Today I could have put together a rousing, no holds barred, political post what with the discovery that Bush has a mind like a sieve – or something. But I’m going to resist because Garrison Keillor and Molly Ivins and others are doing a fine job.

No – I’m going to announce that I ran 4 whole miles yesterday. That is the longest run I’ve been on since Christmas Eve day when I ran 5 miles. I guess you could say I haven’t been doing a lot of running. I’ve done some swimming and some biking but I could hardly be admonished to stop over training.

There are 2 remarkable things about my run yesterday. Three if you count the fact that I really didn’t want to go out at all. First of all, I was only going to run 3 miles and then I decided to adopt the Jeanne/Bex model and run 40 minutes. When I started approaching the 40 minute mark I started feeling like I just couldn’t wait to stop – like I could hardly go on. Then I looked at Madam Garmina and she told me that I was very close to covering 4 miles and all of a sudden 4 miles trumped 40 minutes and I felt a surge a strength and whoosh! I kept going. I love that. I covered 4 miles in 43:06 which is almost respectable. The breakdown:

Mile 1 – 10:17
Mile 2 – 10:26
Mile 3 – 10:58
Mile 4 – 11:24

Not so remarkable. Sort of like a wind up toy with a battery end of life situation, eh? I really need to do something about that pace thing and learn how to keep going without just flagging over time. This really drives me crazy because it is absolutely consistent. I’m like the anti-Energizer Bunny and I don’t love that. harumph! This is not the post I started out to write. Oh wait – I just looked at the elevation map and it was all up hill for the last mile or so – phew. I think I’m okay.

The other remarkable thing is that when I loaded the data into Motion Based it told me I started running Tuesday. I guess I’m not the only one who feels like my runs take forever and a day.

This just in thanks to SimbasMom

“A Cook County judge today backed off a threat to charge an alleged rape victim with contempt of court for refusing to watch a video that reportedly depicts her being gang-raped. Judge Kerry M. Kennedy had warned the woman Tuesday she could face a contempt charge and possible jail time if she refused to watch the video prior to cross-examination by the defense.”

And that, my friends, is the power of the internet at work.

AlterNet: Blogs: The Mix: Relive your rape or go to jail

This now 20 year old woman was raped while under the influence when she was 16. The guys video taped the whole thing. The judge is telling her she MUST watch the video tape or face contempt of court charges.

If you ever doubted that the reason girls seldom report rape * is because they just end up vicitimized by the legal system this story should help you see things for how they really are.

So sad. Please send an email on this woman’s behalf. Especially if you live in Illinois.

* Rape is the most underreported crime in America. Significant changes to improve the treatment of sexual assault victims have occurred in the last two decades. The impact of reforms, led by the women’s movement, can be seen in the legal, mental health, medical, and victim services arenas.

The FBI estimates that only 37 percent of all rapes are reported to the police. Bureau of Justice Statistics of reported versus actual rapes are even lower 30.7 percent.

He’s so funny and oh so right.

I am not a fan of shoes other than my Gel Asics but I love snarky fashion humor and he is very, very good at it.

Ever find a song that just speaks to you. Well, this is mine today.

It may be that it’s not ‘has had’ but it most certainly is ‘is having’.

(video removed to preserve everyone’s sanity)

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Everyone else has had more sex than me.

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Does anyone else get that feeling?
Teenagers naked,
Couple in threes
Grandparents swing from the ceiling.

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Everyone else has had more sex than me.

Corporate chambers and office amore.
Shenanigans outdoor and in.
Resist and then later your find out there’s more
Regret in not doing the sin.

Our lives have to die
Of that there’s no help
My favourite way to end them
Is the orb-weaver spider’s whose pedipalp
Enters the female pudendum.

Then dies on the spot
His corpse there still stuck,
Left for his rivals to curse at.
He would rather die than not get to f^ck
Personally I reckon it’s worth it.

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Does anyone else get that feeling?

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Does everybody else get that feeling?

…

Does everyone think…

Ever find a song that just speaks to you. Well, this is mine today.

It may be that it’s not ‘has had’ but it most certainly is ‘is having’.

(video removed to preserve everyone’s sanity)

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Everyone else has had more sex than me.

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Does anyone else get that feeling?
Teenagers naked,
Couple in threes
Grandparents swing from the ceiling.

