Today marks the beginning of my 47th year of existence. I haven't written much lately but felt compelled to jot something down on my birthday. I'm doing about a week to ten days of just easy running, with occasional strides, as a break from the last eight weeks of quality workouts leading up to the Fajita mile. I am looking to embark on a longer stretch of training trying to lead up to getting my mile down around 5:30, under 20 for the 5k, and under 40 for the 10k.
But I digress, today is my birthday and I actually didn't run today, for the first time in many years of birthdays since I started running. I tried to fight off a headache most of the day, plus just wanting to spend some time with Desiree while William was with his robotics team and Mel was at swim practice this evening. It was a nice evening overall and sometimes, squeezing in a run where one is not really necessary is less desirable. I'll be ready to head back out tomorrow for sure. I had some sushi for dinner and got a Calvin and Hobbes mug from Mel and Desiree that they made at the ceramics studio. I love C&H and this is a great gift, especially since they made it and you can not buy "official" C&H things as Bill Watterson did not license his cartoon out for merchandising.
Anyhow, as I posted on Facebook, I'm a long way from where I would like to be geographically. That pales fairly minor in comparison to the things that are going well in my life. Health, family, and friends. Birthdays sometimes bring about a reflection of the year past, and for me, this time last year was very troubling with the loss of my job at Amgen. Many things I looked forward to doing both personally and with my family were shoved aside as the search for work and the eventual move here took precedence. It's been hard, not just for me but for all of us. It is going to take time, probably a year or more, to really settle in - if at all. There's a lot I miss about the Pacific NW, not the least of which being the outdoor lifestyle I enjoyed there, but the day-to-day interactions, the culture, and the climate. But we're humans; we adapt and overcome and, truth-be-known, it's not like this is a serious hardship. I'm gainfully employed and we are able to afford a nice house, as well as maintaining the activities that are important to the kids. The nice thing about running too - you can do it anywhere really. If we just strip down to those things that are really important to us, it makes the adaptation all the easier.
Today will blend into tomorrow, leaving just the memory of another birthday, and the thoughts of those yet to be come. Until then, happy birthday to all celebrating on this day!
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