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

I might lose a toenail. I’m not sure yet, but the Little Piggy Who Stayed Home on my right foot got rather testy in the last 5 minutes of my 2 hour run today. Hasn’t turned black or anything, but it’s definitely not happy with me.

After the run I dragged Richard with me to City Lights for some much needed protein (mmm, tofu…). Was pleasant, both the meal and the company, and I enjoyed both immensely.

I supposedly have a closing date now: April 7th. So in not-quite-three weeks I’ll be signing lots of paperwork to send myself into lots of debt (but with the reward of a place to live). I’m looking forward to it (the place to live, not the debt). I will likely hire movers this time, but I think I’m also going to have a “packing party” to get stuff into boxes beforehand. So if you’ve evern wanted to see what bad taste I have/had in clothes, or what my sex toy collection looks like, I’ll welcome any assistance.

Other than that, the cold I had last week is pretty much gone, replaced by the lovely spector of DC allergies. Now I remember why I keep the sudafed around. As I mentioned above, the run went well. Hopefully I’ll be knuckling down a bit more on the training as I’m a little over 2 months out from the race (eeck!). Have to arrange for leave and all that fun stuff soon, too, but I think not until after I get moved.

If you had to have a day off this week, yesterday was the day to do it. It was absolutely glorious here in DC, high in the 80s, nice wind going, just gorgeous. I had the day off for my every 6 months cleaning (“You don’t floss enough, do you…”), which necessitated biking down on the mountain bike, then home again to switch bikes and go on a nice not-quite-2-hour ride on the tri bike. After a second shower, it was off to the grocery store with my bag lady cart to pick up food & sundries (TP!), then a nice, lazy afternoon resting from all the riding and walking.

This was the first time I’d gotten a chance to head out for any extended period of time on the tri bike since I bought it, and I was looking forward to the chance to sit down in the aero bars and see how that felt “in real life” (as opposed to sitting on the trainer). It was surprisingly comfortable, except for my neck. I’m going to have to get a different helmet, without the cute little visor thing on the front, because that had me keeping my head craned up at too strong an angle to see under it, which lead to some neck stiffness about half way through the ride. Oh, and I have to remember to get some fresh sun screen – I have a lovely farmer’s burn on my arms, with a nice sharp line across the biceps. The joys of being paler than pale.

Having just gone to the grocery store I was able to make a lovely, simple dinner of sauteed broccoli over pasta (heat olive oil, throw in cut up broccoli, cook for a while until the broccoli “reduces” down, then throw in chopped garlic, maybe some red pepper flakes, and pine nuts, saute a few minutes, throw in 1/4 cup or less of water, cover, cook 5 minutes or so to steam the broccoli, serve over pasta; add oil as necessary while cooking to ensure you have enough to coat the broccoli and the pasta), some salad and toast. Yum. That was lunch today, too.

This morning, though, the legs were really telling me I had run more than I have been used to (damned time out), and that biking in real life is not the same as the trainer; my quads were especially unhappy with me when I awoke this morning. Thankfully after a nice, slow recovery run this afternoon they’ve calmed down considerably.

Unfortunately as this week goes on, it’s getting colder and colder, reminding us that it’s still winter, officially. Hopefully it won’t be too nasty this weekend (doesn’t look it) so I can get outside and work out more. Winter’s hold is slowly giving way, and it can’t leave soon enough.

Wrote this yesterday, but my site was down, so couldn’t post it.

Spring is here, spring is here, time for skittles and time for beer.

Yes, it’s going to get cooler as the week goes one, but it’s glorious here in DC today. Saw daffodils in bloom while out running, that being the first sign of Spring in the DC parks. The second sign was, of course, the sound of lots of bicycle chains which hadn’t been oiled in months (perhaps years) out and about on the local trails. Most of these riders didn’t know to warn you that they were coming up beside you, but you probably heard their chains grinding from a good several feet away (if not that, then the sound of their wheezing as they rode too quickly, too soon).

