If you were thinking of sponsoring me for the Poplar Springs "Run for the Animals," time is running short.  The details for sponsorship can be found here .  There are a couple of people I haven’t thanked yet, but I have a big group "thank you" in mind, so my apologies for not (yet) acknowledging […]

Okay - after a really cold March, April arrives and BLAM - it’s 74 freakin’ degrees.
Don’t get me wrong - it’s a beautiful evening, but for purposes of running?  Going from the high 30’s to the mid 70’s makes for some insta-fatigue.  But anyway, I was going to tell you about how I channeled Marie […]

My mom called today to tell me that at around 8 a.m. 39 years ago, I gave her a new perspective on the phrase “bite me.”  Start as you mean to go on.
John fed my inner geek, encouraged my running proclivities, and celebrated the date by gifting me a Nike Amp+:

Yee ha!   Onward towards […]

Robynn has promised some 4theanimals dosh, so here’s my first YouTube effort to say “thanks!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYZYpWq9M6U

1. Thank you, Marilee, for being the first contributor to the Poplar Springs 5k fund! Her donation coincided with a particularly fortuitous afternoon’s snaps of the Smith household animals, so here’s a photographic “thank you” from those worthies:

2. Thanks to: a.) the fact that my husband actually reads the Birchmere’s occasional missives, b.) my […]

So the running thing is going pretty well.  I’m as surprised as anyone.  Probably more surprised, to own the truth.  With that, I decided to seek out a little 5K “fun run” and found one that is perfect for me - the Poplar Springs “Run for the Animals,” in support of a local sanctuary for […]

I had to take a hiatus from running when I was dealing with the respiratory ick (and then a bout of flu - or something like it - does one really care what it’s called when one feels as if they were run over by a truck?  No, I thought not).  To celebrate my return […]

The sinus infection really did me in - it took until now to get here.
But I did it.

…I shall hit a rather arbitrary yet significant milestone. The mile-ometer on my iPod says that I have run/walked 99.27 miles since getting the thing in late August (1st run on August 26, 2007). Dang, but I do love that little gadget. Data is good.
So early in 2008, possibly the day after […]

I need to get beyond week 5/6 of the couch to 5k plan, but I’m so proud of myself for running 20 minutes nonstop, I am in a bit of a rut.  Having reached the five minute walk warmup, 20 minute run, five minute walk cooldown stage, which honestly doesn’t need much in the way […]