Caffeinated Randomness: In less than 24 hours...

...I'll be on the starting line for my first 5k.

I'm not nervous about it at all. I know I can run three miles, so it's one of those things where my attitude is, "Okay, so what am I doing after the 5k?"

(FYI, my entire Saturday is planned. And it's very busy.)

Rindy and I ran/walked around three miles last night. I had such high hopes for this new route I planned out around my house. Turns out it was an EPIC FAIL.

Problem No. 1: Cars
Since we've been running on treadmills, sidewalks, and early in the morning, cars have not been a problem for us. However, the new route was up and down hills and curves, and cars aren't known for driving slow in those parts. Coupled with the increasing darkness, and I was realizing that this route would not be repeated.

Problem No. 2: Wild animals
My dad walks a lot, and a couple of weeks ago, he mentioned he saw a black bear when he went walking. Naturally, my paranoid state kept me looking for bears, even though we live within the city limits. Not that there's not wildlife around...

Right after when we decided to cut our three mile run into about 2.5 due to the darkness (and the only thing reflective on our attire was Rindy's shoes), we heard a dog barking nearby. Hoping that the dog was a) on a leash b) in a fence or c) nice, we picked up the pace a little bit and suddenly noticed a huge animal rushing our way.

I. Nearly. Died.

I just KNEW it was a black bear. It was too dark to make out the animal at first, and as it came closer and closer, it darted across the road in front of us, and rushed into the trees on the other side of the road.

It was a deer.

Not that deer can't mess you up. Especially in a car. But it was nice to know that it wasn't a black bear. Or a mean dog.

Problem No. 3: Hills
All the routes up to this point have been mainly with no hills or small hills. Last night's route had HUGE hills. I discovered the joy of running downhill (It's fantastic) and the agony of going uphill (I'd rather collapse). I decided we don't need to train running uphill. While I'm not sure how hilly our 5k will be, our half-marathon is in New Orleans. Does New Orleans even know what a hill is?

We ran fairly well last night, though both of our knees were hurting. I need to keep a better record of our running activities. I'm thinking that we were sore because we ran so late at night, and, if I had a record, I could look back and tell.

Therefore, I'm guessing the blog is going to be my record keeper. Because I'd lose it otherwise.

Happy Friday, everyone! For more Caffeinated Randomness, visit Andrea!!