Recovery from this upper respritory infection has been quicker than I expected which not only great but also gives me some hope that I will be able to get this long distance run in and see where I am at in my training. The race is June and I am excited but also nervous. Its coming up so quickly and even though I thought that the Yellowstone half would be my last half marathon here I am, going for number 3. Im hoping that this race will be easier then the last one. Yellowstone was do able but man was it rough. I thought I was going to die on the hill and I certainly thought that I would be in trouble once the race was over. For a little over two months my feet were on fire and recovery was so slow. 

But regarless of that fact im doing it again. Im getting back out there to conquor another thirteen miles. If you told me 10 years ago that I would have done as much running as I have I would have laughed and said there is no way. I hated running. I hated everything about it. It was slow, annoying, not fun in the slightest and made me angry at how I wasnt able to push myself when I needed to. I was lazy and just lived inside most of my teen years. 

Now as an adult im so proud of myself for being able to to get outside, run and just enjoy what life has to offer. I will say though that getting sick is not fun but sometimes its necessary to take a moment and appreciate what you can do and what you have. LIfe is so short and we are only here for a short time so enjoy it. You never what is around the corner and you never know what you may end up doing. You may even surprise yourself. 

Well, this is a later post than I expected. Truth be told I've been coming down with a head cold of some kind. It's been a little tough to get through because I feel pretty dragged down, I don't feel like going out and doing things and I'm just all around sniffily and gross. I've been doing what I can to help myself out with my throat by having tea and making sure to have enough water to keep me hydrated. I've been also taking hot showers to clear my sinuses which has been helpful. It's been a rough few days and some of my plans for the long run have been thrown to the side. I'm going to try to do 3 miles but I'm not sure how far ill really go. I'm hoping that once I get going I can keep it up at a slow but steady pace and get where I need to be to just feel satisfied. 

It will be more difficult today since Lylah is taking her rest days at the moment. Without her being by my side it's like not having a coach to motivate you to do what you need to do. Nobody to push you or in her case, pull you at random times. I can tell when she is down because she doesn't get out to run but I have learned that I Have to give her an appropriate amount of time off so that she is not being overworked. It would be bad to push her too hard and put her in pain (limb-wise) just have to have some company while I run. 

Shades of Pink and Blue $98 9*12

I'm hoping this will pass by quickly, that I will feel much better and in tip-top shape soon. I do need to complete an eight-mile circuit but I just don't think that will happen until I feel 100% again. We are getting under the five-month point for the half marathon so I've been slowly pushing the milage and so far it's been feeling pretty decent. We will see how that eight-mile run goes once I am feeling up to speed. 

Stay safe, stay hydrated, and keep on the hustle. 

One of the things about having Lylah is that you are constantly outside and exploring new areas to make sure that she gets the appropriate amount of exercise. The other day we went to a greenway area to walk and go to a dog park. The whole greenway is just a little over three miles there and back so it's perfect to go out and just have a stroll. We get out to the greenway (which is new for us both) and we walk and start doing some small training exercises to get her used to the area. We get a mile in and you have to go under a bridge which Lylah is timid of but seemed to be ok going under it. 

We get under the bridge and on the other side and immediately her tail is down. Over to my left, there are some teenage girls dancing and singing to some hip-hop music near a soccer field. I look over and observe while slowing down to try and see if Lylah will give me any sort of attention. She is trying to focus on me but the girls are loud and at some point, there are screaming and pointing at me. I didn't hear what they said but they were making a point to be obnoxious. I keep moving and choose to ignore them. It's not a bad area in town and for them to scream and yell only made me roll my eyes. 

So Lylah and I keep moving and I see up ahead that someone is coming our way. Lylah stops and goes to the side and lays down on the grass staring as the person comes closer. He is on a skateboard and lylah is terrified of skateboards. We haven't had much of a chance to work with them to ease that fear since I no longer own one so I let her get her distance and watch her closely as the guy goes by. He then yelled at me too. I pull out my earbud and look at him 

"What?"

"You should take that dog out more so she not so scared"

I raised my eyebrow at him and scoffed. 

"She's scared of your skateboard so keep moving".

