Yearly Review

It is that time of year again, yearly review time. Normal people do it on January 1, I do it on July 2 - it's my thing (and probably a billion other people's thing, but who cares about them, this is MY blog that I never write in anymore, but I digress).

So what can I really say about this last year. It was a year back to watching TV and movies, and I can honestly say that the year off totally changed the way I watch. I saw three movie this year worth my time and have not seen one show that I would spend once a week on (even Wipe Out, sorry Adam and the rest of the world). What are those three movies? Book of Eli, Henry Poole Is Here, and Toy Story 3. Thinking about going off of them again, but I think it would be hard to entertain Adam because I would have to start putting on skits - and I can only do so many one woman shows in a lifetime, and I think I used up 75% of my limit in high school.

I use to say that even numbered ages were the bad years and odd numbered ages were the good ones. And if you look at ages 18-29 you would have to agree with me. So entering 30 I was a little apprehensive. The first strike against me was that I was moving from St. Louis back to Stillwater, and that is enough to make the even numbered age the worst thing in the world. Going back to school and trying to get back into that groove without much support, leaving my best friends I have ever made behind. But something strange happened - I got married. So I guess the even/odd year curse is over (if you believe in that sort of thing). Let me repeat a crucial part of that last idea - I GOT MARRIED. A miracle in and of itself. Me. ME! Without weeping and gnashing of teeth, without months on end of daily vomiting and wondering if this was the right thing for me, without a year of counseling and prayer about what ifs and running thinking this all must be a mistake. I actually went into it quite naturally, and quite logically. I came, I saw, I conquered (so to speak). Every step we took from friends, to more than friends, to the first kiss, to the ring, to the altar seemed right and in the right time (even if that was only 9 months). We prayed about it and everything just seemed to fit, so if it fits why back up, and as I have always said "if you know let's go." It was a joke to me because I thought I would never know, so I could say that - well I guess I was wrong. The funny thing about marriage for me is this - fears I use to have a gone, only to be replaced by a different set. A set that seems more irrational than the original set.

The only event of 30 that might make it in the list of the 18-29 year cycle was loosing my granddad. I have said all I really want to say about that event. I miss him a lot and just when I think I am moving on I have a dream with him in it and I miss him like the first day all over again.

School is hard and it is only going to get harder. Time is short and this paper I'm writing is long. How long? Who knows yet? I do know this, if I spent half as much time working on it as I do waisting time (like blogging, or reading blogs, or looking at pictures on facebook) then I would be about done. It all boils down to time really. Not that any of it is hard, it is just finding the time to work on it when classes go on around me, or I am gone for 2 days with work, or Adam comes home and I would rather hang out with him then write 3 paragraphs on the perfect growing media for green roofs (80% lightweight inorganic material, 20% organic material, by the way).

On The Water

Background: I am working in the Zoology department this summer helping another masters student on their thesis. She has money in her budget to pay someone to help her collect data . . . I do not. Her research is something about nutrient loading in lakes and that consists of driving out to 25 or so lakes over the course of the summer, getting in a boat, going out to the middle, taking sediment and lake bottom samples and driving home. Yesterday was our practice run at Sooner Lake near Stillwater.

Actual Blog: A few minutes before 5am I got the call. Superman died. When you are a kid the adults in your life are sometimes seen as superhuman with their size, their power, and the way other people act when they walk in the room. I have several superheroes in my life, and yesterday one went home. My grandad was bigger than life, fishing, days on the boat water skiing, solving the worlds problems, sail boating, strong opinions, life lessons, strong hands, big love. I didn't really think about it much yesterday, I didn't really let myself. The funny thing is, at the end of the day I did the very thing that I remember most about him, I went out on the water. No skiing, or fishing, just boating. The end of the day, calm water, just boating. I think that was the best way to celebrate his life - and I didn't even set out to live my day that way.

