Winter running

I've been trying to get out of the house for a few miles here and there. It has been hard to do between work, the horse, and home schooling. Did I mention we started home schooling our son last fall? He is in the 3rd grade and it has been so wonderful spending time with him and being his teacher.

Hero has completely recovered from his surgery last October. His personality has really bloomed. We can see now that he was uncomfortable all of the time before the surgery. We are so glad that we had it done.

Wet and muddy. Typical northwest run.

Stoneman 14K

Headed to Phoenix at the end of January with to visit a friend. I attended the Scottsdale Arabian Horse show while I was there. I have always wanted to go to the show, and bask in the sun while the most beautiful Arabians in North America are parading around the ring. The show has been an annual thing since 1955! About 2,400 horses are shown each year. It was an amazing experience. I absolutely have to come back again every year for the show. Someday, it is my goal to bring a horse and show at the Scottsdale show. Here are a few videos from the show.

Halter class in the sun.

 

Western pleasure class.

 

Hunt Seat Pleasure class.

 



Before leaving Arizona, I  ran the Stoneman Trail Run. It was advertised as a 10K but it was about 8.5 miles long. It was a very pretty run in the dessert outside of Scottsdale. The morning started out cool, just right for a run.

 

I paused for a scan of the horizon.



The clouds broke up and it turned into a beautiful day!

 

Tami, Lesa, and me after the race.

From Phoenix, I flew to Palm Springs and met up with my dad. We hopped in his car and spent the next 3 days driving home to the Pacific Northwest. Along the way we stopped by Las Vegas for lunch. Then we detoured to Zion for a short hike. The rest of the trip was pretty mundane until we hit some snow in Oregon. I got up early each morning for a 30-60 minute run which felt redeeming since I was sitting in the car for so many hours each day.

Quality time with Dad.

Northwest Trail Runs - Winter Series

My daughter wanted to do the Winter Trail Series again. She won her age group last year so she was motivated to try again this year. Unfortunately, she didn't run the requisite 4 races to actually be ranked. But she had fun anyway!

December 3, 2016 - Redmond Reindeer Romp

At the Redmond Watershed and feeling festive with reindeer antlers.

December 17, 2016 - Seward Solstice Run

 

At Seward Park with Dad. Mom was recovering from a cold.

January 21 Frost Eagle 5 Mile

At Soaring Eagle Park.



Never cold when you are in the saddle

It has been cold this month. But it hasn't stopped us from riding! It's funny how the cold air just disappears when we are at the stable.

 

 

We have been spending a lot of time with our mare. I haven't had time for running. I am starting to wonder if I'll ever run again :(

New Hobby!

My daughter loves to ride horses. She has been to a few horse camps but it's not enough riding time. So, this fall I resolved to lease a horse and allow her to ride every week. At Thanksgiving, we got a call from our friend who heard that a family was giving away their registered Arabian mare. Sweeeeeet! We checked her out, found a stable, and moved her all within a week. She is adorable. Her name is Tama-Faye. We call her Tamra. We are now owners of a horse.

It's a Dog's Life

Three weeks ago, Hero went in for surgery. His scar tissue has been abscessing and getting infected for the last 9 months. The infections are resistant to antibiotics. The poor boy has been uncomfortable for a long time. We went to a dermatologist who took biopsies to make sure he didn't have cancer. Then, he referred us to a surgeon.

 

The surgeon said she could remove the scar tissue and put the edges of the good tissue together. We hope this works!

 

Hero came home the day after surgery. Most of his hair was shaved off! He couldn't lift his leg to pee. Poor kiddo.

  

He was pretty groggy for a few days. It was the pain meds for sure. We needed to keep his activity to a minimum so the stitches would not rip. He seemed content with the kennel situation.

 

After a few days, the bandages loosed and we got our first look at the stitches. He looked like Frankenstein!

 

At two weeks post surgery, he had his stitches removed. He is healing up just fine!

Orca Half Marathon

 



My neighbor invited me to run the Orca Half Marathon last weekend. It is just down the hill from our homes and it was only a half marathon so I signed up. I found out that it has not taken long for me to fall out of shape. I have taken a month and one half off from running and it was a little bit hard to run 13 miles! Luckily, I had my trusty canine friend with me to keep me company because my neighbor was somewhere very far ahead of me!

With fast neighbor, Emily, before the race.

The course was along the water in West Seattle.

The sun was out but the air was brisk. It surely felt like fall was in the air.