He stared at me and eventually kept going and we made our way to the dog park. Lylah hasn't been to one since she turned one and she seemed ok there but wasn't interested in the other dogs. She tried to play but couldn't find a good buddy to play with so we left. The whole walk back all I could think about was the people screaming at me. It's been a while since someone felt entitled enough to try to tell me what to do with Lylah and it annoyed me a bit. Nobody has a right to judge on what you do with your dog and Lylah has gotten out more than most dogs. She's not comfortable with cities like noise and that's because she hasn't really been around it and we are working on it. So if you feel like judging someone for how they are with their dog maybe think about that before you say anything. Most of us are just trying to do the best we can for our pets.  

Having a dog is a joy and also a strange burden. For those that have never owned a puppy and raised it just imagine a toddler screaming at your for six months, you have no idea what kind of personality they will have and just constantly watching them day in and day out, correcting them on what is good and bad and giving up normal sleep so they can go out to potty.  That's what the first six months or so were like for me when I adopted Lylah. 

Lylah came into my life at a time when I really needed it and we struggled to figure out a good rhythm as owner and dog said, owner. I live a pretty active lifestyle so for the first six months, her life was riddled with adventure. We did training constantly and we were bonding over crossing the United States on a vast road of unknowns. In the first six months of her life Lylah got to visit 11 states in two months. To me, that's a feat for not only a person but for a six-month-old puppy that's wild. Most people probably would think that I overdid it for her but in honesty, it helped so much. It made her tired constantly and she got to understand that I am her human. THat the world is vast and beautiful and that she was a part of it. 

The first year of a dog's life is so crucial. They are getting to know you, they are understanding your language, the rules, how you act, who you know around you, what to expect in this short life of theirs, and most of all how to be the dog you shape them to be while being themselves. You have a short window of time to train properly and a short window to form this bond with them to show that YOU are their person. Of course, there are situations where you will rescue older dogs or dogs past that puppy stage but the first year is still something that they are going to remember. That was the start of their life and for dogs, life moves so quickly. They only have a short time in our lives. A blip compared to a human and giving them their best foundation and life is what matters. 

Lylah will be two in April and it's hard to believe we have come so far in such a short time. We have so many adventures to go on and I am so proud of how far we have come together. I am more and more surprised as the days go on that she still is a part of my life, that she has put up with my rules and that she has still decided a day in and day out to come back to me when I ask her to. Just like dogs, it's a choice. they know when you are good or bad, they can sense it before we can see it and I am grateful Lylah sees the good in me and continues to be my adventure buddy. 

I'm hoping to give her the life she deserves and to make her happy and so far I think I'm doing that and I hope to continue that journey with her by my side. After all, she is the first dog that I have raised and trained and I want to do good for her. She taught me so much and I hope to use what I have learned for future dogs (if that is what I decide). 

So if you decide to get a dog or a puppy please realize that they are DOGS and not humans. You have to do right by them and teach them properly and give them a foundation. They are not Children and they need to have good structure and a ton of love. After all, that is what dogs deserve from us. 

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Gallery is here 

As we all are very aware Covid has impacted us all in ways that we would just love to reverse. I know for me it ruined traveling overseas for two years and it made finding an apartment back in my hometown impossible due to the new standards that they put in place to try and prevent people from hunkering down in the apartment without paying. It became a hassle and they were asking for unreasonable amounts of money to have a place to live. It ultimately is what broke down some of my relationships and forced me to have to make decisions to make sure I didn't become homeless with a dog and a cat trying to live in a van like home (which is possible but not when the van wasn't even close to ready to a van lifestyle or mindset). Ultimately I left my old life behind and made the decision to move to Tennessee to not only save myself from what was to come back in my hometown but to also help my sanity. 

It turns out that was the right call and six months later I'm doing much better and I'm not figuring out my next steps in this crazy adulthood life that was thrown upon me. I'm hopeful for change and that is also why I have been getting into my business more and trying to get things back on track. 

Of course, Covid still has some impact on my living situation and that's been a tough one to overcome. IM looking for small homes to rent out west and it's been interesting to read what these places have in place because of covid. Most of them are requiring you to make three to four times the rent which in some places seems unreasonable considering the circumstances. Luckily none seem to require vaccinations or any of that crap which is good. I mostly worry about them trying to play that card if I decided to move out there and rent from someone. Of course, I'm hopeful that things go smoothly when I do decide. The other option is to just live in the van for a bit and travel but the first it has to find a job where I don't need to have a wired connection to work or have a huge desktop to make that happen. With my current job, those two things are required and I'm hoping to find something with salary base pay instead. 

Covid has really messed things up and it's been a struggle to figure out how to move forward with all this craziness that's going around. I'm not a fan of it and It gives me a headache just thinking about it.