179?

Well, who knows? Yesterday's run went well, 38:52 for the same 5.6 mile loop, but apparently I gained weight, 2.5 lbs. My guess is that (1) I was dehydrated yesterday morning when I weighed and (2) I had not eaten breakfast. Neverthelss, this leads me to believe that yesterday was the abnormal reading and that the 181 on day one may have been accurate. Who knows. I can see now why they say weighing once a week is a better strategy, but then what would I bore you with?

Today's run may be the 7.2 miler, if I am motivated to run over the bridge when I get to the lincoln memorial. The extra 2 miles or so will not add much to my overall fitness, but there is something about running for 52 minutes versus 40 minutes. Seems much more like running for a purpose and less like simple maintenance exercise. We'll see.

176.5

No, I don't think I really lost 4.5 lbs in 24 hours. Nevertheless, that's what the scale said two of the four times I stepped on it this morning. I suppose I could have stepped on the thing 30 times to ensure large enough sample for a mean, but decided the median after four tries was good enough. Yesterday's reading was probably high, but it is common for me to pop up and down as I am one of those guys that loses (and adds) water weight rapidly. The 181 was also surprising given my clothes still fit, though they are not "loose" like they are around marathon time. My "true" wieght yesterday was probably around 179. The good news in all of this is that I am much farther from the "overwieght" BMI level (184) than I orginally feared.

My run yesterday was good. 40:04 for 5.6 miles. Anything at or under 40 is a good run for me at that distance. I'll do the same thing today, see how it feels now that I am 4.5 pounds lighter...

181

That's what the scale said this morning. I have not stepped on the scale since my last marathon because I was afraid of what it might say. Though I am disappointed that I am about 10 lbs heavier than I would like to be, I am not "overweight" by BMI standards, barely. The wieght gain has a couple of causes. One, I have not been doing any long runs as our new son Ian, born, as it happens, on the same day as my last marathon, is a higher priority than getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and running for a couple of hours. And two, I have helped myself to more than the occasional beer as I have no marathon or long run looming in the near future. My eating has been about the same as pre-Ian, but if I am running 60% to 70% of the mileage I was before Ian, I should probably cut back more than I have. There are some other excuses such as being sick every other week, a general lack of sleep reducing motivation, and poor weather, but I can't control those things.

So today I start the official back to fitness campaign. I will run my standard 5.6 mile loop at lunch today, which I will repeat a couple of times during the week. And, I will chug through a 7.2 miler later in the week. And, more importantly, I'll limit adult drinks to Fridays and Saturdays (and baseball games). Each day I'll report my weight on the blog. I'll write it in my running journal too, but that doesn't have the same impact as publishing it here. As for the long runs, we'll see. That imposes strains on the family that will have to be negotiated before making a public commitment. Ian is likely getting the dreaded ear tubes sometime soon. We are hoping that will help with sleep and increase general family happiness. The long runs will start after that on a limited basis (maybe).

New Flowers

Kelly, Graeme, Ian, and I all went to Home Depot to get some plants/flowers. We also bought dirt, which sort of irks me. Buying dirt, sort of like buying water, seems conspicuous. Anyway, our back patio is really starting to look tended to, which is good as we intend to spend more time out there. I guess buying dirt is OK.

We have also decided to let Madison, our cat, wander around outside within the confines of our patio. She seems content with the limit, but the squirrel fight challenged her obedience. She seemed unusually interested in the squirrel throwdown going on in the trees. Her twin brother Knox, who died last year, would have been less content. He always wanted to run away, but, paradoxically, never wanted to be too far away. I'll take some pictures, but don't hold your breath.

Fishing

I went drinking, er, fishing with my brother-in-law today.  The hardest part for me was pushing the hook through the live shrimp.  Before today, I did not know how to fish let alone put bait on the hook.  The key is to keep the hook out of the brain.  I did catch a pretty good sized speckled trout, but it was sort of luck more than anything.  I thought I had goofed up the line, again, but the fishing gods were on my side.  I'll post a picture when I can get it off of Chris's phone.

