It is all in your perspective...

Last week was all about perspective. Is my glass half empty or half full? It might get deep. For about a second.

Where to begin... Let's go with the deep and then get to the squirrel. Yeah, I have you now, don't I?

So remember the whole saga about my thyroid? Well, I went back for the 6 month check up and my doctor this time was a little less vague about the direction I should take. She said (or I heard) that the nodule was 3 cm and really that was the size at which they consider removal. I know I am not crazy, I am pretty clear on the conversation. As any good patient, I have googled enough to be fairly well educated on the subject. Well, as educated you can be taking everything you read with a grain of salt. I was resigned to the fact that I would have someone cut into my throat, there would be a scar, time off work. Basically, convinced myself it was no big deal. So off to the surgeon we go. I get there and he is is of the opinion that it doesn't need to come out. According to his chart, the nodule is 1.3 cm and not large enough to worry about considering I have zero symptoms. Of course he left the door open if I insisted but we came to the conclusion that it really was not necessary. Hmmm... Back to square one. Initially, I was kind of put off by it. I had kind of resigned myself to the idea of the surgery and being done with the whole nodule thing. I had to catch myself for a second. Ummm, hello Mcfly? This is a good thing. No interruption in the training schedule, no scarves and turtlenecks to choke you all winter and cover the healing scar. This is good news! The side note is, I am scheduled for the "next available" ultrasound which is in December. I might put it off until next year, it has waited this long...

Perspective lesson 2. One of my eighteen or so tennis teams that I am on got an invitation to the state finals. The catch is you have to have at least 6 players to commit to going. We found out last week and the finals are November 14th. WOO HOO. For about a second. It turns out mid-November is a busy weekend for half the team and we couldn't scrape together 6 people off the roster. BUMMER. On the bright side, I can still get my marathon (marathong... there we go again) training in wihtout having to sit at the courts for 3 matches a day that weekend AND I can hang out with my new favorite running group. Downside, I miss going to state. Upside, I have PLENTY of other things to do.

Perspective lesson 3. I ran 10 miles at Stone Mountain on Saturday. I had not strung together 10 miles in several weeks (or maybe longer) so it was quite the feat for me on this particular day. It actually felt pretty decent all things considered. For those who are not familiar with Stone Mountain, the map doesn't really do it justice. Basically, it is a 5 mile loop around the base of the mountain. Think hilly. Very hilly.




ADHD moment. Check this out, I googled to try and find an elevation map for the run and came up with a picture of my shoes I took a couple months back when I made those sofsole inserts in the oven. LOVE THAT. LOL.




Back to the story. So I am on my hilly run at Stone Mountain, somewhere between mile 8 and 9. My legs are starting to hurt a little bit. Not enough to stop but the first time I had noticed them starting to tire in this run. I pass this guy in a wheelchair. Not a racing, running type wheelchair, this was a regular hospital issue type chair. He was by himself. He was missing a leg. It appeared to have been recently amputated only because he still had bandages on it. He was wheeling himself around the mountain. Insanely impressive. I wish you all could picture the hills to know how impressive that it is to be able to wheel yourself around it. He gave me a high five as we passed. My legs didn't feel so bad anymore.


The squirrel! I know you have been dying for it. It is actually pretty funny. We had a squirrel try to make his home in our fireplace one night last week. Had he not pulled down insulation, we probably wouldn't have seen him. I walked in the den and notice white stuffing in the fireplace and the door slightly askew. I immediately slammed the door shut and peered inside to see the furry tail of a squirrel. Much discussion ensued from Rick about he could get the squirrel out. My end of the discussion basically consisted of "that sounds like a bad idea, let's call critter getters". In the end, we barricade the squirrel in the fireplace so he couldn't poke the glass door open again and called critter getters. Crazy squirrel. It took them 30 minutes to get him out of the fireplace. Apparently, the squirrel enjoyed his new home and was as strong as Samson. He kept grabbing onto the grate and could not be pulled off. I think he eventually got tired and came around to our way of thinking. They toted him to another neighborhood. Hopefully they are a little more welcoming of squirrels as roommates. Me, not so much.

Have a great weekend! I will be up bright and early for the Silver Comet Half Marathon. They are encouraging costumes. It is supposed to be rainy so I am not sure how much fun a wet costumed run would be in those conditions. I may have to leave the tutu at home this time. I will let you know.

Running in groups...