Ran this afternoon, after the cold meds kicked in and killed the remaining bit of sniffles, and after a nice, hot, steamy shower to help them along (ah, snot in the shower, yum). The run felt pretty good. I was going sooooo slooooow, trying to keep my heart rate down where it’s supposed to be rather than just going out and running like I usually do. I’m very bad about actually using the HRM as it’s supposed to be used, to slow myself down and actually train the heart without overtaxing it. But since we’re fussing at the newbie triathletes about that, I’m trying to follow my/our own advice. So I was slower than molasses, but it was still a good run. Is so nice now that the calf’s back in action.

Did forget to put Body Glide on my nips, which started to tell me that was a very, very bad idea at the turn-around, but which ultimately calmed down and are fine now. Will have to remember that stuff for the long runs again.

Like a lot of people I seem to have missed the final 30-60 seconds of Battlestar Gallactica on Friday (silly TiVo recording times). Got the gist of it, but what a pain to have to re-record it. Otherwise, that was quite a season ender. Glad they took the premise of the original show and went where they have with it, it’s been good television for the most part.

I suspect the fools who made my veggie burger for yesterday’s lunch used some cheese as a binding agent. Too bad it becomes an un-binding agent once released into my gut. Behold, the Power of Cheese! Wicked little dairy products.

Taking it easy tonight. Nice relaxing dinner with Lawrence, then bed. Off tomorrow for my 6 month dental appointment and running other errands (time to buy more TP, bug my real estate agent about stuff, etc.). Might get in a nice bike ride since it’ll be comfortable out. We’ll see when we get there.

I think I may have short circuited my usual “can’t sleep, the sudafed’ll get me” sleepless night when I catch a cold. Zonked myself out at 9 last night with some melatonin, slept really well until about midnight, then was up, off and on, until around 2ish, then back to some (fitful) sleep until 6 when I got up and hopped on the bike trainer for 45 minutes. Hopefully that was the extent of my sleeplessness and I’ll be able to rest better until this thing is gone. I usually have this one night where I’m too jittery from the sudafed to sleep well, but when the choice is don’t sleep because a) I can’t breathe; or b) I have a stimulant in my system but can breathe, I’ll take B for the block.

The ride on the trainer went well, and I felt better for sweating some (the box of tissues was within arm’s reach, but remained unused, thankfully). Remember, if it’s above the neck, you can exercise moderately.

Work is nuts, as expected. I swear, the sky falls every time I leave. It’s nice to know I’m needed and integral to the team, but you know, a certain degree of anonymity would be nice every now and again.

I managed to run for the first time in 3ish weeks today. No pain in the calf, it did fine, albeit at a slow pace. My knees, now, three plus hours afterword, on the other hand, are not so happy with me. Oh well, the knees will get over it. Thankfully the calf seems to be over it, which was a royal pain in the ass.

I also got the docs I needed to review for the cult co-op. Not reading them right at the moment because, well, I’m tired of reading legal docs today. Had to read far too many for work, the mood’s just not there for this. Will read them tomorrow while I do laundry.

Work has been absolutely crazy of late, which is cutting into my social time. Silly employer (yay for Uncle Sugar, but damn he’s demanding).

Sunday’s little incident seems far too long ago. *sigh*

Oh internets, how I missed thee. Long story short, RCN incorrectly disconnected our cable internet service during a service audit. After much hissy-fitting with the company (they cancelled a service call that was supposed to come yesterday, no explanation, no call, no checking to see if the service was actually working or not and, hence, if the visit was actually needed…), it has now (four days later) been reconnected and I/we can join the world of the living again. Stoopid lack of access.

The cult co-op/seller’s agent is supposed to get the docs to my agent tomorrow, so I should have those in my hot little hands tomorrow evening. I hope.

I hope to be able to run on Tuesday. In the meantime, had a good bike ride today, and great weight workout Friday. Backed off on the calf exercises which may have caused the original pull, so keep your fingers crossed there.

