Run Forrest Run

The results are in from the 15k and not only did I finish, I finished in far better shape than I would have ever imagined. Waking up at 5:45 AM is never easy for me, but I managed to drag my sleepy head out of bed and into my fluorescent running shoes.

One of the biggest obstacles when running is my inability to eat or drink without inducing horrible stomach cramps. In fact, I typically can't eat or drink anything for two hours before I run, not to mention during. For a nearly ten mile race, this posed something of a problem. After a few weeks trial and error, I discovered a breakfast of champions that could be consumed 1.5 hours before running without ill effect: 8 oz banana soy protein smoothie, quarter cup of honey nut toasty o's, and a handful of raisins. It's not a lot, but it works.

Stretched and ready to go by 6:45, STK, TLO, and I walked down to T's apartment. With T and I ready to run the race, we arrived at the starting line. While T dressed in a matching orange shirt and hat ensemble, I opted for my traditional running attire: shoes, running shorts, and sunglasses. I like to think by running sans shirt that I distract all the other runners with my pierced nipples and navel--the five tattoos probably help, too. I felt a little nervous right before the start. I'm not sure exactly how I did it--it may have been a little stumble going down a short flight of stairs--but I tweaked my ankle three days before the race. Despite my attempts at accelerated healing (arnica/birch oil, ice, tiger balm, wrap), my ankle proved more than little tender on Saturday morning. Once the race began, I put the ankle pain in the back of my mind and simply ran. After about a 1k warm up, I kicked into a comfortable and sustainable pace.

Without going into all the details of the race, I did extremely well on the hilly stretches never letting my pace dip. The significant flat sections were for cruise control. The numerous water stations provided an opportunity to splash a cup over my head--I didn't drink a drop. Stomach cramps, remember?! I resisted the temptation to glance at my watch and ran, ran, ran.

As I started down the last 2k, I felt awesome; my muscles were a little fatigued, but I wasn't straining for breath. I knew I'd had a great personal run, the best run in several weeks. When I crossed the finish line in 1:12, I surprised even myself. That's roughly a 7:30 minute/mile. In fact, I told STK not to even bother being at the finish line until 1:20. She and TLO missed my finish. Heh. I finished 44th overall and 4th in the 30-39 age group. Not bad for my first race, eh? Next year, I'm pushing for a 7:00 minute/mile pace.

Epilogue: My ankle has been a mess since Saturday morning. Two days of relative inactivity, and it's still screaming with almost every step. The only logical solution is to go out for 10K run tomorrow AM. Seriously. Would you believe I'm thinking of running a half marathon in a month? I figure I'm already in 10 mile shape. How hard could it be to add another 3 miles? If I cut back my pace a little, I could probably run 13 miles without any problem. T and STK think I'm nuts. Bah!

Quote of the Day

"I'm packing America's lunchbox with a truth roll-up."

--Stephen Colbert

Actions, Speech, and Thought

The source of all good, evil, weal and harm lies with actions, speech and thoughts. Did you bring your actions, speech and thoughts with you today? Or have you left them at home? This is where you must look, right here. You don't have to look very far away. Look at your actions, speech and thoughts.

-Ajahn Chah, "Living Dharma"

On the Run

Today was one of those mundane, yet very gratifying, days. While it doesn't feel like I accomplished much, I did. The day started with a 6 AM wake up call *cringe*; T and I met at 7 AM to run a practice 15k in advance of Saturday's real deal race. The run, which takes participants through our small midwest town, over the river and through the woods (literally), across several spring fed brooks, and up and down the local limestone bluffs, is absolutely beautiful. It's a nice combination of road running and trail running. The run went well and I know I'll have no problem finishing the race in a reasonable amount of time. I'm shooting for 90 minutes but really shouldn't have too many difficulties finishing closer to 80. Results will be posted!

Returning home around 9 AM to a quiet house--STK and TLO had already been up, eaten breakfast, and retired for the morning nap--I showered, ate a bagel, sipped some coffee, and caught up on world events (a more depressing exercise than usual these days). Feeling the fatigue of the run, I crawled back into bed around 10:30 and promptely fell asleep until 1:45 PM.*

After a quick lunch of yogurt, fruit, and Cocoa Roos, I set about completing several household tasks.

