Trail Not

Sorry for the negative posts recently, but I've been sick. It started with that little tickle in the back of my throat on Monday evening, but I drank a lot of fluids, ate my echinacea and vitamin C gummies, and when I still was feeling alright Wednesday, thought that I'd successfully fought of the flu. Not so. Wednesday night I started feeling bad, and things just got worse as the night wore on. I actually did run around the block Thursday night, but that was not a wise move. Now I'm feeling a little bit better, but I think that's mostly because of the cough/cold drugs I took. I still croak rather than speak and have that deep chest rattle cough.

I feel, however, like I should be getting out and running. Two days off (after a low milage week), and guilt is setting in. It doesn't help that the weather here continues to be unseasonally nice: sunny and highs in the mid-to-upper 50's. Great weekend for the Chilly Hilly, which I'm registered for, but will have to miss this year.

Thanks... not!

To Dooce for reminding me how amazing it is to snowboard in powder and how it feels when it all really clicks. Reading her post is about as close as I think I'll get to that feeling this winter, as we still have almost no snow here, and as good as snowboarding in fresh powder is, it's not good enough to move to Utah.

Zoom zoom

Here I am in racing country, just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Daytona 500. I didn't realize when I made the reservations to visit my grandmother and her husband that I was coming on such a big weekend! Fortunately I secured a rental car, although things were crazy at the airport Friday night. Also lucky was I with the weather. It's been warm and sunny all weekend, perfect for running on the beach. I logged a little under 5 miles yesterday and a little over 5 today. Any time I felt tired, I just had to think of G.I. Jane, and those fictional SEALS training just a few miles away at the Mayport Naval Base. Hoo rah!

Trail Note

I somehow caught a 24 hour bug this week, which is very unusual for me. Sure, I get colds, sore throats, coughs, and sinus thingies often (less often now that I've discovered gummy bears with vitamin C and echinacia) but it's very rare that I lose my appetite for almost 2 days straight.

I was feeling much better today, however, so after 3 days off I ran the 3.5 mile around-the-hill route. It was a beautiful evening. I started at 5 pm and it was still light with the sun starting to set behind the Olympics. Every not-very-snow-covered crag of the Olympics, Cascades, and Mt. Rainier was crystal clear. The crocuses and daffodils are blooming and after a warmish day, the neighborhood smelled like gardens and springtime. I didn't feel quite as springy. My legs were a little sluggish, my breath was shorter than usual, and my stomach wasn't too happy to be running around after that pork chop for lunch (probably not the best idea). But I was out, and I finished the run feeling pretty good.

Trail Note

We didn't get to Vancouver this weekend, so didn't run the half marathon. Jeff wasn't feeling well and is starting a new job today, so he had a lot to do to get ready. We therefore thought that spending the weekend out of town with a long run in the cold might not be the best idea.

I thought about doing my own half marathon on Sunday, perhaps looking up and running the route for the Seattle half, but I wasn't that motivated. Instead, I ran along the Burke Gilman trail for an out-and-back 10+ miler. The miles are marked on the trail, so I could keep an eye on my pace, which was consistently 8:30 minutes/mile or faster, which is good. If I had been able to keep up that pace for 13.1 miles, my time would have been 1:51:30, close to what I ran at Vancouver in 2002 and 2003 (2004 was a couple minutes slower). So, not too bad. Especially as the adreneline of a race might have pushed me a little faster.

The weather was actually pretty good: temps in the low 40's and the sun was out most of the way with a bit of a brisk breeze. I managed to get an unplanned sprint near the end of the run. I was approaching the Freemont Bridge, which is about 1/2 from my house, when I heard the sound of a boat's air gun signaling the wish to open the drawbridge. Not wanting to stand shivering for the 5+ minutes it would take to open and close the bridge, I turned on the speed, managing to cross the bridge just seconds before the operator started to begin to close the gates. I hope the operator saw my thank you smile and waves.

And the 6th Man Comes Through!

Working My Way Toward Oscar

I saw Million Dollar Baby yesterday. And, yes, everything you've heard is true: go see it!

I've now seen 3 of the 5 films nominated for Best Picture. I've never seen all 5 nominated films before; this could be the year.

I saw the teaser trailer for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy again yesterday. May 6th; so close!

Steve is still my John in the Morning

Thanks to the Yeti, who managed to say what I wish I were clever enough to say about the other night's State of the Union Address.

I wasn't planning on watching (the smirk drives up my blood pressure), but a friend who doesn't have a television came over to watch, and it was a good excuse to not go for a run. So instead of running and remaining ignorant of the plan to gut the benchmark of social policies, I drank wine and listened to comments involving Condi Rice and a trapeze.

Self Restraint

... is not visiting TMFT to see what happened on the Apprentice last night. We were all cultured-like and went to the symphony instead of watching television, so have the show on tape to watch tonight.

BTW: I always forget how incredible it is to experience a symphony perform an amazing piece of music. I had a hard time sitting still in my seat listening to the Firebird; I wanted to create my own little goofy ballet in the audience. We're renting Fantasia 2000 ASAP to recapture a piece of the magic.

Running and blogging, blogging and running...

Visualize light bulb appearing over my head and switching on.

I guess I knew that there was a running blog community. After all, there's a blog community for every interest, and I've visited a few running blogs on a couple of occasions. Usually this is after someone posts on a trail note, and I go to the commentor's homepage.

As I've stated a few times, this year I'm ready to get serious and run a Boston-qualifying marathon. I've bought a book, and have slowly started ramping up my milage. It's not quite enough, though. I need the inspiration that can be found through others' stories. It's incredibly powerful to read about the struggles and triumphs of other runners.

Conveniently, there is a runners' blog directory out there. I was browsing through the listings to see where folks were from, and found... my blog! So, this is how people have been finding me. I wouldn't consider this a running blog, but I enjoy my trail notes. And considering my recent posting quality and quantity, the trail notes are probably the best part of the blog.

So, I've added a couple running links to the sidebar, and will add more when I find them. This will help with the motivation!

New month, new opportunities

I have no idea what happened to January. What have I been doing? I haven't been getting much done at work, I haven't make much progress with my community projects, I haven't done anything with financial planning and organization, I haven't knitted anything, I haven't read much, I haven't seen many movies.... I did gain 3 pounds, but I don't really see that as much of an accomplishment.

In February, however, I will:

• Run a half marathon
• See a financial planner
• Apply for financial aid for school
• Lose 5 pounds
• Visit my grandmother
• Catch up with some old friends
• Follow up on internship opportunities
• Develop / modify an economic development game
• Read some new books (good ones)
• Complete a knitting project

Here we go!