Was Avatar worth bagging a run for? Yes. Yes it was.

So, umm, can I count today as a cross-training day? First I walked the dogs this morning in great huge honking piles of snow. We had to walk in the roads in the ruts where a few cars had been just to stay on our feet. Then after I got home, we just had to turn around and walk back out to the post office to mail something (y'know, I don't think our mail ever came today, but I can't say I blame them), and then we walked into town and had chili for lunch at the local bakery, picked up eggs and milk at the drugstore, and walked home again.

Our street was still impassable at that point, so I took a nap. Then, of course, yes, it was time to walk the dogs again. There was less wading through snow than before, but still a significant amount. The plow truck was working our street just as I came home with the dogs around 5:00. Hallelujah, access to the outside world! I figured if I could just finish shoveling the driveway (a private plow truck managed to do about 2/3 of it this morning), I could hop in the car and get to the gym. It took about half an hour to shovel and was quite a workout. My back and wrists were complaining noticeably by the time I was done.

And that's when my gym commitment wavered. I was already whipped, I was hungry and there wasn't much in the house to eat, and my husband and I had talked about going to see Avatar (which apparently everyone on Earth has now seen but me), which was starting in 45 minutes.

I was worried that if I pushed myself and went to the gym, sort of like I did last Sunday after spending all day at a dog show, that disaster would follow and it would screw up my entire week of training. The temptation was just too much. I folded like a house of cards. I went in the house and said, "Hey! Let's go get Chinese for dinner and see Avatar!" And we did. I bagged a run to hang out with my hubby and see Avatar.

And was it worth it? YES. Yes it was. Dinner was delicious and reasonably healthy (broiled fish and veggies), and the movie was a real feast for the eyes. Sure, it had plot holes you could steer an aircraft carrier through, but it was visually arresting, to say the least. ("It was Dances With Wolves with a happy ending," my husband summed it up, and I'd say that's accurate.) And I saw it in 3D, which I was expecting to be cheesy and ridiculous, but it worked extremely well. I caught myself dodging arrows and missiles during the big fight scene.

You're always walking a tightrope with this training thing. Did I make a mistake running last Sunday? Yes, I did. Did I make a mistake not running today? Only time will tell.

I have to leave for our next group run at 0-dark-30 tomorrow morning. My steel cut oats are cooking in the crockpot, my scrambled egg pan is ready to go, and I'm heading off to get some shut-eye now. Four miles tomorrow. Wish me luck!