Heath Spencer Asmar

I am visiting my sister in Pensacola Beach, Florida.  They have a beautiful home on the beach and they have an even more stunning new baby boy.  Heath is a little over 5 weeks old and he is still sorting out the whole eating and sleeping routine; something we adults slavishly follow.  You know, sleep when it's dark, eat when it's daylight.  Heather is managing well, but is pining to start running again.  Soon enough.  In fact, we may do short run tomorrow just for old times sake.

I think I have figured out the picture thing, here are a couple.

Rain

I am happy that the rain is coming down in buckets. My project this spring has been to "fix" the greenspace behind our back patio fence. My neglect and outside "forces" conspired over the winter to create a wasteland populated by sad Hydrangea, spotty crabgrass, mud, rocks, and butchered junipers. The tweenage boys across the way leaving their tweenage boy flotsam did not help the aesthetic appeal either.

Also out back is a tree/bush like juniper that was planted outside our fence. It has grown to the point of blocking the back gate. We told the groundskeeper for our assoication, he told us that they don't plant things outside of the gates. After a pause, I told that we did not either, but everything outside the fence is the association's responsibility, could he do something about it (the veiled threat was "or I will"). His solution was to give the plant a "high and tight." Those are fine for troops, but not bushes. It looks ridiculous.

Last year, Dominion Power decided that the juniper (different variety than the gate blocker) that hid the big power box/transformer interefered with the proper functioning of said unit. (What happens in those boxes? The low hum is, at times, disconcerting.) The mulch spread biannually by the association's groundscrew explicitly for the juniper had begun to accumulate around the box, restricting access. The juniper and the dirt needed to be modified. Amazingly, the Dominion Power "landscapers" were able to complete their job with only a back hoe and a chainsaw!!!

Earlier this spring, our homeowner's association contracted to have all of the fences replaced behind the townhomes. Great. The team from Long Fence worked like their hair was on fire (or it was a fixed price contract). Part of the process involved digging up the cable and phone lines and installing new anchor posts for the fences. All of this activity chewed up what was an already scarred landscape.

The prominent feature behind the back fence are the two hydrangea we planted four years ago. We planted them to commemorate the loss of what would have been our first two children, twins. Sometime around the 9th week of gestation, their hearts quit beating. About the same time, I started running, alot. One of my first long runs was with Mike. I shared with Mike my loss on this run and on many future runs we talked about how hard it is to want kids and not be able to have them. Pain is easier to talk about when something else is hurting too, sort of a necessary distraction.

Our first son, Graeme (the little guy in the profile picture), was born a little over a year after planting the hydrangea and after I had run two marathons, the first in DC and the next in Boston. I ran in Boston with my friend Mike, my sister Heather, and Dave. Well, we "ran" together for about a minute somehwere in the middle of Heartbreak Hill. Shared suffering is somehow life affirming.

Our hydrangea have had their ups and downs and we almost lost hope as each spring they seemed less healthy than the previous. So, this spring, I decided to spend more time tending to our hydrangea and their friends. I planted some flowers and worked in some top soil. Graeme and I pruned the ugly juniper and spread grass seed. Parenting note: little boys like dirt and water; they are naturals for gardening. I have learned that new grass requires lots of watering and the weather has certainly cooperated this spring. The grass is coming in thick and healthy, the hydrangea has bounced back, and the juniper, well, its more green. And all of this just in time for mother's day.

All this new life is also a reminder to me of Mike's kids, Ella and Will. Ella is two and Will would be two today if not for the misfortune of having a heart that was different. I am happy that I got to spend some time with Will, running our own race. It was only a minute or so, but I think we helped each other finish our shared struggle. Happy Birthday Will and Ella.

Once I figure out how to add pictures, I'll post one of our new growth behind the fence.