As Seen On A Car Today...

I saw a funny combination of bumper stickers on a car today. It featured a larger sticker that said "Tattoed people are better than non-tattoed people because they are cooler and they can kick your ass." On the other side of the trunk was one of those "Coexist" stickers.

I'd say that driver may need to make sure and have their psychiatric meds close at hand to deal with that sort of schism. :-)

More Economics

I found out today that my dry cleaners actually cuts hours for their workers during the summer months because there is less dry cleaning to be done. This doesn't sound entirely logical to me, but I suppose with vacations and school being out (teachers not needing their "school clothes?"), the customer base is smaller. Still, this fact surprised me. You learn something every day, if you keep your ears and eyes open. :-)

Yeah, I ran a little...a big 25 minutes and 2.5 miles, just to restart the Tuesday recovery run. I wasn't sore at all after yesterday's circuits, so either it was an easier workout than usual, or I'm in very slightly better shape. I'll go with the easier workout theory. :-)

Also did some cross training by mowing the yard, so it was a big day.

I finished Lawrence Block's "Small Town" yesterday, and I had a fun time reading it. There was a fair amount of pretty kinky behavior among the characters, so be aware of that, but the main story was pretty fun to work through regardless. It's a murder mystery / psycho killer sort of book, but there is a great deal of humor and some interesting characters while you're figuring out WhoDunIt. Recommended if you're into the genre (but beware of the sex if you're of a sensitive nature :-) ).

Circuitry

After a night of tossing and turning (you never do just get one of those, do you?) due to the dead air conditioner downstairs, I dragged myself down for circuit training. I figured it would end up being just fine, even with the medicine ball exercises. :-)

Gilbert has added a bunch of new medicine ball exercises to the regular circuit training stuff, and I must say, it's a good addition. It's Ab-Tastic, even if I did forget that we were supposed to do 20 reps of each exercise. I did 20 on one of them, but the others were 10 counts for us. The weirdest one is the "donkey," where we fling the medicine ball with our feet. Sounds odd, and it is, but I got the hang of it today. After 3 circuits, we did a round of a high knee deal with medicine ball, followed by a throw and a short sprint before repeating the deal. Not too bad, really.

No fast feet or hopping today, for which I was grateful. :-)

I had a pleasant return run (with one walk break on the bridge) with Colleen and Whitney, and then we were done. Hung out and had a typical scattered conversation with Gilbert about this weekend's long run routes, and then I was done. Again, it was just great to be able to hang out with my Gazelles buddies. I need to remember that the social aspects of the herd are almost as important as the physical ones.

Hopefully, the guys will get the new AC installed and running today, and we can enjoy a nice cool evening of sleep tonight!

Happy Mother's Day

Yep, it's that day again. Cards sent, flowers delivered, gifts enjoyed. Kids surprised by the gifts that were "from them." Just another Mother's Day. :-)

On a selfish note, I feel very good after yesterday's little run. Perhaps the body is adapting faster than I thought? We'll know more after tomorrow's circuits and more workout. The medicine balls are being unleashed upon us on Monday, so that will be interesting, to say the least.

Well, Tiger's not charging at the Players Championship, so I guess I'll enjoy the latest book I've started instead.

Steamy Running

No, it's not some bodice ripper of an entry. This is not the story of two runners noticing each other on the trail as they pass by, only to realize that they were destined for each other, with a resulting passionate encounter and a life spent together forever after. Sad that it is not the case, but that's the breaks. Maybe that book needs to be written. Or has been... :-)

Anyway, today was another brick in the wall, as I scored 4.5 big miles on a warm and humid morning on the trail. Average pace with water stops was 10:00/mile, which is pretty slow. The actual running bits were in the 9:00-9:20/mile range, so maybe I'm closer to being a real runner again than I currently believe.

It was cool to see Sue, Monique and Courtney as I finished my little tour. They, like me, are coming back to the herd, but right now, they're a little further along in the process. I got a chance to catch up a bit with Pete and Jan this morning, and that was a nice highlight.

For some reason, the stretching pavilion/RunTex Annex now is festooned with a bunch of boxing paraphernalia. A couple of heavy punching bags are swinging from the ceiling, along with two other sets of smaller punching bags ("Speed bags" and that one that is attached to floor and ceiling on stretchy cords). I guess there's a new fitness purveyor sharing the space that was sort of the Gazelles clubhouse. No big deal, I guess. I pushed around the big punching bag, and I can't understand how boxers don't break all the bones in their hands beating on those things. I know they tape their hands and wear gloves, but man!

Haircut Economics

Today, I found myself pondering the current state of the economy. All those businesses cutting folks left and right, some closing their doors entirely, and yet some continue on unaffected. I understand some of this. Some I do not.

I understand that some things keep on rolling: barbershops (although I suppose some people stretch an extra week between haircuts to save a little money), gas stations (gotta have gas, but then maybe we're all limiting our driving a bit?), funeral parlours (springing for the mid-line or budget caskets might be cutting into their bottom lines, though).

