Emma the Firefighter: Howl-a-ween 2009

I went to Petsmart yesterday around noon, hoping to find a last minute Halloween costume for Emma. I was really hoping to find an alligator or dragon costume, but they were all out. I did find this great firefighter outfit for $3 though! Emma didn't really like wearing it at all, but it was fun to get a short video of her in it!

J.D. Crowe Bluegrass Festival 5k race report

Yesterday morning I ran the J.D. Crowe Bluegrass Festival 5k race in Wilmore. The race was held out on the trails in Icthus campgrounds, which I try to incorporate into my Saturday morning long runs.

I went into the race with high hopes of running a sub 25 minute 5k. This has been my goal for every 5k race I've done for the past year, well probably the past two years. I always get close, but never get under 25:00. In the spring I finished several 5ks in the 25:40 - 26:30 range, but could never get close to 25:00. This summer I have been trying to get in at least 4-5 runs per week, in the 3-6 mile range. I've been doing speed work and hill repeats, and I know this has helped me.

I've also been running in Nike Lunarglides for the past two weeks - these shoes are awesome! It was time to hang up the pair of Mizuno Wave Creations that I got in January, so I decided to branch out a little bit and look for a lighter shoe. I think the Mizunos weigh around 13oz, while the Lunarglides only weigh 7...this made a big difference! The Lunarglides have really good arch support (which is good for my high arches) and lots of ankle support. They are pretty roomy in the toe box area, almost a little too roomy, but this is actually good for me as my toes tend to fan out with each foot fall. In my first pair of running shoes (Asics) my little toes actually burst out of the sides of the toe box due to this fanning out phenomenon - ha! But I really love the Lunarglides - Runner's World has really been pushing these shoes, both in their September issue and on their website, and I can see why.

So, yesterday morning I woke up and got my stuff together, ate a piece of toast with peanut butter and drank a Doubleshot, and headed into Wilmore at 7:15 for the 8:00am race start. The morning was cool (in the 60's) and clear, and runners were just starting to arrive when I pulled up to the race site. I checked in, got my t-shirt and my number (no bibs, just "18" written on my left hand with a Sharpie) and then went for a 10 minute warm-up run. I hoped that my training would pay off and that I would set a PR, but I was also realistic about the conditions...this was a cross-country race, held on gravel trails, grassy paths and sections of paved road. The gravel trails at Icthus have chewed me up and spit me out in the past, so I've tried to incorporate them more into my training lately in preparation for this race. I also made the mistake of eating a late dinner on Friday at Zaxby's...instead of being smart and eating a "zalad" with grilled chicken, I ate a grilled chicken sandwich (not too bad of a choice) with fries (bad choice) and a whole order of fried mushrooms (real bad choice)...with ranch dressing.

Needless to say, my stomach was just a burning after my warm-up run. Oh well, there was nothing that could be done at that point, so I just decided to suck it up and do my best. Shortly after 8:00am, we all lined up (there were probably 35 runners or so) and off we went at the sound of the starting gun. I started at the very back of the pack, but made my way to the middle and settled into a nice pace. My stomach burned and churned through most of the run, but I kept pushing and could see that each of my mile splits were setting me up for a finish in the 24s. I crossed the finish line in 24:54 - just making my sub 25 minute goal, and earning 1st place in the 25-29 age group! It was a fun local race that I look forward to racing again next year!

Last week, we watched our little friend Max for a few days while his parents (my co-workers) went to New England for a vacation. Emma enjoyed having a friend around the house, but she had her bouts of jealousy, too. Here are some pictures from Max's visit, with my commentary:

"Yes? Can we help you?"

Max, settling back into the old red chair

Emma, reclaiming the red chair..."Who...me?"
(this is one of my favorite pictures of her, ever!)

"Max, I don't want to play with your toy sheep, but I don't want you to be able to play with it,
so I am just going to sit on it."

This was either before or after the battle for the toy sheep...

Vacation!!

We are packing up and shipping off for a week of vacation in lovely Louisiana. Every summer since we have moved to Kentucky we have gone back home to Louisiana to spend a week with family and relax. The two parts of the year I most look forward to are Christmas and our summer trip to Louisiana - because we are able to be surrounded by our families.

While we have made wonderful friends here in Kentucky and have really built up a family here, there is nothing like being home. I mean home home. I tentatively call our address here in Kentucky home, but Texas and Louisiana will always be home home.

