Just Stuff

Well I am back to the Internet world after a great visit with my sistah and all of her little people. ha. We looked at many houses, ate many cookies, drank much tea, and laughed over kid-sayings. Good times.

Ran 70:00 easy today, and was followed by a couple of dogs. I can't stand being followed by dogs. It drives me nutso. Anyway, it was a very comfortable run, although not fast at all. I guess I do not care very much because I have 2 doubles coming up on Thurs. and Fri., as well as plenty of tempo work to do on Saturday. Time enough for the hard stuff. I like to enjoy the easy stuff. In the mean time I'll try to come up with something worth reading.

Ewwwwwwwww

Nasty day out there. When I left to run, it was 52 degrees, not bad, but very humid. Danielle went with me and we took off to warm up, and I didn't really feel like it was going to be a good day, so I was surprised to start off at a 7:20 pace and it felt comfortable, so I stayed with it. Unfortunatlely, during the run, the sun came out and the temps shot up about 15 degrees, retaining our 100% humidity, or 400%, whatever it was. So I ended up with a 7:32 pace for the 40:00 tempo run, a little dissapointing, but I feel that if it hadn't been so humid I would have done much better. So overall, still not a terrible run, but then again, I was so much faster the beginning of the year, so that is still somewhat frustrating for me.. Not a very positive post, eh?

In other news, Ethan finally tested his boundaries enough to find out what happens in the Lantz home when disrespect happens. He made fun of his teacher today, so he has been pretty much grounded all night and he received a spanking and was required to write his teacher an apology note. He's grounded to his room, poor kid, I feel bad for him, but I just don't want him to grow up to be disrespectful, and hopefully he will remember this for some time.

It's good to be back

I guess I consider today sort of a mark of being "back" to running. I have not missed a day since Oct. 25th, and I have run over 50 miles per week for a month. I had a 95:00 run on tap today and estimated that I would get in 10.5 miles, and surprised myself by getting in 11.3 miles with the last 2 miles at 7:38 and 7:32. It seems like last time I was running 50 mpw, it was harder for me, or made me more tired. I don't really feel very drained to be honest. Of course, I am not running very much "meat" right now, just a tempo and a few intervals through the week, and my "long runs" are not very long, but still. It's good. I feel really good.

The weather has been downright weird, and it doesn't feel very Christmasy, if you want to know the truth. It was 50 degrees and fog as thick as pea soup when I ran this morning. The temp was great, but I could have done without the "mist."

meh, this is getting boring..... zzzzzzzzzzzz...........

Brrrr!

You know, I think we are all a bunch of wusses in Arkansas. It's freaking 40 degrees out there and we're all huddled up inside talking about how cold it is. I'll wear shorts to run in down to about 20 degrees for the most part, but how often does that happen? Not much as it seems like our climate is slowly moving closer to Tropical. The warmer the winters get, the bigger babies we are. Before you know it, we'll be whining about 60 degrees, wishing it were 80. Yesterday, it was supposed to be in the mid-sixties and we topped out at 38. It seems like my run was over before I ever got warm. Then there is the big question of over dressing for a run. You do not want to overdress for a run because if you overdress, you will get sweaty, and when you get sweaty, that cold 35 degree, 15 mph breeze suddenly becomes quite COLD and you suddenly find yourself in a similar situation to running in a cold rain. Wah! Cry me a river. Seriously though, this is the time of year I love to run. I can always run faster and get warmer, but in the summer, there is no escaping the heat!

These Two are not Related.

The Circle

There is a circle that exists in running and it happens thus: You train hard, you start to get grouchy and negative and tired, you get injured, that makes you mad, then you accept it and move through it. Then you heal, and you can run again which is exciting and fun and you just want to be out running all the time, so you do. Then you start to get tired and grouchy, and then you.....

I am in the exciting phase right now - I am not hurting any more and running finally feels good again. My legs feel strong, my air is coming easily and I am enjoying every minute of moving my legs. To be fair and honest, I have healed faster and more completely than the last time I got hurt. I am not sure if that is because I was more relaxed about it, or didn't hurt myself as badly this time, or what? You tell me. Regardless, I am thankful. Here is where I turn all mushy and junk. I think this is what injury is for. It's a time to take a break and bring you back to a more thankful frame of mind, quit taking advantage of what you have. Sit up and appreciate what you have been given. Give thanks to your Creator for making your amazing body in such a way that it can heal itself. Be thankful for the knowledge available to you on nutrition, massage, rest, fuel, all of the things that keep us on the roads. In my own journey, when I lose sight of these things, I will become negative and unappreciative, and this leads to my injuries. I will not lie, I have made bad choices that have no doubt contributed to being hurt, but the rest of what I have written is truth. We have these gifts, whether we notice them or not. Our humanity is really His Miracle, there for us all to see.

Anyone who knows me also knows that I am not going to be all rainbows and butterflies all the time because that's just not real life. Stuff happens, we get down, and we don't want to get back up again. Today, however, I see the bright side of life, and I am thankful for that perspective.

p.s., someone should take away running because it's obviously done damage to my brain. Perhaps permanent damage.

Googling

In my wildest dreams, I never thought that Googling would be a real word referring to a real activity. When I was a teenager working at McDonald's, people started talking about The Internet and I scoffed. I rolled my eyes, and made fun of it because it was way to geeked out for me. It just seems so fitting that you can actually Google something, and it means that you have really done something for real if you like to think of it like that because after all it's on The Internet so have you really done anything real with any substantial proof? Did you come away with some concrete evidence of your search? Have you ever thought about how you as a child of the 60's, 70's or 80's would think of the Internet jargon that we use today?

Recently Ethan has discovered how to Google. He is only in kindergarten, but on a fast track to reading, and it's really quite amazing. The other day, we came over to the computer, and a Google window was open. He had been intending to do a search on Monster Scorpion, and into the dialog box was typed, "monstr scrpn." That's pretty dang close to monster scorpion. I was afraid he wouldn't learn to read as quickly as Abby. Silly me! And who would have thought that Google would be a teaching tool for reading? HA.

His favorite things to Google are scorpions, aliens, and Spider man. He is always over here trying to sound out what he wants to Google, you can hear him trying to sound out Spider man and his little fits when he doesn't quite get it. Anyway, this morning I came over to the computer and a window was open to this link: http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/forms/m11b_06.pdf . To be honest, I really was thrown for a loop. I had no idea what anyone in my household could need of this document, so I asked Brad what he was doing with it. He was equally as dumbfounded as I. 'Course, he's pretty sleuthy as guys go, and it didn't take him any time at all to figure it out. Lying on the desk was the DVD case to MIIB (Men in Black II). You will notice on the top right hand corner of the Minnesota Revenue 2006 Insurance Fee form is "M11B". I think he might have actually been looking for: