Tough times for feds and females

Without going on a political rant that ends with "you can agree with me or you can be wrong," I'll just tell you that it has been a really tough day.  Make that a tough week.  Make that a tough time since October.  For now, I get to call and see whether I'll be working (and getting paid) at 5 a.m. on Monday.  Excellent.  And Planned Parenthood?!  Really?  They were my primary care provider for many un-(or low-)insured years and save women's lives.  If they really want to cut off something, I suggest they redirect those funds to provide for castration of certain members of Congress.  Oops, political rant. 

Instead, I will think happy thoughts of First Friday cruising - with some pics from last Friday from my buddy, Jenna. *happy thoughts*

So, in these uncertain times, I will try to worry only about the things that I can control.  Which means next up is the Fiesta 10k tomorrow (if the Missions National Park is open, that is).

No race weekend

Well, I had planned on running the UTSA Diploma Dash 5k this morning - fo' free, even. But I took a quick test run last night and decided the race probably was not a good idea. Without the sling, the pain was okay, but the shoulder feels weird - both tight and lose at the same time. With the sling, running just felt plain weird. I do not have much arm swing when I run, but it is still strange to run with one arm tied down. I felt pretty off-balance.

So, with no race, and no desire to try to perform one-armed housecleaning, I decided to come into work and make some overtime money. I would sure rather be running.

Run to Work Take Two

With the injuries of many running buddies, it looks like the Saturday long run is off this week. Funny how you can stave and will those injuries off and they nail you after the marathon. So, I'm thinking of revisiting my run to work overtime Saturday. I'm guessing it should be easier to accomplish in January than it was in July. And now I have pre-po'd clothing, wipes, and towels at the office.

In other news, my New Year's Resolution to get more sleep isn't going very well. I tried to approach it like nutrition/diet and write it down to realize the truth. Average sleep (total - not including sleep walking or time awake during the night) = 4.2 hrs per night so far this year. Not good. But, I'm going to set myself up for success. Sunday, my new mattress gets delivered, which I will cover with my 600 threadcount sheets and I will sleep and sleep on Monday. Okay, maybe I'll work on topping 5 hours and taking Dingo the limping stray dog to the vet. Old Army mantra: Shoot the 50m targets first, then keep shooting. The dogs are psyched,though, that they are getting my old mattress (I think -until they realize I'm not on it).

Biking to work

Well, today I rode this tank of a bike to work and back. I managed not to get hit by the crazy San Antonio drivers (did you miss all the blinky and solid lights I had on - I looked like a construction zone?), but I did learn a couple of things.
1) Don't forget to wear or at least pack bike shorts. Nothing like that feeling of a jeans seam meeting my fourth point of contact for "only" 5+ miles each way.
2) It is Summer and I will sweat - more towels are needed.
3) Even though I was swearing not to do this again on the way there, I mapped the route and it's uphill there and downhill home - whee.
4) That bike is HEAVY. But it was free ('99? Diamondback Sorrento mountain bike) and I figure if someone hits me with their Tundra, I'll dent them pretty bad.
But, it was a better idea than my previous "run to work" idea, and I saved 1/4 gallon of gas. So, I'm probably going to try to bike to work once a week during marathon training - call it cross training - especially when it cools off a little more (heat index 100+ this afternoon).
No races this weekend - 12-13 mile training run in the morning then off to get rained on at the lake.

Uglier and uglier

Well, it certainly was ugly running to and from work on Saturday. My plan was to leave the house at 0530, thereby getting into work around 0630, working until 1030, and getting back on the road before the cruel, cruel sun was high above. Not a bad plan. Then, the snooze button attacked relentlessly on Saturday morning. I headed out around 0830 and was stuck under the cruel, cruel sun for the return trip at 1330 (1:30 pm - yeah, hot). Not a good plan. And Gretch, not a plan I'll likely repeat, especially on a Monday!

I made it, though, and saved myself a whopping 1/4 gallon of gas. Upon arriving home, I kicked Gwen out of the kiddie pool and cooled off. No pictures - it just would have been too ugly.

Speaking of bad ideas and ugly, at 9 pm this Friday, I will attempt Los Chupacabras de la noche 10k trail run. Here is the prerace report from buddy and sometimes dog-sitter, Jenna:

"Two Fridays ago, Bill (race director) and 4 other guys ran the course & one of them sprained his ankle. This Friday, 5 guys running the course & Pete whacked a branch with his head & got 14 stitches. This is a 20% injury rate, which means statistically that of 80 participants registered, there will be 16 (or more since it’ll be dark this time) people hurt themselves. I plan on only jog/walking this course. But it’ll be fun fun fun!"

Yeah, it's all fun and games until someone gets a stick in the eye. I'll definitely get a pic of that one!