Run Log: January 2014

January 2014: The month I learned to cross train.  The month I put running aside; because the STREAK did more harm to my running than good. {note to self: no more streaks}  It's also been SO VERY COLD.  And I really don't like running on the treadmill all that much.  It was good to do other things!  I'm taking an aqua zumba class on Saturday mornings & swimming laps before.  I'm taking a yoga class on Sundays.  I'm doing some T25 video workouts.  I'm not riding the bike at the Y {because that is still so boring}
I think I've decided to run the Lake Health Series this year ~ Time to get training again.

January’s Totals:

46.33 miles for the month 
46.33 miles for the year 

125.62 miles for my bright blue Brooks 

My WEIGHT:  The scale read exactly the same as it did a month ago: 136.8. In that month's time it went up to 138 & down to 134.  I dieted for about a week and a half using my Lose It! app...and today I ate a donut and a cookie & my pants still fit ~ I'm just not caring.

Some interesting facts:

Longest run this month: 6 and that was at the beginning of the month!
Favorite place to run this month: I guess it would have to be Parkway Estates.  I've been parking at Couch's house & running all the roads of the development...I can make that over 6 miles when it's not as windy & cold as it has been.
# of bags of Candy Cane Kisses left in my cabinet: The last of the last bag is in the bowl...I eat a few every now & then
# of books I read this month: three ~ could have finished #4 last night...but I was SOOOO tired.
Monthly mileage record: 155.46 ~ August 2013!  WOW
Highest mileage ever-at-one-time:  26.2 ~ October 13, 2013 ~ Northern Ohio Marathon

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: 1:47:35 (Cleveland Half 5/19/2013)
marathon: 4:01:04 (Northern Ohio Marathon 10/13/2013)

Ghosting

Since Christmas some interesting things have been going on...all in our living room.
While we were in Colorado, one of the pictures fell from this holder.  Just fell out. I find it odd ~ They are wedged in there and glued.  So how did it just fall out?   & The glass broke when it hit the carpet.  Supernatural causes? maybe?

The second weird thing...  See that yellow and brown pottery piece in the back corner of the hutch?  One day, over break, I dusted {no need to mention that it had been a while since the last dusting...this is not a post about my lack of housekeeping skills}.  I put this piece back in the back corner on the top shelf.  It's hard to note from the picture but those shelves are about a foot deep ~ it's a good 10 inches from the edge.  I came into the living room the next day to this:

The top of that pottery piece ON THE COFFEE TABLE ~ five feet away from the hutch ~ with the handle broken off and in two pieces.  How did it FALL & BREAK when it sits so far from the edge?  How did it get on TOP of the coffee table?  No one in the family claims to have touched it?  The ghost?  maybe?

And last, but not least...Fonzi is seeing things in the living room.  He started just staring up at the ceiling about a month or two ago.  Now he is nipping at whatever is there.  He's not angry...he's just noticing something & biting at it.

The weird thing is...it's really no big deal.  IF it is a ghost, it is friendly in the sense that it doesn't mess with people ~ or do scary things.  I'm fine with sharing the space & maybe looking out for each other, if you can look out for a ghost.  No one, except Julie, who gets a funny feeling in the room.  It's just rather interesting to observe these odd things that happen.  If it's not a ghost, I don't know what else it could be.

The World We Live In

Today was inservice day at school, so after our meeting we were "free" to work in our rooms {thank GOD, since I still can't seem to get ahead of my workload...feeling a little breathing room after today, but it was more catch-up than get-ahead}.
While we were working, the Fine Men-in-Blue were doing their own training.  Disturbing to the core of my being to have the reality of school violence brought into my day.  The announcement by Mr. Brady, "The police are doing a training today so you may hear loud noises that may sound similar to gunshots."  And then I hear laughter from the police in the cyber cafe {right outside my door}.  I peek out and they say, "It may sound similar to gunshots because it will be gunshots."
Sure enough, they are practicing many different scenarios of a live shooter in the building.  The sound of gunshots resounding through my place of employment.  A place where innocent children are every single day.  The fact that we need these men to know what they would do if...
There are no words to express that if.

And I come home to the news that there is one dead, a shooting victim,  on the campus of Purdue University.

Pray.

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.

