Haiku Run

Stomach empty, clinch.
Noodle legs running, step, flinch.
Progress, inch by inch.

Also:
Stomach, legs in pain.
From the sky, gentle cool rain.
Morning run for gain.

And finally:
Raindrops on glasses,
Starbursts fog forming can't see.
Should have worn contacts.

(Rough run this morning. Slow to leave the house, upset tummy, so I only had an hour. It was humid and warm. 8 on the schedule, but I only got 5.75 in as 9/1s. Rained almost from the beginning, starting as gentle misting and steadily increasing through the hour. I may try to run Z over to my mom's to get the last 2 in later.)

Zumba!

The "Insane" ladies at work have given up Insanity for now, since one of them is preggo, and moved on to Zumba.

I am so excited about this!  I was actually thinking of trying out a Zumba class at our community gym.  I love to dance.  Unfortunately love does not translate to skill or natural ability, but dance makes me feel good, in tune with my body, and most importantly, happy.

So I went over there yesterday afternoon to give Zumba a try, and it was fun!  I was able to put my feet in the right places, mostly, even though when I tried to move my hips I just confused myself.  Maybe that'll come in time.  Or maybe I'll always be a girl who can't do the sexy dance.  Either way is truly ok, because after only 20 minutes (we did the quickie because I needed to go pick up the Z and they were starting late) I had a sheen of sweat, some trembling muscles (though nothing on Insane level), and I was happy.

I'm also happy because I can do this one without having to worry about the consequences to my running, which means I can at least go weekly, and possibly more often.

Yay!

Way OT - 1/3 Life Crisis?

Warning - this one is really random, even for me.  I'm not really having a life crisis.  It is just that I had the weirdest realization that I'm getting older the other day.  Here's the story.

So I'm in a meeting at work with the *only* attractive man that we have on the whole staff.  I'm serious on that one.  There aren't a lot of guys that work in the library, and of those that do, well, B, when you left, it got pretty bare for boys to look at.  (I'm married, not dead.  And I've already talked to P about this, so don't anyone feel sorry for him. :-))  So anyways, the only attractive man on staff is making this presentation in this meeting and he tells a personal story that starts out like this: "I've been married to my wife for 21 years and we've been a couple for 26...."  And it just SLAMMED into me: goodNESS, I think this guy is cute and I was FIVE YEARS OLD when he got together with his wife.  Ewwwww.....  But then I started running numbers in my head and realized if they were highschool sweethearts or something, that only necessarily makes him in his early 40's (even though I'd really guess he is a bit older than that).  Which sounds old to me, even though I intellectually realize it isn't old in practice.  It just sounds too old for someone that I think is attractive.  But I do think he's attractive.  Which then made me feel old.  (I realize this makes very little sense.)

So then I started thinking.  The last guy I dated before P was 8 years older than me - I guess that makes him turning 40 this year.  Wow.

And then I started thinking about my laminated list and wondering how old those guys were.  (Knowing already that they are all older than me and that this was going to be an exercise in digging the hole deeper.) 
1.  Daniel Craig (born 1968, according to imdb, making him...44)
2.  Hugh Jackman (also 44)
3.  Kevin McKidd (39)
I've actually got 2 open slots on my list - wouldn't want to get into an Isabella Rossalini situation!

And also, thank you Kevin McKidd for being hot and not 40 yet!!!!

But I think the reason this is so odd to me is that if you had looked at my list 10 years ago, most of the guys on it would have been about my age... I think.  Or at least close to it.  And I started bugging P about his list and it seems to me that most of the women on his list are about our age.  Except Jennifer Anniston.  But let's face it, if I was into girls, she'd totally be on my list, too.

Actually, if you went farther back, I guess when I was in my early teens, most of the guys would have been way older.  Brad Pitt, for example, back in the day, and he's even older than the 3 on the list now!  Maybe we do some sort of weird circular thing... you know, you're a teen and the sexy guys are the slightly older ones - 20's.  But as you approach and hit your 20's, your taste doesn't really change, so the cute guys are about the same age as you (Heath Ledger is my example on that one).  Then as you get nearer to your 30's, that teen look loses its appeal and suddenly you like guys who look more...like men?  And it seems like that makes them necessarily older than you again.  All of that to say that I've realized that I've truly moved into a new phase of life.  I mean, intellectually I knew I had.  I'm someone's mom now, and all that.  But my actual *tastes* changed.  That's real subconscious proof.  And that realization was... arresting.

