Monday, August 27, 2007

Last Busy Weekend

Well, this was the last busy weekend of the summer. Sigh. We had our last canoe race of the year on Saturday. It was awesome - we took 8 minutes off last year's time and that was with a nasty headwind. (Yes, two extremely windy races in a row. Ouch.) In addition, I somehow reinjured my wrist two days before. Amazingly enough I was still able to paddle. My wrist certainly isn't happy with me today, though.

MomTook was supposed to come up in the afternoon, but because it was the first hot enough weekend day of the year, they had decided to put some turkey in the smoker and she had to watch it since Geritol was out. I ended up coming down for dinner. I had never had smoked meat before, and...wow. It was turkey breast, which is usually the driest meat on earth, but this stuff was so juicy and tender it practically fell apart. Yum! I got to take some home with me and I can't wait to make a sandwich with it.

Sunday was a monster hike up Noonmark. We ended up getting rained on, but made pretty good time. It was the longest hike I've done all year. My legs were killing me, but then I realized that I had run a ridiculous amount last week and my muscles needed a break. Hence today I will be only walking into town to buy VeggieSis's birthday gift.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Farewell, Fun Runs

Today was the last Fun Run of the season. Sigh. I did pretty well - did the 8K route in 42:01. It was a meatgrinder of a course. I do not exaggerate when I say that the entire first 4K was uphill, and not a gentle climb either. The one good thing is that it was an "out and back" route, so the entire second half was downhill, which is where I finally got ahead of a guy I had been chasing the entire first half. (Not by much though. He was only 30 seconds or so behind me at the end.) Everyone else was either way behind or way ahead of me, which has been the case most of the season - I'm a better than the casual runners, but nowhere near the raving lunatics. Lex Luthor said I did amazing for my first year, which is high praise coming from a hardcore runner like her.

It was just hard to believe that I won't see her, FakeGay, Coach Hottie, or the track teams till next July. It's also sad because it's the first summer activity to come to an end.

Not that I'm going to stop running anytime soon, of course. Even up here there's still plenty of warm enough weather to continue for quite a while before I take it inside.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Hump Day

I usually hate the phrase "hump day," but this week feels like I am indeed trying to get over a mountain and over to the downhill known as "the weekend." I can't believe it's only freakin' Wednesday. (The fact that it's cool and overcast doesn't help.)

Made my calls to the contractors yesterday. IronDad promised to show up this week. Turns out there was a nasty storm upstate so he's been by the border cleaning that up. Kermit the Kontractor still hasn't returned my voicemail.

Dr. Z and I got a new personal best around the lake last night - under 26 minutes to complete a lap. Yay! Of course, we almost got rammed by a couple who obviously didn't know how to steer a canoe. I canNOT wait for the tourists to leave. Two more weeks.

Tomorrow is the last fun run of the season, followed by Saturday being the last canoe race. I can't believe summer is coming to an end already!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

I Hate Contractors

Since nothing much happened yesterday, I'm going to bitch about contractors, this rant being brought to you by seeing Kermit the Kontractor's truck parked in SneakyNeighbor's driveway across the street.

First of all, I've been waiting since last OCTOBER for my tub to be fixed. Yes folks, I haven't had a bath in NINE MONTHS. (I DO shower, so save the BO comments.) I saw Kermit a couple weeks ago (only because I was outside about to go for my run and he was once again parked across the street, not because HE EVER CONTACTS ME) and he said he'd be around soon to fix the tub. STILL hasn't come. I know it's the busy season for contractors, but maybe he should have kicked Tony the Tub Guy's ass back in winter.

Secondly, IronDad STILL hasn't shown up to look at the two dead trees in my yard. It's been a MONTH. Once again, I know he's busy but godDAMN. Unfortunately, because he's also a friend I can't really yell at him.

In any case, I'm going to force myself to call both of them today.

Man, I have GOT to learn how to do this shit myself.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Blech...Monday

Had a ridiculously busy weekend. Friday night was Karate and italian with Dr. Z, as usual. Saturday was the toughest canoe race in my life. Not only was it freezing cold with windchills in the 40's, the wind was so bad that three boats capsized. And these were three hard-core racers who know how to paddle. The one other couple in our class beat us, but our terrible trim really sets us behind on windy days.

