11th day of no running.

Okay. So yesterday I tried AQUA-JOGGING. When I put on the Aqua-Jogger Pro I had flashbacks of my childhood in Jacksonville, Florida. My mom would strap me into an orange safety vest and my father and my sister would swim way out past the breakers and never, ever, let me come with them. I was devastated.

Now of course, my father was an adult and my sister was on the high school swim team, and I was eight and could swim just well enough not to drown....
Nevertheless. DEVASTATED.

So anyway.

The Aqua-Jogger Pro is a styrofoam thing with an elastic strap. It is about $60. Styrofoam. Elastic. $60.

That's 12 medium pumpkin spice lattes (with soy and an extra shot).

So, I strapped it around my waist, and jumped into the water with DreadPirate, my aqua-jogging tutor. It holds you up so that your feet don't touch the bottom of the pool. I have to use the pro instead of the classic because of my bootyliciousness. The Aqua-Jogger Pro is, "50% more buoyant than the Aquajogger Classic. Preferred by male athletes and "sinkers"."

The trick, in aqua-jogging, is to stay upright and resist the temptation to use your hands to move through the water faster. You sorta bicycle your legs as fast as you can. As my fastest, I was able to move 25 yards down the pool in about 1:45. It is painfully, painfully slow. Aqua-jogging is kind of like that nightmare where you're trying to get away from the monster but can't seem to run fast. I used to have nightmares like that when I was little (now they're mostly me not being able to yell, no matter how hard I try).

Once I got into my rhythm, I really liked it. I wish I had music to listen to, but there is NO WAY I'm wearing my iPod in the pool. Even if I could get it out of my locked car, which I can't. Because I've lost my keys again. But anyway. I found my stride, and I liked it. After that we did some lifting, and then, this morning, I did about an hour on the elliptical trainer, which felt great, and according to the machine, did about 4 miles on it. I was sweaty and tired and felt GRRRRREAT!

Then DP and her people and I went to brunch and I had huevos rancheros which, when made properly, are awesome. Most restaurants in New Mexico put their own spin on it; in this one I had green AND red chili, eggs over easy, black beans and potatoes, on corn tortillas, not flour.

Plus, today is also the first day I haven't had any pain in my leg at all. AT. ALL.
All in all, a great weekend.

So that's my workout routine for the next two weeks: Spin class and a short (1000 meter) swim Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Elliptical trainer followed by aqua-jogging on Tuesday and Thursday.
Tomorrow, I'll find out whether this is a stress fracture (shudder) or shin splints. I've been rubbing it over before and after my workouts with Arnica Montana and taking Arnica Montana pellets as directed. I don't actually believe in homeopathy, but what the hell. I've heard people I respect swear by it.

The worst that can happen is that I'm out about $14, right?

I will do almost anything not to miss the Palo Duro 50K on October 18th.

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Random, completely OCD stuff about me.

I collect Google pictures, did you know that? I love holidays and designated days, because I log in and see the special "Google" symbol. Then I right-click and save it. I don't know why. I don't want to, I have to. I've been doing it for several years now. As my hard drive was failing a couple months ago, after I'd saved my thesis files and most of my mp3s, I saved my Google pictures folder.

Here's some of my collection:

(And this is just of some of the ones from my work computer. My home computer has a much bigger selection.)

In other news, I got up at 4:30, hit the gym, swam 1000 meters, and was at work at 6:25 before most of the other teachers got there. I RULE.

In a surprisingly lucid moment, I packed my car last night with everything I would need today: 2 lunches (it's parent-teacher conference week, so I'll be at work for 12 hours), all my books for working on my thesis, my fully-stocked gym bag, including flat-iron and clothes for work--even underwear this time!--so that all I would have to do this morning is fall out of bed and into my swimsuit. Good thing, too, because I found myself walking around in circles bleary-eyed at 4:45 while my car was warming up: Where are my keys? Oh, they're in the car. Where is my lunch? Do I have the right lunch packed? Where is my PowerBar? Oh, it's in my hand. What did I pack? What do I need for work today? Okay, I think that's in the car, too. My pants are on backwards. WHERE ARE MY KEYS?Where are my shoes?

It felt good to be back at the gym, too, even though my swim is painfully slow. I didn't wear my watch, so I don't know just how slow (I wanted to feel good about it, so that was a deliberate decision on my part) but I know that in the same amount of time Sweet Baboo completed about 1400 meters. So there you go.

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