Had a nice run yesterday morning. 2½ miles and felt good afterward. I wanted to go a little further, but just didn't have the time. That's it for the running portion of this post. Now, on to the miscellany.
Minor rant #1:
What the heck is up with old people and traffic lights? What possesses them to stop a car-length (or more) back from the white line? Over the weekend, I got stuck in the left turn lane behind a guy who refused to pull all the way up and get on the pressure pad to trip the light. So, we sat there as the cross traffic continued on their merry way, until somebody finally pulled up into the straight lane and forced the green light so that we could finally move. We live outside a fairly large retirement community so I know from experience this isn't just an issue with this guy; a vast majority of the older drivers do the same thing. There have been times where I've had to pull around in front of them to get the light to change (when there are no other cars around to trip the light).
Minor rant #2:
That must've been some badass pair of pants. Look up 'whiny bitch' in the dictionary and you see a picture of this guy. Ok, less of a rant and just more of an observation of just what a punk this judge happens to be.
Random observation:
The 4th floor men's room in our building has smelled like maple syrup for the last 2 days. Had to use it yesterday while the 5th floor one was being cleaned and it was really strong. Today I had to use it when the 5th floor one was full; it wasn't as strong as yesterday, but it still smelled faintly of maple syrup.
I got out for 6 miles this morning and had another cruddy run. I was fine for about 2 miles and then had to walk a bit. That was a big mistake; I wound up walking between ¾ and 1 mile of the total 6. I think that part of the problem was starting off a bit faster than I wanted. Normally, I'm pretty good about my pacing, but I was having issues this morning. I also seemed to be having some form problems as well; I kept hunching over, making it harder to breathe. With that in mind, I'll pay a bit more attention to it and see how I feel on my long run next week. Also need to start some strength training for my back. It will help my back problems and should help my posture during my runs.
Update to the link I posted a few days ago about the "poodle scam" in Japan. It's apparently a hoax that's been debunked by Snopes. I normally don't fall for stuff like that, but I saw it on an actual news site, so I assumed that it had been verified.
I got out for my run again this morning. It's nice to finally show some consistency. It was a pretty decent run; a little over 3 miles at an easy pace. I felt really good, especially considering how my run went on Saturday. I definitely need new shoes though. I've been feeling minor aches here and there for a few weeks or so, but today I felt what may be the precursor to shin splints. Hopefully I can hold that off with some extra stretching and some exercises I found on Cool Running. I was planning to replace my shoes in the very near future, but the leaky roof put that on hold. Hopefully, we can get a home equity loan to cover that cost. If we can't, I'm not sure what we're going to do.
Of course, I could always become a "poodle breeder" and export them to Japan. It wouldn't take me long at all to pay for the roof that way.
Well ok, it wasn't that busy, I'm just a slacker.
Let's see... I had an incredibly crappy run on Saturday. I planned to do 6 miles, but wasn't really feeling it when I woke up. I made myself get up and get out anyway and said that if I still felt the same after a mile, I would stop. I actually did feel motivated once I got going, but about a quarter mile later, it felt like someone poured sand in my lungs. I decided to hang it up and just go home. Saturday was also prom night. Here's the dashing, young doofus:
The prom theme was 007 Diamonds are Forever, so Beth took him down and had him pick out the white jacket as opposed to the traditional black. When he got home he said he wasn't wearing a white jacket ever again. The reason? "I don't know if it was the color or what, but it was really heavy!" Yes Spud, it's well known that white is the heaviest color in the spectrum... we should have warned you.
Sunday was Beth's birthday and game 6 of the first round of the NHL playoffs for the Lightning. We hit the bike shop so she could pick out what she wanted for her birthday. (she wound up with a trunk and a pair of gloves) Then we had some people over to watch the Lightning get schooled by the Devils; the bastards. They had so much momentum going but blew it in game 4. If they had played games 4 and/or 5 with the desperation they showed in game 6, they'd be getting ready for the 2nd round right now rather than getting ready for rounds of golf. As they say, there's always next year.
Monday brought a dentist appointment for Beth and another trip to the bike shop. She had more birthday money to spend and Josh's bike was due for its 100 mile tune up. Tuesday was fairly uneventful; a trip to the mall and Beth and I were able to sneak in a bike ride. This was the first time we've ridden together in almost a year and it was fun. She may be getting some weekend days off in the near future and we can do it more often. YAY! For me it was the first time on the bike in a few months. I've been focusing so much of my energy on my running; maybe this will be a catalyst and help me revive my cycling in the same way.
Well, my running anyway. Still worrying about how to pay for the roof and had a sub-par run this morning. Just 2.5 miles and took it easy, but was still slower than I would have liked and felt like I ran harder than I did. Hopefully I can shake it off and do a little better on Thursday. Maybe I'll solicit Internet donations like other people have in the past. "Send me a dollar so I can buy a car, get new boobs etc..." Our situation certainly isn't any less important than those, right? Oh well, who knows?
The Snoogie is feeling better. He still has a cough, but not that nasty, barky cough he had with the croup. It's just a little wet sounding; like he's got some congestion with a regular cold. Other than that he's his normal, wildman-of-Borneo self. He likes hockey and got all excited when I turned on the Lightning game last night. He'll sit there and watch it for as long as his attention span lets him and then goes off and plays, but comes running back in with his hands in the air if he hears the horn go off.
Lightning lead the series 2-1. one more game at home and then back to NJ. Here's hoping that they head back there after Wednesday 3-1. GO BOLTS!
Well, the roofing guy said that they can patch the two spots with the leaks, but all of the shingles need to be replaced as well. The existing ones are apparently too brittle to try to match up with the ones they would need to replace over the bad spots. The estimate was in the neighborhood of $6000. {SIGH} I have no idea where we're going to come up with that. Hopefully, we can get some kind of home equity loan from our credit union or something. This sucks. I suppose it could be worse though; at least we don't also have to replace all the decking. Oh well, I guess the silver lining is that a new roof will add to the value of the house and may be a selling point when we sell it in a couple of years.
