Archive for March, 2009

Running Funness

March 30, 2009 at 9:26 am · Filed under running

It is so much more enjoyable to run after work while it’s still sunny. Before the time change, I was confined to one sidewalk route around my neighborhood that is well lit after dark.

Last week I got new running shoes. Yay! I am glad the amazingly helpful associate at Fleet Feet decided to measure my feet again and make me do the high-water jog test on the sidewalk outside the store. Why? Because I always enjoy a good jog in front of people while wearing high-water jeans, duh. Well, after trying on multiple shoes, I settled on an orange, white and silver pair of Asics. No, this does not mean I am pledging my athletic loyalties to UT (Tennessee and Texas).

Also last week, I swallowed two bugs. After getting over the initial shock, I immediately thought of one of my favorite movies, The Lion King — “Tastes like chicken.” … “Oh, the little green-filled kind.” I know this is a common occurrence for outdoor runners, but it hasn’t happened to me since last year. Maybe I should run with those massive lab goggles and a breathing mask to keep the bugs out of my eyes and mouth from now on. Now that would be attractive. My friends and family would have no trouble spotting me along the race route! ;)

I ran 9 miles this weekend! I got some of those sports beans that taste like jelly beans to try midway through that run. I’ve never tried any goos, gels, beans or whatever other weird-consistency stuff they make these days for distance runners. The jelly beans are the only energy-boosting substance that appeal to me, so I gave them a try. They didn’t give me enough energy to run consistent 8-minute miles, but I could tell they gave me a more energy as I increased my mileage. My motivation for the long runs now is one thing: jelly beans.

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I Met God in the Walgreen’s Parking Lot.

March 26, 2009 at 8:39 am · Filed under life

Sometimes God chooses to show himself to me in the seemingly most random places (even though I know it’s not random).

Last night at the request of my optometrist, I ran to Walgreen’s for some top-notch eye drops to relieve the burning in my eye. (Side note: For the past 24 hours, I can’t put my contacts in without my eye burning. Maybe I unknowlingly touched my eye after chopping up a jalapeno on Tuesday?) Anywho, I had my eye drops and all ready to go back home to watch “Lost” (um, amazing episode) and of course my car wouldn’t start.

Freak out did not occur. Thankfully I was in familiar territory in a well-lit area with cell phone service (that was for you, Mom). Roommate came to get me and tried to jump start my car. I had done this before, but I guess God knew I was a little unsure about things, so he sent a friendly couple to the Redbox right outside of Walgreen’s. “Y’all want a guy to help?” the chick about my age asked. “Yes!” (any other answer in this situation would have been the wrong one).

Nice guy knew a little something about cars. Well, at least he knew more than me (that’s not saying much) because he figured the main problem was all the acid build-up on my car’s battery. After trying the jumper cables and then chipping away some of the gross acid, the car started up just fine. Viola!

My roommate and I had fun chatting with him and his wife for the 10 minutes our paths crossed. They were so helpful. I don’t even know their names, but I do thank God for using them to lift my spirits and showing up in a mundane life situation. :)

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The Method to my Madness

March 20, 2009 at 8:04 am · Filed under sports ·Tagged ,

March Madness is upon us. It’s that magical time of year where basketball fans and those who could care less come together and are all of a sudden self-proclaimed experts are on the tournament brackets.

detroitfinal4logoThis year I filled out two brackets. The first is in a pool with my coworkers. I used some common sense and a lot of guessing when picking my winners. Final 4:  North Carolina, Memphis, Louisville and Pittsburgh … UNC all the way!

The second is based on mascots and logos—you know, the important things teams are made of. Some things that went through my head yesterday when deciding my picks: The Illinois mascot rocks! An Indian can be a big red blob [Western KY] any day! … A tiger can definitely beat a school I’ve never heard of. The Syracuse mascot is so cute! Final 4: Illinois [already out], Memphis, Michigan State and Duke … Memphis all the way because a tiger can beat a Blue Devil any day!

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“Independence Day” Memory

March 13, 2009 at 1:41 pm · Filed under music ·Tagged , ,

I can’t handle waking up in the mornings to the awful default alarm sound. (Words cannot truly describe this sound, but you know what I’m talking about.) Therefore, I wake up to the radio. Sometimes, like this morning, it is a good thing.

The alarm kicked in during the middle of Martina McBride’s big hit “Independence Day.” If you’re unfamiliar with 1990s country music, the song is about domestic abuse. Well, I don’t think that is the best topic to greet the morning with, but every time I hear that song, my thoughts turn a different direction – toward the positive, don’t worry …

One day in the early ’90s (afternoon? evening? I don’t remember.), my mom and I were driving through the back roads on our way to somewhere (at that stage of my life, it was probably softball practice). We saw smoke in the distance and eventually came upon a section of the road the police had blocked off. In small towns where nothing seems to happen, we knew this was a major deal. Of course we had to find out what was going on.

A policeman told us that some new country music artist, Martina McBride, was filming a music video down the road and no traffic could get through right then. Now, the country-music-savvy tween (and dork) that I was had heard of Martina but she hadn’t made it big-time yet in the music world. The cop invited us to park the car and walk down the road to observe some of the behind-the-scenes action of filming the video. Unfortunately, like I said, we were heading somewhere, so my mom said no. ARGH.

