Half of a century

I will turn 50 tomorrow.

I've decided that in honor of my 50th birthday I will run for 50 minutes.

I tried to find a way to make it a more impressive run but I know I can't run 50 miles or 50 kilometers (31 miles). So then I started trying to finagle the numbers by using some math; March 12th (3+12=15.........15 miles? Nope); Born in 1961 (1+9+6+1=17.........17 miles? No way); 50 blocks? I guess it would depend on what you consider a block but it sounds too complicated for a Saturday morning run. 50 strides? That sounds more like it!

But no, I'll go for the 50 minutes and I'll spend the majority of that time thinking about how blessed I am to be able to walk, let alone run. And how blessed I am to have my health, my job, my friends, my family. And how blessed I am to have not been in the path of that tsumani.

50 minutes should get me between 4.5 and 5.25 miles, depending on how I'm feeling and how much I want to push myself. Whatever the distance is, I'll be happy with it.

And later in the day I'll go out for a nice dinner with my boyfriend and my family and I may even have dessert. 

(And yes, AARP has already discovered it's my birthday and has already been in touch with me!)

To Sally

I heard some news today that really made me stop and think about how blessed I am to be healthy and to have another day on this earth. Sally Meyerhoff, a champion marathoner and qualifyer for the Olympic trials, died when the bicycle she was riding hit a truck. She was 27 years old.

To hear that someone so young, so talented and so full of life has had their life cut short is sobering. So today I dedicated my short run to her memory. My plan for today didn't take me far but I ran hard and I ended up with my fastest time to date. I'll give Sally half the credit for that and credit myself the other half.

RIP Sally and thank you for being such an amazing runner and woman.

Dear cashier;

Why do you give me my change back all cattywampus? When did you lose so much respect for our currency that you think it's okay to have some bills upsidedown and backwards and others face up? And why do you put the coins on top of the bills? By the time I get my hand back near my purse to put the change away, most of it has fallen into my lap or onto the floor.

And another thing, when did people stop saying "you're welcome"? The most common response I get now when I say thank you is "no problem". No problem?? It better not be a problem - it's your job!! 

Maybe we need to offer Cashiering 101 classes. Or maybe I just need to get over it and worry about the bigger things in life. Like how I'm going to find the money to fill my gas tank. I bet if I look on the floor near any cash register I'll find a bunch of change that other cutomers have dropped; that should help.

P.S. I'm loving my new treadmill! More on that later.....