Running: In-Depth

You might have noticed my updated side-bar. I haven't used the running web site linked to my blog, Buckeye Outdoors, since last November. Since then, they have updated the web site to allow direct linking to my Garmin running watch. Cool stuff!

I've done 4 runs since the weather turned nice, and (fingers crossed), so far so well. My foot isn't 100% but it isn't painful or getting any worse either. Most days, I don't even notice the plantars. I'm going to take this as a good sign that I can keep it up.

On Saturday, I ran my first "long" run of the year. It just barely made the double digits, but that's my qualification for a long run. Although I felt good for most of the run, I was pretty beat by the end of it. Interestingly, I ended up being more worried about my heart rate then my bum foot. An AVR of 175 with a max of 188 was much higher then I'd want for that particular pace.

Thankfully, the next run right after that, at the same pace but a slightly different time of day was better. AHR of 158, and although I only did 6.65 miles, my heart rate profile was much closer to what I would expect for that pace. This was encouraging for my goals this years.

Yes, despite my injury and woah-is-me attitude, I have running goals for this year, just like I did last year. Last year I had a goal of running 1,500 miles. This is a goal I never talked about or even mentioned on my blog. In fact, there is only one person I ever told this goal to. This year is no different. I have running goals, and they are once again sekret.

Like almost all my goals, I have fears. Fears I won't be able to achieve them, fears of failure. In some ways, I think it is these fears that keep my goals sekret. It's better to fail silently, than to admit failure. My first four runs this year have my attitude slightly more positive, and as long as my injury doesn't get any worse, I think I'll be able to achieve my goals for this year. Time will tell.

Crampons

Any geek that has ever played Dungeons & Dragons knows what crampons are. Why? Because they are always available for purchase in the equipment list, and someone always asks, "What are crampons?" Friday I was on the elliptical watching my new favorite show: Cash Cab. A game show where random people in a taxi cab are asked semi-easy trivia questions. At the end, if you make it, you can go double or nothing. The answer to the final question was "crampons", and I knew the answer but the 3 guys in the cab didn't. Obviously they had never played Dungeons & Dragons.

Every single day, from Thursday to today, I tried to sit down and blog. And every single day, 5 minutes into it, something would need my attention. Something isn't adding up because usually I could get some time to myself each night either playing video games or reading, or something.

This week I'm going to start putting in a little more blog effort and post in depth about recent on-goings, from finishing a 20 year book saga to my running, work, and all the rest. For now, since I once again have sat down to blog with only 20 spare minutes, I will keep this post short.

This weekend was great overall, awesome weather. Got a run in on Saturday (check out the new running side-bar). Also went to see Clash of the Titans with my brother Saturday night. It was fun, but nothing spectacular. I enjoyed it.

Today we drove down to New Ulm and visited the in-laws for Easter Sunday. I ate entirely too much candy today, so good thing I'm starting running again. Been floating in the upper 180s, reaching 190 the last 2 months. Time to put a stop to that and get back down to an even 180 for the running season.

Well, I hear the oven beeping so dinner is ready. Gotta jet, but expect more posts this week then the usual once a week.

Poker Night Success

Party last night was an awesome time. 8 people total, which worked out perfect for the amount of space, chips, and everything else. The funny part is that the group of people just ended up being my standard AD&D group of friends plus 2 other friends. And a lot of us hadn't even seen each other in some time, so it was great to just socialize for awhile using poker as the excuse. Had some college hockey playing in the background, pizza, snacks and good times.

We started the first hand going over the rules and trying to emphasize the first few hands being "practice", but with real betting. What happened next was hilarious. Now, keep in mind, technically speaking, this is some low stakes poker. Betting starts out with white chips, that from a dollar value, are .02 cents a piece. Yes, 2 pennies. But what happens? A few people have really good hands and all of a sudden people are throwing around their highest value chips ($2 dollar chips). Off the first hand, one person basically took 2 people down half their chips. So much for "practice" hands!

