So okay. I’m back. Sorry.

The site that I’ve been working so hard on launched today with much hoopla, and it’s working okay for now. There’s a lot of clean-up work to do in the coming weeks, but the big push is over. Also, the Open Studios map went to press, was printed, and was delivered today, so we are well on our way to a successful event with that finished.

On the full-time job front, a huge internal project just started, and I’m at the helm. It’s one of those “improve communication and motivate employees” projects of which I am so fond. Seriously, they picked one of the most cynical peoople in the company to lead this thing. What the hell? Still, it is a really interesting business problem and there’s a lot to work with here. I’m mulling things over right now, in fact.

I also delivered another freelance project where I under-promised and over-delivered. I rock. And I’m exhausted.

Oh. And. I had a phone interview with a west coast company yesterday. The thing is… I’m only sort of interested. I mean, I’d love to work for a big brand name company in some ways, but more and more I’m realizing that corporate work is not really what I want to do – not as a full time job, anyway. As I freelance more, I am figuring this out, and it’s pushing me more and more towards grad school as well.

Again, there is flux. Ah well.

Anyway, there is time to work these things out. I would like to take a run in this rain we’re having and think this all through one more time, because, you know, that’s just how I am.

Glad to be back.

I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 weeks since I’ve written. This will be a short post, since I’m on Rob’s linux box – the one with the crappy keyboard and the bum shift key. so. (see?)

Prretty good run with Rob today. 3.25 miles easy. We were just out there enjoying ourselves. I haven’t been running much, truth be told, because I’ve been working this freelance job on top of my regular full time job. And Open Studios Committee stuff, too. *sigh*

Tufts is coming up and i’m not ready. I”m frustrated and scared though.

Okay, this keyboard sucks balls. More tomorrow – a real update, i promise….

I keep forgetting that the days are getting shorter, yet it came as a giant surprise when it started to get dark while out running on the rail trail at 7:15pm. *sigh*

So I’m out there, 3.5 miles into a 5 miler, and I start thinking, “Huh. It’s really deserted now. And getting dark. Better move it.” When it starts to get dark on the trail, it gets dark REAL fast. The last half mile was especially creepy, and the whole way back I kept thinking that no one had better come-a-chasing, because I was pretty spent. That said, I probably ran my fastest mile ever.

My hip is a little tight today, but not too bad. Overall I feel pretty good, and while I’d like to run tonight, my freelance work is going to keep me too busy, even to get a couple miles in (two deadlines tomorrow – EEK!). It’s okay though – tomorrow is supposed to be cool and fall-beautiful. Ah. Nice.

I can’t wait to run on the Charles after work and be out there with all the other runners, and I’m really looking forward to cooler temps in general. Autumn is my best running time, after all. Everything about it is wonderful – the crunching leaves under your feet, the colors of the trees, the way the Charles looks with the sun setting, the comfy long sleeved shirts, the rosy glow that comes from a good sweat and a cold nose, the smell of fallen leaves and the sight of them blowing about across the path. Pure. Heaven.

I only wish that it could be spring and fall all the time… you know, for running. :)

I signed up for the Tufts 10K yesterday with 2 of the women from work. Guess I’d better start logging the miles. October 11th is coming up. Forgot to mention that earlier.

Also, I just spent an hour going through all my old blog entires on this site. I’m such a dork. Dur. However, two things jumped out at me that I wanted to write about.

First, it’s amazing to me how up and down my running has been in the last year. Back in April I was doing awesome, then the miles started to fall away in the summer, as it got hotter and as life-stress increased. Now I’m back at it. My number one goal was to stay injury free this year, and while I’m still hurting a little on the ITB front, it’s manageable and not too awful. In fact, I think it’s a little better now than it was a few months ago, which is to say, not great, but not debilitating either.

Second, I’m still proud of myself. Last night when I was running, I tried out some new little mental tricks to help me keep my spirits up. One of the phrases I kept repeating in my head was, “Well, you’re a runner. This is what you do.” While it wasn’t the perfect phrase (I got bored pretty quickly), it was fine for a little while. i just wish i didn’t struggle mentally so much, and I’m not sure how to fix this problem.

Hmmm.

Ran again last night. Three miles. Did some fartleks. Nice.

The weather was humid, but cool, with a light mist to light rain, maybe 70 degrees or so. There were some nice puddles to run around (and through). I didn’t see many people, and everything was quiet and pleasant, giving me time to think about something other than work and running.