Luckily I still think my husband is hot. ;-)

Run for Recovery 5K Race Recap

Preface this with: Saturday I ran 7.5 miles with Woodlands Fit.  3 by myself ahead of time, then 4+ with the group.  It went really well.  I don't know why, but I was nervous for it - for some reason, going over 10K is a big deal in my head.  I 9/1'd the first 3, but once I was with the group I found my buddy from last time and chose not to walk so I could talk to her.  She really kept me going!  The rest of the day we worked at AD's house, and Sunday when I woke up I was shocked that I wasn't sore!

On the way to the race.

We headed downtown and easily grabbed parking and my packet.  Then we just had to wait around until the race start.  P and I tool turns wandering around with Z, and it was nice because there were little statues with bases that I could sit on while we waited.

Z on her own racecourse.

Finally it was time for the start.  I seeded myself near the front because it looked like there were going to be a lot of walkers (they had an "untimed" category).  That turned out to be the right move as I dodged little, passed some, but was passed very little.  I've run this route before (I think Dad's Day 5K?), but of course had forgotten about the beasty little hill right off the bat.  I was not sore from the run the day before, but my legs were definitely tired.  Once I got up and over that, though, I was going pretty well.  I'd just pick out a rabbit group in front of me and slowly reel them in, then do it all over again.  When I glanced down at my watch, I was seeing sub-9's!  I decided to go for it and hang on as long as I could, not knowing how my legs would hold up.

It really went quite well until about 15 minutes in, when I started desperately wanting a walk break.  I was able to talk myself out of it until about 18 minutes in, when I realized if I was doing 9/1's, I'd have a break coming up.  Before I knew it, I was walking.  I immediately started chastising myself - I really don't think I physically needed the break, so it was a mental problem.  After the great mental success of the Toughest 10K and the 7 miler the day before, it just felt like a real give-up.  But since I had started, I walked my minute, then immediately started back up, only to come upon the only water stop a few minutes later.  I took a quick walk there to grab some water, then ran it home.  I had a little queasy moment after the water - I'm really going to have to look into this - this is the second weekend in a row where I've felt unwell after taking fluids, and I need to be able to take in fluids!  I was definitely slowing in the last mile, but I really wanted to shoot for a sub 30 and hopefully a PR, so once I got over that dag-blasted hill again, I booked it to the finish.

29:26, an AZ PR!  On the day after a 7 miler!  In 80 degree heat!

Seriously.  This is how hot it was.  That is not water, it is sweat.

I cannot possibly explain how excited I am about this.  If it was about 30 degrees cooler and I was on fresh legs, I bet I could have taken another two or three minutes off, which would be a big AZ PR.  More importantly, I'm not training for 5Ks right now, so this is really representative of the gains I've made by the consistency in my training.

And, and!, I'm not sore again this morning.  My legs are tired.  Definitely tired.  But this season is just going so well so far in terms of the gains I'm making and my recoveries.

Yay!

And the post race party was nice, and yummy (though I missed bananas), and Z enjoyed herself.

A successful 5K if I've ever heard of one!

The Long Run Plan - Update

Sometimes I feel like I'm getting lost in all the planning.  So here is the running plan, just focused on races and long runs and back-to-back weekends.  Starting this weekend.  Dates are Saturday before the / and Sunday after.

7/Run for Recovery 5K
8
9
10 for Texas
Toughest 10K Galveston
7/Houston Half Relay
Rocky Raccoon 10K Trail
10
8
Dallas Turkey Trot 8 (Thursday)/9 (Saturday)
6/La Porte By the Bay Half
8/6
6
End of the World Half/Day After the End of the World Half

This gets me my 12 races for the year.  It also gets me a full Half before the big weekend, because while I know I don't need any full length training runs, since I'm going for the back-to-back, I think it would be a good idea.  And at 3 weeks out, the timing is perfect.  4 weeks out the 8 on Thursday followed by the 9 on Saturday will be a hard training "weekend", as well.

The only 2 I'm not signed up for yet are the Rocky Raccoon and the La Porte Half.

