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

Ran this morning. Two big lessons: 1. I need to be more consistent in my training; and 2. I need to run earlier in the morning.

‘Twas a trifle warm out there today. Because I was going for longer than my nice little Thursday morning 7 miler I decided to leave the District and head down the Mount Vernon Trail. Was quite nice, a good trail, well maintained and fairly busy. Only complaint I had was that they need more trees (for shade) but less vegetation (which blocked the nice breeze off the river). Otherwise it was a pretty good run. Did two hours, and out and back with a little side detour in East Potomac Park (found out where the driveway off Buckeye Drive goes now!).

Did a load of cold wash just now. Need to do more laundry, but no time. L is picking me up to go see Assassins at Signature Theater this evening, with an early dinner beforehand.

Put away the ‘toys’ from where they were, out in the open, to not quite so out-in-the-open. Sorted them by purpose (restraint, penetration, etc.) and put them away accordingly. Even managed to hang up a couple of pieces of art – no longer will I have to worry about smacking the Japanese prints I’m keeping for my parents as they are now hanging in the front hall. The mirror’s up near the front hall, my first cross-stich is up in the bathroom hallway, and there are still books all over the floor in front of the bookshelf. Bit by bit.

Work continues. Ran 7 miles this morning. Should be doing more, but that’s a good amount for a school day.

Happy hour with co-workers tonight, then back home for some grilled food with a couple I helped set up (rather, they knew each other and I pushed them together – forcefully). Was nice and quiet. Just got done checking LJ for the night, and the other journals I read. Chatting with a couple friends, then will get off to bed. If up early enough I’ll go for a ride. I have a practice tri, a sprint, coming up in a couple weeks and I’m very much not ready for it. Running, yes, but not the other two events. I mean, I’ll swim just fine, but after that, feh.

Life’s a mess, as always. The air thing seems to be fixed now, I’ve killed off the last head cold from that craptacular little adventure, and I’m running again.

I had a visitor over the weekend, a boy (in the BDSM sense) who is perhaps relocating to DC. Had a very fun time with him, despite the head cold. Played tourist, played period, though not as much as either of us would have liked (again, the head cold). Mildly disappointed at that, betrayed by my body. But a fun time with him, nonetheless.

Otherwise I’ve been feeling even more anti-social than my usual wont, killing off the shows on my TiVo, catching up on the DS games I’ve been neglecting, pulling down the books I’ve not yet read and starting in on some of them.

In a surprisingly good mood this evening. The quickie recap of the post-work scene:

Biked to my hair cut. On the way nearly got run over by an SUV who cut over with no turn signal into the bike lane, right into my path. I let him, and most of the block, know how displeased I was at him, yelling louder when he opened his window to apologize. I was not in the mood to be gracious and my heart rate was still too high.

Was early for the haircut, so went over to the vegan bakery close by, got some sweets, biked back over to actually get the haircut. Changed into a new shirt, out of the damp bike jersey. While leaving the place my back tire popped. Was meeting a young gentleman for dinner, but had time, so I went ahead and replaced the tube. But it wasn’t blowing up, and the time had come, so I walked it over to the corner, flagged him down (a fellow cyclist), and we went to dinner across the street.

Dinner was nice, good conversation, cute guy. Stopped by the liquor store to get some bourbon finally (been out since the 4th! the horror!). Walked to the U Street Metro (from 17th and R), metroed home, then discovered that the replacement tube (my last one) also had a hole in it, right across from the stem. Went to unpack my bag, felt something damp, had a mini panic attack thinking I’d crushed the liquor, but was relieved to discover it was only the damp bike jersey.

So, munching on a pecan cookie, chatting online, not drinking any of the bourbon (I want to run tomorrow), and generally enjoying the evening, despite the biking stuff.

Dear random cyclist,

Thank you for your attempted entry into the 2006 Darwin Awards, however we wish to note that your entry, “idiot on bicycle in traffic with headphones,” is far too common an occurance to rate a mention in this contest. Good luck on your continuing attempts to remove yourself from the gene pool, and let us know if you pick something more original.

