Friday, March 28, 2008

Double Dipping, Dead Cat Bounce

Morning weigh-in: 167.5#, 8% BF
 
Hit the bottom  of my weight range the other day, and yesterday the body rebelled: ravenous all day, two breakfasts, two lunches, and a burger at Which Brew, which was lovely. Good workout at the gym though: ran 1.32 miles in 10 minutes, and hit the mile mark at 7:16. Getting there, getting there... Today is a rest day, a "packing day" really, because tomorrow is a travel day, and Sunday I'll be riding in Moab!
 
(I was in the WB maybe a week or so ago, and I mentioned I was vacationing in Utah and someone asked me "Why?" Well, faithful readers already know, but I'll say it again: this is why.)
 
Meantime, Social Security: Here's a quick analysis of that recent report, and of the media coverage thereof, for a faithful reader. Know your enemies Toni, and know that Novakula is one of them.
 
Oh well, you can't be everywhere: I was talking to an old friend the other night, the daughter of my friend and retired co-worker Vito. She's throwing her parents a surprise 70th birthday party, and I had to call to say I couldn't make it because I'd be on vacation. We did some catching up, and I promised I'd swing by & visit her parents when I get home, but I am sorry I'll have to miss this. (I also got an invite last night to a 30th birthday party, which conflicts with yet another upcoming event. D'oh!)
 
See all y'all in a week or so.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Equus

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 165#, 9% BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 164#, 10% BF
 
Fiddler's Elbow 2008: 0-0-1 Hit the gym Tuesday night, but got in a hot lap on the road bike first. Eighteen miles in 1:08 for a 16 mph average, which is good but not rocketboy fast, except that my route took me up Fiddler's Elbow Rd, reputed to be the steepest road in New Jersey. It's a long winding climb with what can only be described as "a wall" at the top, maybe a quarter mile long just below the crest. Winning is riding the whole thing bottom to top, losing is being forced to walk, and I count it as a "tie" if I ride the while thing, but am forced to stop for a break: Tuesday night, first attempt of the season, was a tie. Standard endurance workout after that, then dinner at Which Brew -- I was calculating last night and, what with their May closing, and my upcoming vacations and so on, that might have been one of my last times in there -- there will almost certainly be no more WB weekends.
 
Survivor's Guilt: Have You Ever Been Down? I was thinking about that girl Rachael on Tuesday, haven't seen her alive in maybe 10 years. (She passed away in September of 2000, and for all intents and purposes it was an act of self-destruction.) I haven't thought of her in quite a while, but ran across her obituary the other day when I was cleaning my old office.
 
I remember Joe, deep into his "social phobia" phase, calling me up and asking me to go with him to her funeral -- his sisters, and the rest of his family too, were very close to her, as was his ex-girlfriend, and he couldn't face them by himself. It had been maybe two years before that, that she threw herself at me, all drunk at Mountain Bike Weekend, and I rejected her -- and I do not mean "failed to bust a move" here, it was a smackdown. I remember at the time being all "don't hold hands with a jumper," but I think now it was just a selfish act of cowardice.

Melodrama, megalomania, whatever, but sometimes I get to thinking about what-if's and might-have-been's, like what if things could have been made to work out, maybe AA or whatever, I don't know, and maybe she would have lived -- but I choked, and blew my big chance for happiness despite the heartache & sacrifice that would have come with it, and killed her in the bargain. Anyway, thoughts like that kept me up most of Tuesday night, and yesterday morning I went to work exhausted.

Whatever, it's off my chest. Some days you're Ray, and some days you're Roast Beef. The theme for last night's yoga class was "letting go," by the way.

Beating The Blues with A New Pair Of Shoes: Despite being tired, I ran yesterday morning, my standard two miles at a mellow pace. That made two days in a row, since I also ran Tuesday morning. Last night I passed out after yoga and overslept this morning, but it's OK because today I'm running at the gym before doing an alterna-workout, leaving here as soon as laundry's done and I can put a new load into the washing machine. I'll be packing tonight for Moab after all the laundry's dried.

I am basically out of here tomorrow night, so I promise one more post at least, maybe something a bit more upbeat. Meantime, I posted my Easter dinner pics over at flickr. Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Bringing To The Serai Gifts Of Tungsten, Cordite and High-Octane

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 168#, 8% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 166#, 9.5% BF

Busy weekend, highlights being a Friday towpath ride followed by Which Brew & Porters (natch), Saturday "selfish day" plus a Jacobsburg singlespeed ride with late lunch at Christian's Spring Hotel, which was followed by Which Brew & Porters (double natch), and Sunday was a morning road ride followed by an Easter buffet dinner with the family in Jersey. I still remember all my "beat the buffet" strategies, and judging by Monday's weigh-in I guess I won...
 
Apparently some throwaway Saturday-night  remark I made to a friend solved all his romantic problems: he left a message on Sunday that he owes me a beer "or maybe more," but won't explain until he sees me in person. This is killing me, and I probably won't see him until after Moab...
 
Monday (ie yesterday) I started my new job, or rather new project -- I'm still here and I'm doing the same work, but I'm in a different group. I am not swamped (yet), but I am super busy. Last night was "active rest" in the beginner yoga class followed by laundry; this morning started with a run, and tonight is the gym with a road ride warmup.
 
Bring Out Your Dead: A quick tour of the intertubes reveals this, and this, and even this. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.