Running, golfing, anniversaries and friends

I bought two new running books today, one on training for a marathon (a more serious one than I read before) and one for women, which also addresses nutrition issues. So far, I can't find anything helpful anywhere about being gluten-free and dealing with the carbs issue; however, the nutrition lady seems to be saying runners will get enough by eating fruits and vegetables, that most runners tend to pay too much attention to the "starchy" carbs.

Besides, when it comes to starches, I guess I'll always have my potatoes, rice and polenta. I just also need to get in the habit of cooking gluten-free pasta. Surely even I can boil noodles, right?

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See those "Life is Good" t-shirt images. I bought them on a special today. Cute, huh?

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My dad, who has always been a golfer but didn't play for years due to back pain, became a personal trainer a couple of years ago and got himself in good physical condition again. He's 64 and has been playing lots of golf since he retired. He's also been teaching Jordie the game, and they play as much golf in the summers as Jordie's baseball schedule will allow.

Yesterday, they played. Jordie (14) shot 82, and my dad shot 69. That's not even unusual for my dad. He's still got it after all these years.

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Dorsey and I will be heading out to Ruby Tequila's (the new one by my house) in a little while. It's our sort of anniversary dinner (my choice over Macaroni Joe's). We're going out tonight instead of our actual anniversary (July 5), because Dorsey's taking off to New Hampshire for three weeks. It's our 8th anniversary.

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If I can handle it, I'm going to aim to stay at the prison through at least the end of the year, partially for financial reasons, but mostly because now all my inmates know I'm training for a marathon.

I'm amazed by their responses. No one has been disinterested; instead, I'm getting lots of questions and encouragement ... and grief for drinking Diet Cokes!

I feel as if these guys, who seem to be interested in me accomplishing this, need to see me do it. Many, many, if not most, of them, have never finished anything in their lives, from a high school diploma to sticking with a legal job.

I think my training experiences will come in handy in therapy groups.

I'll keep you posted!

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Speaking, again, of the marathon, it has turned into somewhat of a social event, too. Remember my Vegas trip? It seems we may have a mini reunion, plus a few more, for that marathon. Michelle, Julie and Michelle's mom are going to run the half marathon. Brandy has offered to put on a cheerleading skirt (former cheerleader). Scott would like to be there, too, possibly even running in some capacity, although he already has so much going on. He's kind of the one who got us all into this stuff through his triathlon training and completions of two competitions, so far. Ned ... he's pretending to be my coach by goading me and harassing me. In fact, the deal is, if (whatever) I finish, he has agreed to train for and participate in a sprint triathlon.

As for Mike, he lives in Florida. Might be hard to make it to Dallas around that time, but it would be fun if he could.

I know of a couple of other classmates who are planning to and/or thinking about running the White Rock marathon, too ... plus my family will be there.

There's no way I can't NOT do this.

Now, I just need to decide which local charity I want to raise money for. White Rock's charity of choice is the Shriner's Children's Hospital, a worthy cause, of course. I was just thinking it would be nice to put some money back into an Amarillo worthy cause. I'm taking suggestions ...