Treadmills Lie

I am back in Dallas for the week and it's just too hot to run outside. Since I really can't afford to miss any more training days, that had me on the hotel treadmill this morning for my normally quick two mile run. (Never mind that the basement of the hotel, the location of the fitness center, smells like feet. Did I mention it's a "four star hotel?") I did some quick math in my head and set the treadmill to the pace I normally run outside. At this point I almost had a "treadmill incident" since there was no way I could run at my "normal pace" on the treadmill. I took the speed down a few notches since falling off the back of the treadmill is a fear of mine. As such, a run that would normally take me between 20 and 22 minutes took over 26. I don't know what to make of that. Although I am not fast, I don't think I run a 13 minute mile. My recent races seem to prove that out for the most part. So, I must conclude that treadmills lie and I ran closer to 2.5 miles today... Good for me!

For Better or For Worse, I am a Runner

I haven't run in the last two weeks. I ran a couple miles on June 29 and my pulled quad muscle (no healing since June 9) and sore knee convinced me to take a run off. That one run turned into four runs off and I missed a major long run the weekend we went to North Carolina. Last week I was in Dallas for work and it was beyond hot. I worked most nights until after 8pm and didn't much feel like running after that. Today I was back out there for six miles. That distance certainly won't get me to a marathon, but it was better than nothing. *********************************************************************************** Although odd to admit, the "not running" has proven to me that I am now a runner. Over the last couple weeks, I have felt off. I felt like I was gaining weight. I was grouchy and lacked energy. I just wasn't the best version of myself. Despite my generally slow pace and my "walk/run" style, I am a runner. When I am running I feel better mentally, physically, emotionally, etc. I am excited to be back in the groove and am determined to keep my eyes on the prize. The marathon is only 55 days away. I know I won't impress anyone with my time, but I will finish...because that's what runners do.

Our Haunted Houses

As an adult, the haunted houses in my life have become much more terrifying than those of my childhood. When I was little, going through the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland was terrifying, but it generally ended within ten minutes and then life was good again. In those haunted houses, I felt fairly secure that my parents could protect me if things got out of hand when a scary guy jumped from behind a wall. Mostly, I inherently knew that nothing really bad was going to happen to me. ******************************************************************************** The haunted houses of my adulthood seem to pack more of a punch. We own two houses in the greater Albuquerque area. We bought high and are now enjoying the good times of selling low. We put the house Daniel bought on the market in February of 2007. In May of this year we finally got an offer at 82% of the initial listing price. At that time, we were just glad to get the house sold. Initially the house was supposed to close on June 12. We are now nearly one month later and still no close. We were told with certainty that July 2 was the close date and then again on July 6. The latest was supposed to be yesterday, now we are hopeful for tomorrow. I don't know when the house will close, the champagne is on ice for whenever that happens. ******************************************************************************* When that day comes, Daniel and I will be left with the house I bought. I really like the layout of the house and it gets incredible natural light and has nice space for entertaining. That said, we have roof problems, bug problems, heater problems, etc and I fear we are steps away from our own personal money pit. If you've seen the movie The Money Pit (if you haven't I highly recommend it), you will know that Tom Hanks and Shelley Long resort to just about anything to pay off the renovations on their house, which they find is a lemon. Sadly, we don't have any super rich friends willing to give us money and so if we are ever to leave Albuquerque, we'll need to find another solution. ************************************************************************************ I remember my apartment days so fondly now. If it was broken, I called a number and it was magically fixed while I was away at work. After my year lease, I could leave and never hear of the place again. I didn't have a colossal mortgage that feels, on some days, like an albatross around my neck. Sure, I couldn't paint, but that seems pretty small now. So, I guess that I will go back to work tomorrow and probably the next day and hope that we can escape our Albuquerque Haunted Houses someday soon. ********************************************************************************