January Running

The car said -14 on our way to this run in Chardon.

January Running...
Cold
Snowy
Warm
Sunny
As all Northeast Ohio Winters go
It's always changing.

There have been many treadmill miles this month ~ but also some beautiful in the snow runs.  Even some warmer sunny runs.
I decided to add .1 miles to all my runs this year.  Every 10 runs I'll have an extra mile for the year.

Good times with my running peeps.

January has brought NERC track workouts at Spire ~ and I'm learning to not hate them.

Hill Repeats with a fun crew in Geneva.

January also brought Adult Prom (aka NERC Winter Party)  "Middle Aged White Girl Dancing"

 This is my favorite picture of us ~ Because THIS IS US.  As Anita commented on the Facebook: "This picture says it all.  Becky gesturing wildly and talking animatedly, Mike grinning like he meant to do whatever he did.  And has no shame."  Yes.  Love.

And then there were the Grand Prix prizes.  I was pretty sure I was second or third in my age group.  Marcella was ahead of me, having only run 8 Grand Prix races, I knew she had me on participation points.  They did men first and both Mike and Dodd placed third in their age groups!  Go Mike!  He was so excited because he had been so far down the list.  Then they called the women...Marcella placed first in our age group followed by two people I didn't even know.  I didn't place.  I was shocked and rather disappointed.  It was the first time I didn't place in the Grand Prix.  Then they called the overall masters...and I placed third there (just behind Barni!)  It doesn't speak very highly of my character, but I was relieved.  And excited.  I won a bottle of wine too :)

This month also brought a fun reunion.  We were at Mount for a swim meet and went for a walk between dive events.  Bailey was going to text us if the next diving round started so when Mike's phone dinged, I asked if it was Bailey.  "No," he said, "It's Brian Matthews."  Brian asked if we were at the swim meet...because he was in the gym watching his daughter on the dance team.  We have not seen Brian in over 10 years.  What a great surprise.  Then this past Tuesday, we went back to Mount to the wrestling alumni night.  It was fun to see some people we knew, and talk to others who knew us.  Mike had a great time and Jacob finally got to meet Coach Monty.

January Totals:

142.61 miles for the month 
142.61 miles for the year 

245.51 miles in my Gortex Ghosts ~ not worn at all this month.

231.57 miles in my Black Brooks Glycerin 15 

266.02 miles in my purple Brooks Glycerin 14 

127.42 miles in my HOT PINK Brooks Ghost 10 

Training for:  O24 in April

My WEIGHT: 142 ish.  I keep thinking I should do something about this...but I talk myself out of it because I remind myself that I'm upping my miles.  Then I got to DQ.  

Some interesting facts:

Longest run this month:   14.25 training run

What hurts?: nothing

Weekly mileage this month:  30.5 ~ 32.9 ~ 30.8 ~ 37.2

Favorite place to run this month: Hill Repeats at Geneva High School & the 1.5 mile warm up/cool down to Dodd's house.  Beautiful snowy day, good company, strong workout.  Delightful

Monthly mileage record: 216.66 September 2017!
Highest mileage ever-at-one-time:  26.78, October 30, 2016, Marine Corps Marathon, Washington DC

PR's:

1 mile: 6:43 (Memorial Mile 6/10/17)

5K: 22:30 (Run For the Grapes 9/28/14}
10K: 50:13 {Run for the Hills 6/22/14 & TIED the time Run for the Hills 6/21/15)
10-miler: 1:21:29 (Hermes Cleveland 10-miler 4/28/12)
half-marathon: 1:44:42 (Northern Ohio Half Marathon 10/4/15)

marathon: 3:57:31 (The Cleveland Marathon 5/17/15)

MLK day

One of my favorite quotes of all time:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

is by Martin Luther King Junior.

Here it is at his memorial in Washington DC.

I'm just reminded that there is so much good we can do in the world ~ if only we would do it.  I know that in my life, it's all about me and my family and my job and my adventures.  What could I do to make this world a better place, if only I tried?  What does it look like to always be that light?  To be the love that drives out hate?

