Training - Day 3

Training Day 2 was:
5:30 am - Gym (didn't go)
7:00 am - 5 mile run (didn't go)

Instead, I ran with dogs - totalling more than 5 miles.

Now it's 8:45 am and Training Day 3 holds more dogs in the horizon. I hope to take a break to get to the gym, but it's not likely.
I snapped this picture yesterday when I was walking dogs around the lake. It's the boat ramp where the Reston Triathlon starts. I stared at this spot for a few seconds and thought about what it would be like to start the triathlon in this weather and that's pretty much how I feel about my training!

2:41 pm: After just finding out on Friday that our heavy-hitting Falls Church dog exerciser and manager had taken another job (as of Friday!), today we learned our other reliable and heavy hitting exerciser in Reston has decided to flee back to corporate life. This is what I hate about this business, the never-ending staff rotation. These cycles are exhausting because inevitably I'm tripling my workload - adding into the mix the hiring and training of new people as well as actually being out with dogs all day.

Dinner and Beyond

My dinner - it's not how it tastes, but how it looks that counts: Salad topped with grilled portobello mushroom fingers, wasabi coated wild salmon, twice-cooked seasoned new potatoes.

My life: Still working on DogOn Fitness and it's 8:22 pm. Owning my own business - especially one that deals in customer service - is a lot of work. Usually I enjoy it - but sometimes it's wearing. We are constantly having to hire new people. Our Falls Church manager left us (needed to support his family on a better salary) and created a huge gap that I'm trying to fill. And now I've noticed we need people all over because suddenly I'm out with the dogs again. I prefer to run the business to running dogs. So I've put an ad on Craig's list and am starting that process all over - reading through a bunch of email ad responses and responding to likely candidates of which 1/3 will write back - what do they do, wake up and change their minds? I don't get it.

Maybe 2 will interview and I might hire one. I'm very picky and sometimes people decide the job is not for them after doing it once or twice. One person, I'll call her Emily Ozar - okay, that's her real name - went through training and took dogs out on her own once. She was scheduled to take more dogs and never came back, called, emailed, responded to calls or emails, nor ever contacted us again. Weird.

Training - Day 1

I decided to get more serious about my training today. It's so easy to get lazy in the winter. But with so many events looming in my future, I thought I better get started.

Some of my friends who are doing the same Half-Ironman as I in August (Timberman) hired a trainer who has them on schedule. This makes me panic, which is why I'm getting going and which is why I decided to follow their swim drill today. This is what it is (from memory):
10-minutes warm-up
8X50
1. Left arm down - swim back
2. Right arm down - swim back
3. Fists down - swim back
4. Catch-up down - swim back
6x75 Freestyle (I think) <-- Why doesn't he just say 9 laps ?
4X50 anything but freestyle
4x25
1. both legs kick
2. Kick Left side
3. kick right side
4. Kick back
Cool Down 10 minutes
This was supposedly 3/4's of a mile - I was in the pool longer than when I swim a mile though..something like 55 minutes. And, I honestly have no idea what I was supposed to do. Their were 20-second rests mentioned all over the sheet, which I took to mean in-between drills, but now think they must go in-between sets of laps. Also, I have no idea what a "fists down" swim is (I just swam freestyle with fists instead of my hands open) and thought I would never get across the pool on the last 4X25's. Just kicking with no other help is the most inefficient swim I've ever done. Maybe I should have employed a kick board??? I cut those short actually because it was taking too long to get across the pool.

That's it for my start of training. Tomorrow? Gym then running.

Off to lunch and the doggies.

The McIntosh's Cat

I didn't sleep very well last night. I kept thinking about my mother and her cat. She's been worried to the point of tears about her cat's family. I can't figure out why she's so anxious and no matter what I tell her, she's only temporarily satisfied. I decided last night I would write her a letter from the cat's family.

As I spun through what I'd write in the letter, I remembered a short story I wrote when I was 6, the McIntosh's Cat. It went something like this: "'Look' said Ann Brooks, 'there goes the McIntosh's cat.' 'It is a good cat' said Mother. 'It is a very good cat' said Ann Brooks."

I wrote that story around the time my mother remarried and changed her name to Brooks. My sister and I were stranded with the name McIntosh, which had no relation to anyone we knew, so I imagine my cat story was communicating some of my confusion about those times.

I wonder if my mother is feeling the same things?

"Dear Ruth - Aunt Carol says you're taking good care of Kitty Kat. We are so happy you've taken her in as your own family. We will not be able to come see her because we live a long way from your house. You are a very good person and we know Kitty Kat is safe with you. Love, the McIntosh's"

Waking up on Saturday on Water's Edge Lane

Okay, first of all, I hate my neighbor Tim. I know that sounds unneighborly. But he's a constant reminder of all the things I'm not. This morning, for example, he woke me up banging doors on his hasty exit to the Reston Runners Saturday run. I'm convinced he was deliberately showing me up.

