Change of Pace

I actually got back about a week ago, but the combination of being around my sick brother and not sleeping enough and traveling on airplanes and sleeping in airports and kissing lots of strangers on the cheek left me with a icky, summer cold for all of this past week, so I barely had the energy to make it to work and home each day, much less think clearly enough to write a blog entry. I did however catch up on reading some of my friends' blogs, so that's something at least.

Cuba did not prove to be a running paradise this time around, though I did get in a couple of hot & steamy six milers while I was there. The track that I ran on last time has not been well maintained over the last 14 months and much of it was almost completely overgrown with weeds. And I remembered it being a fairly decent clay surface track! I did get another photo to add to the series I started last time though, Things That Run In Havana:

They're too similar to put them both in the series, so loyal readers, which is it...I was leaning towards the one with the barefoot boy closer to the viewer, but now I'm thinking the curvy seawall with the colorful bathing trunks is better. What do you think?

And if anyone's interested, I did manage to crank out an article about one aspect of my trip for work. I'd like to write more about some of the artists I met and interviewed while I was there, but that might have to wait until after my big move out west.

My mother was visiting this past weekend, so running and packing and fixing my disassembled kitchen sink all got put on the back burner so we could just have a fun, New York weekend full of nice meals, walks in the park, museums and theater. We're down to T-minus 13 days until I abandon this fair city, so it was really nice to just slow down and enjoy it before it's gone. After she headed back to Richmond though, I laced up the Asics and headed out to see what 12 miles would feel like.

It's actually something of a huge relief to report that it didn't feel bad at all. I finished up feeling quite fresh having run at a relatively brisk 8:15 pace on a warm summer evening, so I may not be the pathetic and disappointing 100-mile race pacer that I feared I might be three weeks from now. I don't know if running 35 miles as said pacer is realistic, but at least now I feel confident that 20+ miles is an easily doable goal. Besides, if my runner is suffering after running 80 miles or so, can't I provide a better level of support if I can truly feel her pain?

I'm still feeling somewhat overwhelmed by all the things that have to happen here before I leave, but I know one way or another, all the most urgent of them will get accomplished. My sink is now "sort of" fixed, except that the hot water only comes out as a trickle, but I'm hoping maybe Jack can tackle that project when he gets here right at the end.

I'll get a crown replaced on my tooth tomorrow (tying up loose ends before moving gets expensive) and hopefully still be able to go for a run and have time to do some packing. I need to find a notary so I can give my uncle power of attorney since he'll have to proxy for me at my subletter's board interview two days after I leave. So much packing left to do, and must sign up with AAA so I can get the discount on the moving truck and still need to get wardrobe boxes and call ahead to turn on the electricity and set up cable and figure out if we can stop at my grandmother's halfway through our journey, and schedule an exit interview at work and figure out how long I have to pay back that loan I took on my 401K when I bought the apartment and I sure as hell better be getting paid for all that vacation time I never took.....

My head starts to spin as soon as I begin mentally cataloguing all there is to do, and I didn't even include the 10K and the half marathon that are getting crammed in there as well! Running 35 miles after all that might be an absolute relief, to just focus on a specific, physical task and have permission to completely shut out the rest of the world for those few hours.