Spoofs

Since Lady Gaga is up in arms over American Idol (don't know why, don't care just saw the headline) I thought I would post this:

Almost as good as Justin Timberlake on SNL spoofing Beyonce's Single Ladies:



Or you can have the kid that is crying because he ISN'T A SINGLE LADY:

Slowing Down

Why is it that when you have less to do it takes you the same amount of time as if you had a lot to do? I will never figure that out. I would have way more free time in my life if I would work as fast and diligently when I had 3 things to do than when I have 8 things to do. Maybe it is just me, but I'm going to take a stab that it isn't.

Another running day today. I'm sticking with my original plan that I had at the start of the week!!! Two miles this time but at a terrible pace. 24 minutes for the two miles. NOW, it was a trail run - but yeah, it is pretty bad. I did check my times from Tuesday to find that while I only did run 1.5 miles I did it at an under 11 minute mile pace - which is a bit fast for me, so I am using that as an excuse. Maybe I just need to build back up like I did before. Start all over with the Podrunner Intervals. Part of me thinks this would be best, but the other part knows that I can run at least two miles each time and maybe 3 if I was running on good fuel. Maybe I will have to pull that out after we get back from our trip.

I have decided that Ryan Hall is my favorite runner . . . or his wife Sara. What the heck, I will pick them both one male and one female, that is how it should be right? He has been touted as the best American marathon runner in a long time. The trick to that is, he hasn't really won many races. I think that is why I like him. He is picked to be the one to beat, and many do. I also read an article about him in the November Runner's World (I'm a bit behind) that talked about what organization he runs for. World Vision! WORLD VISION! I think that solidified it for me. Many thought he would win the New York Marathon. He didn't, but one of the men in his training camp did - Meb Keflezighi. In the article (written before the race) Meb said of Ryan, "Ryan understands that God has blessed him with a talent. His strong faith and commitment let him conquer the ultimate distance - the marathon." Oh, and he also takes 2 hour naps on his easy training days. That has to put him at the top of my list.

8 days. Not that I am counting.

Poor Showing

What a poor showing I had today on my run. I have been doing the school walk thing for the last couple of weeks - but that ends up being only about 2-3 days a week. So I decided that this week I would walk to school 3 days, run the other 2, and then run on Saturday. So I went to Boomer today do a little bit of a run. It is a 3 mile circuit and so I thought it would be nice to see how far I could go running compared to the 3 mile walk to school. 1.5 miles. That is IT! I had to walk the rest. When I was rested a bit I thought I would run again, but I was running into the wind. You know, the wind that comes sweeping down the plains - well it stinks.

To and Fro

After walking to and fro, and to and fro, and to school over the last three days, I decided to go for a run in my break between classes today. I know I said I wasn't going to walk fro school on Monday, but I did anyway. My class got out about 5 minutes early so I got to the bus stop just in time to see my bus leaving. The next bus, that I would have taken anyway, wasn't going to be leaving for another 30 minutes and then another 10 to get home, and as close as I was at that point I decided that I might as well walk. I got home just in time to see my bus drop people off at my apartment. Job done. I have started to really like the walk. The first time I did it I listened to my iPod, but the last few times I have just walked. Yesterday on my way home I saw a baby snake in a puddle. Maybe it was my run in's with three water moccasins this weekend that made me think it was a baby water moccasin, I don't know, but I tried to get it to slither off and instead it attacked my shoe. I decided it best to just walk on.

Anyway! My run today was really great. I forgot my hair tie so I ran hair down and in my face. I run like the wind (a 5 mph wind) so it wasn't that bad. I didn't know exactly how far I was running but I timed myself. When I got back into my office I checked it out on Google Earth. 2.37 miles in 26:38 (11:14 per mile). Not too shabby of a time for me.

For lunch today I brought some Craisins. I usually put the Craisins in my salad with goat cheese, spinach, and walnuts - I love it. The craisins sans all that stuff are TERRIBLE! I'm going back to my raisins if I am not going to eat something with it.

