1st week

Week 1 of training done, and it went well! I feel stronger this week - my run today was much faster and I felt a lot better. Just 19 more weeks to go :)  Plus, since the end of April, I've lost 10 lbs.  More to go, and hopefully the training will help with that.

One thing that I've noticed while running is the amount of trash on the side of the road.  Its really sad to see how much people just don't care (the trash is "away" from their perspective).  Another problem about being in a rural area is that there aren't sidewalks, and shoulders are narrow if they exist at all.  One route that I've found has pretty good shoulders for most of the 1.5 miles, but there are those few places where they don't exist at all.  Unfortunately, someone who didn't believe in sharing the road didn't move over at all in one of these places, forcing me to step into a deep mud hole.  Yuck.  I only had to run 1 mile after that, thankfully.

On Saturday, JD and I went to the State's Fire Service Meritorious Awards Ceremony.  Last winter we had snow/rain that caused massive flooding, followed by a wind storm, followed by a structure fire, all within just a few days.  Our Battalion Chief submitted all of us who were involved for a "Unit Citation", which we were awarded (I will say, though, that I think that everyone who got submitted got an award...).  It was a nice event, and great to hear some of the stories of other people who won awards.  JD and I discussed how some of the actions didn't seem particularly out of the line of duty, but oh well.  The 2 hour drive to Salem was a bit long, as the other 2 people we were driving with forgot how liberal JD and I are.

The reason that I thought of this is because I mentioned how it seemed like some people "aim" for runners/bikers, and one of the guy said that he does aim for bikers on the roads, since the roads are for cars only. WTF?!?  I told him that I stay on the white line since I know that there are crazies like him on the road, but that the roads are for both bikes and cars (his comment "Well, when I can drive on the sidewalk without getting a ticket, then bikes should be allowed on the road."  Um - bikes aren't allowed on the sidewalks unless you're under 15 or something like that).  Since I had to be in a car with him for the rest of the drive down, the dinner, and the drive back up, I otherwise kept my mouth shut, but I felt like saying that when I bike, it lowers the cost of gas for his stupid pick-up truck.  ARGH!

Some days, I just feel like this (Click the comic to see the full panels):