Inspiration

[caption id="attachment_2388" align="alignright" width="206"] Jeremy's 10 mile treadmill run.. Picture by Jeremy Buck[/caption]

Every runner, runs for a reason. It may be health and fitness, it may be that it's a wonderful stress release, or countless other reasons that are as individual as a snowflake. Yet, regardless of WHY, we will find different sources of inspiration. Obviously this isn't true only of runners, but of everyone for various aspects of life.

I have many sources of inspiration for running, and they inspire me at different times and to do different things. My kids continue to inspire me to keep running over-all. I want to be a good example to them, and show them that having good fitness is important. But sometimes it is one person that I know that gives me the inspiration just when I need it. Today is a great example.

A friend (and former co-worker) of mine in NY started running a year or two ago, and now runs 30-40 mile weeks. In fact, he even runs twice a day quite frequently. Many of these long runs are done on a treadmill.  Today I was hitting my treadmill, but had to do it without head-phones.  (In the process of a road trip, I lost mine.)  Now 4 miles on a treadmill isn't the world's worst run - but by 2.5 miles, I am ready to scream.  I thought of Jeremy's run  (See the picture above) and thought that if he could do 10 miles (even with music) then I could definitely finish out 4 miles.  And I'm pleased to say I did.  Thank you Jeremy! 

New Running Buddy?

Monday Nights my son has his choir practice for the Maryland State Boychoir up in Baltimore.  Its not too bad of a hike from Crofton

[caption id="attachment_1971" align="alignright" width="278"] Bryce in his Choir Robes[/caption]

(where I live),just about a 40 minute drive (in the 5:30 traffic.)  I spend the two hours that he is practicing, hanging  out in a comfy room with couches and I get to read for 2 hours.  I have tossed around the idea of going running during this weekly block of time, but I don't know Baltimore.  This becomes VERY important due to an interesting quality that the city has.  You can be in a fantastic neighborhood, nice houses, nice cars, etc, yet when you walk two blocks you can find yourself in a neighborhood where you fear to stop for a red light, let alone travel through on foot in the dark!

I would like to keep "not being mugged" on my bucket list, so this has kept my Monday runs to being a nice morning run, rather than using my evening time

Just another Magic Monday

Every day, you can choose if you are going to have a good day, or a bad day.  Granted, sometimes life throws a curve ball and tries to convince you to change your mind, but even then - you can maintain your choice with some effort (And perhaps some denial of reality.)

As an example, I had a rather interesting week on the first week I stopped posting.  You may (or may not) be aware that I work in the Information Technology field.  I m the Director of Information Systems for a non-profit that covers 2 states, plus Washington D.C..   As you can imagine, we use quite a bit of technology.  We ran into a problem, that we were not getting enough power into our main office.   Seriously.  Everything would be fine through the night and first thing in the morning, but as people arrived (and turned things on), lights would start to flicker, computers would reboot and battery backups would start to squeal in outrage.   Throughout this week, people were a wee bit amazed I was still able to smile and joke around.. My response to it?  Hey, at least we are getting it all out-of-the-way at once!  This could be random issues popping up for the next three months!  Look how lucky we are!

You see, computers require power.  I know this might be a shocking realization, but when they aren't getting that power, they fail.  This is also true for computer-related equipment (such as IP Phones.)  In fact, steady power hits can lead to a loss of programming for phones.. Hypothetically, lets say you could lose 3/4 of your phones this way..