Run Log: September 2012

And I almost doubled August's totals.  That's working {slowly} in the right direction.  The EXCELLENT news is that I ran 11 miles this past week (not at one time) ~ on pavement (and treadmill)~ and with Alleve, my foot is FINE.  AMEN, HALLELUJAH!  I will continue to take it easy.  My plan is to run 3 days a week, keeping it at 3's & 4's until my calves aren't the big knots that they are at this moment.  I will be a runner again.  I will.  I will.

September's totals:
34.5 miles for the month 
482 miles for the year
24.5 biking miles for the month
347.5 biking miles for the year
284.5 miles in my soon-to-be-retired-worn-at-Camp-Stigwandish red & blue Asics
24 miles in my still shiny VERY WHITE turquoise Asics ~ now 3 months old :)  But, I hope to report they are not as shiny white next month.
Some interesting facts:
Longest run this month: 4 miles {working in the right direction!}
Favorite place to run this month: "Hey, Coach, is there any place we haven't run here at Camp Stig?"  "Sure, let's go on an adventure."  And so began the finding of the BLUE TRAIL at Camp Stigwandish.  Not even on the MAP trail.  Nothing like leading 34 middle school cross country runners into the unknown!  We ran it until we could run it no more.  I'm pretty sure the rest of the trail was washed away.  We could find it no more down by the creek after climbing over lots of debris (and the skeletal remains of a deer ~ yuck).  It would eventually meet the White Trail below the rope, but we didn't press on, (as I wasn't completely sure where we were, and it was only 10 minutes until practice was over.)  Craziest run of the month!
# of bags of Candy Cane Kisses left in my cabinet: ZERO and they are not in the stores, yet {I'm sure it won't be long}  But I do have a bag of Babe Ruth candy bars, chocolate truffles, Peanut M&M's & a bag of macaroons.  Gotta love birthday treats!
# of books I read this month: Four!  {and now I can read them on my Kindle...I'm still deciding if I like it better than books ~ don't think I'll like it better than books, but there are some pluses to the Kindle}

Monthly mileage record: 80.5 miles March 2012
Highest mileage ever-at-one-time:  13.1 miles ~ May 16, 2010 (Cleveland 1/2) 


PR's:
5K: 22:45 (Rabbit Run 10/30/11~ but I think it was a short course)
10K: 52:02 (Cleveland 5/15/11)
10-miler: 1:21:29 (Hermes Cleveland 10-miler 4/28/12)
half-marathon: 1:55:04 (Cleveland 5/16/10)
marathon: 3:50:05 (Akron relay {team run} 9/24/11)

44 years old

blogging from my kindle fire.  rather cool, but not as quick at typing.  and it doesn't automatically capitalize for me.
but i think I really like this little thing.
a great birthday celebration yesterday.  cold stone creamer for my morning coffee, oh yum.  and amy brought me an iced coffee from mcdonalds, oh joy.  but lots of coffee for this girl who is slightly (well, maybe a little more than slightly) unsure/uncomfortable being the center of attention.  a luncheon of things that make you go YUM, and dinner at the Vault.  plus this amazing kindle from from my boys.
at age 44 I've been married to another 44 year old for the last 22 years.  Numerically speaking, this should be a great year, the year of palindromes.

#26

Laugh outloud!  Finally a good summer read...that I got to in September.  This is the place to start your NEXT summer reading...so save it 'til then.  Or don't.  You'll enjoy it no matter when you read it.  #26 is Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess.  Who I need to look up ~ just looked up and linked...I think I'll have to become a follower.  {Wonder if it'll get to be too much stupidness?}
Anyway.  Laugh outloud.  The woman is weird and doesn't mind sharing her weirdness so we can ALL appreciate our own weirdness and make the world a funnier place.  Example:  She talks about having a baby and how her vagina is now broken: (page 136) "Seriously, mine was all Franken-gina for a good year before it was presentable again.  But not "presentable" like I'd lay it out at the Thanksgiving dinner table.  I wouldn't have done that even before it got destroyed.  I mean, not that it wasn't a good trade-off, because it totally was.  And it's fine now.  Great, actually.  My vagina is great.  Slimming, even.  Thanks for asking."
Totally off her rocker...maybe never even on the rocker to begin with.  But funny in that, I-need-to-laugh-at-ridiculousness-because-the-world-is-such-a-crazy-stress-filled-place-and-I-want-to-leave-it-for-a-moment-and-laugh way.
Two other passages I marked which, as I look at them, aren't the funniest parts...so laugh at my ridiculousness.
p103 ~ That night I looked up at those same stars, but I didn't want any of those things.  I didn't want Egypt, or France, or far-flung destinations.  I just wanted to go back to my life from my childhood, just to visit it, and to touch it, and to convince myself that yes, it had been real.  Victor could tell I was upset, but I couldn't find a way to describe it without sounding ridiculous.  "It's nothing," I said.  "It's just that...Have you ever been homesick for someplace that doesn't actually exist anymore?  Someplace that exists only in your mind?"  {Which is EXACTLY how I feel about my children's childhood.  At times, I'm homesick for it.  Jenny Lawson finally put it into words for me.}
p152 ~ {talking about her horrible social anxiety which causes her to say stupid things at dinner parties and other social events...so been there!} It's like I have a censor in my head, but she works on a seven-second delay...well-meaning, but perpetually about seven seconds too late to actually do anything to stop the horrific avalanche of shit-you-shouldn't-say-out-loud-but-I-just-did.
Lots of f-bombs & things that could offend a person if they were so inclined to be offended.  I found her fresh and witty with a great style to convey the underlying wacked-outedness which we all live with...and usually try to hide from the world.