So, tomorrow morning me, Chad and Emma will embark on a 14-hour drive to Alexandria, Louisiana to Chad's parents house. During our trip I plan to swim, float in the pool, lay by the pool, read by the pool, play with Emma in the pool...you get the drift!

I also plan to get some good transition training in, since I will have readily available access to a pool. I am going to work on my swim to ride transition, as well as my ride to run transition. My triathlon is less than 4 weeks away and doubts and nervousness and excitement is really starting to set in. I feel well prepared for the distance, but I will feel better after doing a mock tri next week.

I am also very excited about getting to see my side of the family next week. Last summer I was able to see my grandmother, aunt and cousin on my dad's side, and this summer I will get to see my grandparents, aunt, cousins and family on my mom's side. I wish there was a way I could see everyone each summer. I can't wait to reunite with my cousins Emily and Amy - we've been partners in crime since birth. And now Amy and her husband Tim have a beautiful baby boy that I will get to meet.

The other great thing about the trip is that my family (my mom, dad, sisters Megan and Michelle and niece Brittany) will be driving over from Houston to spend three days with us in Alexandria. Brittany will be turning 10 (which I just cannot believe) on July 31st, so we will get to celebrate her birthday with her a few days early.

Brittany w/ Emma - 4 years ago. My little babies are just growing up so fast!

My sister Megan has really gotten into Crossfit, so I am going to do a few "WOD's" (workout of the day) with her. These will likely leave me in a heap, but I am going to give it a try.

I hope to have a lot of pictures to post after the vacation. I will also be "live tweeting" our trip down to Alexandria and back. You can follow my Twitter feed on the side bar here, or at twitter.com/meremawbrooks

We have a plethora of items to keep us entertained on the way down. We just picked up a Griffin iTrip so that we can listen to podcasts. I have some episodes of the The Stay Tuned Report, Triathletes Coffee Shop, and Zen and the Art of Triathlon stored up to listen to, and Chad has some Bigfoot podcasts that he has downloaded. You can guess which part of the drive I will be sleeping through!

I also recently picked up David Sedaris' most recent book "When You are Engulfed in Flames" to read on the trip. I am also working my way through John Grisham's "The Client" for the second time. After watching the Ultramarathon Man dvd about Dean Karnazes, I am considering re-reading "50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days."

Well, happy trails (and tails, in honor of Emma)! I will post when we are back in Kentucky with vacation pictures and training updates.

Mutt Strutt 2009 Part 2

Moving right along!

This is my favorite picture from the day - getting some help from dad at the water station!

Moving at a pretty good clip! Emma looks so tiny here!

Walking with Dad, this was near the middle of the race.

Walking on the curb - Emma loves walking on ledges!

Still on the curb!

At the finish line. Emma felt like a sponge when I picked her up!

Now that's one tired doggy!

We stopped at Chick-fil-A on the way home for a post-race treat...Chicken Minis!

Mutt Strut 2009 Part 1

On Memorial Day morning, Chad and I took Emma out to Keeneland for the 2009 Mutt Strutt, a 2k walk to benefit the Lexington Humane Society. We arrived at 8:45am for the 9:00am start. As soon as we got out of the car, it began pouring. We armed ourselves with umbrellas and made our way to the starting area. There were tons of dogs, I'm guessing 75-100, and I don't think Emma really knew what to do. She sniffed the other dogs and made friends - she didn't get aggressive with anyone and no one got aggressive with her. I was a little worried that she would be aggressive, because she can be pretty dominant at times! Especially with small dogs...and small children. But luckily, every thing worked out ok!

After about 2 minutes in the rain, Emma's underbelly was completely soaked, but she didn't seem to mind. She waded through huge puddles and walked through grass and mud. We waited at the starting area for about 15 minutes, and then the walk began. Emma made the rookie mistake of going out too fast, but I think she was swept up in the adrenaline of the large crowd of people and dogs moving swiftly in one direction. She kept to the right, in the grass and mud, and really booked it. We were walking briskly, trying to get her to slow down because we knew she wouldn't make it the whole way at that pace! But she kept on charging through. It stopped raining right before the start so that was really nice - but the conditions were definitely muddy.
I only had to carry Emma for a short spell near the end - she was walking on a little ledge and started teeter-tottering, so we thought it best to carry her for a little bit. She proudly walked across the finish line in 27:45! Here are some pictures from the day - I will post the rest of the pictures in a "part 2" post tomorrow!

Eager with anticipation!

