Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

Well, fuck.

Haven’t been to the gym in months (since August) because of my foot. Finally decided to go back, and to my surprise the locker I’ve been paying to rent was empty, no lock, no stuff (and nothing in the lost and found). And of course, no manager there this evening (he’ll be in in the morning). So I checked dates in my records.

8/14 was last time I swam at the gym. Also when I told them to switch my credit card over from an old one where the number was going to die (it was being switched to a new number and rewards program involuntarily) over to another company. Charges had hit the old card in July and August. I have no record of a payment hitting in September on any of my cards. October and November hit the successor to the new card, and not the one I’d authorized them to charge.

So, perhaps they cut it when a September charge didn’t go through, and I’ll admit I should have been checking the charges more closely, but why not contact me if they didn’t get paid? Anyway, I’ll see the manager in the morning and figure out what the heck is going on.

This past weekend sucked. I finally got productive around Sunday afternoon when I had a cleaning/laundry fit, but prior to that it was a lot of sitting around feeling sorry for myself, avoiding walking, and playing on the Wii. My usual “leave me alone until I feel better” attitude gets compounded when it’s semi-painful to walk as well; doesn’t encourage me to leave the house for a lot when it can potentially hurt to do so.

Did get out Sunday morning to use a gift certificate my newbies had given me at the end of their tri program, picked up some cross-training implements to help with that process. Was a good excuse to get out of the house, but even the walk to and from Metro ended up making my heel sore.

Then, today, not a ton of pain. Wandering around the office was fine, no real pain. The bike ride there and back was fine, of course (biking hasn’t irritated it at all, thankfully). So bizarre, pain the one day at minor stuff, none the next at a more normal course. Wish it would just heal up already, this is long past the point where it got old.

Got completely and utterly soaked on this afternoon’s ride. It had been threatening rain on and off all day, and I’d been a zombie most of the day, so I finally got going around 4 or so. Was great for the first 2 long loops, then a little over halfway into the third the bottom dropped out. Not much to do but keep riding at that point, and it’s not like I’ve never raced in the rain (Mooseman, Richmond Powersprint, anyone?). Did an additional short loop – was considering going for the long loop again as it started lightening up, but then the bottom dropped out, again, on the backside of the short loop, so I headed in after that one.

Yesterday was all about being a slug. Got up late, knitted (per the previous post) & caught up on TV. Played Bioshock. Made pancakes. Was fantastic, especially after the chaos of the previous weekend, and the mess of the work week.

That was a surprise. Came home, put the bike away, loaded up laundry, was heading out to go do it when I looked at the carpet in the dining area where something was missing, but I couldn’t pinpoint what. Then I saw the manuals for the stove and microwave, but not the appliances themselves. Quick doubletake to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating, then zipped into the kitchen to see the new appliances in place. And all of my crap shoved all over the place because they didn’t warn me they were coming so I didn’t clear the area for them. Oy.

But hey, they’re in!

Of course, I didn’t actually get a chance to use them tonight because I was also doing laundry, and getting rid of my old desk, so by the time I got done and could sit down to figure out how to work the microwave I was starving, so just had leftover potato salad. And collapsed into my chair to actually sit down finally (after cleaning some of the countertops, of course, and putting away dishes, and putting dirty ones in the washer, etc., etc., etc.).

Got up and biked this morning. After snapping off another presta valve stem in the pump. Grrrrr. Stupid design, both the pump and presta valves in general. But the ride itself went well, cool, and gradually sped up each round, cutting each 5.whatever mile loop by 15 seconds. And now I’m ready to collapse – I’m not used to getting up at 5:30 any more, though I hope to get back to that this week.

Got to see JT this evening for dinner out in Ballston. The new redo of the old Tara Thai there, well, fails. It’s obvious they’re trying to turn it into a more clubby place and that just won’t work well there. Oh well. The bartender was nice, and the drinks were cheap ($2.50 for a draft beer during happy hour – 5-8). Not sure we’ll be going back any time soon, though.

Still have assorted little things to go through before I’ll have the room entirely together in the new configuration, but it’s pretty much there now. I can get the bikes in and out (a major consideration – they’re stored on the balcony and I have to be able to get them to/from the front door easily). The room would be easier to configure without needing that pathway, but it works this way.

Going to try and get up and cycle in the morning. Went out Saturday for an hour and it was great. I’m cleared to cycle all I want, so I need to be taking advantage of that, even as it cools off outside.

Caught up on bills today, and worked through a backlog of mail and magazines (mostly by just tossing the unread magazines since it was highly unlikely I’d actually read the back issues now). Cleaned some in the process, clearing off the couch and the dining table for the first time in a while. Unboxed the new oven and microwave, in hopes the maintenance folks will be able to get to them this week or next (and in any case they look better without the huge boxes around them now), provided we can connect on the phone soon. And actually did some work (for the BGA) today as well.

Otherwise the day was pretty blue for me. Today was the Nation’s Triathlon, which was to be my last race this season, and what I hoped would be the capping race to what started out as a pretty good darned season. As it was, I couldn’t even bring myself to go down to watch it, or do any of the club events surrounding the event. The fact that I can’t run has weighed very heavily on me this year, and it’s not been pretty, nor very easy to deal with. I miss it, a lot. I didn’t realize how much it affected my entire being to be able to get out and just run. The fact that the lack of running has been the fault of fairly consistent pain in my right foot (which just brings the fact to the fore on a daily basis) contributes to this, I’m sure.

