Well, I guess last weekend was exciting enough to have a very lame week of running.

After a race, I like to give my 31-year-old-self at least 2 days to recover. Since I “raced” Friday and again on Sunday, I knew Monday and Tuesday would definitely be easy days. On Monday, I felt surprisingly good. It was one of those days I wanted to run forever! Those days always seem to coincide with the days I am on the biggest time-crunch of the week. I took what I could get and completed a few glorious miles.

On Tuesday I was reflecting on 9/11/01 and totally zoned out most of my easy paced run. With 3 miles to go, I found myself within 10 feet of a large buck. I kept yelling “go buck”! It was not as much fun as the day I ran into 2 bucks on the trail and yelled “Go Bucks!”, but it did help lighten my mood.

Go Bucks! A little Ohio State humor for you. Pic taken during cross country 2001. Look, I’m Pippi Longstocking!

Wednesday was supposed to be a workout. I set my alarm for VERY early. My daughter woke up 10 minutes before that so I was on child duty. I decided to do the workout that night when Jeff was home from work. Unfortunately, I ate something that didn’t agree with my stomach so Wednesday turned into another easy run.

Thursday was going to be a workout for sure. I set the alarm early again, and my little lady was up early AGAIN! So, a medium length trail run with the stroller took the place of speed.

Playtime on the trail post-run.

Currie and I are headed to the beach on Sunday morning so I’m doing my long run on Saturday. I figured today might as well be another easy run then I’ll hit the long run hard with a few quality miles mixed in tomorrow. During my easy miles today, I added 7×100 meter strides on the track. I had to remind my legs they were fast before tomorrow’s run!

What do I do when I am forced to run easy when I planned to do speed? Run with my phone and hope to see something entertaining! Here are a few things I saw.

Second road sign prank on this corner within the past 6 months.

This tree is along my every day running route. It gets dressed up according to holidays, seasons, etc. Here the tree is sporting the “end of summer” look.

This is the tree back in the spring. It likes to dress-down too. Sometimes, all you need is an umbrella.

That was my week of running! I was trying to find a race for tomorrow (Saturday) before we leave for vacation, but I couldn’t find anything too exciting so I’m sitting this weekend out of the racing scene.

What’s going on in your running world this weekend? Have you ever seen a fancied-up tree?