After all that, the pool was closed last night for a swim meet. *sigh*
That’s okay, however. I ended up cleaning my house and the chain on my bike. I just have some laundry to do, and more to put away, and things should be good there. I do feel better than I did yesterday, and this morning went smoothly enough.

Tonight, Rob and I might run after work, depending on how hot it is, or if it’s raining. Rob hates to run in the rain, so I might end up running by myself, which is fine by me. Freak that I am, I like running in the rain… a lot.

I am wondering if I can get my shit together to swim tomorrow before work. I suppose that all depends on what time I get home tonight and how lazy I’m feeling. It’s not the getting up early; I can do that. It’s the packing everything up the night before, including work clothes, lunch, etc. that is the hard part.  But I have to do it, because I think that Julie and I are getting together for drinks after work tomorrow, and you know I love me some drinks after work. :)

Friday is going to be fun. First of all, I am off work. Woohoo! Second, I am meeting up with this awesome chick from Medford to go biking in the afternoon. She is going to come up to Lowell and we’re going to tool around up in New Hamshire. It will be my first long ride on the roads, but at 2pm I bet there won’t be a lot of traffic, especially where it’s pretty rural.  She is probably going to be like, "who is this slow newbie?" Hah! It’s okay though. She’s really nice, and hey, everyone was a newbie once.

And speaking of newbies, I was thinking that I might approach the owner of the local running store about leading a walk/run group in the fall. A real "intro to running" program, much like the Couch to 5K on CoolRunning. It wouldn’t be just a women’s group or anything, but I bet a lot of women would join if the class was led by a woman. And who can’t spare an hour on Saturday mornings? Just a thought, but something I am mulling over. You know how much I love to give back to the running community and all.

*****

There has been a lot on my mind, lately. I am trying to figure out my art and what is going on with my painting. Open Studios planning is in full swing. My kitchen is slowly getting finished. I should have something usable in about a month. Rob is moving in, come August. My job is new and going pretty well. But overall, I am really happy with my life.

I just have to keep vocalizing that, instead of bitching as much as I do.

I felt bad about wallowing a little… or a lot. Here are some good things about my day and my plans for turning it around:

Even though I was late, I had a decent meeting with my boss and I have new stuff to work on. Some other meetings yielded more interesting work. Cool.

I was able to bring my lunch today, and met my friend Laura at noon in the little courtyard behind the Cambridge Multicultural Center. I had never been there before, but wow, what a lovely place to sit and catch up over a packed lunch. Laura shared her container of dates with me and we talked about painting. Seriously, this turned the day around for me. I am going to eat out there more often.

I took Motrin and my back feels a little better now. I keep stretching in my cube, which helps.

I tried to smile a lot this morning, even though I was in a bad mood. That helped, too.

I looked at the pool schedule for tonight, and even though it’s a running day and all, I think a nice, long swim is really what I want right now. So even though I didn’t bring my gear, I’m going to stop home and get it, and go for a late swim – around 8pm. Besides, there is no one there after 8. I’ll get a lane to myself. Maybe the whole pool!

According to FitDay, I am doing great. I put in some possible dinner options and that is looking good, too. I know it’s simple, but I love cottage cheese & pineapple after a swim. So I’m having that, plus cherry tomatoes and whole wheat crackers. And maybe a little chocolate soymilk afterwards. Yum.

Thanks for the kind words, peeps. I really do feel a lot better now. :)

I woke up with terrible back pain. Not sacroiliac pain, just regular muscle soreness. I did my Spinning class in my new cycling shoes, clipped in. It rocked my hamstrings hard, but I felt like I was getting more out of the class. Anyway, my back hurts. A lot.

I hurriedly got showered and dressed, fed the cat, made my lunch, and hit the road. Five minutes later I realized I’d forgotten my friend’s slides today, the ones I was supposed to return to her when we met for lunch. So I drove back home, got the slides, slipped and fell on the stairs (because taking the elevator down 1 flight is lazy and time-consuming), and limped back to the car.

