Random things

I thinking I'm getting the hang of my new running form. Earlier today at physical therapy my therapist said my form was better. She put tape on the carpet and I had to run in a straight line over and over. Sometimes I still catch myself running with my floppy arms. Can't wait to test out the new form tomorrow morning at the 5K.

My vacation officially started around 10 a.m. this morning. Having a week off will do me wonders. I get to take a break of going to bed at 9 p.m.

I feel like I have been ignoring my blog this week. I posted a photo last night and saw that Monday was my only other entry. Besides work, running, reading and television not much as been going on with me. I have photographed a couple of games this week. A state championship little league softball game and the start of the state legion baseball tournament. I guess its the week for state championships in summer baseball and softball. In just a few short weeks it will be the start of the fall sports season.

I mentioned that I have watched some television. Not as much as one would think. I've watched a couple of hours here and there. I have mostly been watching some DVDs this week. I've been watching the show Spaced. The show was broad casted on the BBC in 1999 and 2001. There were only two seasons and season two was the better of the two. The show stared Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson. They needed somewhere to live so they pretend to be married to rent a flat. When they get the flat we follow their everyday lives and meet the neighbors and their friends. After the TV show Simon Pegg went on to star in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz with Spaced co-star Nick Frost. Those two are great together in Hot Fuzz.

Later tonight I will head off to the county fair and get some delicious fair food before it ends. The only other day I was at the fair was opening day Sunday. I photographed the queen's contest for the paper. I was suprised how good the talent was this year. Usually the talent is strong with one or two contests. All six girls had great talents. That day I had the best taco's ever. Maybe tonight I will get some Fiske fries with vinegar or pizza. Haven't decided yet. Is putting vinegar on fries something that is done all over or just in Michigan? The only time I put vinegar on fries is when I buy Fiske fries at the county fair.

Scribbles and rust - Adrian, MI

Weekend update

For my birthday, my husband took me to Evans Street Station. Grilled beef tenderloin was on the menu and I ordered it. The meat was so tender and delicious I wanted to ask for seconds. The sides of the dish was twice baked German potato and asparagus. The potato was wonderful. When I saw asparagus on my plate, I was disappointed. I'm not a fan of it. Since the meal was expensive, I wanted to eat all of my dinner. I tried a stalk. It was good. It didn't taste like asparagus. It had a nice butter and oil taste to it. That made me happy because I finished all of it. That one serving still has not made me a fan.

At physical therapy last week, my therapist critiqued my running form. She said it was horrible and I needed to change it. For some reason I have been swinging my arms across my body. She told me to work on keeping them straight. My foot plant is also bad. I stomp around like a Clydesdale. I have been doing that since the start of my plantar fasciitis back in January. My therapist wants me to try to run quiet. I'm really working on that. When my heel was in such terrible pain I would avoid striking it on the ground. I would land flat footed. That made me walk with a stomp. Hence the Clydesdale reference. My husband has called me Clip-Clop. The therapist also wants me to land on my foot plant toward the outside edge of my foot. My foot should then naturally roll inward and push off my big toe.

I ran 8 miles tonight. I did a good job of keeping my arm swings straight. They didn't cross my body. Every now and again I would hear myself stomping. When I would hear the stomping, I would try to land on the outside of my foot first. During my run I drank 1.5 bottles of water and 1.5 bottles of Gatorade. I was thinking about buying some GU. Does anyone know what the best flavors are?

Summer is quickly coming to an end. My last 5K of the summer is Saturday and in a month I will be back in the swing of another fall sports season. I don't mind because it is my favorite season. Spring is my second. Who could resist watching football and cross country? Those are my favorite sports of the fall season. I always hate seeing the fall season come to an end. But that is many months away. For now I will enjoy the sun, warm weather and the great sporting events that will be coming up in a few short weeks.

Random things

Friday morning I awoke to a loud banging noise. I got out of bed to look out the window. Someone was banging on the front door of my neighbor's apartment. Did he really need to drop whatever this was at his place at 5:50 a.m.? Apparently he did.

This morning I ran in a 5K on a local high school cross country course. This race is always my birthday present to myself. The Hudson Booster Cross Country Open is usually run before or on my birthday. This year it was a day before my 30th birthday. I can't believe I'll be 30 Sunday.

