Sheesh! Well, it could have been better and it certainly could have been worse. Saturday's are usually reserved for "long" runs but yesterday was such a cluster that I slept most of the day and had to get up at 4am to get the run in today.

The long runs are what the dogs LIVE for...usually they get about three hours of playing in the sagebrush off-leash and largely ignored by humans. We go about an hour's drive outside "town" (population 30,000) and usually, if we are lucky, we will see one car the whole time we are out there...once we went three weeks without seeing anyone. This is the only time the pups are off-leash and it has made a huge difference in their bondedness (not a word, but what the heck) and wipes them out for a few days. Sparky (the white dog, a jack russell-pitbull cross) used to run with me, and he's gone as long as 12 miles, but somewhere along the way he discovered it is more fun to be a dog and catch mice and chase lizards all day with the other dog than it is to plod after me mile after mile. These days, the pups barely glance at me when I come running at them at the end of the day

Waking up at 4am is great for getting the run in before it gets too hot but it also means that I have the WHOLE day in front of me....and food calls my name all day long. Usually I break even or go over my calorie limit (assuming we are aiming for net), and today I managed to go over thanks to potato chips and too much beer. Yep. Went over by a whopping 423 calories according to CK and over about 800 calories according to my trainer. Oh, and the fat allowance for the day was blown out of the water too...consumed 82 grams as opposed to the trainer's recommended 31. Yes, 31 grams is obscenely low, I agree...but most days I can pull it off.

Tomorrow is a cross-training day and I also travel out of town for work. I will be prepared though! I have oodles of 99% fat free turkey and chicken breasts thawing in the fridge and plan to spend my evenings concocting my website for my (possible) dog running business.