Catching up

It has been a while and not because I haven't had anything to write about or that I got writer's block, I have just not gotten around to it and for those of you loyal enough to like reading my ramblings, I apologize. I will get better at this. Need to actually because i have had a ton of ideas in the moment that have left me like a fleeting cloud in the summer Texas sky.

Anyone out there remember Blackie Sherrod? Growing up I would read Blackie in the Dallas Morning News Sports Day on Sunday mornings. He would write briefly on a number of topics and call it scattershooting. The nature of these articles definitely appealed to my young mind. Bullet points. Quick hits.

So that will be the inspiration for this entry. I have a lot of points to get to and scattershooting seems to be the way to go about it.

So here we go:

Let's start here, the running is going well. Have done 2 16 milers with another one this week. Next week and the week after I get to do 18 and then I will have to worry about not getting hurt before my race. Speaking of which, that is right around the corner, 5 weeks away. My knees hurt sometimes and I get stiff if I stay still too long, but, and I do mean to be as cliched as possible here, the pain sometimes helps me feel like I am alive and surely lets me know that I am doing the right things for myself.

I ran 5 miles today, 8 the other day, and 5 the day before that. Feels good to be able to say that. Four months ago, I couldn't run a mile consecutively, and now 5 seems like a leisurely walk through the woods. Feels Damn Good!

Now onto running, the concept. Many people have asked me this question over the last few months and I sometimes ask myself the same question: "Why?" I don't know if they want to know why choose to run so far or why run at all but both have validity. The length doesn't seem to be hard to explain. It's a goal, a challenge to prove to myself that I can accomplish anything. Easy enough, right? The other question stems more from my subconscious. Why run at all?

So why am I running? Yes, there are health benefits that abound and it has given me a marvelous way to pass the time and better myself and has made me feel great about myself and perhaps that is the answer to that question. But sometimes when I am out there on the trail, looking at the lake(river), that other thoughts permeate me and want to give me a different answer. I understand that I run alone and spend a lot of time with my own thoughts which can sometimes be a dangerous idea, but sometimes I feel as if I am running from something and I'm not sure what I would have to run from. So, quite possibly I am running for something. Now, there's an idea. So now we need an object to run for and I can come up with a few.

1) Me. I am running for me. From fear. From the fear of failure. From the pain of letting myself down by not finishing something that I have set out to do.

2) You. That's right. I am running for all of you too. The overwhelming response I have gotten from all of you, not only about the running, but the writing has given me a ton of inspiration to plow through.

3) Randy. I run for him because I can feel him with me when I'm out there. Thoughts of him make the miles seem to fly by. It makes me so excited to know I'm not out there alone. He's not as fast as me, btw.

It's like the end of Harry Potter out there sometimes. I'm out there running with my ghosts, my memories. It's a nice way to bring up old emotions and work through them, rejuvenates my soul while the running helps my legs. It's win-win.

Seeing clearly. Let me say something about LASIK surgery really quickly. I'm not sure about the greatest medical breakthroughs of all-time, but the LASIK surgery that I had almost two weeks ago has absolutely changed the way I see things, literally. Everything is amazing. Running without the burden of glasses or contacts is amazing. There literally aren't enough adjectives that display the level of hyperbole that is not having to do anything to be able to see better on a daily basis. If you have any questions regarding the procedure, I will answer. I highly recommend it if you've ever considered it.

Gonna finish with some definite scattershooting.
I recently rewatched all three seasons of Arrested Development. Forgot how great that show is.
Started watching Mad Men on Netflix yesterday, just finished season 1, it's pretty awesome too.
Breaking Bad is better.
Wilfred also makes me laugh a lot.
The Harry Potter movie was breathtaking.
The new Jay-Z/Kanye West collaboration is pretty amazing.
The Rangers need to start winning more and get a better gap opened up.
Cowboys preseason starts tonight.
Texas will win either 8 or 9 games this year, don't know how many just yet but they are gonna be better than a lot of people expect.
I cleaned 10,000+ unread emails out of my inbox today. That took some effort. Now I need to work on sorting through the pictures.

Thanks again everyone for taking time out to read my irreverence, I really appreciate all of the kind words and thoughts and prayers. I promise it won't take another month for me to get back here.