That’s life right now, real estate stuff, reading, work, and triathlon.

Woke up at 5 this morning and knew I wasn’t going back to bed, so I putzed for a bit, then got the gym to swim at 7. It was very quiet there, and I was able to get into a lane, shared at first with one other gentleman, then alone for the last half. This was about an hour before I normally get in there, but it was just as un-crowded at 8 when I was getting out as it was at 7 when I got in.

The resolutioners seem to have resolutioned out, finally. Thank heavens.

I think I freaked out my office by getting in at 8:30. Not early for most people, I know, but since I normally get in at 9:30-9:45, it was a tad strange for the rest of the folks here. I’ll use the extra time today to take less time off tomorrow when I go to fill out paperwork with my agent for the offer on the apartment.

(OMG, NPR is talking about the case of Marshall v. Marshall, aka the “Anna Nicole Smith” case, and I have to say, I knew she was a train wreck, but the description by Nina Totenberg is just Too Fraking Funny)

Will be slightly crazy here at work, even without the home buying stuff (my mortgage broker called when I was in the gym this morning). Whee.

I’m in the process of putting an offer in on a co-op apartment down in southwest DC, near the Waterfront Metro station. Nothing quite like contemplating more than doubling my debt load (after student loans) in one fell swoop. Thank heavens for the tax benefits that come along with mortgage interest payments in this country.

I’ve otherwise been busy, helping with the club’s new triathlete program, working out myself, and just generally living. My calf is still out of commission; tried running last Thursday, a week and some after the initial injury, but ten minutes in at a moderate pace I could tell it was not ready yet. I’ll take this entire week off and try to be patient. Thankfully swimming and biking have not been affected by the calf’s little injury, so I’ve been able to stay up with those in the meantime.

For reasons I’ll not go into here I broke things off with CT last week. For the first time since the Clinton administration I’m single. And you know, I’m okay with that; I’m looking forward to having some “down time” from dating, to be honest. I want to get the new apartment arranged, do my race, get the new triathletes through their first race(s), and simply take things day by day otherwise. Heaven knows I need to take some of the down time and retool my eating habits; I’ve been eating for stress, not for hunger and fueling my body, and the scale’s been showing it this year. Not that buying the apartment and breaking up are doing wonders for my stress levels, but this has been just plain silly. There’s no reason my eating should have been that out of whack. Ah well, live, learn, and move on.

Got a starter Prince’s Wand (link not safe for work) last week. The starter version was nice, after a ton of cleaning (it was obvious they hadn’t cleaned it before they shipped it), but if I were to continue with one I think I’d have to go and get a custom one done by Steel Werks Extreme (again, link not safe for work). The starter one fits okay, but a more customized version would be needed for more than just hanging out in it, if you will.

(how sad, I just realized I didn’t have a “sex” category for that last bit of text; shows how little I’ve been doing anything in that department lately)

Anyway, brought some work home tonight so I need to go read that and get prepped for a semi-big meeting with my chief deputy poo-bah tomorrow.

Just pulled my right calf while running on the treadmill here at work. Ow, ow, ow. And CT’s going to think I did it intentionally to get out of seeing him on Black Tuesday. *sigh* Right now I just want to head home, prop it up with some ice on it and go to bed (though not with the ice still on it as that would be pretty uncomfortable and/or wet when I woke up).

Dear runner with the not-quite-tight-enough-tights, next time, please either put on some undies that hold your junk in tighter, or get better tights, because while it was kind of interesting to see you prove that you were definitely male, it was also mightily odd to see your gonads flopping back and forth while you ran.

Dear walkers, I appreciate that you have to get out and exercise as well, but please get a clue about the rules of the trail, stay to the right, and try not to jump to the left when someone tells you they’re passing you on that side.

Dear cyclists, thank you for behaving for once. I suppose the bad weather meant only the hardiest and smartest of you were out. Bravo.