I recently started watching the planet green network on TV - I'm actually watching it right now. You know, I always thought that I was somewhat knowledgeable about environmental topics, but in just a few weeks of watching planet green, I realize how ignorant I really am. I have moved from being unconsciously incompetent to consciously incompetent - I now know what I don't know. We just had our basement remodeled a couple of weeks ago and though we did inadvertently include some green concepts like durable materials (brick on the front of the bar and back splash, bar top made from granite, natural slate on parts of the floor sealed with water-based polyurethane) it was all completely by accident.
We are planning to have our master bathroom remodeled next year and I've already decided that we'll be going green with any future renovation projects - greenovation if you will (just like the show I'm watching on planet green right now). In the redone bathroom, we'll be using a low flow shower head and faucets, a dual flush toilet, low VOC paint, some type of counter top and flooring made from reclaimed or recycled materials, and LED lighting.
Watching this planet green network has really opened my eyes to a lot of things. It's amazing how much of an impact each of us can have on our planet. We don't think about it most of the time or stop to consider it, but that's wrong on our part. We need to stop and think about everything that we do. If each and every person was a little more aware and made a few small changes, the overall impact would be enormous.
I was just recently telling someone that maybe the skyrocketing cost of oil and gas is a good thing. Since the end of the WWII era and the space race against the Soviet Union, the U.S. has lost its way as a world leader. As a culture, we have become fat, lazy, and complacent. We need to take back the mantle of leadership and show the world the ingenuity and inventiveness that our country used to be famous for years ago. We need to explore alternative fuels and energy sources, green construction, and so forth. With the average American really feeling the pinch of oil and gas prices, we may be forced to lead the way if we don't want to watch our economy collapse. I apologize if this post sounds preachy, but I warned you about how my mind works when I'm running.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Another Midnight Run
Look out! I may be turning into a midnight runner. I'm going to change my name to Dexy. Well, I was bad and didn't run all week. Not to make excuses, but I had some late nights at work and I had trouble getting up in the morning/afternoon. I can usually operate easily on 7-8 hours of sleep a night, but this week for some reason, I seemed to be sleeping closer to nine or ten hours a night. I think maybe I was fighting something because I had quite a few nasty headaches - allergies maybe?
So I got home around 10:00pm last night, and decided that I would go for another late night run. I left around 11:30pm. It was a humid night. It was weird that even though it was pretty warm outside, I could still see my breath in the beam of my headlamp. I guess that was due to the humidity. It was a nice, peaceful night for a run; although I was accosted by a dog that ran across the road barking at me. I stopped dead in my tracks, stood my ground, and put my hand out palm down in case the dog wanted to check me out. He stopped when he got to me and just kind of looked at me. I turned to continue on my way and he chased me another step. I stopped again, and by that time, the dog's owner had called him back across the street. It's a good thing that this incident didn't happen in the middle of the day because the road along which I was running is a busy one.
I had an enjoyable run and spent the time making plans for my week of vacation in my head. Thursday and Friday are holidays for me at work so I took off the other three days to make it a full week. We don't have any big plans so I have a bunch of small recreational activities that I am considering. I came up with a few ideas on my run. I had forgotten how active my mind always is after a run. I couldn't seem to stop the thoughts and ideas running through my head after I got back.
I still can have a good week. I hit the treadmill after my workout on Thursday night for a brisk and hilly walk, I ran after getting home on Friday, and I'm going to run again on Sunday. I won't get my three runs in for the week, but I'm going to run a little farther on Sunday, which I had planned to do anyway. I'll have my vacation week to get back on track with the running. I won't have the gym at work to do my weight workouts, but I'll do push ups and crunches a few times to compensate.
So I got home around 10:00pm last night, and decided that I would go for another late night run. I left around 11:30pm. It was a humid night. It was weird that even though it was pretty warm outside, I could still see my breath in the beam of my headlamp. I guess that was due to the humidity. It was a nice, peaceful night for a run; although I was accosted by a dog that ran across the road barking at me. I stopped dead in my tracks, stood my ground, and put my hand out palm down in case the dog wanted to check me out. He stopped when he got to me and just kind of looked at me. I turned to continue on my way and he chased me another step. I stopped again, and by that time, the dog's owner had called him back across the street. It's a good thing that this incident didn't happen in the middle of the day because the road along which I was running is a busy one.
