Catching Up

Today, I didn't have school.  What a treat!  We always get a four day weekend for President's Day and this year it is the Friday/Monday kind of weekend.  I did my long run today.  It was tough because I had to do some 1 minute fartleks for three miles (on the mostly uphill part of my course) and then two miles hard at the end.  I ended up running a good pace over all, but the part where I had to run hard was very challenging.  I wonder what I looked like in those last two miles, when I was trying to run hard, but wasn't going as fast as I was attempting to.  

After my run, I hit up Borrone's for my weekly recovery lunch.  I never have meat in the house, so I like to go out after my long runs and get some animal protein in me.  I also brought three days worth of the paper and got to reading.  They are publishing KenKen puzzles now, which are really fun for me and I tore up the Wednesday and Thursday puzzles.  The Thursday puzzle was especially enjoyable because two clues asked for "Notable born 02/12/1809."  First, I thought that it was currently 2008, so I was mad that the puzzle was asking me to identify people who were both 199 years old, but then I realized that it's 2009 and that Abraham Lincoln and Charles R. Darwin shared their day of birth.  So cool!  It's a good thing I've been paying attention to the news (and that I was able to read this week's Science Times).  

I sat at Borrone's for a few hours, right next to the sun-warmed window, and enjoyed the news and puzzles.  Then, as it has been doing, it started pouring in the afternoon, which was glorious.  This state desperately needs the rain.  The hillsides are not as green as they could be and we are in year three of a drought.  And, for some reason, the people here have never really heard of water conservation.  I want to scream every time I hear the sprinklers on while I'm running in the rain.  I don't want us to have a drought, but I really hope that someone around here institutes a water ban this summer.

Finally, I'm addicted to rice pudding.