New home, new town, new HILLS!

It has been a pretty hectic two weeks. We moved into our new house, went straight to the beach, and then returned to our new home and town to unpack. It has been 4 days since we returned. I’ve also had no Internet access save for the local coffee shop where I get about an hour each morning checking email and doing some online banking. Things I have realized about moving to a new home for the first time in 9 years: a) Moving ain’t easy; b) I miss my smaller old house with its powerful a/c. I’ve moved into a two-story house, which doesn’t cool well upstairs where the bedrooms are. Gotta get used to that; c) I never appreciated how much paper we produce and how many phone calls to change addresses and registrations and all that it takes to move from one state to another; d) I sure have a lot of junk.

I read two books while on vacation: the Shack and The Last Lecture. I recommend both books highly.
Running in my new town is a new adventure. Louisiana was flat, quite flat. Here, I run into hills in every direction. On Sunday, I struggled to get 4.5 miles in running around my neighborhood. I think I will appreciate the hills after a while. But right now, my body is rebelling. For a year and a half, I have run with e Polar RS200 watch with a footpod. Polar makes a big deal about having them change your battery. On Sunday, I got a low battery signal from the watch, so I have sent it back for a new battery. I feel naked without the watch. For a year now, I’ve known exactly how far I have run and how fast I was running it. Today’s run, some speed intervals at the local high school track was weird. I had no clue how fast I was running. This will be especially strange this weekend. I am running in the Woodstock 5K, the signature running event around here, which benefits Cerebral Palsy research. I also joined the local running club, Anniston Running Club (http://www.annistonrunners.com), which is quite active and organized. Last night they were stuffing packets for the race and I joined them to meet the members, pick up my race packet, and get a slice or two of free pizza. I was impressed with the race shirts. They are technical shirts instead of cotton. For a 5K, I think that is impressive. I’ll post some photos later.