I Feel Pretty

My mood has greatly improved since last week.  Two great things have happened in the past two days.  Number one, the local temperatures broke freezing for the first time since, well, I can't even remember when.  Second, I got to spend Valentines Day with The Wife.

Let's start with yesterday.  We were blessed with a high in the mid 40s.  The sky was this strange blue color, rather than the gray that we've all grown accustom to around here.  With all the complaining I've been doing about the weather lately, I didn't want to be a hypocrite and let the day go to waste. 

I had already done long treadmill run the previous Thursday, so instead of trying to kick my own butt again I decided to just 'run casually' and enjoy the afternoon.  The local sidewalks were a bit of a minefield.  With all the melting snow, you had to look twice at every puddle and make a judgment call as to whether it was shallow enough to run through, narrow enough to jump over or imposing enough to avoid altogether.  I only ended up with soggy toes a couple of times, so all was good. 

Once I made it down to Medicine Lake, I found that the park trails were in great shape.  It was refreshing to run on actual asphalt and concrete rather than snow and ice.  It was also promising to see that my pace hasn't taken too much of a hit since last fall.  I was hitting 9:10 to 9:15 per mile, which for a casual run is pretty OK.   Shoot.  At this time last year I was averaging splits at around 10:00 per mile.  All in all, it was a great run.  I know that we've still got plenty of winter left to smack us around, so I'll take all of this that I can get.

After my run, I got ready for Valentines Day.  The Wife and I took the day off of work and scheduled a couples massage and spa day.  Since I didn't want to frighten the poor soul assigned to massage me, I decided to clean things up a little bit 'down there'.  No no no.  Not THERE.  I mean my LEGS.  Sheesh. 

Shaving your legs means a few things.  First, it's a way for runners, swimmers and cyclists to put on their 'game face' and helps them feel faster.  Second, it tells everyone else at the gym and in the pool that you're so serious about training that you don't care what society says about men shaving their legs.  Third, it says that you care enough about your masseuse not to give them rug burn on their hands.

Before = Wookie Legs

After a few moments with the hedge trimmers electric clippers, and a few more moments with the foam and razor, I was ready to go. 

Ahhhh.  Much better.

So, today The Wife and I got to spend the day together.  We don't spend as much time together as we like; she's going back to school at the moment and our work schedules don't mesh the best, so getting the whole day is kind of a big deal. 

We headed down for our spa time and enjoyed a nice hour-long massage together.  My masseuse didn't say anything about my legs, but I could tell she was grateful.  After the massages, The Wife got a manicure, and I sat down for my first pedicure.  Runners are known to beat the heck out of their feet, so I was looking forward to showing my tootsies a little love.

No.  My toenails weren't THAT bad.

See.  Nice purdy tootsies.

Would I do a pedicure again?  Eh.  Maybe.  It was nice to have them sand off the rough spots and clean things up a bit, but I spent more time trying not to focus on how much it tickled than I did actually enjoying the experience. 

After our spa treatments, The Wife and I headed over to Old Chicago and enjoyed a nice burger and fries.  Good stuff.  She's out at an evening class now, but for a day off work, I couldn't have asked for more.  It was a great day.  I love ya hon!