I had an enjoyable run and spent the time making plans for my week of vacation in my head. Thursday and Friday are holidays for me at work so I took off the other three days to make it a full week. We don't have any big plans so I have a bunch of small recreational activities that I am considering. I came up with a few ideas on my run. I had forgotten how active my mind always is after a run. I couldn't seem to stop the thoughts and ideas running through my head after I got back.
I still can have a good week. I hit the treadmill after my workout on Thursday night for a brisk and hilly walk, I ran after getting home on Friday, and I'm going to run again on Sunday. I won't get my three runs in for the week, but I'm going to run a little farther on Sunday, which I had planned to do anyway. I'll have my vacation week to get back on track with the running. I won't have the gym at work to do my weight workouts, but I'll do push ups and crunches a few times to compensate.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Mission Accomplished
I hope that the title of this post doesn't bring "W" to mind. What a joke! No, I actually did accomplish my first mission. I ran three times this week! I know that's not really a big deal, but it is when you haven't accomplished that feat in six-plus months and you were very sore after the first run of the week. I will take all of the small victories I can get right now.
The human body is amazingly adaptable. On Wednesday, I was still hurting a bit from Monday's run. At that point, I was somewhat doubtful that I would run three times. By Friday though, I felt pretty good and went for my late night run. I was a little sore on Saturday, but nothing serious. I was actually surprised by how good I felt today. Nothing hurt and I was able to move at a respectable pace considering that it was very humid outside. Today's 4-miler brings me to a total of 12 miles for the week. Next week, my goal is to run three more times and I plan to step up the mileage by a mile or two. I want to take it slowly at first so that I don't overextend myself. When I started running after my stress fracture in 2004, I started training for the Knoxville Marathon almost immediately and my body was not ready for that kind of training load. I struggled throughout most of the training and did not run well at Knoxville. I don't want to make that mistake again.
It was a good week for me and I feel like I'm solidly back on the road to being in shape again. The battery on my laptop is getting dangerously low so I need to sign off for now, but I have some other topics to post later.
The human body is amazingly adaptable. On Wednesday, I was still hurting a bit from Monday's run. At that point, I was somewhat doubtful that I would run three times. By Friday though, I felt pretty good and went for my late night run. I was a little sore on Saturday, but nothing serious. I was actually surprised by how good I felt today. Nothing hurt and I was able to move at a respectable pace considering that it was very humid outside. Today's 4-miler brings me to a total of 12 miles for the week. Next week, my goal is to run three more times and I plan to step up the mileage by a mile or two. I want to take it slowly at first so that I don't overextend myself. When I started running after my stress fracture in 2004, I started training for the Knoxville Marathon almost immediately and my body was not ready for that kind of training load. I struggled throughout most of the training and did not run well at Knoxville. I don't want to make that mistake again.
It was a good week for me and I feel like I'm solidly back on the road to being in shape again. The battery on my laptop is getting dangerously low so I need to sign off for now, but I have some other topics to post later.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Midnight Run
I had originally planned to go for a run on Thursday or possibly even Friday before going in to work, but I hit the gym both Wednesday and Thursday nights after work and consequently didn't get to bed until very late both nights. As a result, I slept pretty late Thursday and Friday mornings. Working 2nd shift fits my "night owl" side to a tee, but sometimes it fits a little too well and I stay up later than I should, which causes me to sleep in later than I would like when I have things that I want to do before work. The end result is that I didn't get any runs in since I ran in the afternoon on my vacation day last Monday.
I usually go in to work early on Fridays so that I can leave early and get home at a decent hour after completing the hour and fifteen minute drive. I got home tonight around 10:40pm. I hit the Starbucks machine at work (mmm...free Starbucks) prior to leaving. So between drinking coffee and jamming to Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin on the drive, I was feeling pretty alert once I arrived home. After talking to Lisa for a bit and cleaning up my work stuff, I decided that I was going for a late-night run.
I left the house to run around 12:30am. I wore my Petzl headlamp and my iPod. I was going to run sans iPod to enjoy the quiet serenity of the nighttime, but I was in the mood to listen to music so I ended up wearing it. It was a very nice night for a run. I would guess that the temperature was in the upper 60s and there wasn't much humidity. The moon was just full on Tuesday or Wednesday night so it was still looming pretty large and bright in the sky, but it was partially obscured by clouds. I ran the same 4-mile out and back course that I ran on Monday afternoon. I felt fairly decent running tonight and was able to maintain a much quicker pace than I did on Monday. Amazing the difference that not running in the blazing sun can make. After I got back from running, I walked around the block to cool down before stretching. The night was so nice and so peaceful that I must admit that I really enjoyed just being outside tonight. The run was good too, but the most enjoyable part was just the tranquility and solitude of a pleasant summer night.
