Thirty-Eight Minutes ~ CHECK!

A little while ago, I just finished a 38 minute run! I had to do it on the treadmill, for much as I tried, I just could not get excited about running out in the cold, slightly damp, windy weather. Nope, braving the elements of Northeast Ohio at this time of year is not looking very promising! I started out with grand plans....'I'm going to run outside until the snow is too deep or it's too icy! No problem...I'm dedicated, I. Am. A. Runner.' (Hear me roar....)

Nah...not happening. Me and the 'mill are going to become VERY acquainted over the next 3 months unless I have a major attitude adjustment! Maybe it was just me today, time will tell I guess!

So, back to the run...it is the longest run time I've had so far, and I took it nice and slow, keeping my heart rate between 140 - 143. I remember not too long ago, wondering how the heck I was going to run 20 minutes straight! Today, 38 minutes was so comfortable - naturally because I had a slower pace. I even felt like I could keep going for another 5 minutes. This was great because it typically takes me about 10 minutes to get in the groove...and by the time I'm all settled in and really feeling great, it's time to stop! So 38 minutes today was very nice.

Other than my sweet run, today was 'girls day' in the house. I took Alison for her placement test at St. Joe's this morning, and attended a parent meeting for an hour & 1/2. I can see why Alison loves the school so much...and I was very impressed with the '21st Century' curriculum structure. She would definitely be prepared for college with technology skills, communication and writing skills, and multi-cultural awareness. Another impressive stat - the Class of 2008, with 149 students, had 8 MILLION dollars in college scholarship awards! Holy cow....that is very, very impressive to me.

We got home around noon and then it was 'spa time' - Alison wanted me to color her hair and trim her bangs. (she had some old highlights she's been trying to grow out and they needed to be toned down basically, nothing drastic!) And then Grace needed a trim.....and then nail painting....you know, 'girl stuff'.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we'll all be out in the leaves...UGH. When we first bought this house 15 years ago....it was so 'fun' to have a yard to rake, and then the kids came along and that was all cute and fun with the leaf piles etc. Now? Raking leaves is the bane of my existence! Yes we have leaf blowers, and tarps for transporting leaves from the back to the tree lawn....but nothing about this job is fun in my opinion. Now we have to pull the kids by their ears to get out and help, we all have allergies...Mike gets 'dizzy'...The only bright side is that it will be a good workout! Always the optimist, aren't I? ;-)

And finally, some 'NSV' news to share...I stopped in to say hello to my mother in law while I waited for Alison to finish the last hour of her testing. The in-laws just got back from 10 days away visiting Mike's sister in San Francisco. Mom almost dropped the phone when I walked in! She said, 'oh my gosh do you look GREAT!'. I reminded her that she just saw me 2 weeks ago and that I can't look THAT different....she said, 'I can see that this 'running thing' (ha ha) really agrees with you, I've never seen you look so healthy!' I found this very enlightening, because nobody ever said that to me the last time I lost weight. (and the time before, and the time before....) No one EVER said anything about looking 'healthy'...compliments were always about 'weight' and 'skinny'...very interesting indeed....

My answer to her? I've never felt this good, that's for SURE!

Run on....