Cake for 500

Here it is.

A celebratory cake for five hundred.  It isn't a cake that will feed 500 people.  That is not what the 500 is for but quite simply it is a cake for my 500th post. 
The history behind the cake and the 500 is quite simple... 
When I started writing this blog I amazed myself when I realized I was coming up to a possible 100 posts.  How could I have accomplished that?  It was beyond my imagination that I could do it.  I expressed my excitement to my family and thought a cake celebration would be appropriate.  They did not.  They thought 100 posts? - maybe a cupcake or a cookie.  Of course, they were just teasing me (weren't you?!) So no cake.

I hit my 100 posts on July 29, 2009.  Then on Feb 12, 2010 I hit 299 posts.  I felt my biggest accomplishment was when I hit 365 posts on April 10, 2010 - exactly one year from the day I started this blog making it an average of one post a day for an entire year.  Huge - for me.  But it wasn't cake time.

Today it is officially cake time!

So, simply put...cake for 500.
TT
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Shape up

Here is the way the day is shaping up. 
I didn't run this morning since it was 40 degrees.  I am sorry BUT...that's COLD.  I realize in two weeks when I actually have to run my half marathon it might be that temperature but that's then, not now, and I will deal with it.  I couldn't deal with it this morning or just refused and wouldn't.
So I wrote a post.  It will never be published here.  It was good and made a point but I was whining and I have said I wasn't going to do that.
So two things down this morning and nothing accomplished. Hopefully this isn't a trend.  I will take myself off to get grocery shopping out of the way and clean up around the house a bit.  I will hopefully get another batch of words on my book draft completed and I will bake a cake (a cake?...wait for it).
Those are sounding like some positive accomplishments, no?  Since the temperatures are promised to rise to the high 70's I might sit outside in the sun and read with my new toy (nook).  I have come to enjoy it more than I ever imagined!  Maybe I'll even get a run in later in the day.
So after what could have been a discouraging first few hours I will hold myself to making some better things come today.
It's Saturday and the day is shaping up.
TT

A thousand words

When I arrived at work this morning I immediately noticed the sticker I have had at my desk for more than a few years.  It has been there to remind me to stop...because I do...like I did...like I know I do...earlier this morning (in my previous post).  It seems to be invisible to me, amidst the things that are always there on my desk, except on days like this morning.  Then it appears - winking at me - after going unnoticed for months.  That is the reason it has been there for years.  I sometimes need that visual reminder.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

 

I think I will bank those toward my word count for today.

TT 

Inspiration or lack of

I have to remind myself of what I read in a book about inspiration.  Since I seem to have been lacking in that department lately and since I have been reevaluation what I am doing here with this tool of a blog it seemed appropriate. 
I might need to get myself re-organized along with this reevaluation thing I have going 'round in my mind.  Maybe not.  That organizing thing might only be my comfort zone when I am not exactly sure what else to do.  At least it always seems my way to start straightening things up, going through the stack and starting to discard all the things that don't seem to measure up or to have lost the value I might have thought they once had.  Or to just get rid of the things that I have used and are now worn and need to be replaced.
But how do you do that with the intangibles?  How do you do that with things that you can't quite grasp in your hand but are the things that dreams are made even if the dreams don't go to spectacular visions of grandeur but are simply a push yourself beyond what you think you can do challenge?
Maybe that's the hardest part.  If I am the only one pushing and I am the only one dreaming about it, then why?  It won't make a stick of difference to anyone else and after all the pushing and trying will it really make a difference to me?
It might.  Maybe.
And times when I feel my inspiration lacking I have to remind myself of what I read in a book.  When playwright Oscar Wilde was asked the difference between a professional writer and an amateur he answered, the difference is that an amateur writes when he feels like it; a professional writes regardless.
Good answer for a professional.  I still need to figure out where I fit.
Are those the only choices?
TT

A little fun

I came across this article at the best of times.  I knew it was going to have pointers on runners etiquette before, during, and after a race and it did!  It wasn't until I got toward the end of the article that it took on the tone that I realized I am striving to keep as I approach my race date.  That particular tone and attitude is what I am continually focusing on.  It is that I am going to have fun doing this!
These portions of the article made me smile and giggle a little.  It reminds me that even when I am taking all my training and all my runs seriously that I do have to remember how much fun it can be.  I have been fairly successful so far.  I know my nerves may take a turn as the date approaches but it might have a bit of a fight on it's hand if it thinks it will be successful in trying to change my mind.

As an aside, I have to mention that when I read through and signed the general release agreement for my upcoming race in November, I had to stop a moment to acknowledge the fact that I was being referred to as "athlete".  Yeah, me.  "The undersigned athlete....athlete represents and warrants...athlete has read the foregoing..."
Me...the athlete (just trying to have fun).  Now you have some fun reading these short portions of the article...
-----------------------------------------------------------
Portion of The Racer's Field Manual by Mark Remy

Spectator's Guide
So, You're Here Because You Like to Watch?
The best way to get motivated to sign up for a race is to cheer on other runners.