Sincerely,

Darwin

—–
Dear 95% of the runners I saw out this morning,

Cotton?!?! WTF? Go get some real clothing that doesn’t weigh 10 gazillion pounds when it gets wet because you’re sweating like mad in this heat. It’s worth it. Trust me.

Sincerely,

Someone who got overheated just looking at you
—-
Dear Fish Market,

I realize you specialize in dead things, but do you have to smell like a charnal house first thing in the morning? Please at least spray down the parking lot. Thanks.

Sincerely,

A disgusted runner
—-
Dear Mother Nature,

Would a breeze have killed you this morning? Thanks for nothing.

Sincerely,

Overheated in DC
—-
Dear Designers of the DC Waterfront,

Would some more trees, and less concrete, have killed you? I know you wanted magnificent vistas, but damn is all that concrete miserably warm in the summer. Same for L’Enfant Promenade, more trees, less concrete. Idiots.

Sincerely,

A disgusted fan of midcentury architecture
—-
Dear DC City Planners,

Yes, the Waterfront and Promenade are historic, but c’mon, let’s get with the times. Modern Organic would be so much nicer, and make the areas so much more appealing. More trees, less concrete. Thanks.

Sincerely,

An annoyed resident

This was a very long weekend. A goodly part of it was spent on the way to, the way from, and in Quakerstown, Pennsylvania to watch my newbie triathletes compete in their first race. The Steelman was a well run, well organized race that had both an olympic and a sprint distance race run at the same time (sprint started 1/2 an hour after the olympic folks). It was a lot of fun cheering them on, seeing them finish their first race, and just generally getting caught up in the race spirit without being in the race myself. I think that’s the first time I’ve been a spectator at a race since 1999 when I went to visit Ironman Canada with RNJTM. Was a lot of fun.

Once I got home, and got showered, I moved things around int he apartment again. The bed placement, even with the air diverters I hunted down, was just not working. The air unit has been blowing over my face when I sleep, which has caused at least one cold, and possibly a second. So I moved the bed around to the opposite wall. It works, though not like I’d prefer to have the room. At least the air thing is now solved so hopefully no more a/c induced colds this year.

Spent an hour tonight doing some yoga practice, something I’ve not done in a while. Did variations of standing poses, getting grounded, feeling how the legs supported the frame, how to adjust the movement of the body to keep centered and balanced. Felt good. Certainly it felt better than sitting online and running my fingers with friends. While I like chatting with folks, I have been spending a little too much time there and not enough working on things like the yoga practice. So it felt good to move the body again. I think perhaps hanging around with hundreds of people, many of whom are incredibly fit, was a motivator. Hmph.

Also starting to play with podcasts. I know, I know, I’m way behind the curve on them, but I typically do not use my iPod except as background noise at work, so listening to radio-type broadcasts where I’d have to pay attention to something isn’t my norm. Nonetheless I hunted down some mandarin-language podcasts through iTunes and will try to listen some more. My mandarin is very rusty, so listening to some currrent talk I think should help arrest and perhaps reverse some of the loss of skill there.

After rearranging the living room, and prior to starting dinner, I had another of those, “OMG, I own all of this” moments looking around at the apartment. It’s funny, both of the major rooms have now been reversed from how they were originally set up when I moved in, and both are probably more functional for the movement. It takes time to get things set up and arranged properly, but it seems like it’s taken longer than usual with my new home. And I haven’t even gone through and done a proper feng shui treatment of it yet, either.

Today was a wet one. I started it with a shower, then an open water swim out on the Chesapeake Bay with the club sometime around 8:30, another shower after that, then some more swimming at the cult co-op pool, then, of course, another shower. Very, very wet.

Came home from the first swim, hung up the wet suit, finally replaced my shower head (soooo nice to have a real shower head now), did cold wash (so no biking today – all my jerseys were dirty, and currently are drying on the rack).