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Everyone else has had more sex than me.

Corporate chambers and office amore.
Shenanigans outdoor and in.
Resist and then later your find out there’s more
Regret in not doing the sin.

Our lives have to die
Of that there’s no help
My favourite way to end them
Is the orb-weaver spider’s whose pedipalp
Enters the female pudendum.

Then dies on the spot
His corpse there still stuck,
Left for his rivals to curse at.
He would rather die than not get to f^ck
Personally I reckon it’s worth it.

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Does anyone else get that feeling?

Everyone else has had more sex than me.
Does everybody else get that feeling?

…

Does everyone think…

The Pajama Mama, that is. She has once again rented my blog and I am so honored. Please click on her thumbnail on the upper right and pay her a visit.

In other news – I have so many things to write about but I keep getting busy and forgetting about them. I have been more than a little upset by the South Dakota vote to ban all abortions even in the case of rape and incest. I even wrote a letter to the governor asking him to envision the life of a teenager raped and pregnant who might actually have to endure her rapists insistence on visiting her child after he got out of jail. It could happen, folks – they haven’t amended family law to automatically terminate parental rights in the case of rape. As far as l know they haven’t even thought of it.

In other news – we had a little health scare around here and let me tell you something. It doesn’t matter how old your kids are when they say, “Mom, I think I have a problem” and it sounds bad. You just lose your heart somewhere deep in your body cavity and then you want to throw up. Fortunately it was a false scare and all is well – phew!

And with that nonsense post I’m off to bed because I need to make the 5:30 AM swim tomorrow.

The Pajama Mama, that is. She has once again rented my blog and I am so honored. Please click on her thumbnail on the upper right and pay her a visit.

In other news – I have so many things to write about but I keep getting busy and forgetting about them. I have been more than a little upset by the South Dakota vote to ban all abortions even in the case of rape and incest. I even wrote a letter to the governor asking him to envision the life of a teenager raped and pregnant who might actually have to endure her rapists insistence on visiting her child after he got out of jail. It could happen, folks – they haven’t amended family law to automatically terminate parental rights in the case of rape. As far as l know they haven’t even thought of it.

In other news – we had a little health scare around here and let me tell you something. It doesn’t matter how old your kids are when they say, “Mom, I think I have a problem” and it sounds bad. You just lose your heart somewhere deep in your body cavity and then you want to throw up. Fortunately it was a false scare and all is well – phew!

And with that nonsense post I’m off to bed because I need to make the 5:30 AM swim tomorrow.

They did it – South Dakota has made all abortions illegal even in the case of rape and incest. So girls, if your wicked Uncle decides you have become a hot little ticket and rapes you and you get pregnant too bad for you.

I’m in tears. I’m not sure what can be done but I expecct Planned Parenthood will initiate a lawsuit to stop this brutal and unfair law in its tracks. One can only hope.

It’s official! I’m listed with the RBF now! I have been reading several RBFers blogs for some time but always felt like an outsider. Well peeps – I’ve just crashed your clubhouse and it’s pretty cozy in here. I’m not doing a lot of running these days but I try to get out once or twice a week just so I don’t lose my running chops altogether. Mostly I have been biking and swimming.

It’s been lovely out here on the Left Coast. The mornings are cold but then it warms up to sunny, spring days with the temperature in the mid 60s. In the morning there is frost on the roof and ice coating the car windows and I think “brrrrr….. I couldn’t possibly go out there and run” and then, when I finally haul my lazy butt out of bed or later in the morning after I’ve gone swimming I start blog surfing I find that people in frostier climes go running in the snow and the freezing cold. My hat is off to you people. In other words, better you than me. Even though the pool is outdoors and it is a bit nippy on the deck, once you get in the 80 degree water it’s quite nice. The other day the air was so cold that my face felt like I was up on a mountain when I was waiting for instructions between sets but once we got going it was fine. This is different than running and having the sweat freeze up on your jacket. You people are amazing.

I am still in training for my 65 mile bike ride at the end of March. I can’t even believe I’m doing this. I have to confess – I don’t really like it that much. It’s nice and scenic and all that and I do feel a sense of accomplishment when I ride my bike 35 miles (the longest I have gone to date) but I’m just not loving it. On the plus side, the more I ride more anxious I am to get back to running. April 1 I will start training in earnest for the SF Marathon.

