Allergies

My allergies have been terrible the last few days. Everyone else in my family seems to be sick with a cold at the same time. It hasn't kept me from running though. I had a good run last night. I ran 4 miles in 26:07. I knew I was pushing it a bit, but once I saw my first mile was 6:48, I thought to myself that it must be a day for pushing it, so I upped the effort a bit and ran 6:43 for my next mile (into a stiff headwind). So 13:31 at the turn and I knew it would be easier running back with the wind at my back so I just got going a good pace and kind of coasted. My next mile was around 6:30 and I finished in about 6:06 for my last mile. I felt pretty good about that because I'm still not in very good shape, but getting closer everyday now.

I ran 6 miles with Juliet this morning and was pretty beat from last nights run, but we made it through like always and felt good afterwards like always. Now I've been sneezing my head off all morning. I took some Benadryl allergy medicine, but I have yet to find any medicine that gets rid of the sneezing, stuffy nose, nose running, etc. Oh well, I guess it just helps me to appreciate my health when I've got it. Later yo.

Sunny Winter Day...

I think the toe issue is pretty much gone now. I ran 6 miles this morning with Juliet from Mama Stortini's up the trail to Fred Meyer and back and it felt fine. There is still a little bit of pain if I push on it, but it doesn't seem to affect my running anymore so that is good. Now I'm just sitting here at BSS waiting for the throngs of people to show up and rent storage units. Business has actually been very good this year compared to the last couple of years; hopefully that is a good sign that the economy is bouncing back. With the weather having been so nice the last week, I have been getting spring fever and wanting to get outside and do things. It has also brought allergy season quite early and I've been going through tissues like they're going out of style. I'm thinking about getting my tennis racquet restrung sometime soon. I've had those strings on there I think since about 2001 or 2002. I'm thinking about trying a rough textured string to see if I can generate a little more spin, but I don't really know how well those work. I guess we'll see...

Schooled.

I got SCHOOLED by Greg this morning. I was up 2-0 on him to start, but ended up losing 6-3, 6-2. My serve was sucking, and I couldn't get into a rhythm with my ground strokes. Anybody know where I can get a good deal on a ball machine? I need to learn how to hit the ball better.

EHL Trouble

I've been battling Extensor tendonitis (top of big toe) the last couple of days. I just bought some new running shoes. I scored a great deal on some Nike Air Pegasus. I paid about $40 for them. Well, I blame them for this toe issue, because I refuse to believe it's a coincidence that as soon as I switch shoes that's when I get hurt. So far I've been able to run through it and haven't missed as much as a mile, but it's been crazy. Juliet laughs at me because I go out of my way to run on gravel, dirt or grass, oftentimes zig-zagging all over the place to find the soft stuff. The softer terrain really helps alleviate the pain. If I had to run on pavement, I don't think I could handle it. Well, I've been popping ibuprofen and icing it like crazy, which also has been helping. I have another 4 miles to do tonight, then I am hoping on going on a longer run tomorrow (8-10 miles) morning because I have a tennis match lined up for Saturday morning with Greg again. I beat him 6-2 last time. Maybe we will have enough time to play 2 sets this week. Then hopefully my toe will be all healed up for next Monday in time to start running again.

One to the two to the two to the three...

Ran 5 miles this morning from BSS up to Woodland Cemetery and back. I felt pretty sluggish this morning. Dallas had his testing today to see about going into a special program for advanced learners. I'm not sure exactly what it consisted of, but Dallas didn't seem to like it too much. Having two kids go to two different schools sucked too. I don't think we would enjoy that too much. I've got two tennis matches lined up for this weekend. Both are on Saturday. I am playing with Greg at Sprinker in Spanaway from 7:30 to 9:00 and then I've got my first match with the South Sound Tennis Tour at 2 p.m. It should be fun, but I'm a little nervous because I have never played competitively with anybody besides friends and family before. I'm looking forward to it. You never know what to expect when you play someone new. Anyway, that's the latest update with me. Laters.

My Morning So Far...

Had a crazy start to my morning today. The plan was to meet Juliet at Mama Stortini's restaurant at 7 a.m. for our usual 6 mile morning run. Well, my alarm went off at 6:15, which was earlier than I wanted to rise. It is normally set at 6:30, but Derrinda had a meeting early yesterday morning so I changed it to 6:15 and forgot to set it back. Well, I hit snooze (I thought, the Power button is right behind the snooze) and went back to sleep. Next thing I know I open my eyes and glance at the clock-- 7:02. Crap! Juliet's been waiting for me at Storts. I threw on my warm up pants grabbed socks and shoes and ran down to speed the 2 miles over to where she was waiting. The only problem was I didn't have a shirt on, oh well, no time to get a shirt, so I threw on a zip up sweatshirt that I saw laying there on the floor and threw my socks and shoes in the van and drove off. The clock in the van said 7:07 when I got there. Juliet was not there. I thought maybe she was walking back to her apartment (my mind wasn't working good just yet), so I drove past her apartment and then realized she was probably on the trail getting her run in without my delinquent butt. I came up with plan B which was to drive to the Safeway and hopefully she would be getting there at about the same time as me and I could start from there. I hurried and put my socks and shoes on and went out to the trail. Thankfully I saw her about 200 yards down the trail heading towards me. At this time I realized I hadn't taken the time to pee yet, so I took this opportunity and visited the bushes (George W. and Laura were not there however). Juliet told me she saw someone go into the bushes and was scared they were going to kill her. She was ticked when she realized it was me. She was going a good pace and it seemed particularly quick to me since I wasn't warmed up yet, but I finished the run with her and then ran back up to the van so I still got the 6 miles in. I told her I didn't have time to put a shirt on and made a joke of it by zipping my sweatshirt down half way and revealing my "Jonathan" chest (Michael Landon in Highway to Heaven). It was funny.