Getting settled in....

I think I'm going to like it here. Here = my blog, that is. I like the feedback and comments I get from folks (apologies to those who had trouble leaving comments - it seems blogspot is dyspeptic today), and I like browsing around through all the other interesting and arcane blogs I'm finding.

Like the Complete Running Expert telling us how to run faster. Hey, I know this answer! There are 2 ways and only 2 ways - increase your stride length or increase your stride frequency! Period, end of story! There is no other way! Hey, I can do that!

However, the Devil, as they say, is in the details. The trick is maintaining that ideal gait, that long, high-frequency stride, over a considerable distance without it deteriorating and shortening up and slowing down in frequency due to fatigue. For me, that happens at about twenty feet into the run. YMMV. Maybe that will increase for me with a little more training, we shall see.

Jeez-o-man. I just looked at my calendar - 13 weeks until my first Half Ironman triathlon. I am SO dead meat.

My Girls. I may simply be humoring myself, but I'll probably relate some stories about my darling twin daughters here from time to time. Just try to stop me! They're now 21.5 months old since birth, about 19 months since their due date (they were 28-weeker preemies) and developmentally Catherine is about at 18 months and Elisabeth is about at 12-14 months (since she had open heart surgery at 5 months and was tube-fed for her first 8 months). Catherine, aka Danger Girl, is a rambunctious toddler and Elisabeth is a healthy and active crawler, but still not quite walking yet.

This morning Catherine brought my husband Steve a box that she had been playing with (from a 12-pack of Fresca soda). Then she disappears back into the living room. She comes back carrying some Kleenex she had shredded and deposited all over the floor the previous day, and some old little plastic wrapper she had found somewhere. She stuffs it all into the box. Then she toddles back off to the living room. Great, thought my husband, she's learning what garbage is and where it should go! Wonder of wonders, she's picking up after herself! Catherine reappears. She has kidnapped Elisabeth's two most favorite toys in the whole world, AngelDog and JingleBunny. Of course, Elisabeth's beloved stuffed animals met the same ignominious fate. Catherine stuffed AngelDog and JingleBunny into her box of garbage as well. Poor Elisabeth. As Steve and I often say, it's tough to be Elisabeth.