DO Applaud vigorously.
DON'T Applaud in that weak, single clap...pause...single clap...pause...way. It sounds sarcastic!

DO Hold up signs written in BIG, bold, clear letters.
DON'T Hold up signs written on white poster board with blue ballpoint pen. In elegant cursive.

DO Use short, funny slogans on your sign, such as "Run Like Snot!"
DON'T Use slogans that are so long no runner could possibly read them as they pass, such as "Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

DO Tell runners that they're looking great.
DON'T Tell runners that the winner finished an hour ago.

Read Body Language At the Finish Line
The Raised Fist
A single raised fist signifies triumph.

The Upraised-Holding-Hands with Running Partner
They did it! Together! Nothing can stop them! They just might continue holding hands back to their hotel! Yay!

The Low-Key High Five with Race Official
A classy, understated acknowledgment of the organizers. Nice touch.

The Look of Utter Shock
The expression on her face? "HOLY &$%#! I AM FINISHING A RACE!"

The Look of Utter Exhaustion
His body language says, "I am about to collapse like a stringless marionette." His face says exactly the same thing.

The Kneeling Ground-Kiss
This one is usually reserved for the winner—or anyone who enjoys asphalt.

The Multiple Backflip
This person conserved a little too much energy during the race.

Give an Appropriate Postrace Hug
For how long may you embrace someone after you've finished a race, without things getting weird?  The baseline duration to start is: 3 seconds
If the hugger personally knows the huggee: +2 seconds
If the hugger and the huggee are strangers: -1 second
If both parties are sweaty: +1 second
If the hugger is male and the huggee is female: -1 second
If the hugger is female and the huggee is male: +1 second
If the hugger and the huggee are a couple: +3 to 5 seconds
If the hugger and the huggee are a couple, but their spouses are nearby: -2.5 seconds

Personally, after any run, I am so gross, wet, and sweaty - hugging is the last thing on my mind!
TT
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If you are interested, here is the entire article:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244--13687-1-1X2X3X4-5,00.html

eMail

I received my confirmation email.  I saw it appear in my personal inbox last night but I was working on something else and I didn't open it.  I wanted to be able to read it through and not give it a quick glance over like I might do some of the many unnecessary emails that appear in my inbox.  It was marked confirmation sheet and final.  I knew it wouldn't have been much longer until I received it and yet it seemed to have magically appeared there so soon.
I haven't been paying much attention to the time or how long before the date comes up.  A few others around me have tried to point out a countdown or how many days until but it has not quite registered with me.  I am aware how far off it is (or how close) but it still seems a matter of weeks and I don't want to give way to the anxiety I might build if I let these outside pressures take me.  I want to keep this fun and in perspective.  I don't want to make it more than it is or something it is not.  I decided when I thought I would have to forfeit this altogether that this is something I will be doing for the long term and I wouldn't let the thrill of one event make or break me. 
I have to admit I was excited when I saw the email appear.  I have to admit I probably didn't open it right away because I thought I needed extra time to concentrate on what it might contain.  I didn't.  That was something I was conjuring in my own mind.  Of course I was going to pay attention when I opened it.  Of course I was going to get a thrill of knowing I was registered and included.  Of course.  For me to pretend to make it more than it was, or to act like it was less by stalling, well, was simply silly.
The date is Sunday, November 14.  I have a short amount of time until then and when broken down into a few weeks it isn't much time.  I have a few things to change that shouldn't be a problem.  I will need to adjust my distance and my corral and time but that is very well explained on how to go about doing it.  There are all sorts of activities and a health and fitness expo the day before.  Package pickup is during that time and it needs to be in person with ID.
I received my confirmation and maybe I stalled opening the email because it does make it all seem all too real.
My half marathon is only a short ways away.
TT 

Nook

You may recognize this device.  It isn't a brand new piece of technology but one that has been out for a little while that I have tried to ignore.  It is true I didn't need this particular toy since I had a small mini-acer computer that I could download and read eBooks.  I had been doing fairly well doing that until recently when the mini computer was taken and I didn't have it anymore.
Of course this lack of having my eBook reader device would happen at a time that my voraciousness for reading kicked in and I was without the luxury of having a device that could download a book instantly.  It seems I had gotten a little spoiled with finishing one book and being able to instantly start another simply by choosing and clicking.  I found without any way to do that I had also strayed from having a stash of ""next books to read" on my nightstand.  I would always have a extra paper book waiting when I finished one.  This wasn't the case anymore.  I was reading my loved paper copies of books again but found I was purchasing them one at a time and was without a book at times until I could make it to the bookstore.
That is exactly what happened yesterday.  I finished a trilogy (which I had purchased one book at a time) and was without another book to start.  I had a list of two books I was thinking of purchasing and after an afternoon of several errands I finally made it to the bookstore to pick them up.
Then the frustration started to come over me when they didn't have a copy of either book I thought I wanted.  I checked the aisles and went through each authors assortment they had on the shelves and I had read everything they had to offer but not the particular books I was looking for.  Drat! 
That is when Jay stepped in.  We had run these errands together and he isn't one to browse a bookstore the way I sometimes can get lost there for hours.  That was one reason I had narrowed the list to two books thinking I would pick up one or the other quickly.  Now I had a feeling I might be leaving without a book at all.
He asked about the eReader.  I told him I really didn't know that much about it and I was only going to spend 10 bucks on a paperback not $150.  But he wanted to know more...and I did tell him the eBooks are sometimes cheaper.  I knew there was a brand new hardcover book that lists for $28 that I would pay about $16 but could get it for $10 as an eBook.  I knew on average most eBooks are $2 or a little less than the paper.  So he says...you read about 100 books a year (how did he know that?) so the device would pay for itself by that time, you wouldn't have to drive to the store and you don't have to worry about the store not having the books you want.
But, but...I wasn't going to spend....but what?...but I can get it...but...what about...but, but...

