Today was a great day.

As far as days go, it is up there with my Top 100. For reals y'all. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Woke up to perfect running weather. 45 degrees (7.22C.) Shorts and a long sleeve shirt. I mean c'mon, it doesn't get any better than that! Good thing because I had 16 miles (25.75 km) on my schedy. Thank goodness my crew was meeting at White Rock Lake to run 9. (once around the lake) That only left me with 7 measly miles to bust out on my own. Whew.

Conversation and company was great, per ush. And, drumroll please, a cyclist actually said, "Good morning" to me. True, I said it first, but he answered me! Y'all know it is my mission to get cyclist to like runners. Or at least be nice. Or, heck, just not flip us off and yell mean things. I'll settle for no mean things. But an actual GREETING?!?! I must be living right.

Or something.

High on my little victory, the rest of the run flew by and it was soon time for my girlies to part. Sniff. I changed shirts (by now needed short sleeves) headed back out to finish my run and oh glory be it was shaping up to be a beeyootiful day! The sun was shining, it was now about 55 degrees (12.77 C) and everyone at the lake seemed to be in good spirits.

There was a team relay going on, one of Dallas' smaller races and I enjoyed watching and encouraging the competitors as they whizzed (or plodded) by. I even saw Anne's hubby pushing their second child in the jog stroller. What a trooper pushing a toddler for 9 miles!

Once I reached about 3.5 miles I turned around to head back to the car. And since (for once) the sun was out and I was alone, (with no one to bother with my incessant picture taking) I snapped away at some of the amazing houses on the lake. Now, you can live NEAR the lake in a mid-century ranch, with about 2,500 sq feet (762 sq meters) of living space, NOT UPDATED for a measly $600 to $700 K. A bargain, right? You can only imagine how much these darlin's go for. They all face the lake. This one is called Mt. Vernon. I wasn't able to get the 16 car garage in the shot. It doubles as a Party Barn in case you're curious.

It's for sale and rumored to be listed for $50 million. Oh yes, and it's owned by the Hunt family. Very old money in Dallas. They own practically everything that the Nashers don't own. You can read all about it here if you are interested. Keep in mind I took these with my phone. It doesn't do them justice.

Tara!

Whatever they are charging, it's worth it. I would totes pay it if I had it. You get to live on the lake and wake up to this sunrise every morning.

Plus, you're still only 15 minutes from Northpark Mall. A def bonus!

After my little photo sesh, I picked up the pace. I kept passing this one girl. I'd stop to take pics and she'd pass me. She's start walking and I'd pass her. Over and over. Finally I caught up to her once again and she started walking. "Oh no you don't" I commanded.

She looked at me, understandably bewildered. I commented that we kept taking turns passing each other and I wasn't going to let her stop and walk now! Ha - bossy to even strangers! I peppered her with questions. I learned her name is Jen, she's been running for a year and just ran her first half last weekend at Cowtown. We chatted for a bit and I decided Jen's pace wasn't going to get me home any sooner. So I bid her farewell with good luck for her last 3 miles of 9 and headed out for my last mile. I knew if I headed back the way I came I'd be short about 2 tenths of a mile. So I did it. I faced my nemesis. I went the long way and...

ran over the Shaky Bridge. I hate this bridge with a passion. Ask Bahama Mama, I'll moan and groan and fuss and declare I'm going to hurl all the way over this bridge. I usually sprint over it just to get it over with.

You see, it shakes. A lot. Apparently, bridges are supposed to. Something about architecture. But it makes my tummy queasy. I usually avoid this bridge like Wally World at Christmas. I have nightmares about this bridge.

But I crossed it and didn't hurl. So, win. Here is it, looming in it's shakiness.

It might not LOOK scary, but boy, wait till you run across it. Shudder. Like an idiot, I felt so empowered after crossing that dang bridge on my own without losing my Shot Bloks that I decided to sprint up the hill right after it. Ugh. My inner quads were NOT pleased with this decision. But I didn't care, I had my chocolate milk on my mind.

16 miles DONE and in the books. I always judge a run by whether or not I could keep running. If I had something light to eat, I could have easily hit 20.

Thank goodness I didn't have any food! Ha.

Just one of those days when I'm thankful I'm a runner. Thankful that God roused me out of bed and into His great world so I could see that gorgeous sunrise. Thankful that I could feel the first warm day of the season on my back. Thankful that I got to witness so many others enjoying the gift that is today.

I rolled home with the windows down, jamming to the Old 97's, taking in all of today's glory. Showered, spent some quality time with the foam roller and then headed to a new eatery to consume this monstrosity.

Under neath all that cheese is baked ziti. Carbs are good for me, right? Ooh, it was good! Hey, I burned 1600 calories this morning and all I had was chocolate milk!

This amazing weather insprired me to buy a new pair of Nike Tempo shorts because A. I'm obsessed with Nike Tempo shorts and 2. I had a gift card. I got bright blue.

I've been up to a lot of other things too, but they'll hafta wait for another post. My lap is on fire from this computer. I've got to git!

Happy Saturday y'all!