sunday, fun day

Ohhh, I had such high hopes for getting a lot of work done today. Nope.

Watched my friends kick butt in the Denver Marathon today - 2nd and 3rd (okay, chip time 4th by 1 second!) women overall in stellar times for an altitude marathon. Pretty fun zooming around the city on my bike. Another friend ran a smart race in the Half, so I am happy for her. There were all of thousands and thousands of people hanging around Civic Park and I just *happened* to walk by her as she was chilling after her race. Crazy. AND, back East three other friends ran well during a Nor'easter at the Bay State Marathon in Lowell. Congrats to all! Gulp. That means I'm next. :O

Wasted time for awhile and did easy homework I didn't have to do.

Then, I got dressed up and with to Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Student tickets are $5. I heard one of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos, the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini and Isle of the Dead. And, then a little prelude or something as the encore. As Dad says after concerts where they play from the romantic era (Chopin, Rach., etc.), "Well, that was lush." What a treat.

Then it was necessary for me to roast pumpkin seeds and, of course, go for my easy recovery run around Wash Park.

A good day, but pathetic work-wise. Going to bed now so I can have solid work in the morning at school before it gets loud/crowded/busy. Wish me luck! Here's to a GREAT week ahead...

Week Runs

Okay, this was a "down" week in the training. It also, coincidentally, happened to be a hard week at school. So, that made it even more puny running-wise. Sigh. I just keep reminding myself the marathon is but one thing ... I can't train like I used to when I had a less-stressful job with normal hours... or when I ran with a whole team of people ... or. or. All these excuses! Here is what the week was:

Sunday - 0, beloved rest day!

Monday - 9, tempo. In the dark night.

Tuesday - 8

Wednesday - 6

Thursday - 4

Friday - 8, in the dark, after work.

Saturday - 13, trail. Felt very stiff and tight hamstring after the week and flat runs. I thought the massive up hill (and by up hill I mean up MOUNTAIN) would stretch out those muscles from the boring flat. Also, soft trail, beautiful with the sun and mid 60/50s up the mountain would do me good. ESPECIALLY after dropping a mere $560 to get my car fixed for 4 hours this morning. Alas, such is life.

Total: 48.

Average Friday

Fridays are my "I'm exhausted" day. But, they are also my calming, centering day. I go to my internship all day, sit in a nice chair, on the 27th floor of the WTC with a fabulous view of Denver and the entire Front Range. I love my coworkers and my work is interesting/teaches me a lot. I really enjoy going there and look forward to Fridays.

So, just my average Friday: wake up, get to work around 8:15. Call Dad on the way to the bus, then proceed to ignore creepy men staring at me on the bus. Be excited when Jinhong gets in (late, usually). Work until Noon. Lunch break - noodles at XO with Jinhong. So fun! And, lunch special is a huge bowl that we usually split for only $8. I looove having a friend to split big meals with. Restaurants always serve too much - and then you don't want to pay, or eat them old, or carry around a box/bag all day.

Then, tee hee hee, a trip to Nike store on the way back to work. I actually went to get two items. They didn't have one, but I got the other (and a clearance sports bra. Now I can throw away the oldest one I have, which has lasted me these last ELEVEN years.). I got some arm warmers! I've thought these things were great for a long time now. I don't like the restriction of teeshirts, especially long-sleeve. I also tend to be a *ahem* New England runner, who likes to race/run in a little clothing as possible (well, I am modest). AND, club racing shirts are usually just tank tops, so your arms get chilly all flapping out in those February races. Anyway, I think they are great, so I got 'em. If the marathon is cold I will wear them. Last year, Philly Marathon was in the 30s! Good thing Colorado was about 23-25 degress last weekend. Good practice. Here is a picture of the clearance sports bra and the arm warmers I got. That's right, I can only hope they look as hardcore on me as they do on Kara Goucher.



Anyway, stayed at work until 5:15, got home around 5:45 and called Grandma. Then, out for a run. Truth be told, the run was just "eh." It's been one of those weeks were I have to remind myself that I just do my best with the training plan and realize that I have a lot of other things going on. Shower, grocery store, cook dinner while listening to the news and finally ate dinner around 10 p.m. I'm pooped.

Sigh. I did no work.

Off to bed - car appointment at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow in Aurora. Bon soir.

Denver, minus one

So, I finished class at 7:15 and headed to the library to finish some reading. I know, pretty cool on Thursday night. I left the library around nine, got work for the weekend (so I don't have to go back to that building) and walked to my car with a friend (a friend!). From here it gets worse. No food in my refrigerator, and I am too pooped to go shopping and cook. I went to 4 places, drove all over the place just trying to get dinner. Everything in this "city" closes so early! 9:00 p.m. and I can't find dinner anywhere. Of course, bars are open with hamburgers and stuff, but I don't eat meat or want that crap for dinner. Sigh. Seriously, I gave up and was going to order from this really bad Chinese food place near me. I pulled around, was backing up to parallel park and someone behind me pulled into the spot. That was the last I could stand. I actually said aloud to myself, " I just want to eat dinner! Is that too much to ask? I hate it here!" Tears welled up (okay, overreaction, I know). It's all so pathetic- I have to stay at school until 9 p.m. I can't find an open place to get a measly bite to eat. I don't have anyone to eat with, anyway. And, I probably shouldn't spend money on eating out.

Just forget it. I'm going to bed.

Love

Yesterday I went to dim sum with a friend from grad school. He's Korean, was a journalist in China and is now studying for his PhD in International Studies. Mid meal, he answered his cell phone. He spoke calmly in Korean and even his "mmms" were caring, so I knew it was someone in his family. He mentioned before that his father passed away, so I guessed it might be his mother. After he got off he said, "That was my mom." I asked what she said and he responded, "She called because she had a nightmare." I don't know why, but that struck me as particularly moving. Somewhere across the world, in the middle of the night, a woman called her grown son just to hear his voice after awaking from a nightmare. That is love.