*Boxes/lids tied together and stored in garage rafters.
*Boxes delivered to T; cardboard recycling deposited.
*Boxes carried to basement.
*Garage re-arranged. Both cars now fit. w00t!
*Office television wired through stereo amplifier.
*Dog bathed and brushed.**
*Bathtub scrubbed.
*Litter boxes emptied.
*All garbage collected, bagged, and taken to curb.
*Lecture notes/discussion questions crafted.

At around 8 PM, STK and I finally put a halt to our activities (she'd been dusting, vacuuming, and generally cleaning while I was out in the garage--how gendered of us, eh?) and sat down to eat dinner and watch The 4400 and The Dead Zone.

The house is quiet again--STK and TLO are sound asleep. Time for me to join them.

*Very unusual for me. I'm not the long napping type. I've gotten better at it since TLO arrived on the scene.

**Did he ever need it. I scrubbed and brushed clump, after clump, after clump of hair from his itchy body. This is a lab, mind you, so there really isn't a ton of hair to begin with.

Feast-o-rama

The Feast.

Appetizer--Fill in the blanks: I ____________ when I _____________.
I gag when I try to eat pudding.

I'm really not sure what that's about. I like the taste of most puddings but can't handle the consistency.

Soup--Name something you use to make your home smell good.
Nag Champa incense.

Salad--If you could receive a coupon in the mail for 50% off any product, what would you want it to be for?
I'd really like a coupon for World Market so I can buy this bookcase for our new house. Actually, I'd love two of these bookcases.

Main Course--Besides sleeping, what do you spend the majority of the hours of your typical day doing?
Teaching. I'll spend most of tomorrow, Saturday, taking care of the little one.

Dessert--What can you hear right now while answering these questions?
Dryer. Computer fan. Keyboard. Crickets out in the lawn.

Popculturemania

T offer at Chickeny Goodness offers up a pop culture challenge. If you've seen three or more episodes, bold the show.

24
7th Heaven
Adam-12
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Animaniacs
Angel
Arrested Development
Batman: The Animated Series
Battlestar Galactica
Baywatch
Beverly Hills 90210
Bonanza
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Chappelle’s Show
Charlie’s Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Danny Phantom
Dawson’s Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Desperate Housewives
Doctor Who
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Family Guy
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Frasier
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan’s Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Grey’s Anatomy
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hogan’s Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
JAG
Jackass
Joey
Justice League
Justice League Unlimited
Little House on the Prairie
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle
Married… With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible
Monk
Monty Python's Flying Circus
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Nip/Tuck
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Rescue Me
Roseanne
Roswell
Saved by the Bell
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Spongebob Squarepants
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70’s Show
That’s So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Greatest American Hero
The Honeymooners
The Jetsons
The Love Boat
The Munsters
The O.C.
The Office
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three’s Company
Twin Peaks
Veronica Mars
Whose Line is it Anyway?
Will and Grace
Wings

Divine Attire?

When I was younger and still under the oppressive regime of my parents (they used to refer to it as a "loving dictatorship"), my mother and I argued on a regular basis over what constitutes appropriate church dress. It always went something like this.

Mom: Go get dressed for Sunday school and church.
Me: ::groan:: Okay.
Mom: Your nice clothes, please. No jeans.
Me: Why do I have to get dressed up? God doesn't care how I'm dressed. Isn't the point that I'm there?
Mom: We dress up for church. Move.
Me: Why? Why can't I wear jeans?
Mom: Because no child of mine is going to be seen in church wearing jeans. Move. Now.

I'd inevitably stomp upstairs and change into my Sunday polyester finest. It was the 70s, after all.

Years later, as an adult, I carried on the tradition of dressing up for Sunday morning worship. I didn't go all out, typically, but went more for a snappy casual look (dockers, collared shirt, dress shoes). While it wasn't a conscious decision, I carried on the family tradition of paying reverance via my wardrobe.

When I left the fold of organized worship services, a practice that continued for the better part of seven years, I didn't give the topic much thought. During the ocassional full moon ceremony or meditation session, I wore whatever I had on at the time. Believe it or not, I didn't feel the least bit less spiritual.

