I'm a day early

But I'm Going Pink for October

Just making lemonade... and I itch

I got home last night to learn my entire condo building is infested with bed bugs. Boo. Luckily we got off work early for Rosh Hashana. Have I mentioned that I love the high holidays? Seriously, best time of year, and I'm not even Jewish.

Last night when I got home I called the property manager who didn't have the list in front of him but thought they found bed bugs in my place. The source of the infestation was the unit directly above me so I'd honestly be shocked if they weren't in my place. Then I called the exterminator who did the search. He couldn't remember either but he told me to vacuum everything in my room including the mattress, box spring, under the bed, and all the base boards. I did the bed, floor and all the baseboards before I went to hang out with my mentee.

As part of my time hanging out with my mentee we went to Home Depot. For some reason we always wind up doing my errands together. It's ok, we did math homework first. I was happy to find a real life application for perimeter and area for her. I needed to get window film for my patio door and bedroom windows. (See, I had to know the perimter and area so I knew how much to buy.)

I came home and finished up my bedroom and took the curtains down. I never realized how many fleece blankets I owned until they are all covering my windows. I got the window film for my bedroom up last night. I haven't tackled the patio door yet. Remember that big entertainment center beast? It's in my way and oesn't yet look like an obstacle I can overcome.

Last night I also vacuumed all the cushions of my couch and moved my couch out from the wall and vacuumed back there. I didn't find any bed bugs but I did find a small pile of dead ants. I was actually expecting it to be gross behind my couch and aside from the ant pile (about the size of a quarter) I didn't see anything. I also vacuumed the whole hallway, linen closet and coat closet as well as my bedroom closet.

I haven't yet found a bed bug, which makes it not quite as gross to be in my house right now. I still have to vacuum in the living room. This morning I took my curtains to go get dry cleaned. $50.00 and I'll have them back on Friday. I've lived here over three years and hadn't had the curtains cleaned yet so it's really time. (Why can I never remember what year I bought this place the first time?)

I continually feel itchy and like stuff is crawling on me. Thank you to the power of suggestion.

Here's a list of "lemonade" batches I've made out of this so far:

• My curtains are getting dry cleaned. Obviously, this needed to happen given the above statement. Also, my curtains hadn't been cleaned since the remodel and they were even more dusty than usual.


• My base boards are surper clean. And under my bed is clean. My mattress is clean.


• I washed the quilt that lives on my bed. Iam super happy because it did really well in both the washer and the dryer. That sucker hadn't been cleaned in even longer than the curtains. Now that I know I can clean it without hurting it, I will clean it regulalry.


• I finally had an excuse to throw away two old and gross pillows. Seriously, I'd had them almost my entire life. If there's ever a place a bedbug would hide, it'd be in those pillows with all the dust mites. Ewww.


• I needed a good excuse to wash all my fleece blankets. Once the curtains are back up, I'll wash the blakets.


• I now know how to get curtains dry cleaned and that I can have something else to cover my windows while the curtains are away.


• At least I have two days off in a row to stay home and deal with this. Thank goodness I didn't have to go to work today.


• At some point, I'll be spending even more time at Amanda's house. Roommates: The Sequel.

Sick....

I was so sick yesterday. I'm starting to feel a little better but I'm still really tired. (Don't worry, it's not contagious.) But I've had some time to look at great stuff on the web.

I was shocked to learn that one in three women will have an abortion in their lives. Wow. I really thought it would be a lot less than that.

I was happy to learn everybody's favorite place to catch my favorite shows online. Hulu is one of my favorites. I'm going to try a couple of the others. I'll let you know.

For all of us who love getting those privacy notices on clipboards at doctors offices now we can just wear them. They do have a point about the DNR bracelet but as someone with an allergy to a fairly common antibiotic, I'm all for those bracelets.

I love it when people make jokes about being Jewish and I understand them. Two things: this is a fairly left leaning video and there are swear words. I didn't get the "brisket" one 'till I started working at my current job.

I remember playing kickball and Kelly and Eric's wedding. Maybe at your five year anniversary, we can all play this game.

Does anyone know the meaning of the words double entendre? Hilarious. This one is safe for work. PS - Firefox doesn't know "entendre" because it thinks I spelled it wrong.

There's been a lot of talk about taxes in this election. Find out what your predicted taxes would be. For me, there's a really big difference (like $1,500) per year. I think this site is non-partisan.

For all of you, this may be the only dish with identifiable tomatoes as ingredients that I'd eat. It does look yummy.