rainy days & Wednesdays

Always get me down.  Just one of those 'blah' days.  Didn't sleep well.  Head in a fog.  Nothing going right.  Impending doom feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Soccer not going right {according to this mom}.  Kids at school irritable & grouchy.
Got home & thankfully Mike was dressing to go for a run.  I joined him  ~ side by side on the treadmill at the good 'ol Y.  Got my 3 miles in.  Amazing what a little exercise does for your mood.
Remember this for the next rainy Wednesday!

That Bugs Me

I bet I could write a book...There are just those things that totally bug me.  I know they are totally irrelevant to life, but they bug me.
Here's one:  On the NFL uniforms there is a Nike swoosh on each sleeve.  The one on the left shoulder is 'swooshing' in the correct direction.  The one on the right shoulder is 'swooshing' backwards.  Everybody knows there is one direction for a Nike swoosh.  I don't understand the point of 'swooshing' in the opposite direction. Bugs me every time I see it.
Of course, while looking for a swoosh to add to this post, I ran across an article on this very topic.  Granted, it makes a good point about the shoes {I could summarize...but go read the article}.  Still,  it doesn't change my mind.  I vote wrong & stupid.

#25

I finally finished the third Fifty Shades book with #25, Fifty Shades Freed by E L James.  This is how badly written the books are...they end with: "That's all...for now.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading."  Which is exactly how most middle school girls end their stories.  There is quite a bit of embarrassment admitting that I read them ~ and not just for their sexual content...which got old after awhile, to be honest.  But the story did wrap-up, we found out quite a bit of the 'missing information' and the story was enjoyable and it made me think about what true intimacy is.  The fantasy aspect was a draw too ~   Who wouldn't want to meet a megamegamillionaire & have him fall head-over-heals for you?  But now I'm done, and I can take my reading book with me when I go to the dentist or the doctor or the soccer game again.
fl: Mommy!  Mommy!  Mommy is asleep on the floor.  ll: I love you too, Christian. Always.

Intermingling, Marching, Ghosts & Goals

Let's start with the most permanent (because it was actually printed in the paper) news.  Patrick scored his first varsity goal!  Preventing the shut-out.  It was really a 'garbage goal' ~ it bounced around down there & because he didn't give up, he was there to tap it in.  The best news is that he played his best game of the season.  Always there, always challenging for the ball.  It was great to watch him. {and yes, I was an embarrassment when he scored...quietly so I really only embarrassed myself in front of all the 'cool parents'}

Wednesday's News Herald ~ about Tuesday's game (9/18/12)

Ghosts:  My parents were in town this weekend.  I hadn't seen them since New Orleans in April. It was a good weekend...filled with Friday Night Football {for the band} and Saturday Soccer...all afternoon!  But Sunday we went out to Jewel's Dance Hall & rode our bike south on the Greenway Trail.  Dad & Jacob took off ~ leaving Mom & me to leisurely ride and enjoy the beautiful weather and the leaves that are just ready to start changing color.  {My mom LOVES the fall leaves & really misses fall ~ as it snowed that day at their house.}  Mom & I rode 12 miles & turned around to ride slowly until the guys {who went out 15 miles} caught up to us.  We got to the old train trestle and stopped the enjoy the view & wait.  Dad and Jacob show up and get off their bikes to also enjoy the view & have a Cliff Bar.  When, out of nowhere, a "woooooosh" sweeps past us, loud and long and with enough force to rustle the leaves on the trees.  We all paused and looked around, thinking, "What could that have been?"  We all heard it and we all saw the leaves rustle. I think it was a ghost train speeding over the trestle.  very very strange

Marching: Wednesday was also the annual LCMEA Band Festival ~ the Madison Blue Streak Marching Band performed their 50's show in their 50's attire ~ so easy to dress my boys ~ jeans, rolled up & white-T's with candy cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve.  Patrick, once again, has a 'dance role' in the show & it was captured by the News-Herald videographer ~ {Check out that link} Always a fun time!

Intermingling: Back in August (the 31st to be exact) Mike & I drove to Lyndhurst and walked to Brush High School with his mom & Dan to see the Madison Marching Band perform at halftime of the Brush v Madison game.  For some unknown reason I mention to the lady at the ticket booth that we aren't really here for the game; we're here to watch the band, so we'll move on over to the home side at halftime.  She informs me that once you go in, there is no way to get to the home side unless you come back out and pay to get back in on the other side. {strange}  So I say, "We'll just sit on the home side then."  She agrees with me as her daughter was a majorette and she understands just watching the band.  So off to the home side we go.  As halftime approaches we hear an announcement from the PA: "Attention all fans.  It is a Brush High School rule that the visiting fans must remain on the visiting side of the field.  There will be no intermingling of Brush fans and Madison fans."  oops