Hiding out from the rain in a horse barn

Taking the obligatory picture with Mama -
but Emma just wanted to check out the competition!

Sizing up the competition

A few of the participants, braving the rain

At the start, pulling hard and staying in the mud

Yep, still in the mud!

...stay tuned for part 2 with more pictures!

Gone to the Dogs

This past Saturday, we dog-sat for one of my co-workers. He has a 3-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Max. Max and Emma have met once before, and they seemed to get along well. Max is a very sweet, calm and gentle dog...sort of the antithesis of Emma!

Max came over about 7:30am on Saturday morning and stayed in his kennel until about 9:30am. We kept trying to get him to come out, but he seemed very content to sit in his little house. After a couple of hours, he ventured out.

About a month ago, Chad acquired an obscure red, square shaped chair with a right triangle type back. It's very strange, and we haven't quite figured out what to do with it yet. For now, it has been relegated to our extra bedroom next to our extra mattress (aka the guest bed), until we can get it moved upstairs.

Max checked the house out, but he settled in on the red chair for his favorite place to lounge. Emma had never shown any particular interest in the chair before...but that all changed when Max wanted to sit on it.

I now present to you a photographic time line of the Battle for the Red Chair.

Disclaimer: no Cavalier King Charles spaniels or miniature dachshunds were hurt in the making of this photographic journey.

While Max was getting used to his surroundings by resting in his kennel,
Emma took it upon herself to play with all of his toys.

Max finally felt comfortable enough to leave his kennel.

About this time, Emma came into the room and realized that Max was on the chair.
Her chair, apparently!

Emma starts her attack by going for the tail.

The battle for the chair raged on as Emma went for the jugular
(...in a sweet, playful way).

Max finally gave up the good fight and conceded the chair to Emma.

Emma decided to flaunt her victory by laying on her side and howling.

The end!

Emma Pics

A few recent shots* of Emma:

Playing in the snow

Resting with Dad

Holding her favorite toy and looking out the window at the snow

*Have I mentioned how much I LOVE our new digital camera!?!

The Dog Days of November

For the past week we have been watching Daisy, a 2 year old, 50 pound "Goldendoodle" (Golden Retriever, Poodle mix). She is a sweetheart of a dog, a gentle giant if you will. I've loved having her here with us, but I think little Emma is absolutely worn out. It will be sad to see Daisy go, but I know she will be ecstatic to her mama and daddy tonight.

The first few days were pretty interesting, - establishing boundaries and such - i.e. "Daisy, don't sit on Emma's head!" and "Daisy, did you just swallow Emma's toy lobster??" and/or "Daisy, did you just swallow EMMA??"

Yes, it has been interesting to reorient ourselves to having a large dog in the house with us. I took them on walks together every morning, and they did really well. They kept pace with one another and walked neatly side by side. It was cold and rainy on Friday evening and Saturday morning, so I took Daisy out for some solo walks. I was absolutely amazed at the ground we covered in the amount of time we were out walking. The distance I can go with Emma in 30 minutes is about 1/4 of the distance I can go with Daisy. But to be fair, Daisy's legs are about 9x longer than Emma's. I've taken them out to the dog park every day so that they can be free to do their own thing. Wrangling two wiggling and excited dogs into the car, out of the car, putting them on their leashes, taking off their leashes, making sure they aren't mauling or being mauled by other dogs in their respective sides of the dog park (big dog side and little dog side) - whew! It has been a workout for me, but I've loved it. Chad, who has been sleeping on the couch all week while Daisy has been snoozing with me, I'm not so sure that he's loved it. But he has been a really good sport, and is glad that we could help out some of our friends by watching Daisy.

Here are some pictures of Goofus and Gallant from the week (from my cell phone, may be a little grainy): Daisy says "Hi!"

"Do we have to get up?"

Snack time, Saturday morning

Nap time, Saturday afternoon

Photo Shoot

A few months ago, I was approached by The Doxie Digest, a quarterly publication for and by dachshund owners. They asked me if I would be interested in writing a short column each issue, through Emma's perspective. A chance to be part of a 72+ page publication about dachshunds? Um, yes - count me in. I submitted my first piece to them on Monday, and they asked me to also include a head shot of the both of us. So, my good buddy Justin Delatte was kind enough to indulge me and Emma in an impromptu photo shoot on Sunday evening. I thought I would post some of the contenders here. The winning shot will be at the end. Thank you, Justin!Cannibalism.

My personal favorite.

