10 Things Thursday

More than once, I've been asked how I come up with blog material and how I avoid repeating myself.  To the first question, I can't say where posts come from: they just occur to me, often with little or no preconception.  Most posts are written off the top of my head.  To the second question, of course I repeat myself!  I repeat myself a LOT!  As I scroll through the thousands of posts (yes, I can say that!  THOUSANDS!), here is a run-down of the most frequently discussed topics on "21 Days":

1.  Running.
This was started as, first and foremost, a running blog, so it seems fitting that I write about running.  Surprisingly, when I search my posts, only 49% of them have a match for the word "running."  So, I guess you could say that I "mostly" write about running!

I write about MY running: I rarely dispense advice or talk technical.  I leave that to more knowledgable, experienced runners.  I've simply written about what works, and doesn't work, for me.

• One sub-category of oft-talked about running topics here is pooping and running.  Or, more specifically, the close calls I've had of nearly crapping myself while out running.  It's scary how often it's happened.
• Another sub-category of my running topics has been the usual business of race reports: Updating everyone about my Awesome Sauce racing, or sometimes not-so-Awesome Sauce racing.  But, one memorable race report?  An invented race report!  No, not an invented race.  Invented report!  I nearly won a contest for this one.  Nearly.
• Lastly, important to any runner is gear.  What piece of gear have I mentioned the most in the past 2000 posts?  Garmins!  Which is ironic since I was reluctant to use one at first, and even once I had one, I didn't start regularly using it until the summer of 2007 when I was training for the Chicago Marathon.  I ran the Disney Marathon Garmin-less: Unthinkable to me now!  But, for an additional dose of irony, my most frequent subject when it comes to Garmins?  Complaining about their malfunctioning.

2.  Preggo Running.
Since I've spent the past 3 years either being pregnant or running post-pregnancy, many of my posts about running in the last few years have had to do with running while preggo and post-partum.  It's these posts that seem to have struck a particular chord with many readers (mostly women, also mothers or mothers-to-be).  I complained a LOT about being a barfy-barferson during both pregnancies, but you guys seemed to be impressed that I kept running.  I'm glad you're easily impressed; it helps make me seem even more SWAWESOME.

3.  Poop.
Yeah, I poop everyday, and seemingly write about it approximately every 10 days or so (given the percentage of posts that feature the word "poop").  And you like it!  (Maybe because you poop too and you  also think it's amusing?)  But, I haven't just written about my own poo: The posts that have struck the funny bone the most have been kid poop, baby poop, and dog-eating-poop stories.

4.  The temperature.
I talk a lot, apparently, about the weather.  For living in a place that basically only has one season, I find a lot to say about that one season.  For the majority of my meterological blather, I bitch and moan about how hot it is here in FL.  But, sometimes I also bitch and moan about the occassional cold spell.  That seems to inspire not one bit of sympathy from you guys!

5.  Bowling.
Well, at least, I used to talk about it a lot.  Then I had kids and I don't bowl in a league anymore, nor do I drink myself silly all that often anymore (a travesty, I know!).  And speaking of drinking, I used to post about that frequently too.  Then, we had kids.  See a pattern here, people?

6.  Scooter.
Remember my dog?  Yeah, he's still around.  I guess he's still cute.  But, his cuteness has diminished over the years.  Once we had kids, Scooter began to take a back seat to our attention, and that has never sat well with him -- he still can't believe they're staying.  He's a howly-howlerson who steals food from both kids, and has even been known to steal food from Jerry and I when our attention has been diverted (and it shows!), but we still love him.  I suppose...But, I'll tell you this much of what I learned about getting a dog before having kids: It's a mistake to treat them like your fur-kid!  It's cute at the time, but when real kids come along, fur kids have a tough time adjusting.  I pretty much threaten to BBQ Scooter everyday; it's a testament to how much I still love him that I don't follow through.

7.  Norah.
She's mentioned in 406 of my blog posts.  Considering she's only been around 2 and 1/2 years, that's pretty significant.  And she's been significant to you too: The post with the highest number of comments, ever, was the post when we announced her arrival.

8.  Caleb.
He's only been around for 7 and 1/2 months, but the ratio of times I mention him actually put him -- mathematically -- on the same level of mention as Norah.  Everyone seems particularly interested in his flat-headedness, which is rounding out quite nicely with the help of his super-baby helmet.

9.  Jerry.
It's hard to measure, quantitatively, how frequently I've talked about Jerry on the blog since, for the first two years, I didn't refer to him by name.  Yes, that's right, when I first began blogging I gave him anonymity (ha! imagine such a thing!).  I initially referred to him as my finace (since we were engaged when the blog began), and then later, only as "my husband."  I referred to him as "the Jer-Bear" for the first time on his birthday, nearly two years after beginning the blog, and after that, I just went ahead and talked about him quite freely -- and I have to give him props for putting up with my public persona and for drawing he and the kids into that arena.  But, it's not as though he's a shrinking violet.

10.  My hair.
This is a funny one for me since I don't feel as though I focus too much on my hairstyle, but apparently, in the course of 6 and 1/2 years, I've gotten my hair cut 20 times, and I told you about it every time that I did.  An additional tidbit is that I have frequently gotten my hair cut on Veteran's Day, each year -- probably because I get the day off -- still I never realized there was a pattern!

Going through all these posts and reminscing has been fun for me; the blog has deifnitely been a wonderful, electronic scrapbook of my life for the past 6 and 1/2 years.  But, is there a technical term for wanting to go back in time and drop kick yourself for not appreciating all that free time you had pre-kids?