Jeff's post over at Philosophy Over Coffee, coupled with my casual dress at a worship service this past weekend, got me thinking about the relationship between dress and spirituality. Since moving to the Midwest, STK, TLO, and I have been attending the local Unitarian Universalist group. It's a small group of folk, without a full-time reverend/minister/pastor, who meet every other week at a local community center. As it was unbearably hot on Sunday, I went to the service in my Sunday finest: olive drab army shorts, a white t-shirt, and combat boots. STK also dressed very casually. While we were probably the most casually dressed in the bunch, nobody batted an eye. Nobody cared. For me, there really isn't a link between dress and spirituality. As my conception of a higher power isn't a sentient entity, there's no judging from on high. The only critique of my apparel comes from me, STK, or those we encounter.

I will admit this: when I present the "sermon" to the UU group in August, I probably won't be wearing combat boots and army shorts. Instead, I'll probably go with the snappy casual look. While I don't think there's a link between dress and spirituality, I do think there's a link between dress and credibility. If I want to be taken seriously as a competent speaker, I need to appear professional. So, professory dress it is when I'm speaking in an offical capacity. When I'm in member of the congregation mode, just about anything goes.

Leftovers

I missed The Feast last week so here it is!

Appetizer--Name one thing nice that you could do for someone else today.
I could pick up someone's errant attempt to throw their McDonald's refuse in the trash can. And I did.

Soup--When was the last time you were frightened by the weather?
Driving back to Colorado in late May and encountering a wicked thunderstorm. The rain/hail was so intense I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of the car; the lightning and thunder were absolutely non-stop. I kept thinking to myself, "There could be a tornado bearing down on us and we'd never see or hear it coming." Did I mention this was in the middle of the night?

Salad--What would you say is the most useful website or blog that you visit?
My own blog, of course. I use this site to link with all my other favorite blogs.

Main Course--Who was your favorite singer/group when you were a child?
As embarrassing as it might be, I loved the Captain and Tennille. I bet my sister and I played Song of Joy on our console stereo 1000+ times. Hurry on down to the butterscotch castle . . .

Dessert--Do you have any rituals? If so, what are they?
I have tons of rituals. For example, I eat one of three things for lunch every single day. This never varies. Never. If I'm going to be at work during lunch, I almost always bring a sack lunch.

Lunch One: yogurt w/grapenuts & raisins, fruit (banana, pear, or Granny Smith), and dry cereal (Crunchberry).
Lunch Two: Protein bar, fruit, dry cereal.
Lunch Three: Peanut butter & honey sandwich, fruit, dry cereal.

When I travel and my lunch routine gets disrupted, I actually get relatively stressed out about it.

The Horror!

TLO, is that you?

I'd cry too.

What a Boar

I saw video clips of Curious George Obsesses Over a Pig on The Daily Show. I am embarrassed beyond belief that this man is the President of our nation. The Middle East is in turmoil and Curious George is thinking with his stomach. Ugh.

For what it's worth, I find The Colbert Report far more amusing than The Daily Show.

The Big Dig

TLO and I spent the morning watching an excavator rip buckets of dirt from our front lawn. Actually, we spent five minutes watching an excavator tear up the front lawn and then turned our attention to more pressing matters: a morning nap. Why was the excavator chomping bites of sod and loam from the front lawn? A simple plumbing replacement--the main shut off valve in the house had a slight leak--turned into a much bigger problem: a faulty exterior shut off valve between the water main and the interior of the house. The only way to reach the faulty part, unfortunately, was to dig down about 10 feet. Although a section of the lawn will probably need significant care over the next couple years to make a full recovery, the sidewalk and limestone wall escaped damage. Thank goodness for small things, I guess.

Never in a million years did I imagine I'd be posting to my blog about home repairs/improvements. Exciting stuff, eh? Did I mention I bought a shovel and heavy duty rake? I needed something to move around all that shifted dirt. Fun times.

Stay tuned for my weekend adventures mowing and weeding!

Livewired!

Much to my surprise (read: I was still in bed), an expert from Small Town Electric arrived at our door around 8:30 AM this morning to run the new internet cable. After scoping the situation for 15 minutes or so, he came to the conclusion that running the cable through an interior wall would be next to impossible. The only real option was to run the cable underneath the vinyl siding of the house and enter the office through an old cable outlet. He did an admirable job snaking the cable around a couple corners and managed to make it all the way to the other side of the house with only a tiny bit--maybe an inch--visible at one particularly tricky obstacle. The exterior integrity of the house remains unchanged, we have hardwired cable access in the office, and the crowd goes wild. I believe a trip to the local Radio Shack may be in order. I have a media center set up in the office for cueing video tapes, reviewing DVDs, and the like for school. If a cable signal splitter doesn't degrade the signal too much, I may run cable to the television.