But, but nothing. I bought it.

I bought it, I charged it up, I got that hardcover in eBook for $9.99.  Nothing like having a stash of books on my nightstand again.
TT

Rain?!

Tell me it's not really raining this morning.  I am dressed and ready to head out for a much needed long run at the Runners haven and I think I hear rain.  The temperature is a wonderful 70 degrees and after an entire week of slacking off I was much anticipating and looking forward to this stretch of my (short) legs.  They could use some stretching this Saturday morning and now I am wondering about the rain. 
If it is anything like yesterday it will come down fairly hard.  I don't have a problem with running in the rain if I am already out and caught in it but for some reason I have a slightly harder time to actually go out into the rain to run if it already coming down.  I may need to just get over myself on that point.  Wet is wet is wet.  It doesn't matter if it happens before, middle or end.  I think.
I will need to adjust my attitude ever again and maybe instead of thinking about the rain itself I should perhaps prep for it instead.  Not much else I can do except grab an extra towel and maybe find a way to waterproof the sensor on my shoe.  Oh gosh, is that thunder or just a car engine rumble?
I'll let you know later how this goes...
TT (6:37am Saturday morning)
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Did I say rain?  What rain?  There was no rain.  It might have been damp at my house early this morning but it had no affect on where I was going or what I was doing.  It stayed an overcast, very pleasant 70 degrees the entire time I was out.  I had an absolutely wonderful run.  I need to check my recent freak outs at the door because I am proving over and again that I am causing my own possibly worst case scenarios for no apparent reasons.  Luckily, I went ahead with plans and didn't miss out on a great 14 mile run in absolutely great conditions.  That's exactly what it turned out to be instead of the wet, rain soaked visions I was conjuring in my seemingly diminishing pea brain.
So enough of that behaviour!  Self-imposed freak outs be gone!  Things are not the negatives I keep trying to make them out to be.
Where was that coming from anyway?  Don't know...but enough, already.
TT (11:41am Saturday morning)   

Truckin'

500 miles is one serious road trip. And to think, you did it on one set of tires.

Keep on truckin’.

This was the notification I received the last time I ran and sync'd my sensor to my Nikeplus.com site.  It's 500 miles since I started using the sensor and is the combined total of all my runs.  I ran last this past Sunday and it was for 11 miles.  It was a tough 11 this time for some reason.  It didn't seem too tough at the time but somehow afterward I was not feeling quite the same.  It wasn't anything extreme or anything I could point out specifically but I knew something was off.  I had a normal rest day after the weekend on Monday but then I took Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off.  I couldn't seem to get myself motivated to get out the door this week.
I have no excuses.  The weather has been fine.  I have no aches or pains.  I just had one of those weeks when I wasn't feeling it.  I have tried and managed to enjoy almost every run I have had since getting back to it after my foot injury.  I am not trying for any speed records or even any personal best records.  I am just looking to go outdoors and enjoy my runs.  I have been doing that lately and it is a big reason I am glad I found the Runners haven since it has turned into such a great place for me to do exactly that.  Then for some reason this week I just stopped running.
Maybe it was just time for a break.  Maybe hitting 500 miles was a little daunting for me to put a number to.  Maybe also hitting a goal of 50 miles in two weeks added to it.  Maybe, somehow, I knew I needed to drop back a little bit and stop pushing myself.  It didn't seem like I was pushing but then I don't ever seem to see it that way when it comes to dealing with myself.
500 miles is one serious road trip.  The site sends these kinds of messages to help motivate and remind you of how well you are doing. 
Maybe I just took it too seriously.
TT

Really? Math?

