Run Log: February 2012

On this extra day given to us by Julius Caesar and the fact that the earth doesn't roam around the sun in a number of hours divisible by 24...I finished the Ironman Triathlon sponsored by the YMCA!  I only did the sprint, but I finished in just over a week.  I didn't sign up for the full because I was afraid of the 2 mile swim.  Let me tell you, the swim may have been the easiest part.  I did the mile in just over 35 minutes.  It took me just over a week to run the 15 miles and I thought I'd DIE finishing the 50 mile bike.  I will never (not true) complain about the treadmill again.  THE BIKES SUCK.  Riding a stationary bike is BtotheOtotheRtotheING!  One ride I even became that person who READS while they work out.  It was weird sweating and reading...but it helped pass the time on the bike.  On Monday I bundled up ~ it was sunny and in the low 40's ~ and road 11 outside.  Today, I left school in the warm wind and the sunshine and hopped on my bike as soon as I got home.  I road my 9 mile route ~ just to be sure, but I only needed 7 to finish the race.  Tomorrow I will go, fill out the form, and turn it in.
I ran 61.5 miles for the month of February (many outside) ~ that makes 130.5 on the year.
I biked 52 miles (19 of them outside)
I swam 1 mile (probably the last of keeping track of those)


Some interesting facts:

Longest run this month: 9 miles
# of bags of Candy Cane Kisses left in my cabinet: 2 (ohhh...I'll have to eat those)
# of boxes of Girl Scout cookies I've eaten this month: 2 (pretty much by myself)
# of books I read this month: 1 
Biggest YMCA pet peeve this month:  THE STATIONARY BIKE
B Fit 4 Life Challenge...Still meaningless ~ 374,101 steps for the month of February...that's with a defective pedometer that only recorded 1430 step one Sunday...

Monthly mileage record: 72.75 miles ~ March 2011
Highest mileage record:  13.1 miles ~ May 16, 2010 (Cleveland 1/2)

CHS

A serious post today ~ usually I stay away from these, not because nothing serious ever happens to me, but because I usually sound too cliche when I try to express serious topics.  But this one is too much not to note.
The news came via a co-worker early this morning that there was a shooting at Chardon High School.  How do I describe the thoughts and feelings I felt?  Sadness, fear, anger, thankfulness that it wasn't in Madison...it was all there.  Overwhelmingly, I wanted to take Jacob and Gracie, get in my car, drive to MHS, pick up Patrick and go home and be safe together.
Every time I hear about a school shooting it is hard to deal with; I'm a teacher and a parent, but in CHARDON?  So close? So like Madison.  Why does this happen?  Kirsten had a co-worker say, "That's a big school.  Why didn't they have metal detectors?"  BECAUSE IT'S CHARDON.  While school shootings DO happen in places like that ~ it's still CHARDON...it's MADISON...it's NEWBURY.  It won't happen in those places.  No matter how many lock-down drills we have, it just seems all for practice.  You can't believe it's really a possibility.
Close to home.  Husbands and friends who work there.  Cousins who go there.  Acquaintances who live there.  I used to live there.  Mike used to coach there.  We play them in football and soccer and tennis.  Unbelievable.
The talk at lunch was all about this.  How would we react?  Would we be the teacher who chased the kid from the building?  Would we hide in the corner?  I just don't think we really know what we would do.  I really think I'd protect my charges.  I can't see myself turning away when I could stop the situation, but I don't know.  And I pray I never have to find out.
I came home and hugged my kids.  Telling Patrick I had to because there are moms in Chardon who sent their kids to school this morning and now won't ever get to hug them again.
Mike texted his mom, "That's why I tell my kids I love them EVERY DAY."
Mike walked in the door and just opened his arms.  Not even realizing how close my emotions were to the surface, I just fell into them and started crying.  There really are no words to express the chaos I feel in my heart.
As humans we always try to bring order to our world.  We try to make sense out of the senseless.  I see no sense in this kind of violence and hatred.

blahs

Unlike me not to post for such a long time ~ I've got a real case of the winter blahs...and it's strange, because there really isn't much of a winter here in Madison, Ohio.  The lake isn't even icy...I know because I've been able to run along the bike path in January and February...You would think that all the 'nicer' weather would ward off the winter blahs...but not here.  Lots of stress in the real estate world...real stress...like am I going to be able to keep up with the mortgages?  But I'm trying not to obsess over what I can't control.  There's a lesson: doing all you can but not letting it overwhelm.  I guess if I can figure that out, I can handle anything life throws at me.  Only time will answer that one.
So here are some highlights of February...

