Spring?

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again. - Sarah Ban Breathnach

Maybe...dare I say? Spring may have just
FINALLY come to Minnesota...but I'm scared that now that I iterated that, that it may all go away!! Plenty of positive thinking though brought temps in the 60s and sun too!! So after work (I was exhausted this morning and slept past my date at the gym, sure hope I didn't miss hottie!) I drove to the gym, put on shorts and a short sleeved top (yes first run in both!!). I went for about 3 miles. I had mapped it ahead of time and still think it might have been a little short since my time frame for it would point to 8 minute or so miles and it didn't feel fast. Heel has a little soreness but not even to the degree I felt it Sunday after the run, so I think I'm on the mend. I'm planning to take two days off running again and do it again on Saturday, maybe for 4 miles. Then Monday or Tuesday of next week and we'll see about the rest of it since I'm out of town for part of next week.

Grandma is home today, on a restricted diet that she doesn't like (lower salt and cholesterol of course) and hopefully she'll be seeing the surgeon this week and we'll have more answers on what is going on and what they might need to do.

I met with a friend last night and had a nice chat and in a couple of weeks I'm excited to be going to the theater again. I haven't been in something like 10 years...yeah...must be, my ex (before L last summer that is) and I had tickets with others and he and I broke up and my cousin came instead. What's kind of interesting is I hadn't seen him in 8 years and talked to him in longer than that (he was at a couple of things I was at and we didn't say a word to each other at those events), anyway, I found him someplace and sent a hi...he responded back...he has a 5 and 3 year old now...that's just weird to think of, because technically, that might have been me. I had thought he and I might get married and probably would have had kids (it wouldn't have been right, but everyone else I knew was getting married at the time, figured he and I would do it too). It just gets weird how things turn out sometimes.

And He Runs

That's right...I got to the gym today, hit the track at 5:45 and saw my hottie on a treadmill...the temptation was very strong to get on one of the two empty treadmills on either side of him (even though that violates the invasion of space rule!) and I am so bored by the treadmill these days...I only use the track or outside, but that's just how cute he is. Anyway, I stuck to the track and just admired him as I ran past each lap...till at 2 miles for me, he got off the mill and headed out...and then I discovered he was in the weight room! Nice thing about the track, there are a couple of spots where you can see down to the weight room, so I got to see him a few more times...wonder if he'll be there tomorrow...wonder if I will...Oh, and I did get 7 miles in...and a decent pace, 1:01:30...I finally timed myself with an actual watch and not the clock I normally am using. I'm still pretty sure the track is accurate and I always run the outside lane...

I am amazed I was able to get up this morning. Last night I was at work till after 5 (I'm in at 7:30 so yes, that makes for a long day), I got home, took a quick power nap, got up, got dressed, snacked way too much and then a friend happens to be in town for training for work so we finally managed to get together for dinner and a drink and caught up. Hopefully he'll be joining up with me and some other friends to see a band on Saturday. I have yet to see them play, but the lead singer/namesake for the band used to be part of a friend's band and has an amazing voice so looking forward to checking them out.

Running Like it Should Be

Last night was a perfect night for a run. The humidity had broken, although maybe that’s not the right way to state it. It was raining, relieving the air of the heavy feel that too much moisture can cause. When I put on my running shoes and headed out the door, it was a light rain, steady, but not a downpour. The clouds were coming through and there was a little thunder (but no visible lightning other than one streak I saw walking out of the house, and yes, I know, if there is thunder there is definitely lightning) but just a light rain. And it wasn’t that dark and gray of an overcast, rainy day. There were areas around the metro that were clear, and/or the rain hadn’t come through yet, so there was sun around the edges, making it seem necessary for sunglasses, although I never actually wore them (the rain would’ve been a deterrent to that, although I wish I had worn a hat), they were on top of my head the whole run. I was going to run 4. But since it was cooler, and the rain was falling, and at one point (probably mile 4) it started to pour, so I was not getting any wetter, I decided to stay out till it stopped…6 miles later I was home, clothes were dripping, shoes were drenched, socks could be wrung out, but I felt good. Not a great run, but at least it was a fun one. As soon as I figured out it was raining, it made me want to get out in it. Now in the early spring and later fall, that’s not so much the reaction, but when it’s summer, it’s warm out, you have been sweating on runs and feeling gross, it’s nice to have a refreshing rain to run in. Especially when it’s not as dark and grey as it could be, and the sun is even slightly poking through…

I even made it to bed kind of early, expecting to wake up, as usual, around 5, and get out of bed to run...but with no alarm for that early, I didn't wake up, so will have to try to get one in tonight, maybe after dinner. L and I are going on a "date" tonight, dinner somewhere (I have to make the decision, I'm thinking one of the little places along the river) and then possibly going for a run...I have to say, I like having a boyfriend that runs. And actually suggests it on occasion himself or really likes the idea when it is mentioned.

