Monday, March 16, 2009

Time for a Change

Decided it was time for a change to the old blog site. One thing I can't figure out is how to put a picture up on the very top without it TAKING UP A HUGE PART OF THE TOP.

Another change is the way I'll be training this year. After two years of me asking, "How come we're not running for mileage (as opposed to time)?", I will now be running for mileage on my long runs, followed by a medium run the very next day. Hopefully, this means I will do better this year and not feel like dying at Mile 18+ or so.

I've also decided to take medium steps instead of big steps this year, meaning, I am going to alternate running 30ks and 50ks in an effort to build stamina and speed. After having to ditch the Pirates Cove 30k on 03/21 (due to gall bladder surgery, ane now we're going to Australia for two weeks!), my schedule looks like this (fingers crossed):

May 10 - Redwood Park Trail Run, Oakland, CA (30k)
July 11 - SOB, Ashland, OR (50k)
Oct 24 - Whiskeytown, Redding, CA (30k)
Dec 6 - Desert High, Ridgecrest, CA (50k)

SOB kicked my butt last year, so this year I'm out for revenge. (God help me at the 7,000 foot level.) Desert High, I had a 30k PR last year, so I'm ready to kick it up to the next level. Wish me luck!

Monday, March 9, 2009

The Body Beautiful

Four weeks ago tomorrow, my gall bladder was removed after years of being told that I had acid reflux. While this is probably true to a certain extent, the removal of this offending organ has caused me such great relief as can only be known by those who have suffered from the same problem . . . of course, while bringing about a whole new set of problems due to the removal. Let's just say that the ole bod is having to learn new ways of dealing with such things as French onion flavored Sun Chips. Alas, those have been added to the "Do Not Ingest" list, at least for the time being. The problem - great waves of nausea. And while I admit that I gave it the ole college try (are these really what's making me sick?) and ate them no less than 3 times within a 2-week period, each time I had the same unfortunate reaction.

Other foods have caused similar problems, but I can only hope that, with time, things will get back to some semblance of normality, but without the awful crap I was went through for 7 weeks before the doctors agreed that, yes, Leslie! It IS your gall bladder! (7 weeks of health hell, thousands of dollars, and at least 3 unnecessary tests - well, at least to me unnecessary - later, they finally agreed with me.)

I believe that being in such good shape helped me bounce back quickly. However, the muscles around my poor belly button area have not bounced back quite as quickly as the rest of me. When one looks at oneself in the mirror and sees 3 small incision and one a little bigger than small, and one has no more gall bladder-induced pain, one has a tendency to say with great gusto, "I am back!" And then one goes out and does too much too soon and ends up having to console oneself with Vicodin (which is a really nice way to console oneself, if I do say so myself . . . and I do.)

So what's the crux of all this babbling? My belly button hurts, that's what. I'm having to get back into running at a slower pace than I anticipated, and that sucks. My first day of trail running in a month this past Saturday, followed by an evening of consuming an unfortunate amount of alcohol (something rarely done by me), which forced me to shake my booty - and thereby my tummy - on the dance floor of Steve and Dave's Bar, has put my belly button area out of sorts and set me back probably a good 3-4 days in recovery. I'm not looking for sympathy as I have single handedly caused my own misery. I just needed to vent for a moment.

As Albert Einstein once said: Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Opening a Can of Worms

I've thought long and hard about whether or not to put my personal political opinions in print here as my blog is 99% about running and "light" subjects. However, for once I feel that I cannot keep my mouth shut. Some of you who read my blog will mostly certainly disagree with me, but I hope we can agree to disagree and still respect one another.

To throw some numbers out there and put things into perspective, consider the following:

If you deposited $1 million into a pot every day since the birth of Jesus (whose birth is a fact, whether or not you believe he is the son of God and I do), you would still not have enough to pay for the stimulus package:

2,009 years x 365 days x $1 mill = $733.3 billion (give or take a hundred thou).

I'm guessing that when you get to a certain point, the word "trillion" is just that, a word, and not one that is too awfully important. At least not to those in the seats of power.

In less than 2 months, Mr. Obama and the Democratic Congress have managed to double the national debt. Where is the money coming from? How will be repaid? How can he justify his desire to take from those who have worked damn hard for what they have and give to those who haven't? Ever hear of a little thing called a Ponzi Scheme? Sounds suspiciously like what Mr. Obama is doing. For those of you who have children and grandchildren, the burden he has created will rest squarely on their heads, as well as their children's heads, and I am so very sorry for them.

A quote by the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931–2005

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by
legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one
person receives without working for, another
person must work for without receiving.

The government cannot give to anybody anything
that the government does not first take from somebody else.

When half of the people get the idea that they
do not have to work because the other half is
going to take care of them, and when the other
half gets the idea that it does no good to work
because somebody else is going to get what they
work for, that my dear friend, is about the end
of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

Furthermore, a quote by Gerald Ford (14 July 1913 – 26 December 2006) , the 38th President of the United States, in his Presidential address to a joint session of Congress (12 August 1974) : "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."

Mr. Obama is fast moving our country toward a socialist society. One need only look at the history of Russia to understand, with extreme clarity, that socialism doesn't work.

I am truly afraid of the direction our country is headed and can only hope that the eyes of whose who have the power to make change are opened wide before it's too late.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Wasting Time

At Conference this weekend, the motivational speaker on Sunday was a Life Counselor. One of the things she talked about was organizing your time and reflecting on how much time is wasted in a day. How much time do you spend looking at personal emails at work? How much time do you spend on emails period at work? How much time is spending doing personal work as opposed to REAL work?

That being said, I'm writing this at 4:30 in the afternoon at work whilst reflecting on those questions. I'll get back to ya with some answers . . . after I check my emails.