Boy, do I feel good! (Thursday Thirteen)

1.  Recovery. It might make some people sick to hear this, but the day after the Palo Duro trail 50K I went for a 2.6 mile hike with Baboo.  I wanted to try a new strategy: after a race eat and drink lots of clear liquids and lean protein, and do lots of stretching and yoga or yoga-like stuff.  I woke up Sunday with just a hint of stiffness in my hips, and by evening when I did the hike with Baboo, it was gone.  I never had ANY stiffness in my calves or quads, which means the hill training is right on target. 

2.  Weight: 171. I swell up a bit after ultras. 

3.  Eating.  Bear Creek hot-and-sour soup is the bomb.l  I added bits of seitan to it and noshed on it for two days.

4.  Monday morning, I did something new: I grabbed a long carpet runner, rolled it up with a yoga strap inside it, and hiked it about 3/4 mile to a high, flat landing at about 6300 feet, overlooking the city of Albuquerque.  I did this just before dawn.  I unrolled the runner, and did a bunch of yoga and stretching, and then hiked back down to home.  I loved it.  I'll do it until it gets too cold to do it.

5.  Shutting up.  Okay, I'll shut up about the yoga now.  but SRSLY.  It's working for me.  Okay, I'll shut up. Oh, wait--Okay.  Never mind. 

6. Makeover.  I've decided on a new project: I'm working on ditching the blond soccer mom look.  I'm tired of it. It's not that anything is particularly wrong with it, I'm just tired of it.  I haven't seen my natural hair color in about 13 years, so I'm curious what it is.  I'm thinking of long, and dark, and straight.  With bangs.  We'll see. I miss pony-tails, too.  They are so lovely when you're having a bad hair day.  Plus also, (dare I say this out loud) although I didn't vote for her, I loved Sarah's hair.  Loved.  it. 
See, I originally went for the blond thing when I got my first grey hairs.  I had about 7 of them in my mid-thirties, so I went blond.  Now it's nearly 10 years later, and I appear to still have about 7 grey hairs.
Anyway, who cares.  A few greys.  Big deal.  Right?  RIGHT? 

7.  School girl.  This semester is WEARING ME OUT.  But I'm happy to report my midterm grades: A, A, A, A, B. The B, of course, is in Law.  I suck, suck, suck at memorizing facts and lists of things.

8.  Ultra-Crazy.  The same crazy friends who did Palo Duro with us have signed up for Ghost Town 38.5.  Buwahaha.  Welcome to the dark side, friends.  And yet...

9.  Excelling.  Last night I was sharing with Baboo how I wish I were faster, how I wish that there was something that I excelled at.  I have so many fast friends, and it seems that after I've leapt into something crazy, like ultra running, my very fast friends eventually join me and kick my ass.  I know, I know...it shouldn't matter.  But sometimes I get tired of being last all the time.
Baboo talked to me about the possibility that what I excel at is courage, and that perhaps, just perhaps, once I do something stupidly crazy, then people feel that they might be able to do it...I don't know.  Still working on this one.   It's an area of personal growth, I guess.

10.  Training.  Very light this week.  A hint of ITB stuff going on; I'm afraid of Mr. ITB.  I don't want to anger him.  But I did do a 2+ mile hike on Sunday, and a light jog on Tuesday.  Today, I'll try to do 4 miles and see how I'm feeling.

11.  Cold.  it's cold here now.  I like getting to wear my big knitted wrap cape.  I like the drama of throwing it over my shoulder.  I'm all Hi, [swoosh] how's it going? It's very warm and cozy.  Plus, it goes down nearly to my knees, providing a lovely cover up for clothes that are still a bit too tight for me.  Win-win.

12.  The author of Frazz, the comic strip, has written a book about triathlon.  His publicist has asked me to review it here.   That will be coming soon.  Just as soon as I have time to read the book.  (see the earlier comment about school)

13.  Internet Porn.  I'm now addicted to Ancestry.com.  I don't know what I'll do when my free 2 weeks is up. 

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