Sorry for the lapse...

It's been a few days since I posted, and frankly, lots has happened in that time.  Ms. Awesome returned from abroad, saw two movies, had 4th of July festivities, went to a Tiger's game, and I ran.

Ms. Awesome's return has been nothing short of wonderful.  Most of my attentions have been directed her way, so again, I apologize for not keeping more current on my postings.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter tried so very very hard to be a good movie but I feel what would have made it great ended up on an editing room floor somewhere.  The concept was solid, yet the delivery seemed rushed and full of one-line 'fire for effect' quotes rather than substantial build and storytelling.  Oh well, they can't all be good.

Brave on the other hand, was nothing short of spectacular.  Another triumph for Pixar studios.  It was a great story, nicely told that broke so many molds I couldn't begin to tell them all to you.  Go see it, and may Pixar never do another Cars film again.

The 4th of July was typical at the fam.  Lots of good food, but the heat was unbearable.  The same could be said for the Tiger's game.  It was fun but too hot, until the sun went down.  It was just fine after that.  The fireworks at the end of the game were a nice touch.

This week, I finally broke the two mile mark.  Thursday was when it actually happened, although not totally.  I ran two and half miles on Thursday, but I had to stop a mile in for about 10 minutes.  Afterwards, I finished the rest of the distance and felt pretty good about it.  Today, I ran the complete circuit without stopping.  It feels amazing to see this kind of progress.  It's still small potatoes, but, compared to where I was a month and a half ago, I'll take it.  The first mile today was really strong, but this could also be due to the fact that it was only 82 degrees when I started running.  82, yup, a cold front moved in. 

So yeah, I think that brings us up to date...pretty much.  I'll try to do a better job of keeping things more current.  Till then!

"You can't stop the signal, Mal. Everything goes somewhere, and I go everywhere."

Some time off...

Well, hopefully, just today.  I was supposed to run today, but I took it off.  Today was an odd day.  I did nothing and as a result, I wanted to do nothing...it sort of feeds in on itself; a dastardly cycle. 

Ms. Awesome has come home from abroad, and I couldn't be happier.  She is having a hell of a time with the jet lag, but each day will get a little better.  I, myself, have been having my own sleep issues.  I can't seem to make it through a day lately without needing a nap.  Let me reinforce that statement by making it clear that when I need to nap it isn't just some passing fancy, no.  It feels as though my body is literally shutting down.  My ability to concentrate falls to nothing, I have issue focusing both mentally and visually on anything, my body feels heavy and leaden.  Often I am unaware I have fallen asleep until I wake up a few minutes later, luckily this has only happened while I'm sitting somewhere.  I don't think it's a sleep disorder, rather, I have just got myself into a self perpetuating cycle.  The more I nap in the late afternoons, the more my body gets used to it.  The logical result of that is my inability to fall asleep at a decent hour during the night.  What used to be midnight or 1 in the am, has become 3 or 4 in the am.  The result of which is my needing to take a nap in the afternoon...by now the cycle should be more than apparent. 

Tomorrow is Tuesday.  I hope to force myself through the day.  I will occupy myself with whatever tasks I can find; physical, mental or both.  I will run tomorrow evening and on the following day celebrate the 4th of July with my family.  Two days of activity that will hopefully keep me from needing what is becoming a daily nap, is not enough to break the cycle, but I am hoping that, just maybe, it is.

"Shiny. Let's be bad guys."

Time to move on...

It was another warm day, not so hot as Thursday, but still warm.  This has been a heat wave I can deal with.  There is little humidity, and while it is nothing like the single digit humidity factors out west, 20-40% humidity here makes for awesome warm weather.  When the sun goes down you can feel the air temperature drop, the breeze actually makes a difference.  You can feel the warmth of the air all around you but instead of sticking to you like humid heat does, you are allowed to move through it comfortably.

I had another late run today.  I started again at 8:30 and ran my two miles.  It was a tough start today, but ended well.  There are three things I need to incorporate into my workout regime:

1. I need to stretch.  I needs to become as vital an element of my workout as the workout.  I think doing this will help the beginnings of my runs be far less a shock to my system.

2.  I need to increase my distance.  I could have gone farther today, but I didn't because I felt that I wanted to feel how I felt at the end of two miles.  I was tired, but not gasping for air, in pain, or just barely made the distance with every ounce of my being...no, I felt pretty good.  By those standards, it is time to move on.

3.  I really need to start running in the morning.  This will help on a number of fronts.
     a) It will energize me for the day.
     b) It will help me avoid the native populace which has become an annoyance.
     c) In six weeks when classes begin, I will likely only have time to run in the morning and since I have a good routine in place, I don't want to stop. 
     d) It might help my sleep patterns.
     e) It will help my eating patterns.

