Run Log February 2014

I'm tired of the cold & I'm tired of running on a treadmill.  I NEED 35°!  That will feel like a HEAT WAVE ~ this morning it was -9° when I drove to school.  I'd rather run outside...but I just couldn't make myself bundle up & go this week.  But that treadmill is killing my running spirit.  BORING BORING BORING
which leads to my COMPLAINING COMPLAINING COMPLAINING
The annual YMCA triathlon started this week & I have one more week to get in all the miles.  To recap...26.2 running, 112 cycling, 2 swimming.  Two weeks to get the gold.  {and, of course, I must get the gold}
My sincere hope:  The next Running log has me writing about more outdoor runs with sunshine & friends and closer to 80 miles...by the next running log I will have gone on two class trips, sent JB to NYC with the band & had Patrick home for spring break.  March will be a good month.

February’s Totals:

64.41 miles for the month 
110.74 miles for the year 

190.03 miles for my bright blue Brooks ~ that now have a spot right in the middle of the toe box on the right shoe?  Kinda looks like a really washed out drop of blood ~ don't mess with me

3.3 miles swimming

52 miles biking

I'm also taking a kickboxing class on Monday & a yoga class on Wednesday.  I'm really becoming a big fan of yoga.  I think it's the best thing to pair up with running.  & how can you not like a class where you LAY DOWN AND RELAX for the last 10 minutes...and it's considered EXERCISE.  It's having your cake & eating it too.

Training for: 10 Mile Drop on April 13

My WEIGHT:  Hey, I'm down two pounds as compared to last month: 134.8.  I quit tracking calories...trying to eat healthy & get enough calories...and some of those calories came from the donut I ate at the staff meeting on Tuesday...and the donut I ate at the sped meeting today. {both chocolate frosted with sprinkles...fun & yummy}  I bet I won't be able to say I'm down two pounds at the end of March if two donuts a week keeps up.

Some interesting facts:

Longest run this month: 7.69 ~ all the roads {most more than once} around Parkway
Favorite place to run this month: I've run Parkway & I've run the treadmill at the YMCA.  Neither is a favorite...even tho they both have been at one time.
# of bags of Candy Cane Kisses left in my cabinet: GONE
# of books I read this month: three ~ just started the next one...and I think I drooled on my Kindle last night while reading the first page {Sue Fulton swore it was the best book she's read since The Help...so I don't think it was the book}
Monthly mileage record: 155.46 ~ August 2013!  WOW
Highest mileage ever-at-one-time:  26.2 ~ October 13, 2013 ~ Northern Ohio Marathon
Toenail color:  Fresh French Manicure ~ just took off the dark red...it was so chipped, it was embarrassing

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)

#6 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

What a well written and interesting documentary-style book.   #6 is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  Henrietta was a poor black woman ~ who married her cousin, {who gave her HPV & syphilis & who knows what else}, who lived in poverty & had 5 children, one who was committed to The Hospital for the Negro Insane.  A very hard life to be sure.  She died a very painful death from cervical cancer, but before she died, the scientists at Johns Hopkins Hospital took a sample of that tumor.  A cell sample that is still alive today.  An amazing concept, really.  Those cells have been used by researchers to find a vaccine for polio, cures for cancers, help map DNA, and much more that I really can't understand.  This is the story of the woman and her family and a human part of the debate of scientific ethics.  The most poignant commentary; here is a woman whose cells are a main part of so many medical miracles ~ yet her family can't afford health insurance.  Interesting, maddening, and often kooky.  I'm glad I read it.

Quotes:
p? {location 242} ~ "If you pretty up how people spoke and change the things they said, that's dishonest.  It's taking away their lives, their experiences, and their selves."  {a Lacks relative speaking about how Rebecca should write the interviews given by the family.}

p9 ~ Yeah, that's right, my mother name was Henrietta Lacks, she died in 1951, John Hopkins took her cells and them cells are still livin today, still multiplyin, still growing and spreadin if you don't keep em frozen.  Science calls her HeLa and she's all over the world in medical facilities, in all the computers and the Internet everywhere.

fl: There's a photo on my wall of a woman I've never met, its left corner torn and patched together with tape.  ll: "But maybe I'll come back as some HeLa cells like my mother, that way we can do good together out there in the world."  She paused and nodded again.  "I think I'd like that."
 

quotes

I've come across two great quotes today...
1 ~ from an email advertisement for SkirtSports {my favorite & most expensive running wear}

 "I run because the road's a damn good listener." ~ {that's from Gina, according to the ad}  True Story!

