Five miler, tempo run with EC and books galore

Helloooo there. Hope all is well out in the blogosphere.

Things are things here. Could be better. Could be worse. I'm just rolling with the punches (the aforementioned "punch" nearly knocked me out Wednesday but I'll get to that).

Let's start with Tuesday. I made it to work - which is always a plus - I worked hard and churned out a descent story about UGA traditions (Sidebar: It's Ga-Fla weekend which makes things WILD here because the game is played in Jacksonville). You'd think that Georgia's biggest rival would be Ga. Tech - in state - right? Wrong. It's Florida. They HATE Florida. And I'm certain the feeling is mutual. Since the game is in J-ville, an hour away, every Dawg and Gator fan (it seems) passes through on their way...leaving a path of destruction (or just a lot of beer cans, but a mess no less).

I didn't work out at lunch but I DID make it in after work. I ran five miles...3.2 on one tready. It was uneven and was shaking so I moved over for another two miles. From there, I scooped up a Firehouse turkey salad - yums - and headed home. I showered, ate and relaxed. I also listened to a lot of music. I'm currently OBSESSED with a new CD by Slash, the former guitarist for Guns n Roses. He's one of the best. For this album, he's teamed-up with different vocalists (Slash is no singer...and I respect that he didn't try). He's got songs with Fergie, Kid Rock (who actually sounds good), and Chris Cornell, the former singer of Soundgarden, plus several others.

Good stuff.

I've also fallen in love with a cover of "Billie Jean" by Chris Cornell. So. friggin. awesome. LOVE HIS VOICE. Sure its scratchy and desperate, but that's its appeal. Check it here.


I also stumbled upon his cover of the Beatles' "Hide Your Love Away." Oh my. I usually HATE people who cover the Beatles. Blasphemy if you ask me...but I'm acutally a fan of this one. He does it well.

After listening, having wine and chilaxon - I went to bed.

Wednesday didn't have much room for relaxing, at least during the day. I got up and went to work. Worked hard. Then I went to the gym for walking (one mile) and shoulder work. It wasn't until AFTER work that I got my real work out. Erika and I hit the track for tempo runs (this is where the aforementioned "punch" comes in).

Running fast is SO hard for me. Erika runs a 7 min mile. It was clearly less difficult for her. I still have to nearly kill myself to hit an eight minute mile. 

What you do for this is run four laps (two laps = a mile so we ran four). We did two warm-up miles. Then we started again running. This time running "like we stole something" (as Ashle says). Really it's as fast as you can maintain for a mile, i.e. two laps. Then you rest for two and a half minutes. Then you go again. Again. And again. And again. It's really awful. So bad in fact that we agreed to do it once a week. If we HATE it, it MUST be good for us!

I went home and showered and prepared for a chill evening. Again. Love it. I investigated my new Garmin runner's watch (anniverary present). This bitch can do everything but spin straw in to friggin gold. Fo sho. It tracks your heart rate, pace, distance and shows you what route to take.

Here's a shot of the track. Little Miss Speedy is finishing up a lap. You can't really see her.

Other than that, I did want to mention one more exciting tidbit. My bestie, Kelly, brought home a new child. It's a maltipoo named Remy to go with their SUPER cute poodle-shih tsu mix Reuben.

Just love the name. And it was between Riley and Remy. So glad she took Remy. She looks like one. Here she is...only 3 pounds! So far, so good with big brother.

I also started yet another new book. It's called "The Glass Castle" and I borrowed it from a co-worker. This is an AWESOME book. I can't put it down. 

Of course, I have two books "Eat, Pray, Love" and "The Gift of Rain" - yes STILL trying to finish that one. But they're both boring in comparasion.

That's all the excitement currently going down in the 'Wick. Stay tuned.