I Live in Iowa: Week 164

What a week! Seriously, I had a pretty big event, life changing I would say. However it is so serious it deserves it's own post on another day this week. I'll get to it, don't worry. Suffice to say what I have to talk about was more than a year in the making, the public announcement can wait a few more days.

Work has been crazy! We had a colleague move to another area and he is not being replaced. The short story is my workload just went from not so big, to pretty big. I am now responsible for "sheparding" as I like to think of it, many more parts along the development process. The vast majority of work has been done to everything already, so it's manageable to be responsible for so many parts, I'm not working 70 hour weeks or anything crazy. I learned a tip recently, drive home slowly. Often we, at least I, leave work in a rush and the stress of work gets carried into the next activity for the day. I have been learning to take it easier and more relaxed. So I have been driving home after work slower and by the time I get home I have a smile on my face again. 

That being said, taking on all of this extra work recently I hope is noticed. I will tell you what, a thank you and a little recognition for doing "what you are supposed to do" or your job goes a long way. 

Running was a really good week. For the near future, I am going to give my mileage in leagues because the numbers are getting a little ridiculous to non runners and sedentary people. I ran 36.7 leagues this week including a 20 minute tempo and a half marathon trail race that I was second to Scott Gall in. Look him up, except for him being 40 I don't feel bad losing to him at all. Plus I ran the course faster than last year despite being in worse shape. It might just be that the mileage is starting to make a difference again. 

My parents were also in town Friday night and Saturday morning to see me race. You should have heard my mom when I jumped a guard rail "whoa!!"  Funny story, my mom didn't tell my grandma about my dad until the second time he asked her to marry him. 

I did go out once and played some cranium at a friend's house too. I have pretty great friends!

That just leaves the big news, and you just have to wait for that.

I hope you had a good week. I usually don't say it explicitly but I struggle a lot in my life, with relationships, work, running, selfishness, and plenty of other sins, and while I always try to put a positive spin on my life here on my blog, it certainly isn't all roses. I ran more miles this week than some runners run in a year, and more than some serious runners run in a month. Yet there are dozens of weeks where I just can't or don't get that kind of volume. In other words, I sincerely hope that you can look around yourself and smile at how blessed you are and tell someone you love her or him, despite the challenges of the day.