Long time

I wonder how it's been so long since I visited. Plenty of things going on around here, I suppose. I'm going to Costa Rica in a couple weeks (can't wait) and I just got a cool pair of Merrell hiking shoes (not boots...I hate boots) and an EMS rain jacket. We made hotel and transportation accomodations, so, yup, life is good on that front. The trip includes a first and last night in San Jose, two nights at the Arenal volcano, and 3 nights in Manuel Antonio. SWEEEEET!

That doesn't count as my blogging material though. I'm running. I'm biking. I'm yogaing. I'm climbing.

More specifically, I have fallen off my schedule a bit with running - I had a six mile run with my cheetah friend, and a week later, a chill 5 miler... and that was a week ago. Anyway, back to the cheetah. I essentially got run around the national mall with a dude who pulls 7.35 minute miles. I didn't much care for the situation: I felt like I was holding him back and I was irritated that holding a 9.5 minute pace was pretty hard for me. I ate a lot of gnats and I was on the verge of tears by the end of the run from the sheer number of insects on me. This brings me to my next topic, which is the riding. Squishy butt pants ---> excellent for my butt. Riding has been great and I'm thoroughly enjoying having a bike. Of course I went to a bike store and I want some fancy bikes for no good reason other than they're awesome and look fun. Anyway, the most recent lesson I have is don't do stuff at dusk, cause that's when the gnats come out and get sucked into your nose, eyes and mouth. Also, learn to breathe through your nose more...at least those orifices are smaller than your mouth and you decrease the area of inhalation. So, so gross.

I've been yogaing fairly consistently, which sort of accounts for why I've been running less. And I've been good on the climbing. I climbed some fun technical short walls last Tuesday with my partner, and then I climbed like a dumb ass (harder than I can climb) on Thursday with the cheetah. Toward the end of the night it got to the point where I was no longer able to hold onto stuff. Beyond lacking the strength to haul myself up (arms AND legs), I just couldn't hold. But it was fun and was followed by good food. Can't complain too much! Hopefully we can get outside this weekend...

Tonight, hopefully I'll make it home early enough to go run. I'm dog sitting up in Germantown, so I've got quite a trek. There is a track near the house, so I'd like to do some timed track runs. I hate running on the track, but it sure helps for speed and pacing.

Ta ta.