Yay! 10K!

I have officially completed my running goals for this year. They were: continue to run, shave off time from my first 5K, run an 8K and run a 10K. Today was my first 10K. The funny thing is that the course was Road Runner's normal running path. It's very nice. I can't believe she slums it by running on my section of the lakefront with me. She has recently posted photos. My goal running this race was (like it has been for all my first attempts at "long" distances) to run the majority of the race. I ran the whole thing. Well, except for one point at mile four where I look up and see this figure - all in red - and I'm thinking...huh, that shape looks familiar. But the person's face was shielded by a camera b/c....Road Runner was there taking my picture! It was so nice to see her! (I did walk a short time to talk to her briefly.) Other than that - I surprised myself and ran the whole thing. I told Cowboy I was done training for distances and he didn't believe me. No, really. I'm done. Now my goal is be a more consistent runner and always be able to train for longer distances- if I want. I'm definitely doing the Shamrock Shuffle again, so...

Anyway, I stole this from Road Runner - it's a virtual cat. If you know me, you know all about my 7 year campaign for a cat, my short lived victory that was fast replaced by terror after realizing I adopted feral cats. This is a very happy compromise until I can win my revitalized campaign.

So behind...

Mostly because I've had nothing interesting to say, I've been very bad about keeping up with my blogging. First, check out the shark story and video from Lost in Korea. This is my hometown beach. You can swim out pretty far in the ocean here. Sharks are always in the back of your mind, but perhaps they need to be nudged up. I LOVE sharks, but this story is still pretty scary.
On a lighter note, please check out Road Runner's podcast. Very cool! Also, a very belated congratulations to Shore Turtle for finishing his 1/2 marathon and other races (nice costume!)! For a good time, check out IP Girl's story about her "honeymoon" in Hawaii. Finally, I am taking this from Kiki - too sweet to pass up. It seems so much longer on mine, so I broke it up to include the highlights.
Have you ever:
smoked a cigarette
crashed a friend's car
stolen a car
been in love
skipped school
seen someone die
been on a plane
purposely set a part of yourself on fire (what?)
eaten sushi
been jet-skiing
met someone in person from the internet
been moshing at a concert
taken pain killers
loved and missed someone
made a snow angel
had a tea party
flown a kite
built a sand castle
gone puddle jumping
played dress up
jumped in a pile of leaves
gone sledding
cheated while playing a game
been lonely
fallen asleep at work or school
used a fake id
watched a sun set
felt an earthquake
touched a snake
slept beneath the stars
been tickled
been robbed
been misunderstood
petted a reindeer/goat
won a contest
run a red light/stop sign
been suspended from school
been in a car accident
had braces
eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
had deja vu
danced in the moonlight
liked the way you looked at least at one point in time
witnessed a crime
questioned your heart (never, actually)
been obsessed with post-it notes
squished barefoot through the mud
been lost
been on the opposite side of the country
swam in the ocean
felt like dying
cried yourself to sleep
played cops and robbers
recently colored with crayons
sung karaoke
paid for a meal with only coins
done something you told yourself you wouldn't
made prank phone calls
laughed until some kinda beverage came out of your nose
caught a snow flake on your tongue
danced in the rain
written a letter to Santa Claus
been kissed under the mistletoe
watched the sun rise with someone you care about
blown bubbles
made a bonfire on the beach
crashed a party
gone rollerskating
had a wish come true
worn pearls
jumped off a bridge
ate dog/cat food
sang in the shower
had a dream you married someone
got your tongue stuck to something
kissed a fish or a frog
sat on a roof top
screamed at the top of your lungs
did a one handed cartwheel
talked on the phone for more the 6 hours
stayed up all night
not taken a shower for a week
picked and eaten an apple right off the tree
climbed a tree
had a tree house
broken a bone
been easily amused
caught a fish
caught a butterfly
laughed so hard you cried
cried so hard you laughed
laughed so hard you pee your pants
cheated on a test
forgotten someone's name
french braided someone's hair
been kissed by someone you didn't like
gone skinny dipping in a pool /lake

Adventures

I am getting the itch again. It's really bad. Usually, I get so restless I just want to move - lately to Oregon. This time, however, it's very clear I want to go on a trip. I've been meaning to go back to Ireland, and SAS airlines is having a 2 for 1 sale. I'd love to go back to Sweden or Paris, or go to any of the countries I haven't been to. Cowboy says to save it for the wedding and honeymoon. That's still 6 months away! And, the wedding and honeymoon are not really planned, so there's nothing specific to look forward to! I guess I really have no business running off to Europe without planning my wedding first. Not to mention that although I could scrape together the money - I should save it for all the wedding things that I haven't really even thought about like flowers and favors and whatever else people have. The good news is that I have my place confirmed, so it will be happening! I want to send out save the date cards with a puzzle or riddle or something that people will have to figure out to get the location. Any suggestions? I thought about doing a geocache, but I think I need to do something that can just come to people in the mail.
I will try and quash my need for adventure. However, I will enter the Salomon Live Your Dream contest. Check it out - seems pretty cool.