The Friday Five... On Saturday

The Friday Five:
1. Who is your favorite author? Charles Dickens
2. What is your favorite book/series? I like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
3. Who is a book hero you most wish to be like? I think I'm most like Hermione in Harry Potter because she's a total nerd and I like that she was nice to all the house elves.
4. Who is a book character that you envy? I always liked Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.
5. Which book do you wished you lived in? Peter Pan?. I think it would be cool to live on the Enterprise. There's books about star trek right?

I am surprised...

I am surprised to find I agree with the Senator from Arizona on ethanol subsidies...

Glad I'm watching the debate.

heh heh, my mind is already in the gutter...

I was going to title this "I like balls" which started an interesting dialouge in my head and lead to the actual title. First off, my legs today, WOW. Whatever I did yesterday at the gym (and I have a sneaking suspicion it was those one-leg dead lifts) really got their attention. (Ow ow, pain pain pain.)

Obviously I didn't do much when I woke up this morning. But tonight after hanging out with my mentee and doing geometry I went back to the Y. I ran sprints as a practice for tomorrow night when Amanda will run with me, kick my ass, and mock me at the same time. (Did I mention I can run a 10K?) And since I really do want to be faster, I thought I'd work on the abs some more. When I played soccer this was my favorite thing to do. I think there is a six pack in me somewhere. So I did a few exercises with the medicine ball (Oh, yeah, now the title makes sense and you think I'm not so dirty) and I really liked them. When I was a kid through balls up against walls always got me into trouble. I'm so happy it can be productive at this point in my life. I think tomorrow night after Amanda kicks my butt runs with me I'll see if she'll do an abs workout with me. It's always more fun with a partner because you can toss the ball back and forth.

Ok, your mind may now re-enter the gutter.

Another sunday of global warming sitting on the couch

Is it me or is it really warm for September? I was just thinking the first couple of years I moved up here we had snow flurries at least once before the end of September.

I did make it to the gym today. I was looking for some weight / strength exercises before hand. There was a really good page I found one time of core exercises. It had video examples of how to do the exercises. All the exercises linked a leg strength and an arm strength to engage the core. if anyone finds it, please let me know. I miss it.

I also cleaned this morning. That's a bigger accomplishment than it sounds. Although sadly I forgot to run the dishwasher when I went to the gym so I'll have to pay for that mistake now. I need to run it before I cook my lunch for the week. I spent a new record low at the co-op today. Probably not totally a record but a weeks worth of food was under $25. I guess it really does make a difference if I go to the store right after an awesome breakfast.

This has been a good weekend for thoughtful web browsing as well. Possibly because there's nothing good on tv right now.

First, there's tons and tons of news on the economy. A bank in West Virginia is the latest to go under. Here's what you should know:

• Suze Orman tells you everything you ever wanted to know about your personal finances. I like that she makes the distinction between saving and investing. I'd heard that before. I also didn't know the answer to the car loan question but that's great information as well.


• This guy bought his house the day the market crashed. I think many people my age in the boat of owning a home that's loosing value and owing a mortgage that's worth more than the house is. My strategy is to live here as long as possible. I'm really not worried. It's mildly on my mind, but I love my condo and I'd be paying this much for rent anyways. Hopefully I'll meet a rich guy and we can afford to live someplace and keep paying this mortgage until the housing changes.


• Want to have your say on who killed the economy?. This was a fun activity. I learned a lot about the people on the brackets as well. Who do you pick to win it all?


• Apparently even the post office is feeling the pinch.


• I didn't realize Vanity Fair was a liberal mouthpiece because I'd never read it before. But here's the breakdown of those much-hyped outfits of Cindy McCain and the first lady. And here's what that much money buys a normal person. I don't think I'll be reading Vanity Fair too often.
  

The totally random:

• This is one of the sites I found before I went to the gym. Look at number 3 "ball plank with leg lift". Yeah, now try it. It's next to impossible. That's an advanced exercise. Don't try it in public if you are bothered by a gym full of people seeing you flopping around trying to balance with one leg on a ball.


• Ten reasons for you to start your own blog for me to read write every day.


• I am amused that apparently Minnesota is one of the most extraverted and agreeable states, but one of the least open. Ahh, the Minnesota passive-aggressive "nice".

And the sites I'm addicted to at the moment:

• Loops of zen Site has sound. "M" to mute.


• And, in honor the the cold weather we're not having, make a snowflake and send it my direction.

