The Great Leslie

Tony Curtis has died.

He is famous for many screen roles, but to me (and most of my maternal cousins, I would guess) he is best known as The Great Leslie, whose hair is always combed and whose car is always clean.

I shall now watch The Great Race on streaming Netflix in his honor.

Jogging, Day 13

Saturday morning was spent searching for a muffler-repair shop, and we didn't get to the park until noon.

It was 91 degrees outside. My goal was 2.25 miles.

I jogged most of two miles but had to spell myself with a minute of walking here or there after the first half mile. But I did the two miles two minutes faster than last time, so yay.

The last quarter mile was only accomplished after a breather during which I recalled that the last time I jogged two miles it had been unseasonably cool.

It was really hot outside.

The Extra Mile

My hair was getting very crazy, so last Monday I set a goal to make a hair appointment this week.

Happily, I met and even exceeded my goal. Not only did I make the appointment, I kept the appointment!

Many thanks to Sarah at Ulta. Because of her efforts, I no longer look like a shaggy 12-year-old boy.

Living the PB Dream

Thank you, Uncle Orson, for sharing the lives of Gary and Elaine, Catalog Dwellers.

Jogging, Day 12

Yesterday, Zeke and I went to Costco. We had 15 minutes, tops, because we had to hustle to preschool pickup.

Thanks to our new ability to jog, we were in and out in EIGHT MINUTES, which is a world record.

Today's schedule called for a 1.5 mile run. We attempted the loop with big hills again today, and did not manage to run up them. My calf muscles are killing me, but perhaps following Tuesday's jog with Tuesday night's dance class was not a good strategy.

Victor, Zeke, and BOB in January 2008. Only BOB is unchanged.

Not a Child of God

Sometimes I can corral Victor to look at new Church magazines when they arrive in the mail.

Today was such a day, and we spent 10 minutes or so looking at this month's edition on temples. We looked at the pictures and read some captions and sidebars.

One side bar referred to "children of God." I asked Victor if he knew who was a child of God.

"ME!" he said.

I asked, "Am I a child of God?"

"No," he said. "You are a grown-up like God."

Victor, age 16 months, at the Washington, DC Temple on July 7, 2007

How's It Going?

My standard way of checking in on Victor is to ask:

"Hey, Victor. How is [insert name of activity] going?"

Yesterday afternoon, in the laundry room, Victor checked on me.

"Hey, Mom. How is laundry day going?"

He was right. Monday is laundry day. And it was going fine.

Jogging, Day 11

I will skip a recap of Day 10. It was not good.

Day 11 was today. Day 10 was so bad I almost skipped Day 11 in preemptory despair. But we went!

I ran all of laps 1 and 4 (minus 10 seconds to look at an unusual caterpillar with Zeke), most of lap 5, and almost most of laps 2 and 3. Also, I did about 1/4 mile of lap 4 actually running. It was kind of like flying, and I liked it.

There were no other people on the loop, so Victor had free range on his bike. I love that he can go off on his own, but that I am still very close by. He's getting stronger, too. He can power up some of the hills now.

Commando Force

Our city has a new police unit comprised of handsome officers on four-wheelers who wear aviator glasses. I'm not sure what they do other than ride their four wheelers along the new bike/walk/run trail that's built on an old easement, but they sure look awesome.

Good Fortune

Jeremy ate Chinese food for lunch today. He kindly brought home a fortune cookie for me.

My fortune is:

"God will give you everything you want."

The "shoe size 13-16" men's socks I found at Costco last week were clearly a foreshadowing of my good fortune.

Jogging, Day 9

Today, feeling confident after my TWO MILE RUN on Saturday, Zeke and I headed to a park with bigger hills.

We went our two miles, but barely, and we did NOT run up the hills. Or on all the flat parts.

On a positive note, my legs are getting a lot stronger. I can tell when I clean the house.

Jogging, Day 8

On Saturday I discovered that pushing a stroller really slows me down. Not because it's heavy, but because I like to swing my arms while I jog. It's a nice motion. It helped me run up the hills.

Sans Zeke-in-B.O.B. I ran TWO MILES. In a row. Without stopping.

It took 34 minutes. But I was still mighty impressed with myself.

1922 in Color

I ran across Kodak's 1922 Kodachrome Film Test on the internet today.

What is it about seeing black-and-white eras in color?

Jogging, Days 5, 6, 7

Day 5 was a bust. Jeremy and I made the mistake of allowing Zeke to bring his trike on our family ride/walk/jog, which meant that Jeremy had to hang back with Zeke, who pedaled like mad while yelling, "I'm fast!" Meanwhile, the weekend Lance Armstrong wannabes zipped past poor little Zeke. Really, folks, is there nowhere else you'd rather show off/ride than a small loop around a park?

I had the job of staying with Victor while he struggled up hills and booked down them. It would have been fine had there not been eight bazillion people also using the road. Victor was always interested in the grown-up cyclists, but his bike follows his sight lines (which I understand because I used to drive like that, terrifying my parents) and he kept veering towards the aforementioned zippy cyclists despite my yells of "Victor! Stay to the side! The side! THE SIDE!"

By the end of our outing I was a crazy person.

Day 6 was much better as we had the park mostly to ourselves. The few other patrons smiled indulgently at Victor as he rode, as if remembering what it was like to be small and experiencing the freedom of a first bicycle.

Jogging-wise, I got the idea from a running magazine (thanks, Jen) to try and run for 10 minutes straight. Last week, that was impossible. I could not even run for two minutes straight. But on Day 6, I did it!

On Day 7, I jogged with a friend at yet another park. AND WE JOGGED THE ENTIRE FIRST LOOP! Let me say WE ARE VERY IMPRESSED WITH OURSELVES. Further, WE JOGGED UP and down THE HILLS. Did you catch that? WE RAN UP THE HILLS.

UP!

SwindleRun

SwindleRun is the name of our team for Athena's Run for Gyn Cancers.

The 5k event is on Saturday, October 30, and you can sign up here.

Make sure to join team SwindleRun!

Jogging, Days 3 and 4

On Thursday I went jogging with a friend. Between us, we had two ladies, two double joggers, and two boys on bikes. Fortunately, the trail was not busy, and we managed to jog* on flats and down hills. It was way more fun to jog* and chat.

Saturday was a revelation. Jeremy and Victor rode their bikes and I pushed Zeke. And I could even jog* most of the loop.

I almost couldn't believe it.

I actually improved between Monday and Saturday.




*By "jog" I mean the motion of jogging. I make no representation as to speed.

Sharing, Caring, That's the Thing to Do!

Tonight we dined at Poblano's because all meals are half off on Wednesdays. I ate fajitas, Jeremy ate mole something, Victor had (at his request) shredded chicken, black beans, and rice, and Zeke had chicken fingers and french fried.

Naturally, Victor wanted a french fry. So he asked "Zeke, can I have a french fry."

Zeke said something like "Um, yes," and selected a fry.

Zeke then broke the fry in two, and then in two again.

"Here Victor!" he said, offering him a stub of french fry.