So, there we are.  Numbers 1 and 2 are the easy ones...number 3 is gonna take some doing.

The only thing stopping me is me.

"This is the captain. We're having a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."

Hot...

Larry Miller, in a stand up routine about downhill skiing and hitting a tree, says that "when you hit something that hard and fast, the only thing you ever need to say is, "I hit it."  If you have time, this entire routine is priceless, but for the reference mentioned about, go to the 24:07 mark.

Using the logic garnered above, today was hot.  I managed to make my run, but wow...I sweat like I haven't sweat in years.  It was like the air outside enveloped my like a glove, I could feel it almost press against me as I walked toward my run.  In all honesty, I was excited.  But, boy howdy, was it a rough run today!...I almost called it quits after a mile.  As if the heat alone wasn't oppressive enough, I was made fun of during my run today.  Oddly, it didn't bother me.  As I was running between the half and three-quarter mile mark, I passed a group of three younger girls.  After I passed them, one of them decided to keep pace with me.  I think I did a good job just ignoring her, she didn't try to speak to me and if she was doing anything to further mock me, I didn't notice, nor did I really care to.  Eventually she stopped and all went back to normal...except, I couldn't get out of my head the sound her feet made as she was running next to me.  All I could think of was, "Good God, you're gonna kill your shins if you keep running flat footed like that!"  Meh.  It was over and I was still going...until I came back around for my second lap only find the same group girls walking in opposite direction, which meant they were facing me this time.  It was harder to ignore them as I approached.  I guess it was the same girl as before, but I really don't know which of the three was trying to keep pace with me earlier, so this guess is merely that.  But, this girl started mimicking me as I approached and then made little effort to get out of my way as I passed the group.  I heard them say something as I ran past them.  Whatever.  I was having a hard enough time just running so I didn't really have the energy to give them the rise they were trying to get out of me.  Sorry, girls.

And while it may seem this event really bothered me as I'm devoting almost an entire blog post to it, it really didn't.  It was just the only thing of any interest that happened on my run. 

It does make me wonder why people heckle people who are running.  I've had people yell out their car windows at me that I'm running too slow, or that I'm fat...well, yeah.  Why the hell do you think I'm running?  How am I gonna get faster or thinner if I don't?  Am I running slow?  Probably, but you're just bringing it on yourself that I'm the one that's actually doing something about it.  Any moron can honk a horn, shout obscenities out a window, or find any other way to try to humiliate those of us working to make ourselves better people.  All you do by doing what you do is proving how right we are.  Karma is real, folks.  Be wary of it.

"Start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a 90-pound girl 'cause... I don't think that's ever getting old."

It was an odd thing...

Today after work, I crashed. I crashed...HARD.  I got home around 6 and woke up a little after 8!  It wasn't just a nap, it was one of those mini comas that when you wake up from it you aren't quite sure if it's 8 am or 8 pm...I know I dreamt and while I have fleeting memories of what they were, there is no way I could contextualize what went on in my head.  Normally, I don't mind a good, solid nap...the problem with today's is that when I woke up I was supposed to be running.

So I got up, and after a quick inner debate on whether or not I should take the night off, I got into my running gear.  I tried to stretch, but I was so, so stiff from just waking up, everything just hurt to try.  I walked out of the apartment somewhere between 8:20 and 8:30...the sun was setting just enough to not flood me as I ran tonight...maybe the timing was better than I thought. 

I started my run in a haze.  I don't know that I was fully awake.  After a bit, I sort of woke up and realized I had a better than normal pace after the half mile mark.  I almost cursed myself for nearly as soon as I realized that, I had to slow down to my normal crawl...for about the next mile I would speed up and slow down as my body allowed me.  Then!  As I rounded the last corner and headed down the last quarter mile stretch, something happened.  It was an odd thing.  I sped up.  I sped up in a way that happens in dreams.  It wasn't a runner's high, though it was as close to one as I've gotten to in years, but I was running without consequence.  Nothing hurt, my feet didn't impact with the road, but connected with it.  My breathing wasn't labored, but measured.  My stride was good and my pace was solid.  For that quarter mile, when I usually run out of energy, I had all the energy I wanted.  There was no effort in that distance.  I don't know what switch it was that flipped inside me, but I know it's there.  It's like my body had this flashback to 18 years ago when I would run for the sake of running...it wasn't about getting in shape, it was running cause that's what I did.  I remember how good it felt just to go out and run, to go somewhere and come back.  To drive down a road the next day and think, I just ran down this road last night.  I want that feeling again.  I want it back.

I want to do better.

"I am a leaf on the wind - watch how I soar"

Monday...