I find that I have a hard time getting into that special, zoned out space in my head, but running on a night like that was really helpful. Everything just felt slippery and liquid. I moved from one thought to the next, not really caring, relaxed, happy. I was slow, but having a good time.

And that’s what I’ve been missing lately, having a good time while running. It was nice to have that back.

It’s Tuesday morning as I write this, sitting at my desk, drinking a cup of coffee and having a generally OK day. The weekend, in contrast, was amazing and fun, and I feel as if I’ve cemented a developing friendship, making it real and all.

My race was awful. Let me just get that out of the way. It was the worst 5K I’ve ever run, with the worst time ever. I don’t want to dwell on the negatives, so I’ll just give an outline of the suck factor and then move on to the great parts of the weekend, because there were many – so many that the bad parts are easily dismissed. Okay, so. Bad stuff:

- I forgot my watch and had to run blind, starting out WAY too fast and, as such, didn’t use the first mile to warm up, as I usually do. I heard someone who had a GPS up ahead of me yell “Mile 1 – 9:05″ about 20 seconds ahead of me, so I knew I was screwed right then and there.
- The course wasn’t marked, so I had no clue where I was, or how much farther I had to go.
- Somewhere in the 2nd mile, no idea where, my ITB tightened up so bad that my knee started to KILL, so I had to stop and walk for almost 3 full minutes, until the pain went away enough for me to run the rest of the way in.
- I finally saw a clock at what I assumed was mile 3, so I started kicking it in, trying to salvage the race as best I could. Turns out that the clock was to mark the 12m point of the 20K race, so that “.1m to go” turned out to be “only .4m to go”, which was both frustrating and painful. I think this could best be summed up this way: “Where the FUCK is the finish line?”

Let’s move on.

The postives of the race, and the weekend itself, far surpassed my expectiations. Dianna is so funny. So, so funny. And nice. And thoughtful. Really, she is an amazing person. I heart her. And I had a great time in New Haven with her, and her friends, and their cats, and parents, and other friends. So.

Here’s a pre-race picture:

Dianna described the pre-race activities well, so I go read her blog, and then come back for the rest. :) Okay, back? Great. So yadda yadda, ran my 5K, blah blah…

… After I got some water and my free loaf of bread, I walked over to the finish line area to cheer Dianna, Michelle and April-Anne in. I got to see the leaders come by and cheered for them. I cheered and clapped for everyone really, so the young girls standing in front of my must have been both perplexed and irritated with me, but I did warn them that I was loud before I asked them if they wanted to stand in front of me.

I calculated that the girls would be coming in somewhere between 1:40 and 1:50, so I kept standing on my tiptoes, looking for the orange hat. Then I saw them, on the other side of the road and I started yelling. GO DIANNA!!!! APRIL-ANNE, YOU’RE ALMOST THERE!!! WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

And then they were done. They looked great coming in, and great at the finish, too. We hung around and looked for Michelle, who had been behind them, and finally found Michelle near the beer tent, with her husband, who was kind enough to hold our stuff for us. April-Anne said, “next year you’re going to join us in the 20K, right?” I smiled and said, “I’m definitely going to try.”

The rest of the day was great. We had a wonderful lunch with Dianna’s friends, who are such amazing and interesting people. I felt right at home there, and so very lucky to have met such wonderful people, and be welcomed by them.

When it was time to leave, I was sad. It had been fantastic weekend. We drove back to Dianna’s house and I met her dogs, then hit the road. I didn’t get to meet Dianna’s husband, which was the only real bummer of the trip.

The drive back was uneventful, but I couldn’t help but think about the race and all the things I’d done differently this time (no watch, running alone, starting too fast, etc.). At least I know what doesn’t work for me when racing, and what I need to work on going forward. I’m still going to run Tufts, and maybe try to do a 5 mile race at the end of this month, if I can find one. That said, my knee and hip feel awesome today, so I’d like to try to get out there tonight for a little bit.

Gosh, I’m tired.

I’ll have you know that I didn’t chicken out. :)

Since I forgot to take a real “before” picture, you can take a gander at this photo of Rob and me in Mexico, which will give you the general idea of how long my hair was… but add a few inches to it.

Here’s the “after” photo, albeit a straightened version of my new cut & color:

Nice, huh? I really love it. Even curly, it’s really great. Very liberating.

Okay, time to write a race report/weekend report before Dianna smacks me around a little for not doing it. Heheheh.