I had a lovely weekend,

I had a lovely weekend, with the high point being the duathlon. Just thinking about it made me happy all day yesterday. I am so proud of myself for sticking with this training program so far. I know, I know, maybe I’m going overboard with the patting myself on the back, but in the past I have not been great (to say the least) with scheduled training programs. Especially in summer!

Other than that, I had a lot of fun hanging out with some different faces — Melissa and Matt, Melissa’s sister and her boyfriend, Nick and Heather, and Laurie. Friday night was happy hour in Kemah followed by dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Saturday night we ended up in Galveston where we played putt-putt amidst obstacles like a big ostrich, a giant conch shell, and an outhouse. I ended up in second place with a 51. Laurie’s golf skills apparently extend to goony golf as well, since she won. Melissa tied for second with me. Basically, the girls kicked they boys’ butts. Poor Jose brought up the rear with something like 73.

Yesterday was the day that went on forever. Not in a bad way, just that I seemed to fit so much into one small day! Race in the morning. Saw Superman Returns with Jose, Becca, Gavin, and Jen. Then fixed my brake light. Then watched Tivo’ed Tour de France. Then soccer, played on a field that was really more of a swamp. Then pizza for dinner. Then finishing Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Then, finally, sleep.

Yes, in the middle of that paragraph I mentioned that I fixed my car’s burnt-out brake light. I know, this does not sound very tough. But I was so excited. In fact, now that I think about it, I might have been more proud of that than of the duathlon! For some reason I get very excited when I, with my own two hands, fix something. I’m an engineer, yes, but any smarts I have are most definitely book smarts. I can’t fix things. I don’t know how things work. I never took clocks apart as a kid (though I did have a fascination with Legos). But I fixed my car! Hurrah! How many aerospace engineers does it take to change a light bulb? Just me! Yay! I was so excited that I almost called my dad to share. He would’ve appreciated it.

In answer to Vic’s question on the previous entry about rest days, I must answer that I did take rest days — three of them, to be exact — before the duathlon yesterday. I hadn’t meant to, but I think it very well may have helped me feel good during the race yesterday.

On Thursday I was scheduled to run 5 miles; I had a plan to squeeze it in between work and our 6:00 softball game. But at 4:30, I just felt totally worn out. I decided to take Thursday off and run on Friday. (Friday was supposed to be the off day.)

On Friday, I left work at 4:00 and went to Gilruth for a 5-mile treadmill run, only to find once I got in the locker room and pulled out my stuff that while I had packed shorts and a shirt, I had no socks and no sports bra. Hmph. Some friends/coworkers were going to afore-mentioned happy hour in Kemah at 5:30 and I’d told Jose that I’d have to be late because of my run. After the lack of suitable workout clothes, annoyed with myself and still tired, I said “screw it” and we went to the bar on time. I figured another day off would do me good.

On Saturday, my schedule called for an 8-mile run, but I didn’t want to do a long run the day before the duathlon. Jana, the woman in charge of our tri training program, suggested doing an easy 15-mile bike ride instead, and I had every intention of doing just that — until time got away from me. I’d planned to head out in the late afternoon, but next thing I knew I was headed to Galveston with a large group for some quality putt-putt and pizza. Workout plans down the drain, and I chalked it off to one more day of rest.

So yes, Vic, I took three days off. Rather unintentionally, actually, but in retrospect I think it was a good move. It’s back to my regularly scheduled training this week, however, beginning with a 4-mile run tonight.