Jury Duty...

For the 3rd time in 5 years, yours truly was called down for Jury Duty. Uugh! I know people that have been called once... maybe twice... but three times? Needless to say, I wasn't happy.

You see, 3 years ago I served on a jury. It was a drug dealer case, and the defendent was caught with a pound of cocaine attempting to sell it. His name: Tito. Now Tito was defended by Craig Watkins, current DA of Dallas County. He spun that case in so many ways that it caused the jury to deliberate for several hours on an obvious "GUILTY" verdict. I mean, Tito was caught with a pound of cocaine... yet some of my fellow jurors felt compelled that "maybe this wasn't the right guy." Uugh. When it was all over, we convicted him. Watkins came into our jury room afterwards and asked, "Did ya'll believe anything I said?" One of the bleeding hearts gasped, "You were lying?" Well, that's when Watkins quickly said, "Of course I was lying. I'm the defense attorney. All I've got to do is to provide doubt."

So that wasn't the most pleasant 3 days of my life. This time, I went down there with a big chip on my shoulder. You arrive by 8:30 for "attendance." Then you sit for 2 hours until they start calling your jury number and assigning you to a specific court. Of course, I got another criminal court. We wait for another half hour until they hand out a questionaire. One of the questions is your feelings on defense attorneys. I write, "Slime."

When we go into the court room, I find out that I'm number 5 out of 60. That means I'm a dead ringer unless I get myself out of this mess. And, it's a murder case. Specifically, a manslaughter. And worse, the defendant (sitting about 10 feet from me) pleaded guilty to killing another person (stabbing). I'm not the only person wondering, "So why are we here?" Well, it's a sentencing hearing. This means we must decide a sentence between 5 to 99 years for the 20 something kid (he looks like he's 19-21).

I decide to become a person I'm really not. Therefore, when they ask questions such as, "Do you require the defendant to take the stand" I say "Absolutely." Even though the state doesn't require it, I knew it would paint myself as a loon. Even the judge asked me specifically the same question, and I stuck to my guns. Another question that they asked was, "The minimum is 5 years. Could anyone in this room NOT give 5 years to the defendant under any circumstance." I said I couldn't, and when asked I said, "He admitted he murdered another human. In my opinion, a life is worth much more than 5 years." That one I actually believe.

So when it was all said and done, I wasn't chosen. A "jury of his peers" consisted of men and women who mostly were over the age of 50.

New Furniture...

I decided to finally "grow up." I'm 36 years old, and for the first time in my life I decided to buy a bedroom suit. This was a big thing for me!

Several factors went into this decision. For one, I've been having a lot of back problems. I figured it was "life" that caused me to wake up in pain every morning. However, asking around, I haven't found too many people who experience that. Another factor was that my queen bed, which I've had since 1993, is sagging pretty good in the middle. And then finally I guess it has to be the fact that my bedroom looks like a college apartment. No headboard, and my chest has only 5 drawers... definitely not enough to manage my wardrobe.

So off to the furniture stores we went. Chandra helped me out by being the female influence. We went to Haverty's, The Dump (there's a reason they call it that), and Freed's. A few months ago I had a dream where I bought furniture that was black. That probably tainted my view, because I kept looking for "really dark" furniture.

We found it at Freed's. I ended up buying a sleigh bed, armoir, chest of drawers, and and end table. I also bought a king size mattress - Sealy pillow top. I'm pretty excited about it all. Should be here in 6-8 weeks. Anyway, here is a picture of it below:

The Early Bird Gets to RUN!!!

I've decided that I need to beat the weather... and the only way I know how to do that right now is to run early in the morning! So today, I did just that. Got up at 5 AM and ran during the 6 AM hour. It was awesome! The temperature was about 70, there wasn't too much humidity, and I logged a good 6 miles!

I'm A LOT more pleased than I was in my previous post!

Not only that, but I had a good pace. My average speed was 9.52/mile. To me, that's awesome. Now I'm not saying I'm ready for another half marathon. Chandra told me her trainer mentioned how much of a dropoff you take when you don't run for a week. Well, it's been about 2 for me. I was fine and dandy with quitting at the 6 mile mark, believe me!

Running that early in the subdivision is much different then running after work. The sleepy-eyed kids are standing at their bus stops, and you've got to be aware of people heading off to work (coming out of alleys).

Anyway, I think this will start a new plan of attack for me as I head towards Chicago. I'll still utilize the gym, but as most runners will tell you - running on a treadmill vs. the road is VERY different.