Great Success

Eric and I ran the Bolder Dash 10k today. I had a lot of fun and got one of the nicest race shirts ever. It's the "running shirt" material, breathable wicking material. (Firefox thinks "wicking" isn't a word. Did I spell it right?)

Eric and I agreed that races shouldn't involve more than one lap around the course. Honestly, that was the hardest part of the race for me. I was running around this lake thinking, "oh crap, I've got to do this again". The whole time I wanted to go faster but knew that I shouldn't. I had two goals for the race. The first was 1:10:00. The second was 1:15:00. Our race started at 8:30am and the next one started at 9:45am and I wanted to be done before the second race started. We made it in around 1:13:00. (That reads "one hour and thirteen minutes".) We stopped for water at all four water stops which was interesting. I don't usually stop or drink when I run and that slowed us down. The race was already so tough mentally (remember the laps?) that I just couldn't run by water without taking any.

In the end I had a lot of fun. And the American Lung Association invited me to "run" up 30 flights of stairs in a skyscraper in Minneapolis in the middle of the winter. Honestly, I think it sounds like a lot of fun. Amanda was mildly hesitant when I told her she should do it too. I think I forgot to tell her about all the firefighters who run in this one. (Yeah, I thought that would get your attention.) It's also nice to run with Eric because I rarely get to spend time with someone who enjoys gadgets as much as I do. He was able to steer me to a portable battery charger for my plane ride. I did a little research and found one that will charge my iPod between 3 (that's if I buy the new iPod Touch) and 8 (that's if I buy the new nano) times before the external battery pack has to be charged. Also, (and this was unfortunate for me) he talked up the new iPod touch which has me second guessing my idea abou buying the new nano. Luckily, I think I have some time before I need to make that decision. (I'm so hapy I live in a city with an Apple store.)

Amanda invited me over to lunch, which turned out to be my breakfast also, and it was awesome. We had homemade spring rolls. They were really fun to make. I think they would be a really fun meal to make with kids because they can make their own. Also a nice thing to do at parties, interactive food. (Like fondu.) We had veggies, rice noodles, chicken and sauce in rice paper (which, ironically, was made out of wheat flour). It was yummy and I had like ten of them. Then we went shopping at Target.

After that, Amanda and I negotiated apple picking dates (hint: Kelly, I hope one of them works for you) and running dates. I asked Amanda to be my running coach. I want to go faster. And every time I run with Amanda, she goes. Then she'll say, "oh, I haven't run in like three months" and I'll say, "slow the crap down, what's wrong with you?" Obviously, we run intervals.

I'm still thinking about running a marathon. I read today some article that said, "if you can run a 5k, you can probably run a marathon". The first task will be to start running 4-5 days per week. Right now, it's more like 3. I have my Nike+ goal set to run 3 times a week until I leave for South Africa. I think after that, I'll start ramping up my efforts.

T minus 18 hours to 10K

The 10k race is tomorrow. My strategy of taking two days off in a row from exercise, while accidental, was a good one. I meant to run yesterday but I didn't. It's good because I'm a little ball of energy and I can't wait for tomorrow now.

In all the time I've created for myself by not exercising, I found tons of stuff on the web.

From the funny:

• Over the top office gadgets (is it weird that I'm really drawn to the stool?


• A way to get back at all the annoying operators we've talked to in our lives


• What's the best programming cartoon? I don't get all of them, especially the ones in computer code. But they are funny. The Dilbert ones remind me of an experience I had recently...

To the Health Related:

• Are you a woman? Incontinence is more common than you think.


• Who's really supplying kids with soda. I always had to buy my own from the grocery store. Mom was kind of picky about that. And I wouldn't take it to school because it would be warm by lunch. Ewww.

To Random Information about Democrats and Republicans: (this is research about personalities, not politics, promise)

• After misinformation is corrected, we are likely to "argue back" rather than change our world view, especially those with "rigid world views". Helps explain why the parties are running ads the other side calls misleading.


• Want to know if you're talking to a republican or a democrat? Look at their startle response for a clue.

To an Explanation of the Subprime Meltdown:

• This is really well done. Enjoy.

That 10k is getting closer and closer

And I'm getting more and more excited. I'm planning on running tomorrow and maybe Thursday. Friday will be my day of rest and eating carbs. Today for some reason I was uninspired to run so I used the elliptical at the Y. I "ran" 4 miles in under 10:30 miles. And I burned over 500 calories. Which does name make up for the crap I ate later in the day. (There was a croissant for breakfast and KFC for lunch. I haven't had dinner yet.)

