track fan

1:48:47 (57:03/51:44). Much better ... I got out early and finished by the time I had started yesterday. It was still warm at the end, but I was running pretty easy until the last few miles so it felt pretty good. Allie, you can have about 20F of this though ;-) (about 83-85F at the end of my run - felt hotter in the sun). Bad bad socks rubbed a huge blister/sore over my ankle ... ouch.

Ok ... warning. First I am going to discuss something gross, and then I am going to say something not so nice about someone - well, about their job. I apologize in advance.

So, the gross. For about a week my cat, Titus, has been very pleased with us. So much so that he brings us at least one, and average of two, "treats" per day. Mainly lizards (the largest one being over 6 inches without a tail) but twice last week he brought us ground squirrels (one very large -- about 5x the size of field mouse). Dean (it is his job), picks them up, puts them in a baggy, and throws them out. It has been so hot out that our garage must average about 120F during the day ... and the garbage can has begun to smell. I swear I can smell it in the house. I just don't know what to do. Yesterday I went out and sprinkled this smelly kitty litter baking powder stuff all over the top of the garbage can and then put a bunch of open containers of baking soda all over the place in the garage ... it "kind of" works. I am afraid that in the future we are going to have to pick up the "treats" from Titus and put them in the freezer until trash day ... any other suggestions?

Second, I really try not to say anything negative about people ("...if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything") -- but this is not really about HER exactly, more about her ability to do her job. Yesterday was live NCAA track and field on TV. Have I mentioned before how horrid the news commentators are here in the US? Seriously, they are awful. Last week Jenny Barringer ran a USA Collegiate record in the 1500 -- she demolished the old record by 6.29 seconds -- the announcers did not even know it!!! She almost beat the current WORLD LEADER in the 1500 -- their final times were milliseconds from each other! it was an big big thing. Granted Dean and I read Track and Field News faithfully, but still -- these are supposed to be knowledgeable news people, come on! But, the worst -- very worst -- of them all is Carol Lewis. She is absolutely, without a doubt, one of the least informed sports people ever. Just because she is Carl Lewis's sister (and a long-jump champion) does not mean she is a good commentator -- and truly she seems to say things that are just plain wrong. Yesterday (and this is not the worst thing I have ever heard her say) during the women's 4x400 relay she says, "... yes, you know you don't always want to have such a big lead going into the last 400"... Excuse me? When EVER would it be better not to have as much of a lead as possible at ANY of the hand-offs? whew. The positive is that this is weekend number 3 -- in a row!!-- of track on TV. One more week until the USATF championships! YEA. It is better to have miserable commentators than no track coverage at all. sorry for the gripe.

Happy weekend bloggers.

No run to talk about -- I couldn't even ride my bike to work today because Dean is out of town and I have doggy drop-off and pick-up to daycare today (yes, they are spoiled).

I wanted to put pictures of them up ... but I can't seem to insert them (and I don't have time to play with it and figure it out right now .... I will try to do it later!).

AM: (9 miles, 1:20:40 (40:36/40:03)). Beautiful morning. I saw another/the same roadrunner today. This morning he/she had some grass in its beak, they must have a nest somewhere in the wash -- it was the same place I saw them last week. It is going to be hot today ...

PM: (4.5 miles - forgot to stop my watch).  I did get to go to my favorite running spot tonight -- it was a good thing since my day sucked, at least the running was good today!

One thing that I found out last weekend, well and the week before, is that I am running my easy runs a little too hard. I kept thinking that it was because I was out of shape, that these runs felt hard. But Dean was right ... again ... (boy, I hate when I have to admit that ;-) ) and it is because I am running them too hard. I was running 8:30-8:40 pace last Sunday and I wasn't even breathing hard, so I must have been running some of these morning runs at 8:00 or so ... I am slowing down a lot and it does indeed feel pretty easy again! That is the "problem" with lower mileage!

I am super busy - one of the many things about working so long on my grant was my usual work has really piled up. I have two deadlines that are long since past ...

Have a wonderful day bloggers, stay cool, dry and happy running!

I am posting a link to my new bike (for Bec) -- although mine is much dirtier and now banged up from my trail rides.

1:04:32 (32:37/31:54).  The first half of the run was excellent ... the cloud cover made it nice and cool - and then it went away ;-).

I am still a little upset about some things that happened yesterday ... but I am hoping to snap out of it soon.  The work-related stuff is just not good ... I am supposed to be getting my dossier ready for going up for tenure next spring and I had a meeting yesterday with one of the senior faculty.  I know this should spark me into action - but what it has done for now is make me feel extremely overwhelmed and depressed. 

I hope you all have a good day -- I need to snap out of this slump. 

1:19:24 (25:14/29:17/24:53).

20 x :30 @ slightly faster than 5K pace w/1` recovery.