I found a group of runners not too far from me and was able to hook up with them for the first time this morning. For those of you paying attention (not to assume... maybe my Dad was...), that meant I scratched the 15k and opted for the group run instead. There were two reasons. One, the group run was sooooo much closer to home and two, I was anxious to hook up with the group and meet everyone.

The run started at 7:30 - not too painfully early which I LOVE. It was unusually cold this morning (around 45 degrees - I am in Atlanta people - that is crazzzzy). I couldn't even remember where I had stashed my long sleeve shirts this morning. We aren't supposed to have this until MAYBE November. The cold temps meant their normal pre-run parking lot chat was a bit painful as I normally dress for the run as opposed to the standing around in the parking lot. Luckily, the chat was brief. I am sure had it been warmer we would have all been much more interested in hearing what the chosen one had to say about negative splits and predicting race times but I guess it was not meant to be today.

We broke off into groups based on our pace and took off for the Suwanee greenway. The greenway is basically a trail that was built for runners, walkers, bikers along the Suwanee Creek. It is a really nice trail in that pieces of it are shaded. I haven't run on it in a while as Stone Mountain is more convenient but it is a nice choice for a run. Since it was so chilly, attendance was a bit down and there were only 3 other people at my pace. I ended up running with a guy who is training for his first half marathon. It turns out he is doing the half at Disney. I wasn't up for a long distance today so his suggestion of 5 miles was perfect. All in all, a great run. A little muddy in spots from all the rain lately but not bad. The trail was in surprisingly good condition considering all the flooding in the area.

After the run, we hung out at a coffee shop on the square. The group is making plans to run the rock n roll in New Orleans in February as well as some other local outings. I am so glad I went today. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed running with other people. Over the past year I had kind of gotten into my own regimen which is great for keeping to a schedule but sometimes you just need the company of others for motivation. I guess I had forgotten what I was missing!

In addition to the Saturday runs, they do a Tuesday/Thursday run at (GULP) FIVE AM. It is tempo runs and speedwork which would be nice. They swear that you get used to the time once you get into the routine. I definitely could make the logisitics of getting ready for work post run and all that work out but WHEW that is early. I am thinking that might call for a lunchtime nap. I am going to give it a try this week and report back :)

Does anyone out there have a Garmin? I know, that is like asking if anyone has shoes... If so, which one do you have and what is your experience with it? I love my polar heart rate monitor but think on days where I am not really doing zone training and just trying to get in a long run, it would be nice to see distances and pace.

Too Much Cardio?

Here is the link to the article about scaling abck on the cardio for weight loss....

Step away from the treadmill

Where does the time go?

I am pretty sure I could start EVERY SINGLE BLOG post with that line! The "first day of the rest of my life" was over three weeks ago. Me oh my... Halfway thorugh October and it seems like just yesterday I purchased my Paula Deen desk calendar with much anticipation of making the recipes printed on the side pages each month. I have yet to make a single recipe and here it is almost time to buy another calendar. Maybe next time I will go with one from the Sierra Club as it will mean less guilt at the end of the year since those don't have recipes only lovely pictures.

As I perused my calendar today, I realized I have a marathon in 90 days not to mention a 15k next weekend followed by a variety of 5, 10 and half marathons that I signed up for in a fit of boredom one rainy weekend. WOO HOO! Racing season and cooler weather is in full force. Bring it on :) I still love remembering how stressed out I was over training for the first half marathon alomost 2 years ago. Now, I hardly give a second thought to building up the mileage for a half. Not that I am arrogant about it. It is still quite the feat in my book. It is just nice that I have been able to maintain a certain level of endurance that training for a half is not the monumental task it was for the first race. Love that.

The Big Sizzler was a fun race. It gave me the kick start I needed and for that I am grateful. It was a familiar route that I have run in various races. It was not a PR but I wasn't really expecting one this time around. It was more about finishing. In the days post-race, I kicked off quite the regimen of daily running right up until I had to go to Dallas for work last week. Tomorrow, the running will resume! I had forgotten how much I love running in the fall. We are starting to dip into the weather that makes a mid-afternoon run truly comfortable.

I was reading somewhere on line yesterday about how too much cardio can actually make you gain weight or at least inhibit your ability to lose weight. I had heard that before but for whatever reason it caught my eye this time. Maybe because I had recently dropped boot camp and am pretty much solely doing cardio at this point. Not by choice necessarily, mostly because it is easy and it has just worked out that way. I may insert some P90x in the evenings or every couple of days. I'll keep you posted.

