"To a crazy ship all winds are contrary." George Herbert

Well you know what it's like when your alarm goes off....... and for ONCE -- I repeat ONCE -- in two weeks you are finally sleeping like a baby. The alarm BANGS out at 5:45am and instead of hitting snooze, or staying calm you jump.... grab it with both hands and skip clean over the snooze and hit OFF! That's right. I don't want you to remind me in 9 minutes to get up and cycle out to Suffer-O-Rama. I demand that you leave me alone. To hell with it! :-) That was me yesterday morning.

So you know what that means... Tuesday night I had a date with Coach Troy Jacobson. Troy was in the mood to make me stand, sit, stand, sit, stand, sit. My knee did not like Troy. About 2/3 of the way through the 55 min video we adopted the strategy of only standing every OTHER time he said "Stand up!" I am glad because my knee was screaming at me this morning when I got up. When the video was over (finally!) I cleaned up the sweat off the floor and did 3 sets of crunches on my ottoman. I think that is my first ab exercise in at least a year, if not more. I had planned on doing my arms a bit, but I think I got distracted and never did. Ha! See how focused I am? Hmmm.... sounds like something I need to work on.

Last night the storms were awful! I woke up at 4am and would have bet a benjamin the big window by my bed was going to shatter onto me! So, Hattie and I made our way into the living room (the center of my house) and piled up on the couch and spent an hour with the weather man. When things calmed down, it was back to the bed until 8am!

Hattie got groomed today. Isn't she a prize! :-) Well, I think so and that's all that matters! :-) So I rushed her to the groomer's this morning and I finally got to work... only to wish I wasn't there. Things have been SOOO crazy lately. There needs to be 6 of me. I have so many things to do I catch myself looking at the wall not knowing which one I should work on next. And should I juggle them and do a little on each? Or ignore everything else until I get the first task completed? Oh well - at the end of the day it all pays the same.

I spent my lunch break in awe at how powerful our God is.... and how powerful his mighty winds were!! Let's hope the old song "Storms Never Last," by Waylon Jennings and Jessie Colter still stands because I won't get far with my training plan if the winds don't die down! It was great when it was at my back - the first 3.8 miles. But when I turned around to head back for the last 2.2, I felt like I was running against a concrete wall. I was determined I wouldn't quit. "Push Holly. What if it's like this at CMM? You better be prepared. Think of how easy the next run will feel if the winds are calm?" I was having to hurdle big garbage cans, jump off the sidewalk to avoid small ponds, etc... It was ironic that I was out running in the elements of nature. I feel as though my life has been so stormy for 2 weeks now. And I was reminded that even though the winds were pushing me backwards, and whipping my body out of control, and I was hurdling objects in my way..... I'd make it back to my car. I'd finish that race. Just like I'll make it and finish with honor (as Bethany reminds me) in the other areas of my life. Thank you stormy winds for reminding me of these truths. Hey.... I made it. I am stronger for it! 6 miles in 52:20. Average pace = 8:43.

Tomorrow is a rest day. So the next time I post, I am hoping to post that I just completed my longest run ever. 14 miles!!!! Stay tuned....