A little shy and sad of eye

It hasn't really been a long holiday weekend for moi, but it had that "shoulda been" feeling to it. I worked a half day on Saturday and a full day on Monday, then had Tuesday off. I feel off kilter. Yesterday had a definite Sunday vibe about it, only where was the thick paper? Where was that vestigial pang of guilt about skipping church for something like ten years running? Where was the pre-shower manscape and whank? Oh wait. That last part was just like Sunday. Only the shaving part was just a touch-up since it'd only been two days since Sunday. But hey, that meant extended whank time. PS? My toes, even curled (especially curled?), still looked fab from the pedi.

What there was of my holiday emphasized the relaxing. Some good friends have a lake house nearby and I spent most of Saturday and Sunday lounging around on their deck, mixed in with a little time on their boat and jet skis (FYI: in Russian, they are "jetskis"). We had a nice relaxing time there. Good food, good friends, benign conversation. When I wasn't there, it seemed like I was running, Forrest-style. I did 4.5 miles on Friday, 5.5 miles on Sunday and 6 miles Tuesday morning. The pace? Brisk. The feeling? Effortless. Those kind of runs crop up every once in a great while and when they do, they are to be savored. If you're a runner, you get that. The run yesterday was at 7.5 minutes/mile pace, normally an effort for me, and it felt like I could go forever. Two of these holiday runs were on an old canal towpath that connects my little burg to the next one. It looks exactly like this:Does it get more patently rural Midwest than that? On the Sunday morning run, I never saw another soul, save the rabbits and herons and groundhogs and bullfrogs, along the entire path. Bliss. Part of the credit for the effortless runs has gotta be the shoes. Holla, Mars! I just picked up the Nike Air Max 360s and I am truly, madly, deeply in love with them.I know there are serious runners who sneer at Nike, but those are the same people who sneer at Starbucks and Microsoft and every other ginormous corporation. Didn't you get the memo? Being knee-jerk anti-establishment is SO passe'. Anyway, I have a narrow foot (though long, size 11, and you know what they say about men with big feet) and Nike running shoes tend to run narrow. They fit me snug (aka like a dream). And with the full length Max Air sole, they are like running on clouds. Bonus is that I got them for a steal on eBay. Oh, and they're blue, my fave. ::sighs contentedly:: Now if I can just resist buying those Nike iTunes shoes when they come 'round.