Elbowglitter

I have a new running schedule that makes Friday a full on rest day and Saturday a cross training day.  I am going crazy.  I had today off and it looked so beautiful outside, but it’s a no run day so I refused to put my running shoes on, even though I really wanted to.

I think this means I have a problem.

I spent about two hours yesterday putting together a tentative running schedule to get me through the winter and spring racing season.  Yes, I said winter and spring.  I know it’s only July 3.  I told you.  I have a problem.  Of course, I also have a big race in March that I’m really excited about.  I have this tendency to run races, then take a whole month off - so I’m hoping that creating a detailed schedule will mean that I will stick to it and not be screwed and end up with an over-use injury.  Again.

So I’m ramping up slowly.  I’m probably putting in a 6 miler this weekend, and I would like to make my base Sunday run at least 6 miles, hopefully a bit more.  It doesn’t seem like much to runners, but it seems like a lot to me!  I’ve got a good 5 mile loop that I love, so I need to figure out a good way to extend that.

I’m exciting, right?

On the (very slow) metro this morning, a little girl started to chat me up.  She looked to be about 10, and in the course of our conversation, she asked me if I heard about Michael Jackson.  She was sad about it because she really loved his music, like Beat It and P.Y.T.  I had to agree with her assessment of his awesomeness.

I told her that when I was young, I had his records and I loved them.

“Records?  Oh, you mean like those really big CDs?”

“Well, sort of…”

“We only have the small CDs.”

Man, I felt old.

I’m really not sure what I’ve been doing with my time lately.  Being lazy, mostly, though the other day my boss said “I don’t know how you keep up with everything you do in your life.”  I guess we have different versions of lazy.

Last night was our last choir concert of the season.  It went really well, I think.  It was nice to only be performing one piece (the orchestra did the Organ Symphony as the first half, which was absolutely amazing - if you’ve seen Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, you would recognize the piece).  It meant that rehearsals weren’t as strenuous, which was nice, after March’s concert .  We rehearse Monday nights til 10:00, which means running home after work, changing and scarfing down some dinner, and then straight to the Cathedral.  I’m really going to enjoy having my Mondays back, but I’m going to miss seeing those people all the time.  There’s a huge age range in the choir.  Our youngest member is probably a girl in her freshman year of college, and we definitely have members in their 80’s.  And there are so many different professions represented too.  It’s just nice to be around completely different people for a change.  Otherwise, I’m with people my age or federal employees.  We re-audition at the end of May, and then next season starts up after Labor Day.  I shouldn’t be, but I’m a little worried about re-auditions.  I’ve got the music and I know most of it, but I’m still concerned.  There are some amazing singers in our choir, most of them still being trained.  While I have a number of years of training under my belt, it’s been a while since I’ve had a lesson.  D.C. has also just lost one of its big chorales, and so all of those members will be looking for new places to sing.  Thankfully, we re-audition first, but our directors have to know that there’s a whole lot of other talent out there.

I ran the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Race again this year.  I actually trained properly this year and knocked more than 5 minutes off my time.  I’m still insanely slow, but I’d rather be slow and finish happy than be fast and want to vomit as soon as I cross the finish line.  I’m running the Army Ten Miler in October, and the Disney Princess Half Marathon in Orlando in March.  I’m ridiculously excited about that race, and I want to be sure I’m in good running shape for it.  I’ll never be a marathoner, but a half marathon sounds like a good challenge. 

I ran a whopping 3 miles this weekend.  Clearly, more running is necessary.

I went to Hawaii for a week in April.  It was awesome and beautiful and relaxing, and I wish I had more time for vacations.  It’s so rare that I just take a day to do nothing but sit and read and not worry about things.  When I’m home, even if I have a day off, I have a list of tasks that I feel the need to complete.  I need to work on being a better relaxer.  I don’t see that happening anytime soon though.

Other than that, I’m not sure what takes up all of my time, but it’s definitely busy.  I guess that’s a good thing.

Well.  Some months have passed.

Happy Valentine’sStPatrick’sEasterCincoDeMayo Day?

Really, I just keep opening WordPress to blog and then end up upgrading or editing or adding in my running log, and then not writing.

We’ll work on that over the next five months or so.