I tried to freak myself out with an update of information. I tried fairly hard but I think I was able to sway the negative effects it could have had on me fairly efficiently. I think in the past it might have been something I would have dwelled on for a larger portion of time but I found my way of dismissing it rather quickly even if it was an odd way to do it. I couldn’t think of another so I went with it.
Since I had to recently replace my laptop I have been forced to have certain upgrades. That isn’t a bad thing. I have had the software for the newest windows office suite but never installed in on my old laptop. When I purchased this new laptop I went ahead and upgraded using the new software.
My saved book pages were converted easily to the newest upgrade and I was typing away adding more words. I came to a stopping point and before saving I did a quick spell check. I found out that this newest version has an added window right at the end of checking every misspelled word and grammar correction. It has a window that not only tells you the word count and characters, paragraphs, sentences…you’ve seen it. This newest version also has a category called…Readability.
What?…I moved a little closer to the screen. Readability! What’s this! Readability?!
It has three sub-categories under this title: Passive Sentences, Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. My document had scored numbers after each. But what does that mean?!
There was only one thing I could do. I googled it. It seems some guy named Rudolph Flesch came up with a formula back in 1948 to gauge reading ease. The higher the number scored on reading ease means the easier it is to read.
The specific mathematical formula is:
RE = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)
RE = Readability Ease
ASL = Average Sentence Length (i.e., the number of words divided by the number of sentences)
ASW = Average number of syllables per word (i.e., the number of syllables divided by the number of words
Oh great…and where did that put me? I want good readability but I thought that came from having an interesting story line. Now it’s down to a mathematical formula. I hate math! Why do you think I spend so much time on creative endeavors?!  I don't like math and here it is scoring my creativity!
So after my initial shock and I calmed myself to a mild freak out I looked at my numbers again. My passive sentences were around 2%. I thought that had to be good since that would mean I had more active sentences. There is nothing like keeping a story going and interesting than action, right? My reading ease was 78.9. Was that too high? Then my grade level was 5.5. What?! So I am writing for a 5th grader?! That can’t be too good. I had to figure out where I stood with all these new statistics. I couldn’t go on writing not knowing where my writing fell comparatively with other writers. So I did the only thing I could figure out to do.
I typed an entire chapter of the book I happened to be reading at the time into a new document. I figured I would let the software grade the bestselling author I happened to be enjoying at the time and see how the formula graded him. I know…it was a little labor intensive but my typing skills aren’t too shabby and I accomplished the task without too much delay. There might have also been a little anxiety driving me too, but well…I won’t speak to that now (maybe never).
I finished the typing assignment and pulled the scores. I found the bestselling author had 10% passive sentences…I beat him there! He had a readability ease of 73.7. That was probably a little better than my 78.9. Then on the one last sub-category he scored a 6.5. He was an entire grade level ahead of me. But it was only a 6.5 to my 5.5. I began thinking how much better could a sixth grader read than a fifth grader? Was it all that much more?
I told you it was an odd way to do this but it did seem to settle my initial freak out. I, at least, didn’t dwell in the, oh weary me; I am not worthy to write another word, land. I got myself off that island real quick and kept writing. The window comes up now every time I do a check and I've put it in its place of just a statistic where it should be.
So, if you are curious about this piece?
Its rating is…Passive sentences 3%, Flesch reading ease 78.0, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 5.2.
Interesting.  Do you think?  You old fifth grader, you.
TT

Monday again

It is too late for me this morning to try and get this post written.  It's another Monday morning and I have so many things to do at work and then a few things after.  My boss will be leaving for overseas tomorrow and this last week, and I expect also today, has been crammed with all the last minute, just have to meet with such-an-such before I go, meetings that need to happen and that I will have to schedule.  They aren't always an easy task due to the fact that my boss' calendar is already full of meetings and I am never sure how he thinks he can meet with people for more hours than there are in one day.
But that is what I do and I have been doing it fairly frantically this past week.  Now another day of it before he leaves and he won't be back in the office until November 8th.  I am not sure how that will work out.  I am sure a lot of emails since he will be an entire day ahead of me.  I am not that concerned about that now.
So I will have to get to it now.  I would rather arrive early today to have that hour of quiet work time before the aisle of cubes around me gets filled with everyone else starting their Mondays.
I could be wrong, of course, and it might be a fairly quiet day after all the work done to put things in order last week.  That would be something to look forward to.  I could have gotten everything done last week and not have the frantic last minute items to only have today to accomplish.  That would be a pleasant turn that I could look forward to.
Then I would only need to take care of the few things I need to do after work!
TT

Beef and White Bean Stew

I bugged out of my long run yesterday morning.  Circumstances lent themselves to allow me to somehow rationalize that I could miss it.  I had several options for this reasoning.  My running friend wasn't feeling up to it, I had put in a month of good training and it was dipping down into some lower temperatures.
That cooler air was what made me decide to wait to run a little later.
Instead I changed out of my running gear (yes, I was ready to go, then wasn't) and headed to do some grocery shopping instead.  Early mornings on weekends are the best(est) time to go.  NO one is ever there that early and I can usually get it done pronto.
I didn't have a list and no menu ideas but the cooler temp made the beef shank look like a good choice.  Soup, stew?  hmmm....This is what I came up with.

