Running vs. Painting

We are in between cold spells here in N. Texas. Two weekends ago we were iced in for 4 days, but since then the temperature has been steadily rising to the peak today of a pleasant 70 degrees. The cold and rain is supposed to return this weekend though, so I’ve been trying to squeeze in as much outdoor time as possible over the past few days.

A few weeks ago I signed up for another race, the Cowtown Marathon in Ft. Worth.

It’s in late February, and I’m only running the half marathon (only 13.1 miles compared to 26.2). I took some time “off” after running my first full marathon in October, but I was ready to have a challenge again. So my training for this race is a little more intense than what I have done before. I’m doing really crazy things like running sprints and running up hills over and over again . . . I know, it sounds like torture. But, my goal is to shave off about 12 minutes from my fastest finish time, and “they” say this is how to do that.

So on this gorgeous day today, I had some sprint running I was supposed to do. I didn’t get a chance to go first thing in the morning, but my husband got home early at around 3:30 and gave me the rest of the afternoon off. I had the choice to go do my sprint running, or start working on a new piece of furniture. The antique chest and new bag of milk paint was just too tempting . . . so I went with the painting. Great for my business, not so great for my training!

I am trying out a new MMS milk paint color–Dried Lavender.

It’s kind of a light, smoky purple. I’m not generally a purple girl, but this piece seemed to call for something very feminine.

I was able to finish sanding down the top of this great antique chest of drawers and paint two coats on the base. Here’s just a little preview. It’s starting to look fantastic.

I have one more day of great weather tomorrow . . . which will I choose? I have more running I’m supposed to do, but its so hard to leave a piece half-finished!

I really could use a few more hours in the day.