Ramsayings

When I ran the Philadelphia Distance Run last year, it was a tremendous relief just to be able to run at all. I’d spent the better part of a month suffering from serious tendinitis in my right ankle and hadn’t even been able to run the week before the race. Fortunately, the rest did me good and I was able to run. I finished with 7:58 splits. I ran about half a minute faster than I expected to run and felt great about it.

This year I haven’t had any of those setbacks, but I was still uncertain about my goals for this race. Should I take it easy and treat it as a practice run? Should I push myself and try to hit the 7:15 pace I need to qualify for Boston in November? I met up with Kristen early yesterday morning thinking that I’d do the former. My mind was made up, or so I thought. I didn’t want to be disappointed if I tried to hit marathon pace and failed. This was a failsafe. (more…)

We’re in Corolla, NC, for the week. It’s rainy this year, which is somewhat disappointing, especially since we’ve had radiant weather in the past. In any case, it’s nice to be out of town, spending time with family.

Something I’ve figured out this year: good food, even BBQ and seafood, are tough to come by. We discovered Pigman’s BBQ last summer, but I hoped a little research would turn up a gem. No such thing exists!

If you have any suggestions, feel free to chime in!

(Tell me that’s not an amazing packing job! That’s what a week at the beach with a baby looks like for the uninitiated.)

If you’re one of the dear souls who subscribes to this underused blog you already know how I’ve agonized over a suitable theme. The search may finally be over. I think I’ve finally found a winner!

I chose Cleanr. It’s a straightforward theme that fits my strict aesthetic needs. I’m in love with the right rail, too! There you’ll find my Twitter updates, Flickr photos, and Google Reader shared items. I think it’s the best integration I’ve found yet. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about that space is that it’s prone to clutter.

I’m looking to add a Last.fm coverflow widget to share the albums I’m checking out on Lala.com. If you can recommend one with a layout similar to the Flickr widget, let me know!

On a parting note, I need to say that WordPress has really made it easy to update and change themes and widgets. I’m a total noob, yet I felt very comfortable trying things out in the new dashboard environment. It’s amazing!

Want to know a secret? The iPhone is the future of computing. I know there’s a lot of talk about tablets, but I think it’s silly. Why? Because the iPhone can meet most people’s computing needs already.

How did I reach this conclusion? I found myself in a hospital for four days after Charlie was born. My iPhone became indispensable immediately. I tweeted Charlie’s birth, took photos, texted friends and family the good news and kept folks in the loop on Facebook. I can almost guarantee that most people don’t do much more with their computer. (more…)