How did a whole week go by without my writing on this blog? I suppose a few days off occasionally are to be permitted. But a whole week?
It has gone from 14º to 75º this week, and I did not handle today all that well. I have been trying to run anywhere from 1-7.5 miles (run/walk, of course) every day this month, but today was probably my worst afternoon thus far. Who wants to run in hot (75º), dusty weather? It looks like I shall be moving my running from 3:00 pm's to 9:00 am's so that I don't have to notify our county's First Responder (also, our neighbor) of a possible heatstroke. How embarrassing would that be, I ask?
6000 dead pigs floating in a river upstream from Shanghai? How can that be? 6000 sounds like a lot of...dead pigs. I am only listening to this on BBC Radio, and I don't know the circumstances. They are saying that the pigs died of cold weather. Hmmm...
A new Pope. That doesn't really affect me, or my family of Lutherans and Methodists. The new Pope has chosen to be called Francis. Like Francis of Assisi? Here's a quote attributed to Francis of Assisi that I can appreciate:
Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.
I like that.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Friday, March 08, 2013
March Madness
The first week of March has come and gone.
With it, my 53rd birthday, complete with gorgeous chocolate birthday cake (Thanks, Gillian!).
I have been eating birthday cake for breakfast this week. Nothing better, and it has been a long time since I have enjoyed a cake this much! I got phone calls, and cards, and gorgeous roses from that Spouse o' Mine, plus lunch with the ladies, some tulips from a friend, and a trip to the zoo to see the newborn chimp. I say this was a terrific way to enjoy one's 53rd birthday.
In the past, I would take a celebratory bike ride on my special day, and hammer out the mileage equal to my trips around the sun. This is no simple feat for a March birthday, when one has not ridden a bike during the winter months, not to mention the cold and windy Kansas March weather, or the fact that I am now in my fifties and that means a 50+ mile bike ride before I can blow out candles and be sung to. (This year's birthday duet of that Spouse o' Mine and daughter Gillian was just lovely! Ha ha!! With daughter Claire on the East Coast and the College Boy on the West Coast, we missed out on a complete quartet, but it was lovely just the same!) This year, I decided to forego the bike and concentrate on the subject in the next paragraph:
Along with the first week of March, and my birthday, 20 miles are now marked off my running calendar. This means...um, not much. I ran 2, 5, 1, 1, 1, 7.5, 2, and 1 mile the past seven days. The running all had walking interspersed in it. My time for running a mile went from 12:30 up to 13:10, and today was my week's PR (personal record) of 12:22. Baby steps, I tell myself. Yesterday as I was knocking off two miles, a memory flip-flopped into my head like a big ol' fish: in high school, I could run a half mile in 2:42. If you add 2:42 + 2:42, it does not equal 12:22.
And also this first week of March? Lots and lots of Snow Geese in the 'hood:
I love that we can see the mud on their webbed feet. Aren't they so aerodynamic? Singularly aerodynamic, and as a goose herd, as well.
Ok, Ok, I checked Wikipedia and here's what they say about groups of flying geese:
"...The collective noun for a group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; when in flight, they are called a skein, a team or a wedge; when flying close together, they are called a plump..."
Wiki forgot to include the adjective aerodynamic.
Nature is amazing.
So here's to the first week of March. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for welcoming your fifth kid into the world fifty-three years ago. Somehow I suspect the advent of my arrival, as Number Five, was maybe not as exciting as Number One or Number Two. But I can thank you, my parents, for doing a bang-up job in the kid-rearing arena. For all five of us.
With it, my 53rd birthday, complete with gorgeous chocolate birthday cake (Thanks, Gillian!).
In the past, I would take a celebratory bike ride on my special day, and hammer out the mileage equal to my trips around the sun. This is no simple feat for a March birthday, when one has not ridden a bike during the winter months, not to mention the cold and windy Kansas March weather, or the fact that I am now in my fifties and that means a 50+ mile bike ride before I can blow out candles and be sung to. (This year's birthday duet of that Spouse o' Mine and daughter Gillian was just lovely! Ha ha!! With daughter Claire on the East Coast and the College Boy on the West Coast, we missed out on a complete quartet, but it was lovely just the same!) This year, I decided to forego the bike and concentrate on the subject in the next paragraph:
Along with the first week of March, and my birthday, 20 miles are now marked off my running calendar. This means...um, not much. I ran 2, 5, 1, 1, 1, 7.5, 2, and 1 mile the past seven days. The running all had walking interspersed in it. My time for running a mile went from 12:30 up to 13:10, and today was my week's PR (personal record) of 12:22. Baby steps, I tell myself. Yesterday as I was knocking off two miles, a memory flip-flopped into my head like a big ol' fish: in high school, I could run a half mile in 2:42. If you add 2:42 + 2:42, it does not equal 12:22.
And also this first week of March? Lots and lots of Snow Geese in the 'hood:
Ok, Ok, I checked Wikipedia and here's what they say about groups of flying geese:
"...The collective noun for a group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; when in flight, they are called a skein, a team or a wedge; when flying close together, they are called a plump..."