First person went out shortly after 7pm, and the game lasted until just before 11:30pm. Some highlights include one guy getting pocket Aces TWICE in a row. The odds of getting dealt pocket Aces is around 220 to 1, and this guy got it twice! I got pocket aces once, but didn't show them (won the hand without being called). The highest hands all night were full houses, no 4-of-a-kinds all night. There were a quite a few number of Full Houses though, including a hand where two guys both had full houses. One had 7s over 6s and the other had 6s over 7s!

In the end, I made it to the final two, but I was severely short stacked. I won a solid all-in with 3 10's when my opponent had 2 pair 10s and Jacks. But he had so many chips that he could just keep bleeding me. I tried a few bully moves that didn't work out. Despite all that, as it got down to the end, he goes blind all-in against me (all-in without looking at his first 2 cards). I had Ace & 2 of spades, a solid opener. So I said what the hell and called. He flips his cards over, 10-4 off suit. I'm clearly ahead at this point. Flop comes up... 10-4-Ace. So now he has 2 pair and I have a pair of aces, but I'd need a 2 or Ace to come up to win. What happens? Another 10 or 4, I honestly don't remember. Point is, he gets a friggen Full House off a blind all-in! Crazy. So I came in second, but had a great time.

Everyone had so much fun, that I might even be motivated to do one more this year, in late fall before the winter sets in.

There we go

Could this week be the true start to spring weather? Sure hope so. I took the chance this weekend to try my first outdoor run of the year and only my 3rd run since Feb 1st (the other 2 being short treadmill runs when the ellipticals were full). The run went well, although turned out to be a bit colder then I realized. 7.75 miles at a decent pace. In the end, my foot felt no better or worse, so... More outdoor runs to follow, probably starting with this weekend. Fingers crossed that no "new" pain develops.

Our colds are still kicking our ass, which is dragging me down a bit this week. It would be nice to have everyone healthy again by this weekend. Casey has it the worst, simply because there isn't anything she can do. It's still hard for her to get a good nights sleep, so she is extra moody and tired (which in turn, makes the rest of us tired). I'm thinking we should be free and clear within a week. Again, fingers crossed.

I'm looking forward to this weekend, as I'm hosting a poker night that I planned out a few months in advance. Small, myself and maybe 5-6 others. Small stakes, nothing huge, but it should be fun to just get together for a guys night. I did a poker night in both 2005 and 2006, and then sorta just stopped doing it for 3 years. Figured it's about damn time to start it up again, so bring on the 3rd "not-really-annual" Poker Night!

From Tired to Busy

Being overly tired was the worst thing to happen leading into the day light savings time weekend. On top of that, we had a full weekend of travel, spending time with family, and all sorts of stuff that just kept us going all weekend. In the end, no one adjusted very well to the time change and it's been dragging on everyone all week.

I think I'm finally recovered today, since I got to sleep in until 8am. I was up with Casey a few times during the night, but nothing too bad. Me and the girls all have colds right now. Andrea has avoided it so far, so she might be in the clear. The rest of us are just miserable. I'm hoping this is the last round of colds we get for awhile as we lead into spring.

Speaking of spring, the girls are definitely enjoying more time out side lately. You quickly forget how "new" everything is to a 10 month old. Stuff outside to see, touch and smell are all still new to her. To Casey, the coolest thing in the world is to just hold her near a tree branch so she can grab it.

Meanwhile, Megan asks me pretty much every other time we go outside if she can take her training wheels off! She's not quite ready for that, but our neighbors daughter is a year older than Megan and she might get this off this summer. So of course, Megan wants the same. So typical!

Here's a recent video of Casey practicing walking with assistance outside.

Tired

No other words come to mind right now. I'm seriously worn down. If I put my head on a pillow right now I think I'd pass out before I closed my eyes. So why am I blogging? Cause Megan took a huge nap tonight and isn't remotely tired. Ah well. I should stop getting to work at 6am, might help.

This weekend was pretty tough driving around, seeing runners everywhere I looked. I was feening pretty hard to get out there. My foot condition hasn't changed significantly over the last 5 weeks of no running. If anything, it maybe feels slightly better. I have no real pain anymore unless I really crank on the stretching. I'm probably going to end up at the foot doctor again in a few weeks and discuss any other options. It might just be a giant waste of time and money, but I need something. One way or another I'm going to start running outside again in early to mid April.