Goodness, it looks so daunting, but my season is going so well, so far, and I'm treating all of these races like training runs, so it isn't supposed to be high pressure.  I've gotta remember that this represents 3 months.  And it really looks like a nice -build to 10 and drop back, build again to 10 and drop back not as far, build to 13 with some double weekends and drop back, double race weekend.  Also, all the races represent milestones or environments that will be good training... the hill running in the Toughest 10K and the La Porte and the Houston Half Relay and the Turkey Trot, my first 10 at 10 for Texas, including the stabilization muscles in the trail run...

I just really really want this to work out.  Injury and DNS free.  That's all I want.

Speedwork

I normally ignore the part of the Woodlands Fit schedule that dictates speedwork.  I've had various reasons through the years: injuries, lack of consistency, etc, but the bottom line is I haven't done it.

This year I wanted to give it a shot.  If I hear even a murmur of discontent from my body, I'm going to stop, because getting to the finish line is the most important thing, but I wanted to give it a try this year, and, shockingly, so far so good!

Last week I did my "Needle" course, 1 mile run to the head of the needle, 7x30 seconds hard run/30 seconds walk around the head of the needle, then a mile run home.  It went really well.  I was stunned to see that I was pulling a 7:30 pace on the speed parts!

This week I did my "Circus" course, run steady loop 1, speed work 7xrun hard/run easy fartlek style with streetlights designating the transitions, run steady last loop.  I was holding just sub-8's this week, but with my legs still a little tired from the 10K, I was good with that.  I also was feeling a slight twinge on my right shin, so wasn't wanting to push anything.

But really what is so cool about this is the speed that I'm managing speeds that I haven't seen in YEARS.  Only for short periods of time, of course, but it gives me hope that maybe there is a fast 5K left in my legs.  I'm going to think seriously about trying to train for a PR early next year.   Maybe... probably. :-)

23 Months

Dear Z-Squishy,

Late again.  I'll probably switch to quarterly updates after your birthday.  You are past that stage where everything changes so amazingly fast that I need to do monthly.  But I'll have to develop some method for not forgetting stuff!

Peekaboo!

A cute new thing: you say Yesss with a little lisp when you answer in the affirmative.  No more Yeah or Oh Yeah or Oh.  Yesssss.  It is super cute!

Demonstrating Grimmy's sainthood.

You've firmly got a hold of your pronouns, and even get them correct in contraction form.  For example, I said "I'm going to..." and you looked at me and said, "You're going to..."  It was AMAZEBALLS.

Making funny faces with Daddy.

We took you on your first and second merry-go-round rides, and you LURVE it!  The first time, at the Aquarium, you rode an alligator (alli-gat-ay) and you thought it was just the coolest.  The second time, at the mall, as soon as you caught sight of the merry-go-round, you started running to it and yelling, "It's gonna be fun!!" You selected a pig for that ride, and seriously, carousels = your favorite.

Merry-go-round!

I don't have much more to say other than that your vocabulary is obviously exploding.  You surprise me every day with the words that you know that I didn't teach you.  You went through a little phase of separation anxiety at school the other week, but you got over it in days.  I think your new favorite food may have shifted to watermelon.  And you also love shrimp.  And "peanut jelly sandwiches", which you always follow with my grilled cheese sandwich.  Because you can really pack it in!

Playing on the stairs.

I love you, I can't believe you're almost 2!!  Oh, that's the other thing, you've learned to hold up your 2 fingers.  So when we ask you how old you are, you say, "I'll be 2!" while holding up your fingers.  Very skilled!

Weird Interim Reading Recap

So I had an interesting response when I freaked out about my Dad.

I couldn't... deal.

But I've never been in a place where I couldn't deal AND I've had a Kid.  And a job.

I couldn't fall into depression, but I was there.  I was on the edge.  But I knew I needed to keep doing my job and keep being a mom, and I didn't know how to do that while I was freaking out.

My solution was to check out, mentally. 

What does that mean, and how did I accomplish that, exactly?  Well, like the good librarian I am, I turned to books.  In the last 2 weeks, I've read 20, count them, 20, fluffy, formulaic romance novels.  Why romance novels, you ask?  Simple: they always have a happy ending.  And they usually grab me enough to make me care, at least a bit (even as I'm getting annoyed at the never-ending repetition of the formula), and while I'm doing everything in my power to get myself to the next break in my life where I can read, I'm not thinking about my Dad. 

And it worked.