Have you met Scooter?

Last night, Cowboy and I were watching Into the West when he turns to me and says "From now on, can you call me Scooter?" ?!?!
Oh, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Aside from the fact that nothing in the show could have triggered that, who gets (much less chooses) a name like Scooter? Especially a boy who already has a bunch of nicknames - his favorite being Dr. Rocket. I'm a big fan of nicknames, but Scooter is just too funny. Especially when he said it with his Minnesota accent that pops out once in a while.

Early morning ramblings

I got in early to work today and I'm still trying to wake up. This is my equivalent of a coffee break.

I have a new alarm clock with nature sounds. I've been waking up to sounds of a brook for the past couple of days. Really this means the sound of frogs. The brook is in there, but coming from deep slumber - you only hear the frogs for a while. It's kinda cool. I like it. It's definitely a gentler way to wake up than my cell phone alarm - which is what I had been using. When the day comes where I incorporate the frogs into my dream, I can switch it to birds or ocean.

I've been catching up on the Sopranos recently. I don't have cable, so I borrow each season from the library. (Cowboy introduced me to the extensive movie collection of the various suburban libraries - it rocks!) I know there's a lot of controversy over the show. It can be too violent for me and I'm sure there's a point to the complaints that it paints Italian-American's in a bad light. What I see, though, is such great, complex writing and acting. There are so many layers to the story, that I'm sure I'm only catching some of the literary devices in the script. It's nihilistic, but the people that put it together have deconstructed the human condition seemingly as well as Joseph Campbell has done mythology. I'm on the look-out for a film study class that discusses it.

kundalini yoga is for me

I signed up for a 5 week class designed to deal with stress. Today was my first day. I've never done this type of yoga, and I have to admit - I was a bit apprehensive. I had heard there was a lot of chanting. Hmm... There was chanting in the beginning and at the end, but it was really soothing. I was surprised by how much work the class was. I was also surprised by the fact that I can't sit cross-legged for an hour. When did I get so old? When I left, though - I felt great. I ran 4.5 miles yesterday and I was a bit stiff. This loosened me right up and stretched my shoulders and back - parts of me that get tight when I'm stressed. I guess it also didn't hurt that the instructor had a voice like butter that made you want to go to sleep just from listening to her. In short, highly recommended.

Running again

I went running today with Road Runner. She totally left me in the dust. Luckily, she waited for me at the end of the pier and while we walked, she got me caught up on important news such as celebrity pregnancies and break-ups. She told me about Gawker.com - I love it. We went a total of about 4 miles, but only a little over 3 was running. About 2/3 of the way through, we were in a park and noticed that they had removed the drinking fountains. This was much more painful than the time we were scheduled to run 5 miles, and they had shut off all the fountains. Of course, being a glutton for punishment, I had to check every single one while Road Runner laughed at me. Today, nothing to check. It was very strange. From yesterday - high in the upper 80's, I don't think it cleared 60 degrees today. It was windy too. I hope it doesn't get too cold too fast. I was looking forward to the fall to do some running. We may not have much of one.
Also in the spirit of running, please check out Shore Turtle's video clip of him running. For some reason, I'm so amused by it. Nice steady pace Shore Turtle!
Finally, I read Trail Runner's blog about how he helped set up a race, and despite all the warnings, one woman "accidentally" ran a marathon! This seems to happen quite a bit - Road Runner is always telling me about some mis-marked race or another. I guess it's better to do more than less than you intended. Congrats!

Sandy's possible replacement

For a president who has arguably already screwed us up enough, he now gets two Supreme Court slots to fill. The new nomination was announced yesterday, and I have to admit, I've been feeling too pessimistic to check into her. What prompted me to note, however, is that to me -the departure of Sandra Day O'Connor somehow signifies to me a shift in the tide in feminist politics. It's well known that Justice O'Connor, a graduate (near top of her class) of Stanford law could initially only get a job as a legal secretary. Her progression in the legal field seems at least temporally linked to the increase in momentum from the feminist movement. Then, the fight was to get women into the workplace on equal footing to men. Now, the trend is for women to leave the workplace, not long after entering it at the professional level. Like her ascension, Justic O'Connor's departure seems well timed to reflect the trend of women in the workplace. I appreciate that the U.S. is a better place and women are better off as a result of the first movement. I fear, however, that if too many of us leave - simply because we can - we will be sending the message that we weren't really serious about participating in (what was once) traditionally male-dominated fields - that we just came, collected our degrees, played for a bit, then did exactly what they all said they'd do (in justifying employment discrimination) - have babies and leave.
I guess there are two conflicting problems here: the individual feminist, and the feminist movement. I define the individual feminist as one who is empowered and knowledgeable enough to make her own decision - regardless of whether it goes against the grain. I'm wondering if we all have an obligation to make these decisions with collective feminism in mind. Do we owe it to future or past generations to maintain a presence in the workplace or politics if it would serve as a placeholder for future women or as an acknowledgement of the fight in the past? I don't know, but I see it as a difficult choice I may have to make in the future.