Today is my second to last Landscape Ecology class (or regular session). I motivate myself to go by buying a hot chocolate with a splash of hazelnut and steamed milk to drink on my way over. It may be too hot to drink it today, but I think I will keep it up simply because it is so hard to make myself go over there. I am part of the presentation today (AGAIN) so I have to go and be knowledgeable. The funny thing is the person I am presenting with told me today that she finds me very focused. I laughed because yesterday while trying to do the readings for the presentation I fell asleep for awhile. Then I woke up and stared at the ceiling for about an hour. I have hit a bit of a lull in the school work for a few days, which has been very nice, and it is the end of the semester so I know that I am lacking in focus - but this whole year I haven't felt focused at all. Maybe it is the way I handle life now that is different and it makes me feel like I am unfocused compared to how I use to be. She even told me that she listened to me in class more than the teacher because the way I said things about the readings and in response to his questions made more sense than anything he said. I think I have just learned over the years how to B.S. my way through life instead of being focused. That perception of me is hilarious, but who am I to correct her. I tried, but she still thinks I'm focused and driven and can't believe I am not going to go on and get my Phd. No thanks. One Dr. Morgan in the family is enough. I guess though in about 23 days I would be a Dr. Beitz!

I think I have rambled long enough. Now it is time to start gearing myself up for my class, making my way over to the hot chocolate place.

Walkabout

This morning I decided to walk to school. I don't know why, I just felt like doing that rather than taking the bus. My hip and knee have kind of been bothering me so I didn't think I would be running today, so I thought a walk would be good. It is only about 3 miles and it took me about 50 minutes. Not sure that is a good time or not but it is farther than I usually travel by foot these days. I guess I didn't tighten up my shoes enough this morning due to the 20 or so chigger bites on them so now my feet are a little road weary.

I can't really complain about this day. Sitting at about 60 outside and after 8 months of trying I finally have a desk in an office at the school. I now feel like an official grad student rather than a nomadic sheep herder. I will finally be able to move a lot of my books over here so that I don't have to carry them back and forth all the time and that will also clear my drafting table at home to gather other things like mail, trash, and other junk I just lay on top of it. I think this desk has been empty for quite some time so I came to it to discover it covered in Wal-Mart bags full of food and drinks. Either I will be having a snack later, or they are having an end of the year party and this is the food storage spot. I just moved it and sat down. I don't really have anything to mark my territory except to pee on the corners of the desk right now, so I suspect the stuff will all be back in it's place tomorrow when I come in again.

I will not be walking home today because my class gets out at 5 and I need to get dinner going by about 5:30. This domestic transition may kill me . . . not in a bad way, it has just been hard over the last few months to think about the fact that I can't just eat whenever I feel the whim to do so if that is at 5, 7, or midnight, there is someone else who wants to eat with me and comes over about 6ish to do so. So instead of eating egg and broccoli burritos for 10 nights in a row I have to think of something else to fix because I am the only person who can eat the same thing every day and not really care . . . until I grow tired of it and don't eat it again for 4 months. All this to say I will probably continue this trend of walking until the end of the semester (a whopping 2-3 weeks) until I move to about a mile and a half away where I WILL be waking for the most part unless it is a blizzard or monsoon outside and I will be taking the bus (that will stop a block away).

Catching A Trend

I ran this morning. 1.8 miles in 21:20 minutes. That is a poor showing of 11:51 per mile. The difference? Not on a treadmill. Treadmills lie. They are good for actually running when there is snow on the ground or you can't bring yourself to run when it is 20 outside or even the perfect 55, but they lie on how fast and far you are running. It is all about the movement. Outside you have to push up and forward, on a treadmill just up. Anyway, it was also poor because it has been over a week since I have run. Well it is time to start kicking into gear.

A bit of it all

Doing a little Google bombing for a car place in San Antonio. Why? Because it is fun for me and I need all the fun I can get out of life right at this moment. So click on the link or even put the link in your site and type the name just like this so that it links to his web page:

Kastis Automotive Repair in San Antonio

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Biked on Monday. That was way harder than I thought. 30 minutes 10ish miles. Ran yesterday:

Run Time: 33:30

Run Distance: 3 miles

Feeling: Great! I ran about 6 minutes at 6 mph which I haven't done in . . . well probably ever. Maybe I did at the 5K last year but I lost track.

Sitting on 36 days left. Actually 35 days 20 hours 49 minutes. But who is really counting?

I did not

. . . work out at all last week after Monday. My plan is to work out at least 3 days this week. I knew the second I published that I would work out at least 4 days a week maybe 5 starting after my running study I would fail. Because that is how blogs like mine work.