#3

My Secret Santa gave me a really cool Christmas gift ~ book #3 The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life by Amby Burfoot.  It's a good little book by the winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon.  {Ok, that was mentioned about 15 times throughout the book ~ but every time I want to say something snarky about it...I realize that if I were to have won the Boston Marathon...I would mention it 15 times a day, everyday, forever}
Lots of truth.  Some funny stuff.  Helps me in this time of a running 'low' that it's ok...I am still a "runner" and it's ok to have these cycles.

Best Quote p106 ~ is one of Amby's favorite quotes ~ "You have to forget your last marathon before you try another.  Your mind can't know what's coming." ~ Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic Marathon gold medalist.

fl: I can barely see anymore. ll: Now I'm truly ready for the New Year.

Baby, it's cold

That -11.9 degrees is why we are having snow day #2 ~ It's going to be REALLY difficult to get myself out of bed at 6:15 tomorrow morning...I've gotten very used to 8 am rise & shine.

Currently the sun is shining on this very cold morning & it's a pretty crisp day.

FYI ~ it was not 54 degrees inside last night.  That had to have been back in October before we turned on the heat.

Snow day! (#1)

I deep deep deep in my heart feel that in this age of technology, the weather people have become total alarmists.  I will never forget {because I'm typing it here} when channel 3 first got doppler radar.  They interrupted regularly scheduled programming to tell me it was RAINING ~ and to zoom in on the street in some town, not close to me, to show me how much it was raining {not a newsworthy amount}.

Now, the weather channel has started NAMING winter storms.  Seriously?  What's next?  Naming clouds?  Naming lighting bolts?  This is giving the wrong message.  I hate to remind the herd, because they should remember it for themselves, it snows in the winter.  It gets cold in the winter.  Every once in a while it will dip below zero.  It will not kill you because you are smart enough not to go out there to sunbathe. 

Which brings me to today's snow day.

The predictions for today began a week ago.  A WEEK ago they began predicting the coldest weather in 20 years...a WEEK ago the high for Tuesday was -5 with a low of -10.   The issued Winter Storm Warning was calling for 8 to 15 inches of snow.  Actual: we've got a dusting & it looks like {from the radar, that I'm smart enough to read} we'll get a little bit more.  They are now predicting 2 to 15 inches {way to cover all bases}

And it is cold.  So I'm dressed warmly.

And I don't think there is a school open today...all called off last night before 8:00 pm...when it was still raining.  Was it the right call?  Probably.  I can't imagine the roads are good out there with a layer of ice under the snow...but the attitudes & fears.  That's the most frightening part to me.  We are not stupid, people.

#1 & #2

Just a word for the future ~ there is no need to read all four books in a Nora Roberts compilation all at once...I was just ready for it to be over.  I like her books.  They are light & enjoyable, but they are also predictable & repetitive and four it a row is too much.
With that, books #1 & #2 for 2014 are the last two in the Bride Quartet Collection: Savor the Moment and Happy Ever After.  Savor the Moment was Laurel's story, the baker of the wedding planning business.  She finds love with Del...and true love it is.  Happy Ever After is Parker's story as she falls in love with the bad boy, Mal.  I must say, this is my favorite as we all have a weakness for that bad boy.
As soon as I turn on my wireless, the book is going to magically disappear from my Kindle...
Savor the Moment:
Cool Word:
loc14051: donnybrooks
     a scene of uproar and disorder; a heated argument

fl: As the clock ticked down on her senior year in high school, Laurel McBane learned on indisputable fact.  ll: Hand in hand, they started back up the steps to share the next moments with family.

Happy Ever After: 
fl: Grief came in waves, hard and choppy, buffeting and breaking the heart.  ll: To the Brides of Vows, and their happy ever afters.

Winter gray

This is the monochrome trip across America.  It's rainy and gray and now we are traveling in the pink, according to the weather radar.  The weather is moving west.  WEST. Weather doesn't move west... We should have driven out of this hours ago, but it is following us.

Appropriate for the darkest day of the year.  (should have posted 12/21/13 ~ but my phone didn't post it)

Christmas

I need to post the family pictures.

So here you go.

Jacob & Patrick
Christmas Eve 2013

The Fam :)

Me & Mom @ A-Basin (It was COLD)

The top of A-Basin ~ check out the different cloud layers