Running, writing, and a 70’s flashback

1. Man, did I ever get soaked on my run this morning. (If I’d thought to take shampoo, I could’ve done the multi-tasking thing and cut my morning prep-time in half.) Despite the downpour, though, the run was great. What is it about running in the rain that’s so awesome? People driving by in their cars stare at me like I’ve lost my mind (maybe I have), but I figure they just have no idea how good it is to feel your body working and be drenched in refreshment at the same time.
2. Once I was dry again, I headed into town for a couple errands. I got stopped by ferry traffic both ways (the highway traffic gets a red light while the ferry unloads) — my timing is great, hey? But while I waited, I heard this on the radio:
   
   …so all was not lost. Flashbacks to high-school are always great. ::gasp:: What am I saying? Yikes. Okay, flashbacks to some moments of high-school are great. ::breathes into paper bag:: There, I’m okay. Really.
3. And now that I’m angsty and distressed about high-school, it’s probably a good time to jump back into writing that YA fiction stuff I’m supposed to be working on.

Peace….

The entertainment value of a thick fog

We’ve been fogged-in here for a week. And there’s so much moisture in the fog that we have ice and frost galore! When I went out to go to work the other day, my trusty mini-van was frozen shut. Fortunately, I managed to get the back hatch open and climb through that way (a very entertaining sight for the neighbours, I’m sure). Then I had to scrape the windows – inside and out – and blast the defogger for ages before I could drive. Of course, the fog and cold weather didn’t go anywhere, so after working my 12-hour shift, I had to repeat the whole process (yes, climbing in through the back, too) before I could drive home. I know, poor me. Sniffle, sniffle, whine.

It’s actually quite beautiful weather. Cold and a little eery, what with not being able to see more than ten feet or so ahead of you, and hearing the fog horn wail all day and night. Now that I have a couple days off, though, I’m hoping the fog will lift and I’ll get to see the sun! Meanwhile, I’m off to test the grippiness (interesting word, that) of my running shoes as I attempt to run on the frosty roads. This morning I carried the garbage bin out to the curb and had only to stand still at the top of my driveway and slide down to the bottom. Fun way to start the day. My next-door neighbours, who didn’t have the pleasure of witnessing my ungraceful entry into my van the other day, found my take the garbage out without moving my feet demonstration quite entertaining.

Anyway, my run. Yes. Off I go — wish me luck!

[ETA: I'm back, and I didn't sprain an ankle or fall on my butt, so it was a good run.]

10k and schedules

I’d hoped to run in the Miracle Beach 10k today, but alas, it wasn’t to be. My “schedule” wouldn’t allow it:

But I did train for it, so tomorrow morning I’ll do 10k just for the fun of it. What? You don’t think it will be fun? Of course it will, if I live through it. I’ll let ya know….

ETA: Yup, it was fun. Except for a few minutes around the 6k mark when my gimpy leg didn’t feel like having fun. Other than that, all good.

Friday Five: Books, Baking, and Giant Pumpkins!

1. I just picked up Jill Smolinski’s The Next Thing On My List at the library, and Lauren Myracle’s Bliss should arrive in the mail any day now. Hopefully I’ll be able to break away from revisions for a while this weekend and enjoy some reading. (I’m a tad obsessive once I get into a project, though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up spending the entire weekend wandering about in Revisionland. Well, that and blogging….)
2. One thing I will for sure make time for is a run in the glorious fall weather. This morning’s run was only about 4k, so maybe I’ll tackle my 8k route tomorrow.
   
3. I made a double batch of Puffed Wheat Squares this afternoon. Not much point in making a single batch of anything in a house with four guys. Man, they can demolish baked goods fast!
4. And still more baking to be done — it’s almost pumpkin pie time! And turkey time, of course. (This is why I need that 8k run….)
   