Humidity Hell!

Yesterday I decided to start my training for the Chicago Marathon. My goal was to run around White Rock Lake, a distance of almost 9 miles. I figured that would be a good start. It was a great day - sunny, a few clouds, and a little breeze. What I didn't account for was the humidity!

When I started my run, it was 85 degrees at 4:00 PM. I should have clued in to the fact that there weren't a lot of "runners" on the path. Guess they were the wise ones. I started off up a steep hill, just to get it over with in the beginning, and when I crested I could tell I was having trouble catching my breath. I figured it was just because it was a hill, and I hadn't really run anything serious in about 2 weeks (except for a 4-miler last week).

Well, my breathing was labored and I struggled with it for the first mile. I checked my pace and it was 9.42/mile. Maybe that's why I was having a hard time. I slowed down, but still was having trouble.

After 2 miles I got irritated and thought it was possibly all of the cottonwood seeds floating around. The breeze had died down significantly, and it was getting pretty dang hot. Around the 2.5 mile mark, I realized I just didn't "have it" today. Sheepishly, I turned around. And started walking so that I could catch my breath.

Well, once you start walking, it's hard to start back up. I went through a series of walk-run-walk until I reached my truck. Anyway, tonight I'm going to the gym and will see what I can do on the treadmill.

Luckily, I spoke with Becky and she had the same problems running yesterday, too. So, I don't feel as bad... but I still am irritated.

More Pics from the Race...

These are some pictures taken from the race. This is me running somewhere after the 5k mark... most likely it is about the 1ok spot. Why do I know this? Because I took off my 1970's headband after 5 miles because the sun had come out. While it was a good thing to keep the sweat from the eyes, I didn't want it to cause the "white band" on the top of my forehead. Ha!

This is Chandra and I finishing the 1/2 Marathon. Whoo Hoo! I think we're looking pretty dang good for 13.1 miles, eh? We were actually talking most of the way. And in the last half mile, we were talking and encouraging each other. Now, for those that have been keeping track of our time, notice it says 3 hours, 2 minutes. Remember, that's the time from when the race started at 7 AM. It's 10:02 AM at that point. We didn't start our run (get to the starting line) until around 7:40 AM. So, that explains why we finished in 2 hours, 22 minutes.

Finally, this is a picture of Chandra and I after the race. We had just gone through several stages after finishing - water station, banana station, Dunkin Doughnut station, and chip removal station. So here we were, VERY excited, and ready for our shining moment! We had accomplished an awesome goal... that just means we have more to come. So that's why we're smiling so big for the camera!

Nash-Hill Country Music Half Marathon

Yes, I made sure the name said "Nash-Hill." Holy Moly I had no idea how many hills are in the Rocky Top state! Ok, maybe that should have been a clue. So here goes with what I remember from running 13.1 miles...

The marathon started at 7 AM. So, the alarm went off at 4:15 AM. That would be 2 mornings in a row we had to get up in the early 4 AM hour! Jason and Paul picked us up at 4:45, and we were off to the races.

As you can see, there were a lot of people We parked the Jeep at LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans. It was incredibly organized, as they ran city buses between LP and the starting line in Centenial Park, which is located near the campus of Vanderbilt University. When we arrived, it was raining. This was about 5:45 AM.

Some of the things that we needed to take care of were potty breaks, breakfast (bananas, Dunkin Doughnuts), hydration (bottle of water), coffee (Jason and Chandra), and surprisingly... another potty break. Oh yeah... Paul needed to drop off his goodie bag - they had UPS trucks that would shuttle them between the start and finish. I'm serious, this race was incredibly organized!

So, we headed to our corral. Chandra, Jason, and I were in the 21st corral. That means about 20 thousand people were in front of us. Paul started in the 4th. The thought is the slower you are, the further back you would be. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the starting line in our corral. Once there, they wait 3 minutes, and then send you on your way. The first mile was uphill. It wasn't bad, and actually it was cool to look back and see how many people were behind us.

Around mile 3 we started heading our way down Music Row. That's where all of the recordings get done for all of the big bands. It was cool to see the different places. I remember seeing the Sony studio, and I remember seeing banners out front congratulating various bands - Rascal Flats, Miranda Lambert, etc.