The Weekend

Well, another weekend that was busy and it was so nice out that I never had a chance to get online. It Started with drinks at my hangout on Friday night. My roommate and a friend of hers came out and we were having fun and I happened to run into J4…now he hasn’t been mentioned in quite some time as I hadn’t heard from him after meeting him Super Bowl Sunday. Kind of a fluke on him being there, he saw me and we started talking, he couldn’t necessarily explain exactly why he didn’t call, but he did regret not calling, so said he would call me the next day before he left. We closed the bar and went home…

Saturday morning I had an early morning wake up call from C…that is always nice to get a call at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. Apparently he can’t sleep in anymore since he gets up early for work during the week so he opts to call people then. He might be working on my mortgage when I find a place which is why he was calling, to let me know that he had the option to do it. We talked a bit and then I got up since there wasn’t much point in trying to sleep longer. I had a scheduled showing for my house on Saturday from 1:45-3, so I did a bit of straitening up and decided to call my home and talked to my dad for an hour. Got off the phone with him and shortly after that (while my roommate and I were chatting), J (we’ll drop the 4 since the other Js are not a factor anymore) called and we talked for a bit. He invited me over for dinner and suggested a movie rental or something for later. I was game for it (particularly since he was offering to make a rotisserie, rosemary chicken, sounded yummy!) and after going for a walk with my roommate around Lake Calhoun (it was a gorgeous day on Saturday) and taking a little nap, then going for a run, I went over to J’s for dinner. We ended up drinking some wine, chatting, eating a most excellent meal, he showed me the work he’s doing on his house and then we watched Man of the Year which was quite funny. Both of us were tired from being out late the night before so around 1 (OK, it wasn’t real early) I headed home with thoughts of potentially having him come with me on Sunday to look at the house I was interested in buying. (They were having an open house).

Sunday I lost that darn hour but had an excellent run. Not real far, but I did 8 miles in 1:05:05 (8:08 pace) which felt easy. It must be the dropping 5 pounds of clothes, all I was wearing were light tights, light weight windbreakers, a long sleeved, light weight tech shirt and light weight windbreaker on top. The nice weather helped too I’m sure. Later that afternoon my roommate and I headed over to my friend’s that lives on the street I was hoping to move to. J met us and we started a look on the house to see what might be good and what might not (J is a contractor so part of why I wanted his help in looking). Unfortunately we found out there was an offer in on the house. My realtor called and asked about contingent, but they wouldn’t go contingent so it’s now gone…which means I’m going to stay with my asking price and work to get as much out of it as I can so I have more money to put down on the next one along with money to use toward remodels and such I might want to do (good thing I now know a contractor!!). After the look, my friend and I went for a walk with her dog and caught up, went back to her place for a while and then I headed home to meet up with MNFirefly and FullMetalLunchbox (who if you are keeping up, have been officially dating for a couple of months now and MNFirefly is moving to Chicago for a job and to be near her new sweetie). J came with me as he had nothing going on and was game for getting out of the house and the four of us met for a few beers and some food. Was a nice evening, FullMetalLunchbox seems quite nice and I think he would be a fun drinking partner, (particularly with reading his blog) too bad we didn’t have more time!! And he was working on my running Chicago in the fall…not sure I will, but I’ll have to make a trip down for a party weekend, and they have promised to come back for my housewarming, whenever and wherever that might be. Anyway, they were kind of cute all snuggly on the booth, kind of made you sick to watch (just kidding!!).

That’s it for my weekend, but another one without a real long run. I did some strength and 4 miles at lunch (it was too nice to not go outside) and tonight I’m planning 12-15…we’ll see what happens. I’ll rearrange