I feel bad for not blogging last night after my run.  I was dealing with certain household emergencies that involved my kitties, the lack of their using their litter box, Murphy’s Oil Soap, and some elbow grease.  Afterwards, the rest of the night was rather chill.  Except that I’ve been having a hard time sleeping lately.

3 out of the last 4 nights I have been unable to fall asleep until well after 3 in the am.  I’m not quite sure why.  My body is tired enough, I just can’t seem to shut my brain down.  Last night I wondered if it was my later in the evening exercise routine.  I know some people struggle with this, but it has never bothered me in the past and often I used to run as late as 10 in the pm.  It’s been a few years since I’ve been on such a regular exercise routine so it is indeed possible my body has changed.  I can’t really equate it to me eating a lot of sugar or having any caffeine right before bed either…I do go through this from time to time,  so  I’m not really worried about it.  It’s just more of an annoyance.

But my run last night felt great.  I was worried about, too.  I took three days off between runs, not intentionally, but at the same time I wasn’t really trying to push myself to get out there.  Turns out, the break really helped me.  I had a really strong first mile, followed by a normal second.  But, that feeling on that first mile was great!  It reminded me of why I love to run and the more I run the longer I’ll be able to keep that feeling before getting tired and having to slow down.  Progress is wonderful!

This morning I had every intention of getting up, and going to the gym…sadly not falling asleep until almost 4 in the am had me waking up at 10:15…grumble…BUT, I did work out!  I had to go to Ms. Awesome’s  place to tend to her wonderful kitties, so I walked.  It was a beautiful morning, not hot, not cold, with an amazing breeze…on the way back I worked on doing sprints.  I would run a block or so at a good pace, and then walk until I got my breath back…rinse and repeat until I got home.  I was very happy with myself.

So yeah…I’m at work now…munching on some Cheerio’s, gazing longingly at the grapefruit sitting on my desk…nom.

“Half of writing history is  hiding the truth.”

An off night.

I had planned on running tonight, but as circumstances would have it, I was unable to.  This might be ok, though.  I will either go tomorrow or Sunday...I keep saying I'm going to go to the gym and get a membership...one day I'll make good on that, I promise. 

I ended up having to relieve cat-sitting duties from a friend of mine who was taking care of Ms. Awesome's cats whilst she is in Russia.  I think the cats just missed being home, and I really don't mind taking care of them :) 

Pets are an odd responsibility.  Rarely do we think past the cuteness of a pet to what is really needed to responsibly care for a pet.  I, myself, fall into this category.  I have two cats, as I have mentioned before, luckily they are healthy, pleasant, and to some degree get along with each other.  In this habitat, with me, they are just fine.  Outside of this apartment, it's hard to say.  Last year working conditions forced me to take my cats to my parent's for about 3 months.  I am grateful I had that ability.  I don't know that opportunities like that will always be available.  When they aren't that's when the responsibility of being a pet owner really sets in.  There are jobs I cannot take because I can't leave my pets for an extended period of time.  When I got my cats, the type of lifestyle I was living didn't have a need for me to travel.  That may not be the case in the future and is something we don't always see, how can we see lifestyle changes years in advance.  What it does mean is that as a pet owner, we have a responsibility to the animals in our care.  They depend on us for far more than food and water.  If you have a pet you understand that there is an emotional bond, a comfort your pet has with you, regardless of how much you think your pet likes or dislikes you there is a comfort they are accustomed to on both sides of that spectrum.  When we decided to take on the responsibility of a pet, we need to be more aware that our lifestyle will change with the pet and that, like with children, there are certain lifestyles we may not be able to live because of the pets we have.  We need to somehow be able to think things like this through as we stare at those adorable eyes, or watch a young puppy barely able to keep its balance.  Kittens, puppies, fish, animals of all kinds have a power over us that makes us want to take care of them.  This is not a bad thing so long as it does not blind us to their needs as well.  Some might go so far as to say owning a pet is a selfish act, I will disagree with that statement so long as the pet owner looks at the relationship with his or her pet as mutual.  Pets are there for many reasons and as much as we love them, they love us just as much if not more.  Remember that the next time your dog meets you at your door, or your cat purrs as it lays across your keyboard.

I honestly think most people have the best intentions when the decide to take on a pet.  Intentions only go so far though, they must be acted on. 

The above soapbox rant has nothing to do with the treatment of Ms. Awesome's cats by her, our friend, myself, or anyone...this is merely something I rather stream-of-consciously strung together sitting here as I watched Burr stretch out on the floor and as Widget hopped on my desk for her daily dose of chin rubbing.  They are so adorable!!

"He killed me with a sword.  How weird is that?"