Once I start running again, I see 3 possible outcomes. I'm trying to mentally prepare for the worst of those, but it's not coming easy. The best possible outcome of course is that running outdoors again with orthopedic shoe inserts will somehow magically readjust my foot and help it heal and go back to normal. Odds of that happening? I'm going to say less than 10%. Second outcome is that the pain I have now just stays more or less the same. I mean, even at the "peak" it never actually hurt. It was just a minor annoyance, mostly in the morning (which is a lot better thanks to the night splint). The last outcome, and most likely outcome, is that running again aggravates it and results in worse pain.

Of all the things I wanted to do this year, quitting running for good was not one of them. But if after I start running again, the pain gets worse, I'm not sure what other options I would have. The thought of being done running for good is not something I can swallow right now. So I'm just going to have to take one day at a time and see how this spring goes.

Back on Track

Once again find myself breaking my self imposed rule of at least 1 blog post a week. Last week I just couldn't find the time, despite being fascinated reading through posts by Sunnybrook Farm. Considering how much I whine about finding a way out of a system I hate, I only joke about dropping off the grid. Reading about someone that actually did it was cool.

The lack of posts last week came mostly from work. I've been pouring WAY too much into it the last month or so. One night this week, Andrea looked at me and asked, "What are you thinking about?" And I said, "I'm thinking about how pissed off I am that I can't stop thinking about work."

The opportunity to bring the project that I work on out of the 90s and into the latest decade has presented itself again. I've mentioned this over half a year ago and I'm not sure this time will be any different. I've jokingly referred to it as "Project Unobtainium", but it isn't too far from the truth. No matter how cool I can make something look or how many value statements I can come up with, some senior executive that doesn't know what Windows 7 is, won't understand why it might be a good idea to re-architect our software for that platform. But I figure I'll give it one more shot, and when the competition begins to steamroll us, I can at least say I gave it my best shot, instead of just "I told you so."

Interesting Turn

Fun to have people reading and my blog being motivated to share opinions. Almost motivates me to just post non stop about hot button topics like religion all the time. Almost.

I do want to expose my kids to as many different opinions and world views as I possibly can, so they can figure out for themselves (in the long run) what works for them. And the reason I want to do that is because, I don't think any particular world view is any more correct then the next. My choice to be atheist is just as valid as my friends choices for religion. Neither is the right choice or the wrong choice, they are just personal preferences. The important thing is to figure out for yourself what "fits" for you.

And that's the main reason I find it SO utterly difficult to participate in any formal organized gathering of any religious type. Because usually (not always), that group of people want you to think just like them. And if you don't, you're labelled as "wrong". Whether it's a Christian church wanting to convert you to a belief in god, or a liberal Unitarian church where everyone bashes conservatives and republicans. Either group comes with preconceived notions of who is right and wrong and what beliefs are right and wrong.

Which brings us right back to my subjective view of life and truth. Something that is hard to describe, but it is central to almost all my beliefs. I profess my love of the classic existential philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, and how reading his essays was the first time in my life, I ever read something about a world view that "fit" for me. Where for the first time in my life, I said "Wow, this is exactly how I've come to view the world.".

Yet still, despite that, there is a small part of me that wonders. Is subjective truth just a way to live your entire life without taking a particular stand on a subject?

Target Audience

I'm usually pretty perceptive of changes in my normal routine. For as long as the "Followers" feature became available, I've had 3 followers. The 3 blog links on my blog roll. All of a sudden today I have 10 followers! (and I lost one of my original 3!) Oh, I must be getting famous.

Has my recent post on religion grabbed people? Should I do a full month of blogging about "Why Shawn is Atheist" or "How I think I developed morals without religion"? It's funny how much feedback I got on my recent post. Thanks to those that left comments. My Mom says to me, "The things you say amaze me." She's either amazed at what I say or I'm simply crazy. My brother tells me I get him "fired up". But if what I say gets people worked up one way or another, I must be on to something. Honestly though, I'm not really on to anything. I just enjoy being an instigator of thought.

And in the meantime, I'll try not to let the possibility that more than 3 people read my blog effect the way I do business around here.