Before the race it was pouring and it stopped right before we started. The course was soggy and muddy. The hills were muddy and terrible. Instead of running up or down the hills. I decided to walk them so I didn't slip and fall. I caught up with a girl around 1.5 miles. She would run, then stop to walk. When I caught up with her, she started running again. She couldn't hold her pace any longer. Before crossing the 2 mile mark, I passed her. When I turned a corner on the course, I took a look behind me. I saw three to four people. My goal for the rest of the run was to not let those people pass me. I achieved my goal. I finished 20-30 seconds before the next person. I was not pleased with my time at all. My time was 38:07:04. That is my worst time in over five years. I blame it on the race and the soggy course. I did place second in my age group.

Later tonight after church, my husband will be taking me out for my birthday dinner. I chose Evans Street Station. We only go there once or twice a year. It is expensive, but the food is excellent. If they haven't changed the menu from the one that is posted on their website, I'm looking forward to the grilled beef tenderloin.

On my birthday Sunday, I will be working. Sunday is the start of the county fair. The only thing I photograph all week is the queen's contest. After the contest I will be meeting up with my husband to enjoy some dinner at the fair. Hopefully dinner will be taco's from the best taco stand ever.

Stuck Together, Torn Apart

I'm a fan of the show Family Guy. The other day I was watching TBS and one of my favorite episodes came on, Stuck Together, Torn Apart. There are so many laughs in this one episode; the Magnum, P.I. bit, Peter's line of "Lets go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore", Stewie's line when Brian and him got pulled over by the police, "We met on the Internet. He lured me down to the park with promises of candy and funny stories." There are so many more. The whole episode is funny.

If you have 22 minutes, please enjoy the episode:
http://www.familyguyx.net/episode/stuck_together_torn_apart/link_1117/

Photo Credit: Wikia Entertainment

Books read in 2009

America's Queen, Sarah Bradford
Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office, John Temple
Marilyn's Last Words, Matthew Smith
Corpse: Nature, Forensics and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death, Jessica Snyder Sachs
Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C. Scott, David Sheward
Sinatra in Hollywood, Tom Santopietro
How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Medical Examiner, Jan Garavaglia, M.D.
Pieces of My Heart: A Life, Robert J. Wagner & Scott Eyman
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, Maureen McCormick
Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed, Michelle Morgan
Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Crimes Of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality, Jeff Ferrell
Getting Up: Subway Graffiti in New York, Craig Castleman
Freight Train Graffiti, Roger Gastman, Darin Rowland & Ian Sattler
The Birth of Graffiti, Jon Naar
Subway Art, Martha Cooper & Henry Chalfant
Graffiti NYC, Hugo Martinez
A Portrait of Joan: The Autobiography of Joan Crawford, Joan Crawford & Jane Kesner Ardmore
Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, Catherine Clinton
Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism, Susan Ware
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Shane O'Sullivan
Last Flight, Amelia Earhart
The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart, Mary S. Lovell
Eisenhower, Geoffrey Perret
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Lindbergh, A. Scott Berg
The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963, Laurence Leamer
The Royals, Kitty Kelley
The Reader, Bernhard Schlink
Marilyn Revealed: The Ambitious Life of an American Icon, Ted Schwarz

Currently Reading: The Kennedy Women, Laurence Leamer
Up Next: Library trip

Miles run in 2009

I ran a 10K Saturday morning. The first 4 miles were I wanted to be. The last two miles my legs wanted to give up on me. I continued running even though they didn't want to. I tried to catch the woman ahead of me, but she got away. The course was run on city streets, gravel and country back roads. I had to past a busy intersection to finish my run. A police officer stopped traffic in the intersection. The officer said to me, "You're doing a good job. I know I couldn't do it." I'm sure with a little training you could. I finished the race strong. I actually wished I pushed it earlier, but I was unsure. I forgot the layout of the course and I though I had a couple more streets to go down. I was wrong. I finished in 1:15:44.

2004: 171.8
2005: 216.4
2006: 280.6
2007: 284.5
2008: 572
2009: 560.4

Colors - Adrian, MI

Head banging

I enjoyed my day at Cedar Point with my husband. I rode 7 roller coasters. One of them twice. What I didn't enjoy was banging my head on the shoulder harnesses. When the ride would flip me upside down or make a sharp turn, my head would hit the harness on both sides. I stepped off of the roller coasters with a huge headache.

The ride I banged my head the most was Maverick. First of all I will say I loved this ride. If the line wasn't so long to get on, my husband and I would have rode it twice. There were signs before getting on saying to take your earrings out before riding. I didn't see anyone else take theirs off. I should have followed the instructions. The backs of my earrings dug into my neck during every twist, turn and roll.

