Photo Tag

Tha rundown:

1. Pick the 4th folder on your computer
2. Pick the 4th Picture
3. Explain the picture
4. Tag 4 more peeps.

OK, this is kind of a cool one. We organize the pics by year, so 2005 was the fourth folder. 2005 is when Bigun was born, so I was playing with this pic. This picture is a 5 generation pic, so it was #4 in that folder. The back row is my mother and my grandmother. The front row is my great-grandmother we called Mama G. She is the one who purchased the beachhouse at Tybee Island if I've ever told you that story. Her mother (My great-great-grandmother is next to her, her name is Ella Lenora. That's who we named Ella (our oldest child) after. And she's holding yours truly as a mere babe. It's also one of the only pics we have of Ella Lenora without a baseball cap. She was an OG (organic gardener) back before they were called organic gardeners. They just didn't have pesticides and fertililzers readily available back then. She passed away about a year and a half after this was taken. Mama G passed when I was a junior in high school, we were really close. And my mother and grandmother are still with us.

We have a copy of this picture hanging in Bigun's room so that she will know where her name came from. That's why I have it scanned and on the computer. I'm tagging everyone, because I think it's incredibly interesting to see other people's pics and hear why they are cool.

And apparently you have a tough time imagining how I can cover more than 10 miles on the treadmill. Well, tomorrow's long run is 15 miles, and it will be done on the treadmill. How is this possible you may ask? FOOTBALL. College football is a way of life here in the deep south. It's more important than your neices birthday party. Wifey does her long runs early in the morning on saturday's, so I've got the kids. If I try to watch football at home it is only met with constant demands from Wifey and the girls to do something else. Which is completely out of the question. I'm hungry. I have to poo. That's what halftime is for. So if I can watch one game uninterrupted during a long run AND get my long run knocked out, then it's killing two birds with one stone. And after running 15 miles, nobody expects me to leave the recliner except to get more Advil. So I get to watch more football and fend off the fam with a long stick. Except when I fall asleep on the chair and Bigun crawls up and falls asleep on my chest. Or EGB (Evil Genius Baby) throws toys at me to get me to wake up.

After such a manly description of football, I have to admit the same holds true for soap operas. Wednesday work caught up to me, and I got no cross training workout. boo. But I did bill 9 hours. yea. So yesterday I did a great 6 miler. On the treadmill. While watching Days of Our Lives. I hoped they were going to catch the murderer, and I didn't want to miss it. They got him. It was great. And now it's ok if you call me by a woman's name. Just know that I prefer Gloria or Alice. I don't know why.

But the cool thing about the 6 miles was that I never had to slow down to a walk. I did a 3 min warmup, then stopped to stretch. I reset the treadmill numbers, and did 6 miles in 58 minutes burning 970 calories. And the speed stayed between 6.1 and 6.3 the entire time, except for the last 1/4 mile when I pushed it to 6.5! That's never happened before. Most of the time, I can go 3 or 4 miles without walking. Sometimes I can make it 5. But this is really cool.

Sometimes I get down on myself for thinking that is really cool. Some friends are trying to break a 4 hour marathon. But to get a little perspective, think back. It was only 11 months ago that I was smoking a pack a day and couldn't walk up a flight of stairs. So to go from one flight of stairs to 6 miles straight I think is pretty good progress. 18 months ago I was almost 40 lbs heavier than I am now. I still owned my own business, and worked an average of 14 hours a day, 6 days a week. That's 9 am to 11 pm every day. 28 days out of every month. The only movement was walking out to main st for a high fat lunch. I had no clue about nutrition or excercise. I didn't have time to care.

But I had a client who was a big cyclist. He did the Assault on Mt Mitchell last year, which is a 112 mile ride climbing 6000 feet in elevation to the top of the highest mtn peak on the eastern coast. I then found out that a lot of my clients (mostly architects and engineers) were really into cycling, and I found Go magazine, a local triathlon mag about races in the upstate. I thought it was cool, but not something I could actually do.

Then 2007 happened, and my whole perspective changed. I won't go into the details here, it's too private. But by January of 2008 I was not smoking, I was losing weight, and I was signed up for my first tri. So to go from that to 6 miles without walking is freakin huge. I lurve it, and I am so grateful that I've been able to change my perspective completely. And next thursday I know what I'm going to say I'm thankful for. That they caught that murderer on Days. That was a tough case to crack!@

So wish me luck for the 15 miles on the treadmill tomorrow. I've got Michigan/Ohio State (go buckeyes) and NC State/UNC games at noon to get me through it. And for the record, I like Texas Tech over Oklahoma tomorrow at 8 pm. The kids will be in bed then. Love ya mean it, have a great weekend!