Went and saw “The Devil Wears Prada” this evening with friends. Was quite cute, I enjoyed it. “That’s all.” Fun.

I’ve been reading a new cookbook I bought on Friday and it’s not helping my urges to add more things to the pantry and the kitchen gadget collection. There are items I need to add to the pantry, and will do so this week, but I don’t need (yet) a cast iron skillet. Nor do I need silicone oven mitts. Le sigh. But it’s been fun reading the cookbook. It’s a vegan one, and all the recipes look very accessible. The author is on my LJ friends list, and I remember hearing her trials of testing and what not, so it’s nice to read the actual book (finally) and see how well put together it is.

Off to crash soon, up for a bike ride, possibly, or more cookbook reading. Meeting of the members’ organization at the cult co-op tomorrow, and a bit of drama with that as a board member has caused a bit of a stir by perhaps getting our general manager to walk out on Friday. Moron.

As I sit here, at almost 11 at night, the neighborhood kids are still setting off firecrackers. And for once I’m not feeling fussy about it. I ran this morning, and Wednesdays are my normal rest days, so won’t be getting up for that, so no worries tonight.

Was a lovely holiday. Hot as all hell in the afternoon when I wandered up to party #1 of the day, then the bottom dropped out and while the humidity levels were obnoxious, the termperatures cooled down nicely. The last part of the evening was spent out on the local marina, chatting, having fun, sipping the last of my good bourbon (I’m so glad I had my brother give me a flask for Xmas), and watching the national fireworks show. And we do put on a pretty good fireworks show here in DC. I miss seeing the peace signs that went off in 2002, but I suspect the administration put the stomp down on those.

Run this morning was hot. It’s in full summer mode here in DC, which means I’m going to have to start getting up earlier to run. 9 am is just too warm now, and let’s not speak of the temps at 11 when I ran on Sunday. Ugh.

All in all was a good holiday. Sipping water now before bed, cooling off from being outside a good chunk of the day, and generally happy that I live where I do. Happy Independence Day.

Hate me, for I have (access to) a pool.

I’ve just spent the last 3+ hours sunning myself and/or swimming.

*cough*45 SPF sunscreen*cough*

I shall have to see what it takes to have a pool party here. I heard something about “hiring security” or the like. Anyway, would be fun. In the meantime, I’m hanging about the house nekkid while I see how burnt I got. Though so far no red (yay 45 SPF), just a mild edge taken off the normal lilly white.

This after spending several hours out watching my newbies do their first real (practice) triathlon race this morning in east Potomac park. Was fun, I enjoy cheering and watching them improve. We have several who are even possibly competitive level, which is just awesome. It’s been such fun watching them all learn the sport.

Off to dinner tonight with JT, and then I’m suspecting it’s time to go buy some new music.

Did get new running shoes yesterday, but have done nothing with them yet, aside from dragging them home. I love buying running shoes, too, I’m probably the least difficult customer they get: “Yes, I’d like the Asics Gel Evolution in an eight and a half, 4E width. Thanks.” Always works, always does me right, no matter what they’re calling the shoe this year (they’ve changed the name at least three times in the 8 years I’ve been running).

Did bike around town yesterday on the mountain bike. Up to shoe shop, then to dinner, then home again. Such fun riding through city streets at night (not). Though my absolute favorite part is passing the folks who look like they’re uber-fit on their light little road bikes when I’m on my heavy, heavy steel frame mountain bike. Yes, it’s petty, but it gives me some measure of satisfaction that I can pass them on an uphill on my heavy bike. Might not be able to outdo them on a straight stretch, but I have at least that much ability on the hills.

Anyway, enjoying the last bits of slackersville, because the next event is just around the corner. In the meantime, club happy hour tomorrow, and a practice triathlon on Saturday for our newbies. Looking forward to getting going again, though. I get antsy after too much down time.