yiggity yo

went running on saturday down at crystal springs, which is my favorite paved run in the area (6 miles out and back along a resevoir). the weather was perfect, cool and sunny with no breeze.

it was my last big run before the kaiser permanente 1/2 marathon next sunday, so i figured i'd see what i had in me.

i ran hard, but didn't really start to hurt until the last mile and a half and ended up beating my pr for that course by about 35 seconds. that's not a lot, but it's pretty early in the season and i don't feel like i've really been training all that much, so i'm pretty happy with that time (i averaged 7:25/mile over 12 miles).

i got a new (to me) camera a little while ago. i'd been looking for a used digital elph for a while, and finally found one on craigslist for $100.00. it's only 1 megapixel, but i'm not planning to print anything out, so i think it'll be fine for the time being. it's small enough that i can carry it just about everywhere with me, so my goal is to take more pictures.

window next to delfina on 18th st.

on sunday i went for a ride around the city it's a route i did whan i first started riding last year, and it used to just destroy me. there are a few hills in it, but nothing too monstrous, and the views can't be beat.

my around-town fixie. the frame is from the first 'real' bike i ever bought; a performance strada.

this time i did it on my riding-around-town fixed-gear, which probably weighs in at a solid 23 pounds or so, and i was able to do the whole ride without dying, which made me happy.

the usual stuff

my plans to update this thing more often continue to go aglay. apologies to anyone who reads it.

over the weekend things happened: on saturday i went riding with the fixed-gear crew, which was a blast despite the overcast and FREEZING (well, not really, but cold for here) temperatures.
after i got back and thawed out a bit n. and i went and saw the lemony snicket movie, which was really pretty good. i don't like jim carey, but he wasn't too obnoxious in this flick.

speaking of jim carey, we also watched 'eternal sunshine of the spotless mind' on friday night (which probably made us the last people on the planet to see it) and that was really good. go rent it right now and watch it tonight if you haven't already.

sunday i went riding with s. on the geared bike, and after a few minutes of confusion about all the gears and brakes and stuff i adapted, and was surprised and pleased at how much stronger i was after riding the fixed-gea-only for about 3 weeks.

sunday evening we went to a birthday party for k., which was lotsa fun; a bunch of folks i hadn't seen in a long while showed up, and there was much conversation, drinking, and merriment. so much so in fact, that i had a bit of a hangover the next day and had to go run 12 miles in order to feel like myself again.

i have come to the conclusion that there is no better hangover cure than aerobic exercise.

i am a slacker

i admit it, i'm a slacker, and i'm also a creature of habit, so when my schedule is disturbed things tend to go all haywire.

the holidays always throw a big handful of gravel into the gears of my life, and while the time off and change of pace are nice, it plays hell with my exercise and diet routines, which makes me feel cranky and vaguely guilty, which i hate.

fortunately for me this week marked the return of my routine: climbing on monday, wednesday, and friday mornings, teaching bootcamp on tuesday and thursday mornings, running on saturday morning, and trying to fit in a ride on sunday morning. i like having the structure of a regular schedule, at least partly because i'm lazy and if i'm on a regular schedule i don't have to put any effort into deciding what i'm going to do.

in other news, my brother and his wife are now the parents of TWO kids. torrin flynn was born a couple of days ago.

blah, bleah, yuk!

i've got the blahs. i think that the holidays, combined with too much food and not enough exercise, have combined to make me feel mildly unhappy.

throw in a bunch of grey, rainy days and you have a discontented human.

bootcamp starts next tuesday, and although i know that getting back on the schedule is going to be painful, i'm looking forward to it. once i adjust i'll be getting my regular dose of endorphine-y goodness and will be back to my usual sunny disposition. in the meantime please excuse my mopiness.