Every magazine, every blogger, every coach says the same thing about running: “You are your only competition.” It doesn’t matter if you’re an Olympic athlete or the person who limps their way across the finish line as the course is closing. Are you stronger, faster or better than you were yesterday? Being Type A, I try ...
Category Archives: life
The Elephant in the Office
There's an elephant in my office. It's the elephant-sized sofa that takes up half the usable space. And it simply must go. Like most home offices, mine didn't start out that way. When we first moved into this house, that room was ...
Easy Flank Steak
This is a ridiculously easy overnight marinade that tenderizes and flavors the flank steak. It's perfect for summer cookouts because it grills quickly. Scale to whatever proportions you need, but always keep the 2:1 juice-to-soy sauce ratio. Ingredients Flank steak, 1.5-2 lbs 1/2 cup orange juice 1/4 cup soy sauce 5 cloves of smashed garlic 1/2 inch of ginger, sliced Splash of ...
The Genius of the XM Free Trial
I never understood XM. Why would someone pay for the radio when you already have AM and FM for free? Are these people just signing up to listen to Howard Stern, and if so, why? When I bought my new car in April, it came with a three-month XM trial. I wasn’t even ...
The New Project
I've made some references to a new project on the horizon, and it's finally here. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce my new blog: What Would Betty ...
Pens, Lost and Found
All my life, I wanted a nice pen. My father had a golden Cross pen and pencil set, and I just loved it. The weight conferred a sense of importance upon anything written with it, from my fourth grade Social Studies paper to my college applications. When I graduated from ...
Training: Major Improvement, Week 9
I went into my training program assuming that I'd never progress past the runwalking that I'd always done. Eight weeks ago, we did a one mile benchmark run to test our speed, and I struggled to run for the full mile. On Tuesday, we repeated the timed mile and... well, you'll have to scroll down ...
Training: Uphill Week 8
The cold or allergy attack or whatever it was that thwarted last weekend's run was still rearing its ugly head as I kicked off week 8. I took it slow on Monday, but then decided to show the cold no mercy and fight back with hill sprints on Tuesday night. The ...
Summer Conservation
After a prolonged cool spring, summer finally and suddenly arrived in the form of 100-degree days. I work from home. I don’t want to swelter while I work, but it seems completely absurd to cool an entire house to benefit one person in one room. And so, I go to
Training: Unlucky Week 7
Anyone who says that you can still work out with a cold has evidently not done battle with the one that's rattling around in my ears, nose and throat. Four days into it and I'm neither worse, nor better, aside from being vastly more frustrated and restless. The Plan Monday, 7/5: 30 minute easy run Tuesday, 7/6: Kickboxing; ...