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I've been trying my damndest not to complain about the weather because it's out of our control and I don't like to dwell on negative things. Thinking negatively has proven to send me on a downward spiral, so I keep my eyes on what's good in the world. With that being said, this weather blows!

So far, our summer here has consisted of Memorial Day Weekend. That was nice, it was a gorgeous weekend complete with warm sunshine and pleasant breezes. Since then, it's barely broken 60 degrees and rained every single day. The forecast for the next week doesn't look any better either. Monday and Tuesday of next week might have something going for them, but then it's gonna shit right back up again before the weekend. Surrisly, can we get a freaking break?

There, got that off my chest.

Yesterday the inspector came out and eyeballed the depths of my postholes. Two minutes later he was on his way and I was cleared to pour concrete. I picked up some material at The Home Depot after work and could have started, but it was raining. I'm not afraid to get wet, but working in the rain is just miserable. I decided I would just have some dinner and go for a run.

During dinner, the doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting any packages so I didn't know what to think. It was HECOW, stopping by on his way somewhere. There's nothing like a fresh set of eyes to really point out everything that's ghetto about your home/situation. The tools and laundry in the kitchen, the piles of mail on the dining room table, the fact that I was eating in the dark, in complete silence. Awesome, bachelorhood at its finest. At least I took the leftovers out of the Gladware® container and heated them up on a respectable plate. Using the table as my bread plate was ghetto, but I had the main course on my last small plate. Eh, I'm a simple guy, what can I say.

During dinner I got a call from a running friend seeking motivation. She claimed to not want to run, but the fact that she picked up the phone and dialed my number (or picked it out of the phone's phone book) said otherwise. We planned to run roads around 7:00, I just had to finish my dinner.

The run was good, I practiced my ChiRunning techniques - which are amazing - and got to do some hill work. The technique I'm working on right now is the basis of ChiRunning form. You really let gravity do the work and just lean to adjust your speed. All your legs do is move to get under you so you don't fall. It sounds simple, but it can be difficult at first. Kids have this down perfectly, but once you grow up and stop running everywhere you tend to run more upright I think because it feels more stable. Anyway, I was working on that (and the other things you have to do to make that happen) and trying to avoid the roadkill.

I watched two hours of Dateline last night and they were re-running a special on online predators. It was pretty disturbing; some of these guys drove hundreds of miles to meet their "prey" and when busted, most admitted to everything. When they left the house, they were all arrested. From what I've found in a brief search, very few are actually ever prosecuted due to red tape and legal roadblocks. Sweet. They weren't going to meet up with 17.5 year old girls, they thought the decoy was 13 or 14. Those dudes have issues. One was a 6th grade teacher!

The end result for me was a less than restful sleep and now I'm irritated that our legal system can't or won't do anything about these guys. Sure, the fact that they were caught and ended up on Dateline probably ruined their lives, but they're free to go out and do it again with no consequences and nothing left to lose. I'm not looking to start a discussion on these wackos, these were just my thoughts.

In other news, tonight is the Thursday Night Run in Kennedy Park. I heard a rumor that it might be cancelled and moved to a road run due to all of the rain we've been having. Trails are fun and all, but the mud might be a little too much tonight. The road run would be out near Tanglewood on the Josh Billings Runaground route. I hear it's a real ballbuster but scenic as a mug and equally fun. Either way is fine with me, I just like to run with other people and I'll run pretty much anything for the company. I'm an accomodating dude.

Oh, I also heard that the Wednesday night, pre-Live on the Lake races have been given the green light. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, we have a live music series here in the summer that's held every Wednesday night at the lake - hence the name Live on the Lake. A few guys with whom I run are organizing races that would be held before the music to try and promote running and get people interested in exercise. It's pretty basic: no t-shirts or corporate sponsorship, just people getting out and running. I think the proceeds will go to support a local girls' running club, so you can feel good about that too. I'll probably try and run a few of them and then help out with a few more.

Well, that's it for now. I'll holler at y'all later.

Over and Out,
Old Coot