12. HILLS WORK. My favorite tradition for this day is the Jay Benson triathlon, and then a potlock afterwards with my tri-peeps. Afterwards, oldest son informed me that my run had been 28something. I waived at him dismissively. Oh, don't be silly. I've never run 3 miles that fast in my life.
Sure enough, the results were posted, and I had pulled a 9:30 pace on the run. After wishing for years to break the 10-minute barrier, I'd managed just barely to do it only once before, at sea level.
11. BIKE WORKS. As in,my bike works. It's still where I'm getting my butt kicked, though. I still need to work on my bike.
10. WORK WORKS. This conversation occurred in my office this week:
Parent: You know, another thing that I'm really concerned about, all he cares about is playing. He rushes through his school work so he can play.
I waited for a moment for him to finish - you know, I was thinking that maybe the parent might say something like and playing for him is pulling the wings off baby sparrows but no: he was actually complaining to me because his son spends a great deal of time wanting to play. The parent said nothing, and stared at me expectantly.
So I finally said, "Well, I mean, he's seven. That's what they do"
Parent: Yes, but it's like he doesn't care about his academics at all.I took a drink of my coffee to formulate a response that would be calm, instead of snarky. I finally said, with my best neutral therapy face, "So, well you see, that's actually developmentally appropriate. I don't think it's anything to be concerned about."
Parent: yes but.....
Geez. Let it go, dad.
I'm trying to remember what I thought about at seven. I'm reasonable certain I wasn't focused on my academics. I think it was stuff that was more like, I wonder if I can climb that tree?
9. HAVING A WORKOUT BUDDY WORKS. I live with mine. Tuesday morning, Sweet Baboo and I ran a couple of miles. Then he convinced me to go for a ride after work Tuesday night. It was the usual ascent/descent that I liked to do that goes 1000 feet down over 5 miles of unprotected alluvial plane.
Tuesday night, there were 30+ mph gusting crosswinds as I was heading downhill over 5 miles. I nearly freaked. I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA DIE. I think I said that to Sweet baboo as he was riding around me, hands-free, in cheerful circles.
He suggested I loosen my death's grip on the handlebars, but it seemed like whenever I did that, a huge gust would come up, or large trucks would blow by, creating another large gust.
It's hard to let go of your handlebars when the wind is trying to shove you off your bike, and the bike off the road.
It really sucks that I'm big enough to catch that much wind.
Ow. My hands hurt.
8. POST WORKOUT MEALS WORK. My favorite is a Kraft Easy Mac cup with tuna mixed in it, followed by cheese popcorn and wine. Hey, I'm not saying it's healthy. I'm just telling you what I like.
7. TECHNOLOGY WORKS. The in-ground "invisible fence" thing that we got for Cash seems to be working. It's by PetSafe. The dogs stay in the yard, and their destruction is limited to a small amount of the yard. We're still working the bugs out, but I think it's the solution we've been looking for.
6. COFFEE WORKS. Which makes it all the more painful that my espresso maker doesn't work. I need to figure out who fixes them around here. I descaled it, and it hasn't worked since. The pump makes a noise, but doesn't draw any water. If there are any coffee nerds out there with ideas, I'd appreciate hearing them. I don't expect a lot of sympathy for this, but SrSLY. I'm suffering. I have developed a fondness for Hills Brothers Sugar Free Double Mocha instant, which totally rocks, and one can that makes about 15 drinks is about the same price as a Starbucks Latte.
5. FRIENDS WORK. This was the best part of Sunday, the annual post triathlon potluck meal. I like my friends. They're interesting people. I don't get to see enough of them, I think.
4. MUSIC WORKS. This week, I'm listening to the soundtrack from The Legend of Bagger Vance. I like it.
3. SCHOOL WORKS. For all my kvetching and bitching, I have a 3.88 GPA overall in this round of graduated school.
2. BARKING DOES NOT WORK. Cash thinks it does, though. Right now he's standing outside the picture window, barking at me. I ignore it. If he really bugs me, I have a little remote control that I can push a button on that sounds a small alarm on his collar. I don't shock him. The little beep is enough to make him stop barking and look around. Wouldn't it be great if all problems could be solved like that? Like, that guy who's tailgating you. You could just push a button and it would give him a warning that told him that if he continued, he might get an "corrective electostimulant." Well, we can dream.
1. COURAGE WORKS. Remember: Do one brave thing today. And then run like hell.
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