Has it Really Been a Month?

I think this is the longest amount of time I've gone without a blog entry.  On this, the last day of June, I went back and looked at my last blog entry, which was on the first day of June. 

So here we go with the updates, ramblings and what-nots.

First, my 2013 Resolutions.  I had two resolutions for 2013, they were to read twelve books and to log 1000 miles of running.

I read my 8th book this past month.  I read the book "Inferno" by Dan Brown.  This is the fourth in his "Robert Langdon" series, but the first I've read.  Dan Brown wrote the Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and The Lost Symbol.  I've seen the Da Vinci Code movie as well as Angels and Demons, but had not read any of the books until now.  I did enjoy the book and there were a lot of twists and turns in the book.  Just as soon as you had processed one twist, that twist would twist again and then twist yet again.  So...until the end of the book the reader wasn't sure who was playing what part in the drama that unfolded.  It made the book that much more enjoyable. 

As of yesterday I have logged a little more than 550 miles of running this year.  Being 50 miles ahead of schedule at this point on my running goal makes me feel pretty comfortable with my training schedule and with the fact that I can adjust the schedule as needed without being too worried about falling behind. 
I've especially been happy with my running this past week.  Yesterday I completed a 12 mile training run.  That's the longest training run I've done in a few years and, while my legs were pretty sore afterwards, I was able to recover without any issues.  The worst part of that run was when I stepped calf high in to a mud puddle.  I was only 4 miles in to my run at that point, and not quite sure where I was at.  It was about 4:30am when I hit that puddle and I did not see it as I was trying to move from the bike path to the roadway in the middle of an area where there is some road construction in progress. 

What I liked best about finishing that long training run though was the fact that I had done some running just the night before.  Usually I reserve the day before a long run for a rest day, but this was a little different.  The Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics was the day before.  It was less than two miles of running, ran at a very slow pace and with several breaks in the action to take pictures with companies who were sponsors for the Special Olympics.  When it ended I ran back to the start line at a little quicker pace, but also a little shorter distance since I wasn't taking the detours in to the parking lots of businesses.  I then ran the Worthington Hills Firecracker Trot 5K run that evening.  This is where I thought I might have burnt my legs for the long run the next day.  I ran the 5K at a personal best time of 24:51.  To some, that may not seem very fast, but for me it was pretty fast, and as I mentioned a personal best.  As a matter of fact, it had beaten my previous best by over a minute.  So after that addition to my running schedule to the week I had decided that I would "play it by ear" (or by leg) and, if I made it 10 miles and decided to stop, I'd be ok.  So I was really happy to get through the entire 12 mile run.

This week my "long run" is shortened to only 7 miles.  I do chuckle as I type that.  To think that I now consider 7 miles a bit of a break lets me know how far I've come since I started running again.  It will be a much needed break though, coming at a perfect time.  This week will be a 59 hour work week for me.  It would have been more, but I did manage to take a vacation day this week.  There have been some changes happening and about to happen at work which has been opening up some overtime opportunities, and with the trips I've currently got planned for this year and next, I want to take advantage of those as much as I can without burning myself out.

Other things going on....last week I had the joy of meeting one of my great-nieces.  Addison Marie Burkhardt was born last January.  Her father was deployed with the Air Force shortly after she was born and returned home this month.  So last weekend we got together at my parents' place so that they could meet their great-granddaughter and I could meet my great-niece.  I have to say, she's a real cutie and no doubt has her great-grandparents wrapped around her little finger already.  (And let's face it...her great-uncle too).  I've got two other great-nieces in Minnesota who I have yet to meet.  Hopefully their parents will get down to Ohio sometime soon so the girls can meet their great-parents, aunts and uncles.

Another nephew, Ryan, is currently deployed to Jordan with the Air Force.  Praying that he is staying safe and will be home soon.  I believe he was originally scheduled to come home in the next couple of weeks, but not sure if that could change depending one what the military has his unit doing.

