Four Random Pics!

Silvie and Jingus enjoying the snow

Birdie

Jingus and the girl next door (Boochie)

Sil's decoupage project for our friend, Farmer Rich

Mr. Jingus, CPA

This year, I just didn't feel like dealing with the taxes, so I let Mr. Jingus do them. I gave him all the paperwork and a calculator and, after napping on the forms for a couple of hours, he finally got down to business. I know it's probably not recommended to have a pet do the taxes, but he did get us a $16,000 refund. Good boy.

Valentine's Day Dash

Sunday, February 11th was the Love 'em or Leave 'em Valentine's Day Dash 5k at Greenlake. If I hadn't prepaid for it I probably would have skipped it. I had been battling a nasty cold and school work had whittled my training hours down to nil. So, with the expectation bar sufficiently lowered, I was able to surprise myself by finishing under 27 minutes. Here are the results. I finished at #316.

Snowy Seattle

A rare snowstorm blanketed the area on Wednesday afternoon and evening, especially the eastside and south Seattle. The roads got bad quickly, and I needed 4 hours and tire chains to make it home from my cancelled class. Hundreds of folks abandoned their cars and thousands of kids got a snow day on Thursday. Here are some pics from our yard, taken Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon.

Resolution Run 5K

Happy New Year! May all of my readers (yes, both of you) have a happy, healthy and wonderful 2007!

New Year's Day was the Resolution Run 5k at Magnuson Park at Sand Point. No pics for this event. The weather was great; not very cold and the rain held off. I had sprained my ankle two weeks prior, and although it was almost healed, I was running with it wrapped. I didn't feel hampered by it much. I did feel out of practice, having been idle for a couple of weeks, and hit a bit of a wall at about the three-quarter mark. I was a bit disappointed with my time (26:25), as I feel I could break 25 minutes. There is another race in a month, and I hope to train for that one. Enough blather, here are the official results:

http://results.racecenter.com/2007/rs5k07.htm#overall



Peace. --JC

Stumbling Toward Mediocrity

December 3 was the Canine Candy Cane 5k in Renton, WA, benefitting that city's food bank. It was my first race, it was early in the morning, and it was cold. I'm not making excuses here, but I really wasn't feeling it that day. Even though I had gotten used to running longer distances, those 3.1 miles seemed to never end. I felt sluggish and slow, and my time (25:15) reflects this. The accompanying picture shows me holding a piece of paper indicating that I finished in first place, but this was only in my underrepresented age/sex class. Yes, while I was left in the dust by countless women and geezers and children, thirty-something dudes, like Jerry Seinfeld in a certain episode, chose not to run; and for that I am truly grateful.

My one other moment of triumph occurred when I overcame a spunky 10 year old who was determined not to let me pass him. I strode by him proudly and didn't see him again until the finish where he was bending forward, yakking up his Fruit Loops. I walked over to him, placed a tender hand on his shoulder and, leaning over, said to him soothingly, "If you can't hang with the big boys, stay home in your playpen, bitch." A wee bit unsportsmanlike, I suppose....

Skiing at Snoqualmie

After the 5k, Silvie and I headed out to Snoqualmie for the first ski of the season. I was nervous, trying to remember what I was supposed to have learned earlier in the year. The line was long for the Little Thunder (why don't they just call it "Little Pussy"?) lift and I spent the whole first ride up worrying about my dismount, but things went smoothly and I fell not once the entire day. I'm still skiing at a pre-school level, but I'm having fun! Silvie was a dear and stayed with me on the Wussy Way run for most of the time. She also packed us a killer lunch, complete with hot homemade vegetable soup! I have two pics from Snoqualmie , taken by Sil. I promise pics of Silvie in future posts :)