By then I had missed my favorable traffic window. My commute was 1.5 hours today, including the time to turn around and go back to my house. *sigh*

I had a 9:00 meeting with my boss. I was late. I cried in the car, after talking to the dealership about my car, which is still creaking and having problems that they can’t locate. I have a huge bruise on my ass from falling. Everything hurts.

I forgot the measurements I took of the countertop and the height of the refridgerator, so I will have to go back home and get them in order to order the countertop and appliances, as planned.

I am having the shittiest day ever.

My kitchen actually looks like a kitchen again, sort of.  I was off on Friday as part of my heavenly 4-day work week, so Rob’s parents came up again, and his dad helped put on these panels between the cabinets that hide the under-cabinet lighting, then wired up said lighting, including putting in a box and switch. Then I put together all the drawers for the lower cabinets and Rob installed the rails for them.

On Saturday, George came by at 8:00 and we took a Sawzall to the last remaining cabinets,  threw the rest of the debris, including the old formica countertop, into his truck, and headed for the construction recycling center & landfill in New Hampshire. Once there, we got to put on hardhats and fling stuff out of the truck and onto an enormous pile of wood. It was awesome!

This week, in addition to running, working, and other tri-training stuff, I am going to order my appliances and countertop. Hopefully that will all go as planned. Also, I get to move into my studio space on Friday!

Okay, so. I did some training this weekend, but not as much as I would have liked. In fact, I didn’t even get out on my bike at all, which sucks big time. However, I did run and swim.

Tonight is Spinning, and I’d like to run Tues, Weds, and Thurs in the morning. We’ll see…

Good things about yesterday:
- I did some decent work, and people liked it
- I had fantastic lunch from 2nd Street Cafe, and even though I ate it at my desk, it was so delicious that I didn’t mind. (Lamb kofta w/a drizzle of tahini, served over greek salad).
- Got to run with Rob yesterday
- Traffic wasn’t as bad

Bad things about yesterday:
- Before I did some decent work, I got drilled about why the mockups I’d done looked a certain way. Well, because I guess I misunderstood what I was supposed to be doing? This is only my 3rd week, people!
- Had to go to Lowe’s at 8:30pm after running, and didn’t get to eat dinner until 9:30. Felt ill.
- The hem ripped out of my brand new pants right before lunch. What the hell? Stupid pants.

So, about the run. Before we went out, it had been raining pretty good. Then, suddenly, the sun came out and things started to heat up. It wasn’t that hot – 72 maybe – but it was really humid. I hate the humidity more than anything. I can’t breathe. Anyway, we managed a nice 3 mile run, a little slower than I’d like, but still good. I did have to stop 30:00 in and tie my shoe, and walked for a minute while Rob worked out a cramp, but finished well. I loved running yesterday!

I think that it would be good for me to start scheduling my runs by minutes instead of miles. There is, after looking at my running log and this journal, a pattern of loving running when I approach logging time in this fashion. I mean, for me to say "I want to run for 40:00 today" seems way more reasonable than saying "x miles." I don’t know why, but mentally it seems more digestible. Like, "I’ll just run out for 20:00, then turn around and run another 20:00." Easy, right? I know I can run for 20:00. I know I can then run for another 20:00. What’s my friggin’ problem, anyway? :)

Indeed.

Last night was tough. I am feeling so overwhelmed and stressed about everything that is "messy" in my life, and I hate that. I ran, but it sucked. I ate, but nothing tasted good. Chocolate would have tasted good, but I didn’t have any. So I did some stuff around the house like wash dishes and fold laundry, but didn’t even put a dent in my to-do list.

Forgive my whining, but c’mon people. I left my house at 7:30am yesterday, and arrived home at 8:30pm. During that time, I drove to work, worked, drove home, and ran 3 miles. That’s it. Is that not insane?

