Newsworthy: crazy women and normal children

But first, I need to vent for a second. I heard a show on Minnesota Public Radio today (and of course anything that comes out of Minnesota is haute couture according to Steve Q) where two "editors" and the host could not figure out when and when not to use good vs. well.

My guideline is to think about whether it is an adjective, adverb or noun.

What you can say in response to "how are you?":
"I am doing well"
"I am good"(ok, technically incorrect unless you're trying to say I'm a good little girl, but it's better than the next two)

What irritates me:
"I am well" (to me this implies you are not ill, like you just got over an illness that had you in the hospital. For most people, this is not what they mean - right?)
"I'm doing good" (this implies you are working for Amnesty International or that you are a redneck from Iowa)

To avoid all the confusion, I just say "I'm fine". Because I am a damn fine woman.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's congruatulate Alicia H who was the first woman runner finisher in the Arrowhead 135 mile race in Superior National Forrest in northern Minnesota. She ran it in 55 hours and 56 minutes. Awesome. And crossed the finish line with a Spaniard.

Here she is while actually running the entire Superior Hiking trail, which took 4 days, 17 hours and 35 minutes.

And, oh my gosh, a woman from Næstved, and friend of ours, Annette, is going to run 366 marathons in 365 days. The current world record for number of marathons run in a calendar year by a female is 106

. The craziEST part: she has kids and a husband. Good luck, Annette! I can't wait to follow along.

Now, I'm actually not very newsworthy, but I am crazy. Plus if I didn't talk about myself, I'd just be a boring journalist.

My training has been going well lately.

Last Thursday I ran a 3:14:01 marathon on the treadmill. It was at 0.5% elevation. I did not count the bathroom breaks. This was two days after a 20 mile tempo.
Fri: 10 miles easy, total body conditioning + swimming intervals
Sat: 20 miles outside 8:45 pace
Sun: 15 miles outside + swimming intervals
Mon: 20 miles on treadmill, slow
Tues: 3 miles easy, 1 x 6 mile intervals on hilly route outside in 6:32, 6:28, 6:26, 6:26, 6:25, 6:35, then 5 mile cooldown. Swimming intervals.
Wed: 13 miles slow, stairclimber + modern nordic track + spinning class + yogalates

So - given my treadmill "marathon" time, I have (with SR's okay) signed up for the New Orleans Marathon March 4th to go for a PR. After that is out of the way, I can enjoy a spring and summer of ultras and triathons. :)

Oh, I forgot. I was in the news in some way - here is a page from the most recent Løbemagasinet in Denmark, informing women that continuing to train during pregnancy will improve their condition.




Crazy women. Yes. Now: read carefully the top regrets of dying people, collected by a palliative care nurse in Australia:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Yes, ladies, we could all learn from women like Alicia and Annette who let themselves do what makes them happy.

What makes you happy? Training makes me happy. Running makes me happy. But what really makes me happy? Those little moments with my family.

Touching Mattias chest, so soft over a paper thin breast bone and watching him coo and giggle.



The Lorax has been telling me about his best friend, "Santa" at school for days now. I was so happy he had made such a close friend. He told me about all of the things they did together. How Santa took a nap right next to him. How Santa played with him on the playground. I figured the boy's name was Xander. I asked tonight at his parent teacher conference who Santa was. And they had all assumed Santa was a friend at home because there were no boys there with a name close to that. We looked at each other. We looked at Christian who was playing with rocks in a sand case. Santa was not real, not to us at least. Santa is is friend he needs during this transition to a new life. I looked at my baby, Christian, still in many ways as fragile as Mattias.

And Natali announced tonight she thinks she might have a boyfriend. He is the most popular boy at school. His name is Quentin and I don't think she's making him up. They have told each other they like each other, but what the next step is, well, she suggested they eat lollipops and go for a walk on the bike path.


These are good days. And well days.

Running songs of the day:
The Fall by Gary Numan (thanks, World Café)
Wrecking Ball by Mother Mother (th