Rest for the Wicked

Tonight Andrea and I talked about one of those hard topics. Religion. More specifically, teaching religion. For some families, it's not even a question, let alone a hard one. You are given a belief structure from your parents in whatever religion they are a part of and then choose to accept or reject it.

For whatever reason, I don't feel I was ever "taught" religion, or in a more broader sense, taught how to figure out my place in the world/universe/whatever you want to call it. My thought is that religion provides answers for people to a lot of those hard to answer questions. Why am I here, what is my purpose, what happens when I die, etc etc. But I honestly don't know if that is the case, not being a part of any religion. Maybe it just gives a framework for finding answers to those questions but still leaves the actual answering up the individual.

But none of that is the point. The point here is I want to arm my daughters with at least some skills that give them a starting point to find those answers for themselves. The question is, what is the best way to go about doing that? Would taking them to a specific religion church do that? Or would trying to expose them to lots of different religions in some way be better? Either option seems tough.

I know the one thing I can't do is lie to them about my own beliefs, and that's maybe the hardest part. Being atheist is a tough proposition in it's own right. Trying to get someone to understand my belief structure, and how it is possible to be atheist and still "care" about things, life, other people, and still strive to be a "good" person, is not easy. On top of that, there are all these studies out there that show religions people tend to be happier or healthier or that church-going kids have better GPAs. Sadly, neither of these are motivators for me but they do at least force me to ask myself, what is best for my girls?

8 days between posts!

Epic fail! This week was weird, and I didn't deliver on my promise of pictures from the Apple Valley Midwinter fest. I ended up going to work every other day this week, which sorta made the week fly by. I was working from home on Tuesday because I didn't feel like getting trapped in 3 feet snow drifts in my driveway. Thursday I had the day off so we could get some family pictures taken and so Andrea could get our taxes done and go to Megan's conferences.

Foot update: Still not 100% healed, but definitely better. Random pain throughout the day is very rare, and it usually doesn't hurt unless I really stretch and push/massage the area forcefully. I'm still hopeful for late March.

Anyway, not much else to report this week so here are the pictures and videos from Midwinter fest, as promised. First up, Megan got a cool balloon bracelet.



Everyone at the ice sculpture, and just Megan with a better shot of the finished product.

501st Post

Didn't even realize it, but happened to glance at my post count tonight. I hit 500 posts, with today being 501. Not bad for 5 1/2 years of blogging. When I started this little adventure I didn't think I would last this long. I've come SO close to quitting many times. But in the end I always come back because quite frankly, for whatever reason, blogging can be very therapeutic for me. It's a place to come and bitch and moan without burdening anyone with my worries. The side effect of course is that sometimes my blog shows only the negative side of me, but I try my best to balance it out.

Foot update: Got the night splint this week and I've worn it twice now. It's not bad, and it definitely helps with the morning pain. I don't know if it is going to be a miracle cure, but I have hopes. In most studies, it helps 70-80% of the time. Even if it does, it's going to be a long healing process. I'm doing elliptical for now, but will see how that goes. It feels like it's low impact, but it's hard to tell.

Not much else going on really. Work is still just work. Still trying to make a difference, because why not? It's more fun to try and make a difference and then be forced not to, rather then just straight up not even try. Sure the outcome is going to be the same, but at least that way I can put the blame on some other abstract concept like "the business" making bad decisions.

The girls are doing fine, and Megan starts a new preschool program on Monday. It's a "Playschool" program at the near by Eastview high school. It's a great program, 3 days a week. She will do that in addition to normal ECFE 2 days a week, so she will be a busy girl!

Tomorrow we are doing the Apple Valley Mid-Winter Fest which we try to do every year. It's mostly just so that Megan can do the inflatable jumpers, but maybe this year she would have the patience for mini golf. I'll try and snap a few pictures and get them up this weekend.

Difficult Decision

I've come to a very difficult conclusion. I know it's for the better and hopefully the best for my long term goals, but that doesn't make it any easier. What is that decision you ask? I'm done running... for now.

You may remember my off hand comment about Plantar Fasciitis a few weeks ago. Well, I took my week off running, did even more research, and even visited a podiatrist. I've decided I have full blown plantars, and that I need to treat it before it gets worse.

