Weird...

I was running the other day on rocky, windy trails in the woods. It was the site of my heroic and horrific spill this summer. I was running around, flying around corners and hopping over uneven ground. I was moving slowly, but with all the obstacles and hills I couldn't safely move any faster, so I could forgive my snail's pace. After about an hour of scaring off squirrels and chipmunks hiding in the underbrush I stopped to walk a bit and recharge my battery. As I usually do when I'm nervous or have nothing to do with my hands I started poking my stomach to see if 6 pack abs had materialized while I wasn't paying attention (as of yet, this has not happened). I tried to flex and was met with a funny feeling. It was kind of like a tingly weakness, like... fatigue? I contracted again to make sure. Hey wait, I think they've already been flexed this whole time! It's true! Running DOES work your abs! Suddenly I've found a worthwhile reason to run!

On a Separate Note

Job hunting has been grueling, taking up 6-10 hours of every day, but yesterday after 2 telephone interviews, 2 follow-up phone calls, sending in a new resume, and a confirmation email about another interview, I found myself with the afternoon off. I had only a dollar in my pocket and my dad wasn't home, so there wasn't much I could do outside the house. I sat down to watch TV, but in 500+ channels I couldn't find anything that I wanted to watch. So you know what I did? (Holds hands in front of face in shame) I watched FitTv! I did about 1/2 an hour of something that I think was called Caribbean Workout which reminded me of why I never do aerobics: I'm always that chick who can't for the life of her figure out the steps. There's one in every aerobics class who just stands there twirling and thrashing, looking helplessly at her classmates' feet trying desperately to catch up while everyone stares in awe and morbid curiosity at the freak in the mirror that can't do a grape vine with her arms above her head. That chick's me. Then, a heavily-muscled hulk with an accent named Gilad came on (with his mom) and made me punch my way to stronger abs, back, and biceps. I could follow through the "jab, jab, hook, jab, uppercut" after a little practice, but after that I got lost and wound up thrashing even worse than in Caribbean Workout. And why are all these programs filmed on the beach? When was the last time you went to the beach and saw half a dozen people in leotards doing kick-boxing on a 10'x6' rubber mat? When was the last time you brought YOUR rubber mat to the beach (or any public place for that matter) to do "V-step right, V-step left, squat!"? But the worst thing about FitTV was the commercials! This is to be expected, but still! I'm fascinated by commercials and what they say about their target audiences, but I was a little bit insulted that the only ads were for Kashi cereal (okay), Weight Watchers (to be expected), Jenny Craig (no surprise there), diabetes medication (well that's good, hopefully this network is making a difference in someone's life), medications with a side effect of weight loss (now that's getting a bit fucked up), and Botox (now I'm scared). I turned off the tube and picked up a book before Blaine's Low Carb Kitchen.

First *real* ride in New England

My bike got put back together just fine (most of the work done by me thank you very much!), and on Wednesday I took it out for a ride. This was the first ride in a long time, and my first real training ride ever in Massachusetts. Here are some sights and thoughts from my ride:

I had 2 major squirrel encounters. #1) I was riding on one of those rail-to-trail deals that had a fair number of road crossings. At one of these intersections I had to stop to let some cars go by. While I was waiting I heard a rustle, rustle, rustle getting closer and closer. Then I heard THWACK! as a squirrel fell out of a tree about one foot from my right shoulder and scrambled off. #2) About 20 minutes later, a little farther up the road I saw an albino squirrel, complete with red eyes and everything. It ran away before I could take a picture, so it's not a really interesting story, but don't criticize unless you have a better story about an albino squirrel.

Why is it that colors are so much brighter in the afternoon when you have sunglasses on? Right now the leaves are all these bright reds and oranges and greens. On top of that, the sun was starting to set and there were some bright blues and pinks in the sky. Right before this picture was taken a wedge of Canada geese flew south overhead. I took out my new handy-dandy camera phone (the day after I bought it I saw that Marie Claire magazine called it "So 2005") and snapped a picture. The picture just makes it look old and faded and all the bright colors I was seeing in my sunglasses just look kind of pukey here.