Anyway, on my iGoogle I have a little count down and it looks a little something like this:

So soon, so excited, and still in awe that this is actually happening to me and that I actually had these feelings for another human being. I didn't think it was possible.

7 Year Itch

I really don't have a 7 year itch, but I do have an itch. And that is all I'm going to say about it, other than when the Dr. told me what it was I said "I wish you told me I had poison ivy" (which is what I went in thinking I had).

So I went running on Monday. I did 2.5 miles in 30 minutes. For those of you keeping track at home that is only a 12 minute mile. I might as well be walking. My running and working out has been on quite a slide since spring break. Part of that is my schedule to the end of school. There is a lot of lab work to be done this month for some guys in my department, so the time I would spend in the gym gets put in their lab instead. It's OK as long as I don't make it a habit. Today I thought I would be working in the lab all day, I was told I would be working in the lab all day - but now it seems that I'm not needed today - so I just got a three hour hole of time. Guess what, no workout clothes. I mean, why would I? I was going to be in the lab all day. Oh well, it will give me some time to read a book I have been putting off for my thesis. This weekend I have to go on a field trip - Friday through Saturday. It should be fun, but that puts a lot of work on me when I get back, and I have found that I don't do work well right now. Maybe it is the spring weather, maybe it is all the lab time, maybe it is the itching, but it just isn't going very fast.

In other news, I finished the rough draft of my extension paper on green roofs. A lot of work ahead on that, I'm sure, but it felt good to get that first part out of my computer and onto another persons computer for awhile.

Balance

I follow a blog on Runners World called Marathon Virgin. He wrot a funny article with workout a couple of weeks ago:
Hanging in the Balance Marathon Virgin

I planned on working out today, but then I found out I will probably have to work all day tomorrow and so all the homework I was going to finish up needed to be finished tonight! So I didn't go to the gym. Low and behold, I finished up the bulk of it by 8:15, and the part I still need to finish usually only takes me about an hour (just jinxed myself I think). So anyway, I remembered this workout I printed off a few weeks ago and wanted to try. I'm glad I tried it in the comfort of my own home. I think I would have been embarrassed to do these things in public, especially as bad as I am at some of these exercises. The surfing pop-ups didn't pop, and the Burpees didn't burp. I probably looked like an old woman trying to do these exercises, but I did them twice each. I will work up to the 3 times each in time, but man do I need to be a better burper and popper before I do that.

Back At It

Well, after over a week off my running was sub par to say the least. I did not get a chance to run on Thursday before break like I had hoped, and I didn't get ANY running in over break. Mostly I sat around and napped. The napping part was fun.

Run Time: 22:59
Run Distance: 2 miles
Feeling: like I wasn't going to even make 2 miles. I had to slow the machine down a couple of times to rest, it was a weak showing for sure
Soundtrack: Home Improvement the snake episode. An early episode about a snake getting into the house and the exterminator can't find it and assumes it went back outside. The exterminator was Stephen Root! I couldn't believe it!

New Jersey Flooding

Long story short of spring break - went to New Jersey, 20 minutes after we got there we were told to evacuate. Well, 26 hours in a car only to be told to evacuate isn't really going to happen. So we just watched the water level. This is as high as it got and it went down over our stay. Probably more about the trip later.

Run Time

Run distance: 3.66 miles
Run time: 40 min
I tried to read, but the words on my magazine were too small to follow while running. So I just used it to cover up the screen so I didn't obsess about time and distance. Note to self: larger print.

Running again on Thrusday before my trip to New Jersey. Hopefully I can get some kind of activity in while I am away, it will be a long road back to running if I take a week off.

Yet another reason to like the guy

I'm not on Twitter, but I do follow a couple of people there. One of them being Jim Gaffigan (http://twitter.com/JimGaffigan). I follow him mostly for his one liners and any updates on tour information. Anyway this was his twitter entry for today.

