The belt on the treadmill goes round and round.

The first thing I want to say is thank you to all those who have served in the armed forces of the United States of America.  Without your sacrifices, your risking of your life/limbs/sanity and missing countless family events that all of us take for granted - than we would not have the freedom to say we are the land of the free.  Thank you.

[caption id="attachment_1717" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Thank you to our Vets, that risked losing all, in the belief that their country and its people were worth that risk.[/caption]

Now on to the running talk.

Product Review: Runtastic (comparison to Cardiotrainer)

When I realized there had to be an easier way to track my mileage than doing it manually, I looked for apps on the Android Market (this was before it was "Google Play")  I tried several, and ended up using Cardiotrainer as it did everything I was looking for.  As time passed, they even added a heart rate monitor, which I as a good consumer went out and bought it.

Falling for an age-old weakness- When I saw Runtastic for sale on the Google Play store for .25 for the pro version (there is a free version,) I bought it.  Then I felt I had to try it (I spent a whole quarter on it after all!)

Pondering the proper pace

Up and at 'em Adam Ant!!!!!

I won!  A true victory!   Now, what is this amazing victory you ask?  I GOT OUT OF BED IN TIME TO RUN!!!!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!!   Apparently the post-election hangover, compounded by a post-stay-up-late-making-sure-your-son-does-2-weeks-of-homework-at-once, hits pretty hard!   We got a wonderful note (the communication was wonderful, not the content of the note) from my son's fifth grade teacher.  It seems he hasn't been doing his homework (and his test grades show this.)  He also hasn't been bringing home the notes from the teacher telling us he hasn't done his homework (thus showing he IS an intelligent child capable of more.)

[caption id="attachment_1691" align="aligncenter" width="564"] Apparently we are old fashioned in my house - when it comes to grades.[/caption]

 

Through Rain and Sleet and Snow and Political Hangovers...

So, I'm a political junkie. With help from Google and NPR (Washington DC's WAMU is a fantastic station!)  I have stayed up on the political scenery, both nationally and locally, as well as I possibly could.  I was also very scared of what our political landscape could look like under the candidates I didn't support, and what it could mean for our country's continued existence (and lets NOT bring up the fiscal cliff and its frustrating absence in the discussions.)  So how this relates to running you ask?  Well, its more the lack of sleep that this caused last night.  I couldn't go to sleep until the "Fat Lady had Sung."

(as a side note - I am very proud of my new state, we passed Same Sex Marriage and the DREAM act!)

But on to the running.. As the Alarm went off this morning, the last thing my body wanted was to roll out of bed and go or a run.  But since, I blew it the day before - up I went.  It was 38 degrees out, so noticeably warmer than yesterday! Talk about a fantastic starting point.

Hanging at the parents

This weekend we headed up to see the loved ones we left behind in NY. We came up Friday evening with the goal of seeing my wife's BFF (and our kitties that now live at their house.). The fun part of surprising people is when they aren't home! We did however get to see our cats, and their kids! The babysitter (also a friend of ours) seemed to think it was funny, at least she did when she got over the shock of us "out-of-staters" walking through the front door! We had come, supposedly, for the Annual Penguin book sale, so we did head out there on Saturday after visiting people (and eating a cinnabon. Sooooo good, and luckily we haven't found them in Maryland.). We stood in line in a cold drizzle and decided that this year it simply wasn't worth it. This morning I did three miles in my parent's treadmill. Booooring. Yet it was still a far better idea than running in the snow flurries! Its 20 degrees colder than Maryland was. I will say that it was awesome seeing the whole family, my brother and sister brought their families. Seeing my ten month old niece Micah Rose was awesome!

Friday's Ramblings... Or why its always nice to give clean pants to a neighbor's child after a dog throws up on them.

So its friday.. I draaaaaaaaaagged myself out of bed this morning (notice all the "a"s?  It was that hard to do..) and headed out to run.  The first thing I have to say, is I have completely forgotten how to dress to run in 40 degree weather.  I was nice and comfy when I got outside and started my run... At the end I went in the house and couldn't get the layers off fast enough!  But I get ahead of myself...

I decided I was going to hold myself back today and take it easy. I have been doing my runs at about the "maximum" speed that I could - for the distance I was running.. I haven't been planning on doing this, it's just that my speed that I ran an easy 4 to 5 mile run last year, is now my "maximum I can handle for 2.5 miles.."  It occured to me that running consistently at that level is probably not the smoothest of moves I could make, my goal today was for a 10 minute mile.  So with that goal in mind, I headed out of the door.

I started my Runtastic.

The streets, without the pitterpatter of little ghouls and goblins.

Ghouls and Goblins.. I don't think anyone actually dresses up as ghouls or goblins anymore.  I know mine went as a Witch (though half way through she took of her hat and proclaimed herself to be a vampire) and a skeleton.  And I don't know about pitter patter either.. They halloweeners I saw were certainly having too much fun (aka loud) to hear any pitter pattering!!!!  But no matter how you look at it, there was definitely a good time had by all!

As you can see my little Witch/Vampire and Skeleton had quite the haul....And somehow I am going to eat none of it.  While this way-to-much-candy-in-the-house season continues, I will keep you updated on how much of their candy I have (or have not) eaten!