When I was in the car on the way in yesterday, I passed by Melrose exactly 45:00 into my 80:00 (I shit you not) commute, and thought, hell, if I lived here, I could have a 35:00 commute in the height of rush hour. Probably less if I took back roads, and definitely less if I took the train. WTF?

That said, Rob and I had a serious discussion about moving next spring. If I am going to continue to work in Cambridge, I need my life back, and sitting in a car or on the train for well over an hour each way is not going to cut it. It pains me to say it, but I am willing to give up the amount of space I have, the community, and my studio in order to have time to do things like, you know… make a real dinner, ride my bike during the week, or whatever.

Bah.

Now that that’s out of my system, I’ll tell you about today’s approach for dealing with traffic and shit. I left my house at 6 :50 today, and somehow, traffic was not bad for the first half of my commute. School must be out now or something. Anyway, I was in the parking garage by 7:45, and at my desk by 7:50. I’ll take it! I’m going to work until maybe 5:30 today, then go running on the Charles. I’ll stretch, have a snack, then head home. I will still get home around 7:30, but at least that will give me 3 hours before bed to change the pedals on my bike, and clean up my living space a bit, and my run will already be  checked off the list. It will be hot, but it will be done, and until I figure out a better way, this is the best I can do. I’ll just have to suck it up and run in the heat.

Anyway, I made a list of reasons to move to Melrose, and here they are:
- Rob is from there. He likes it.
- Commute is better, either by car, bike, or train. Conceivably, I could ride my bike to work. Hot-damn!
- The Fells. Great spot for trail running or on the surrounding roads. Check out this map, and you’ll see what I mean.
- It’s a nice community. It’s cute, and things seem not to change very much.
- They have a terrific town center with restaurants and shops.
- It’s close enough to Somerville that maybe I could get a studio there, or in East Boston. Or, I could work out of my house. I suppose it doesn’t matter, as long as I have a room to work in.
- My chiropractor is in Melrose. Very convenient.

Anyway, that’s enough. I have to get to work and stuff. :)

So I ran last Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Short, 3 milers, but still. Did some spinning last Monday, and again yesterday, and swam once. That’s not a bad week.  My back seems okay, too. I keep stretching my hip flexors, psoas, piriformis, and hamstrings and hoping that it will keep this problem in check.

Last night’s Spinning class was great. I felt like I was in a groove for a while there, and really pushing myself. Jeff and I might go riding on the rail trail Friday morning. I am not sure how I feel about a 7:30am ride (22 miles – the full length of the path), but it should be fun. Definitely a good way to get my long ride out of the way early.  In order to make my miles/days this week, I am going to have to run tonight and Saturday, swim Weds night, and ride Friday and Sunday. Thursday I have to watch the gallery, so no workout for me, which is fine, as long as I don’t blow off anything else.

I really have to work on my running right now. I am struggling most of the time, lately, and just have no motivation. It totally sucks, because I love running, but right now I am just generally hating it. I know that doesn’t make sense, but that’s how I feel. I’m sure it will pass once I have a great run or two under my belt. Really, I just need to put the time in, and not worry about how slow I am or if I have to stop to catch my breath. I need to stop feeling like a moron and a failure about it, because honestly, that is the root of my problem, I think.

Anyway, so I saw something that irritated me at the time, but was ultimately funny last night. I had a run-in of sorts in the parking lot at the Y. I was turning onto the little street where the Y parking lot is, and saw that there was a space in the front lot (and there is never a space in the front lot), so I pull in the back and come around to the front (it’s all one way trafffic through there). As I pull around, I see there is a woman standing in the available space, talking to someone in the next car. She’s not leaning into the car or anything. She is standing square in the middle of the space. I pull up and wait. She looks at me, and then looks away and continutes to stand there. I roll my window down and say, "excuse me, but I’d like to park there." She says, "I’m saving this spot." I’m irritated because, hello, there’s no saving spots! But there is plenty of parking in the back, and I don’t really care, other than that I have to drive around again, so I don’t say anything to her, I just roll my eyes and leave.