I didn't bring any aspirin with me. Mistake. I didn't want to buy any at the park. If Gatorade or water cost $3.75, I could only image how much Tylenol would have been. Next time we go, some kind of aspirin will be in my pocket.

Photo Credit: Cedar Point

Day off

I've had a productive day off. So far today I have read, ran 4 miles, napped, went swimming for two hours, took two showers and now I'm getting ready to go out to dinner.

Tomorrow will be another busy day. We will be spending most of it at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. Can't wait to hear "Thank you for coming to Cedar Point, America's Roller Coast." every time we get on a ride.

Waiting

After work I drove over to the foot doctor. I noticed a bunch of cars when I was pulling into the parking lot. I walked into the office and I was the 11th person in the room. I was wondering why there were so many people. I heard the receptionist say that the doctor was on vacation last week. It seemed like everyone was booked for the same time slot.

My appointment was for 10:30 a.m. I overheard a woman say that she had been waiting for a while. Her appointment was for 10 a.m. It was now 10:40 a.m. When I sat down I chose a seat that had empty seats around it. I'm not a fan of sitting really close to people I don't know. I sat two chairs away from an older woman. As time dragged on and I was still sitting in the waiting area, more people kept walking into the office. Around 11 a.m., there were 13 people waiting.

A couple of minutes before getting called back, I noticed an awful smell. It was coming from the older lady sitting to my left. I think she had an accident in her pants. The smell was strong. I didn't want to be so mean to cover my nose with my shirt, but I had to do something. The next best thing was my long hair. It did the trick.

When I finally saw the doctor asked how my foot was doing. It is doing better. I told him that when I get done running there is still some pain. I said I have being doing my stretches everyday. He asked me if I wanted to go back to physical therapy. I said I did. He wrote out prescription for me for another month. He said since I'm doing better with physical therapy, no shots. Yea!

I see the foot doctor again in three weeks. Next time I hope the wait won't be so long and that he will say no shots again.

Random things

Over the weekend I ran a 5K. The morning started off fine until I realized I left my iPod at home. I thought about driving home to get it. But I didn't. About ten minutes before the race was about to start a thunderstorm rolled through town. That delayed the start of the race for 15 minutes. When the race started we ran in a heavy downpour. I got my shoes and sock wet. That didn't make me happy. I had a comfortable pace at the start of the race. When I passed a volunteer worker on the first corner, I heard him talking to someone behind me. It was another volunteer on a bike saying that I was the last runner. I didn't like that. Just ahead of me was two other runners. My goal to was to stay with them.

Through the first mile I was right behind them. Before hitting mile 2, I caught up to them and passed them. One of the runners stopped to walk. The other runner stopped as well. I thought they were going to eventually catch up with me, but they never did. The last mile was terrible. I couldn't believe how many hills there were. I put my head down, got up them and finished with a time of 35:37. I was happy that I actually passed two people and didn't finish last. I was surprised during the medal ceremony when I was called to receive one. The overall female winner was in my age group. That moved everyone up one. I went from fourth to third.

This week I'm using two vacation days. My last vacation was back in October. I'm ready to take a break. On Wednesday my husband and I really don't have anything planned. If it doesn't rain we are going to go swimming. I don't know if we are going to the city pool or a nearby lake. Thursday we are going to Cedar Point. We haven't been there in about 10 years It will be fun to ride most of the roller coasters.

In the coming weeks I have more vacation time. I don't have plans for those days yet. But I will always find something to do.

Blue hinge - Adrian, MI

Books read in 2009

I wrote Wednesday that it felt like it took a year to finish reading my last book. I started The Reader by Bernhard Schlink Wednesday afternoon. I found I couldn't put it down. Literally it was a real page turner. At some point I did put my book down to run, eat, shower and go to sleep. This afternoon I finished the book. The book and the movie were pretty much the same. Only a couple of things were different. Overall I really enjoyed the book and recommend it. I think that was the quickest I have read a book.

