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June 4, 2009
Drama!
Oh I have had the most dramatic last twenty-four hours, and it all revolves around training. Since most of my readers are runners or triathletes you can probably relate to my dramatic encounters, and I am so annoyed that I need to vent about them, so I will relate them here.
Drama Number One - Last night, 6:00 pm, the outdoor pool at my fancy gym
I often get my long swims out of the way in the evenings even though the swim team is taking up all but two lanes, because I am slow and it takes a long time for me to swim 5000 meters. And I do not love taking 2 and a half hour lunches or waking up at 5:00 am! What can I say, I am just weird. I do sometimes have to share a lane for part of my swim which is not a big deal. The procedure (which is in fact POSTED in several places at the gym) for lane sharing is that the person who wants to share should ask and then split the lane.
So last night there I was, swimming along, almost done with a 1000. Literally in the last lap. All of a sudden about halfway down the pool some old guy swims right into me! I am totally freaked out and stop, take off my goggles, and look at him in distress. WTF!! He does not apologize but says 'Hi, can I share your lane?' I said 'well yes but you need to ask first!! You can't just run into someone!' Of course apparently for not being delighted by my crash I am a nasty lady so he gets really bent out of shape with me. Um, really? You RUN INTO ME and then you think I'm the jerk here? You must be joking. I carry on and luckily he is about as serious a swimmer as I thought so he is gone by the time I finish my 800. I finish my workout without further incidents, thank heavens, and head home for a nice evening.
Drama Number Two - This morning, 7:00 am, the outdoor track at the middle school about 1.5 miles from my work, in a fancy neighborhood
This morning I headed down to work, left my car, and trotted over to the track at the nearby middle school for my track workout. I was having a really solid workout - feeling strong and running fast! I started at 6:30 pace and by the time I was doing my final 2 x 200 meters I was running a little under 5:45 pace I think (I am bad at math). When I was about done with my first 200 I saw an older man come to the track with his little dog and take it off its leash. Hmm, I thought, well if he is not the only person here and he lets the dog off its leash it must be well-behaved. So I start my last 200 and hope the dog ignores me.
Sadly this did not happen. I was about 85 meters into the 200, fully in pain, and all of a sudden the dog runs at me and stops directly in front of me. I am really lucky it didn't bite me - little dogs always make me really nervous because I've been bitten and almost been bitten several times. I yell out 'Excuse me, please get your dog!' and try to keep going. The dog then runs along side me for maybe 25 meters, gets in front, and stops again. I stop and run around it. At this point I am running fast enough that I can get to the end of my 200 without having to stop again. The old guy is just slowly jogging towards his dog - in lane one, because clearly that is a good lane for slow jogging - saying 'Poppy, poppy, come here please'. He does not apologize of course. The funny thing was that as I kept jogging, because I did not want to stop for long enough to be bitten, the dog kept following me at a much faster pace than his owner was running, so that was kind of amusing.
Now this is actually even worse than drama number one to me for a few reasons. First of all, I could have easily injured myself (or the dog). Secondly, I do not think it's too much to ask if I think that people who are in their sixties should understand common courtesy, and if they understand it but fail to abide by it, they really should apologize and not act like I am in the wrong. Third of all, REALLY?! Two times in twelve hours I have to deal with this?
Anyway I am off my soapbox. I do feel better though, there is nothing like a good vent to get all that negative energy out of my system. And now I am focusing on the positive!! In fact here is a list of awesome positive stuff that is going on right now:
- I totally had an awesome track workout this morning! I am running faster each week and I am feeling more fit each week. I think I will be back to running mostly 6:00 pace in no time which is great!
- I am getting used to swimming 5000 meters. In fact it really isn't that bad. I feel strong and my arms look fully jacked which is great.
- I had a great speed workout on the bike yesterday morning. It is finally warm enough to start riding outside in the mornings which is awesome for my schedule!
- I have just about done enough this week to guarantee myself a day off from training tomorrow! That will be super convenient since I do not want to leave Beth to amuse herself at my house while I go off and train, and days off are awesome!
- Speaking of that, Beth is coming to town tomorrow morning!! Hooray! Oh I just cannot wait.
- Beth will be in town for TRI CAMP!!! I am so excited!! I have not been to camp in years and years. It is going to be so fun!!
- I am racing in just over two weeks! Bring it on, I am READY! I am getting that itch in my bones and my mind that says I need to RACE. I need to see my hard work start to pay off. I am fired up!
- I am seeing improvements in the pool and I really think that some day I will reach my crazy goal. I can see a 45-second 50, it is so close. That is a huge step towards a 90-second 100 and after that I just need to build another 5 seconds in for rest and I will be able to do 5 by 100 on 1:30.
- Life is generally awesome. It has been raining which means it is green and beautiful here. I get to spend hours a day outside doing stuff that I love. Life is good!!
Accentuate the positive, and laugh off the negative, readers!
Posted by barb at June 4, 2009 10:01 AM
Comments
"Accentuate the positive, and laugh off the negative, readers!"
I am posting, because I thought about this and you all day at work. You cannot laugh off the negative. It doesn't leave. It remains. You actually have to look at it and deal with it. It made me sad, because I know these are some hard miles. I felt better later in the day, when I was thinking this is "Hard Working Barb" She has done a lot of hard miles already. She will come out great.
One more thing. I say this, because it is important to me. I am glad you are one of the bloggers I follow, since my initial Sunday of blog reading.
All my best!!!
Posted by: Steve at June 8, 2009 2:57 PM