The First Four Miles

Good news! In case this writing career doesn't pan out, I suspect I have a strong future in 1-900 phone sex lines as every day I get better and better at this heavy breathing thing.

Yes, today was a running day. 

In fact, today's run was one of the longest tempo runs of the FURMAN FIRST program: a one mile warm-up followed by 10 miles at marathon pace, or 8:23/mile for me. Here is what I learned from today's run:

• Overdressing is a bad thing
• I must remember to pack sunglasses for Boston
• Starting out too fast will always come back to bite me in the end
• I sound (and possibly look) like an asthmatic walrus the first four miles of any run
• There is a lot of guano on the Greenway

I struggled to hold pace today. Which makes no sense as Barefoot Josh and I ran a faster pace than this for the same distance two weeks ago. But as several of my running friends point out, there's just no telling who's going to show up on any given day for a run. Some days are just better than others.

However, if I needed a reminder that so much of this running business is mental, I had it today. 

I pushed myself through the last two miles, taking several walk breaks, then hauling a** the last half mile to make sure I made pace. Once the official run was over, I took a deep breath, relaxed, and went into a slow and easy cool-down run for a mile. The difference was immense. No strain, no heavy breathing, just a nice easy pace. No worries...

I looked at my watch at the end of my cool-down mile and guess what? I ran it at race pace - an 8:23. But since I didn't HAVE to run that fast and wasn't worrying about pace, it all came easy. 

MENTAL. I just have to get my head in the game. 

Custom Pet Cartoons

Buck Jones & BlazeAll friends with pets beware: I have found my holiday/birthday/anniversary gift for all of you for the next five years. Ready? Here is it.

CUSTOM PET CARTOONS. 

Buck Jones (seen here with his dog Blaze) is a national cartoonist and, I recently discovered, a friend of a friend. The idea for the custom cartoons is that you send him 1-2 photos of the pet and brief written description about the scene you'd like illustrated. For example, I might send him a photo of my cat Olivia, my husband Blair, and request a true-to-life cartoon scene of Olivia's butt in Blair's face as he's tucked into bed at 4 AM with the caption, "Feed Me." 

Another option is to send a picture of my friend and neighbor Barefoot Josh running with his three dogs. I watch this little circus go by daily and would love to see it captured in full cartoon glory. 

So my tip for the day is to bookmark Buck's site for future use, especially around the holidays. (And no, I am not being paid to endorse this site. Dammit.)  Who needs a manger scene when you could have cartoon cats and dogs in a tree?

Cheers,

Dena

I'm A Pit: Learning to Deal with Negative Reviews

So the other day I'm hanging out at my desk, pretending to work but really surfing the web for low-carb vegan dinner entrees (don't ask) when a Google Alert e-mail pops up, alerting me that a website called The Second Pass has posted something about my upcoming book, Who Moved My Mouse? Self-Help for Cats (Who Don't Need Any Help). Yea! How sweet. 

Or not. Turns out I'm a pit. A pit is a book not eagerly anticipated by the site's editor, John Williams. A pit is BAD.

Oh, cruel reviews! It's an arrow to the heart. Only, not really. Mr. Williams hasn't read my book--he just didn't like the title. (Maybe he had a bad experience with a cat as a child. Or maybe a bad experience with a cat as an anal-retentive adult. Whatever.) And considering the site reviews some bind-busting books of a high-minded literary nature, I'm quite pleased I even made the radar. Go little cat gift book, go!

Here's the lesson: Once the book is released (or sooner--hey Mr. Williams!), reviews will be coming my way, both good and bad. The trick is to not read too much into either of them and just keep writing. I shared with a friend that I thought the best course of action would be to not read any reviews that come out, period. He laughed in my face. "Yeah, good luck with that," he said. 

He's right. I'll read 'em. And laugh. And weep. And then, hopefully, keep writing. 

I may make a special effort to send Mr. Williams an autographed copy though. Packaged in kitty litter. Poor man sounds like he could use a good laugh.   >^..^<