Equilibrium

I have found myself in a balancing act worthy of Cirque du Soleil. And I have no idea how to manage it from now until Christmas.

I am working, on average, about 32 hours a week. I have no problems with that by itself, I'm 21, I need the money. However, I also have roughly 16 hours of class a week. Plus time commuting to and from both places, and in between classes. That puts me at about 55-60 hours of work and travel. Two and a half out of seven days. Then there's sleep. Probably 48 hours of that in a week. And work for classes, which at this time of year is probably another 8-12 hours a week. That's five out of seven days of my week accounted for. You'll note that this is omitting "menial" tasks like eating, showering, using the bathroom, and breathing.

It's also omitting my social life. The one thing I want to be taking up my time. And to my credit, I have managed to keep myself from becoming a total hermit / workaholic. I've kept up with my friends pretty well, all things considered.

And I've met an amazing girl. I'll save you all the gushy details, but her name is Lauren, and I am smitten. The commuting required for our dates is a bit... obnoxious (Salem for me, Brigham Circle area for her), but I couldn't care less. Curiously, the DFMC is actually making it easier. Runners meetings at DFCI are close for her, and when I start getting out to some of the Crossroads runs, that'll be almost as easy, I think.

Anyways, here I stand, like a stork in quicksand, trying not to lose my footing. Thankfully, school is over on the 18th and work is probably done for me on the 22nd. But in the meantime, S.O.S.!

Catching up

Been busy lately. Thanksgiving was good. My mom knows that I'm running the Marathon, and has agreed to help me tell my dad and his side of the family on Christmas day. Working on mapping out who where donations will come from and how much we stand to raise. It's looking pretty solid. My fundraising is gonna start catching up with my training.

Training, on the other hand, has ground to a near halt. Blisters on my feet are weird, in that they are under the calloused skin. They won't break open on their own, but I'm not about to break them open, either. It's still uncomfortable to run on them, particularly up any sort of incline. I'm going to go by the Y tomorrow or Thursday to renew my membership and probably hop in the pool. I sorely miss the swim workouts I was doing in the spring and summer.

Anyway, that's the word from me. Happy December everyone!

Race Day Recap

The Wild Turkey Run this morning didn't quite go as well as I'd hoped. After starting out at about 9:00-8:30-8:00 pace for the first three miles, I ran into a bit of a snafu. Some distance into the fourth mile, my left foot started to get numb. Pins and needles-y. Got worse until I had to stop at about 3.5 to mess with my shoe some, in the hopes that it would help. It got worse. As a result, the last two miles of the race were laborious and very uncomfortable. What would've been about a 43 ended up being a 49. Tch. Gotta figure out what caused the tingling foot.

Anyway, on with the training and the fundraising. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Prepping for the Wild Turkey

Pretty good run today. Got home from class, got suited up, and went out. Took a long slow descent for the first mile and a half, then a series of four sizable hills, each harder than the last. Stepped in some dog shit on a grassy corner turning up the last hill though, so now my shoes are sitting on the deck waiting for me to give them a proper cleaning, which I didn't have time to do because I had to be at work shortly after my run. Probably'll clean them tomorrow between class and work. Maybe go for a run if there's time. Wednesday will apparently be a cross-training day, since it looks like there's gonna be some pickup Ultimate. Race is Thursday morning. 5 miles in cold and potential rain, woo.

Back on the right track

At least I think I am.

At 2am, I donned my spandex, my new gloves, and a hat, and went out. I took parts of the last two runs and tied them together to make a 3 mile course that was primarily downhill, including "Heartache Hill", this time as a descent instead of an incline. It felt pretty good, for the most part. My stride was good, my pace (~7:40) was good. The compression shirt I bought on Thursday didn't fit nearly as well as I thought it would. A little short/tight in the wrong places. Gotta return it and get something better. I feel a little invigorated though, which is good, considering the 5 mile turkey trot on Thursday morning. But more about that later this week.

Wavering Commitment

I find myself... shrouded in doubt.

I sorta know why. It's not that I doubt my capabilities as a runner (at least not generally). It's not that I have some mental roadblock, or some physical ailment.

My last two runs have gone worse than I expected. Not a ton worse, but enough so that it was a little discouraging. On top of that, the fact that I have to work every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from now until Christmas means that I really won't be able to run more than one of those three days a week, because I spend almost all of my 8 hour shifts on my feet. That, in turn, means that I will need to run three times out of the other four days of the week. That means that no matter what I do, I'll have work one day and running the next day or the day before. I feel like that will either make my runs less effective or my work less efficient.

Once Christmas is here, I'll be fine, I'm almost sure, but I have to maintain until then, and that's what I'm concerned about. I suppose I'll have to renew my YMCA membership, that will probably help matters some. And breaking the news to the immediate family at Thanksgiving dinner will be a shot in the arm (yes, you're reading that right, I haven't told anyone in my family with the sole exception of my brother, so he can cover my alibis for me).

But damn, do I wish I could just figure out a way around this.

Rockin' the suburbs

About an two hours ago, after a long day which included classes (but no Bio lab -- canceled!), Left 4 Dead 2, and then a rousing Celtics game at the Garden, it hit me.

"Oh shit. I need to run."

So I donned my Under Armour, then layered warm things over it, and began what I believe was my first sub-freezing run since I left UMass after Spring 08. I was pretty well dressed for it, though I will need to buy some warm, but lightweight, gloves for the winter ahead.

I wasn't sure where, exactly, I was gonna run, but I knew I wanted it to be shorter and a little

more challenging, so I made a variation, on the fly, to a 2 mile speed course that I like to run on summer nights and went with that. The resulting route is to the right. It starts, as all runs from my house have and will, with a downhill, this time a long, slow decline (from point A/F to the middle of the first curve), then a small-mediumish hill (middle of curve to B). Point B to point C is a nice, level straightaway. Point C to Point D, however, is the biggest part of the variation. This stretch is a steep incline, perhaps the steepest in the immediate area. Due to this fact, I have nicknamed it "Heartache Hill", as a less severe homage to Heartbreak Hill. Heartache Hill's downside goes from D almost to E, and from there, it's a slow, steady climb back home.

I did this 2.3 mile course in about 20 minutes, which, considering the new element in the hill and the bitter cold, I'm relatively pleased with. 8:41 pacing is fine by me, at least this time. The post title, for those of you who are curious about these sorts of things, comes of course from the Ben Folds song of the same name, which came on during the home stretch of my run, and gave me a nice boost of energy, as well as the fact that almost all of my runs take place in a borderline Agrestic suburban neighborhood.

Anyway, off to bed. Long day tomorrow.