Running and random thoughts

So I've become kind of obsessed with running. I don't actually enjoy it, but I hate it much less than I used to. I've gone from thinking I could never run a 5K to running a half marathon and now thinking about doing "speed work" for shorter distances. I ran a 5K last weekend and shaved more than a minute off my per mile pace from my first 5K 2 months ago. Now I'm thinking I can go even faster and want to do sub-8-minute miles. The only thing I don't understand is why am I still mushy? Where are my six-pack abs?

Fall TV season is here, and there are a bunch of new shows that look interesting--Gossip Girl, Reaper, Pushing Daisies. Unfortunately, I don't have time for a lot of TV, so I think I'll stick with my old standbys--ANTM, Grey's Anatomy, Project Runway. I'll still sneak an occasional peak at The Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars--my guilty pleasures. And can't wait for the Top Chef finale! Despite his villain edit, I'm kinda rooting for Hung--I find him more amusing than annoying. Hmm, I wonder if I could get a job as a TV critic? Getting paid to watch TV would be cool. It would also be cool to be a restaurant critic, so I think I'll start blogging about food to bulk up my resume--ha!

Actually, we did go to a Korean restaurant with some friends recently. I'd been to Jin Ju before for a party, but never had a sit-down dinner there. I have to say that the food was pretty good. A little chi-chi for Korean food--I prefer more homestyle cooking--but everything we had was good. The chap chae especially deviated pretty far from the norm for me, but the flavor was great. The kalbi was good, too, though I would have preferred to have actual lettuce wraps and soybean paste rather than the stylish marinated shredded lettuce that it came with.

Final random thought: some days, things I read in the newspaper just annoy me. Like today, for instance. In the NYT letters to the editor section, some annoying woman was writing about the lead paint toy crisis and suggested that instead of giving our kids toys and having to worry about lead paint, we should read with our kids, encourage them to play outside, take them to cultural centers, blah, blah, blah. Blow it out your sanctimonious piehole, lady. I do all this stuff with my kids, but I also give them toys. Let kids be kids, and let parents have a break from constantly having to stimulate them. And please, how the hell am I going to get dinner on the table if I'm reading Plato to them instead of letting them choke on lead-tainted magnetic Polly Pockets and Thomas toys? And the other newspaper annoyance was in the Trib, which I usually don't read (I think the writing is atrocious) but started to get free on some days. In the business section, there are 3 finance professionals who make stock picks and pans each quarter, and then the paper reviews their performance. Here's my review of their performance: they stink and I as an amateur investor could probably do better. Maybe I'll suggest that to the Trib.