Ok, since Kim posted her training program (which, btw, I heartily endorse), I thought I would show you all the madness that is now my life. Note especially weeks 8, 6, and 4. Nothing like running 50 miles in one week.

I broke down yesterday and sent mass email to a whole bunch of my SB friends. I really wasn't going to do the group email thing, but there were SO MANY of them that I hadn't spoken to in 7+ months, and the thought of writing 20 different emails that all said the same thing seemed daunting and also pointless. So now the burden is on them! If they respond, great (and maybe I can hit them up in the future to support my Run for Research). If not, a few less people I have to keep in touch with. If I'd realized what a relief it would be to send the email, I would've done it a while ago. Though, to be fair, I was waiting in part to have a steady job, etc to report. Maybe I'll be inspired to find old high school/college friends and send them a version of the email. Don't want to go overboard though. I dislike having too many friends :)

I had a dream about my mom last night. In my dream she was on a spiritual quest. I remember telling her it made no sense to me that she would study Wicca and physics to understand Catholicism. That led to a revelation of sorts. I need to ruminate a bit before I write it out.

Incidentally, it is my mother's birthday. Gift ideas? Keep in mind tomorrow is my parents' anniversary, so I should really send two gifts. I would just go home to celebrate with them, but dammit, this weekend is my birthday, and I want to celebrate here! :)

Wore my Run Against Bush shirt out on the lakefill today and got two "right on!"s and no mean comments. Either there are lots of democrats on the north side or the anti-Bush people are just louder. Either way, it made me happy!

Kim and Nick throw the best parties. Why? Because I got to see a fire! (I'm only that excited because I'm pretty sure no people or expensive property were damaged.)

I got up at 5am, ran 6 miles on the treadmill, and then headed upstairs to stretch, eat, shower, etc. And realized I didn't have my keys. Sure enough, I left my keys on the floor of the locked workout room. So I stretched in the lobby of my building, patiently waiting for someone, anyone to enter or leave the building, so that they could let me into the workout room. It was an full 15 minutes before I saw someone. Over 200 people live in my building. I think I'm up a little bit too early in the morning. I figured out today that I'm up 3.5 hours before I even start work. By the time I get home from work I've been up 13.5 hours. So if I want to get 8 hours of sleep, which I do, I only have 2.5 hours of awake time after work. no wonder I never get anything done!

I suppose most of us are creatures of habit, and I'm no exception. Common sense and mystery novels would tell me that the habitualization (perhaps even ritualization) of my life puts me at risk for kidnapping or assassination, but that hasn't yet dissuaded me. I wake up at roughly the same time every day, get ready in the same way and same order. And I am almost always on the same train to downtown and most definitely on the same bus to work.

Apparently, I'm not the only one. Every day I see the same people at the bus stop. When I walk up the stairs from the subway to the bus stop I automatically search for my fellow travelers to be sure I haven't missed the bus. I've seen these people every day for the past several months, and while I don't know even their first names, I feel that they are a part of my life.

There's the annoying woman. I can't put my finger on exactly what about her annoys me, but even when she and I found ourselves standing face to face on a crowded train, neither of us bothered to comment on how strange it was to see each other out of our normal context. She wears an informal uniform of sorts, the same sensible low-heleed shoes, the same lightweight plaid raincoat, and the same tailord pants that fall just to her ankles, leaving her looking a bit as if she was stranded in the early 90s. Regardless of time or weather, she always looks anxious , constantly glacing at her watch and then down the street in the direction of the bus. And she invariably makes a call on her cell phone just before the bus arrives. I can almost predict the arrival of the bus just from her phone habits. I have a theory that she's calling the bus driver to ask where the hell he is.

I am hardly an outgoing or social person, and I spend neary every second of my commute reading, not exactly condusive to forming connections with my fellow travelers. But even once I am on the bus even I occasionally glance up. And I've noticed a couple who seem to appear on my bus about once a week. They always have their bikes with them, and though they get on the bus at the same stop they depart at different stops, the woman at my stop, and the man shortly before us. Perhaps they would not have piqued my interested, except that the woman seemed so familiar to me. It took my a while to place, but I realized that she reminded me of someone who had lived in my dorm at college. And then I forgot all about it. But today as I was getting off the bus I realized that it could actually be her. And through the wonders of the internet, I now know that it was.

Somehow this big city seems so much smaller sometimes than the small towns I've lived in.

Bad idea: run 11 miles and then sit in a car for 6 hours.

I'm a tad stiff at the moment.

I saw the President of Mexico today! From across the street, through a window. The window to my office just happened to be in a perfect sniper location. Apparently I didn't seem to pose a threat because none of the gazillions of cops milling around came to sweep my office or even looked up at my window.

Since it seems that these days the majority of my non-commute free time is spent running, thinking about running, preparing to run, recovering from a run, scheduling time to run, washing sweaty running clothes, and eating enough calories to sustain a long run, I figured I might as well give in and turn my blog into a temporary running forum. Very temporary, I'm sure.