I guess I am calling it Beef and White Bean Stew.  I used the same technique of slow cooking the beef shank (browning it first and sweating some onion, carrot, celery and garlic cloves) in water and then after two hours or more straining the broth.

I started cooking the white bean separately but then added them into the strained broth and meat and cooked some more adding some seasoning. 

After it was all cooked and bubbling nicely I added some fresh ingredients to it.

I used some quartered red potatoes, celery, carrots, cabbage and leeks.

It was hearty and good and could chase away the hunger and the cooler temperatures.  Nothing fancy but filling and nothing like starting with your own fresh stock!

I need to run now.  Literally.  I ended up with a short 4 miler yesterday at about 6:00 pm.  I need to at least try to do something longer this morning!

TT

Keep writing

“There’s nothing that will teach you how to write more than writing,” she says.
Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse series (HBO's True Blood).

I had wandered into a writing website with a few minutes to graze and found myself avoiding the articles on tips and techniques and how-to start up writing or keep going.  I was even avoiding the articles on stirring the imagination and finding ways to break through writing barriers.  I will usually give every one of those articles a vast amount of attention.  I will scarf up every morsel of information that tries to tell me to do it this way or that.  I am willing to listen and dig for ways to try to improve and make my writing that much better. I have been known to not put a single word down until I equip myself with as many rules and ways to do it with the only idea being that I do it right.
That day on the website I just did not want to hear another word about someone else's way to do it right.  I think possibly too much information can lead to overload and it doesn't always apply to everyone the way it might be intended.  I should have known I would be one on the outside of how this would normally work for the majority.  I was looking to learn again but didn't want their prescribed medication.
Then I wandered into an article about author Charlaine Harris.
I've read her series of books.  I've watched the first two seasons of the HBO series based on those books.  It was a good article and you can tell she writes because she loves to write.  It's not fancy, she was not trying to fit into a genre.  She said it was fun and it was some twenty years from the time she had been writing until the HBO executive randomly selected her book from an airport shop, read it and loved it.
She only reluctantly gave the quote I placed at the top of this post after prodding.  She obviously doesn't normally like to give advice on writing.  I don't believe it's because she is smug or trying to be unhelpful.  I think it's because she is very down to earth and doesn't think much more about writing except that she loves to do it and she doesn't think too hard about how.
Then only when someone insisted on her giving advice, the one piece she gave was a reinforcement, yet again, of what I know to be the only rule of writing.  (Or are there 9 million point five rules?)
So the best advice, even given reluctantly by someone who doesn't think too hard about how, is that there is no other way except to keep writing.
TT
 -------------------------
Here is the article:
http://writersdigest.com/article/charlaine-harris-true-blood/

Five?

I got another five miler in today even after taking a nose dive and planting myself in the gravel trail yesterday.  I'm really fine.  I noticed two nickel sized bruises on the heel of the palms of my hands and my left knee is a little sore but it didn't bother me a twinge this afternoon while I ran another fiver.
I have to say it was the oddest thing when I fell yesterday.  What makes it extremely odd  is that I don't remember falling at all.  There was absolutely no sensation of going into that downward motion.  I was running and then I was on the ground.  It was like they took the film frame of me running and spliced it to the frame when I was on the ground.  There was nothing inbetween.  Up-down.  How did I get there and then since I was there I was thinking I hurt myself and I was getting emotional.  Weird.
Yes, that would be me.  I know.
Of course, as I hobbled myself home yesterday I realized I wasn't really that hurt.  I was a little scraped up and shaken but, well but...it didn't stop me from running.  I just needed to pay attention and keep myself from going to ga-ga land or wherever it was I had gone.  Wherever it was that I can't remember falling!  But I know I remember thinking the incline was beating my butt and I was turning into that trail section.  I've done it so many times before.  I know this route.  Then I was on the ground.  Ah well, so, well so.
No harm done.  I still got the five miles done and another five today.
I can wear slacks to work to hide the signs of my bruised ego.  I was thinking back to the last time I had skinned knees and I think I was maybe five.  Maybe that's it - the number five.
5 miles today, 5 miles yesterday, skinned knees at age 5, I will be 55 and have skinned knees again. 
Oh goodness.  Let me see, falling, loss of memory, going off to ga-ga land.  I am already starting to revert back to my childhood.
Just wonderful. 
TT

