Got my 15 minutes ...

.. before heading up to the mountains.

I found a different place right near me to run with a short, but significant, hill. That was good to work on for a while.

Letters -- remember them?

I used to write (and receive) tons of letters in the pre-email days.

One of my friends who saved all the letters (I threw out my archives when we moved in 2007) just sent me one I wrote him right after Paul and I got together in 1993.

"Men get weird once you kiss them" is how it starts out. I go on to describe Paul: "Lookswise, he's (an ex-something-or-other who is now one of my Facebook friends) meets Kevin McHale -- which isn't as scary as it sounds." Poor Paul -- comparing him to Kevin McHale was a bit harsh.

Other lines I think are funny, along with the 2010 commentary:

"He's got a bit of the redneck in him." Uh, definitely. But you have to know him better than most people get to before that comes out.

"He's a good man. A little strange. But, hell, he's dating me." Precisely!

"He's talking like I'm his ideal woman. Obviously, I'm taking that sort of crap with a grain of salt: I've heard it before." Yes, I've always been a romantic.

Resolutions: Speaking of Paul, he's gotten himself involved in the one hundred pushups program. I did that for a bit until I got distracted with something.

Races: In addition to the Surf City Half Marathon on Feb. 7, I'm doing the 13.1 event in L.A. on Jan. 10. I'm not paying, though. I'm going to be a "back-of-the-pack" volunteer, keeping a 16-minute mile pace at the very end. Which means I'll be out there for 3.5 hours, getting some slow miles. I might jog home at the end, which would get me the higher mileage I need to be hitting, but that depends on how I'm feeling. Slower can sometimes mean harder.

Only 15 minutes

OK, so I sort of lied.

I have one little resolution: Run every day, even if it's only 15 minutes.

There's something about that small length of time that I'm able to handle. If a run is going to take me an hour, it's too easy to put off, to say I don't have that much time, to wait -- futilely -- until I do have time. So, I'm trying this psychological trick. Of course, I'll want to do longer runs frequently as well, but getting out there at all is better than nothing. And I can sneak in only 15 minutes.

Today, I had lots of family stuff. I took three of the kids to an aquarium we'd never visited. By 9 p.m., I realized I hadn't run yet. But, since I only needed to do 15 minutes, I had time.

The only problem with this run is I got my $3 Goodwill Adidas jacket swiped. I threw it on a chair after a few minutes, and someone decided to take it in the next 10 minutes before I came back. Fortunately, there was nothing in it.

Remarks on the New Year's: We hit two lovely New Year's parties, one early, one later (and left before the countdown).

Here's the greatest line from the night: I met someone I hadn't met before, but who knew about me. She says, "Are you the runner?" How funny!

Looking different: Paul's watching "The Biggest Loser," which I cannot. I love Jillian Michaels' books, but I hate her shrieking, abusive TV persona. He talks about how different the people look. I say how I don't look that much different.

He says, "What are you talking about? You've got your face back! Look at your fingers!"

Yes, I forget.

No resolutions

I really dislike the whole resolution business. Oh, I'm not against self-improvement. I dislike the artificial starting point of January 1. At least it has never worked for me. I don't have a problem if setting resolutions works for other people -- I don't, however, know anyone for whom it has worked.

So I'm not doing any resolutions again this year. But, if you are, I do hope yours go better than most people's!

Quick (OK, not-so-quick) 30-minute run

Scheduling has been an issue with my running. If I don't get out early in the morning, I tend not to get out at all.

But tonight, I went out at 8:45 p.m., just to do 30 minutes. The weather here has been nice and cool and wet (for us), and I enjoy running in that.

I do find it funny that the first 10-to-15 minutes of a jog are the hardest. After that, it's easy, at least for the next 90 minutes or so. I'm experimenting with my strides-per-minute. It's too easy (and too dangerous) for me to take bigger steps; I'm trying to concentrate on taking more, but smaller, steps.

Birthday cake

I made an apparently yummy cake today. I was curious about how it came out, as it was the first time I'd tried that recipe or the made-on-the-stove frosting (when I ate frosting, I stuck to my favorite -- which is a simple buttercream). I didn't really crave it in any particularly hard-to-resist way; I smelled it a bit and then asked questions about it, basically trying to figure out if I should make it again.

My first California baby turned 8 today!

Speaking of Tiger ...

I talked to one of my multitude of brothers today about Tiger Woods. Now, my brothers have even more direct experience with pro athletes than I do, as I stayed away from them when I was a young woman. I talked more to college athletes, who don't take sleaziness to quite the same level.

Here's his rant, edited for language, when I told him of how the whole drama has upset a number of my mom friends:

"If (some garbage third-string catcher) could have a woman in every A-ball city, of course Tiger Woods is going to. There's no shortage of (women) who will (sleep with) pro athletes. I could get all kinds of (women) right now if I told them I were a professional lacrosse player. ..."

2009 in review

The health accomplishments of 2009:

1) Did some serious running. At least by my standards. I went through weeks of 30+ mileage. I went from being thrilled to do 30 minutes at a time to being able to run for hours.

2) Made a certain amount of peace with the ol' body. Not that anyone has noticed, but I haven't weighed or measured myself in months. I'm not officially on maintenance, but I'm well aware that I've plateaued more than a little, and I didn't want to stress myself out with .5 pound losses (or slight gains!) over a month even while eating the way I do. I know I could get slimmer, particularly in the middle, but I've been feeling relatively good about the status quo over the last few months.

I do think things are beginning to change a bit, though, particularly with my perception of Where I Am. For a long time, I was simply delighted to Not Be in Plus Sizes. Or with any very minor feat of athleticism. Now, I'm used to being slimmer, and I'm feeling big again; I'm also used to being able to run and to do many things I couldn't before, and I feel relatively klutzy again. The bar that I use to judge myself has risen quite a bit. That's good and bad, of course.

Another freecycling score

One of the best things about being sick is that once you're well, you've got this amazing energy. I'm there right now. You wouldn't believe all the cleaning I'm doing. In addition to a bunch of for-pay work.

Today, though, too, I cleaned up with the L.A. ReUseIt yahoogroup. A woman was advertising how she was moving out of the country and needed to get rid of all the stuff in her fridge. It turned out she lived in my building.

My 11-year-old was initially complaining about having to leave fun with friends in order to pick this up, but as she saw the food, she changed her mind. I was thrilled because it was all kinds of stuff that I can eat -- in addition to some nice stuff that I can't eat. Most of it, though, was nice frozen veggies and fruits and meats.

Anyway, I walked fast instead of ran today, just to shake things up.

Temptation ...

Paul, who actually has put on a few pounds this month, has made a request.

Keep the candy and such out of the house.

"I'm the Tiger Woods of sweets," he said.