I managed to put together a good portion of the office/library/den tonight. STK's laptop is up to speed and I only have a couple more boxes to unpack. Framed movie and comic book posters will likely be hung tomorrow night. We're making progress, people!

Moved!

Tired muscles and miscellaneous bumps and bruises aside, the recent move went amazingly well. All the major boxes were moved by the time friends and family arrived on a week ago Saturday for the furniture & appliance transfer. With two pickups, a minivan, and the Element, we had everything moved in right around four hours. I don't think STK and I have been to bed earlier than 2 AM since moving--way too many boxes to unpack and arts to hang. Eight days later and we're making significant progress. Few boxes remain in most of the rooms (kitchen, dining room, bedrooms). The den/office, however, is another matter.

Given the media/cable installation problem encountered a couple weeks back, I should have anticipated more trouble. I had in inkling there might be trouble, truth be told, but I decided to let it slide. As it turns out, the only way the cable guy could install high speed internet in the office was to drill a hole straight through the siding and into the room. Call me a crazy homeowner, but the idea of ruining the structural integrity of the house doesn't float my boat. If I was a renter, I wanted care one way or another. So, I called a recommended electrical company and they should be out to fish some high speed cable through an interior wall later in the week. Yes, it's a bit more expensive than having someone drill straight through an exterior wall. Since we plan on staying here a good long while, I'm willing to fork out the cash for someone to do it proper. I'm sure some will ask, "Why not do it yourself?" In my defense, I did fish a new cable connection through an interior wall to a first floor outlet. This installation, however, requires some maneuvering through a crawl space and up to the second floor. That's a bit too complicated for my home improvement skills.* And I'm not too thrilled about the prospect of worming my way through a cramped, damp, and icky crawl space, either. Anyway, several other rooms in the house are wired for high speed internet and I managed to find an old 50 foot ethernet cable packed away in my tech gear. For now, the ethernet cable leads from the master bedroom, down the hall, and to the office router . We have internet for both our computers but it's not very aesthetically pleasing. Waiting for the installation means we can't really fully unpack all my office boxes. Putting all the files back in my desk, not to mention the books, action figures, and statues that typically adorn the top, will make moving the desk a nightmare (the desk will need to be moved in order to install the cable outlet thingy). Once the new jack is installed, the desk will be place in permanent position and the remaining boxes will be emptied. For now, we're dealing with organized office chaos.

As for the place itself? We love it. TLO loves flying across the carpeted floors. Having dealt with hardwood floors for the better part of the year, the dogs are also in carpet heaven. A rug throughout the house makes for some great nappin' space. I'll post pictures, as promised, once have we all the artwork in place.
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Did I mention STK landed another job? A local business that works with special needs folks asked her to put together a summer art program for the five weeks remaining of her summer. If things go well, the summer art program will become a regular thing. As it's only two hours a day, it's the perfect summer job. Of course, this also means that TLO has started attending daycare for two hours a day. Two hours is a good transition for the school year when he'll be attending for anywhere from 3-6 hours. So far, he seems to like it.
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We attended the local county fair last week and gorged ourselves on funnel cake, caramel popcorn, and root beer floats. TLO is a big fan of caramel popcorn. I couldn't give him pieces fast enough. The livestock barns were the highlight of the fair. Having grown up in agricultural communities, I take dairy cattle, sheep, swine, etc for granted, I guess. I had friends who raised horses, cattle, and sheep--maybe even a bunny or two. STK, on the other hand, had never experienced livestock in close proximity. T, STK, TLO, and I spend an hour wandering around, looking at the various animals, and talking to the various animal caretakers. The vegetarian in me wanted to return under the cover of darkness and free my four-legged brothers and sisters. Freedom!
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*I've already installed two new exterior doorknobs and have plans to do some major landscaping in the next few weeks. Just how I wanted to spend my summer! I never thought I'd say this, but all those summers working as an indentured servant on my father's construction/remodelling crew set me up with some pretty wicked handyman skills.