America's Queen, Sarah Bradford
Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office, John Temple
Marilyn's Last Words, Matthew Smith
Corpse: Nature, Forensics and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death, Jessica Snyder Sachs
Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C. Scott, David Sheward
Sinatra in Hollywood, Tom Santopietro
How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Medical Examiner, Jan Garavaglia, M.D.
Pieces of My Heart: A Life, Robert J. Wagner & Scott Eyman
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, Maureen McCormick
Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed, Michelle Morgan
Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Crimes Of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality, Jeff Ferrell
Getting Up: Subway Graffiti in New York, Craig Castleman
Freight Train Graffiti, Roger Gastman, Darin Rowland & Ian Sattler
The Birth of Graffiti, Jon Naar
Subway Art, Martha Cooper & Henry Chalfant
Graffiti NYC, Hugo Martinez
A Portrait of Joan: The Autobiography of Joan Crawford, Joan Crawford & Jane Kesner Ardmore
Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, Catherine Clinton
Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism, Susan Ware
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Shane O'Sullivan
Last Flight, Amelia Earhart
The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart, Mary S. Lovell
Eisenhower, Geoffrey Perret
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Lindbergh, A. Scott Berg
The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963, Laurence Leamer
The Royals, Kitty Kelley
The Reader, Bernhard Schlink

Currently Reading:
Up Next: Library trip

Books read in 2009

It has felt like a year since I started The Royals by Kitty Kelley. Actually it has been ten days. It could have been finished earlier but I was catching on up Showtime's Weeds. I'm caught up with the current season now and watched Monday's new episode Tuesday morning. My next book The Reader by Bernhard Schlink is only 224 pages long. That should be a piece of cake. I enjoyed the movie so I'm hoping the book will be a nice, quick read.

America's Queen, Sarah Bradford
Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office, John Temple
Marilyn's Last Words, Matthew Smith
Corpse: Nature, Forensics and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death, Jessica Snyder Sachs
Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C. Scott, David Sheward
Sinatra in Hollywood, Tom Santopietro
How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Medical Examiner, Jan Garavaglia, M.D.
Pieces of My Heart: A Life, Robert J. Wagner & Scott Eyman
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, Maureen McCormick
Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed, Michelle Morgan
Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Crimes Of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality, Jeff Ferrell
Getting Up: Subway Graffiti in New York, Craig Castleman
Freight Train Graffiti, Roger Gastman, Darin Rowland & Ian Sattler
The Birth of Graffiti, Jon Naar
Subway Art, Martha Cooper & Henry Chalfant
Graffiti NYC, Hugo Martinez
A Portrait of Joan: The Autobiography of Joan Crawford, Joan Crawford & Jane Kesner Ardmore
Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, Catherine Clinton
Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism, Susan Ware
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Shane O'Sullivan
Last Flight, Amelia Earhart
The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart, Mary S. Lovell
Eisenhower, Geoffrey Perret
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Lindbergh, A. Scott Berg
The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963, Laurence Leamer
The Royals, Kitty Kelley

Currently Reading: The Reader, Bernhard Schlink
Up Next: Library trip

Caught - Adrian, MI

Miles run in 2009

The replacement treadmill parts are arriving slowly. We had three packages delivered. I wonder if that is it. Or are more coming? Without my treadmill, I have been running on the sidewalks and a local college track. Since I have been running outside, I notice my legs are always tired. I think it has more to due with the heat, wind, hills and inclines outside. When the treadmill gets fixed, I will try to mix up my workouts. Some outside, some inside. I'm thankful that the weather has been nice recently. One week it was 90 and humid everyday. This week will be in the low 80s. Another great week to run outside.

2004: 164.7
2005: 210.2
2006: 264.6
2007: 255.2
2008: 536.6
2009: 505.2

Off day

Our office is closed today to observe Independence Day. Since its closed, it was a day to sleep in. I slept until 6 a.m. That is two hours longer then normal on a weekday. So I was successful.

I have already been so busy today. This morning I watched a movie, went to the office, picked up a few items at the grocery store, read, and napped. The only thing left on my list to do today is to run. My original plan was to run this morning. After Thursday's 6. 1 mile run my legs are dead tired. I will try for a 3 or 4 mile run later this afternoon. Maybe I will have the energy by then.

Too bad there wasn't graffiti on it - Dearborn, MI

Baseball talk

The other day I photographed a baseball game. Before the game started the umpire asked the head coach if he had any balls. Of course he meant baseballs. One of the players sitting on the bench said that he should already have two of them. His buddy sitting next to him said that he knew that joke was coming. The head coach then said, "Gentlemen, we have a lady here in the dugout. Let's act like adults and treat her with respect." I said it was alright. The assistant coach said that it wasn't alright. The boys needed to treat me with respect.

I really didn't mind the comment. I thought it was funny. I say worst then that when I'm not working. But it was nice to hear the coaches say that they should respect ladies. That is a good life lesson.