One man.  That's all Martin Luther King was, one man.  One man who was light and spread God's love into the world.  

That's a pretty deep thought for me ~ especially as I meant to write about last Sunday (Jan. 12) when I fell down twice in one day.  Embarrassing ~ and a little painful.

And I meant to write about the Aqua Zumba class and the Yoga class I've started taking on Saturdays and Sundays...instead of running & how this cross training has eliminated the pain in my hip & lower back.

See, I was just going to write about me.  That's where we all go, I do believe.  

Here's my challenge.  Be a light & spread some love.  I'll let you know how it goes.

here we go again

From 12 back to 1 when that ball drops.  I love the beginning of a new year with all the possibilities and hope that it holds .   This is going to be quite the year of  change.  In another semester Patrick will be graduating from high school & leaving us to begin his college life.  Which will quickly lead to his grown up life.  I'm excited for him.   I'm even a little excited about what changes will come for those left in Madison...but the change will be hard.  very

 But now's the time to talk resolutions.  Last year I resolved to floss my teeth.  And I did, daily.  But I went to the dentist in September.  Then I stopped.  I don't know why...I've recently started flossing again, but not like I had been.  I guess I have to call it a fail.
This year I'm resolving to not swear.  and I've sworn twice today.  so already a fail, but I think its just going to take some practice.  I really want to break this habit, so I will persevere.
I also got an email from my dad asking us to join him in reading the bible in a year.  So I resolve to red the bible in 2013.  I downloaded a one-year Bible, that has a reading for everyday.

Happy 2013

Welcome 2012

I just finished Christmas.  It's all done.  Tree put in the attic.  Ornaments packed in their tissue paper layered boxes.  Santas and snowmen all packed away for another year.  I usually keep the snowmen out for winter...but this year I was just done.  The nooks and crannies all look empty now ~ ready for new junk to fill the spots!  Usually I'm a little sad to put it all away.  This year, not so much.  I will ponder my emotional block later.
On to the resolutions.  I feel pretty good that I kept 66.6% of my 2011 resolutions.  I sent out Christmas cards (thanks to my very first Groupon), and I kept track of my miles...I did clean one room in the house for a while...but that ended up with medical drama so I don't think it was meant to be.
I've been having trouble coming up with a resolution for this year.  Most of the ones I've come up with are destined to fail...so I'm keeping it simple.  I will floss my teeth every night.  This will change the world, I know.

Run Log: December 2011

I have accomplished another New Year's Resolution.  Seems I'm pretty good at the ones that require me to record and keep track of data ~ the actually work resolutions don't seem to have similar results.
This was a pretty good run month...until Christmas Break~  I ran twice in Colorado for a total of 5 miles.  The first 2 were on a stupid treadmill, but the last 3 were on the bike path around Dillon Lake.  BEAUTIFUL run.
I ran 58 miles this month (only 1/2 less than November)

YEAR TOTALS:
Bike:     383 miles
Run:      564.5 miles

I'm really happy with that total.  I'm hoping that my run miles are higher in 2012 ~ and I expect my biking miles to be lower, since I did that mainly when my IT band hurt too much to run.

Run Dreams:  Run 4 days a week ~ hovering around 20 miles a week.  Keep a 8 mile long run on the occasional Saturday.  (notice I didn't call them goals....too easy to mess that up)

Run Log: April 2011

Total Miles for April ~ 59½
Total Miles for 2011 ~ 190¾

A chest cold (that lasted WAY too long) and vacationing at 9,000 ft cut into the miles this month.  But almost 60 miles is still pretty good.  There are 15 days left until the Cleveland 10K.  What started out as an easy race has suddenly started looming larger than originally thought.  I'm nervous that I won't run my best ~ I'm pushing hurting legs to keep racking up the miles.  Something funny's going on with my right quad ~ it's a moving pain from my hip to my knee.  Feels like  muscle ache so I'm medicating and running.  It's putting a little bit of a hitch to my stride ~ and I'm really working on focusing on form.  It doesn't hurt more when I run and it's not stopping me, but it is slowing my pace.  Then there's my left foot.  Right in the middle of the thing ~ of course, I fear it's a broken bone...but there's no swelling or lack of mobility, just a pain.

