Lots, Just Lots

I've got a lot to cover!

Turkey Trot Race Report is forthcoming, but here is a quick recap: I left on Sunday for my parents' house. I ran a 4 miler on hills on Monday, legs still feeling a little dead. Decided to cut the planned 4 miler on Tuesday because I realized I was scheduled to run 8 in the Turkey Trot, then 18 on Saturday. Figured 30 was enough for the week!! Tooled around with my rents, saw some friends, had Thanksgiving with family, saw some of Tut's stuff, then headed home on Friday.

Ok, so, about that 18 miler - I finished it! Woodlands Fit runs this one with Kingwood Fit. I had never been to Kingwood before, but it is quite a nice place. The first 9 weren't too exciting - through standard neighborhoods. I did hook up with a WFitter that I had never met before at about 5, and we would run the rest of the way together. I was glad, because despite the lovely nature trails and lakes of the second half, I was hurting after 15 pretty strongly, and any distraction was welcome. Anyways, 18.28 miles in 3:26. Not too bad for a training run! One of my coaches even emailed me to tell me I didn't look like I was struggling at the end - I may not have looked it, but I felt it! I told her, though, that for the first time I felt like maybe I could actually do this marathon thing. She said, "If you can do 18, then you can do 21, and if you can do 21, you can finish the marathon." Wow.

Beyond that, Preston started C25K on Monday!! I'm really excited. I think that he would really enjoy competing in the 5Ks in the Spring, and I'll really enjoy having him running instead of feeling guilty about dragging him around to all of these races.

I gained a few pounds in the past 2 weeks. I'm back up over 130, so I need to start dieting again, but it is the strangest thing - things just keep happening that seem to get in my way. I'm about ready to drop the hammer once and for all and get in 2 good weeks of healthy eating before x-mas, though... I feel rather like my body is craving a nice long hibernation. I'm storing fat, and each morning when I wake up it is everything I can do to drag myself out of bed, and sometimes I'm not even making it to my workouts. I suspect that this is why people program off-seasons into their plans. I haven't really taken any time off since I started almost 2 years ago, but it is difficult to justify and stomach time off when you use exercise as a method of weight control, mood control, etc. I've been trying to do less time each week in a sort of controlled off-season way instead. Focusing only on running and letting everything else slip so I'm putting in fewer hours. It may be working, but my head is so fuzzy from it that I can't really tell!! I'm sure that this, too, shall pass. I am really looking forward to some short stuff in the Spring, though!

I have just one more thing to really talk about. My work hired my replacement (finally - took them 10 months!). I was really ambivalent about the whole thing... but I really like her. She friended me on Facebook, and as a result I took a look at her blog. Now, here's the thing... I discovered from reading her blog that she is even cooler than I expected, which is great. But, I almost feel like I'm peeping through the window to her private thoughts. I shouldn't, I mean, she linked to her blog, so she must expect that people will follow the link and read it, and she must be intelligent enough to not friend people that she doesn't want reading it, but still, there is something almost wrong about it all. I started thinking about how very few people who know me know about my blog, and about how I like it that way. I never write these entries for anyone else, though I don't mind people reading (obviously). I never wanted to censor myself here, and I never have, with the exception of work stuff. Would I be weirded out if someone from work found my blog and then commented on it (without me telling them about it) - yes, indeed I would. I work with Librarians, y'all, and if they can do their jobs, I think they could find me... Just a lot of thoughts running around in my head regarding blogging and personal privacy and public access and the nature of knowing someone. Somehow a person's blog seems such an intimate thing (or at least, it can). It may only seem that way because of the way I think of my blog, but there it is. If you are reading an uncensored person, then you are really seeing into a part of their personality that they may keep hidden in the world of real life. And if that is the case, could it be true that one who reads your blog knows you better than the people you interact with on a daily basis?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRESTON!!