This past Saturday morning I raced a 4 mile jaunt around Carmichael up in Sacramento. It was a great event, and I finished with (for me) a sporty 28:29. Results site here.But as hard as my cardiovascular system was working, I think my brain was working harder during the race. And for the first time since I've been back running and racing, I realized that I wasn't sure what to focus on during the race. I had some options:1. How bad I was hurting. This was an unpalatable option, for obvious reasons.2. The music. The iPod was once again in effect for the race. And off and on, this was the place to focus. A shout-out to P!nk for providing the lyrical angst necessary to get me from 2.5-3.25 miles.3. My form. I'm always trying to remind myself: "swing your arms, short strides. Swing your arms, short strides. Swing your arms, short strides..."4. Work. At one point, to keep my mind off of #1, I tried to actually think about work. That lasted for about 4 strides.5. Time and distance. Now, with my Garmin GPS watch, I can measure time, distance, pace and other metrics in real time. I couldn't decide if that was a blessing or a curse (or both). Plus, I'm sure I looked like a dork running along glancing at my watch every half minute or so.6. My competitors. Certainly lots to focus on here. Eventually I decided to pick out a runner ahead and focus on them and then try to catch pass them. A special thank you to that tall dude out in front of me with these enormous calves. I mean those things were bigger than Gracie....7. The scenary. This is usually good off and on. I like looking at what I'm running by, but it never seems to hold my attention for that long.8. This blog post. The big winner, evidently!
Josh walks into the room before bed, sighs and says:"I wish I lived here. I don't like our old, lazy house."That can be arranged...
...Gracie. It's the 12th, which means our little girl is two short months away from turning 3. Almost done with the terrible two's! Hallelujah. Here are 7 things I adore about Gracie at this age:1. Her ringlet. She has this curl that hangs down her forehead and almost always covers her right eye. See picture below.2. She's stubborn. I was going to say that "she's as stubborn as the day is long," but really it's more a whole weekend's worth of stubbornness. God bless her. And us. Let's just say that disciplining her is...different than disciplining Josh and Lucy. God save us all as she gets older!3. When she yells "Daaaaadddy!" when I walk through the door. It's often accompanied with a big hug. And just as often, well, I melt into a puddle on the floor.4. Her singing. Our Grace is always singing. It's out of tune, way too loud and totally beautiful. And 9 times out of 10, lately it's the Barbie and the Diamond Castle theme song...5. How she's a thug. Physical Grace. She overpowers Lucy and often does the same with Josh. She climbs a lot and is always falling down. She's gonna be a great athlete.6. Her addition to our family blessing. At dinner-time we together say our corporate grace: "God is good, God is great. Thank you for this food, and help us to have a good dinner. Amen." And which point Gracie chimes in with: "We love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all, we love our ____." And it's fill in the blank time. Sometimes it's what we're eating, say macaroni and cheese. Sometimes it's what she sees in the room, say our high chair. Other times, well, it's non sequitur city, as in: "but most of all, we love our...booty!" OK...7. How she gets your attention...just to get your attention. Several times a day, our conversation goes like this: "Daddy, Daddy, I have good (or bad) news!" Then, before I can respond, it's: "ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah." Forever. She has nothing to say, she just wants your attention. On occasion, when I keep looking at her while she's "ah"ing, she'll finally just say: "nevermind" and then walk away.Here's our little thug right here:
It's been awhile since we've had a proper running-related post, so here we go. Some updates from the roads and trails:1. Injury report. Turns out that that heinous New Year's Day 10K that Michelle dragged me to was the gift that kept on giving. Everything was almost done being sore about 5 days after. Everything that is, except my right calf. Would you call it a calf strain? Pulled calf? Not sure, but that's what it was. Because of it, I logged no miles from Jan. 1 to Jan. 18. 17 days to heal. Is that good?2. Running buddies. A huge running highlight in the last month or so has been running with friends. It's like everyone recently up and decided to run! Very cool. So thanks to Beth, Jeremy, Bob, Nalley and Teri for letting me run with you. And thanks to Tina, Adam, Scott, Paul, Nicole, Joseph and others who I'm running alongside "online." It's so motivating to run with friends. For a fun recap on our recent 5:45am Tour de Henderson, NV, check out Teri's blog here.3. Running book recommendation. I loved My Life on the Run (here) by Runner's World's Bart Yasso. The guy is a nut, but the book is great for motivational stories. Because of Yasso's "interesting" descriptions, I decided to cross running the Antarctica marathon, nude racing and a jog up Kilimanjaro off my bucket list...Next up, something off of this list by some dude with a cool name.4. Upcoming races. I'm signed up for a 4 mile jaunt on Valentine's Day in Sac (here). Then next it's a half marathon on March 15th in West Sacramento (here). The big goal is...um...gulp...sigh...the San Diego marathon (here). So that's all coming up, but first it's 9 miles tomorrow morning at 8:30 on the Clovis trails with Jeremy!
...what's bizarre is that according to the box score he didn't have a rebound. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Wouldn't you think that over the course of 19 made baskets, there would at least one put back, tip in or rebound dunk?!? The guy evidently needs to work harder...
Yep. 'Cause these Dixon/Isch Super Bowl nachos were RIGHTEOUS!
