Run Log: October 2012

Running.  With XC ending & my motivation lacking, it's been hard to get into a routine.  A routine that is not RUSHED to be more!  The goal of running 3 times a week has been hard to do.  I get out there and want to see if I can do 4...4.5...I've had to stop myself from doing more than that.  My foot is NOT 100% {in fact, it now hurts on the arch...since playing in the student/teacher volleyball game?!?} But it doesn't hurt to run {but I can feel it} Run club has met twice {hurricane Sandy'ed out yesterday} and that has been good.  We've had a good turn out for our newly named ARC {average run club ~ or BARK if you want to be below average}We've even had a dog.
Ran a race & placed first in the old lady group :)
And did run more than September...so I'm still moving in the right direction.  Trying to see if maybe I might just run the Cleveland Half in May...possibly.

October's totals:
45 miles for the month 
572 miles for the year
0 biking miles for the month
347.5 biking miles for the year
291.5 miles in my now retired {but still worn around the yard} red & blue Asics
62 miles in my not as shiny blue Asics...

Some interesting facts:
Longest run this month: 4.5 miles 
Favorite place to run this month: ?  Bike path in Geneva?  Run Club around Chimney Ridge?  NOT the treadmill @ the Y ~ but I have run there this month.
# of bags of Candy Cane Kisses left in my cabinet: ZERO But I bet I buy some before November is over!
# of books I read this month: Three ~ and I love my Kindle ~ and, to sound like a grandma, I totally don't understand HOW this works...but I can check books out of the library digitally.  I don't know what happens on the due date.  Do they just disappear or do I get charged if I don't return them?  I returned my first book before the due date, but I have three checked out right now, and there is NO way I'm going to get them all read before they are due.  I'll keep you posted.
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)

Wild Wonderful Weekend

 Sometimes you get those moments when all is good & everything is rolling your way.  As Bruce Springsteen so wisely wrote, "Hard times come and hard times go; hard times come and hard times go, just to come again."  This was a week of blessings and a weekend where hard times go.  I know they will come again, but  if you don't celebrate the good times, what's the point of having them.
Before I go into the weekend, here's my Facebook post from Thursday:
I am blessed.
I work at an amazing place that CELEBRATED EXCELLENT WITH DISTINCTION today at a WHOLE district pep rally ~ in 80 degree sunshine (in Ohio, in October)
I got to watch both my boys perform on the football field with the best high school band in the land.
I got to tour the soon-to-be new middle school. (tried to pick my room & write my name on the wall, but couldn't find a sharpie)
I celebrated a FANTASTIC cross country season with an amazing group of 35 kids and their thoughtful & supportive families.
AND I came home to clean kitchen (you should have seen it when I walked out the door) I have a gem of a man for a husband.
Life is good.
And sometimes it just gets better.
Friday night we watched the last football game ~ ending Patrick's marching career, but it was in the rain...so I wasn't so sad!  Then we went to Cassidy's to hang with Le Jeder ~ Janice is a true groupie ~ as they spent the weekend performing in Geneva and Cassidy's house party.  Unfortunately, I had to miss the house party, because I had to travel to Pittsburgh to see BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN for the ninth time.  Kirsten & I sent off, shopped at Ikea, changed our clothes in a church parking lot {close to the hood} ~ really funny FUNNY story, but not one to share here ~ went to the Marriott to have a drink pre-show, and ran into an old friend from college.  Such a small world moment.  Then we go to the show.  I know our seats are behind the stage, but I don't care.  We sat there before & you can see everything & there are always screens to see what you can't.  I usually have to watch the screens wherever I am since we're most often pretty far away.  We walk in, hand our tickets to Robert (the friendly usher), who, instead of walking UP the rows, walks us DOWN the rows, and down the rows and down the rows to the FOURTH ROW behind the stage.  There were three rows, a gap of 10 feet & then the E Street Horn Section.  HOLY COW.  We could see the entire stage, the faces of everyone on the stage, their expressions, the interactions, EVERYTHING.  AMAZING VIEW of the show.  And, as always, it was an amazing show.  I will share the set list & some pictures (Taken with my new iPhone, which I quickly have fallen in love with)

1. Don't Look Back
2. Candy's Room
3. The Ties That Bind
4. Streets of Fire
5. Hungry Heart
6. We Take Care of Our Own
7. Wrecking Ball
8. Death to My Hometown
9. My City of Ruins
10. Spirit in the Night
11. Pretty Flamingo
12. Talk to Me
13. Adam Raised a Cain
14. Because the Night
15. She's the One
16. Working on the Highway
17. Shackled and Drawn
18. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
19. The Rising
20. Bandlands
21. Land of Hope and Dreams