The thing that makes plantars such a horrible injury, is that it is a silent killer. It doesn't hurt THAT much, usually only early in the morning. Stretching it or running on it can actually make it feel better. But running on it is a false approach, because you are doing more harm. I've read more than a few accounts of people who "ran through" a plantars injury only to be completely debilitated later.

The other horrible aspect of plantars, is that there is no easy cure. What worked for one person doesn't work for the next and vice versa. I was even at a running store looking for night splints and the store clerk mentioned how he had plantars once. He says to me, "You basically have to throw every treatment at it. What worked for me was...."

At the core, there are the 3 basic things: rest, icing and stretching. In addition to the basics, I'm wearing orthopedic shoe inserts at all times. One of the most important rules is to never go barefoot, even at home. I'm going to do a week of anti-inflammatory starting soon (tomorrow?) I've also ordered a "night splint" online (couldn't find one in a local store).



The idea behind the splint is that during the night, your foot rests in an extended manner, allowing your plantar fascia to constrict. Then upon waking, you take your first step out of bed and BAM, tear it apart and start the cycle of healing/tearing all over again. The night splint keeps the muscle flexed, allowing it to heal better over night and then be ready to go in the morning.

I need to be icing more, which I will probably start more of this week. I think I'll start icing at work too, where I have more time to just sit. If I don't see noticeable change within 4 weeks, I'll head back to the podiatrist and consider more drastic measures such as professional message therapy or ultrasound cortisone cream. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. I am absolutely committed to getting this taken care of over the next 8-12 weeks. One thing is for sure, no matter what, I will never run on a treadmill again, which I feel is the main reason I suffered this injury. (although, stupid use of a treadmill is also to blame)

That was quick

As this week and month both come to a close, I'm reminded once again how fast it all seems to be flying by. Casey is 8 months old and is going to be walking soon. Megan is 4 going on 13. Every now and then she just sighs, looks up at me, rests her head in her hands and says, "It's hard to be a girl sometimes." It breaks my heart, but it is oh so cute. Just you wait!

The funny thing is, I predicted this back in July of last year. I knew things would start to speed up, and sure enough, they are. The scary thing is, recently I've been wondering if the routine is starting to get to me.

Right about now, I could go off on the deep end, like I often do. Like how lately I've been wondering if the systems we are a part of, are created by us on purpose. Are the concepts of work, making money, and all the rest a way of controlling ourselves? I mean, think of the alternatives?

What if people didn't need to work for a living. What if everything you ever needed to "survive" (food, clothes, shelter) for you're entire life was immediately provided the day you were born. What then? Would the world be a better place or a worse one?

After doing "work" that is meaningless for so long, it hardly even bothers me anymore. I can think back to the early years and remember how hard it was. I'd leave work going, "Is this it?" Unless something major occurs or some insane self employment opportunity/idea hits me out of no where (about as likely as winning the lotto), I'll probably be working at some random company doing some random computer/programming related thing for the rest of my career. I'll always be overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated for my efforts. Odds are high that I'll always be a grunt, or at best, the highest of the grunts. (which probably just amounts to more pressure, higher work load, and bigger expectations than the other grunts)

Can I deal with that? Yeah, probably. The problem is, I'm not 100% sure what the price is going to be. I get caught up in thinking what I do is hard or that I'm so much better at it, when in reality, a trained monkey can do what I do. I need to remind myself that more often, and remember that what goes on at work, good, bad, or whatever, will always be meaningless. And that's okay. Because work isn't where I find meaning.

Video Day

I haven't got any pictures or videos up since Christmas, so I figured it was about time. Casey has really started getting around this last month, climbing up on things, etc. It's hard to say if she will be walking before 1 year, maybe. Not much new on the Megan front, although she has started up swimming lessons again and is doing well. Swimming is something she definitely just enjoys, so we will probably keep that going.

Today is a day of errands and misc stuff, with a dinner date tonight with another couple. We are heading out to eat at Crave, at the Mall of America. I'm hoping our experience is not quite the same as Steve's, I wouldn't mind a mildly bad experience that included a free meal.