Well, now everyone knows who Martina McBride is and “Independence Day” is one of her signature songs, which even won the 1994 CMA “Video of the Year” Award! In the video, there is a house on fire. They were filming that part when we encountered the police baracade.

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I also caught clips of the Murfreesboro, TN public square scattered throughout the video.

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Watch the entire music video on YouTube.

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Meet Dawn

March 11, 2009 at 4:25 pm · Filed under friends, the office

dawn-and-mattIn addition to MB, Dawn was my other first work friend I met almost four years ago.

Dawn is older than you might think. She is 39, which she will gladly tell you with no shame. That is one reason why I love her. She has three kids and is married to Matt, a guy she originally met in the check-out line at Kroger. Yeah, it happens, people! (That’s the happy couple in the picture.)

Speaking of crazy, that is what Dawnsy is. She is hilarious, but is also someone great to talk with about anything. She’s in my category of “older, wiser friends.” :)

She is a Yankee. WISconsin, not WESconsin, to be exact. She’s still got some of the accent, too. (What is up with a lot of my friends being transported from the North?!)

MB and I call her “Mama Cow.” Usually whenever you call a woman a cow, she gets offended (hopefully you haven’t learned this lesson by experience). However, Dawn accepts this as a term of endearment for reasons I won’t go into right now.

I asked her to tell me two random facts about herself. She said she likes goats and hates centipedes. Hmmm…very insightful.

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This and That for 3.9.09

March 9, 2009 at 10:23 am · Filed under random, running ·Tagged , , ,

I am so excited about the recent beautiful weather! Hopefully it will stick around for the next few months. I believe it will lift my spirits. I am tired of the crazy weather and prolonged darkness. It has really been messing with my attitude. I would like to give a HUGE shout-out to springing forward with the clocks!

I am also excited about spring cleaning and organization. Though I am not a pack-rat, I have quite a bit of stuff I want to get rid of. This weekend I walked through the home organization aisles at Target and was transported to la-la land, even though I didn’t buy anything. I also helped Andy clean out a ton of stuff in his closets. In typical Clean Sweep fashion, we had sell, donate, trash, and keep files. Oh, a world where everything is in its place and clutter doesn’t exist. Maybe I should start a business.

This weekend I completed a 6-mile run. It was hot outside which made it harder for me to run because I’m still used to running in 50-or-less degree weather. I also ran/walked about 4.5 the day before. I made a point to stop every couple of miles for some water. I even got a very slight sunburn yesterday while running. And speaking of running, I think what I do is more “jogging” than “running.” I am no consistent 10-minute-or-less mile runner, but it’s just more fun to say “I went running today” than to say, “I went jogging and had to stop a little bit for water and to catch my breath.” But hey, at least I got in some good exercise.

Speaking of running, this article is super-short, yet hilarious. If you like to exercise and eat Girl Scout cookies (not at the same time), check it out.

I forgot to mention last week that I had a celebrity citing in Franklin last weekend. (No, not Keith and Nicole. If it had been them, I would have already dedicated a blog post.) It was Scott Hamilton, the Olympic gold medal figure skater. He was at a book signing at the local B&N. I turned a corner in the bookstore and BAM! Eye contact with Scott Hamilton. I didn’t get his new book, but I did hang out and read another one for a while in close proximity.

Remember my Rachael Ray book-signing experience? This one was quite different – in a good kind of way. Scott talked to people. He took pictures with them. He was friendly. Maybe he was able to do all this in his allotted time frame because he didn’t have 100 people waiting in line. Whatever the case may be, I like him.

Here’s to a great week for us all! :)

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This and That for 3.4.09

March 4, 2009 at 9:31 am · Filed under books, random, running

Andy and I had fun playing in the snow on Sunday! Though most of the snow in my area had melted by the afternoon, it was still fun while it lasted. Now it’s supposed to be in the 60s and 70s this week – now that is perfect weather!

I am on a peanut butter kick. I could eat a whole jar.

The Publix’s brand Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie ice cream is amazing.

The smoothies I make are better than any you can buy at a store. Maybe I should open up my own smoothie place.

I am still in the process of training for the Country Music Half Marathon at the end of April. The fluctuating weather patterns haven’t been too helpful for me, as I prefer running outside to the treadmill. I even cried last week because I didn’t want to go running but knew I needed to. (I ended up running and felt great afterwards.) I have enjoyed reading a lot of awesome info on RunnersWorld.com to help keep me focused. If you have recommendations for other running sites, please let me know.

I have quite a few friends looking for jobs. If you know of anyone in this area in need of a dental assistant, youth minister, or office assistant, I’ve got some great leads for you.

I recently finished The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson. I enjoy travel books and was excited to read this book about Bryson’s road trip around the country, but this book took me forever to read and wasn’t one of my favorites. Maybe because he’s kinda crude at times. Maybe because I wish that was me traveling around. He’s written quite a few books, and I might read another one in the future. What’s your favorite book of his?

Now I have started reading Stuffed: An Insider’s Look at Who’s (Really) Making America Fat and  Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I know, I know, I’m kinda behind the times here. Maybe I’ll get around to seeing the Wicked play in the future.

I have much to be thankful for.

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. —Psalm 118:24

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