Today was a mildly crazy day at work. No, it was fairly crazy. Which resulted in me eating KFC. For lunch. At 4:30pm.

So when I came home I was understandably unwilling to move from my perch on the couch. So, I've found some great stuff to share with everyone.

• For some reason, it's funny to me that this comment was made in a place called Jerhico.


• For those of you with kids, expecting kids, thinking about having kids, or knows kids how not to raise a picky eater. It's unclear if this also works with husbands but I say give it a try.


• This next one is for all the people like me who wait until three or four days before my best friend's birthday for the perfect gift inspiration to strike. Perhaps this will help us all get our shopping done a little earlier.


• Anyone heard of a website called PLORF? I hope it's not some obscenity. It's an Mp3 seach engine. I can't tell if I like it. Right now I rely heavily on Skreemr.


• I was really excited to read that scientists made a vaccine that kills breast cancer tumors in mice. And I was shocked to hear it came from Wayne State. (Seriously?) Not exactly what I think of when I think "leader in Breast Cancer research", but I'll take all the help I can get. Congratulations.


• A proposed plan to pay for health insurance. I'm going to say, up front, that this article leans to the left and the McCain Palin plan is not totally without merit. That said, I think it's really important to generate as much discussion as possible about the current health care system. As someone who interacts with single payor health care (also known as Medicare) every day, I think it's important to have people engaged in this issue. (I haven't said which system I like better.)
  


• Being a vegetarian doesn't make you dumber but apparently it can make your brain smaller. Damn. Actually, I eat a lot of eggs. As mentioned I had chicken for lunch. So I'm not totally screwed. Yet.


• Did you know IMDB has full length videos now?


• Your nation on White Privilege. This is a pretty scathing look at Sarah Palin but it does bring up some interesting double standards, especially the one about education and teen pregnancy.

The good old runners high

It turns out I get stronger after I've been running for a while, further proof that I'm a distance runner. Sorry to my good friend Amanda who is an amazingly fast sprinter. (Every time we run together she humbles me with her speed.) I ran 6.5 miles today. No, seriously, I did. Check it out. (PS - I really am not fond of the "draw the route" feature inside the Nike+ site. It works great on roads but so many of my runs are on paths that are hard to see on satellite images and take forever to draw with that big fat red line. Boo.) Now, technically I ran it in like 12:19 miles, but as you can see from the run, that's not totally accurate. There's one hill I allow myself to walk up (the 10k course I'm practicing for is all flat) and all three times I crossed Cedar I had to wait for cars for a while. (Anyone who doesn't live around here is trying to figure out why I crossed the same street three times. Heh heh.)

In other news, I found some great things on the web today.
First, a freakish number of you are teachers or interested in being teachers, so you'll need to know why teenage girls are acting "sexier".
Second, many of you work in offices where this product is both handy and unlikely to get tossed out in a refrigerator purge.
Third, for all the geeks, closeted and not closeted this is for you.
Fourth, many of you have indicated an interest in our environment. In fact one friend often chooses who to vote for based on that issue. So See how Senators McCain and Obama answered the same questionnaire from the Scientists and Engineers for America. I haven't read it yet so I have no biased comments to add. Although it seems like Houston's got more of a cold problem than global warming right now. Surely this is because Ike knocked out power to, well, everything. Including my parent's house in Ohio. No, seriously.
And finally, further proof that I should, in fact, run a marathon.

More fun on the internet..

For Amanda, Can you name the 20 amino acids? because we know I can't.

Just a little reminder about appropriate boundaries. Luckily for me, I don't know anyone who has crossed any of these boundaries. Some of you are close to the line and you know who you are. PS - Facebook and Myspace count as two separate websites.

And for everyone, 21 ways to serve America. Props to the photos of the AmeriCorps workers. You rock.

Pacing is the key

I ran in the Twin Cities Lung Run 5k today. Apparently, I was running at like 11:02 miles by the end. But according to my iPod, I was running at a 7:13 pace at the first mile. No wonder I was so tired. I had an "In memory of.." paper on my back for the aunt of a friend. While I was running, someone asked me if this woman (whose name I didn't even know, I only knew her nick-name) was from Cosmos (which I also couldn't identify) but once we worked out the thing I did know about the person, we could figure out that this other runner also knew this lady. Nice.