Got home late Saturday afternoon in time to have Celena pick up my old hand-powered lawnmower. It's nice to get it out of my yard now that I have an electric. Barely had time to eat supper and relax before the Mole called me. We hadn't talked in a while and ended up chatting for like two hours. By the time I got off the phone it was almost bedtime.

Yesterday was hiking. Unfortunately Dr. Z wasn't feeling well so we kept it short. (He, of course, was far too stubborn to call it off despite the fact that he's STILL sick today.) We chilled and watched television in the afternoon until I kicked him out to go have dinner with MomTook and BabySis. It was delish, the redone kitchen looks amazing, and it was great to see BabySis. Once again, I got home just in time to catch the season finale of Ice Road Truckers and then hit the hay.

So far it's been a quiet Monday. Thank God...I need the rest!

Friday, August 17, 2007

I Deserve a Good Paddling

Just spoke to Grace over at Mac's and my paddle will be ready for Dr. Z to pick up at noon. She still hasn't cut it - guess it's the whole Adirondack pace thing. (Considering I need it for tomorrow's race.)

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to having my own racing paddle. Not only will it be lighter and sized more appropriately than my old laminate one, it will be one less thing I have to borrow from Dr. Z.

Still haven't gone for a run. It's a beautiful cool, crisp day, which means I can give my legs a rest and go later without frying in the heat. (And yes, up here you can feel autumn and the leaves start changing in mid-August.)

Other than that, it's shaping up to be a quiet Friday, which is not a bad thing.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Hurlage

Just got back from the Fun Run. Although my time was still better than the last time we ran this particular course, my stomach was bothering me the entire time. And I, Pip, for the first time ever, crossed the finish line and puked. Yeppers. Hurlage. Blowing chunks. The technicolor yawn.

I think it was the popcorn. I ate a bag of microwave popcorn around three. I thought three hours would be plenty of time to digest, but I guess the "extra butter" part takes a bit longer.

In other news, I bought a graphite racing paddle after the Sundowner on Tuesday. Although they said "no problem" to getting it cut to size before Saturday's race, I STILL haven't heard back from them. Considering it's Thursday night and they're all the way out in Lake Clear, I am NOT impressed. I will have to call tomorrow. And most likely make a hell of a long trip. (Which is better than if they call and the damn thing's not ready.)

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Sigh

Well, it's been a shitty couple of days. Last night I got to Karate after reviewing kata all day for my brown belt test only to have Sensei pull me aside almost immediately. I thought it was to officially tell me that he'd be looking at me tonight, but turns out FakeDaughter thinks I've been hitting her too hard in the ring and doing it on purpose. Like I would have something against a twelve year old kid young enough to be my daughter. He told me he wanted to talk to me, her and Dr. Z after class, so I assumed the test was off.

Wrong-o. After being forced to run warm-up yet AGAIN and getting through class, turns out it's on. Too bad I failed for some unknown reason. I mean, last time this happened I forgot a kata, so at least I knew what I had to work on. This time, I did the katas I was asked, and thought I did pretty damn good at them. So after failing and trying to hold back tears, THEN I get to get yelled at for going too hard on FakeDaughter in the ring.

Then today I only knocked off 13 seconds from my 10K time despite the weather being that perfect cool and dry weather where personal bests are set. I know a big part of it is that my leg muscles are really sore, but between that, the bad race result on Sunday and last night's debacle it makes me wonder what the hell I'm spending an average of three hours a day training for.

Weeks like this just make me want to be a couch potato. Sigh.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Ack! TWO WEEKS?

Augh...can't believe it's been two weeks since I've updated. I have a legitimate excuse though. We had the rare dry hot spell all last week, so I used it to FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY stain the deck and porch. And now that I've gotten up close and personal with the sanding and staining, I can tell you that pressure-treated wood will indeed become water-damaged if not sealed. That wood just drank up the stain. It looks great though - I am really happy with it! However, it just took hours and hours to do, thanks to all the 2x2 railings. Exhausting!

In running, I had two awful weeks at the Fun Runs thanks mainly to the same heat. Finally got back up to speed (pun intended) tonight and cranked out 4.2 very hilly miles in 32:25. I definitely needed it as I was getting discouraged.

Had a canoe race on Sunday which marked the one year anniversary of my canoe racing. Unfortunately we were the last boat in. Sigh. We did knock four minutes off our time from last year, so I suppose that's something.

And in other athletic news, I must retire for the evening because there's a high probability that I will be TESTING FOR MY BROWN BELT TOMORROW. Insanity!