And I promised myself that after Monday I'd quit and go back to reading the stuff I should be reading.  So I have, but I wanted to acknowledge what I've been doing, and also to get it down here, because it *worked*.

Toughest 10K Kemah Race Report

This one was very appropriately named!

We got up at the butt-crack of dawn... oh, hell, we got up waaaaaaay before the butt-crack of dawn, because we had already made the hour drive to Kemah and picked up my packet and visited the porta-potties by dawn.

Dawn.

More dawn, you can actually see the sun just over Z's head.

It was really quite lovely.

After watching the sunrise over the ocean, I headed over to the start.  This race was basically a mile over to the Kemah bridge, 4, FOUR, passes over the bridge, and a mile back.  My goal was to only walk the water stops and to get a solid hill workout.  I had no idea how long it would take - I was hoping for less than 70 minutes, but that was just a hope, not a goal.

So, off we went.  The flat roads were pretty sucky.  And that was really the only bad thing about this race.  Well, that and the occasional whiff of rotting fish.  I seeded myself pretty well, maybe a bit too far forward because I was getting passed some, but I was hanging with a lot of people around my pace, so tough to tell.  There was a dude near the beginning with "Spidey" on the back of his shirt that was leaping over traffic cones.  My initial goal was to stick with him, because I could not wait to pass him on the bridge.  Which I did, first pass.

First time up and over the bridge, I knew 2 things: that I was definitely getting a good hill workout, and that I was going to be struggling by the end.  I also made the mistake of taking gatorade at the first water stop, and my stomach rebelled, so I knew I'd be switching to water only.  Second pass I started singing "Eye of the Tiger" in my head, except I only know the one phrase, and for me it is the "will of the fight", not the "thrill of the fight", so that just went on repeat as a mantra on the uphills.  On the downhill I was trying to focus on running loose and letting gravity help me.  I was repeating "don't brake" with each footfall on the way down.  And that's how I got through to the last pass.  I basically removed all thoughts from my head except those power phrases, shortened my stride on the uphill, and didn't even think about walking.

After the final bridge pass it was just a mile of flat to the finish and boy, was I ever glad!

Final time: 107:39.  My slowest 10K ever.  But also my hardest.  And at the finish line, MEDALS!!!

First medal after a long drought.  Yummy!

And popsicles, though my Kid stole mine.

This race was really well run; I would definitely do it again.  They have a smart course - with water stops on both ends of the bridge, water is truly plentiful.  They offered both water and full-strength gatorade.  They gave away tech t-shirts, a really nice tech hat, and MEDALS!  The finish party was well stocked: popsicles, breakfast burritos, and the usual fruit stuff.  They had women-only porta-potties AND the regular flush restrooms were open if you were willing to stand in the line.  They convinced the Starbucks right by the start/finish line to open early, so P and Z had the best spectating convenience ever.  (And the Starbucks was bumpin', according to P.)  Tooling around the boardwalk was a great way to kill time pre and post race.

And I'm happy to be back in the game!

What a Relief

It isn't the CLL. The fever stopped a few days ago, he gained back a few pounds, and his white count is drifting back down.

Time for me to rejoin the normal!

This Too Shall Pass

I promise to put in the positives at the end.  Because there are positives.  And there always will be.

My Dad had an appointment with the  oncologist on Friday and he has a ton of tests this week: blood work, CAT scan, PET scan, etc.  Joy.  I think the doc has already decided that the CLL is active - I think all this is to determine how bad it is.  But I don't know that for sure.  And I have a tendency to assume the worst.  I am very scared and prone to bouts of shaking and eye-welling.  I'm not going to lie - I'm on the edge of sinking.  I've decided to go to the doc for the official diagnosis next Monday.

I've had three terrible horrible no good very bad dreams in the past week.  All of which I've woken up remembering.  One that one of my volunteers at work had died.  One that I left my Kid home alone and was 30 minutes north before I realized what I had done.  I lost my mind in the dream, crying hysterically about what a terrible mother I was, and woke up crying.  And the last one isn't as clear, but I was being chased.  Woke up from that one shaking.  I told my boss about it today (not in so many words) and she said I had a psychic connection regarding my dad.  Maybe.

I also had a terrible week at work last week.  Awful.  If there was something to screw up, I did it.  By the last day of the week I basically shut myself into my office and tried not to mess with anything, because I'd only be creating more work for people to fix.  Seriously.

