Pooped.

Just returned from the outdoor track at Soldier's Field. Didn't have anything in the tank tonight. And I knew that going into it. Randy and I ran 2 x 800 (3:25 and 3:18 I think it was) and then I pulled up on the third 800 at about 600 with a leg cramp. Then we ran a 400. Mine was 1:27. His was faster. I felt bad that I was holding him up. I wandered over to the TriRochester group after Randy left to see what they were doing tonight. They had a big group (started at 6 pm). I think they were doing 2 x 800, 4 x 400, 2 x 800. I ran down to the track and home and with the slow ("slowest" is more like it) laps, I had about 8.4 miles for the evening. My morning workout today was the swim day workout (run to the Y, lift, swim, run home). It went fine. Brian E. said that I should bring cookies to the Y one of these days. We agreed on Friday. He said chocolate chip/m&m would be perfect. Nuts. Mike and Steve sounded interested too. Last Friday, I was telling Mike about my 3 Thursday workouts of last week. His head started spinning. : ) I heard him still talking about it today. I told him that I was not a good workout role model. He agreed. : )

Lots of hits on my little blog yesterday. Cool. I get a report from sitemeter.com with hits and page views for the week. I have no idea who's doing the hitting however. : )

I'm running at the Y at 5:15am tomorrow. I think that's going to have to be a slow one. And I get my hair highlighted after work. Hip, hip, hooray. That's always a good day! And I'm going to the Y at 6:30 pm to swim for Eric the swim coach. I don't think there will be enough hours in the session for him to tell me everything that needs re-working on my swim technique. But it will be interesting to see what he has to say. BTW: He's Erin Caflisch's coach. Thursday noon I'm meeting Joey Keillor at Running Room to talk about a summer high school running program.

Here are a few photos from my bike ride yesterday. This is St. Olaf church in Rock Dell.

This one is the view to the NE from a spot just south of highway 30.

Wednesday at 6 pm at Running Room is a Happy 4th Anniversary party. Yup, the Rochester store has been open for four years already. After the run, the grills will be fired up and you can bring some meat to grill and a dish to pass. There is also a tri clinic beginning April 20. Chris Koch is the instructor. You can register online or in the store. Chris does a great job, and is such a nice guy.

Saturday I'll be doing a water stop for the RAC run. Hope to see lots of you out there pounding the pavement! If anyone is interested in doing a long run on Monday, let me know. I'm racing on Sunday. First USATF team circuit race: Human Race 8K. River runner race team gals running: Anita, Renee, Molly, Jacki, Wanda, Judy, Shannon, Linda, Kate. This will be the debut for the men's race team. You go, guys!! Rick, Paul and Tom will be there for sure. Not sure who else. It will be great to see everyone again.

Well, Joe Mauer is going to be in a Twins uniform for a few more years. And he's going to be one very rich guy.

I decided to revisit my New Year's Resolutions and see how I'm doing. My commentary is in blue below.

•Get more sleep. 5-6 hours per night over the long term isn't healthy. I pretty much spring out of bed each morning with a things to do list for the day just waiting to be tackled. Not so good. Still not getting enough sleep.
•Learn to say "no" when appropriate (especially to myself). Much as I'd like to, I can't do everything. (This goes hand in hand with my first resolution.) Hmmmm.... I still try to do an awful lot during each day of this life I'm living. But there's so much I want to do. So much that's fun to do with and for other people.
•Take a day off each week (or two) from exercise. This will be really tough. (This goes hand in hand with my second resolution.) I have made zero progress on this one.
•Not be such a packrat. Much improved!! I hauled away a couple carloads of stuff in February. : )
•Try an Olympic distance triathlon. (Notice I said "try". I'm still not convinced I'll not end up getting hauled out of the lake on a kayak ...) Not sure about this one. See further comments below on my potential plans for the year.
•Run a marathon I've never run before. (Barring some unforeseen circumstance, that will be Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon on May 8.) Done!! Well, sort of. I'm signed up for Lake Wobegon in May and Outer Banks (NC) for my 50th birthday weekend in November.
•Run a 3:35 marathon. Well, it didn't happen on the first one of the year (Zoom!Yah!Yah!) but I've still got lots of time left. And I'm training hard.
•Visit a state I've never been to before. No progress. But ... I haven't been to NC in a loooong time.
•Read a book each month. Get back to reading the newspaper every day. Not so good. I did read My Life in France in a couple of days while I was in Florida, though. But ... today I spent the afternoon reading the last 3 weeks' Post-Bulletins. Sitting on the patio, which was quite nice. But I think I got a bit sunburned.
•Say "thank you" more often. I still need to work on this one.
•Say "I love you" more often. And this one.
 
Well, the year is (relatively) young. There's still time to improve.
 
I've been doing a lot of thinking while on the bike. Backing up: I like to mix things up, try something new. Take on a new challenge. Last year, I ventured into the world of triathlon and did 3 of them. And I started running with Mark and Bruce on Wednesday mornings several years ago. They'd been running the same course every week for I don't know how many years. Well, shortly after I joined them, we had a new course. And I think we've changed a couple more times since then. And in my garden, I liked to try something new each year--cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, black beans (dried), different kinds of winter squash, ... Some successful, some not. So ... for this year, I'm trying to decide what I should do for a new challenge. A longer distance tri even though I'm a pathetically bad swimmer? I don't know. Another century bike ride? I haven't done one in 25 years. That is a possibility. A multi-day ride, maybe mixing in some camping? That might be fun. I'm still pondering it. Stay tuned.
 
Well, I've got a totally bloggable sewing project that I need to get going on. Just you wait until you see what this is all about ... it's going to be a total hoot.
 
Another lululemon quote: "Dance, sing, floss and travel."
 
Ha det. (Norwegian--kinda like "see ya".)