Dirt eating

I just got back from a neighborhood afternoon run.  I tried to eat some dirt.  I had just completed mile one, turned off the pavement and onto a small trail, and somehow went from being upright to planted firmly on the ground.  My left knee and both palms kept me from burying my face in the dust.  I don't know how I arrived in that position.  I came around a turn and then I was on the ground.  I sat there for a minute trying to figure it out.  While I gathered my thoughts, the pain in my knees became apparent.  It seemed I only skinned them slightly but there was also some road rash. 
One mile...was I going to cry?!  I felt all weepy and foolish.  I wanted to pull out my cell phone and call...Jay?  I could hear myself as if I had actually dialed and he had said, hello.
"I fell down," I would say.
"What did you do?"
"I fell down," lower lip trembling, eyes filling with tears.
"Where are you?"
"I ran a mile and fell down."
At that point I could see him holding the phone out to look at it in disbelief, roll his eyes, and shake his head.
That was when I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to call.
I gathered my embarrassed self up and decided to walk back home.  Oh, what the heck, I could jog it back.  It was only another mile.
Then I past my turn off and kept going.  I knew my knees would lock up on me if I didn't keep them moving after the fall anyway.  I kept on running and started to feel pretty good.  I went past four miles and caught a glimpse of my knees.  Uh Oh, oh well, I didn't have much farther to go.  There weren't that many cars that would see the runner with black shorts and bloody knees.  Or were there?
I kept going and finished 5 miles. I can't explain the ground licking except I knew the last two days at work have been exhausting.  Maybe I was dragging my feet and that trail had some uneven stones.  Sure, that was it.
I'll shower now and take a better look at my knees.  They can't be that bad if I finished the five mile run, right?  Now I'll have to explain to Jay what happened to my knees.
"I fell down."
TT       

Coolpix

It was Sunday morning.  I had been up since 5:30am doing paperwork.  Enough of that.  Enough accounting and numbers after an hour and a half.  It was about seven now and  I needed to run to the grocery store before the hoardes of people arrived.  I had my list and breezed through their doors early.  I got it all done in fairly good time despite the constant re-arranging of aisles of make you backtrack to find your needed items.  It made for a good leg stretch and warm up for what I really wanted to do and when I got home and put away the groceries I was ready. 

Now...now, was time for a run.  I wasn't at the Runners haven but just my neighborhood.  I had been at the haven alone yesterday on Saturday morning and challenged myself to a good 14 miler.  I went out seven miles and turned around knowing I would have to do seven more to get back to my car.  I didn't think about not being able to do it.  I only thought I was doing 14 miles and I did.  But this morning, on Sunday, I was just going to be doing half of that.  This is what I saw along the way.

You can see how it was overcast when I started which made it mild.  I get to circle (a large rectangle really) from my doorstep, down my street, then turn right, turn right, turn right, going up inclines to be able to enjoy the downward slopes,  a bit of trail right about miles 3-4 and a stretch of highway at 5-6, then back up my street again to finish.  Some of this scenery isn't so bad.  Can you even imagine what I get to see running along the scenic loop at the Runners haven?  I'll have to take some shots to compare. 

Oh yes, and here is the reason I have these shots at all.  Mirror image and fuzzy...but a new camera.  I couldn't leave home without it.

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A bit cooler

The weather has cooled a bit this week.  The mornings are darker and temperatures have been in the fifties.  It warms up nicely by mid-day and slightly more by afternoon.  I have been able to go out and run after work this week because of the milder temperatures.  The sun is still bright and glorious but the air has that mild feel of cool to it instead of warming heat as I make my way around my pre-determined routes in my neighborhood.
I have actually been enjoying the milder temperatures this week because of the feel as I run.  Whoa, wait...nugh uh...I am what?  Did I say enjoying milder temperatures?  I did.  I wouldn't have known and never would have thought that could happen.   Never, impossible.  I freeze to death multiple times over the course of fall to winter and all throughout when there is any dip too far below the 70 degree mark.  I do!  I don't tolerate cold well at all.
Or at least I haven't.  Something has crept up on me lately and I'm not sure what it is or why it has happened but getting up on a weekend and heading out to run in 57 degrees hasn't fazed me one bit.  It seemed odd to me when I realized I had done that and was wearing a tank top with no sleeves and only felt mildly pin-pricked by the cold for the first half mile and then forgot about it completely.  That has Never happened!
I don't know what to attribute this change to.  It is still a complete mystery to me.  I could speculate that the pure desire to get outdoors after a month long hiatus from running has surpassed my aversion to the cold.  I could go on and say other things that might account for this change but I am not sure what they are.  Maybe the pure desire to get out there is the reason.  Maybe the temps have become a mere backdrop to the more important thing that I have in my mind that I want to do.  Maybe I am just having a natural change of attitude or realistic thought process to accomplish something that means more to me than the weather.
Maybe..or should I even be trying to figure it out?  Maybe later.  Right now I know that the weather has cooled a bit this week and it hasn't held me back.
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Lost shots