I understand that we are keeping our cars a year or two or three longer than we once might have, causing car dealerships and manufacturers to have some pain. I understand that we stay in our homes or apartments instead of moving up, which causes problems with realtors and homebuilders. We might even eat out at restaurants less, which has the trickle-down effect of hurting that industry and waiters and bartenders.

What I don't understand is anyone who'd think this is a good time to open a designer clothing boutique. This is, of course, tempered by the total irrationality of anyone buying a handbag that costs more than our monthly mortgage payment, a $500 shirt, or $1,000 shoes. In my opinion, at any rate. :-) And how is Neiman Marcus even still in business after the last 5 years of economic turmoil? I don't get it.

Rant over.

I'm looking forward to seeing some peeps tomorrow for a gentle medium-long run. Last night's recovery run did the trick. I'm not sore or stiff today, so that's a good thing.

Recovery Running

Ah, yes. Another morning of waking up and feeling pretty beaten up and sore, but by the evening, I felt good enough to sneak out for a nice and easy recovery run. I got in something like 3.5 miles at about 10:00/mile, which is very meager, but it served the intended purpose. My legs felt much better at the end of the little journey. Stiffness worked itself out, and I felt fairly fluid as the few miles went by.

This was just another small step on the way back, but it felt pretty good to be out there in the nighttime humidity...just me, the full moon, the occasional barking dog, and my thoughts. Hmmmm, isn't that what I liked about running back in the day? Isn't that the reason that we do this? It's not so much for the stopwatch (although I'll get back to that in a month or two) as it is for the electrical machine lying between the ears. Just like dreaming lets our subconscious work out some of the demons that plague us in everyday life, running allows the mind to roam freely, and we end up feeling way better than before the run started. Zen.

Oh, yeah, Philip Kerr is a new author (new to me, at least) and I've read three or four of his books in the last week or two. Check him out. His genres are wildly eclectic, as I've read a historical fiction concerning World War II ("Hitler's Peace"), a science fiction sort of thriller set in the future ("Second Angel"), a funny and interesting caper novel ("A Five Year Plan"), and a work of science and anthropology ("Esau"). He apparently can write just about anything. I'm trolling the library stacks of Austin seeking his other books. More as I find them out.

Tiny Ladders To The Sky

Wow, that's a pretty poetic title! Today was the little reverse ladder interval workout at Austin High School. In my case, three sets of 600m, 400m, and 200m intervals with 200m jogs between and then a 2:00 rest between sets. I found my way to a new pace group, and we clicked off our intervals at a pretty constant 8:00/mile sort of pace. That's my race pace from January's 3M Half Marathon, which is pretty humbling. I have a long way to go to get back to that sort of racing.

At any rate, the workout went much better than the circuits on Monday, and even my cooldown run back to RunTex was of a much higher quality than Monday. Slowly, it gets better. For the record, it took the entire warmup time and drills before my sore and stiff legs felt like something other than board-like attachments to my otherwise human body. :-)

Thanks to Eric and my pace posse from this morning for letting me join their crew!

Cross-training today included lawn mowing and edging once I got home. Woo hoo!

SORE!!!

I woke up Tuesday feeling like someone had beaten me about the legs and hips. Them circuits sure can make a man feel his age! [sic]

Anyway, I did some gentle stretching throughout the day, which gave temporary relief. This will be a regular occurrence until I get back into shape, but it's not a huge bother. I guess I'd rather have this feeling than the feeling of moping around telling myself I ought to get back to running.

No running today, but I plan to add Tuesdays back into the mix next week.

Circuitry (a Gazelle returns...)

Man, I'm out of shape! Well, I'm in a shape, but that shape is blobular, and I've got work to do.

This morning, I finally got out there to rejoin the herd after quite a long hiatus. Circuit training was on the training menu, and there were a lot of Gazelles coming back this morning as well. Courtney, Frank and Brad sneaked in, and it was funny to see Gilbert's expression as he noticed all of us sort of hiding behind people before the workout started.

The warmup was just fine and dandy, the drills left me a bit winded, and then it was time to get going. I got through three circuits of the usual stuff, and started on the fourth circuit. After that, it was time for "extra stuff," and it was hard! For me, at least. We did lots of hopping, which always gets me. Then, it was time for the 15/30/45/90 ab deal, and I hung in there okay on that. The hardest one is at 45 degrees. Aiiieeeeee! We finished off with Fast Feet, and I barely made it through that. I think my HR was somewhere above 1,000 bpm in there. :-)

I had to sit down for a while after all that, and then trundled back to RunTex as a solo act. I caught up with Eric on the way, and we made a little team as we pushed each other back to the house. Almost literally pushed. Almost.

So, it was very nice to get back out and start the journey back to running shape. There were quite a few people who chatted with me, and I remember now why I love the Gazelles so much. As I've said many times, you join the Gazelles for Gilbert and the workouts, but you stay because of the other members of the herd. Once again, I found this to be true.

Now, I just have to do my running, restart (for the umpteenth time) some sort of gym workouts or core work, and eat a little better. Gee, sounds like no big deal! :-)