Tunes, Training, Lawnmower, Etc.

I am stealing this list method from my friend Amy for tonight. Several random unrelated things to report:

1. Music

Today I have had several interesting encounters with music. Fist, early in the wee hours this morning, I was watching the movie The Weather Man (which is a pretty useless movie) and I noticed much to my delight that some of the background music sounded an awful lot like the Beastie Boys. I am a fairly big fan of the Beasties, so I was pretty certain of what my ears were hearing, the unique instrumental hip-hop sound of the Beasties jamming away. At the end of the movie, my suspicions were confirmed in the credits! I think it sounded like some of their tracks from either the "Hello Nasty" album or maybe "Ill Communication". Way to go Beastie Boys for the random musical appearance in this unfortunately stupid movie!

While I was running this afternoon (see report below) I was just at the beginning of mile 3 when a particular song on my MP3 player really kept me going. I seriously may have stopped otherwise due to some slight stomach cramping. The song was from the Big Daddy soundtrack, entitled "Ooh La La". I can't remember the artist, but it's a great song if you ever need something to keep you going OR get you going.

And finally, I must report that I heard the Fresh Prince's "Summertime" TWICE today. That's right, two times the inspriration of summer fun graced my tympanic membranes and my heart. I love summer. The weather was quite nice this afternoon, however, it has been entirely too cold lately. I think hearing "Summertime" twice today was a sign from the Lord that summer will be here very soon. I can't wait. I hate the cold.

2. Training

Thankfully the injuries have finally been resolved, and I had a record-breaking run today. If you saw my extensive post one day a few weeks back about running my 5-mile route in 45min37sec, you will appreciate that today I ran it in 45min07sec!!! I couldn't believe it. I was expecting that I may not even make it the full 5 miles, due to the recent training setbacks and the fact that I have been on nightshift so I'm all out of whack. But thanks to "Ooh La La" and other songs of inspiration, I was able to finish in record time!

3. Lawnmower

It strikes again. I finally got this beast started up after the long winter, and now it won't start again. It seems that the motor or the blade (or both) is bound. I spent some time yesterday and today taking the thing apart far enough to realize that the rope is fine but the rotor is locked for some reason. So now I need some advice on how to proceed. If the advice includes paying someone else to look at it, please do not offer your opinion.

4. Real Estate

Tomorrow I will be meeting with my realtor to officially finish up details for putting my house on the market. A sign should be in the yard before week's end!

5. Work/Race

I'm back at work tonight and planning to work through Thursday night. If all goes well, I will leave out of here Friday morning and have Friday and Saturday nights off. I'm not sure how well I will fare in the race with this schedule leading into it, but being there is the only real thing I am worried about at this point. I would rather be there and at least get to try to run, whatever weird half-awake state I am in, than have to miss it entirely.