I pull into the back lot, park my car, get my stuff out of the trunk, take my work shoes off and put my flip-flops on (yes, it’s a long process), and when I walk up to the front of the building, she is still standing there "saving the spot". I wanted to smack her. Old George is there, so we start talking about running and whatnot, and 5 minutes later, she is still standing there, telling car after car that they can’t park there. Finally, her husband/boyfriend/whatever pulls his ginormous SUV into the spot. He gets out, and he’s huge. She’s on the heavy side, but he’s huge – like former football player, weight-lifter huge, but with a gut, too. They walk towards us, and as they’re going in the front door, she says, "I only want to work out for 20 minutes today." He says, ".. if that."

Holy. Hell.

Now, I know I shouldn’t judge, because hey, we all have our issues and it’s not like I enjoy belittling heavy people (in fact, it would have bothered me more if they were thin and lazy). But does anyone else see the pure comedy of going through all that effort not to walk the 150 feet or so from the back parking lot to the front, to go to the gym, for 20 minutes? They weren’t disabled in any way, or transporting an older person. In fact, they seemed to be younger than me. Anyway, all that effort, and when I came out of my class they were gone. Jeez.

I just wondered what Rebecca would have said. :)

The heat broke. Freakin’ finally. At lunch, temps had fallen into the 70′s and the humidity had all but abated. By 5:30, when I left work, it was around 60 (i.e., perfect running weather).

Rob and I made a plan to meet up at his house after work and run our 3 mile loop. It was great… apart from dodging goose poop and the "big dog brigade", who appeared, with their owners, off leash and out of nowhere. Imagine 5 big dogs running at you, slobbering, excited, tails-a-wagging. You’re hopeful that they won’t bite you in the butt, but you never know. Turns out that they were big love bugs. Whew.

After the run, my legs felt a little tired, and my sacroiliac joint was a little achy. I stretched, and put a freezy pack on the joint for the ride home. This morning I’m fine, however.

It’s raining now, and still cold. I am hopeful about a run after work, along the Charles this time. I’m also sighing a big sigh of relief. It feels like things have settled back into relative normalcy for the time being.

Things are going well, I think. Spinning class was fantastic last night, and I managed to roll the kitchen walls once. Just need to cut in again tonight, and roll again on Wednesday, and then cabinets can be hung and lighting can be installed on Friday, as planned. Woohoo.

The heat is supposed to break today with thunderstorms and a 25+ degree drop in temps, so I might be able to run outside tonight. It has been so miserable lately. It’s too hot to sleep, even (if you have no A/C, like me right now).

My eating has been pretty decent lately, too. Lots of salads, tons of veggies, and the occasional treat, but like I resolved at the start of the year, the treats are small in quantity and of good quality. For example, I had a cookie yesterday – a big, chewy, delicious cookie from Dancing Deer. Cherry Almond Ginger, to be exact. What I like about Dancing Deer is their ingredients, or lack thereof.

For example, this is what was in my cookie: Ingredients
Unbleached unbromated
wheat flour, cane sugar, canola oil, dried cherries, eggs, almond
flour, candied ginger, baking soda, almond extract, Kosher salt.

That’s it. No preservatives, no fake stuff. Just plain, tasty cookie ingredients. And I was happy just eating one. How awesome is that?

And finally, work is good. Busy, but good. I have a lot to do, and today is my final day of training, so I am looking forward to doing more than an hour here and an hour there of real design.

Things are chugging along. I’ve decided to postpone hanging the upper cabinets until next Saturday in order to do a good job with priming and painting, and to keep my sanity.

I feel like next week will be more sane, at least. I mean, I might even get to run more than once! My commuting schedule will be a little better after Tuesday, and I’ll have Friday off. We can hang cabinets then… AFTER a good, long run. :)

Hope y’all have a great weekend. Mine will be spent removing primer from my skin. Ick.