Zee Write Stuff

Easy?


No, not really easy.  Easy in retrospect -- about 2 hours later.  Here's what bothers me most about this whole "jogging/running" thing:  my calves HURT!  And my ankles.  So, how come people love to do this?  I stretch.  I warm up.  I cool down.  But still, the legs hurt.  Am I doing it all wrong?  Am I missing some trick?  Do tell!


It's week 5 of "Couch to 5K in 9 Weeks."  Today was the first day of this week's program.  Pretty much straight forward -- run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, and run 5 minutes. Add on a 5 minute warm up and a 5 minute cool down.  That's it.  I'll repeat this on Thursday and Saturday.  Although it's less running than last week's program, by one minute, it was more concentrated.  Last week it was built up from 3 to 5 minutes, but this week... BAM!... we started with 5 minutes and kept that pace. 


I didn't experience as many moments of "hey! I wanna quit!" as I have in the past on the first day of a new series.  For me, that's a terrific improvement.  Maybe it's the SUNNY outdoors I get to look at while I'm on my treadmill.  Yes, the snow has finally melted, but it's only 45 degrees, so no matter what I think I'm seeing out the window (summer!), it's really still cold (winter!).  My hope, as with this running thing, is a metaphor for SPRING!


Meanwhile, one product placement today.  And it's not a good grade.  In fact, UGH!  While I'm doing this whole "Couch to 5K' thing, I'm listening to books on my iPhone.  Welllllll... I started Kristin Hannah's new novel, Winter Garden, and if I had been holding a print version in my hands, I would have thrown it against the wall.  I'm still listening only because I don't have another book loaded on my iPhone at the moment.  Winter Garden is pure crap -- filled with whiney, horrible characters and weak, spineless mates.  My advice to the husband of one sister, Meredith, and the boyfriend of the other, Nina, is..... RUN AWAY NOW.... BREAK UP... GET A LIFE without these whiney, bitchy, dysfunctional women.  OMG... could we have any more grating"build up" to a character change? A writer often starts with damaged characters who will, in the course of a story, grow and change for the better, becoming whole, loving adults... BUT JEEZ-LOOOEZE.... you gotta start with characters who have more than a snowball's chance in hell of being LIKED at the outset.   I mean, a reader's gotta try to find something to care about in the characters.  And even though I'm at the part where the father dies (it's not a spoiler because the book jacket also tells you this is gonna happen),  I'm thinking the father was the lucky one. He didn't have to stick around for the whole book.  I know, I know.  Surely the surprise about the mother's former suffering (I'm guessing, but come on... it's soooo obvious) is worth my time? Not if I have to suffer through more time with Meredith, the character from hell. So... I'm not sure I'm going to finish.  I usually like Kristin Hannah's books, but she does tend toward whiney heroines that I wouldn't want as friends, and this book is worse than her last couple of attempts.   Soooo.... don't spend your money.  If you really like KH, go to your local library and check it out... for FREE!!!