Well, it was mostly Tuesday.  Tuesday was awesome.

On Tuesday morning, Space Shuttle Discovery was scheduled to arrive in D.C.  And for the purpose of sheer awesomeness. the jet carrying the shuttle planned to circle the city a number of times so that people could see the journey up close.  Unfortunately, I had training scheduled for that morning, but thankfully, our instructors agreed that this was a once in a lifetime experience so we all headed up to the roof to check out the view.

And it was amazing.

I did not take this photo – it was taken by a coworker from our roof.

Definitely a worthwhile experience.  People just kept repeating “This is so cool!”

Later that evening, I had choir sectionals at the National Cathedral.  It was a small group – fewer than 20 people were able to attend.  And as a special treat, after rehearsals ended (so around 10 pm), our director decided to take us up into the tower.  That’s right, a nighttime tower climb at the National Cathedral.  If you’ve read about tower climbs, you know that there are outside ledges you can access through windows.  We did not go outside.  But we did climb up a number of spiral staircases and hang out with the bells in the bell tower for a while.  It was such a cool experience and the view of the city at night was absolutely phenomenal.   I can’t wait to do a tower climb during the day.

No photos from that event.  It was dark and I just had my cell phone with me.  But trust me.  Very cool.

Tuesday made the rest of the week seem very  boring by comparison.

Of course, I’m also watching swimming and gymnastics and diving, sports I always love watching.

Which reminds me – has anyone heard anything about Rhythmic Gymnastics this year?  I feel like we used to see that on tv at least occasionally.  Does the sport even still exist?

I am also a little concerned with how China trains their athletes.  It sounds like kids are shipped off to training camps by the government and don’t get to see their parents.  I was saddened to hear that a number of athletes didn’t even have their parents at the games because they couldn’t afford to be there.

In non-Olympics talk, I’m almost done going back through my beginner running program.  Going back to a beginner program after being sick for so long was definitely the right plan.  It’s amazing how much I’ve progressed and how much easier it feels now.  I was really struggling when I first started back up.

Randomly, I think I bruised my thumbs assembling shelves the other day.  I think I should call in sick for a week so I can heal.  My job would totally go for that.

I recorded the opening ceremonies on my DVR, and I’m in the process of watching it. I just didn’t have a 4 hour chunk of time to sit and watch the whole thing. So far, I’m really impressed. China really likes having large groups of people doing things in unison, don’t they. I can’t imagine the rehearsals for an event like that. I’m also a little bit horrified at the money that had to be spent for that event and can’t help but think of all the other things that money could have been spent on. I’m sure that people are still struggling after the earthquake, for example.

On another sporting note, I’m still running. I finally feel like I’m getting back in shape. Coming back after 2+ months off was a real struggle at first. Running for five minutes made me feel like I was going to collapse. I’m still following my beginner’s training plan, but in the past week, it’s gotten a lot easier to make progress. I think I just had to get my body used to the running motion again. I’m going to continue to take it incredibly slow, with walk/run patterns, so that I don’t end up sick or injured again, but it’s nice to be able to run again. No 10 milers in my near future though.

I’m disappointed that I’m getting back into running as the days are getting shorter though! I’m going to have to figure out a solid alternative to running outside once winter comes. At least for the weekdays. While living in STL, I didn’t mind running before the sun came up. I was one of probably 30 people out, and things were very well lit. I can run on the sidewalk along a fairly major road here, and there are a lot of cars out, but it just doesn’t feel safe, and I think I should go with my instincts on that one.

I guess that means back to the treadmill. Which feels like a hamster wheel sometimes. If only it looked like one too.

“A man with 10 wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 of them.”

So there you have it. No more than 9 wives.