Did I mention the rain? It rained almost the entire race and most of the walk as well. I was very wet. After the run, I ran back to find Amanda and her family walking and walked part of the lake over with them. The nice thing about the lung run is there is a boatload of free stuff all the runners/walkers get. I have two new blankets, three water bottles, two things of hand sanitizer, two shirts, band aids, a digital thermometer, a deck of cards and two bags. Nice.

Then I called Mom and told her to have a happy birthday. She just had what should be considered a milestone birthday. It ends in a zero. And it wasn't 30.

After the race, Amanda and I spent the day together. We went to Maria's for yummy corn pancakes to celebrate. Amanda stocked up on baskets at Ikea, always a fun trip. Then we headed over to the mall. It was only then that we learned that there's some craft booking thing there today so it was a lot of suburban white women standing in line to do these little crafts. Amanda needed to get her watch fixed and I wanted to look at the new iPods. Is it wrong that I want an iPod touch so badly? It would totally get one if it could sync with GroupWise. They should work on that. (Syncing through GCal is not acceptable because I have private information on my calendar.) The new nanos are really cool. I'm thinking about getting one and loading some movies onto it for the plane rides I'm about to go on. I also got some nice earrings at Clare's. (Really, the only place to buy earrings if you have sensitive ears.)

Then I spent the evening sorting out my ear rings and necklaces. I gave a lot of old necklaces away to good will. Most of them are more like play jewlery for little kids. The jewlery box was also fairly gross so I cleaned it. Does anyone have a better way to store earrings and necklaces? Discuss..

Hello Confidence! I am strong.

I ran today for 6 miles. I left out the big hill that comes at the end of the run, but I knew ahead of time that was my plan. I went quickly, faster than I expected. And I felt good at the end of the run. I think I'm going to do some more work tomorrow and take Friday off so I'm nice and fresh for the 5k on Saturday. I'm going to try to go fast for that one.

Speaking of going fast, did you know that Amanda is like the fastest runner I've ever met. It's amazing because there is not a single fast twitch muscle in my whole body. It shames me when Amanda says "oh, I haven't run in like three months" and she's still going faster than my normal pace. Amazing.

The run today felt good. It's nice to get some confidence back before next weeks race.

In other news, I'm getting to the point in my head where I can see myself training for a marathon. I feel like the biggest barriers are finding running paths that are long enough for me to go 10 or 12 or (oh lord) 20 miles to train. Minneapolis seems big until you try to run in a straight line. I wont start that training until I get back from South Africa.

I'd also like to share the insane wonderful things I found on the internet lately.

The scientific related:

• This is like the chicken and the egg question almost, how do you give a placebo for parachutes? Heh heh.


• Red Bull makes your body think it has heart disease. That's just another reason for me not to drink it. It seems like athletes in particular would want an energy drink to do the opposite (like, make my body more healthy) but that's just me.


• If you care about the environment, stop eating meat. I'd actually read similar information more than once in the past. Every week I try to make at least one dish I cook be completely vegan. That equals about 5 meals a week which is more than the one day (three meals) they recommend. Really, if we thought about it, it'd be pretty easy to cut meat out of three meals per week.

The hilarious and not related to anything:

• I'm linking to this story for use of the word "harbinger". Good job.


• Visual aid for the whole soda-pop-coke-"soft drink" debate. I wont even tell you what it was where I grew up and here.


• For some reason I always think of Eric when I hear the "gotta have more cowbell" thing. I don't know why, I think he was looking for a shirt that said that at some point... Anyways, Enjoy.


• I'm linking to this site for the coolest domain name I've ever seen: hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com. Hee hee

And finally, for the "current events" minded (although not about politics right now)

• So exactly how much does the US consume compared to others? Come find out with this interactive map.


• Something that's on a lot of people's minds (and if it's not it should be because you'll be one of them), Should Nursing Home residents get to have sex?. Seriously, I'm not even going to get on the soap box this time.

More runing

I ran again today. After I thought I was too tired to move. It turns out that I went faster than I thought I would. I think I ran 4 miles in under 11:00 miles. (I know that's slow for normal people.) The good news is I am getting faster. The even better news is that I don't have to run tomorrow. Monday is my day off from running. I'm going to the gym and lift weights. Any good exercises to make my hamstrings stronger? I think they need it. My calves too.

In other news, I'm totally ready for election season to be over. I'm highly aggravated by one of the candidates. (I'm not saying which one out of respect to the rest of you.) Nonetheless, the candidate annoys the crap out of me and I'll be much happier when the non-stop election coverage ends.