5. And speaking of pumpkin (wow, what a great segue!), an old friend of mine just won the Elk Grove, California, giant pumpkin weigh-off, breaking the state record with a 1536.5 pound pumpkin. Now that’s a lot of pumpkin! Wanna see it?

Things change

I used to work out plot problems and character motivation stuff while I ran. It was great — get my exercise, get a head-start on the writing work to be done that day. It was win-win. But today I was almost at the end of my run when I realized I hadn’t thought about my novel-in-progress at all. In fact, I hadn’t thought about anything at all. Zilch. I’d completely zoned out. And I realized that had been the case on my last several runs, too.

Now, this could mean one of three things:

1. I am such a talented and fit runner now that my body accomplishes the running without any need for the brain to be called upon. Um, no.
2. I am in so much agony while I run that the brain shuts off as a means of self-preservation. A little more likely.
3. There are no thoughts to be had. (Cue whistling wind between the ears and sagebrush tumbling about in my head.) Sadly, this too is more likely than #1.

Whatever the reason, I’ve had no epiphanous moments during the course of my pavement-pounding lately. I may actually have to do my work at a desk. ::shudders:: Ah well… things change.

Good intentions and eagles

I had good intentions. I headed out this morning for a timed training run. When my route took me down by the beach, I intentionally stayed away from the ocean side of the road so I wouldn’t be tempted to stop and wander along the beach. Because I almost always stop and wander along the beach…. But (you knew there was a but, didn’t you?) from my across-the-road vantage point, I saw four bald eagles resting on the beach — three adults and a juvenile. So much for the timed run. Off I went to have a look.

There was a seal carcass on the shore, but it was quite a ways from where the great birds were. Maybe they’d eaten their fill and were just doing the post-dinner, loosen-your-belt-and-kick-back-a-while thing before flying away. I had my dog with me — he’s a bird dog, but was infinitely more interested in the seal than the eagles — so I kept back a good 25 meters or so. They just stayed put. Eyed my dog and me briefly, then ignored us. I watched for a while, then finished my run.

Doesn’t matter one bit that I blew my time today. After all, if I don’t stop to smell the roses — or watch the eagles — I’m kinda missing a really BIG point, don’t ya think?

Oh, what a beautiful mooorning…

One of the patients I cared for this week (in my “day job” as a nurse) sings that song all the time. He was singing it the other day while watching the 70 km/hr wind force the downpour into horizontal sheets of rain (in the afternoon, not the morning). Nice outlook, I guess. Anyway, brings me to this morning. Cold, drizzly, a bit of fog. But, yeah, it felt like a beautiful morning. How does cold + drizzle = beautiful? Like this:

1. sleep in ’til 8:00 — oh, the luxury!
2. draft query letter for completed MG novel while still wearing cozy jammies
3. go for a run (not in cozy jammies) and just by coincidence – no really, I didn’t plan it – end up at the beach and be forced to pause and suck in large quantities of delicious sea air before running the last kilometer or two of my run… seriously, it was beyond my control
4. settle the youngest two kids in front of the TV (Spy Kids DVD) with a large bowl of popcorn so I can have some writing time — yes, I’m that good of a parent
5. work on synopsis of above-mentioned MG novel while consuming a vanilla yogurt / soy protein / blackberry smoothie. Oh, and blog about it, hee

Nice, eh?

Hope you’re all having a beautiful Saturday, too.

To run, or not to run

I love running when the weather’s cold and clear. Back when I lived in Alberta, I would run early in the morning, hitting the snow-packed road regularly, right down to -20 (colder than -20, I preferred snuggling up with a quilt and a cup of tea). Beautiful, peaceful, invigorating…. Sometimes I’d see the Northern Lights, which was the absolute best reward for hauling myself out of bed when most the rest of the city was still sleeping.

