Hiatus ending

Spring has arrived, and I'm finally coming out of my yearly winter funk. December saw the end of my training for the race, as California resulted in a very different situation. I ended up working a lot from the comfort of the bed, but I didn't have a whole lot of time (or desire) to keep running. Randomly, my knees were hurting a lot even though I wasn't working out, and I was frustrated with the whole thing.

I finally broke down and joined my local gym. As always, my disposition to life in general is much better when I'm working out, so joining the gym was one of my better decisions in a long time. I started in February and it's been great: the yoga and medidation classes are excellent, I do this abdominal work out class twice a week (which is painful but awesome) and I found out that that Masala Bhangra class is awesome. I'm working out there about 4 or 5 days a week, and I've made great use of stationary bikes. Currently, I'm reading Como Agua Para Chocolate on the stationary bike and that is a fantastic way for me to spend my 45 minutes.

Since the holidays I haven't been able to get back into my climbing routine (so annoyed)!!! However, spring is here, the weather is shaping up, and I have about 3.5 months before my climbing partner recovers from her shoulder surgery and starts to beat the crap out of me on the climbs, so I'm starting with that in mind today. Our little crew (broken, lazy, tired, unambitious) went down to Carderock on Saturday for the first outdoor climb of the season and that got me all jazzed up for spring/summer climbing. The weather was excellent but the climbs were way harder for me than they should have been because I can't remember the last time I climbed...but it was all the motivation I need in order to get my act together and start my training again.

I'm still in a bit of "recovery" phase, but I am absolutely climbing tonight. My goal tonight is focused on endurance rather than difficulty to get me set up for harder climbs further into the season. I was so proud of my progress in reaching solid 5.9 climbs...I highly doubt I'd be able to send a 5.8 today. The challenge, of course, will be to balance what I want to climb (5.6s over and over) versus what my climbing buddy with want to climb because she is a much stronger climber than I am.

I took my hybrid bike to the shop to get assembled and tuned up, and hopefully that means I'll be commuting to work sooner than later...I plan to use my dividend from REI to buy a snazzy helmet and a pink camel back. I'm psyched on that one.

And for the running segment of our program...what about the Marine Corps Marathon in October? There's enough time... I could potentially work it out. It's supposed to be an excellent way to see DC. I want to be running...it wouldn't require training through the winter... hmm hmm hmm.

Oh and I'm doing Race for the Cure on June 6. You should too. It's easy and fun.

Ok, I think I'm done rambling.