The Run

Today I took a stroll up to Signal Hill Park. It was a glorious day. Leaves sprawled about the damp ground and the fall mood setting in. It’s a beautiful park, and I have to say I love it even more because it's right near my house. Daily, almost, I will drive by and see some sort of game going like football or soccer and supporting cheerleaders.

The park is woodsy, filled with trails of all kinds and tons of things to do for kids and adults. Baseball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball hoops, grills for cooking out, and even a small pond.

Isaac introduced me to a 1.5 mile path at Signal Hill that I often run when I need a change of scenery and better than good workout. It's hilly, grassy, and challenging. He used to run it when he was in high school on the Cross Country team, twice around. And when I'm feeling good enough I'll run it twice around, too. But mostly I'll go it once, and then do some other exercises or slower-paced runs to make up for the extra 1.5 I'm lacking to meet my usual goal of three miles or 30 minutes.

I did some sprints today after I finished the 1.5 miler. Took my ol' purple weights up to the asphalt run line and let my stopwatch tell me when I was done. It was THE perfect day for an outside workout and my legs were in for the kill.

It's pretty often lately that I feel home finding me in these paths of familiar and comforting waters at places like this and moments like these. My whole world could revolve around endless, outdoor sprints and the breath of fresh air. The way I feel when I've just finished a run is more rewarding than any other feat I've dared. There's nothing like it. Nothing.

The soles of my shoes have worn down. They say after the heels start shedding it's time for a new pair. And so, I think it is. I was reading the other day that it's actually good to run bare foot once in a while. Bare foot? Are you serious? How can running bare foot be good for your feet? Apparently it strengthens your calf muscles and encourages landing on the balls of your feet, rather than the heel, which is actually detrimental to the bones and joints. I always thought it was good to land on the heels of your feet. Who knew?

Anyway, here are a few pics I snapped of today's venture. Am I a dork, or what?

The Starbucks and Facebook Drugs

I've never tried crack, but I imagine if I did, it would give me a similar, in a different way, sort of high to what is felt when one is logged onto Facebook or drinking a cup of Starbucks coffee.

I went to get my Friday morning cup of joe at the local Centerville Starbucks on my way to work today and walked in at 8:15. I left at 8:45. 30 minutes to get a grande, extra hot, caramel macchatio. When I walked in, the line was nearly out the door and continued to be so even as I left. And the wait to get the coffee was, well, at least 20 minutes or more. But there I sat, waiting for it. I was not leaving until I got that $4 cup of joe. No sir! The waiting area was filled with people gazing at the barista coffee-makers, their mouths salivating and their cell phones eagerly clicking away. And I was one of them. No cell phone, though. For once.

I knew it before I walked in, but I realized what torment people will go through for one cup of meaningless coffee. And as I stood there waiting for my own, I started to get angry! I was watching the barista make everyone's coffees and he was sooooo slow. And then, he kept moving other people's coffees ahead of mine. When finally, after 15 minutes or so, I asked where mine was. "It's next," he said.

I waited, and waited, and waited. He never called. So I checked again. They had lost it. Another 5 minutes passed and one customer walk-out from their own lost coffee, I finally had my joe. It was like crack.

Facebook is also like that too -- addicting. I don't think a lot of people want to admit it, or maybe don't even realize it. It's a natural part of life these days. Wake up, update your status. Go to lunch, update your status. Eat dinner, go to the gym, get in bed, update your status. People are hooked and there is an obsessive and ultra need to fixate the mind on Facebook 24/7. It's on our computers at home, it's on our computers at work, and it's on our phones, connected to our hips, and controlled by our fingers. It's even in some of our work e-mail signatures, "Check us out on Facebook!"

We are a culture obsessed with Facebook. And I can't deny it, I sometimes am too. I don't know what's so addicting about it. I think we all just like to know what's going on with other people and unknowingly, we fall into a critique-mode where we spoil over their photo albums and Wall commentary. It's like an innocent pleasure. But is it really all that innocent when people start posting their lives on it for all the world to see? I mean, if you think about it, why does your old co-worker from 3 years past need to see pictures of your sonogram, or your dog, if you really aren't that close to him or her anymore? A sonogram, to me, is a special and sacred thing. I wouldn't want to share it with any joe schmoe.

And we all can't deny we haven't sat there searching for hours for old friends or colleagues or acquaintances, too. Or trying to look up people we knew way back when to take a glance at their photos to see what they look like now, or what they've been up to recently. It's fun though, isn't? There's something so intriguing about searching for people you haven't seen in ages and trying to locate where they are, who they hang out with now, and what they look like. Seeing if they still hang out with the same high school click of friends or are dating the same guy. We all feed off finding out information about other people. And because we're human, we sometimes secretly hope that the ones who were mean to us in high school are now overweight or ugly and that we now look better than they did. (Did Melissa really just say that?). Yes, I did.

Just because most of us don't actually do crack, or other similar drugs, doesn't mean we don't have some other tangible or intangible ones that aren't illegal that we treat just like a crack addict would. People who are doing serious drugs are just doing a form of them illegaly. Facebook and Starbucks may not be illegal, but they still can be life-destructive if not done in moderation. And maybe not the sense in that our body and mind and health deteriorate, but our moral compass and our caffeine buzz can get the best of us if we are not careful and finding ourselves unable to live without them too...