So this morning the weather looks perfect. I lace up my runners, remember to grab my mitts, and head out into the gloriously crisp air. Then I do one of those full-body jerk-and-flail things to keep from landing on my butt. Okay, there’s ice out there. I go easy. Nice and slow. Then I almost lose it again. I get that high-school urge to glance around to see if anyone has seen my ice dance. Whew, no witnesses. But then I decide to walk instead of run, which is not as fun, but definitely safer.

I guess sometimes I still think I’m back in that dry prairie cold. Except for ice-storms (yikes), I didn’t worry about wiping out. But here, the coastal cold is WET, which means ICE. I need to get myself a pair of these babies:

The good thing about coastal cold is that, unlike prairie cold, it doesn’t last for, say, eight months of the year. Nope. A week here and there in the late fall and winter, and we’ll be in the clear again. Which means I probably can’t justify buying those ice-jogging things. Maybe I’ll stay inside these next few days… curl up with my blankie, drink tea, and catch up on some reading. A good book is a pretty great reward for hauling myself out of bed, too. And no flailing involved.

Dilemna, disappointment, disgust, delusion, and disbelief

These are the things on my mind today:

1. Dilemna. Only one Canadian team remains in the NHL playoffs. But they’re so not my team. Sigh. Now I have the big debate about who to cheer for. Do I go for the “Canadian team”, which for all I know could have more European and/or American players than Canadian players, or do I go for the under-dog, which is always pretty fun, emotional, and often ultimately depressing (but when your under-dog team wins, it is so sweet) . I can’t not watch the playoffs, so I definitely need to pick a team to back.
2. Disappointment. As all my fellow Gilmore Girls fans must know by now, the show is ending in a couple weeks. Another sigh. And maybe a sniffle. I’ll be okay, just so long as Rory doesn’t marry Logan. And Lorelai and Christopher shouldn’t end up together (again). The relationship between Rory and Lorelai has always of course been central, so I hope the finale has some really great moments between the two of them.
3. Disgust. A judge thinks his pants are worth $65 million. Must be some niiiice pants. This better get turfed out of court mighty fast.
4. Delusion. My daughter managed to convince me that it would be, um, fun to enter an off-road triathlon with her and my hubby as a relay team. Time to get training! I’m the “running” member and, I fear, the weak link. But I’ve got three months to whip myself into shape. No problem.
5. Disbelief. I picked up four pizzas for the six teenage boys that I knew would be at my house when I got home from work today. They were gone in about 7 minutes (the pizzas, not the guys). How do they do that? That’s like 1500 calories per person. In 7 minutes. I would explode if I ate like that.

So there you go. Maybe tomorrow I’ll think about more intelligent things. Or not.

The early bird gets wet

I feel great. Last night was the third night in a row that I got eight hours of sleep. That shouldn’t be something worth posting about, but, well, it is. See, it’s just so unusual that I had to share.

After my wonderful night’s sleep, I rolled out of bed and… remembered I was a little older than I used to be. I used to be able to roll out of bed, lace up my runners, and hit the pavement. These days, I roll out of bed, creak, groan, stretch, creak again, then lace up my runners and hit the pavement. It’s still totally worth it, though. I headed out in the rain, detoured to the beach for a stroll, then finished my run just as the rain was letting up. By the time I’d showered, the sun was shining. Living where I do, however, if I waited for the sun to shine to go for my run, I’d hardly ever get any exercise. So, yeah, I got wet, but it felt great.

Now I’m going to make a batch of low-fat, whole wheat, wheat germ, banana muffins that I will cleverly disguise as something kids want to eat by throwing in a handful of chocolate chips. (We moms have our secret ways of getting nutrients into children’s bodies. Mwahaha.) While I bake, I’ll mull over my latest story idea and see if there is enough potential conflict to actually become a story. I always have trouble nailing down an actual, tangible antagonist in my stuff, which isn’t good. But when it’s not genre fiction – say, a coming-of-age story, or other strongly character-driven story – does the standard protagonist-antagonist conflict plan work? Any insights would be most welcome….

Off to the kitchen to bake and think. Happy Monday!