I got a picture of my dad's thinness yesterday.

The positives:

Dad is smiling in that picture.  I had a great run on Saturday before P went to work.  I ran 4 miles in 9/1s even though I really really didn't want to, it was early on Saturday, and it was hot and humid as hell.  But I did it, and I'm proud of that.  I made my staff cookies to thank them for digging me out of my huge massive fuck-up.  So hopefully that means I'm a decent person.  I've finished a crap-ton of books in the past few days, even though they're not what I *should* be reading.  I ran again this morning and it was neither not nor humid, which may mean that we've officially started the season in which an occasional cooler/cool/cold front blows through and makes running a true joy.  I love this season.

Foto Friday - My Dad

I am really worried about my Dad right now.   He has been sick for a few weeks and he doesn't seem to be getting better.  Mom says the doctor is worried that the CLL is acting up.  He's having all kinds of tests run.  In the meantime, he gets to feel shitty.

A few pictures for you:

2002, before anything was wrong.

2007, thinner, but on a nice even keel.

A year ago.  Still thinner, yes?

I'm actually disturbed about how few pics I have of him laying around on my hard drive.  He seems to do a good job avoiding the cameras.  But suffice to say I reckon he's lost at least 10 additional pounds since that last picture.  He just loses about 5 pounds every time he gets sick.  He says he's down to 145 now (He was 175 in his heyday and was looking decent at 155-160 since the gut surgery in 2003).  He looks it.  And I am really starting to get scared.

My mom always said I was a Daddy's girl.  She says it bitterly.  I don't think of it that way, at least not the way that embitters her.  Not in the way of preferring one parent over the other.  But I am a Daddy's girl - I love him with all my heart and can't imagine the world without him.  *I* need him to be well.  Soon.

Frederickdburg, Fun, and Big Cooking Days

Thursday we headed up to Fredericksburg for P's Grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary.  You read that right: 65 years.  Wow.

Mawmaw, Papa, P, Me, and Z

We left around 10am and made a pretty efficient trek towards Austin, stopping once for lunch, then in Austin for a shake at EZ's.  Then we tooled around the hotel, Z pooped in the pool, and we headed to the big dinner.  Which was at 7.  Not the ideal time for the Z, who should have been winding down for bed, but we play the cards we're dealt, right?  Food was good, wine was good, company was good.  And really, Z was wooooooonderful considering how sleepy she was - she never got fussy!  And she even warmed up a bit to the strangers family.  She was a hit for the wait staff who brought shrimp just for her and kept coming around with yummy bread that she was eating like it was her last meal.  All in all, a great night to celebrate the matriarch and patriarch of Preston's mom's family.

P and Mawmaw.

And then the next morning a quick trip by their house and we were headed home.

Petting Charlie with cousin Jennifer.

Saturday was an errand and chore day, but, omg, we CLEANED THE BOX PILE in my living room!!!!!!!!  Now I can really look for new floors!!  I also did a big cooking hour where I knocked out some Curry Chicken and some Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken.  In an hour.  Because I rock.

Sunday we tooled around some more, made a fun trip to the park for the Z.

Monday we and Gaga went out to Hermann Park to ride the train and play at the Splash Pad.  Z had an awesome time, then for some reason when we got home refused to nap.  So that was terrible.  I finally gave up making her try to sleep at 4 and called Gaga to come get her because I had bought a crap-ton of meat at SAMS for another Big Cooking day from my new ebook "Fix, Freeze, Feast".  Once she carted the Kid away, P and I made 8 meals plus dinner in 2 hours.  We made pork with mushrooms and a sweet potato for dinner, 5 meals of Sweet and Sour Meatballs from the book, and 10 (which I'm guessing is 3 meals) servings of Chicken Cordon Bleu.  Hopefully it'll all taste great, because that's a lot of food!

(I actually have tons more pics from this weekend, but they are all on the nice camera, so I'll post them later.  Knowing me, probably much later.)