• Thursday Trivia at Cornerstone Brewery.  The Ale or Nothings are doing quite well.  After finishing January with a $40 gift certificate for being the winning team for the month, we are cruising atop the leader board for February.  A near disaster last week when Mike guessed Studebaker ~ and while in the bathroom, Tom changed it and turned in the answer sheet.  When we learned Studebaker was the correct answer...well, let's just say I was a little frightened by Mike's reaction.  He will never live down the Studebaker moment, nor should he.  
• Indoor soccer season ~ session II.  Both boys playing, on different teams.  Early games for one and late games for the other...getting to know the stands at Heisley Soccer REAL well.  But of all the sports, I love soccer the best because that clock just keeps on running.  The game starts and the game ends ~ and the time in between never changes.  I'm a big fan of the clock.  Crazy game last Sunday when Jacob shoved a kid and the OTHER kid got the blue card...for his mouth.  But then Jacob got a card...so he got his due too.  He's quite an aggressive little player.
• My first baby turned 17.  I can't even come to terms with that one ~ so I won't try.  For his birthday dinner he chose to go to Hometown Buffet.  Home of the best people watching E.V.E.R.  Talk about a wide range of clientele...big people, little people, tall people short people, there was even a people who looked like the old lady in that optical illusion picture where there is an old lady or a young lady depending on what you see.  Ok, here's the link
• CRaZiNeSs at school. J.Lo, sweet kiesters, gay bikers, baldness, Mrs. Crabface...the list could go on forever.
• Mike actually saw someone go wingin' off the back of a treadmill today at the Y.  He said it was a cute little redhead with 'beautiful curly hair'. ~ so there you go, my worst fear coming to life before my husband's eyes.  He said she just couldn't keep up with the speed she set it at...And I've been running on those dumb treadmills and starting to feel pretty confident I WOULDN'T go wingin' off it...
• We signed up for the Ironman at the Y.  We have 2 weeks to complete the distances.  Being afraid I couldn't swim 2 miles, I signed up for the sprint.  That's 15 miles running, 50 miles biking, and 1 mile swimming.  I went swimming last night and cranked out the mile in about 35-40 minutes.  I was pretty darn proud of myself.  And today, my body is just tired.  Swimming uses MANY more muscles than running!!  I really should keep swimming in the routine every week or so...that whole cross training thing is going to be more and more important the older I get.  I should really embrace it now.  (that's me trying to talk me into something I really don't intend to do)
• Run club has met this whole month...even switching to a Wednesday the week we had conferences on Tuesday.  We've grown to four regular members ~ it's a fun crowd.
• I ticked off my boss.
• I paid for our spring break condo!
• Mike got me two roses with two cards:  For my best friend & For the woman I love.  He's kinda sweet.
• Haven't been able to snowshoe or cross country ski or ski, for that matter...'cuz there's NO SNOW.
• Not even a hint of a snow day.
• And that's the worst part of a mild winter!

#4

Oh, Janet Evanovich.  How many Stephanie Plum books will I read?  I have to admit that 12...13...14...15...16...17 have all really been lacking.  Then Amy and I went to see the first movie...and it was SO much better than I thought it would be.  Morelli was Morelli ~ Stephanie was Stephanie ~ and Sheri Shepard makes the BEST Lula.  As I read book #4 for the year, Explosive Eighteen, I could just picture Sheri as Lula.  It made the book so much better.
Still over the top. Still sexy Ranger and & Morelli.  Still worth reading.
fl: New Jersey was 40,000 feet below me, obscured by cloud cover.  ll: "Come here, Cupcake."

Run Log: January 2012

On this palindrome of a day : 2/1/12 (and I didn't bother Amy at 2:12 ~ like I did at 11:11 on 11/11/11), it's time for the first run log of 2012...
I ran 69 miles this month...many of them outdoors. (Where is winter?)  Run club met 4 of the 5 weeks ~ for great OUTDOOR running.  My IT band will start to ache (hurt?  feel tight?  not real sure how to describe it), but stretching and my handy-dandy-yellow foam roller (which is starting to be misshaped from my hip) roll it out after a few days.  It's nice to know that there is something I can DO to stop the pain and KEEP running.  What would I do without my yellow foam roller?!?

Some interesting facts:

Longest run this month: 7 miles
# of bags of Candy Cane Kisses left in my cabinet: 3 (I ate 2 this month...I cringe)
# of books I read this month: 3
Biggest YMCA pet peeve this month: close runner.  Seriously...your belly should not be touching the front of the treadmill.  Your feet should not hit the non-moving plastic part.  It so has nothing to do with me, yet it eats at me the whole time I watch her run...
B Fit 4 Life Challenge...I logged 386,437 steps in January.  Meaningless, I know.

Monthly mileage record: 72.75 miles ~ March 2011
Highest mileage record:  13.1 miles ~ May 16, 2010 (Cleveland 1/2)