A scrape in the road

Today I hopped on the Purple Line (yes!) to Evanston to meet B as he picked up his fixed car with my Dadasaurus' car which we're borrowing until tomorrow. It was all quite easy and after the pickup via Purple Line we headed east to the shore.

Evanston is very ritzy. We parked on Dempster and headed to the park there. I ran. B strolled and enjoyed thinking about life. I ran along the breezy shore then along Sheridan Road past gigantic homes. I ran and enjoyed my Shuffle music and the warm, warm weather. The lake was blue and choppy; all was lovely.

Then.... BAM! I tripped over a sidewalk bump! Ouch! I skinned my right knee, bumped my other knee and hands, and felt general dumbassery all over. I swore, got up, brushed myself off, and kept running.

Then my BG (blood glucose) was low and there were like a billion kids/families/dogs/bicycles on the path. I gave up on a 7-mile Friday, found B, ate a snack and drove home. Now I'm about to hop in the shower to scrub that Northwestern grime out of my knee and fix my hat head.

A 7-mile Saturday sounds smarter anyway. 

Spring, running and jobs!

Lots and lots is going on... let's review, list-style.

1. B has a job. This means I have to get used to him not tidying the house before I arrive home. We are figuring out how to share chores more equitably, get ready in the morning together and manage going to the dry cleaner more than once a week. I don't own dry-clean clothes, but B goes to work in spiffy-spiff clothes, so he's got a new best buddy at the cleaners down the block. Anyway, this is a wonderful new development for the life of Mandasaurus. Plus B's new boss gave him a gift card to Lettuce Entertain You and we ate a wonderful meal at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba last night! Delicious!
2. Spring is here. B is engaging in spring cleaning which looks a lot like making a huge mess and putting it back together again. I'm going to do some more cleaning tomorrow when the weather is less spring.
3. As part of my training for the Soldier Field 10-Miler on May 23 I've been running a lot. Today I ran 6 miles! Six! That's a lot. I ran to the lake path and then just past Foster Ave. and back. Phew! Running is hard, but I'm starting to get that "runner's high" people talk about. I'm also starting to go a tiny bit faster. Watch out!
4. I'm trying to practice or learn or reacquaint myself with biology and chemistry as I'm hoping to take a science class this summer! Any ideas about how to learn this stuff? There's got to be an amusing and informative chemistry website somewhere, right?
5. Off to celebrate Cindy's birthday tonight at Blue Chicago! Also, plotting ways to congratulate awesome friends for the birth of new baby Mattie! What do new parents want? Probably not a case of beer... but what?

Holy Fartlek

A fartlek, apparently, is "speed play" in Swedish. In running it means run faster at random intervals then back at "easy pace." 

Today I participated in a fartlek run. We ran laps around a park and the running group officials blew a whistle once to indicate that we should speed up and twice to tell everyone to slow down to easy pace. 

Easy pace is not walking. Just in case you were wondering. It's still running! Jeezo! So, you run and then run faster, then slow down, speed up, slow down, speed up, on and on. It feels a bit rough.

Anyway, the run was pretty tough but really, really good too. I think I'm almost becoming a runner. Who knew?