Recent Running

Saturday I went out for a 3 miler with Woodlands Fit preceded by a 2 miler along the Waterway.  I actually wanted those 2 to be 3, but I miscalculated my timing and only had time for *exactly* 2.  I almost took a wrong turn when I was running with the group (there are these areas where the sidewalk ends and you have to cross the road to pick it up, and I thought I had found one of those, but the sidewalk picked up a few feet to the left on the other side) and I was laughing at myself and how totally directionally unskilled I am and how I really shouldn't run near the front of the group, and that was a good conversation starter that picked me up a running partner.  Hopefully I'll see her again, as our paces seemed compatible.  This run was both faster and a bit more comfortable than the 10K the week before.  It was also much more humid (like, seriously, I've never been that wet after a run - it looked like I had been swimming!), so I'm hoping the fact that it went better actually represents a gain in fitness.  I was also much less sore the following day, also a good sign!

Blue moon run.  (Is it still blue 5 hours after midnight??)

Monday I went for a nice little 3 miler in my neighborhood, ending with trail running along the bayou.  I had forgotten how much I like going for a morning run when it is light out so I can hit the trail!  I had never run exactly that route before and was super-overly-pleased with myself that I mentally guessed it'd be 3 and it was *exactly* 3.  Ha!

Almost impossible to see, but there was a huge blue heron on the dam that I was desperately trying to get a shot of.

So when I was laying down to bed last night I was trying to decide if this morning would be a run day or XT.  I thought it'd be pretty cool to make it a run.  Runs on work mornings are pretty short, so it'd be a good start to the back-to-back running days.  And it'd give me a shot at the far-too-elusive 4-run-week.  And again, I'm pretty pleased with myself because I got up this morning and banged that one out!  My legs were heavy and tired, so I did 8.5/1 intervals, but I got it done. :-)  Great holiday weekend running, and great start to the week!

August Book Reviews

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Twisted, twisted, twisted psychological mystery.  Twisted.  Great discussion book.  Read it.

May the Road Rise Up to Meet You by Peter Troy
Really nice story about 4 completely different people whose stories intertwine by the end.  Covers history from the Irish famine to the Civil War.  I was initially annoyed by the writing of the accents (I am *always* annoyed by this in books), but I actually got over it pretty quickly, which is rare for me - usually accents are cause for abandoning a book.

Defending Jacob by William Landay
Law and Order in book form, only from a lawyer who is trying to protect his son who is accused of murder.  Great read, and an ending that left me speechless.  Another good discussion book.

Angel's Ink by Jocelynn Drake
This one isn't actually going to be published until October, but I snagged an ARC.  I really enjoyed the read - the fantasy world she built was fascinating and I want to read so many more books rooted in that world.  With that said, the sex scene was so terribly written that I marked it down a star just for those few pages (She used the word "body" 27 times in the scene.  Twenty. SEVEN. Times.  Seriously.).  Also, how many times can a dude get beat up, sheesh!  But I'm still glad I read it and will read the sequel when she publishes it (and she will, she left it WIDE open).

Started but not finished:

Shine Shine Shine by Linda Netzer
Weird.  Too weird.  I won't be finishing this one.

Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig
Slow read, but highly enjoyable!  Full review when I finish it.

Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake
LOVING it!  Reading it slowly because it is on the Kindle and I try to conserve my electronic reads so I don't have to keep buying more!  Full review when I finish it.

Monthly Goal Review

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 8/1 was 134.2.  Weight on 9/1 was 132.6. I managed to erase Paris!
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  4 books read in August bringing the total to 33.
Race 12 times in 2012. I missed my August race due to the terrible horrible no good vomiting illness, but still have a plan to try to cram the rest into this year - don't count this one out!
And I have one other secret 12 goal. 2 more to add, making it 16.

Goals for August:Continued progress towards 2012 goals.  Especially losing that Paris weight!  Done.
Shift to more of a run focus following the tri, pick up some "fun" cross training.  (There is a group doing Insanity at work.  Or maybe some P90X at home.  Some swimming until the pool closes.  Maybe riding on the trainer so I can read at the same time. ;-))  Done, and all of those fun things, done!
Financial goals: liquidate SMH account and reallocate to J. Nope.  Contribute to Z's college plan.  Done!
House goals: clean AD house. Worked on.  Progress towards floors in my house.  Unfortunately, no.

Goals for September:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Stay steady on the run, work up to 4 days per week with long runs 6-working-up-to-8 miles.  Complete 2 scheduled races.  Enjoy the rest while maintaining consistency!  Try to get some core work in there.
Financial goals: liquidate SMH account and reallocate to J.
House goals: clean AD house. Progress towards floors in my house.