Encore

1. Racing in the Street
2. Born to Run
3. Glory Days
4. Light of Day
5. Dancing in the Dark
6. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out

My BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN History~ The Boss ~ I've seen him in concert at the Richfield Coliseum on the Born in the USA Tour July 9, 1984, The Tunnel of Love Express Tour March 14, 1988, The "Other Band" Lucky Town/Human Touch tour August 22, 1992; at The Gund Arena on the Reunion Tour November 14, 1999, The Rising Tour August 14, 2002; at The Wolstein Center (CSU) on the Devils and Dust Tour May 15, 2005, And at Quicken Loans Arena (same place as The Gund) on the Working on a Dream Tour November 10, 2009.  ~ where he played this song, just for me.  ~ at Quicken Loans Arena on the Wrecking Ball Tour April 12, 2012 (Best Show Ever) ~ at Consol Energy Arena, Pittsburgh, PA on the Wrecking Ball Tour October 27, 2012

Once again, an amazing show...

Then, Kirsten & I drove home (not an hour and a half...but two).  I was in bed just after 2:00 am.  Of course, with the way I've been {not} sleeping, I was up at 7:00.  The Barton Family Runners set off to Rabbit Run Theater for the second annual Rabbit Run.  A blustery, raining day, but not as cold as it was last year.  I did not repeat as second place female overall, but I did repeat as first place in my age group!  I ran it in 24:21  {details to follow when I find them on the internet}.  Patrick won for the family (22:34), followed by Jacob (22:38) & Mike (25.56) brought up the rear, making sure his whole family safely crossed the finish line.  AND, because costumes were encouraged {and I only need a slight reason} I ran in a pink tutu.  I felt like a running princess.

But the highlight of the weekend was the text Patrick got from his soccer coach:

"You've been named Academic All-State."

A positive ending to a roller-coaster season.

#29

#29 is Spoiled Rotten by Mary Jackman a Liz Walker Mystery ~ #1.  I don't think I'll be reading #2.  This is my first digital library checkout.  {SERIOUSLY, you can check out a book ONLINE ~ and it mysteriously shows up on my Kindle.  Poof.  It's there.  I wonder what happens after 21 days.  Does it just poof and vanish? or do I get fines until I return it?  I won't find out with this one because I'll be returning it...but I wonder.  I know I shouldn't be so amazed at this technology.  But, truly, I do not understand it.  It seems like magic...maybe even black magic.}
Spoiled Rotten is about Liz and her restaurant and a murder or 3.  It lacks character development.  Really, the guy who rents her a room just decides to drive her to her next destination and then comes to visit a week later?  Maybe it's just me, but I didn't get the immediate friendship connection.   "They kiss, but they both know they'll just be friends."  How do they know that?  And after meeting once, they detective is madly in love...but nothing comes of it, we learn at the end, because his wife just didn't understand.  How is there all of a sudden a WIFE & Liz takes it so nonchalantly? It's also full of grammatical mistakes and sentence fragments.  Like she bypassed the editor all together.  I did not make note of them all, because it was so bad, I almost stopped reading.
I do have two quotes:
page 11 ~ Lord of the dingalings  {What a GREAT phrase!}
page 102 ~ he was oddly consistent and consistently odd.

fl: At 8:00 a.m. my day was well under way.  ll: I had a bowl of congnac in front of me soon to be consumed and was contentedly watching the happy customers while jazz murmured softly in the background and the cat was playing with a ....CHEQUE, PLEASE!

I think my life is funny

Went to a workshop on Advanced Co-Teaching {I capitalized it because it's a TITLE ~ and it's ADVANCED}. I carpooled with a fellow co-teacher {who happens to be a fellow}.  On the way there:

Him: I'm going to ask you something rather rude.

Me: (a tad nervous...I mean I know him pretty well...but when someone ACTUALLY says they are going to be rude) Ok...

Him: I think I'm going to ditch you for lunch.  My dad works right up the street at the police station.

Me: Ok, I'll just eat with the other people at the workshop.

Him: Can I take your car?

Me: (rather relieved that I didn't have booger hanging out of my nose) That's fine.  Don't wreck it.