Today is gas boycott day here in Tucson (we are supposed to find ways other than our cars to get around today) - I wanted to ride my bike to and from work, but Dean had to drop his car off at the shop and I had an early morning meeting. So, I am riding home (11 miles) and will ride in tomorrow morning too.

Busy day -  happy Thursday bloggers!

1:04:32 (32:39/31:53).  It was very hot this morning (I was very disheartened when the radio announcer said it was 77F at 5:45 AM) -- but, it is going to rain, so there is a lot of cloud cover, which makes it much more tolerable.

This week was one of "those" weeks ... a test of the spirit.  With all the best of intentions (and giving up a run for ... which is one of the personal attributes I am working on right now, flexibility) I was unable to participate in the gas boycott yesterday.  What a mini-nightmare of an afternoon.  At about 4:30 I picked up Dean and took him to his car repair shop (near campus) so he could pick up his car.  I was planning on going back to my office, working for another couple of hours and then ride home at about 6:30 (giving me an hour before it is dark).  No sooner did I turn out of the driveway of the shop, and get about 2 blocks, then my car started making this horrible noise (sounded like a motorcycle engine when it revs).  And my dashboard lit up with all of these Swedish versions (I have a SAAB) of "MAYDAY MAYDAY".  I pulled over and ran (in my dress and birkenstocks) up to the shop -- it was so hot ... I mean HOT ... to catch Dean.  To make a very very long story short, I had to wait in the hot sun for the tow truck to come (Dean had to go pick up dogs from daycare - after I made him go to my office and pick up my cycling clothes) -- my bike was in my car so my plan was to get towed to my car repair shop (which was closed for the day -- nightmare #2) and ride home from there.  Have I mentioned how hot it was? 

So .... the tow guy finally came and I was *just* going to make it to the shop in enough time to ride home before it got dangerously dark (this is a big deal because their are very very few street lights in Tucson proper, and even fewer where I live (in the desert), so it is really dangerous at night even with lights.  Anyway ... we get to the shop and I find out they don't take credit cards (or checks from people with Utah Driver's licenses) ... SO, I had to call Dean to bring me some cash and by the time all was said and done it was getting too dark to make it home on my bike.  BUMMER. 

One thing was so cute though.  The tow truck driver.  He loved my bike ... I got it out of the back of my car and he came over and started looking at it (he had already said how cool it was while he was getting my car onto the tow truck).  "Wow, disc brakes", "Wow, how many gears does that have?".  I told him about how the chain had popped off a couple of weeks ago and showed him where it messed up my frame and he started messing with the chain a little.  Then he said, "oh yea, look at that the sprocket needs to be adjusted".  He went and got a screwdriver from his truck and starts messing around with all of these screws and things ... he says, "bikes are easy to fix" as he messes with the gears and turns the wheel.  It was so funny.  Then he showed me where the problem was -- basically I have to be in the smallest of rear sprockets in order to shift to the smallest front sprocket ... which is sort of bad design if you ask me (although it probably would be dumb to be in large rear and small front anyway).  It was just pretty cute though, and very nice of him.

On another front, my cat, Titus, is in the hospital today.  Another long story cut short, he was in some sort of a fight last Monday.  He has gone downhill over the course of the week (in some respects, he is doing better in others - animals are amazing in their ability to adapt), by last night I was pretty sure his front leg was broken or dislocated.  Anyway - apparently it wasn't broken but there is a huge absess there that they have to surgically drain.  Poor kitty. He is housebound for a while, poor kitty owners.

I did ride in to work this morning -- and even though I have to work this weekend, I am hoping to make enough progress today that I can work from home and not come into the office!

Happy weekend!

AM: (8+ miles, 1:13:34, 37:14/36:19).  Got out late again today.  Luckily, I had other things that made the run difficult, so the heat did not bother me -- well, not that much.  I got a new set of exercises last night.  These are strengthening my outer and inner quad muscles and trying to increase flexibility in my hips.  Ouch, they hurt, a lot.  So after an hour of them last night and another 40 mins this morning (well, and maybe the 15 miles on the bike yesterday) my legs were pretty sore.  But, the good news is that I can feel a real difference, already, in my foot and leg position during push-off (especially in my "bad" leg).

Titus the kitty is not doing well at all.  The anesthesia wore off about 11PM last night and he freaked out ... he does not like his new radar collar, and I mean at all, he doesn't like how much his side hurts, and he is more than grumpy.  I was very worried last night, so I gave him a kitty sedative that I had left over from our cross-country drive and sat with him until he calmed down. This morning he wasn't quite as bad, but he is still pretty upset.  I am not sure this is going to work until Tuesday when we go back in to get the shunt taken out.

PM: (4.5 miles, prettiest run of the week -- oh yea this is the second time this week I have run here!).

 Happy weekend bloggers -- and HAPPY BIRTHDAY Barry!!