Just got in from my Saturday afternoon run. It's almost dinner time but I think that I will probably shower first. Got that runner's stink going, you know what I mean?
The good- Four days this week. Not a record by any stretch and I know some of you scoff at four days but I enjoyed each day and for once in a long while, I was consistent and not finding excuses to skip.
The bad (started off good)- We had a statewide competition to lose weight over the last ten weeks. We formed up into teams of four and the goal was for each person to lose 10 pounds. For every person losing 10 pounds, his (or her) name will be entered into a drawing for $250. If the entire team lost 10 pounds each, each team member's name is entered into a drawing for an addtional $1000. We did great! All four of us lost our 10 pounds and then some. I was the weakest link of the team but lost 13 pounds in 9 weeks (early weigh in due to being out of town for spring break when the official weigh in occurred). The other three team mates lost anywhere from 17 pounds to 29 pounds! I know-you ask yourself what is bad about that. Well, I've sort of lost focus and though have not gained any back, I haven't lost any either. But I will be working on that!
Ugly-my running. Well, maybe not my running. My running if fine. It's the stupid road's fault. You see, where I live here in B'ham is a lovely little community called Mountain Brook. One of those places where you are either "old" money or "new" money. Or as in my case, NO MONEY! Anyway, the city planners must have missed their 10th grade geometry class. They either forgot or didn't know that the straightest distance between two points is a straight line. Now I am not going to argue semantics with you . . . line, line segment, ray, polyline. The bottome line is that in this area you can get from point A to point B 10 different ways and they all SUCK! There is nothing straight in this town. There are also no flat spots. NONE. We have a one mile loop around the house that isn't bad but I do occassionally venture out like I did twice this week. I did a four miler on Thursday and today (Saturday) that took me through billy goat country here in the "brook". Thank goodness I do not have a Garmin . . . I'd hate to know how many elevation changes I went through. When I used to go to a lot of local races, I always wondered why the Mtn Brook folks always did so well. Now I know-they train over here in these hills. I guess it will make me tough or it will kill me. Time for some Balvenie and Advil.
I'm going to enjoy my evening of watching basketball and being a slug. Looking forward to Sunday School where we are doing a study of the parallel passion stories in the gospels. Thanks to Bret for undertaking this and doing a great job. Go visit his blog if you have time. He is an excellent writer and has that . . . hmmmm . . . .weird(?) sense of humor.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Hey there. Yep, I'm back. Nothing big. Weeks of short runs and just building base..
You may or may not know, Susan and I are at the beach this week. L.A. (or lower Alabama) as most southerners know it. It is spring break in Alabama. However, we don't have the girls. Their father has them this spring break so we are kidless. We were originally supposed to be going to Vegas this week for our official "honeymoon". However, with the economy the way it is, we decided to save some money, skip Vegas, and just head to the beach for our alone time.
Facebook followers already know that it rained the first day we were down here. I'm not talking about an off and on sprinkle. We're talking about pouring down, toad strangler, rain. We spent several hours in Fairhope Alabama trying to go in and out of the antique shops but after several hours of just getting wet, we took a vote and decided to go to a local restaurant and have oysters and adult beverages. I think that was a much better choice.
We got up this morning to a much nicer day. We got out for a run-9ish, sort of late, but hey, it is our honeymoon after all. Susan ran for about 10 minutes with me. Actually I ran for 10 minutes with her and then she was ready to turn around and head back. I gave her the key and I kept going. I think she was relieved that she didn't have me tagging along with her and she could run/walk at her own pace. I went on for another 12 minutes and then turned around. I ran back in less time since I had run with Susan so I ended up with a round trip of about 39 minutes. Nothing fabulous but it was fun running in the sun and looking at the early morning scenery. Like all the spring breakers staggering out of their rentals, all hung over.
We decided that today would be our beach day. The clouds are non-existant, the breeze is mild, the sun warm. Beautiful day. Unfortunately, the water was COLD. Shrinkage cold (for you Seinfeld fans out there). Needless to say, we did not go past knee deep, thank goodness.
It occurred to me while on the beach, that this was a great equalizer. There was everything from young, pretty (and handsome) school kids throwing frizbees and footballs to an elderly couple that was fully clothed and just walked to the water's edge holding hands. There were also lots of folks like me-somewhere in the middle. Not young, not old. Not pretty, not ugly, not a hard body, not a fatty. The amazing thing is that with all the different people, body types, ages, races, nobody seemed to mind the next one being there. Thank goodness they let me on the beach! Just an observation.
Tomorrow we are going to Ft Morgan, taking the ferry to Dauphin Island and then heading up to Bellingrath gardens. After that, we are heading west to spend the night in Biloxi at Beau Rivage.
I'll keep you updated!
You may or may not know, Susan and I are at the beach this week. L.A. (or lower Alabama) as most southerners know it. It is spring break in Alabama. However, we don't have the girls. Their father has them this spring break so we are kidless. We were originally supposed to be going to Vegas this week for our official "honeymoon". However, with the economy the way it is, we decided to save some money, skip Vegas, and just head to the beach for our alone time.
Facebook followers already know that it rained the first day we were down here. I'm not talking about an off and on sprinkle. We're talking about pouring down, toad strangler, rain. We spent several hours in Fairhope Alabama trying to go in and out of the antique shops but after several hours of just getting wet, we took a vote and decided to go to a local restaurant and have oysters and adult beverages. I think that was a much better choice.
We got up this morning to a much nicer day. We got out for a run-9ish, sort of late, but hey, it is our honeymoon after all. Susan ran for about 10 minutes with me. Actually I ran for 10 minutes with her and then she was ready to turn around and head back. I gave her the key and I kept going. I think she was relieved that she didn't have me tagging along with her and she could run/walk at her own pace. I went on for another 12 minutes and then turned around. I ran back in less time since I had run with Susan so I ended up with a round trip of about 39 minutes. Nothing fabulous but it was fun running in the sun and looking at the early morning scenery. Like all the spring breakers staggering out of their rentals, all hung over.
We decided that today would be our beach day. The clouds are non-existant, the breeze is mild, the sun warm. Beautiful day. Unfortunately, the water was COLD. Shrinkage cold (for you Seinfeld fans out there). Needless to say, we did not go past knee deep, thank goodness.
It occurred to me while on the beach, that this was a great equalizer. There was everything from young, pretty (and handsome) school kids throwing frizbees and footballs to an elderly couple that was fully clothed and just walked to the water's edge holding hands. There were also lots of folks like me-somewhere in the middle. Not young, not old. Not pretty, not ugly, not a hard body, not a fatty. The amazing thing is that with all the different people, body types, ages, races, nobody seemed to mind the next one being there. Thank goodness they let me on the beach! Just an observation.
Tomorrow we are going to Ft Morgan, taking the ferry to Dauphin Island and then heading up to Bellingrath gardens. After that, we are heading west to spend the night in Biloxi at Beau Rivage.
I'll keep you updated!
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