Snow Day

First, I was tagged. Here's the deal:

1. Find nearest book
2. Name book and author
3. Turn to page 123
4. Go to 5th sentence and copy the next three to blog
5. tag 3 others

1.The nearest book is on the floor beside the computer. It is an optional book for Riley's Speech 115 - Group Communication class.
2. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
3. Page 123 is titled "An Easy Way to Become a Good Conversationalist"
4. "Bores, that is all they are - bores intoxicated with their own egos, drunk with a sense of their own importance. People who talk only of themselves think only of themselves. And, 'those people who think only of themselves', Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, longtime president of Columbia University, said, 'are hopelessly uneducated. They are not educated', said Dr. Butler, 'no matter how instructed they are.' "
5. I tag Rob, Eric and Darcy. (Eric, you'll have to find the next nearest book!)

Okay. I didn't know how to handle all the quote marks, and though I have the APA guide, didn't want to look it up. I was going to continue to write of my recent runs, but after typing in that quote, I'm thinking I might be a bore. Now that is something to think about. When we blog and we are writing about ourselves - our runs, our lives, our thoughts - are we bores? Or is the nature of a blog to do just that? An online journal, about what ever it is that the author wants to ramble about. I'll go with that thought...so I'm going to write about my runs, and if it bores you, you'd best check out now!

I didn't get the wind and rain I'd hoped for yesterday morning. It came by last night instead. However, I did get a nice surprise. I'd just left the house and was walking past the neighbors when I heard a truck coming down the street - I turned around to look and assumed it was either another neighbor or the newspaper delivery. I was surprised to hear my name shouted out (this is at 5:05 am) and turned around to see Rick climbing out of the truck. He woke up early and decided to join me for my run - a very nice surprise. My plan was to run the infamous Wednesday hill run (even though it was Tuesday) then to turn around at a certain point and do it backwards for a total of eight to nine miles. Rick was agreeable, so off we went. Neither one of us wore our headlamps. I'd forgotten how dark it can be on the backside of this run. We made our way to the turn around point, and I decided I was too tired to go backwards, but I still wanted eight miles. We followed our normal route, but where we usually turn off for the last mile to home, went straight, which takes us up another gigantic hill. We came into the neighborhood with .3 mile to go to reach eight, so we continued running till the Garmin twinkled at us.

This morning, we woke to a fine layer of snow over a glaze of ice from last night's rain. Eric and I both opted to sleep in. Schools were closed, and the college wasn't opening till 10:00. I got up around seven, checked the weather and road conditions, then elected to cancel both the Y committee meeting that I chair and the scheduled staff meeting at work. I also took the option of working from home today - I brought work home with me yesterday, just in case. Around nine, I decided to go for a run. It was about 32 degrees, and the snow was dry and crunchy. As long as I stayed off the tire tracks, all was good. I ran to the park, did a few laps there, then ran on the new, unopened road to the college. The only tracks I saw on the new road were deer, coyote and rabbit. I tested out my new trail shoes and found them to be most excellent. I logged five miles in an hour and six minutes (that includes walking while I talked to Jenny on the phone, and a stop at the park restroom). Not too bad for a snowy day.

The only downside I can see to the Garmin comes from my own obsessiveness. Twice in a row now, I've entered the neighborhood just short of a full mile mark - today it was 4.6. I can't stand it - I feel compelled to even it out. When I didn't know the exact mileage I always ran to the same spot and stopped. Now I run to that spot, glance at the Garmin, and continue. Obsessive. Gotta get over that.