Over the weekend, I went to my niece's 7th birthday party at the Build-a-Bear workshop. I am only sad that the whole "build a bear" concept was not my brilliant idea. You could spend a fortune in there... Hunter, her brother was the only male in attendance and was truly bored. I can't remember if he said it was better or worse than the american girl party the previous year. LOL.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life...

OK. Maybe not as dramatic as that but be afraid everyone... I am kicking back into gear tomorrow morning. After taking a hiatus around about Rick's surgery date, I am ready to get out there again. Maybe it is in anticipation of the Fall weather. I do know that the rain was a dangerous thing over the past week as I signed up for more races than I can probably fit into my schedule. The one thing I have learned about myself since I ventured into running last year is that I need goals and I view races as goals. Even the 5ks. They all serve their purpose.

Tomorrow morning I am running the Big Peach 10k Sizzler. I am hoping it is dubbed the "sizzler" because the course is blazing fast. :) It is a point to point race which I like so it should be a great morning. My goal for tomorrow is to just enjoy it.

Next weekend, I have a 5k on Saturday AM followed by a half marathon on Sunday. I am looking forward to running races on back to back days. My own mini-goofy race.

The BIG news today was that after several days of enduring flood related road closures in my area, the main road between me and the rest of my world (work, gym, tennis/my favorite grocery store) is now open! No more driving 8 miles out of the way to get to work/gym/tennis/store. WOO HOO!

Tonight, I have dishes and laundry and Tivo. Another exciting Friday. Have a great weekend :)

Let the sun shine...

Let the sun shine, let the sun shine in, the su-unnshine in-nnnn.... And after what seemed like 40 days and nights, the ark came to rest in Lilburn. Noah opened the door to the ark and let the inhabitants out to run and play tennis!

Good thing I was feeling lazy today...

I don't know if you have seen reports of weather in GA (or fellow bloggers complaining about it) but it has been raining here non-stop since last Tuesday. Yesterday was no exception. I heard the lightening and thunder all night long and woke up at around 3:30 when the electricity came back one to reset my alarm clock. Don't ask me how I knew the electricity was back on, it just was a coincidence, really. Divine intervention perhaps. At any rate, I set my alarm for my usual 4:44A with the full intention of getting up and doing an interval run on the treadmill. At that hour, I am not listening to the radio or watching TV, I am just putting on clothes as fast as I can to head out the door.

This morning, I was lazy. I had been awakened several times through the night with the storm that had rolled through. When 4:44 came around, I re-set the alarm for later. Later as in just in time to get up to go to work.

I get ready in a rush. I haven't checked the weather as I pretty much know the forecast is rain for the next 7 days. I think I saw a ZERO percent chance of rain on Monday the 28th! Every day prior to that is a minimum of a 40% chance. As I am walking out the door, I notice a big pool of water in the garage. Ruh roh. My mind immediately goes to the water heater. Checked. Not leaking. Thank goodness as we just had that replaced earlier this year. I grab towels and start trying to figure out the source dreading what one would think must be some sort of plumbing disaster.

In most cases, a flooded garage would be no big deal. In our case, we don't actually park the cars in the garage, it is more of a workshop for Rick so it is lined with tools, cabinets, you name it. Think storage space as opposed to garage. Not crammed to the gills but still quite the project to drag everything out and dry it off. Thankfully, I was lazy this morning or might not have even noticed the water as I left for the gym shortly after 5a.

As it turns out there were floods all over the city, particularly in the area I travel through to get to the gym and to work. Several roads caved in due to the water underneath the surface. One lady got swept away in her minivan and died down a street I pass right by to go to the gym. I am also thinking at 5a, some of the areas with damage might not have been noticed and I could have plowed right into a flooded street or road that had collapsed. There were a couple of each along my route. For the record, I don't live on the banks of the Mississippi. I live in metro Atlanta. This flooding is highly unusual. I can't recall anything like it in my years here. Maybe the alarm clock was divine intervention, maybe not. I am pretty sure the decision not to go to the gym was an intervention and boy am I glad.


Buses toppled and pushed about by the water which was reportedly 7 feet high this AM as it rushed through. This is about a mile down the street from me.


Good call on cancelling the Beach Bash.