As I met Addison last week it made me think back.  In November of 1985 I was in the Army, stationed in Monterey, CA at the Defense Language Institute - Foreign Language Center.  At about 3am I got a knock on my barraks room door from the CQ telling me I had a phone call.  I went to the phone, picked it up and said, "Is it a boy or a girl?".  My brother laughed and asked how I even knew what the call was about.  I let him know that if he was calling and waking me up at 3am on a holiday morning that it had better be to let me know that his wife had had their baby.  Christopher Michael was the first of the next generation of Burkhardts.  Shawn followed a couple of years later.  After that came John, his brother Ryan and his other brother Ryan, then Alex, next were Kylie and Bailie and finally Jessica.

Christopher had his first child and the first of the next generation of Burkhardts three years ago.  Liberty was followed by John's daughter Addison and then Chris' second daughter Abbigail Lanett.

I say all this to lead in to this.  Recently I noticed a post on social network from one of my nieces.  She seemed to upset about something and I posted some advice.  The advice was to go with her gut, go with her heart, and realize that a lot of times the right decision is not necessarily the easy decision.  That advice seemed to upset someone else and my response was this..."I'm concerned about only one person in this situation, whatever it is, and that is"...my niece.  Although I may not always agree with them, they are my family.  I care about them and I care about what happens to them.  I want all of my nieces and nephews to know that I will always be there for them if they need help.  I will always do what I can to help them, whether that is to give them advice or to give them a needed kick in the rear, or just be someone to talk to.  Please don't ever think any different.

And now for something completely different....

Who Are We?

If there is one thing I know (and some would tell you that there is) it is this...if you're not happy with who you are, no one else is going to be all that impressed by you either.  If you feel like you have to constantly get recognition for who you are, then the recognition you do get will not be true recognition of who you are so much as it will be recognition of the fact that you want recognition.

I read an article several years ago that talked about the different kind of status messages that people put on facebook or other social media websites.  I can't recall all the names the article gave the different types of messages, but one of them had something to do with baiting.  Putting a status message just vague enough so that others would question its meaning.  At that point the door would then be opened to brag about who you are or what you accomplished, and if called on the fact that you were bragging you can always say, "I'm not bragging, I'm just responding honestly to the question that was asked."

This type of thing is usually born out of some insecurity with yourself, and I'll admit that I've done this.  Not so much on facebook (at least not that I can recall) but in life.  I've been called on it a few times too.

I recently got back on facebook.  While the drama is still very much there, I got back on more to try and keep up with what is going on.  Unfortunately I was missing out on a lot of what was going on with members of my family who I don't hear from often because I was not seeing things on facebook.  Two of my nephews recently celebrated the births of daughters, and not being on facebook, I didn't have the opportunity to see pictures or know much about what was going on.  Two of my nephews were recently deployed with the military, and again, because I was not on facebook, I wasn't aware of it.  But I also noticed some who not only made sure to let you know what makes them so great, but who also portray themselves as being someone that they are not.  If you like to talk about who you are and things that you do, great...that's why I do this blog, it lets me talk about those things and if those who read are interested, great.  If they are not interested, that's ok too.  I like to talk about things I do, especially my running.  I can honestly say that I don't do it to brag, but because it is something that brings me real happiness and I like to share that part of my life with people.

But my main point with all this rambling is, I don't need to impress anyone and no one needs to impress me.  There will be those who impress me, but they will do it by just simply being themselves.  If someone is trying to impress me I'm rarely impressed.  Impress me by being a good person.  Be a John Kreuz who, while kind of quirky and who tells some of the worst jokes I've heard, is always helpful and is always trying to help someone out with whatever they need.  Be a Tammie Carroll, who has raised two kids to be good students and have respect for those around them.  Neither one of these people are perfect, but they're not out to impress anyone either.  They are who they are.  They don't try to be someone or something they are not.  Saying it enough times does not make it so.  It's your actions that dictate who you are, not your words.  Those who are truly impressive are the ones who are not trying to impress anyone.