"When I was a young warthooog!"

I can't even do a recap of workouts last week, because there were hardly any "real" ones.  Okay, so the roads here can be really, really bad.  The bumps can send you flying.  When we lived in Arusha there was a certain road we would always have to go down, and I'd always have huge bruises on my hips from where the seat buckle would bang against them.

When we were driving home from church last Sunday we hit a bump, and when we landed, my foot came down and got cut open on something in the floor. I'm not really sure what it was that I cut it on, but it was gouged pretty deep.

 Obviously I need to work on my blogging skills, because I only remembered to take a picture a couple days after it happened when I was cleaning it.  It would've look so much more impressive with the blood!  It just looks like a thin flap of skin here, but it's actually super thick.  I couldn't really put pressure on it for a few days, so I was hobbling around for a while.

  Oh, and I feel that I should point out that I have lotioned and taken care of my feet since this picture was taken.  Over and out.

So, last week meant no running for me! I did do a bunch of core work though, so that was good.

On to the more interesting news, the guys (minus Luke - he has to stay for school :( ) are leaving tomorrow to go hunting for a couple days.  They're super excited because it's been about a year and a half {pretty much a record} since they've gone.  Meat here is insanely expensive, so hunting helps alot.  They were going to go a bit earlier in the week so they could all go, but found out that there was already a big group in the area they were headed for - so they postponed it.  It wouldn't have been a problem, except that most others that go out have absolutely no problem with poaching and will shoot at almost anything that moves.  Poaching is a huge problem, and it's so sad and wrong.

 This is Luke holding part of an elephant jawbone they found last time they went.  We have one of the back teeth from that, and it's enormous. 

Jake and his wildebeest - aren't the beests cool lookin?

It's cool, because we've gotten to eat cape buffalo, wildebeest, gazelle, warthog, and eland.  A guy we know does taxidermy, and here it's super cheap, so we do have quite a few on our wall.  Including a cape buffalo in our living room.  Wouldn't that be fun to sleep under?!

Since JaketheRunningBuddy will be gone for the next few days, that means I won't get a couple of runs in this week, but we'll get right back on it! I'm itching to get out for one. :)

That leads me to something I've been thinking about quite a bit recently.  When I very first started running, I went out purely for the fun of it.  I didn't know or care how fast\slow I was going - I just went.  Then after a while it was still my fun, but I started worrying about my time, and how I "needed" to hit a certain mark.  If I missed a run, I'd get emotional and uptight.  I want to get faster, and better at it, but somewhere along the way I started to put so much pressure on myself, it wasn't quite as fun anymore.

I don't run for weight loss...it's my hobby.  It's my biggest hobby, but not an obsession.  I always have to have a buddy to be able to go out, so it can be unpredictable at times.  

The thing I had to realize was that if I have to skip a run or two (or four), the world isn't going to end. 

When I think of it that way, I still usually get all of them in, but if I have to miss one, it's easier - and it makes doing it alot more enjoyable!  Sometimes I just have to remind myself of that. I can improve without the stress.

What's one of the most interesting things you've ever eaten?

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Do you sometimes find that you put too much pressure on yourself, and make what you're doing not as fun?