By the time his car pulled out of the lot (I heard that too), I already knew what Tim was thinking: Carol's a fat, back-of-the pack sloth. He knew I was hunkered down in my warm blankets, only dreaming of running. He was probably smirking at my transgressions. Runners are like that and I was certain Tim was rushing to get out so he could announce to the whole club that I was still in bed

By this time, I was so worked up about Tim's going to the run, I decided I may as well get up myself and consider putting in some mileage.

That's all I feel like writing about my morning. Tim will be 50 on Monday.

Selling My Bat on eBay

The other day I cleaned out my jewelry box, a childhood gift from my mother and respository of saved things forever. Inside, aside from jewelry, I found a treasure-trove of important life moments: my learners permit; my college ID card; my Brownie Fly-up wings; my Summer Camp friendship necklace; my best-friends ring from Jackie; an envelope with a snippet of hair and a note, "I licked this when I was 10"; a card once taped to my dormroom door, "Run Babe, Trip"; and a fluff of fur from my cat Puffins.

And then there's the Bat. I made it when I was 8 with a Mattel Creepy Crawler Set I got for my birthday. I loved that toy. I used to crank-out artfully made creepy things to sell to strangers. I don't think anyone ever bought one and if they did, I'm sure my mother made me give their money back. She never really appreciated my entrepreneurial spirit.

So I decided to sell my Bat on eBay and see if there are any takers. I think my 8-year old self would appreciate my efforts and support. I've specifically added a NO RETURN policy to my listing and started the bidding off at a much higher price than my mother would approve of. I think it's worth it.

View from Here

After I finish this blog entry, I'm going to start cleaning up the mess I call my life. Everything seems broken, missing, or disorganized. None of my Microsoft Office applications work; I have closets full of clothes I haven't worn since the 90's, most of what's behind doors or in drawers is a clutter of stuff I've forgotten I own.

This worries me because I wonder if this is an early sign of dementia. My mother is so busy cluttering up her life, I feel tired and drained being around her. Her stuff fills the spaces in my life too. And then there's the clutter of dead relatives lives - - all this bad energy.

Also, today I need to get serious about training for all the ambitious events I've committed to in 2007:

• the National Marathon in March
• Cherry Blossom in April
• Timberman Half-Ironman in August.

Yikes!

Lazy Saturdays

I crave a blissfully uneventful morning of crossword puzzles, coffee, cooking shows, and calm. When did Saturday stop being a lazy weekend day? When was there ever enough time in the world to spend moments of a day doing nothing?

I haven't figured out whether time speeds up when there is little left to wonder about, the moments of a day slipping by unattended, or if its our rapidly changing world that accelerates time for everyone.

Whatever the matter, time seems too precisous to waste on a single insignificant thing.

Friends From the Past

The phases of my past life shift in and out of each other; My twenties. My college years. My Memphis days. At the time, it never seems that any phase is happening at all, just muddling through ordinary life. Then something triggers a memory - the location, people, music, smells, or other transient events from that period - and a phase is born.

My friend, Bev, is visiting from Memphis. I guess she's from my "Memphis Phase", though she really wasn't a part of my time outside of work. In my "Memphis Phase" I moved from my 30's to 40's, started a more deliberate exercise routine, was actively involved in the emergence of online communication and text messaging on a regular basis (since I had few friends in Memphis and not much to do), lost much that was close to me, found and rescued many, many stray dogs and cats.

This all comes back to me in waves.

Way Past Bedtime

I was just winding down into PJs and a book when my phone rang - my parent's neighbors calling that my father had been yelling for an hour. I rushed up in my PJs to see what the matter was - my dad had fallen getting into bed and was on the floor. Poor dad. My mother was helpfully telling him to stop yelling. She's been waiting for her cat's family to come get her (I'm not sure if the cat's family is feline or not or why they are coming to get her). What a nightmare my dad's life must seem to him.
It was a struggle to get my dad off the floor and into bed.

That's it. Now to bed for sure. 11:31.

Morning Coffee

It's almost 9:30 am and all I've done this morning is Google searches on "DogOn Fitness". I found some interesting references but also discovered my pay-per-click Google ad is being placed on pages generated by Web-Crawlers for the purpose of earning money from clicks. No wonder the monthly Google bill is so high without much business generated from Google.

Here are some of the legitimate links I found:
http://petcentric.com/article.aspx?C=0&OID=92

http://www.chatgoldens.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13733

http://wwwthepeoplepro.blogspot.com/ (scroll down to find DogOn Fitness).

Time to get ready for doggies.

Snowy Day

It took me a while to figure out how to sign-on to this blog since establishing an account 3 months ago. I feel like my life is ruled by user-ids and passwords. How much time do I waste trying to recover these things?

A good invention: a device that holds all this info but can only be accessed with a thumb impression. Better, this device connects to a computer and once you've supplied your thumbprint, will automatically log-in to appropriate accounts.

Today I was out with Dan, the writer-to-be, walking Beau, a yellow lab. We talked about how keeping a journal could make a book a reality so I've decided to start keeping up with my journaling.

Thanks Dan.

By the way, I loved the JFK-50 and finished in 11 hours. I'll definitely do it again.