Sock It to Me, Texas

Week of June 3, 2012:

Friday: Off (hanging out with friends)

Saturday: Errands via the bike

Damn, Texas, you are HOT!  And I mean that in the worst way possible.  I like to tell people that Texas weather is really nice for eight months of the year, but those other four months are brutal.  June is one of those months.  Today I was on and off the bike as I rode around taking care of business.  I stopped by the lab to take care of two quick things, I dropped off library books, and I rode over to HEB for groceries.  The bike ride itself was pretty good—the “riding breeze” always makes summertime bike rides more pleasant—but when I got home, I was exhausted.  It took me almost an hour to get myself motivated to take a shower.  First I had to drink a big glass of water, eat a snack, play on the internet, and think about how tired I was.  But once I was in the shower…heavenly.  It was heavenly.  It’s funny to me how so much of life seems to be a matter of activation energy or the amount of effort it takes to start something.  “A body in motion tends to stay in motion” (in a frictionless universe, of course), as someone said long ago on a motivational tape of mine.

Tomorrow morning I am going to do something I never do: I am going to get up, eat a quick snack, and head out for a one-hour run.  Yes indeedy, I can do this.  I want to get 60 minutes under my feet before the day is too hot.  I also have plans with other people later in the day, and I’m worried that if I don’t run first thing, my run won’t happen.

I can do this.  (I can do this, I can do this…)

* * *

Here are a few fun posts I found today while cruising around the interwebs, all from the awesome blog (never home)maker:

* No Workout is Too Short or Too Slow.  I basically live by this mantra, and it seems to keep me in good shape and good health.  Slow walk around the block?  Let’s go!  Only 20 minutes to run today?  Hand me my sneakers!  The work-out today is a bike commute to work?  I’m ready to ride.

* How to Run Long: LSD for Beginners.  A good reminder that we become distance runners one step and one mile at a time.

* Long Run Fuel: Marathon Chunks.  I can’t wait to make these, but you can be sure there will be chocolate chips in mine.  Also, I think these bars seem like the perfect late-afternoon fuel for a marathon workday, don’t you agree?  I swear, some days my life feels like a marathon.

Happy running, my dears!