Friday, May 30, 2008

Hey all.
it's Friday at the end of a short week. Funny how a holiday week seems to drag on longer than a normal week. Of course I guess it depends on how you define normal. I'm choking down a turkey, lettuce (no cheese), on wheat sandwich. Yummy.

I did something this week I haven't done in a while-I ran three consecutive days. Not long runs but enough to get my legs going. Tuesday I ran 3 miles. Would have gone further but the thunderstorms and rain forced me inside. Wednesday I ran 4 miles and felt great. I grabbed my neighbor's dog and took it for a mile. Not sure who had the most fun on that one! Thursday I ran another 3 miler. Wanted to do more but the legs were saying . . . "HEY FAT MAN, what do you think you're doing?! You don't run 3 days in a row. STOP IT NOW!" I had planned on 4 miles but 3 was enough. Today the legs feel okay but will take off and run 5 or 6 tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Good evening to all. I know, I know. I've been remiss in keeping you informed of my life and the sometimes bizarre happenings that seem to accompany me.

First things first- I ran a nice four miler at Susan's this afternoon. Nothing spectacular but it felt good . . . different scenery from my normal route and there are lots of shade trees which came in handy since it was in the high 80s today. One of those runs where I just sort of quit listening to my body and got some thinking done. You know the kind?

I still have not posted my new hair cut. Yes, Susan's daughter, MAC was on the soccer team that won the AYSA Alabama State championship. Pretty cool. And as promised, I let her cut my hair. The original promise was a shave but since the coach sort of backed out and only took a buzz, MAC did the same to me and no shave (I know . . . nice lesson to teach 11 year old girls about keeping your word)Her team is the U11 girls (age group) A competitive traveling soccer team with the Birmingham United Soccer Assoc (BUSA). The thing that is even more amazing is the fact that club soccer allows 12 full time players and her team only had ten the last couple of months of the season. There were only six teams that made it to state in their division with the six split into two groups and each group playing round robin with the top two of the three going to semi-finals. Her team lost the first game 1-0. We all thought it was over. However, we handily won the second game of the round robin and the team that beat us lost by much worse so based on points scored/points allowed, we took the tie-breaker for second place making it into the semi-finals. Sunday morning we found ourselves playing at 8 on a cold blustery day. Bad storms and tornados came through Saturday night, dragging a strong cold front behind them. The temp was high 50s/low 60s with guts in the 30-40 mph range. We were playing the #1 team from the opposite bracket. The team we were playing was an all-star team from Auburn made up from several of the local traveling teams in the area. I guess the AYSA rules allow this. We thought we were doomed since we had lost last fall to one of the Auburn teams and this team was made up of the best of the best from that area. It was a great game- the girls came out with no fear and jumped on the other team from the get-go. We won it 3-1 and moved on to the finals in the afternoon. For 11 year old girls, they stayed surprisingly focused but not uptight. The coach gave them a good speech and kept them relaxed during the day. You could tell that they were ready to play when we took them to the field for warm-ups. If I recall, we won 3-0 and the game was never really in doubt. In all we only allowed 2 goals in four games. We have a great goalie with trememdous speed and quickness and one of the two goals scored was a roll in fluke after she lost her footing. So the bottom line is I got a clipper cut with #2 clipper. Personally, I love it but the girls do not like it at all. TOO BAD-I may just keep it this way during the summer. Pefect for running and riding in the convertible!

Enough for now.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Hey all. I'm sitting here eating lunch and thought I'd post.

I ran a 4 miler yesterday after work. It was in the mid 80s and felt warm but there was a nice breeze blowing and made the overall experience rather pleasant. It was the first time in a while that I actually wanted to do more and that my legs didn't feel that they were made of lead.

I will be trying to get another 6-10 miles in over the next several days. Probably won't run today since we are expecting bad weather this afternoon. I'll probably do 4 miles tomorrow afternoon-I'm taking a half day off to get grass cut, run, pack for a trip to Decatur, AL over the weekend. I'm going to Decatur with Susan and her girls. MAC is playing in the Alabama Youth Soccer State Cup tournament. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to run while up there or I'll run when we get back Sunday evening.

Speaking of the soccer tournament, several of the dads/significant men have told the girls that they can shave our heads if they win state. I may be posting pictures of my noggin if it happens. I'll definitely keep you posted.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Monday, May 05, 2008

Inspired Yo-Yo

The beginning of another week. Another do-over. Another chance.

I did better at running last week than in the previous weeks this spring. After reading Phil's blog, I was inspired. Or should I say I connected. Phil has been having some apparent motivation problems and his conditioning has been showing it. HEY . . . THAT'S JUST LIKE ME. I've been searching for reasons not to run instead of looking for reasons to run. Isn't that screwed up. The "fatman" has been hot on my heels and I can feel him breathing (actually wheezing) down my neck. Thanks Phil for your sharing-it has got my brain to working.

Susan informed me that she's going another round with WW and that I am going to do it with her. No, not that-get your minds out of the gutter. I'm going to do another session of WW with her. She's been looking better and better and I've not really been making much progress. I better watch out or she'll get scarfed up by some buff, good looking guy. Thanks Susan for giving some inspiration to me to get back on the weight loss band wagon.

Running this afternoon after work and then going to Susan's for dinner. Actually, we're going to go out (so much for the inspiration!) for Cinco de Mayo. We'll split an entree' and try to control ourselves.

talk to you later!