And so we go to the workshop and learn all sorts of amazing and wonderful things and now I'm an even better teacher than before.  {Actually there was so much information and ideas it was a little overwhelming to think I've been co-teaching all these years and still have so much to learn!}  Lunch comes and the ladies go out to eat and Him takes my car to visit his dad.  We return to the workshop & get more information & more information & more information.  About 2:00 Him leans over and says:

Him: Don't be mad.

Me: What?

Him: There's a gun in your car.

Me: WHAT!?!

Him: Actually there are guns in your car.

Me:  I'm going to jail.  {Don't really know why I thought I'd go to jail...I don't know if you can just drive around with guns in your car.  What the hell?  He's got guns in my car.}

I do a mental flip out...but at some point I realize that I'm probably not going to get arrested as no one really knows I have guns in my car unless I start showing them to people {WHICH I WON'T DO}.  Then, as we start to walk out to the car with the contraband in it:

Him: Actually, there are guns and knives and a hand grenade in your car.

Me: You're not my friend anymore.

He hops in the car & I put my stuff in the back seat.  As I open the driver's door, he's got a gun pointed at me...an OBVIOUSLY plastic toy gun.  What a dork.  His dad gave him a box of toys for his kid & he's got me freaked out most of the afternoon.

That was Wednesday.  On Friday, I'm sitting at lunch and another co-teacher {who is now also ADVANCED in the craft} says:

Her: So, is your car ok?

Me: What are you talking about?

Her: Well, did you look at your car?

Me: I think it's ok, {I drove it to work that day}WHY?

Her:  Well, people said it hit something.

Me: What?  I didn't see any damage?  Who hit something?

Her: People said that it had white paint on it after Him drove it.

Me: Oh, that's just where I keep hitting my garage.  {because it's true}

But really?  They thought Him hit something with my car...and no one said anything.  Come to think of it, I think I will just blame that spot on Him.  Way to wreck my car when I was being nice to you and all.

here we go Brownies!

This past week has been pretty cold.  We had our first frosty weather & lots of wind and rain forecasted for today.  So?  Well today we had Cottage's Btowns tickets.  What 'cha gonna do?  That's right.  Wake up early and be in the muni lot by 8:00 am.  When I rolled out of bed this morning, dark & early, it was 65 degrees.  Not too shabby.  The sun rose and the warmth continued.  By the time we got to the stadium, it was sunny.  And the BROWNS WON.  The best sign I saw said "11 & 5 starts today"
We went with Clem and Clem's wife, Clem's wife.  The best part of that is Clem's wife couldn't remember Mike's name!  She said, "What's Becky's husband's name?, Becky's husband?"  
The muni lot is such an experience.  I can't even describe it (specially on my kindle) I don't know how people do it week in and week out.  I'm exhausted.

#28

The last free book I could get from Amazon Prime (and my free one month subscription) is #28 Broken Wings by Alexandrea Weis.  A predictable little romance about a wildlife rehabber & a Iraq war veteran with the arrogant asshole lawyer ex-husband causing all sorts of drama.  {make me gag}  Not my favorite brainless little romance novel ~ It even had a few grammar errors:  The most glaring to me was this doosie of a sentence:
p112 ~ So they buy you things; clothes, shoes, condo's...  {WHAT!  since WHEN do we use apostrophes to make words plural? ~ where is the editor?}
I did like this description of one of the characters: p 13 ~ ...and all around arranger of everything impossible. {I know a few people like that!}
p 50: a cool word:

fl: Drab gray clouds covered the expansive horizon, obliterating the warmth of the sun. ll: It's time to let her have her chance to spread her wings and try to touch the sky.

Oh Say Can You See?

Playing the solo {or duet in this case} for the National Anthem.  

Almost a HORRIBLE parent moment.  It was raining...was supposed to be raining all night.  Mike & I asked the kids if they would be upset if we didn't go to the game that night.  In the past they haven't marched on the field when it's been raining. {Can't mess up the field for the football team.}.  They both said that would be fine.

We went to the high school for the annual teacher's tailgate party and ate dinner.  It wasn't really raining so I ran down to the band room to ask if they were marching or not.  Thank goodness Kristy said they were going out there ~ because that made me decide to go to the game.  We walked over to watch pregame & heard, "Please rise for the playing and singing {the choir was there} of our National Anthem.  Tonight's trumpet solo will be preformed by seniors Patrick Barton and Adam Poulsin."  