2 ~ From the February 2014 Runner's World magazine, the story Runner, Interrupted (the story of a super fast Kenyan who lost both of his feet to frostbite), page82

“No matter the size of a tree, it can never be called a forest.” ~  Marko Cheseto

I'm getting to read my Runner's World magazines because I have to get 112 miles done on the bike for the YMCA triathlon...the bike sucks, but it's a great time to read :)

and another one

Snow Day #9 * NINE ~ 

That's almost TWO WEEKS of snow days.  We really may be going to school well into June.  Who knows what's going to happen with the governor & his request for a few more days...and the union is never going to get around to a decision on this Blizzard Bag stuff.  There is some stress as today was to be my professional IEP writing day...with a meeting tomorrow that I'm only 95% ready for & a meeting next week, totally unprepared & another meeting the first week of March, again, totally unprepared.  I'm trying not to stress...but I see a very late night in my future.
But today I will clean the house & watch a few episodes of Breaking Bad.  I will enjoy this snow day ~ as I will be making it up with work in the future.

A Valentine's story.  My sweet & thoughtful husband left me a little box of chocolate & a card on my driver's seat on Valentine's Day.  {Friday}  On Saturday I left for my trip to Cincinnati.  On Sunday I returned.  On Monday I went to eat a piece of chocolate.  I opened the box & there was ONE PIECE left.  Apparently the ownership on a box of Valentine's chocolate is limited to Valentine's Day.  After that, it is fair game.
Be warned.

Cincy

Patrick's Birthday Weekend trip to Cincinnati was an adventure.  First, we got lost trying to find the hotel.  Then we got lost trying to find campus.  Then we got lost trying to find the mall.  Then we really got lost trying to find a JoAnn Fabric...Bean's phone actually said the plaza was at the end of an alley.  Then we got lost trying to get to dinner.  Then we got lost with a bad headlight trying to get back to campus from dinner.  I think we then found the hotel with no problem.  You get the picture.  We got a suit for the young man, and stitch witchery & an iron to hem the pants...Montgomery Inn for dinner & the best part...Bean FIXED the temperature/compass in my car!  It read Celsius until we read in the owners manual how to reset it.  It also told us we were headed either North, Northeast or Northwest ~ even when we were headed South.  Finally the CAL {for calibration} light came on.  So we read in the owners manual that to calibrate it we should drive in a circle at five miles an hour until it reset.   We decided this would be a poor choice on Route 71, so we did not calibrate it.  However, it seemed to fix itself & now works just fine.  I'm so excited!

Had a great time seeing Patrick & hearing about what he's doing. I only cried a little bit.  Lots to do in the town of Cincinnati ~ would love to see the zoo & botanical garden, but not in the winter.  Another visit.  I'm sure there will be more to come.

Winter

Mike has been telling me the temperature in Phoenix for many weeks now ~ and I didn't want to hear it.  Seriously.  This is WINTER.  A glorious winter as far as winters go.  We've had extreme weather...EIGHT calamity days {fancy word for snow day}...lots of beautiful snow.  Big Flakes.  Blowing Wind.  Below Zero Temperatures.  The LAKE is frozen in this kind of mysterious icy white landscape that goes all the way to Canada.  We have a HUGE mountain of snow at the end of the driveway that is going to take forever to melt.  I don't remember the last time I saw the actual ground.  This is how winter should be.

And I'm done with it.  I need some warmth.  I need to run outside without layer upon layer to keep me warm.  I want to wear a skirt & a t-shirt & have sweat running down my face.  I want to wear my suede shoes and not worry about salt marks.  I want to be warm.

It may be a while.

I still don't want to MOVE to Phoenix...but a visit would be delightful.

#5 Takedown Twenty

Janet Evanovich strikes again with Takedown Twenty ~ #5 for the year.  {an actual BOOK ~ I gave to Amy for Christmas ~ and she lent it to me to read ;)}

Another fun story complete with destroyed cars, gunshots, funerals, 'ho's, Morelli & Ranger, and a giraffe.  Somehow, Evanovich makes it work.  I will continue to recommend this series to anyone who wants to laugh when they read.  And I may be more in Ranger's court the longer this series lasts.

fl: It was late at night and Lula and I had been staking out Salvatore Sunucchi, better known as Uncle Sunny, when Lula spotted Jimmy Spit.  ll: "Freakin' A!" Lula said.  "My girl's back in the saddle."

