The Statement That Was Not, The Run That Almost Was and The Shopping Trip that Definitely Was

Before I start this post, I have a question ...

Is it weird to drink iced coffee out of a beer glass?  I was craving some chilled-java this afternoon and realized I have an entire collection of glasses I've bought at breweries over the years, but have never really used.

Totally hit the spot.

I woke up a little late this morning and spent some time reading blogs, getting caught up on e-mails, watching the news, etc.  I didn't have to work today, so my plan was to spend the day working on my Statement on Ministry - essentially my 'cover letter' for my Ministerial Profile (i.e. long and fancy resume that will get sent to churches).

After about an hour of staring at a blinking cursor, I grabbed my sneakers and my car keys (okay, okay and my iPod, camera, two granola bars, gatorade and water - what can I say?  I'm a high maintenance runner) and headed out to Stone Mountain for a run.

Three miles into my run, I started to feel a little light headed.  I wasn't seeing spots or anything, but I knew I hadn't eaten enough this morning and know my body well enough to know that finishing out the five miles would have been a bad idea.  I dropped my pace to a walk and made my way around the rest of the mountain a little bit slower.  I didn't really mind not being able to finish out the five miles running - the goal was to clear my head, so walking actually aided more in that process.  I have a much clearer understanding of what I want to write now!

In the end I covered 5.09 miles in 1:05:16.  Not bad, but I really need to figure out to eat enough healthy and hearty calories now that I'm running more.  My body needs fuel!

Before I left the park, I snapped a few photos of the carving in the mountain ...

I appreciate the history behind it and everything ...

... but it's a big rock.  Only in America would a theme park be built around a big rock.

I got home around 2, ate a late lunch and realized that if I didn't go grocery shopping at some point today, we would be eating dry tuna with a spoon for dinner.  We were out of any and everything that constitutes 'essential'.

One hour and $80 later, I had a car full of groceries.  Oy.

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Monthly Goals!

On an unrelated note, today is the first day of September, which means it is time for me to look at August's monthly goals and set one for September.  My August goal was to do a better job of keeping up with the laundry (namely the putting away part of it, ha!), which would - in turn - keep our bedroom cleaner.  On a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best), I would give myself about a 3.5.  I definitely did a better job than I have in the past, but when things got busy and I was tired at night, I would slip.  The beauty of these goals, though, is that they don't end when the month ends - I'm working on creating habits!

This month's goal has nothing to do with keeping house - it has to do with my 1/2 marathon training.  My knee was all out of sorts yesterday, so I spent about 20 minutes before I went to bed stretching and trying to relieve some of the stress on my joints.  It made a world of difference today - so my goal this month is to stretch 20 minutes a night (in addition to any pre or post-workout stretching that I'm already doing).  I am going to pamper my knee like a newborn baby over the next few months.

I'm off to enjoy mine and Bruce's third AC-free night in a row!  I love the sound of 'night through an open window - I've missed it!

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All of you runners out there - how do you keep yourself fueled?  I feel like I am always hungry!