We both just turned to look at each other, not believing we almost missed this event.  And I have to add, there were tears in our eyes.  This ride of raising Patrick has gone so fast.  So proud of who he is becoming.

#27

My first book on my Kindle Fire ~ #27 Still Waters by Misha Crews.  It was a free one with my free month subscription to Amazon Prime...{and I've orders two separate things just so I could take advantage of the free Amazon Prime Shipping...I don't know if I'll continue the subscription.  The free video is the best feature, but I really won't use $80 of it a year}ANYWAY.  Good book.  The characters were really interesting, as all people really are.  I enjoyed the study of what makes each one tick...and the secrets, oh the secrets.  And Frank, who I didn't want to like, who was really the mystery, turned out to be a sad, scared, and very hurt good guy.
Lot's of quotes since I really like the highlight & bookmark features of my Kindle! (put no page #'s, only locations...which mean not much.  I'll include the chapters)
ch2 ~ Routine equals control.  {oh how very very true, my OCD self, friends & family}
PART 2: LIFE  "If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden." --Frances Hodgson Burnett
ch8 ~ ...the "can-do" attitude of the Seabees.  The difficult we do at once.  The impossible takes a bit longer.
ch8 ~ vocabulary word ~ gamine: meaning: a girl with mischievous or boyish charm
ch13 ~ When I was younger, I used to sometimes get confused between the words 'fidelity' and 'integrity.'  But then Lucien explained to me that 'fidelity' comes from Latin word fidelitas, which means faithful.  And 'integrity' comes from the Latin word integritas, which means whole.  That's when I finally understood that in order to have integrity, one must maintain wholeness.
ch21 ~ "We live in dangerous times, Jenna."  His voice was low ans fervent.  "If you want to find happiness, you have to first find the things that make you feel safe. Grab them tight, and never let go."
ch22 ~ cool word:

ch27 ~ But she couldn't change what had happened.  There was nowhere to go but forward.  {great advice!}
ch28 ~ "In times of trouble, my grandmother used to say, 'Pray to God, but row for shore.'"  Then she'd gripped Jenna's shoulders and looked her straight in the eye.  "Faith plus action. It will be difficult, but you will get there.  When you feel like giving up, have faith and keep rowing."
Part Three: Afterlife:  "All changes, even the most longed for, ahve their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." --Anatole France
Epilogue: {great phrase} harmonious cacophony

#2 scores

in a 12 nothing romp...JB scores his first Varsity Soccer Goal! In Tuesday's game (10/2) over Lakeside. Courtesy of the News-Herald:

And so ends his varsity season.

2 things

#1 ~ yesterday we went to the Haunted Winery and Corn Maze...that opened this weekend just around the corner.  Let me say that this is no rinky-dink undertaking.  These people have put time, effort and money into this little enterprise.  Everything was well built, well thought out and enjoyable.  We did not go into the haunted winery, as we live in a house that we all {silently}consider haunted & don't want to risk upsetting our spirits by bringing unsavory haunted feelings home with us.  I don't know if that's how the rest of the family feels...but that's pretty much where Mike stands & I pretty much agree with him.  The kids went into the corn maze.  Without the clues, they said it would have been easy to get lost, but the clues make it so you can find your way through.  They did give the kids a bamboo pole with a red cloth attached that they could raise up & wave if they got into trouble.  My only negative is that it is $10 a ticket.  I paid for the kids & not for me & Mike.  Had it been $5 to $6 a person, I would have paid for all of us.  That's pretty steep a price for a half hour of walking through a corn maze.
#2 ~ I felt it necessary to find the other half of the white trail tonight at Camp Stig.  Mike & I marked the course for our meet tomorrow and he left {couldn't talk him into running the trails with me}.  I set out and right away found the east entrance.  And I ran.  And ran.  And ran.  Up and Down and over the creek and up and down.  And finally 1.78 miles in {as it's getting darker and darker in the woods} I lost the white marks.  I turned it around and got out of there.  Took me 44 minutes to run 4 miles!  I would have enjoyed it more had I been able to join up with the trail I knew...and if I'd been with someone {I kept thinking about about the bear that was lurking around... or the sasquatsh...or the skunk}I did get out without harm ~ 'cept for the twisted ankle ~ The map on my watch showed that I was really close to circling back to myself...but I was up & could not find the trail back down.  I'll have to adventure another day.
Two things to do.  Find how the blue trail meets the white trail & how the white trail is one continuous trail ~ because I'm not seeing it! {I tried to cut and paste the map...but I am unable.}