing gym clothes from this morning.  Those shorts ride up way too much for running, but seem to serve as good motivation for Woody to follow me to the gym.):

The improvised hands-free leash worked but kept shifting around like crazy.  At times it would creep under the exposed Velcro to make a really heart-warming scritchy scratchy sound.  This did work better/look less ridiculous than wearing two belts though.  I tried wearing the hands-free leash under my water belt and it rode so low that it brought back memories of Brittany Spears/the 70s.

This rig allowed Alice and I to run together for a LONG time -- she went for all 10.25 miles with me and had a great time!  I shared my water with her and brought along a few treats (which we actually didn't use, didn't want any puppy puking to go on).  She got home and promptly launched into tornado mode...before taking a nice long nap.  I took a close look at her paws and they look just fine.  The vet said she could go this long and I didn't quite believe him.  Now I do.  It's neat to see how exciting she gets when she sees me take out the running belt.

I was scheduled to do 14 yesterday and only did a little over 10 because the back of my knee has been a little cranky.  This is my last long run before the half marathon on April 2 and I'm feeling pretty good!  I'm just going to keep stretching and lounging about in Epsom salt baths to loosen up the muscles around my knee.  Mary gets here March 31 and I can't wait to see her!