I think 2011 is the year of whining.

Running Log Star Date: January 2011

Well, three trips to Urgent Care really hindered my mileage this month.  January's total is an utterly embarrassing 28 miles.  So much for getting close to 15-20 a week!

The ankle is still swollen and the little run up the Hogan's driveway yesterday didn't help...so much for thinking I'm ready to hit the treadmill.  To the water I went today.  When I was a kid I LOVED to swim.  I spent everyday at the pool, but being older I have two things I will whine about.  1.  Water gets in my right ear when I turn to breathe and it doesn't come out.  2.  It's COLD, not so much in the pool, but in the locker room after the swim...burrrrrr! 
But I can swim and it doesn't hurt my ankle.  I wonder how much muscle workout I'm getting, because it seems more a lung workout at this point.  I had trouble doing a full lap freestyle.  I could breaststroke all day, but I need to freestyle for the tri.
One last whine...because I haven't whined enough...the Y pool is only open for lap swimming early in the morning or at 8:00 at night.  I will have to get over the time issue and hit the water this week or I'll have to change my diet ~ and that's just asking too much ;)

Back to the Doctor

So now I'm on a steroid and prescription Benadryl
To support the shot of steroid and Benadryl
Given in my butt
At 9:00 this morning.
All to get rid of this rash
I woke up
Covered with
This morning.
Because I took Bactrim
To get rid of the infection
I had in my finger
That swelled up and turned red
Because I had a little cut
And I put it in dirty water.
All because I was tired
Of living in a dirty house
So I made a New Year' Resolution
To create an atmosphere of clean.

2 ½ hours

Atmosphere of clean ~ BACKFIRE

As happens every winter, I get little scrapes on my hands from dry skin hitting this and that throughout my day.  I had a little scrape on my right index finger.  Sunday night, I go to bed.  Monday morning I wake up and my finger is swollen up and it hurts and I can't bend it (most likely because it was so swollen). 
I figure I'm going to die. (Really, from years of watching medical dramas, I think Dr. House needs to be called in ~ I had a sore throat too, it may have been related in some rare and deadly way.)
I do show it to the school nurse ~ by 11:30 the swelling has gone down, but it's quite red and gross looking.  She tells me I should really see a doctor.  So I go to urgent care at 3:30.  At 6:00 I leave with a prescription (He didn't think I'd die ~ or even loose my finger.)

I figure sticking my hand into the gross water from scrubbing my mud room did me in.  I may be creating an atmosphere of clean...but at what price?  I have to take antibiotics because I want a clean house...

I guess you have to wonder how dirty my house was. 

I Resolve

Ending one year and starting another is a great time to reflect on what is good and what can be better.  Last year I kept 50% of my resolutions: I ran the Cleveland 1/2 marathon (and finished...under 2 hours) but I did not become a better person ~ seriously?  Why I set that resolution I'll never know ~ I should know from years of writing IEP goals, things need to be measurable!

This year I have three. (I have four on my preliminary list, but one of them is really far reaching...but maybe I'll call it 3½ ~ you shouldn't really have 100% success on new year's resolutions!)

1. I will keep a running/workout log and keep track of the miles I run in 2011.
2. I will send out Christmas Cards.
3. I will clean one room of my house EVERY DAY. 

I have had this quote from Jill Churchill from Farewell to Yarns on my refrigerator since June ~ "I really love to clean.  It's not anything compulsive, it's just that you can see a difference when you're through.  Not like raising kids or something that you're not sure how it's going to turn out for a couple of decades." 
I want this to be my belief.  It is not how I feel deep down ~ I clean something and it just gets dirty again.  But I WISH I felt this way.  I'm rather embarrassed that my house always has dog hair in the corners and cobwebs on the ceiling and a layer of dust on the ceiling fans.   So I figure that cleaning ONE room each day will create an atmosphere of clean.  New year, new leaf.

3½.  I will keep in touch more consistently with my family.  I thought about texting one member of my family everyday ~ but I fear this is too much change all at once.  I will try.