The foot’s actually been more sore, which the aftercare guidelines says is normal for the first couple of weeks after the zapping. Hopefully it’ll get better as I get closer to the follow-up appointment on the 3rd, I’m really getting tired of having pain when I get up in the morning and take that first step (or if I end up walking a bit too much during the day, which is pretty much every day for me).

Anyway, what will happen will happen, and I’ll keep working with the podiatrist until the foot’s back to normal, but in the meantime I’m not much motivated for tri stuff.

Oh, and I finally withdrew formally from the IM race in November, too, so I can get the minimal refund they’ll send for it. Much sadness there, I really wanted to finally do one of those and I thought this was going to be the year for it. Guess not.

Windy morning for a bike ride. Lots of clouds, definitely needed the lights on the front & back of the bike to keep myself visible (you’d think the big red, white & blue jersey would do it, but no…). The wind was actually a nice challenge – enough of a tail wind on the one side to help a bit, and enough of a head wind on the other to challenge me to keep my cadence up and moving forward. I think it was a NE wind, so it was never directly in my face or behind me, but just enough to make the ride more challenging than normal. Got up to 26.8 mph (compared with a high of 23 mph Sunday), so the tailwind was definitely a factor.

Otherwise this morning was scrambled. I forgot to turn on the hot water for coffee, and didn’t get ready in time to prep the veggie chili fixin’s and get them into the crock pot, so it looks like I’ll be making it the old fashioned way over the stove this evening.

Hmmm, been a bit since I updated.

Saw the podiatrist yesterday about the plantar fasciitis coming back. I had run last week and spent the rest of the day limping around in pretty severe heel pain. It’s gone down since then, but is still there in a low capacity. He cleared me to cycle and swim until my heart’s content, but no running for the next couple of months. I’m also scheduled (again) to go in for ESWT on the 3rd. Hopefully the zapping will help kill this off once and for all – I’m getting tired of sleeping in a brace, and tired of pain when I walk.

Still trying to figure out what I want to do with my exercise routine, though. Did bike this morning, and I’ll head into the gym to swim this evening. I may switch my swims to the morning, since I won’t be running then, if it’s not too crowded (the pool is hardly ever full when I swim in the evenings, and frequently it’s just me in there). There’s the advantage of having the gym 3 blocks away – I can go in the morning and then come home to breakfast & change for work after.

And, I need to do weight training. As I’ve mentioned before, weight training bores me to tears, though I do appreciate the results from its consistent application. It doesn’t help that I don’t really feel like I know what I’m doing, and don’t really want to hire a trainer, either. Eh, I’ll muddle through for now. It’s not like I don’t have enough books on tri training with weight training suggestions to pick and choose from, either.

The date Friday was fun. Too much alcohol was involved, and I actually went shirtless at the DC Eagle (though wearing an armband and gloves), a first for me I believe. He lives in Richmond, so I’m not sure if I’ll see him again any time soon, but it was still fun. I think this is the new Rule #6: “The hotter the guy online, the further away he lives.”

Work is work. I have a colleague who has worked in both the Executive and Legislative branches, as well as the private sector for the Beltway Bandit crowd, and she’s offered to chat with me some about her experiences. Haven’t taken her up on it yet, but I may do so. I’m a little bored in my job at the moment, still, and it can’t hurt to know something more about what other options there may be out there. It’s not that I don’t have plenty of work to do, I do, but I’m not terribly engaged by most of it these days.

Looking at more options for an entertainment center. The Ikea site has actually got some which might work in the space (I’ve been measuring), so I’m thinking a trip down there on Saturday or Friday might be in order to get an idea of how they look in real life, get more measurements, options, etc. And that would be a better price point than the design console I was looking at (though it’s still in the running – the shelving looks a lot better than Ikea’s options).

Had an excellent refresher massage class at PMTI with Jon on Sunday. I’d taken this once before with Doug back in 2000 or so, and it was good to get the refresher. Bonus that I got to put my hands all over Jon, too. I had an extra spot since BC dropped out, understandably, after the breakup, so it made a nice housewarming present for Jon. Appropos of that, I also signed up for the November CBE class (link NSFW). Again, it will be good to get a refresher there.

And that’s about what’s going on here.

My foot can kiss my ass; the plantar fasciitis is back. Seems the break from training last month was the trigger (going from lotsa activity to no activity is bad, kids, ‘mkay?). Ugh. So, back to the podiatrist next week, and lots of vitamin I in the meantime.

In other news™, there must be something in the air this week because I keep seeing blog posts about how horny everyone is (I’ve found myself using my “naughty” icon a lot on LJ to leave comments). And can’t say that I’m immune to whatever it is, either. Friday can’t come soon enough.

Headed off to the New Jersey State Triathlon this weekend to see my newbies in their first race. It’s been a good program this year, and a great group of participants. The trash talking on the club forum has been hysterical to read, and I hope they carry it over into the main forum as well – we could use more friendly competition there.

I’ll be doing what I did last year – taking lots of pictures. This time I have extra batteries, so I shouldn’t run out of juice before it’s over. Looking forward to race day, and also looking forward to the end of the heavy volunteer duties (until next year).