The World's Happiest Dog

I love this dog. Not just like. Not just admire. LOVE this dog. Happy dog Sara was rescued by my friend Linda from the Rockingham County Animal Shelter. It was a match meant to be. The shelter, as I've mentioned in previous posts, is so overcrowded most animals have only 72 hours to be adopted before they're put down. Sara was such a sweet dog that the shelter manager kept putting off putting her down, hoping someone would come for her. On day 10, my friend Linda, a hard-working volunteer with the Animal Protection Society, showed up. Thank you, God.

I went to visit about 2 weeks after Sara came to live with Linda and her family. That dog feels like she's been a part of the family for forever and a day. She's also a lover. No jumping, but leans her body in on yours, asking to be petted. Big eyes smile at you. Just a wonderful, well-behaved dog. I'm so thrilled for Linda and Sara and thought I'd share their story in case you needed something to brighten your day.

18 Days Until The Marathon

18 days until the North Carolina Marathon! With the exception of yesterday, I feel strong. I ate crappy yesterday and kept putting off my hill run until I admitted to myself at 7 PM that it just wasn't going to happen. But that's okay. That's the first run I've skipped in a loooong time. I'll do hills on Wednesday and make up for it. 

On Saturdays I've been doing 15 and 18 mile runs with my running partner, Marshall. And--knock wood--feeling good. Legs feel strong, back doesn't hurt, even my right knee which likes to give me grief has been behaving itself. This Saturday will be 20 miles and then we do an easy 11 the following week and then the marathon. 

Marshall and I are going to try running together during the Marathon. It's a tricky thing to do. Often one person feels better or worse at certain points of the race and you don't want to hold your partner back if they feel strong and can speed up just as you don't want to be held back yourself. But we've trained together on long runs for months now, our pace is identical, and we're both aiming for the same time range (4-hour-ish). 

My concern at this point is being unfamiliar with the course. Mentally it helps me to know that "Okay, a hill is coming up here," or "There's a nice downhill around the corner where I can relax." I'll drive the course before the race but it's still largely going to be an unknown. That and the weather are the biggest potential obstacles. Hoping for moderate temps and no humidity. 

Just hanging on mentally at the moment. No more slacking like last night allowed. Speaking of which, I'm heading out for a 6-mile tempo run right now. Marathon, here I come.

RallyKiller in the Carolinas

Back in college there was a night when a group of us went out to the bars and--on the way home--the boys in the group were trying to convince my friend Trisha and I to hit another bar. Trisha demurred, saying she had an exam the next day. "Don't be a rally killer!" was the chant and the name stuck. For the next three years, fun girl though she is, Trisha was known in our group as RK, or Rallykiller.

RK came to North Carolina this weekend, bringing her son Max with her. To our delight, after 20 years of friendship, we finally managed on this trip to get some decent photos of the two of us together. For twenty years, one or the other of us have looked so heinous in joint photos that the other has been forbidden to use it. But now that we're old and wrinkled, the camera is our friend. Go figure.

Some pictures from this weekend. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Miss you already, RK!!!

     Opening NIght at GSO Grasshoppers GameStill trying to teach me to cook...

 Caught in the rain at Hanging Park!

We're tired of hiking! Bring the limo around

Tales of a Recycling Loser

So it's near the end of yoga class today and the talk turns to recycling. One woman states that for her family of 5 (including 3 teenagers), they produce about 2 large bags of garbage per month. I couldn't help myself. "Per month?" I blurted out. "Between Blair and I we produce 2 bags a week!"

Slowly heads turned my way as mouths fell open in horror. "What on earth are you throwing away?" asked someone.

I racked my brain. Just what was all that stuff in our kitchen trash can? Kitty poo wrapped in plastic bags. Used tissues. Some styrofoam packing from a new skillet we just bought. And paper towels.

"Paper towels?" asked everyone aghast. "You still use paper towels?"

At this point it was too late to lie. "Um, yes?" I said. "I clean countertops with them."

I may have committed a social faux paus from which I will never recover. Or not. The group was actually very kind and opened my eyes to the fact that I am missing a ton of recycling opportunities. Toilet paper rolls and tissue boxes? No more throwing away for me. Now they will get mashed in with the cereal and frozen food cartons in the recycling bin under our sink. I will begin to wean myself off paper towels and start using cloth rags to clean the counters. (Although this led to discussion about is it cheaper to wash and clean the rags or use paper towels. No one knew.) I may not go so far as to scrub the peanut butter jar out but then again, I might.

It's really going to be a matter of paying attention. The women admitted it can be a bit time consuming to try and wash and recycle everything that can be recycled, but I also think I could do a whole lot better without too much added effort on my part. I've been working out so I ought to be able to handle carrying that empty cardboard toilet paper roll to the recycling bin.

Does anyone have any recycling tips? Anything not obvious I maybe could be recycling?