Getting back to the hills, yes... this was a hilly area. When we reached the top of mile 4, there was a guy yelling on the sidewalk, "For all of you out of towners, 'Welcome to Tennessee... the Rocky Top state!" Ha! We headed into mile 5 and suddenly everything got crowded. You see, we had to share the road with those who had already run what we were doing. So there was one way going out, and one way coming back. One of my memories was running through a neighborhood and the families who had come out to watch us. Little kids in their PJs were cheering us on. I also remember an old man, he had to be about 100, sitting in his wheelchair yelling, "Everyone gives me 5!" So I ran over and smacked his hand.

Still in that tight crowd in miles 6, 7, and 8, I remember passing a church where they were doing praise/worship music. It was incredible! I actually started applauding them, and they responded! It was such a great moment. Running, while it was rough, was nice because the weather was sunny (as you can see in the photos), and they had a lot of drink stations/fruit stations.

I honestly don't remember mile 9 too much, but I know that when I hit mile 10 I looked at Chandra and said, "I gotta turn on my iPod." See, we had talked that entire time. Now, I was hitting my limit. I was tired. The hills had done a number, not only on my stamina, but also on my left knee. The bands were great, but I really needed my own music at that point. Plus, it was in an industrial area and the crowds were a little thin.

We headed into mile 11 and there was a split - that's where we broke away from people running the full marathon. I felt a little "lesser" as I saw them run away, but I know that my day will come in October when I'll be doing that. Even though this was a half marathon, it was a full marathon in my book! Miles 11 and 12 took us back into the city. This picture on the right is us heading away from the industrial part, and on the right is the Farmer's Market. It was a pretty sight, and I told Chandra that I hope we don't have too many hills left. Well, my hope was wrong... just look at what awaited us!

We hit mile 12 and had to venture around the heart of the city. It was pretty cool, but I think I was at that point of, "Ok... I've run enough. I'm done!" Chandra was in total agreement, too. Dallas is quite flat, so our training was probably not on par with the other Tennesseans. Once we meandered our way through the downtown streets, it was time to head to LP field. I remember how great the crowds were here - they were screaming things like, "Way to go runners! You're almost there! You look great!" We turned a corner and there we saw LP Field. Whoo Hoo!

Chandra and I ran across the bridge (over the Cumberland River) and headed into the THOUSANDS of people that were waiting. The crowd was huge! They were cheering everyone! It was very exciting, and you had this feeling of , "Wow... I just did something REALLY big and people are very excited!" We crossed the finish line in 2 hours 22 minutes, which is faster than our goal of 2 hours 30 minutes. Our pace was 10.44/mile - average speed was 5.6 mph, and at one point we were running 7.4 mph. Here is a link to our actual route and results. You can also see the elevation that we had to run: Nashville

When it was over, we all met up at the Jeep. It was great. We were tired... sore... exhausted. But we had accomplished a goal! It was amazing! So for me personally, I completed the first of 3 goals this year. I look forward to running Chicago (October) and White Rock (December). But the best thing was that we did it together... and I'm glad to have friends who want to run with me!

Christina...

One year ago tonight, I received one of those phone calls that you never want to receive. You see, one of my best friends passed away on May 1, 2006. When you hear something like that, it hits you like a ton of bricks.

Christina Henry was one of those friends that you expect to be with you for a lifetime. Think about this - do you have friends in your life right now that you call when something good/bad happens? Do you have a friend that always "gets" you? Do you have a friend that no matter how long it's been since you've spoken with them, you can easily pick up right where you left off? Well, that was Christina to me.

Hearing of her death last year is still surprising to me... even today. I just can't believe she's gone. And today was pretty difficult to me. I haven't shared that with anyone. In fact, besides emailing her family (who I feel like I've gained a new "Christina" relationship), I have really had a tough day. One year. That's a long time to miss someone.

Christina has missed a lot that I would normally share with her. Besides the general "chit chat/day-to-day" happenings, she has missed some changes in my life. I've taken charge of my health - both through diet/exercise/medicine. She's missed my camping trips or hearing about some of my other trips. She's missed dinners... movies... TV shows. We talked about all of that.

While I know she's in a better place, in my heart I know I miss her a lot. And 365 days ago, everything changed. Not only did she leave this earth, but she left a lot of lives "missing" her. We know we'll see her again. But personally, it's been a tough day.

I just hope I can measure up to half the person she was. If you didn't know her, you truly missed out on an amazing person. If you did know her, you know you were truly blessed.

I miss my friend...