Fun!

I found a most useful web site the other day: www.mapmyrun.com . I love it! Using the Google map feature, you can map out your running routes. I am actually pretty amazed to find out just how many good routes I have here in Bloomington. And a search feature allows you to find routes posted by others. It also has a pace and calorie-burning calculator. I've been thinking for some time that I need to be better recording my runs, so this will help out immensely. I stole one of Mark's shiny new notebooks for my training log. Surely there's something on the Internet that will do that, but for now I'm going to stick with my old-school notebook, just like in high school.

Of course, my only problem now is that the only time I have to run is when it's getting dark, so many of my routes are too dangerous. I'm pretty much limited to the IU campus and environs if I want to feel safe. Of course, I should have run one of these routes today, since I had the whole day, but I ended up eating a lot of ice cream, so that didn't happen. Mark got me Edy's double fudge brownie as a reward for doing so much cooking and dishwashing this week. Speaking of, I made Southwestern lasagna tonight and it was gooo-ood. It is basically lasagna with taco-flavored meat, made with black beans and corn in the layers. Very yummy; it is one of my favorite recipes. As a further twist, I substituted extra lean ground turkey for the ground beef, so it is relatively healthy as well.

Not feeling so guilty about not running, though--I ran during some nasty weather, pretty consistently all week, and a day off does not go amiss. Even though I've brought some work home to do tomorrow, I should still have time for a six-miler or so at some point in the day.

Also started browsing through some running blogs I've found recently. Reading about the trials and tribulations of fellow runners is always interesting to me, no matter how mundane it may seem to the normal person! =)

And in other news, we've hired a fourth account rep at work, meaning my workload this upcoming rush will decrease significantly. It's still going to be rush, but it might not be 80 hours a week for five weeks again. So perhaps for once my training will not come to grinding halt during December and January. I was hoping so much for this that I scheduled races. =D Work is seeming better in general lately, just because I've caught up a lot of loose ends lately and feel much more organized going into this rush than I did last time. We've reorganized our area, moving in some new furniture (well, it was downstairs, but we claimed it). We put a long table right in the middle, hoping to encourage others not to treat it like a thoroughfare (this has met with limited success--some people simply cannot take a hint). Of course, give it a few weeks and I'll be buried to my eyelids in packets. Yaaaay.