Anyway, on to the videos! First up, Megan and Casey speak into the Microphone:



And the second video, from a few nights ago. I was just changing Casey's diaper and she was just soooo giggly. I had to capture it.



Ahhh the sound of laughing babies. Maybe Casey will become an Internet craze and get 95 million hits like that one video. If the video doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't think anything could!

The Hard Questions

Megan is at the age where she asks a lot of questions. I'm never quite sure what depth of answer to give to her. On the one side, I don't want to go into so much detail that she stops listening and goes "oh". On the other, I don't want to over simplify things. So the other day when I was reading the newspaper article about Haiti, and Megan started asking questions, I decided to give her the most honest answers I could, shying away from actually mentioning death, dead people, etc. That ended up in a long series of questions, each more detailed then the next. Why did they get hurt? Who got hurt? Why does the earth shake? Who's going to help them? Why do they need water?

Those interactions are always tricky, because you never know what Megan might latch on to. For example, recently when one of my Mom's cat's died, I explained to Megan how Pepper died because he was old. This was followed by a week long asking of "Where is Pepper?" and "But I didn't want Pepper to die!" (with some sad crying as well).

Tonight was another one that has come up a few times, maybe a half dozen times total. Megan asked me, "Where is your Daddy?". That is a tough one. Tonight when she asked, I went with a new answer of "He is no longer with us." I don't think she caught on to what I meant by that, but I was just too afraid to use any form of the "D" word.

If I were to stop and think hard about the fact that my daughters will never know Papa Mike, it makes me pretty damn sad. That's probably why I try not to think about it. Hell, I even wish Andrea could have met him. Because despite his flaws, for he had his share, just like me, he was a kind, gentle, loving soul. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm sure he would have loved to be a Papa for three lovely girls after being a father of two unruly boys.

Maybe I'll have my Mom go through and collect some old pictures of Papa Mike and I'll get them scanned in for some permanent storage. And perhaps this year I'll try to share more stories of him with Megan next time the "hard" question comes up.

Little bit of everything

Best words to describe this weekend. Lots of little fun stuff that added up to a decent weekend. Saturday I saw Avatar for the second time, and it was still just as good. I did pay more attention to the whole "Dances With Wolves" comparison that everyone seems so keen on mentioning, and I guess I get it. Did the natives win in that one?

Came home, grabbed Megan and went out for a treat at Cold Stone Creamery. We got inside and Megan yells out, "Look at all those flavors!" The two teenage workers just laughed saying it was the cutest thing they had ever heard. I was like, "What's the big deal? There IS a lot of flavors."

Sunday I got a run in and then enjoyed the Vikings game like most other people this weekend. It would be cool to see them win the division next week, but I'm not going to invest too much concern over it.

In other entertainment news, I've started reading Katherine Kerr novels again. This time, I only went as far back as the start of the final "Act", which is the last 4 books in the series. Originally, as each new "Act" came out, I would go back and re-read the entire series. The first book was published in 1986, and I found them shortly after that in high school, probably either 89' or 90'. The reason I started reading them again recently is that the final book, 15th in the series, was published last November. I recalled it was possibly due out in 2009, but never realized it came out.

It's kinda weird to look back and think I've been reading this book series for the last 20 years. There are plenty of good fantasy novels out there, and lots of great writers and series. For some reason, this is the one I stuck with. I'm excited to see the conclusion, and at the same time, very sad. In some ways, this series is what led me to reading others throughout the years. I might find it hard to go looking for something new once it's all done. By far, these are my favorite books of all time. Every time I read them they get better.

The Megan Factor

Megan is a great kid. Most of the time, she is very well behaved. And by most of the time, I mean damn near 90% of the time or more. She struggles with the things most kids do her age: transitions (leaving something she is enjoying) and times when she is tired.

