Spoiled Little Brat

That's what I am...at least when it comes to swimming.

After swimming exclusively last season in my lovely 25-meter pool I am now nearly unable to return to the mini-pool after loving me some lane time at Wilson Aquatics. 50-meter pools rule!

Last night due to a scheduling change I worked out at Rockville Aquatics. What a buzz-kill. The 25 meter deep-end lanes were actually depressingly short. I never really felt like I could get into a groove. Added bummer that there were 2 to a lane and everyone insisted on splitting the lane vs. circling swimming. That caused me to somewhat regularly lose my orientation while doing backstroke or have to slow down so that I wasn't turning at the same time as my compadre.

Medical Mystery Solved

After not feeling great on-and-off for a few weeks I finally discovered the problem --- or the enodontic did to be more specific.

I bailed on my dentist and went straight to a specialist. Wow...she was fantastic!

The diagnosis was that I had an unhappy tooth and as a result was lucky enough to enjoy some lunchtime drilling courtesy of an unexpected root canal.

Oddly enough, it wasn't as horrible as I expected. Granted half my mouth was numb and I was afterwards provided horse-sized painkillers.

It's been a week and all my major symptoms are gone. All in all I was glad to have found the problem and am looking forward to never seeing my old dentist again.

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Strange things happen in the fog

I have been looking forward to my Sunday ride along Coastal Hwy all weekend. The weather reports all said it was going to be bright, sunny and warm. Sadly, the front moved slower than expected and I ended up riding in the fog, cold and wind. Poo!

I headed out for an out-and-back to the Indian River Inlet Bridge. My riding shirt, shorts and windbreaker were barely enough coverage to keep me from constantly shivering. Boo...my planning was not great today.

It was a pretty desolate ride with only 2-5 other riders on the route, but quiet can be good.

By the time I turned around at the inlet the wind had picked up and I was now riding into a full chilly head wind. Brilliant.

To top it off, 10 miles from home the fog rolled in and I literally could only see 25 feet in front of me. From the pix above you can see the fog rolling in and completely covering the bridge in the background. Freaky.

Under the heading of everyone thinks they're funny, but most of the time they are just idiots --- as I was riding back, an SUV swerved toward me and the passenger screamed out the window. They thought they were hilarious to startle me and cause me to swerve away from them. I guess that's the type of entertainment a group of fucking morons thinks is funny.

On the much lighter side --- through the fog I saw a very, very tall and husky man run out into the street and start talking to people in passing cars. I thought, "that's bizarre." As the man turned in profile I thought, "that's no man!!!" It was actually The Phillie Fanatic who was visiting the beach with a big group of Philly fans.

As I rolled by their party (complete with news cameras) the Fanatic opened his arms to greet me. I gave him a high five and a kiss. He hung on to my hand as I started peddling down the street and as a result he literally ran behind me for a minute. So, so very funny and totally unexpected.

Like I said...the fog does funny things.
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Things that go bump in the night..or the day

Those closest to me know that I have an odd tendency to bump into just about everything --- walls, signs, people, etc. I regularly stub my toe, cut a corner too tight or trip over curbs.

I'm not sure if I'm just overly klutzy, don't pay attention or just have no spatial senses.

Oddly enough I've never broken a bone, but do regularly sport some cool bruises.

With all this in mind, it was no surprise that while running down Coastal Hwy this morning I slowed to adjust my iPod and rammed right into a metal sign hanging off an electrical pole.

Nice. That's gonna leave a bruise.

Out of commission

It's been nearly 48 hours and I am finally starting to feel better. I have no clue what sort of super bug got me...but boy did it get me.

Clearly somewhere on my recent trip to NYC earlier this week I picked up this critter that knocked me on my ass. Literally. I slept for nearly 17 hours in one day and haven't felt this weak since I was in the hospital many years ago.

I'm looking forward to being back to normal, out of this bed and out of my pjs.

Amp it up

Who would have thought that nearly a year ago I bought my Cannondale and in that time I've come a long way. I actually look forward to grabbing my gear and heading out for a ride.

On Sunday I headed out for the 17-mile Ag Farm loop that I used to frequent last summer. I was pleasantly surprised that I was more comfortable on the bike, navigating around, shifting, stopping and overall my fitness was much better. Who would have thunk it!

After the 17 mile loop we rolled home and unexpectedly opted to do a few hill repeats up a neighboring hill. Let me say that it was quite a hill. Though my legs and lungs were burning after the fourth ascent, it felt good to add some stress so that there was no mistake about it --- it's time to take this a little more seriously and amp it up.

A little give and take

Since I wasn't running in the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler this year I decided to volunteer my time and thereby guaranteeing that I will have a bib next year. Score!

As luck would have it the only volunteer spots available by the time I signed up were on race morning. That meant that I awoke blurry eyed at 4:30 am so that I could get down to the race well before the 6:00 am crowd arrived.

I was stationed at last minute packet pick-up to help those who did not have an opportunity to stop by the expo on Friday or Saturday.

Here's the deal people --- don't ever wait until race morning to pick up your stuff. I saw a number of stressed out runners freaking out as they heard their wave being called and they were still attaching their bib to their t-shirts and they had not yet had a chance to drop off their stuff at bag-down. Stress!

I for one have to have everything laid out and ready to go the night before or else I probably wouldn't be able to sleep.

All in all, I'm glad I helped. I encountered lots of very nice and grateful people that morning.
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