My little cuddlebug.

"Mom! Not in front of the neighbors!"


The winner!

Fears Revealed

(Warning: This post is kind of a serious one. I won't be talking about running or dogs...well, ok I will be talking about dogs, but I will be sharing with the blogosphere something that has really been on my heart and mind lately.)

So here goes...

I can't imagine having kids.

I know this is a pretty bold statement, but it is one that has been dancing around in my head for the past few years. I used to not like kids. And then a few weeks ago I thought that I may be pregnant. This was really, really terrifying to me. Turns out that I'm not pregnant and had just eaten too many Ramen Noodles.

When I was in high-school I always imagined that I would live out my days alone, yet surrounded by a few faithful canine companions. Luckily, I met the man of my dreams and married him in 2005 and I was able to push aside the thoughts of being alone in this world. But now we are wrestling with the idea of kids. And, I do like kids now. Several of our friends have kids...Athan, Morgan, Lucy, Azzy, Trey, Margot, Israel and the little buns in the oven of Hannah and Charis and my niece Brittany have truly helped me to see what a joy having children in your life can be.

But then I think the about this fallen world that we live in. Death, disease, hate, accidents and so much more...these things terrify me. I look upon my friends and family members who are mothers with great respect. It's a hard job...and I struggle all the time with whether I would be cut out for it. I know that Chad will be a wonderful father, so much so that it breaks my heart to think that because of my fear...he may never get the chance to be one.

And that is why I think I enjoy dogs so much. They are manageable and safe. To a certain extent, most dogs are completely reliant on their owners. Our mini-dachshund Emma looks to us for food, water, love, affection, discipline, exercise, etc. As she grows and the years pass, she will stay right by our side. We don't have to let her out into this world for her to explore on her own. While she would probably love the freedom of being able to chase with reckless abandon any squirrel, bunny or cat that comes across her path, she seems pretty content to stay with us.

While we are on vacation in Louisiana, our friends Justin and Charis are going to be staying at our house and watching Emma for us. Emma absolutely adores Justin and Charis. They are like her Uncle Jessie and Aunt Becky. Truth be told, Emma will probably be disappointed when we get back from vacation and Justin and Charis go back to their house. But I find myself gripped with fear at the thought of leaving her. It is an irrational fear for many reasons - one being that there is no one that we trust her more with than Justin and Charis.

About 90% of my anxiety comes from my own doing and my OCD tendencies...I follow the same routine with her everyday and know just how she reacts to different situations on walks, just how she likes the blankets in her crate to be folded, where she likes her back legs to be scratched, etc. I find comfort and almost pride in this - "knowing" her better than anyone else. I'm finding that it is sometimes hard to hand over something you cherish to people you love. I know I am making this a whole lot huger of an ordeal than it needs to be and this is a lot to put in a blog post, but writing this has allowed me to come to some realizations that I might not have come to with the thoughts just bouncing around in my head. When it comes time for us to leave for the airport, I'm going to take a deep breath, give Emma a kiss on the head (over towards her right ear, she really likes that), thank Justin and Charis profusely for watching her, and leave my worries in Kentucky as we head south.

So I don't know where this leaves me with the whole kids thing. I think that leaving Emma for 10 days will be an exercise in growing more and fearing less. More on this topic to come as I continue to flesh things out.

PS: Here are some pictures of Emma for everyone to enjoy.


Enjoying an al fresco dinner this summer.


Emma, being dramatic.


Begging for a belly rub.


On vacation in Alexandria last year. This is her favorite spot -
a wicker loveseat in The Brooks' sun room.


Emma and her mama (me) before the Jessamine County Humane Society 5k, May 2007

My Favorite Things

A simple list of some of things that are making me happy at the moment:

1. Helmets for doggies. I saw a dog get hit by a car on Saturday as I was taking Emma for a walk. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. Thankfully, the dog is ok - but, I am going to make Emma wear a helmet at all times now. (Picture courtesy of dachshundlove.blogspot.com)

















2. My Emma. Seeing that dog get hit really made me love and appreciate her more. I want to protect her and give her the best life that we can.











3. Making "mix tapes" on www.mixwit.com. I can listen to the smooth sounds of Michael Buble to my heart's content while at work.

4. Hearing my Flying Pig race report on Steve Runner's Phedippidations podcast - it was a dream come true to be featured on my favorite podcast ever - thanks Steve!

5. Celebrating three years of marriage with Chad this Wednesday!