Snowy run

What a day to run 6 miles.  There was a light snow falling and barely a breeze. Good music on the iPod & a crunch under my feet.  I was dressed a little too warm ~ but it was good. 

Coldsnap

Eight Snow Days ~ That's where we stand.  We really should have had last Wednesday off too because of actual snow ~ but it didn't really start snowing until 6:15ish & the decision had already been made.  The days we have had off have all been for extreme cold ~ the wind chill has been -15° to -20° or worse.  We used to have school on those kinds of days, but {this is Mike's theory} one kid gets frost bite waiting for the bus & there's a lawsuit the schools can't afford.
The upside:

It's like Summer Shandy for the Winter.  It's light & wintry and makes winter ok.

Well, winter is ok for me, anyway.  I love the extreme temperatures ~ the chance of snow ~ the chance of a lot of snow ~ the howling winds ~ the blowing snow ~ the phone ringing at 5:00 am from the Madison Local Schools Infinite Campus Messenger... 

It's not ok for my husband...who checks the temperature in Phoenix every morning.

Super Sunday

Mike is ready for Super Bowl Sunday:

"Oh, Becky, you need to learn forgiveness."  My mother tells me.  How she can be a Broncos fan is beyond me...too many years in Colorado, I guess.  It is the one bad thing about Colorado.  

However, we tried to cheer for Peyton Manning last night...there just wasn't that much to cheer for.

Yesterday was the day I committed myself to a training schedule to run the 10 Mile Drop in April and the Lake Health Half Marathon  in June{and in my heart, I think I'll do the Northern Ohio Marathon in October, but I haven't said that out loud yet.}  I'm excited about running again!  So after yoga class, I headed over to Parkway & put in a good 7 miles.  I get home, walk upstairs & feel like I've stepped on something.  I feel the bottom of my sock & realize the sharp object isn't on the outside of the sock...it's on the inside.  I finally lost the toe nail on my right foot.  {seriously ignore the pealing nail polish on all the other toes...and notice the one missing the nail}  It was rather happenstance that it fell off the day I feel my running mojo return.

And now I need to go & paint those nails...I'm so embarrassed that they look that way.  {swimming is bad for nail polish!}

#4

#4 was a Combination Real Book & Kindle Digital Book ~ because that's how I roll.  A sweet lady at church recommended Rocket Boys to me by Homer Hickman Jr.  I had it on my wish list on my Kindle ~ and she handed me her copy of the book, which had been reprinted and renamed October Sky, after the movie that had been made from the original Rocket Boys novel.  So, not only did I read this book in two different formats, I read it as two different titles.  I am livin' on the EDGE here, people.
I love a memoir that reads like a novel.  Homer Hickman, on top of being a self-taught rocket scientist, is quite a story teller.  This is the story of a young boy growing up in a dying coal mining town.  It really gave life to that time, that struggle, and the culture of a company town.  It a story of a dreamer, who becomes driven to learn.  He also becomes the hero of this small town, as someone who can do them proud & show the world the greatness that can come of hard work.

Quotes:
p135 ~ "What's the hardest thing you ever learned, Dad?" I asked abruptly.  He leaned on the rail of the stoop.  "Entropy," he said finally.  I didn't understand the word and he knew it.  "Entropy is the tendency of everything to move toward confusion and disorder as time passes," he explained.  "It's part of the first law of thermodynamics."  I must have looked bland.  "No matter how perfect the thing," he continued patiently, "the moment it's created it begins to be destroyed."

Good Word:
p150 ~  besmirched

   damage the reputation of someone or something in the opinion of others

p185 ~ I knew better than to thank Dad for any of it.  Some dogs you're better off to just let lie in the sun.

p295 ~ "In the queer mass of human destiny, the determining factor has always been luck"

p301 ~ "The Lord preserves the simple" was Mom's response when I mentioned this to her.

fl: Until I began to build and launch rockets, I didn't know my hometown was at war with itself over its children and that my parents were locked in a kind of bloodless combat over how my brother and I would live our lives.  ll: Even now, Coalwood endures, and no one, not careless industry or overzealous government, can ever completely destroy it --not while we who once lived there may recall our life among its places, or especially remember rockets that once leapt into the ir, propelled not by physics but by the vibrant love of an honorable people, and the instruction of a dear teacher, and the dreams of boys.