And speaking of democrats and republicans, this made me laugh although it does feel like a "nobody hits my brother but me" kind of a joke. (Safe for work.)

Is it possible to eat chipotle and still loose weight?

Just wanted to see if you were listening. Under certain conditions, I think it's possible to eat Chipotle and still loose weight. Those conditions: Run 5 miles and eat only Chipotle for the day.

I ran 5 miles. I never realize how much of a problem humidity is until I run on a non-humid day again. I actually wasn't hurting too bad at the end of the 5 miles. The mental pain was much worse than the physical pain.

Then my mentee and I went over to the lock and damn and I actually got to see it being used which was cool. There were two little fishing boats going up in it. The observation deck is (sadly) one story above the lock structure and involves standing on a metal grate. It bothered my mentee even more that me. Heh heh. And then we went to Chipotle. After that we walked to Patina and walked around. We also went to Target to get my parents birthday cards. Their birthdays are within four days of each other.

Later, I went to DSW and bought super cute new shoes. Which led to a phone consultation with Kelly about the appropriateness of socks with said shoes. I got Sketchers Mary Jane's although mine are slightly different. There's a pattern to the black fabric that makes them look even more cute.

Sadly, Sven just told me it's supposed to rain tomorrow morning so I'll have to adjust my running time tomorrow or run inside. Neither of those options sounds too good to me. I don't want to run in the rain because it's bad for my iPod and my Nike+ sensor.

Just a few things I wanted to share...

Hello to Sarah Dara if you're reading this. (Did I spell your name right? I can't remember if you like the H or not.)

A few things I've been reading about. First, for Amanda (who might not be reading because of internet access issues but I'm still thinking about you):

• There really are people who live without a TV some of them aren't even fanatics.


• Since I think of you as the person who reads the most (well, I guess before you were in school), 25 banned books you should check out. I've read eight (counting Harry Potter as 1).

For the "current events" minded:

• A visual breakdown of both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama's acceptance speeches at the conventions. Nice graphic.

For the easily entertained:

• Nutmeg is a hallucinogen. Cool.


• One of the 10 most confusing traffic signs is right here in St. Paul. It's actually only a few blocks from my office. I know right where it is.

For anyone who has a computer:

• Nine reasons I love having a mac Nine great applications only for the mac. The Christmas lights rock. And that cmd+opt+ctrl+8 trick is really fun.


• I could possibly spend my weekend this way although luckily I just talked to Sarah and am inspired to do a really long run tomorrow instead. Thanks!

I would like to thank...

I would just like to thank so many people for springing to the defense of community organizers everywhere. I think the whole "small town mayors work harder than community organizers" comments from Gov. Palin and Rudy Guiliani were quite hurtful. Both comments seemed personal and beneath the office of the speakers.

That said, I'd like to thank

• My local newspaper for picking up on the story, it's appropriate given the efforts at community organizing in the Twin Cities.


• Time Magazine for making this a national issue.


• The National Association of Social Workers for having my back.


• YouTube, CNN and Sen. Obabma for reminding me it's only trash talk.


• And this guy.

Yum

I just saw a commercial for the Baconator and it looks really good.

After a weekend of not running

After a weekend of no running, I ran today in anticipation of running a 10k. One training program said I should run 3 miles today and the other 10k training program said I should be running 4 miles today. Really it's good to have both programs to look at. I don't really want to run 5 times a week, I like my knees too much to do that but the other program doesn't seem to be intense enough.

Today I split the difference. I ran 3 miles on the Y track which I thought was going to kill me. It was I think mentally tough because I usually just run sprints on that track so there's always walking after a lap or two. So after the third mile, I ran sprints for the fourth mile.

Then later, I went back to the Y at the end of the evening. It's always easier to work out a second time in the evening for some reason. It feels like anything I do puts money in the bank. So if I don't do a super-hard workout, I'm still making an investment. Today I just did the elliptical and lifted weights.

I'm thinking about running tomorrow, it all hinges on what time I wake up and how I feel. I can wake up early and run outside in my neighborhood. The upside to this option is that I get a longer run in and I can eat breakfast at home. I can sleep only slightly longer and run sprints at the Y. The upside to this is that I get to sleep in longer and I'm closer to the interstate when I go to work.

I'm also thinking about running a marathon. Like next year at this time, I could run the twin cities marathon. If I had a year to train, I might be able to do it. I'm not sure what will actually spur me into training for a marathon.