Nearly covered in tiger urine

You read that correctly.  Saturday, a 600 pound male tiger nearly sprayed me with his 10 foot stream of cat urine.  You see, on Saturday I went hashing with Caitlin and Ryan.  I had not been in nearly 3 years (for those who have been following me that long, you may recall my hash name, and for those who have not... you will most likely be amused).  The trail ended up being 6.5 miles, and it was hot with tons of shiggy (brush, woods, basically areas where you are pretty much forced to walk because running would most likely mean tripping and falling on your face.  The sweating, bug bites, and scrapes were all worth it for the end.  You see, we ended at a rescue that had bears, panthers, leopards, tigers, monkeys, and more.  Caitlin and I were trying to take a picture with the big tiger that was out in the play area, which was when he lifted his tail and decided he was going to spray.  Luckily, another hasher warned me, and I moved out of the way just in time.  We watched all of the big cats get fed (horse meat.... made me sad).  The owner provoked the tigers a bit so we would hear them growl.  She said they really are sweet, but should never be pets.  Some of the animals were rescued from homes where people tried to keep them as pets and others were from cheap circuses. 

Some of the group.  (BN=Beer near)

Random hot tub in the woods.  We also saw jet skis, toilets, and other random items.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caitlin and I right before "the incident that almost was".

Bear is just chilling on his pool.

 

 

 

 

She jumped at the fence when I went to take her picture.

 

 

 

 

 

He broke his teeth chewing through a toy.

 

 

 

 

 

In the tub.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, I got a new phone!  I switched from Verizon to AT&T.  We concluded it would save us money if we put our phones on a family plan.  I just got my first super awesome phone!  I got a htc Inspire 4G, and I LOVE it!  Cannot find my phone?  No problem!  HTC has a website that will allow me to force my cell phone to ring even if it is on silent.  I can also track it by gps, and if I discover it has been stolen, I can wipe my important data.  How cool is that?!

Even more fun than a new phone, Chris and I celebrated 6 months of being engaged yesterday.  And by celebrated I mean it gave me a perfect excuse to cook steak and drink wine. (o;

In running related news, this past week I ran and walked 3 miles with my co-worker Bala.  I also ran with Chris on Friday night (3 miles in 27:21), and my third run was the hash on Saturday (6.55 miles in 1hr 46min... there was quite a bit of walking and climbing through some crazy terrain).

I have also concluded that I am going to be even more picky than usual about the races I enter this year.  I am signed up for the 5K that we run annual which only costs $12 when you register early.  I am also planning on running next year's Disney Princess Half Marathon.  As far as more races this year, I will probably aim for a 10K and maybe a half in the fall since one of my goals this year was to increase my speed.  Otherwise, I want to spend my money on non-running related activities.  I know, can you imagine?!  But I do have other interests that I really want to explore.  For instance, I am wanting to take a photography class and try my hand at painting again.  I would also like to slowly add some new clothes to my wardrobe, and the big reason is that I am saving for a wedding.

On a sad note, today marks two years since I had to put my dear golden retriever, Syd, to sleep.  I still miss him.  Here is my tribute from last year.

I hope that you all had a great weekend and that he week is even better (if that is possible)!  Did you do anything fun this weekend?