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

Still working on my race report from Ironman Louisville. I did finish, in 16 hours, 20 minutes, 3 seconds. I can honestly say that was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done to date. And one of these days I’ll get the race report done and posted.

The boy broke things off two weeks ago, in the middle of dealing with the post-race blues. Not that there’s ever an easy time for such things.

Been listening to a ton of country music since I went out to Louisville, and enjoying it quite a bit. There’s a fairly good country music station on the radio, those few times I drive. Otherwise now it’s what I have on iTunes. Or find through Shazam. Which isn’t so bad. Even been walking to work so I can listen to some music (as opposed to bicycling in).

I’m spending a lovely, if wet, weekend in Massachusetts with the bf. Flew up yesterday after work, he picked me up at Logan, and we immediately drove out to Provincetown, a place I’d not been before (so, yeah, coming to the summer resort in December? Brilliant!). Overall it’s been a nice little visit, the town is quite cute, and I can see how it would quickly get overwhelmed on weekends in the summer, even worse than Rehomo Rehoboth Beach, DE does. Most of the shops have been open for some last minute shopping, and the overall atmosphere has been fun.

He’s singing in two concerts this evening with the local gay men’s chorus. I’m going to the later one, so am catching up on web reading until then. Got in a very wet five mile run this afternoon, which despite the rain went pretty well, if a bit fast (probably because of the rain – pacing was out the window as I simply tried to pay attention to running on the side of the road with some, though not much, traffic). Heart rate was similarly a bit high, but I’m not concerned – I’ll treat it as a last race-page workout before the Celtic Solstice 5 miler in two weeks.

We head back to Boston at some point to pick up his pug and settle in for a quiet evening before I fly back Monday morning, heading into work directly from the airport. I’ll get to see him again Xmas weekend in Pennsylvania, then again the next weekend when he flies down to DC for new year’s eve. Even with the distance he makes me happy, and that’s worth a lot.

So, I fagged out this morning and bought the super-duper-mega-deluxe-expensive version of Our Lady Of Pop’s latest collection of music I mostly already own. I must say, I’m kinda enjoying having the vids on ye olde AppleTV thingey (since the TV is the best set of speakers in the apartment, this is a good thing).

(oh, and the champagne flutes she uses in the Music video? That’s my crystal pattern)

I’m also suddenly feeling the urge to knit a sweater. I think I must be getting feverish from the head cold. So instead tonight I’m going to work on the long-neglected sock I’m supposed to be knitting. I have to admit, I’m a little afraid of knitting a sweater. I’m not a fan of wearing them, and I’d be trying to make this to be at least partially fitted (as opposed to looking like a big lumpy sack cloth, like many sweaters do), with a really pretty pattern, but man, that’s a lot of yarn to buy and work with. I’m hoping the feeling will pass, but I suspect it won’t. Hmph.

I did get up and run this morning, so am obviously feeling better than I was this weekend. May bike in the morning if I wake up for it. It’s perfect running weather out there now – 50s in the morning. Not so perfect biking weather, but it’ll do. Better than using the trainer, which I’m not ready to do yet.

(okay, watching older Madonna vids, it’s sooooo obvious that she got serious dance training over the years, because the newer ones are so muh more technically competent than her early ones – I mean, watching Lucky Star makes me feel kinda embarrassed for her it’s so amateurish)

Managed to get through the last day of the fiscal year without major drama, mainly because I completely ignored one of our program offices. They can’t manage their own field offices, and I refused to play referee today. Made the day go much better than it might have otherwise. Of course, they’re trying to drag me in tomorrow, but I think I’m going to ask my management to intervene, both with the program people and with the field personnel who are a piecemealing their objections to what we’ve (HQ) told them to do. Tomorrow will be another day, and another year, and another set of messes. Gotta love it.

This particular song by Alanis came on in the car tonight, and it ended up meaning a lot more than on previous listens:

“I am someone easy to leave”
“Even easier to forget”
A voice, if inaccurate

Again: “I’m the one they all run from”
Diatribes of clouded sun
Someone help me find the pause button

All these tapes in my head swirl around
Keeping my vibe down
All these thoughts in my head aren’t my own
Wreaking havoc

“I’m too exhausting to be loved”
“A volatile chemical”
“Best to quarantine and cut off”

All these tapes in my head swirl around
Keeping my vibe down
All these thoughts in my head aren’t my own
Wreaking havoc

“I’m but a thorn in your sweet side”
“You’d better off without me”
“It’d be best to leave at once”

All these tapes in my head swirl around
Keeping my vibe down
All these thoughts in my head aren’t my own
Wreaking havoc

Ah, negative thinking, how much you run through the brain and won’t let it keep moving. Another breakthrough today, and something else to think more about, post-DLOC. One wonders where these thoughts come from, and why they’re taking so much of my energy with them. I think the DLOC journal will be getting some more writing this week.

I can’t get Mary Prankster out of my head this morning:

Why, why, why, why, why she said.
Rosanna Arquette doesn’t look a thing like Madonna.
And you’d have to be a moron
To Desperately Seek either one

Oy.

If you’ve ever wondered why cyclists are so skinny, here’s a tip: I cycled an hour and twelve minutes this morning (20 miles or so) and the thing says I burned a little more than 1,400 calories.

How bad is it when you’re grooving out to the jazz in your taxi, headed home from another night of confusing bar boy bingo, and realize that the song is “Someday My Prince Will Come”? Miles Davis, so it was good jazz, but it was surprising to hear that particular tune at that particular time.

Good run today, following on the nice bike ride yesterday. Need the rain that’s coming in Tuesday to wash away all the road chemicals from last week’s snow storm, but the warmer temps are definitely a plus. Still have to haul out cold weather gear to ride or run in the mornings once my body adjusts to the time change, but it felt good to have a good, warm day again.

