Friday I typically go home after work and crash on my couch, but last Friday I decided to be social and go out for drinks with some coworkers. I get in a lot earlier than most and therefore they stay a lot later than me so I ran my new favorite distance along the Charles to kill some time before meeting them at the local pub. I'm not old, but most of them are close to 10 years younger than me, I want to be able to hang and be cool but damn it's tough staying out late drinking. I just don't do it anymore so I'm not used to it. I'm used to going to bed by 9:00 and getting up at 4:00 or 5:00am and running for a few hours before these young kids even get out of bed. I'm really glad I went though. It was really fun even though it was way past my bed time by the time I finally got home. I might even do it all over again this week!
So, as a result of my late night Friday, getting up early Saturday to do a long run didn't really go as planned. I wanted to do a longer sort of hilly loop in preparation for Mount Washington, like maybe 12-14 miles, but I had plans around noon to go to a wine tasting with my friend Denise so I was limited, plus it was hotter than the surface of the sun outside so I didn't want to start too late and be out too long. I ended up just doing a little over 10 miles. Felt pretty decent, but definitely a little sluggish and perhaps dehydrated from drinking the night before. But I finished it and felt really good about it.
Got home and hopped in the shower and got dressed to go to Denise's house. I stopped by Whole Foods on my way for some snacks. We met up with her friend Rich and his wife Liz and drove down to Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery. It's a cute little place with an art gallery and tasting room. A tour was not included in our tasting which was a little disappointing and the woman pouring the wines was not exactly exciting to listen to, plus she was a total scrooge with the pours - exactly one ounce for everyone no more. We tasted 5 wines, 3 sparkling and 2 whites, no reds. It was pretty good, nothing amazing, but tasty. After the quick taste of wines we ventured outside and had a little picnic with our snacks and a bottle of wine. That was the best part. It was a little cooler and the sun was out and the scenery was very nice and of course the company of friends new and not so new made it a great experience.
Sunday I was going to go for another run and do the extra long loop I wanted to do the day before, but when I stepped out the door and the oppressive heat hit me I decided to take a 'rest' day and do some yard work instead. Three and a half hours later, and several wheel barrels full of weeds and rocks it was midday and I was completely exhausted and covered in dirt, but the garden in front of my house looked awesome! I took a shower and went grocery shopping, then passed out on my couch for an afternoon nap.
Monday morning I woke up so sore and covered in bruises that I couldn't remember getting. I did not want to go to work. And to make matters even more miserable when I got to work I had a really annoying email in my inbox that set the tone for the day. I managed to muddle through the day and get a little work done, although not really a lot. Then went for home to go for a run with Kim. I hadn't really run with her in over a month. It was really great to see her and catch up a little. We just did 4 miles, but she has been getting progressively faster and I have gotten steadily slower and sluggish so it felt like a speed workout and I was dying the entire time. I need to run with her more often so maybe I can get back to my happy pace.
Tuesday the weather was near perfect for running. Warm but not too warm, almost no humidity in the air and a light breeze. I was going ot just do 6 miles along the Charles, but once I got out there I felt so good I just kept going. I did 8.5 miles and if I had brought water with me I could have kept going, but I was parched when I finished so it's good that I stopped. It was a really good run. Unfortunately, when I was done I thought that maybe I'd be leaving the city late enough that I would miss traffic, but I was wrong. It was bumper to bumper my entire way home and it took me twice as long as it normally does. Add to that equation work stress, extreme thirst and hunger, followed by needing to pee because I guzzled a liter of water right when I finished my run and I got the worst case of road rage I have ever experienced. I wanted to stomp on the gas pedal and just plow through the cars all stopped in front of me or moving so slow it felt like we were stopped. I thought to myself "why do they call it Rush Hour is no one appears to be in a rush at all????"
Anyway, yesterday was a much better day. I got a lot accomplished at work and even went out for a walk at lunch time and had a few laughs at a meeting in the afternoon. After work I had a meeting in downtown Boston for the stair climb committee and it wasn't until 5:30 so I went for a short run to celebrate National Running Day before going to the meeting. I was going to do a few miles and then go early and get some ice cream at the Jimmy Fund's Scooper Bowl before the meeting, but my run turned into a death march and it took me almost 90 minutes to finish 5 miles. I started running and felt like I had cinder blocks on my feet and pushed though it and thought the first mile is always the toughest. Well, the second mile was worse, but i figured it's more uphill than the first mile so that explains it. By the time I got to the third mile I felt completely exhausted and my heart rate was sky high and I couldn't breathe so I walked a little then tried to start running again. I couldn't do it. I felt horrible. Just totally out of gas and like gravity had tripled on me. I walked for the last two miles and chalked it up to some days are good some are bad and I probably should have taken a rest day.
I didn't make it to the parking garage near my meeting early enough to get ice cream so I just went straight to the meeting. It was the best part of the day. It was really great to meet some new committee members and talk about the exciting changes and challenges ahead for the event planning and recruitment for 2014. We ended up talking for a little longer than planned, but it was nice. When I left there was NO traffic and I breezed home in about 30 minutes.
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