New home, new town, new HILLS!

It has been a pretty hectic two weeks. We moved into our new house, went straight to the beach, and then returned to our new home and town to unpack. It has been 4 days since we returned. I’ve also had no Internet access save for the local coffee shop where I get about an hour each morning checking email and doing some online banking. Things I have realized about moving to a new home for the first time in 9 years: a) Moving ain’t easy; b) I miss my smaller old house with its powerful a/c. I’ve moved into a two-story house, which doesn’t cool well upstairs where the bedrooms are. Gotta get used to that; c) I never appreciated how much paper we produce and how many phone calls to change addresses and registrations and all that it takes to move from one state to another; d) I sure have a lot of junk.

I read two books while on vacation: the Shack and The Last Lecture. I recommend both books highly.
Running in my new town is a new adventure. Louisiana was flat, quite flat. Here, I run into hills in every direction. On Sunday, I struggled to get 4.5 miles in running around my neighborhood. I think I will appreciate the hills after a while. But right now, my body is rebelling. For a year and a half, I have run with e Polar RS200 watch with a footpod. Polar makes a big deal about having them change your battery. On Sunday, I got a low battery signal from the watch, so I have sent it back for a new battery. I feel naked without the watch. For a year now, I’ve known exactly how far I have run and how fast I was running it. Today’s run, some speed intervals at the local high school track was weird. I had no clue how fast I was running. This will be especially strange this weekend. I am running in the Woodstock 5K, the signature running event around here, which benefits Cerebral Palsy research. I also joined the local running club, Anniston Running Club (http://www.annistonrunners.com), which is quite active and organized. Last night they were stuffing packets for the race and I joined them to meet the members, pick up my race packet, and get a slice or two of free pizza. I was impressed with the race shirts. They are technical shirts instead of cotton. For a 5K, I think that is impressive. I’ll post some photos later.

Hard to run sometimes

With the move to a new state and all the stress of selling a house, I underestimated how tired I have been lately. I had a nice 6.5 miles run on Sunday morning, but couldn't get out of bed from Mon thru Wed to run before the hot beach sun rose. Mind you, I have been spendig a lot of time at the beach n the sun, but still have ben abe to get 8 hours sleep. It is just that my mind says yes, while the body says no.

Today, I had a great 4 miles after probably the most restful night of sleep I 've had in a month. You know this type of sleep. You go to bed early, then maybe roll over and look at the clock. You feel as though you've slept all night, but it has only been an hour or two. Every time I rolled over and peeked at the clock, it was much earlier than I expected. So before my alarm went off this morning, I was up and running. I did 4 miles in 46 minutes, with negative splits: mile 1--12:23; Mile 2--11:45; Mile 3--10:19; Mile 4--10:27. I felt very strong at the end.

I'll run a 3 mile tempo run tomorrow and then we travel back home from the beach on Saturday. Sunday will be my first run in our new home town.

Here is a pic of the view from my front door. I see some nice golf cart paths on the course that will make for fine running.

The Beach....ahhhhhh

Enjoying the World's Most Beautiful Beaches at Panama City, FL. Here is a pic of my view from my beach chair.

Good run today, 6.5 miles, then the sun came up and it got HOT.

Moving, etc.

The move to Alabama went as well as I could have hoped. We got everything in the house on Tuesday and did little else. No beds were set up, no boxes unpacked. We secured the house and then left for the beach. I am looking out my window at the white sands of the Florida Gulf Coast and am finally relaxing some. Did three easy miles today and will run 4 tomorrow with 5 or 6 on Sunday.

Pics of the home and of beach coming soon.

Big moves!

Well. It is now official. We are moving back to Alabama--my home state. I just accepted a job as an academic department head at Jacksonville State University. Jacksonville is about an hour from my parents and three-to-four hours closer to my wife's parents in the Florida panhandle. This is a great family and professional opportunity for me. I have already registered for a 5K in Anniston (right next door to J-Ville) and the Anniston Runners Club looks amazingly active--so much so that I've already joined their club and registered for their signature event--the Woodstock 5K, which benefits Cerebral Palsy, run on August 2.

There are some nice hills in that area, which sits at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. So lots of opportunity for Hill repeats!

This explains my blog inactivity of late. We've been feverishly packing our house for the move. We sold our house in three hours and will close on it on the 14th. Movers arrive same day and we head to 'Bama.

Pictures of my new home and the J-Ville area coming soon.