On Tuesday 9th March 2010, @JimGaffigan said:

This is the day I was given the most important gift of all, Jeannie. Calling Jeannie my wife feels a little like referring to Shakespeare as some English guy. She is the true unsung hero of my success, personally and professionally. Forget that “Woman behind the man” crap. Jeannie and I are one in everything. Jeannie is not just my writing partner, acting coach and spiritual leader. She is not just the smartest sexiest woman I’ve encountered. She is my best friend who I happen to crave with every ounce of my existence. She is there to pick me up when I am down and forgive me when even I was disgusted by my own selfishness and narcissism. I wonder at her beauty and caretaking I witness in our eldest daughter. In her passion and charm bursting out of our son. I get lost in her cuteness and sweetness beaming from our nine-month-old. I even received a glimpse to last a lifetime of Jeannie’s elegance in our baby Maria Lourdes we lost shortly after her birth. Forget that “Luckiest man on earth” crap. That guy obviously never met Jeannie. Happy Jeannie Day!

Row Row Row Your Boat

Rowing again today - 20 minutes. I'm not sure if I like it or not. I kind of miss running. I look longingly over at the people on the treadmills wishing I could go nowhere on my feet instead of on my butt. I think that the treadmill people don't like me looking longingly at the treadmills because they think I am looking longingly at them and that I am creepy. Well I am creepy, but I'm not looking at you. Leg weights and abs again today. Followed by a salad with goat cheese.

Reading Rainbow

Well, I read baseball news.

I figured the key to running without thinking about time, or how tired I am, or the distance. READING! I forgot my iPod today (it is in my coat pocket and it is too warm for a coat today), so I stationed myself in front of the ESPN TV because it has closed captioning. Today was all about baseball. No word on the Cardinals or the Indians, but I think that might have been in the next half hour I was lifting weights.

I did not run yesterday for a number of reasons - most importantly the way my schedule lined itself out yesterday did not give me the time in between obligations. So I put it off to today, the day I opted to take off in my schedule. That's OK, I think it actually made for a better run today.

Run Distance: 3 miles
Run Time: 32:45
Other Activity: Arm weights (least favorite)
Feeling: I don't remember
Soundtrack: The gym

I think I'm going to start bringing some reading for my runs. A way to keep up on my reading for class and a way to pass the time.

Water, Water, Everywhere . . .

but not a single drop to drink.

Switched up the ol' gym routine today. Switch up 1: I showed up today, not usually a Monday work outer. Switch up 2: I used the row machine - Oh, the humanity! Switch up 3: I did weights for my legs and then did some ab work.

Now? Well now I am enjoying a delightful salad I made with lettuce, spinach, walnuts, craisins, and feta. How is it that I HATE anything cranberry except craisins? I use to be able to buy a salad like this at Trader Joes. I was lamenting about that yesterday before I went to the store that I wished I could buy that salad. Then it dawned on me I could get the ingredients and make my own. The trick was remembering what was in it.

Tomorrow . . . RUNNING!

Moving Forward By Looking Back

I finished my running assignment on Saturday. She runs me ragged on the tests!! She tested me before the running assignment, then again after a month, and then again a week later. It was good to keep me accountable to running - and I had a running coach for 5 weeks telling me what distances to run and what to expect. That WAS nice, but now I am on my own again. Last week, due to the testing, I wasn't running as much as I had been before (part of the thesis experiment). So to add things to my workout that were not cardio (a no-no) I started doing a little weights. It has been a long time since weights have been a part of my workout - and I could totally tell!

So now I am moving forward by using what I learned over the last five weeks. First off I am going to keep up the running! Second I am adding a day at least to the week by going 4 days a week instead of 3 (not running all days mixing up the cardio). I might end up with 5 when it is all said and done because I may do a good run on Saturdays (but we will see). I am also going to start adding weights back into the mix. It is hard, and takes a bit more time, but it is worth it! I feel so much better when I go than when I don't. I have also crafted a great iPod mix for my runs - kicking off with July Flame and in one of the hard spots I hear The Distance by Cake!

Wrapped up the weekend with some biscuits and gravy, and then I kicked Adam out so I could finish up some homework. So I guess this means I have to finish it. He has such a hard life. I make him cook for me and then make him get out. I did let him eat with me though.