Boston Bound

I'm off to Boston for a week in the morning. It's hardly a pleasure trip: the goal is to try and bring some stability to my father's situation. My brother will be there too. I don't hold out much hope that we'll get everything resolved, but I hope at least that the three of us (my sister, brother, and I) will at least be able to agree on what needs to happen next.

I wish this weren't necessary, but it is. Perhaps once I get up there some of the dread will dissipate and I'll be able to get on the with the business of coping.

Wish me luck.

Setback

On Wednesday, I ran out to the Capital Crescent Trail to meet a friend who wanted to start her own run-walk routine. About 500 yards before our meeting spot, I stepped on a rock and turned the foot that I injured last summer. OW.

And of course I then proceeded to run three miles with her.

OW.

Now I'm worried that I've re-injured myself badly enough to need to take a chunk of time off.

Please, let it not be so. Please, please, please.

Comeback!

This morning was the Capitol Hill Classic 10K. As always, I was nervous the night before the run, so I didn't sleep as much as I should have. But I did hydrate yesterday and had a Powerbar and a sugar-free Red Bull about an hour before the race. Breakfast of champions, baby!

Here's the really good news: I did better at this race than I did at the Leesburg 10K last August, before I was injured.

Savor it, my friends! I did better. Words cannot express how happy this makes me. My injury is now officially behind me.

Okay, now for the embarassing statistics. In a field of 911 women, I came in... 847th. Seventh percentile. In my age group, 95th out of 112: 15th percentile. (The winner of my age group finished 6th among women, at a blistering 6:14 minute mile pace. 'Course she's six years younger than me!)

But for me, the key stat is that my pace today was 11:53 ~ 2/3 of a minute per mile FASTER than my Leesburg pace. I'm slow, but I'm less slow than last time! Woo-hoo! And actually, they calculate pace using gun time, not chip time (don't ask me why), so it was actually more like 11:20. Heh.

Coming up: Rockville Rotary Twilighter 8K on July 16, and the Leesburg 20K on August 14. I might do the occasional 5K in between just for giggles.

200 Miles

It's nice to have passed the 200 mile mark as I approach this weekend's Capitol Hill Classic. Now all I have to do is practice getting up early in the morning. (Ugh.)

And after the race, I need to buy some wider running shoes. My right foot is taking a squeezing.

Finger and Toes Crossed

After a bit of a stutter, it looks like I'm in bizniz, DSL-wise. I'll allow things to have a bit of a shake-out period, but I think I'm all okay.

Verizon Mac tech support "Daniel" gets credit for this one.

We Become What We Practice

My Dad thought it was cute to act like an old curmudgeon. He amused himself by pushing the buttons of others. He invested his entire sense of self in two perishables: his marriage and his work. The interior lives of others were of little interest to him. He was a handsome man, gifted, intelligent and capable of charm, and that took him a long way.

Now my father is falling apart. His body is collapsing, his mind disintegrating. His wife died; he lost the will to work. The cranky old curmudgeon act became the reality. The friends whose goodwill was rebuffed again and again eventually gave up and withdrew. He rehearsed being a loner; now, when he desperately needs it he doesn't know how to accept help.

As for me, my buttons were pushed too many times: I feel pity, but not love. Any act of kindness I do toward him will be abstractly, not personally, motivated. I will do my best to do the right thing.

I'm taking mental notes like mad. This is not what I want the last years of my life to look like. I need to pay attention to what I practice.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled complaining.

It's going to be another week of dial-up.

And that's the BEST news I've had today.

Riches

I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

While I rarely seem to run out of things to complain about, I clearly don't spend enough time counting my blessings.

I am so grateful for my many wonderful friends. God knows what I did to deserve you all.

My health is decent, I'm running again, I have a little money coming in. Trees and bushes and every plant that blooms are flowering. I can even get online.

I still have the opportunity to exercise my creative skills in work and at leisure, and they connect me to the world and other people in a precious and irreplaceable way.

I have occasions to serve and a faith community of which I'm humbly glad to be a member.

Truly, my cup runneth over.

Day of Rage

I woke up furious.
I was royally pissed off while eating breakfast.
I was infuriated all day at work.
I had road rage all the way home.
And now I'm sitting at home watching TV and seething.

I have no idea what this about.
But it makes me angry as hell.

Two steps forward, three back

Oy.

Now I'm on dial-up.
Because this freakin' switch-over is taking forever: Covad (Earthlink) won't let go of my telephone line.

So I'm enjoying the phone line tie-up of dial-up and generally tapping my toes impatiently until this is resolved. Grrrrrr.

Change of Address and Other Technical Difficulties

If you're a friend and you haven't received an email from me with change-of-email information, please contact me quickly at my old address and I'll make sure you have the new one.

I'm changing ISPs too, and am currently without internet connectivity at home. (Oh so inconvenient! I feel like I'm missing a hand!) I'm hoping I'll be up and running with the new DSL provider on May 4.

Bear with me through this transition, please.