The hard part is that the "problem times" seem OVERLY difficult. When she has made up her mind to misbehave or not listen to us, she takes it to the N-th degree. At grocery stores it might be running away or throwing things out of the grocery cart. Or running away when leaving the YMCA. At home it's usually physical in nature (hitting/throwing). Being given a timeout just means more running away and hiding under tables. Telling her to stop doing something always just makes it worse. The word "Don't" might as well be "Do that some more." It's getting exhausting, for everyone. Andrea fears for her ability to take both girls out in public alone if she can't control Megan. I feel like I'm contributing to the problem because when faced with an out of control Megan, either in public or at home, I'll simply pick her up or physically remove her from the situation. That is not something Andrea can effectively do now as Megan is older and bigger.

The worst part about it all, is the constant wondering. Are we doing something wrong as parents? Is Megan just going through a "phase"? Should we be reacting differently to her outbursts? Does she need more discipline? Less discipline? Stricter timeouts? Should I not cave to her demands for a yogurt at 10pm because I know if she gets it, she will go to bed right after with a hug and a kiss good night? (and I can't even go into the alternative of if I were to say "No, it's bed time.") Is it possible maybe I just have a spoiled child? Am I too much of a people pleaser?

The constant self doubts are dragging on our family life to be certain. If there was any time in my life I needed serious advice, suggestions, or any thoughts from people who have been through the 4 year old stage, now would be that time. Post a comment, send me an email, or hell, god forbid, call me in person. I've even joined the 20th century, and have a cell phone now, I'll give you the number.

Running Year In Review

Been awhile since I talked about my running, so I figured why not review the last year and do some standard bragging. My goal for 2009 was 1,500 miles. I sorta blew right by that, along with some crazy personal speed records. Let's take look at the last year by the numbers:

Total mileage:	1,858.77
Highest weekly mileage:	54.66 (7/8/2009)
Lowest weekly mileage:	25 (2/11/2009)
Average weekly mileage:	35.6
Average miles per run:	8.6
Longest single distance:	20.43
Longest time between runs:	3 days

Week by week mileage graph:

The 3 days between runs only happened once all year. Reason? Casey was born. There was nothing particularly special about my peak week, just a couple of 9 milers and a 16/12. My lowest week was due to something specific - that was the week I suffered a nasty glut injury from lifting. The funny thing is my good friend suffered the same injury later in the year just from pure running.

I didn't do as many races this year, partly because my company stopped paying for them. I did a total of 5 races this year (I think). All of them were personal records, but only one that I was truely proud of. It was my 10k in late July where I ran an average pace of under 6:50 minute miles. That was probably the hardest run I had ever done. I'm not quite sure I want to try and beat that this year.

So what did all this running get me? A minor Plantar Fasciitis injury, that I think I suffered the last few months due to running hills on the treadmill. It's not causing me serious pain or anything, but I've decide to take a solid week of running, and evaluate again. If the pain is still there, I might go another week after that. Might not seem like a big deal, but when my longest time between runs over the last year was 3 days, it's actually a very huge deal.

Maybe I'll use this as my excuse to finally take up some other forms of exersize, including lifting.

Belated Happy New Year

Ahhh, the dreaded week between posts. My Mom was waiting for my annual whining about New Years resolutioners packing up the gyms and taking up my treadmills. I think I'll skip that this year, try to focus on the positive? (HA, ya right!)

Busy weekend leading up to the New Years with no time to post. Thursday we had my brother and another couple over for some games. For our second game, we went with Outburst 2, which was from sometime around 1990. Damn was that funny. They left around 10pm and I rang in the new years finishing up my second (and last) play through of Dragon Age: Origins.

New Years day we didn't do much, hit the YMCA in the morning and a few shopping trips in the afternoon. Most of the evening was preparing for our overnight in New Ulm, which was Saturday to Sunday. We dropped Megan off with Grandma Gayle Sat morning and brought Casey to spend the day and night with Grandma and Papa B. We got to see Avatar which completely blew my mind. I will definitely need to see it again in the theater.

So what's next? No rambling post about goals, no reflections on this last year. 2009 was full of tough challenges that I never brought to the blog. It had it's share of positive things as well, but it sucks the way my brain always wants to dwell on the wrong things.

I do know that 2010 is going to be a big year in a lot of different ways, and I'm excited for the coming months. I'm hoping most of the challenges of this year will be mostly forgotten by the time spring rolls around, and we will all be focusing on the positive again.