Speaking of which, I’d like to thank Jon for my new favorite running term – marathon splat. He used that in reference to how David felt after he completed his marathon and that term exactly describes how I felt after my first marathon in 1999. I didn’t care if I never ran another mile. It didn’t help that just after that race the temperature started to climb so that running as early as 8 AM meant running in high heat. I don’t like running in the heat much more than I like running in the cold and oops – do we see a problem here? I’m a wimp – that’s the problem. Truth be told, if I could sit on my butt all day reading and writing and not blow up like Marshmallow Peep that’s been put in the microwave, I’d do it. Unfortunately, if I allowed myself go like that I’d feel just about like that pathetic little Peep after it blew up and imploded and thus I must swim and bike and run and the only way to get myself to do it regularly is to register for some big event and struggle through the training. Just call me Sisyphus.

Speaking of Peeps – do you think I could substitute Peeps for Gu on the long runs and rides? If Jelly Belly can create Sports Beans why can’t Just Born make Sports Peeps? Of course knowing Peeps as I do (guilty indulgence alert!) Just Born would probably make them so they look like runners and then instead of hanging out with peeps in the clubhouse we’d be eating each other alive. I think I’ll just leave that behavior to other bloggers with less noble intentions (note the lack of links –ha ha! I’m not about to lead you off to blog wars, but they do exist).

And on that note – happy training, peeps!

It’s official! I’m listed with the RBF now! I have been reading several RBFers blogs for some time but always felt like an outsider. Well peeps – I’ve just crashed your clubhouse and it’s pretty cozy in here. I’m not doing a lot of running these days but I try to get out once or twice a week just so I don’t lose my running chops altogether. Mostly I have been biking and swimming.

It’s been lovely out here on the Left Coast. The mornings are cold but then it warms up to sunny, spring days with the temperature in the mid 60s. In the morning there is frost on the roof and ice coating the car windows and I think “brrrrr….. I couldn’t possibly go out there and run” and then, when I finally haul my lazy butt out of bed or later in the morning after I’ve gone swimming I start blog surfing I find that people in frostier climes go running in the snow and the freezing cold. My hat is off to you people. In other words, better you than me. Even though the pool is outdoors and it is a bit nippy on the deck, once you get in the 80 degree water it’s quite nice. The other day the air was so cold that my face felt like I was up on a mountain when I was waiting for instructions between sets but once we got going it was fine. This is different than running and having the sweat freeze up on your jacket. You people are amazing.

I am still in training for my 65 mile bike ride at the end of March. I can’t even believe I’m doing this. I have to confess – I don’t really like it that much. It’s nice and scenic and all that and I do feel a sense of accomplishment when I ride my bike 35 miles (the longest I have gone to date) but I’m just not loving it. On the plus side, the more I ride more anxious I am to get back to running. April 1 I will start training in earnest for the SF Marathon.

Speaking of which, I’d like to thank Jon for my new favorite running term – marathon splat. He used that in reference to how David felt after he completed his marathon and that term exactly describes how I felt after my first marathon in 1999. I didn’t care if I never ran another mile. It didn’t help that just after that race the temperature started to climb so that running as early as 8 AM meant running in high heat. I don’t like running in the heat much more than I like running in the cold and oops – do we see a problem here? I’m a wimp – that’s the problem. Truth be told, if I could sit on my butt all day reading and writing and not blow up like Marshmallow Peep that’s been put in the microwave, I’d do it. Unfortunately, if I allowed myself go like that I’d feel just about like that pathetic little Peep after it blew up and imploded and thus I must swim and bike and run and the only way to get myself to do it regularly is to register for some big event and struggle through the training. Just call me Sisyphus.

Speaking of Peeps – do you think I could substitute Peeps for Gu on the long runs and rides? If Jelly Belly can create Sports Beans why can’t Just Born make Sports Peeps? Of course knowing Peeps as I do (guilty indulgence alert!) Just Born would probably make them so they look like runners and then instead of hanging out with peeps in the clubhouse we’d be eating each other alive. I think I’ll just leave that behavior to other bloggers with less noble intentions (note the lack of links –ha ha! I’m not about to lead you off to blog wars, but they do exist).

And on that note – happy training, peeps!