Now I only need to get one more run in this week to accomplish my first mini-goal of running three times this week. I will probably run on Sunday so that I'll have a day of rest. I will most likely be sore tomorrow so I want to give my body a little time to heal itself.
So far it has been a good week both personally and professionally. I had an interesting week at work also. I will report on some of those events in a separate post. It was really nothing major, but some of those small victories that you cherish as reassurance that you're doing an effective job.
I usually go in to work early on Fridays so that I can leave early and get home at a decent hour after completing the hour and fifteen minute drive. I got home tonight around 10:40pm. I hit the Starbucks machine at work (mmm...free Starbucks) prior to leaving. So between drinking coffee and jamming to Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin on the drive, I was feeling pretty alert once I arrived home. After talking to Lisa for a bit and cleaning up my work stuff, I decided that I was going for a late-night run.
I left the house to run around 12:30am. I wore my Petzl headlamp and my iPod. I was going to run sans iPod to enjoy the quiet serenity of the nighttime, but I was in the mood to listen to music so I ended up wearing it. It was a very nice night for a run. I would guess that the temperature was in the upper 60s and there wasn't much humidity. The moon was just full on Tuesday or Wednesday night so it was still looming pretty large and bright in the sky, but it was partially obscured by clouds. I ran the same 4-mile out and back course that I ran on Monday afternoon. I felt fairly decent running tonight and was able to maintain a much quicker pace than I did on Monday. Amazing the difference that not running in the blazing sun can make. After I got back from running, I walked around the block to cool down before stretching. The night was so nice and so peaceful that I must admit that I really enjoyed just being outside tonight. The run was good too, but the most enjoyable part was just the tranquility and solitude of a pleasant summer night.
Now I only need to get one more run in this week to accomplish my first mini-goal of running three times this week. I will probably run on Sunday so that I'll have a day of rest. I will most likely be sore tomorrow so I want to give my body a little time to heal itself.
So far it has been a good week both personally and professionally. I had an interesting week at work also. I will report on some of those events in a separate post. It was really nothing major, but some of those small victories that you cherish as reassurance that you're doing an effective job.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Made a Decision
I made a decision today. I am going to start running again. I know, big deal right? For a while now I've been saying that I want to get back to running, I want to get back to a good base of conditioning, but I haven't really committed myself to it. Now I'm not saying anything about weekly mileage or that I'm going to start training for a marathon or anything that ambitious, because that is beyond my area of focus right now. I want to start by setting small, manageable short-term goals for myself and then reevaluate as I meet each one.
I ran four miles today in the heat of midday. I did alright considering. My pace was fairly slow, but I'm not concerned about that. That will all come in time. My first goal is to run three times this week; one down and two to go, but that could possibly go down to two runs for the week if I'm sore to the point of being debilitated after today's run. We'll have to just wait and see. Next week is a definite three runs, and then I'm on vacation the following week. That will give me time to sit down and assess where I am, how I feel, and where I would like to go.
I took a vacation day from work today. I had some stuff that I wanted to do around the house, plus the weekends just never seem long enough. I took Toby for a walk and then went for my run. I didn't really have anything going on at work today, and I'm reachable by cell for any issues that may arise on my shift. I've also been checking email and doing some other work from home. Doing work on a vacation day may not sound like much of a day off, but I haven't really been doing all that much and it's a small trade off for the flexibility that my manager allows me. I really don't mind giving a little in return for what I'm given. My company takes good care of me so I plan to take care of it in return. It's a two-way street.
I ran four miles today in the heat of midday. I did alright considering. My pace was fairly slow, but I'm not concerned about that. That will all come in time. My first goal is to run three times this week; one down and two to go, but that could possibly go down to two runs for the week if I'm sore to the point of being debilitated after today's run. We'll have to just wait and see. Next week is a definite three runs, and then I'm on vacation the following week. That will give me time to sit down and assess where I am, how I feel, and where I would like to go.
I took a vacation day from work today. I had some stuff that I wanted to do around the house, plus the weekends just never seem long enough. I took Toby for a walk and then went for my run. I didn't really have anything going on at work today, and I'm reachable by cell for any issues that may arise on my shift. I've also been checking email and doing some other work from home. Doing work on a vacation day may not sound like much of a day off, but I haven't really been doing all that much and it's a small trade off for the flexibility that my manager allows me. I really don't mind giving a little in return for what I'm given. My company takes good care of me so I plan to take care of it in return. It's a two-way street.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
