Minus Four - 14th Anniversay

Happy 14th Running Anniversary to Me! (starting 15) On this day, February 10th, 1997 ( A Monday) I made the conscientious decision to start running every single day. That same day was my maternal Grandmother's (Ruth Lantz) funeral, too. Prior to that, I had been running at least every other day dating back to November 1996. I woke a little late, not getting downstairs until 539a. That’s not really a big deal, but given that I’m a creature of habit, it throws a wrinkle in my routine requiring certain cuts that would otherwise go on via auto pilot. And the very reason I've built a routine is just so I don’t have to think and worry about the clock each and every morning. I gazed out the back door to nothing but clear skies. I could feel frigid winter air seeping in under the threshold. I knew it had to be cold. After sit-ups I found out just how cold. At the time it was -1. Burr! There was a slight breeze, too, so that would make it feel presumably colder, -13 to be exact. I fooled around online for less than five minutes before moving on to my push-ups. Again, my wrists were a tad achy. Frankie already up and alert, the two of us headed outside. The deck creaked and snapped as we made out way into the backyard. Frankie wasn’t too excited to be out there but I could tell she needed to go. In less than a minute she pooped and then pulled me back to the deck. She was done! I poured coffee and sipped it at the PC while reading the Daily OM and then a few headlines. It was already 620a, which meant I was at least 10 minutes behind the eight ball. I hate that. I still did a meditation but trimmed it considerably. I barely had a chance to quiet my chattering mind. Stretching went extremely well, though. I took Mindy coffee and Frankie around 635a. By then Mindy was out of the shower. I shared that Frankie would almost certainly need to go out again before my return. I dressed for my run, but not before taking another look at the temperature. It was down to -4! Many don’t realize the coldest temps of the day often occur just before sunrise. Not entirely sure why, though. I bundled in my extra winter layer, both upper and lower. It’s amazing what one extra layer does. I wasn’t cold at all. The only thing was that initial gasp of frigid air when running into the brutally cold breeze. It sucked the air right out of my lungs. I ran the 4.1 miles without any trouble, and it really ended up being a beautiful run. Mindy’s Honda was already running. I remembered to grab Wednesday’s mail before heading inside. Everybody seemed in relative good spirits, even Bella who had a bounce in her step. She was more than eager to be heading back to school. My eggs were waiting in the microwave. Mindy asked if we were doing dinner out after work, this being a Jimaken night. Most likely. She left slightly after 730a. After breakfast, I quickly headed up for a shower and was back downstairs by 749a, and that was after a shave, too. I am fast and efficient. I had enough time to put together a lunch before heading out to the bus stop. The kids came downstairs on their own accord. Bella was more than helpful about leashing up Frankie and holding onto her while I started the Trooper. Chrissy was out with the kids. Said Kenny was inside and sick, sporting a cold. Bummer! After the kids were on the bus Frankie and I walked out front. It was still bitter cold. She didn’t go again, just a lot of sniffing. By the way, Jacob took her out while I was running. She peed then. I quickly gathered my things and then headed out the door for work near 815a. It was an uneventful drive in. There were numerous spots up front. I was in my office by 830a but I still had to fire up my laptop after working from home on Wednesday. That took a good five minutes. While my laptop booted I fridged my lunch and fetched a fresh pitcher of ice water. We had a meeting to discuss some departmental changes that lasted about an hour. Wow, a lot of information to absorb and sort through. Over whelming really. Sometime near 11a my boss sent out the email that everyone had been waiting for. We had the green light to release 2010 performance reviews along with raise and bonus info. I spent the lion’s share of my day from that point forward getting the information out to my team. I got my own as well. My boss was more than gracious. Mixed in with all of that was a bunch of daily work matters too. That did nothing but help the day go by extremely fast. I was energized by the pace and even felt a little extra enthused. I talked with Mindy once I left the office for home. We chatted through most of my drive home. We talked about the coming weekend, and whether or not we’d be skiing, and whether or not we would see or have the grandkids for an overnight. On one hand, I need a grandkid fix, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to plan too aggressively, especially since we need to be preparing and packing for our ski trip. Mindy was open to whatever I wanted to do. She only wanted to clarify everything we absolutely had to get done. I was undecided when we hung up, which was when I was a ½ mile or so from home. I was home by 550p. We chatted while I rinsed my lunch containers, or until Mindy took Frankie outside after she scratched at the back door. While she took care of that, I headed up to prepare for a Barley’s visit. I brushed my teeth and hair. I headed out to start the Honda while she fooled around with this and that. We left the house around 610p. During the relatively short drive, Mindy shared a very sad story about one of her first grader’s mother. She had a stroke and as a result is now brain dead. The family is planning to pull the plug come Monday. The boy is at least somewhat aware of situation. It’s all very, very sad. He’s had a tough life even before this latest tragedy. Barley’s lot was packed to the hilt. We had no choice but to park in the back 40. Getting used to that. It was still quite cold. We hustled to get inside. Just as we were settling at a barside table, two older gentlemen were vacating their stools at the bar. We snatched those instead. Janet quickly greeted us and asked our pleasure. Since they have no Centennial on tap, I opted for the CBC IPA. Yep, that’s right. They’ve got my favorite regular IPA on the guest tap. Mindy went with a St Joan’s Revenge. That’s no surprise. Claims it her all-tim favorite. We chatted briefly with Calvin, but he was pretty much on his way out shortly after we arrived. We also talked with Josh, another Barley friend and regular, and also my former guitar instructor. Talked about running and exercise. I didn’t realize that Josh was runner. Says he’s 41 now and needs a means of keeping the pounds off, especially if he wants to keep drinking good beer and eating reuben’s. :) I had to laugh. I often cite that as one of many motivators for exercising regularly, too. We eventually ordered food. I ordered the reuben (go figure) and Mindy their sampler plate. It took a long time for our food to arrive, but we didn't stress over it. I ordered a second beer, but this time a White Rajah. Food came around 730p, and my reuben was kickin' delicious! I avoided most of the fries that came with it savoring only the sandwich. I tried one of the riblets off Mindy's plate too. Soon it was 8p and time to head home. Actually, we were late. We headed out into the cold and to the back 40. I drove home. We might've been home five minutes ahead of the kids. I was happy that we hadn't kept Jim waiting. Mindy gifted Jacob her Barley's leftovers. He ate most of them. She also asked both kids to get showers. As usual, Jacob fussed about it, but lost. We asked the kids if they wanted to ski on Saturday. Yes, they did. Jacob asked if he could take a snow board lesson. We didn't commit, but didn't refuse either. Looking ahead to the 10 day forecast, this could be their last weekend to ski. Heading into the 50s most of next week. If that holds on and night time lows don't fall well below freezing, MRMs season could end in a hurry. Seen it happen before. We tuned into American Idol, Hollywood week one. They had collected nearly 350 contestants from their six or seven audition stops. They pared that in half Thursday night. After Idol, the kids headed to bed. Mindy & I watched Bones, a show that she really likes but rarely sees. I watched too, but dosed off a couple of times as well. We headed for bed at 10p.