I miss having a camera.  I have to admit it.  I seemed perfectly fine not having one for years upon years but now that I've had one and now that it's gone I miss it.  I missed it last Sunday when I was buzzing around the kitchen.  It seems some of my cooking posts are a few of the most fun to put together and they don't cut it without actual photos of the stuff I am attempting to make.  I missed it last Saturday when out at the Runners haven doing a long run and wanted to snatch some shots of the great scenery I get to pass and enjoy while pounding 12 miles on a two lane road in the country.  I could have made a good showing with some of those pictures.  All the beauty is right there in front of me and all I would have to do is point and shoot.  Well, yes, then I would need to come back, review, crop, fix but that would make a great post, wouldn't it?  Wouldn't you like to see some of the things I pass on those early morning Saturday runs?  I wouldn't mind seeing a few shots of those myself and I've seen them without looking through a camera lens.
My biggest problem is how to replace my camera?  I've looked at a few cameras, albeit hurriedly, and am not sure what to go with.  I am not a photographer but seem to have a fairly good eye for composing some good shots (in my mind at least - that's what counts doesn't it?  - No?).   There are many choices and different specs and prices.  I start to look and then can't figure out which is better or worse so I stop.  Then I want to go back and look again because I miss having a camera.  I miss the camera I had!  It was already here and I could grab it whenever and bring it up and shoot.  I didn't have to think about how many megapixels or Xs or Gs it had.  I never even read the entire manual for all the things it could do because it was easy enough for me to just pull it out in the midst of cooking apparatus and capture what I had on my cutting board.  But wishing won't make it come back.  
It is time to get a new one - whichever, whatever one it might be.  I have a little more looking to do but I know in the end I'll just give up and buy something...something or other. 
Something sure seems better right now than nothing at all.
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Coin flip

I was running around the corner on my last mile home.  I spotted the coppery circle blink out at me and draw my attention downward.  I noticed right away that it was left on the sidewalk and it was turned tails up.  Drat!  A penny left tails up and I had already run past.  I was facing that decision again of going back and retracing my steps to pick it up and flip it over.  It never ceases to amaze me how sometimes my thought process can be exceeding fast or drag into slow motion.  This time it was moving too slowly and I was too far away to go back and flip the coin to heads.
This happened on my Sunday morning run. The whole concept of find a penny pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck became something I have paid more attention to when a dear friend suggested that you pick it up if it is heads.  If the penny is showing tails, you should flip it over for the next person so they will receive the good luck.  It's a silly childrens game and you don't really see too many pennies laying around any more (or where there ever many laying around)?  To me, it was the idea of instead of grabbing up whatever you might get immediately, it is sometimes better to do a small act that might bring something better to someone else.  The thought stays with me and I am reminded whenever I see a penny - tails up.  So, needless to say, I felt a little twinge when I ran past and left the penny tails up instead of flipping it over to heads.
By yesterday afternoon I had forgotten all about the penny.  I headed out for my run after leaving a rest day inbetween.  I rounded the same corner as I made my way back on my last mile stretch.  There sitting a few feet away from where I originally saw it was the penny, still tails up.  I almost went past but this time my brain clicked in faster and I retraced two steps, bent over, flipped the coin to heads and proceeded along my way.  There.  Fixed.  I had been given another chance and I took it.
I know, it sounds ridiculous.  What could flipping a lost coin, especially something with as little value as a penny have to do with creating luck for someone else.  Nothing.  The coin, the heads, the tails, picking it up, flipping it over...nothing.  Nothing at all.  Except it is the smallest, simplest, symbol of hope if you want to look at it that way.  It's a small symbol of hope for good for yourself if it's head, hope for someone else if you flip it.  What's wrong with simple reminders of how we should act every day throughout our lives?  What's wrong with grabbing up small potions of hope for ourselves or better yet possibly create some hope for others?  Somehow I can't seem to stop flipping pennies wherever I might see them.
What could be wrong with that?
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Twelve

I have nothing cute, witty or amusing this morning to share.  I won't be telling you about craving yogurt or folding laundry.  I probably won't mention running or writing.  This is just a glimpse into real world banality that seems to occur with me even with all the altering peaks and valleys that go on in my life.
Today, I have been working for my current employer for twelve years.  That seems like a long time.  I have to stop and take a breath.  It isn't even as long as I was with my previous employer which was 14 years.  Fortunately, this past 12 years have been much better than the 14 previously.  If I total the two it comes to 26 years.  Now that is something to stop and take a breath about.
You have to be kidding me...26 years?  Who am I?  Do I just stick to stick?  Do I not give up?  Those 14 years with my previous employer was treacherous.  It wasn't working well at the end at all and I was the one that finally said enough, gave my two weeks notice and left without having another job or thinking of what I would do.  I was toast by the time I left there.  I had banked a months vacation they had to pay me for and I decided I wouldn't work for a while.  And I didn't work for a while.  I didn't work for a month.  One month.  The exact amount of vacation time I had banked.
I didn't really plan it that way.  I would have stayed unemployed longer (ok, maybe I would have, maybe not).  I mailed a resume to a company that I knew was moving around the block from where I lived and that sounded interesting.  I did nothing else.  They called me and talked to me and a month later from leaving my previous job I was working again. 
And today I have been here 12 years.  A total of 26 years for two jobs.  Not the best record around but definitely not the worst.  It's a long time for either job.  I can't give you a formula for how or why it has happened to me this way except that it just has.
Oh, and not that I am considering any changes...but I currently have more than a months vacation time banked.
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Odd but nice