So, from a neophyte "runner" (see post from April 20th or so if you want to understand why I just started to consider myself a runner)... my tips for those new to running:

-- find a training schedule you like (Hal Higdon is good for any distance) and post the schedule everywhere you look... mine is next to my front door, right above my alarm clock in my room, taped to the bathroom mirror, written in my planner, and right in my line of sight at work all day

-- sign up for a race and tell everyone you know you're doing it. they probably won't care or think any less of you if you don't run, but it'd be embarrassing to answer questions like "how was the race?" with "I didn't run because I was too out of shape"

-- invest in a good pair of running shoes. there are all sorts of thories about whether you should have one pair or two that you rotate, thow long to keep a pair of running shoes, he best brand, etc. my advice is to go somewhere where the salespeople know something about running and will ask you questions like where you run, what distances you run AND will let you run around the store, around the parking lot, or on a treadmill. Don't buy running shoes just because they're the ones on sale. Buying good running shoes will serve two purposes--- you will have to run a lot to justify the cost, and your feet, ankles, kneees, hips, back, etc will thank you

-- run with other people. this one doesn't actually work for me because I generally prefer to run alone. but especially for long runs, if you schedule a run with another person you're both more likely to actually follow through and run b/c you don't want to let down the other person. and while you're running you can motivate each other and call each other mean names when you wimp out. if you don't have any friends crazy enough to run with you, find a running group. There are tons in chi-town, but they exist pretty much everywhere

-- drink lots of Gatorade while you're running. not sure how much it actually helps, but it's fairly addictive, and if you start associating Gatorade with running you'll start craving running :)

-- even when you don't feel like running, run anyway. sometimes you feel better once you start. sometimes you don't, but it still gets you in better shape, and your run the next day will feel better

-- email me every day and tell me how far you ran, and if you stop I will yell at you!

It's comforting to have a training schedule. When I wake up at 5 every morning, the calendar hanging by my front door tells me what to do. I don't have to think about how far to run, or even whether I want to run. The schedule decides if it's time to rest or cross train or run at race pace. I think I'm beginning to understand why people join the army.

When I told people I was moving from Southern California to the Midwest, everyone warned me about the horrible Midwest winters. I moved back in December, survived the winter, and thought I was fine. I somehow forgot about the Midwest summers. Amazing how you can spend 22 summers in one place, move away for 4 years, and your body just forgets. Forgets what it feels like to be sopping wet and huffing and puffing after walking up the stairs and forgets what it feels like to need   air conditioning.

Yesterday was the official start of my 18 week marathon training program, but yesterday was cross training. So today was the day I was supposed to start running. I was excited to be in training again -- having daily goals and getting to use my new GPS watch (don't laugh). But my "run" at 5:30 this morning just did not happen. I might have run about half a mile. Maybe. At a 13 minute mile pace. (That's practically walking.) I felt awful and continued to feel that way for hours, even after I was sitting in my air conditioned office. I did manage to get in my 3 miles when I got home from work. Inside. On the treadmill. At some point I will have to run outside again. Just not yet.

I don't know how closely any of you follow national business news, but you may have heard today a small item about how my dad's job was eliminated. Actually, in point of fact, his whole company was eliminated. Luckily, I've talked to my father several times in the past few days and when I heard it on NPR this morning it wasn't a shock. Say what you will about the improved economy, this is the third major company headquartered in my parents' little community to close its doors in the past year. While the event must have sent shock waves through my hometown, it went almost unnoticed on the national front, with just a note about how the parent corporation would now be "leaner."

This is not as devastating to my immediate family as one might think. My dad was already unhappy enough in his job that he was actively looking, and had interviewied elsewhere, before the announcement was made. My dad will also likely be offered the chance to stay on with the parent corporation, albeit in a lower level position. Since my parents have lived in the same small house for the past 30 years and rarely splurge on anything more exciting than a dinner out, this will hardly be a problem for them.

But it affects them, and me, on a different level entirely. My uncle worked for that same company, and I don't yet know how he and my aunt and cousins will be affected. My mother's place of employment was largely reliant on the generosity of this company, as were many of the cultural institutions in town. My brother and I have many friends whose mothers, fathers, aunt, uncles, etc all worked there. In fact, I find it hard to imagine that anyone in town would not be affected in some way by the closing of this company. And in a town where many highly-skilled, highly-educated people have been out of work for a year or more already with few job prospects, this could be devastating news.

If the economy is indeed rebounding, it's doing so at the expense of small-town America.

According to OED:

myriad n. & adj. literary    n. 1 an indefinitely great number. 2 ten thousand. adj. of an indefinitely great number

I think I used it correctly!

I feel like an adult. Starting Monday I will have, in addition to the long-awaited medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, long-term disability insurance, a retirement plan, and a pre-tax transportation program. Yikes. I spent all day in orientation today, and now I have to make the tough choices. I have FOUR different medical insurance companies to choose from and two different dental. Amount options on everything else, and the retirement plans just confuse the hell out of me-- two different companies, with a myriad of investment options for each. I can even choose to have my money divided between the two companies and among the many options. And then a supplemental plan option with a gazillion different amounts and the same company/investment choices.

There's such a thing as too much choice. I just want to be able to go to the doctor again! At least my benefits start immediately :)