It's Not You, it's Your Position

For the unclear - Kim Davis is not being punished for her religious beliefs. She's allowed to hold whatever beliefs she wants, whether it's in line with the law or not. The Office of the County Clerk of Rowan County is NOT allowed to act on those beliefs; its function is to perform the job tasked to it. If the person holding that position refuses to do his or her job, then the holder of the office is liable for any punishment that might come his or her way.

The County Clerk of Rowan County refused to follow a judicial order and the County Clerk of Rowan County is being held in contempt for refusing to follow the judicial order. Kim Davis and her supporters believe this is about her - the individual. They are wrong. This is about the position, which happens to be held by her.

If Kim Davis wants to get out of jail, then she can do one of two things. She can issue the marriage licenses the holder of the Office of the County Clerk is obliged to issue, or she can resign, and allow another person hold that office and be bound by the obligations attached thereto. She doesn't get to have both, and this is where she's stuck.

8 Mile(s)

Running the hills, even the small ones around our new house, is a different animal than the flat running I did back in Texas. 

I'm excited that I am back up to 8 mile runs after about 6 weeks of return to training, but that's still 5 miles short of a half marathon.  I'm going to try to kick my distance up another mile next week for my long run, but more importantly, I need to find a way to get a fourth run in during the week.  I don't know why I'm struggling with that, but I have a hunch it's because I'm no longer running in the morning before work.  The change in run time affects my motivation, as I'm less interested in getting out there after a long day at work.

Still, the views are nicer here than in my old neighborhood (I can see the Cascades and the Olympics from various points in my run), so that helps out a lot. 

Vancouver is coming up soon!  I'll try to get some pictures to share.

Running Along

As the one person who still reads this noticed, I completed two half marathons whilst still living in Texas.  Both were flat courses in that there were very few hills, which was helpful.  I finished Galveston in 2:02:14 and I finished the Woodlands in 1:58:50.

Then, upon relocation up to the PNW, I immediately took part in the Rock n' Roll Seattle Half Marathon, which was decidedly NOT a flat course.  I noticed the leg cramps were palpable.  I did finish the race, but it was SLOW.  I don't even know for sure what my finish time was, but it was somewhere around 2:41. 

After struggling with the Seattle half marathon, I did the only sensible thing, which was to sign up for another half marathon - this one being the Rock n' Roll Vancouver half marathon in October.  While not nearly as hilly as Seattle from what I've seen, it's definitely not flat like we had in Texas.  This means that I've had to get back to training (which I needed to do regardless, as I was falling out of shape). 

Running in this area is a bigger challenge than down in the Houston area, in part because there are not exactly any flat areas on which to run where we live.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, as training on hills uses a bit more energy and in theory should help me be more prepared for upcoming half marathons, but it does mean that my training has taken even more of a step back than it had by taking the better part of two months off (relocation, new job, new home, etc. meant less time for running, which in turn meant losing fitness).

Today I did my first eight mile run since moving up here.  I technically did 13.1 here, as I did complete the RNR Seattle half, but honestly, after 6.2 miles, I had to walk a lot (those hills were killer on my flatland-trained legs).  So, I'm getting back up there, and I'm confident I'll be good come October, and might even be able to challenge my PR, though, I'm mostly in it for the medals.

And, because this is what I do, I'm eyeballing a couple more half marathons, so that I can have 6 by the end of the year.