18 big ones. :P

I was really, really nervous today about my run since yesterday's run was sooo horrible!  And somehow even with the time change and me not being able to sleep past about 5am, I still managed to leave the house much later than I had wanted.  And I couldn't decide what to wear because it was only 43° when I left the house and only supposed to get into the 50's.  So I decided on shorts and a light long sleeve shirt.  At about mile 1.5 I knew this was a mistake because I was hot.  So I changed my route a little and ran back by my house at mile 5 and quickly changed into a sleeveless shirt.  So much better!

And now I know that if it's over 40° the day of the race, I'll be in a tank top!  And since I had changed my route I had to figure out a new one.  Normally I run the big square on really long runs but today it was all neighborhood running.  I must have passed this pond 4 times today!

But sometimes neighborhood running is good.  For example, this picture was taken at about mile 13 and I was completely out of water so I just stopped at a random house with no cars in the driveway and borrowed some water and filled my water bottles back up.  :)

The run today really was pretty uneventful.  Just a nice, medium paced run.  The weather was nice and I felt pretty good which was a relief after my run yesterday.  I like this little pond that I ran by with only about 2 miles to go.

And then I ran by the site of my kids' high school.  It will open school year 2012-13.  Funny to think that these fields will probably look a lot different after the school gets built.

I finished the 18 miles about a quarter of a mile from my house.  I saw a lot of little fuzzy caterpillars on the road while I was running and I always think of my grandma when I see caterpillars because she would catch them and we would watch them change into butterflies.  So I saw one on the road and I found a bottle and put him in it so I could take him home and have some fun with the kids.

I got home and just 2 of the kiddos were home so I told them to go gather some sticks and leaves so we could build a little habitat.  And we made it in a jar and I got the caterpillar out of the bottle I had him in and he was crawling around on my hand and Austin says, "Hey Mom, aren't the fuzzy ones poisonous?"  Well I know nothing about caterpillars and he said he heard it in school so who knows.  I put him in the jar quickly after that comment!

And here he is in his new home.  I'll keep ya posted on when he makes his cocoon and when our beautiful butterfly emerges.  :)

Splits today were good.  Very happy with the 9:14 overall pace.  The last 2 miles were a little disappointing because I like to finish strong but there was a serious wind in my face those miles so I'm ok with it.

Tomorrow is my rest day and I need it.  Legs are feeling a little sore tonight.  I'll post my weekly stats tomorrow.