Because it’s positively gorgeous outside here in DC (officially it’s 67 – my balcony temp gauge says 72), I went for a run. Outside. Figured if I ended up having to walk, at least I wouldn’t freeze out there.

It went okay. Heart rate was okay until about 1/2 way in, then it was up and wanted to stay there. Ran the entire thing, slowly, save for a period right at the end when I had to walk to bring my heart rate down to a reasonable level. I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow (yay delayed onset soreness), but at the moment the light muscular soreness feels like heaven. Foot’s doing okay, and I made sure to take the yoga strap and stretch it thoroughly at the end of my stretching routine (which, courtesy the pilates/core class I took last week, now includes a lovely deep stretch for the IT band as well). So far so good. Again, will sleep in the brace as a just in case, but this is definitely heartening.

It was so nice to be able to run outside, too. I really do dislike treadmills. Did do one thing which was not normal for me – I took the new shuffle out for a spin and ran with music on (though turned down fairly low). It wasn’t bad, but I did find that my brain tended to disengage more than I’m used to doing on a run. Running was active meditation time for me, letting my mind wander as it would. Mainly I got the shuffle for use in the gym, and when I have to run on a treadmill, and I think perhaps that’s where it needs to stay. I’ll need to create a more customized playlist, too – while I had it load the thing with 4 & 5 star rated songs, I need to be pickier about putting on more up-tempo stuff if it’s going to be on while exercising.

I have to keep reminding myself that this is all perfectly normal.

I’m in the period commonly known as the “taper” for my race on Sunday (as well as “recovery” from the 1/2 marathon, but that’s another insanity). It’s when athletes ramp down their training time and intensity in order to give the body time to recover and be prepped for the effort of the race. And it’s perfectly normal during such a time period to experience feelings of depression, and let down, and anxiety, and just generally “blah.”

But knowing that it’s normal doesn’t make it any less annoying. Or make me any less grumpy.

But anyway.

So, I ran this little race last Sunday. The weather was near-perfect, with the start in the high 60s and slightly overcast. The boardwalk portion (a.k.a. the last two miles) was quite sunny and warm, however. Thankfully they had misting stations set up all down the thing, so one could run through the water for a quick cool-off. I tried to follow my heart rate for the run, knowing where my limits are for taking in nutrition, and trying to keep it lower for the first half. Mostly did okay with that, but definitely was slowing down by the end. Not nearly as much walking as the last time, though. Pretty much only walked twice (on the boardwalk) aside from the aid stations.

Oh, and lesson learned – carry water with me (like I did back in April). I can sip slowly when I want to, and not when they decide to put up a station, and I don’t have to gulp water down periodically, which was not pleasant. The water bottle stays with me for the upcoming race.

The bands were good this year, as they were the last time I ran this course in 2003. I finished faster (2:32:11) than the last time I ran it here (2:49:12), though slower than my overall best 1/2 (2:15:07). I wasn’t trying to kill myself, since I have another race (with another 1/2 marathon) a week after this one, though, so it was all good. I do recommend this race. It’s gotten bigger in terms of number of participants, but it’s still a fun course to run, relatively flat, and having a band every mile or so is definitely the way to run 13.1 miles.

BC and his sister also ran it and did well, with him at 2:20 and her at 2:12.

We had a perfect hotel for it, right at the end of the strip, and right where you got out of all the madness of the finish chute. Ocean views, and close enough to hear the stage but not so close that it was obnoxious when we closed the door to the balcony.

It was good to get a vacation weekend away with BC and friends. We did end up missing the concert Sunday night because dinner took for-e-ver, but that’s not unusual with holiday weekends in tourist spots. Not a bid deal to me, I’m not much of a fan of live music anyway, but you could tell there was some disappointment at the table when we realized how long it was taking to get food.

Since I’m originally from that area, BC got to meet my family as well, and they were out to cheer. Fun moment was BC’s sister running up to my Dad around mile 1 and asking him if he was my Dad (they hadn’t met), then BC running up behind, recognition, and her handing off a long-sleeve T for him to hold for her (she’d worn it to the start line). Dad’s version was more fun (“Suddenly this attractive young woman ran up to me off the course and asked if I was your father…”), but I can’t tell it as well as he could.

I do have to say, I’m glad the race season is almost over for me. One more month, four more races (1/2 iron, 5k, 5 miler, sprint tri), and that’s it. I need some down time after this year’s frenetic pace. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed all the racing, but I’m ready for a break.

Admittedly, I’m not the biggest music geek on the planet. Mostly I use my old iPod to have some background noise at work, and the shuffle to do the same on transit, neither of which offer the highest quality sound, either out of the iHome speakers at work or the old iPod buds.

So imagine my delight at the detail I can hear in the sound from the iPhone’s buds. It’s a marked improvement over the other devices.

Of course, the fact that I’m sitting in my otherwise quiet apartment might have something to do with that, too.

Still figuring out the bluetooth headset. When I’ve managed to use it (I somehow unpaired it earlier?) it’s sounded good on my end, and haven’t had complaints from the family members who’ve called today. The form factor is nice – it’s not huge, and doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall out if I move around. And seeing the charge level for the thing on the phone’s screen is a nice touch.

Other than that today’s been boring as all get out. I still feel under the weather; it feels like I’m fighting a cold. Napping was on and off, and did some reading (finished a book from the pile! One down – five gazilion to go!). Prolly an early night, try to get some more sleep tonight, and back to work tomorrow. I can’t handle another day at home, I’ll go stir crazy.

Words just can’t do justice to the mash-up video posted over here at UltraSparky. Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon meet Unk. I love it.