I am supposed to be folding laundry.  I have it all spread out on my bed but I also brought my laptop down and had it on the bed, too.  Guess which one I touched first.  Yes, give that person a prize, you are correct, the laptop!  It's all of almost four in the afternoon on a Saturday that started out brilliantly.
I knew I would be heading out to the Runners haven this morning so I was up early.  It was a beautiful sunny morning (well, not sunny just yet) and 66 degrees.  I put on the coffee and pulled on my running shoes (everything else, too, don't be silly).  I had time for a slice of whole wheat toast and then out the door.  Heavenly, it was heavenly.  I've always left the distances we run on these Saturday departures to my friend I have gone there with and she wanted to do 12 miles today so that is what we did.  It's the longest distance I've done since recovering from my foot injury and it felt good.  It warmed up to 75 degrees by the time we finished and were heading home.
After a shower I did a few things around the house including starting some laundry.  I cleaned the kitchen and not much else for a while except grabbing a plum and half a ham sandwich.  I decided to get out of the house for a while but didn't really have any direction and ended up at the bookstore.  I didn't have any idea of what I wanted to read or pick up but I figured a little browsing never hurt. I immediately thought of stopping there for coffee but the outside tables were filled and I would have loved to have had my laptop with me and I didn't so I nixed that thought and went straight into the bookstore.  I had picked up another book recently after my netbook disappeared but now only 80 pages into it and I can tell I am not enjoying it too much.  It's a pity since I read one other by this British author and I enjoyed it.  Maybe it's just the timing and the story for me right now or maybe just a good enough reason to find another book at the store.  Shhh!  Like I won't finish that British authors book anyway!
So I did make a purchase and on the way back to my car I had the oddest food craving.  I admit, maybe not odd for me, but probably odd for a good 99.9% of the public.  I wanted yogurt.  And I didn't want that fruit blended sweet stuff that is so popular. Oh no, not that at all.  I was craving the thick, tangy, custardy goodness of real Greek yogurt and not even the yoplait stuff - I mean the good Greek stuff like made by Greeks not the French (Isn't yoplait French)?  Plain.  Or maybe with a fistful of fresh blueberries thrown in.  I know, I know, I admitted this already - that only I would possibly crave...CRAVE...the definitely distinctive acquired taste of pucker your mouth ever so slightly but gloriously smooth and roll your eyes it's so good Greek yogurt.  THIS yogurt.  Not your schoolkids sugary, sweet, put in your lunchbox stuff.  No, of course not.  I did grin when it came over me.  What a splendid indulgence, I thought, especially since I truly knew that to me it was and possibly not to anyone else.  I can hear them now, "Gad, what's up with that girl, she craves Greek yogurt of all things!"
But I satisfied myself instead with coming home and having a really good cup of coffee (two).  I will get that really tangy Greek yogurt (and maybe some blueberries) tomorrow.  Oh yes I will, don't doubt it.  It was a powerful craving that will not go unsatisfied.  Just give me a moment to close my eyes, smile, and savor the thought of it. 

Okay, that's good.
I guess I have to fold some laundry now.
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Moving from

I came upstairs this morning to write but not knowing about what.  On days like these I will ordinarily not put up anything at all or I will try to see what words splatter across the page.  I think this morning there are too many things churning around in my head which makes it difficult to pinpoint any one thing to go with.
This might be caused by my getting used to a new laptop.  It is in the same place and is about the same size but there are differences.  The keyboard has a different feel and touch.  I have had to make small adjustments to my keystrokes and pressure of my pounding.  I no longer have a number pad but I have a better operating system and faster and more memory.  These are small things that will become routine in a small amount of time.  It's the feeling in this instance that has captured me and makes me pause about them.
If it had been a matter of choice to replace or upgrade my equipment it would have created a more excited feel.  It's not that I am not very happy to have a new, better, laptop but I haven't quite gotten past the circumstances and slight awkwardness of how it is here now instead of my other.  I haven't left this new laptop here sitting on my desk upstairs any day since I got it.  I take it with me when I leave.  Shut it down, pack it up, and stuff it into the large bag I carry.   It isn't that convenient or probably necessary.  What do I think I am doing?  Protecting it?  Keeping it safe from alien intruders?
Ah, there it is.  It isn't the laptop or the things.  It will learn to stay home soon except when I want to go out and write somewhere else by choice.  It is purely me being defiant right now that if they came back anytime soon, they will not carry off another of mine.  I obviously cannot carry everything to protect and keep safe and I won't.   
The discomfort from alien intruders is starting to pass just as I am getting more comfortable with the feel of this keyboard.  Will I pack this laptop up this morning and take it with me today?  Yes, probably but not tomorrow or the next.  These small things will become routine again in a small amount of time.  The feeling of comfortable security will come back. 
I just need another small amount of time.  I mean, I've already moved from uneasy to defiant.
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