My friend Andrea's son is a friend of Eli's--he is going to be flying for the first time soon, and he was pretty nervous about it. He's a VERY smart kid, and I had a feeling that if he was able to talk to a pilot about how things worked on the airplane, he would feel more comfortable about his first flight. As you probably know, my brother, Brian, is a pilot for Delta, so I asked him if he would mind chatting with Andrea's son.
Brian is in the process of moving to Michigan, so he's been here a lot lately working on his house (he and his wife bought a foreclosure, and they are remodeling). He agreed right away, and thought it was so cute when Andrea's son said, "I never thought I'd be talking to a pilot. Like, ever. It's absurd." Hahaha. So, I picked up the kids from school and Brian came over, wearing his uniform and everything.
The kids were very interested in what he had to say (okay, I was, too!), especially when he talked about how the engines are even tested by throwing a (dead) chicken into them (to simulate geese, which can be a big problem for an airplane). They throw all sorts of stuff into the engines for testing. Brian showed the flight plans on his computer, and explained exactly how the plane is able to fly. He explained what all the noises would be (this was most interesting to me, because I panic when noises change on an airplane). He talked about turbulence, and why it happens. If nothing else, *I* feel much more at ease for my flight to Portland in April! ;)
Brian gave all the kids "wings" (the little pins that pilots wear). Eli declared that he wants to be a pilot. Let's hope that he will, because the parents of pilots get some pretty great benefits (flying for free) ;)
Today, I had another speed workout on the schedule: 12 x 1:00 at faster than race pace. My race pace is 7:55, so on my "fast" workouts, I try to aim for 7:50 or better. Since these were just going to be one-minute intervals, I decided to push the pace kind of hard, and aim for sub-7:00. (The roads are still icy, so I was on the treadmill again).
I ran a 10-minute warm-up, and then set the treadmill to 8.6 mph (a 6:59/mile pace). The first 30 seconds or so of the interval was a piece of cake. Then, of course, it started to feel harder. Knowing I was only running at that pace for one minute, though, made it very bearable. I did the first eight intervals at 8.6 mph, but my heart rate still wasn't getting up to 95%. Over the next four intervals, I increased the speed by 0.1 mph, so I did the last four at 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, and 9.0 mph (which is a 6:54, 6:49, 6:44, and 6:40 minutes per mile pace).
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| If you can't tell, I'm watching Gilmore Girls on my iPad. LOVE THAT SHOW! |
I was kind of bummed to see that my foot pod showed me going slower than that, between 7:02 and 7:30. The interesting thing about calibrating the foot pod is that it can be spot-on for running at 6.0 mph (the speed that I calibrated it at), but then when I change to 5.0 or to 7.0, the calibration is off again. Between intervals, I just hopped off the treadmill and rested until my heart rate dropped down to 136. Since the intervals were so short, there was no point in changing speeds every minute. Over all, the workout went really well--almost too well. Next time, I'll try and do all of the intervals at 9.0.
Jerry and I bought Powerball tickets for yesterday's drawing (we've only ever bought tickets maybe three times, but since it was such big news, we just had to). We were talking about what we'd do with the money if we won, and I kept thinking of all the things I wanted to buy for other people: I'd want buy my dad a new boat, my mom a new car, pay off mortgages for all my family, send my siblings and friends on dream vacations, etc. Most of all, I would want for Jerry to not have to work another day in his life!
Jerry stopped me and asked what *I* wanted, and I had such a hard time thinking of something. I would want a new house, but nothing enormous--just modest and comfortable. After spending a good 10 minutes thinking it over, I finally figured out what I would want to buy for myself: a brand new treadmill! My treadmill is getting so rickety. Each time I use it, I'm afraid it's going to quit on me. So, if I woke up with $1.5 billion tomorrow, the first thing I'd buy is a fancy new treadmill! ;)
A friend of mine won the lottery a couple of years ago (nowhere near $1.5 billion--she won $1,000 per day for the rest of her life, which is seriously awesome!). She said that after she won, people from her past were basically crawling out of the woodwork and the publicity was really crazy. I can't even begin to imagine what winning $1.5 billion would do to one's life. It would be quite scary! But the thought of winning sparked a fun conversation with Jerry and the kids. Eli said he would want an iPhone 6 and a bigger bedroom; and Noah said he would want a Maserati (which he had to explain to me what it was, because I had no idea! haha).
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