Food porn and baby steps

First, my Super Bowl party food shots:

Deviled egg footballs:



My sister made these cute individual 7-layer dips in little glasses:



The kiddie cooler:



Drinks for the big kids:



Muddy buddies/puppy chow/Chex Mix with peanut butter & chocolate:



Cocoa Krispie footballs:



Not to toot my own horn, but I think the food was the highlight over the game and the commercials.  Just sayin'....

In running news, I am excited to announce that I have persuaded Adam, my non-running better half, into walking the 5K that coincides with my marathon.  I start running at 7am and he will walk the 5K at 7:30am.  I realize he may never become a runner, but I am soooooooooo excited that he is doing the 5K. 

A few months after he was diagnosed with MS, we took an Alaskan cruise with both of our families.  They had a 5K walk aboard the ship that raised money for cancer.  He was taking a new drug that actually exacerbated some of his more annoying symptoms (balance, dizziness) and the 5K was an absolute disaster.  I felt absolutely helpless that he couldn't walk a straight line.  After we walked about 2.5 miles, we finally called it quits.  While it was painful for me to watch, I knew he was beyond frustrated with his body.

I'm sure he's not thinking of it as a redemption walk, but I hope that it might encourage him to at least do a 5K every once in awhile.  As I said in Loopville, baby steps, baby steps.  And after the disastrous cruise walk, I am just thankful that the current drugs he is taking seem to make life relatively normal. Woot!

My 16 miler went okay.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either.  I struggled to find a decent cadence and definitely still was going too fast.  I think my average pace was 8:14 and according to Smart Coach it should be around 9:30.  The last 2 miles I started to have that weird I've-been-running-long-and-feel-like-Gumby experience.  I didn't realize I had 18 on the docket this week which I will be running tomorrow thanks to my wacky retail schedule.  I'm awesome, but there is no way I will be running 18 miles before or after work. 

I ran outside last week, but my hills were pretty minimal.  However, I did have multiple strength training sessions thanks to my family room home gym.  Unfortunately, Adam thought it would be fun to see what Torrance, our youngest Boston terrier would do when presented with the stability ball.  It was hilarious.  Here is the link to watch Captain Crazypants--fast forward to 46 seconds.  But now she wants to play with it every time I start using it.  I suppose pushing her off adds an extra layer of fitness.  Just not one that I really wanted.