Wiki forgot to include the adjective aerodynamic.
Nature is amazing.
So here's to the first week of March. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for welcoming your fifth kid into the world fifty-three years ago. Somehow I suspect the advent of my arrival, as Number Five, was maybe not as exciting as Number One or Number Two. But I can thank you, my parents, for doing a bang-up job in the kid-rearing arena. For all five of us.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Two Things:
1. People need to include pronouns in their sentences.
B. People need to take the word "literally" out of their vocabulary for the rest of the year.
Sunday, March 03, 2013
More on Running:
I love to run. My runs have walks interspersed in them. I freely admit that: I run till I feel like walking, and then I walk till I feel like running. The point is, I feel like doing it, however the equation presents itself on any given day. Some days I go a mile, some days I go 7.5 miles. I am not locked into any Mile/5K/Half/Full Marathon training. I am not lean and trim, not a greyhound. I am overweight, but in fairly good shape in spite of it. I just head down the road because I like to.
So that Spouse o' Mine and I went four and five miles, respectively, yesterday. I started out running counter-clockwise around our section, and the plan was that he would head out sometime later, clockwise, and we would meet up somewhere and he would double-back with me. Now, here is the BIG NOTE: He has not run one stride in over a year. What made him think he should go out and do four miles?
This morning after coffee, and breakfast, I decided to knock off my "Mile-a-Day" before church. Off I went down the road, half a mile, and back. I felt OK. It was not a fast mile, by any measure. But, I did it. I even paid attention to the sermon afterwards. (Somewhat.)
That Spouse o' Mine, who is very athletically inclined, has been hobbling around the house all day, and yet? He decides to do his mile around noon.
Oh, my goodness. Limpy the Lion. I told him to take an aspirin. (My answer for anything. Really. Aspirin is a Godsend. It only takes one.)
And that's where we are on this Sunday eve. I am a slow runner who walks whenever she darn well pleases, and Limpy the Lion maybe had too much testosterone flowing in his veins.
So that Spouse o' Mine and I went four and five miles, respectively, yesterday. I started out running counter-clockwise around our section, and the plan was that he would head out sometime later, clockwise, and we would meet up somewhere and he would double-back with me. Now, here is the BIG NOTE: He has not run one stride in over a year. What made him think he should go out and do four miles?
This morning after coffee, and breakfast, I decided to knock off my "Mile-a-Day" before church. Off I went down the road, half a mile, and back. I felt OK. It was not a fast mile, by any measure. But, I did it. I even paid attention to the sermon afterwards. (Somewhat.)
That Spouse o' Mine, who is very athletically inclined, has been hobbling around the house all day, and yet? He decides to do his mile around noon.
Oh, my goodness. Limpy the Lion. I told him to take an aspirin. (My answer for anything. Really. Aspirin is a Godsend. It only takes one.)
And that's where we are on this Sunday eve. I am a slow runner who walks whenever she darn well pleases, and Limpy the Lion maybe had too much testosterone flowing in his veins.
Saturday, March 02, 2013
We Are Family
Facebook has a Running page I follow. This week, it came up with a Run a Mile a Day in March. I thought that sounded easy enough, and so I "joined" the group. And I "invited" lots of family and friends to do the same.
This morning, my niece Amy decided to take it a step further (and she accuses me of being an overachiever!!) and she created a Family March Running event, and sent it out to Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, and family friends.
As I say, we are nothing if not competitive.
The deal is to run one mile each day. Yesterday I ran 2 miles. Today, that Spouse o' Mine and I ran 5 miles. Let me clarify: that run had some walk going on in it. Just to be CRYSTAL CLEAR.
Some of the young bucks of the family have gone online, lamenting their 7-minute miles and such. Pooh-pooh. My two miles were thus: a twelve-minute mile out and a thirteen-minute back. This afternoon, I think my miles averaged fourteen or fifteen minutes.
But the fun of the deal is just that: we are having fun. Family fun, even though we live hundreds and perhaps thousands of miles from each other. That song in your head? "We Are Family..."
This morning, my niece Amy decided to take it a step further (and she accuses me of being an overachiever!!) and she created a Family March Running event, and sent it out to Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, and family friends.
As I say, we are nothing if not competitive.
The deal is to run one mile each day. Yesterday I ran 2 miles. Today, that Spouse o' Mine and I ran 5 miles. Let me clarify: that run had some walk going on in it. Just to be CRYSTAL CLEAR.
Some of the young bucks of the family have gone online, lamenting their 7-minute miles and such. Pooh-pooh. My two miles were thus: a twelve-minute mile out and a thirteen-minute back. This afternoon, I think my miles averaged fourteen or fifteen minutes.
But the fun of the deal is just that: we are having fun. Family fun, even though we live hundreds and perhaps thousands of miles from each other. That song in your head? "We Are Family..."
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