Blinded By The Light

Oh, it's been a mighty fine week!

On Monday, our accountant returned our income tax return - and we got a whole $32 refund! Great news for us since we've had to PAY extra the past couple of years. (I'm only whining a little. We're truly blessed to be surviving this economic crisis in good financial, physical, and personal health.)

Tuesday night, I completed a tempo run on the track in a really decent time - and should be back in shape and ready for the Riverwalk 5Mile run in two weeks. I also finished Week 2 of my 100 pushups a day and 200 situps a day routine, and included 50/50s on the stair stepper, too!

Wednesday morning, Gianni confirmed he had to attend a 4-day conference in Charlotte the first week of May. I told him that I would go with him; we thought we'd travel the weekend before and explore the area. During his meetings, I figured I could find something to do; at least it would be a mini-vacation for us. (But I wasn't really looking forward to the trip.)

You see, I really want to visit my sister at The 7MSN sometime this spring. (And I will get there! I need to ride Hank, pet Deets, help trim Wynonna's toenails, and watch Alan and George proudly pull their little cart!) Or I thought maybe I'd travel up to D.C. and see Tracey and Alex, see the Cherry Blossoms, try to fit in some sightseeing while playing with my dive buddies, and run a 5K or 10K race. But alas, no races in the area that I could find. And Gianni really wanted me to go with him to Charlotte.

But Thursday and Friday I had IT meetings at City Hall. Unemployment is high; the economy is down. Yet there I was yesterday, writing paperwork to (maybe) promote myself into a new position. I became addicted to GIS software (Google Earth was only a start) at the PD two years ago when I started mapping out our city grids for a dispatch map. Now the PD may create a new position, GIS Analyst for Public Safety. And I was asked to write up the details because my great bosses/friends, Donna and Nancy, want me for the job. Yeah and Tee-Hee!

So, on a whim, I checked out The Boss' website, hoping maybe he was playing in D.C. or Albuquerque so I could use that as another reason to travel this spring or summer. Guess what? Bruce is in concert at a smallish stadium in Greensboro, NC (about 92 miles north of Charlotte) on the weekend before Gianni's business trip.

And we have 2 tix to the Bruce Springsteen concert in Greensboro on Saturday, May 5! More later on why Bruce is definitely The Boss. But, if you saw him and E Street perform at Super Bowl halftime, you already know that.

I've been so excited since I got the tickets I've been "Blinded by the Light." All you need to do is check out the lyrics and melody to this song - the first one by Bruce that I ever heard. It made me appreciate his genius - way back in 1973 - when he released it. I've been a fan ever since.

Running 101

It's like a lite bulb went off in my head tonight while "running."

Well, I guess you could call it running. On April 1 (April Fools Day seems appropriate, in hindsight) I started a new regimen, in anticipation of running during the intense S. Florida heat this summer and the Disney Half Marathon I'll be running on January 10, next year. The regimen is called Low Heart Rate Training. (Link here for a basic explanation; lengthly, but darn interesting if you're into nerdy analytical stuff.)

Bottom line. Run verrrrrrrrrrrrry slooooooooooooooow to learn how to run faster and better. It's definitely counterintuitive. Per the regimen, I've been running with my Heart Rate Monitor set for my MAF - "Maximum Aerobic Function". At my age (don't go there) and fitness condition, that means I have to keep my heart rate between 124 and 136 beats per minute.

What does that translate to? My last 5K race and average running time prior to the regimen was between 10:15 and 10:30 minutes per mile. With the LHR Training regimen, my 2 mile "run" tonight averaged 16:57 minutes/mile. Do you know how hard it is to SLOW down almost 7 minutes per mile? Basically, I "run" slowly for about 75 steps; then walk 100. (I know, I count them; over and over; for 2 miles.)

No more IPod for me. No siree. No more Springsteen and "Born to Run". No more electronic dance music. No more running Podcasts. Just the steady beep of my heart rate monitor beeping at me. While I breath in 5 times; breath out 5 times; each breath synchronized to the rhythm of my high knees and limited bouncing steps.

It's been insane these past 6 weeks. I've hated it - as everyone in the runner's forum said I would. It's painful to run slow. It hurts where it's never hurt before. I've felt like a complete idiot on the track while even the slowest people passed me by. I really felt dumb "running" (mostly walking) on the Las Vegas Strip at 8:00 in the morning -- past the hookers and last night drunks. But I was determined to continue "running" the protocol because - well, why not?

It's 95 degrees down here (early heat wave) today. Granted, it's only 47% humidity this early in the summer; not too bad, really. (Everything is relative, right?) But it will get a lot hotter as the summer goes on. Disney is still 8 months away. I should have this breathing thing learned by then and my heart rate and aerobic capacity squared away in another two-three months.

All I know is that, *tonight*, the lite bulb went off and running (even at 17:00 pace) felt good. I'm REALLY stoked for running competitively. I can't wait for Disney. And I'm looking forward to seeing what effect my regimen has on my Scuba diving.

B-Bopping, Brooklyn, Broward and Bruce

Anyone reading this who hasn't heard about B-Bopping probably never lived in the midwest during the 1960s. I have so many grand memories of growing up in Brooklyn, Ohio, where I regularly B-bopped around town as a kid and teenager. Not that I'd ever go back there and live. For one, it's much too cold.

And, second, I'm persona non grata in town after my award dinner speech in 1998 to the community and Hall of Fame Committee for Brooklyn High School.

In hindsight, I will admit it was not very tactful of me to tell everyone that Brooklyn was dying. And that I would never return to see the tree they planted in my name. But I couldn't help but notice, when I gave my speech to the assembled masses of students earlier during the day, that the entire auditorium was "white bread." Just like it was from 1967 to 1971, when I went to school there. No African-Americans. No Hispanics. No Asians. Hello. No wonder the town has never developed. Hmmm. I wonder how my tree is doing?

But I digress. And that's a D. Two weeks from now.

So anyway. When I was still thinking Brooklyn was the entire world, I B-bopped around town or my neighborhood a lot. For us mid-westerners, B-bopping meant just cruising around, listening to oldies, surfer music or Motown on the radio, getting a suntan at the pool, hanging out and giggling with my girlfriends, and trying to be "cool". Whatever that meant in those days.

And today I was B-bopping around Broward County in my new Audi TT Roadster. With the top down, of course. Listening to an all-Bruce station on the Sirius radio.Trying to be cool as I remembered how to shift gears on the manual transmission. And figuring out what all the bells and whistles (and iPod connections, top down, airfoil up features) are all about. And then I B-bopped off to work, where we "Ladies of Records" giggled and enjoyed this funky Christmas party that was a lot of fun.

30 years later. Still B-bopping. That's me.