RUN: 4x 1mile @6:30 (LONG ENTRY)

Howdy,
I know I haven't blogged in a while. The bloggy feeling's just been swelling up inside of me, and with the recent stresses at work, I just can't hold it any longer!

Granted, the crunch here at home sort-of disaffords me the time to add pictures at the moment, but all that means is that when I again have the time, I'm going Picture KRAZY!!!...

Okay, I seriously either have to go eat or shower... one or the other.

Anyways, tonight, I had to tear myself away from non-working code and/or test-data and head to running practice.

For lunch, I attended a brown bag presentation of the first 3 of 6 videos in a short film series called "Trombone Player Wanted". It's by Marcus Buckingham, a Row Lowe meets Ethan Hawk meets David from Design Star with a Aussie/Kiwi-accent looking guy, who asserts the idea of building on a person's strengths, instead of today's prevailant mindset of focusing on areas in need of improvement.

Is what you're doing exciting you? Do you enjoy your job?

Scary questions, I know, and it's the piece of advice I keep hearing from tried-and-true professionals. And I believe them. I really do. I'm just like a lot of people... scared -- I need the security of income and health benefits, etc.

If I look deep inside of me, I know that there's a strong burning... a strong will to take life by the horns and just GO FOR IT... my co-workers feel my enthusiasm for a career in packaging science, and I truly believe that that is one thing that I will enjoy striving for.

But when will it happen?

I know that this is a small example, but my giving up cable tv... it was something that I was very afraid of. I felt that I needed that source of distraction, that somehow without it I would be this empty shell. But in the three weeks without it, I've found the opposite to be true. Life has never been so busy.

I've been able to focus more on running, on getting house projects done (VPP!). I've been spending more time with friends both in town and over in Orlando. I've maxed out on overtime at work a couple of the weeks, and I've picked up some responsibility in maintaining the website for the local LGBT group (I'm still performing my initial assessment of the current pages). And I've been trying to keep up with the blogs and photo distributions.

That first step towards independence has opened quite a number of doors of opportunities for me to discover what my Strengths are -- which Marcus Buckingham define as the things that makes us feel STRONG, RESTORED, FULFILLED... and these are things that we are not necessarily good at. I know that I enjoy having meaningful interactions with people and that I feel strong when I feel like I've made a positive contribution to the general good of my environment.

Oh, I'm getting too far off...

Work. Practice.

I was going to for-go running practice to try to get this coding/testing issue resolved, but I was on the brink of imminent burnout. I realized that running practice was my restorative activity (exercise, positive interactions with other people), and which without, I would be utterly of no use to anyone.

Anyways, so I went to practice.

4 times 1 mile at :10 faster than race pace with 1:30-2:00uh... 2:30 rest inbetween. I was never all too good about figuring what those paces were, so I just ran them at Stressed-level and ended up running them in 6:20, 6:45, 6:30, and 6:15... not bad not bad... but my form and facial expressions must've been HORRENDOUS... oh well.

Oh, and at mile 2, a adolescent in the passenger-side of a white truck started making Chinese noises (which I haven't heard since... 4th grade, and that was oddly enough from Filipino kids at an Asian function of some sort back in SC... ignorant pricks)... so I flicked him off as I started my third mile. Had I had a couple more seconds to think about a course of action, I would've punched the side of the truck because tonight, I was all "don't-eff-with-me".

But I ran with John G. and also spend some time with my officer friend, plus I had a cookie and gatorade after the better-than-I'd-imagine/hey-I-pushed-myself run I had tonight, so I'm currently in good spirits and in need of food and a shower.

Sorry, no pics tonight... I'm already "out of uniform" and "unfit/inappropriate" for photo-ing.

It's been a while since I've run with John G. and he mentioned how it looks like I've lost a lot of weight. I really must've since Robin told me the same thing a few weeks ago at Tiger Dash. I don't know what it is. I'm definitely not "more muscular"... maybe just more frail since my times have been pretty slow this season.

Oh well, no rush for fast times... I am hoping for many more years of running.

Okay, anyways, I'm almost tired of thinking/typing about myself... okay, not really... but I've got to eat, shower, pack, sleep, and perhaps knock out a few much-belated holiday cards (my new project. yay...), plus it's an early rise tomorrow.

Have a great night. :)