I saw a whole pack of shirtless, skeletal high school cross country runners bounding by. I was so jealous. For them it looks so effortless and they seem to fly, barely touching the ground. My running style is less like a gazelle and more like a water buffalo with low self esteem. Also, today I rode along the Charles River, where everyone from Cambridge and Boston seem to do their long runs on Sundays. It was so inspiring to see those people prancing along the path at lightning speeds, I wanted to ditch my bike where I was and run away with them. I wish I could figure out how to run like the wind. But then, every time I put on my running shoes and stomp away in my "sullen bovine" stance I feel like semi truck in a NASCAR race.

Be careful with Polar bike computer sensors (the part that goes on the spoke). You might think that the reason the computer isn't working is that you need to move the sensor. Then you might decide that perhaps it is moving around on the spoke and the screw needs to be tightened. (Here is where you must be careful) If you tighten that screw super-tight you might crack the plastic. When you realize that you've put the sensor on one of the spokes leaning away from the sensor you'll feel like an idiot, but not as much of an idiot as you'll feel like 10 seconds later when you take it back off and a piece of the sensor falls on the ground. Black is not an easy color to find in little tufts of grass at the side of the path, especially when it's a 1/8th of an inch piece of plastic. You will then realize that your sensor, and hence your bike computer are useless. You will ride away cursing the bike shop and writing the compelling speech you will make the next day to the manager which will result in a new, free bike computer. You will be riding along at 80 miles per hour, fueled by anger when you will tuck your head down to catch your breath and notice that the quick release is not on the side it is usually on. Then you might finally realize why the sensor wasn't working. You will feel like a complete idiot as you put together that when you took the bike out of the car, you put the front wheel on backwards; and had you NOT done that you wouldn't have broken your computer, which now you are going to have to replace out of your own pocket. And you would be right in feeling like a fool.

Sorry I don't have much else to talk about. I've been a bit uninspired recently as job searching has taken up much of my mental energy.

On a side note: does anyone know any blogger cyclists or triathletes in the Boston area? I really need a training partner, or at least someone who knows where the common routs are. I can't seem to think of anything more than a few miles that doesn't take me on a highway. At the very least if I spy on a fellow blogger I might be able to find some cool places to go. Any suggestions?

Nobody read Bob's blog anymore

Some bloggers just don't know how to act. This is my official response to Bob Almighty's comment from my last post, which read:

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and yes to answer the big question the Red Sox still suck.

I realize that I have a lot of misguided New Yorkers who might read my blog, but let me clarify an important point that Bob has confused.

Yankees Suck!

It's not about baseball, I don't even like baseball. It's about pride. It's about how if you go to a Dropkick Murphys concert in Boston instead of just screaming for an encore the audience will bust into a chant of "YAN-KEES-SUCK! YANK-EES-SUCK!" It's about principles. It's about how the agents of players who weren't going to be traded or who were promised to the Red Sox disappear into back rooms with Steinbrenner's people and suddenly are traded to the Yankees. It's about waiting till a Sox player makes it big, and then sucking him into the Yankees just as he's peaking. It started with Babe Ruth, almost 100 years ago, and then Clemens (who's still going strong thanks to *ehem* the wonders of modern medicine), A-rod, and others I can't remember right now because I don't really follow baseball. It's about how the Yankees always blow the first half of the season because their in-season doping regimen hasn't kicked in yet, and then they overtake the Red Socks come playoff time because the Red Sox are clean and play every game with a shining halo over their head. Yeah, I said it!

Like I said, it's not about baseball. New York, you think you're so great down there with your millions of people, with your tall buildings, with your sand-wich-es, with your Wall Street and Broadway and 5th Avenue, China Town and Little Italy, but you're not so special. We have tall buildings too, we have lobster rolls, we have a financial district and a theater district just like you, we have Newbury Street, our very own China Town, and the North End. Does a Green Monster have your back in Yankees Stadium? And have you ever had a tea party? Do you have New Kids on the Block? Do you have David E. Kelly?! Yeah, no, I didn't think so.
But I can understand a New Yorker who's a Yankees fan. It would be like someone born into the Jehovah's Witnesses, it's not your fault that your people are annoying. What I think is pathetic is when someone from Connecticut (Bob Almighty), or New Jersey (my dad), or God forbid BOSTON (my best friend's sister's boyfriend) can't find a better team to rout for.
(Unfortunately I couldn't find the clip where NOMAAAAAH guest starred on a Sully & Denise sketch, so we're stuck with Britney).

Note: Things have been kind of crazy with the move and the job search. Blogs will continue, but not with the same regularity until I have more to talk about.