Why you gotta be so rude?
Don't you know I'm human too?
- magic!  Rude

There are very few pleasures associated with running in the summertime in Phoenix, but one of them is getting home from the gym at night and slipping into the pool, where the water temperature is near the same as my skin. I float on the water just like I'm relaxing on the couch, watching the moon and monsoon lightening. I got 3 miles on dreadmill and it was a damn good 3, best dreadmill run I've had since Florida though my lungs still feel filled with fluid. I had planned to soak in the hot tub after but my dang fancy gym closes at 8 on Saturday cause Lord knows fancy people have things to do on Saturday nights. Alas, the gym is my Saturday night plan. So 11.5 miles for the week.

Light

I'll be your light, your match, your burning sun
I'll be the bright, in black, that's makin you run
- one republic
Til the love runs out. Apparently the love has not yet run out. I went tues and weds and thurs despite my awful lung and eye affliction. So if I go tomorrow it will be my salvation.  So.

Flags

I could leave you here with your people
If I'm the flag you'd not prefer to wave
- Jimmy Eat World

This is a band I wish would put out some new music. This is an oldie but a goodie, and anyone who doesn't want to wave your flag just doesn't deserve to be with you. So because building a small rock wall doesn't count, I also went for 3 miles today and admittedly walked a bit of it due to altitude and my still aching lungs. So that's four exercise days this week despite being ill. Not good bit certainly not bad. Listening to the rain patter softly outside my window is wonderful.

I don't remember

I don't remember you lookin any better
Then again, I don't remember you
- John Mayer

I did make it around the lake today for a gasping wheezing 3 miles, which was interrupted by efforts to get fat dog some water resulting in a black tar mud bath and no water. So she is shiny and clean this evening after a deep scrubbing of both of us. Had some fun with mom and sisters and met some new neighbors tonight. Am mostly recovered from this dogged summer chest cold that has been haunting me. I walked 3 miles yesterday and it was purposeful exercise so I will count it as an exercise day but not as miles. Good times in store tomorrow celebrating Independence Day.

2 sad things

We all got our stories but ple-e-e-ease tell me what there is to complain about. Be happy like a fool, let it take you over.
- one republic, good life

So this is a pic of my lake, which appears shockingly decimated this summer. All that land in the middle is usually water! In the background is a wildfire burning. But I still feel lucky jogging and sometimes walking around the lake. I was only able to pull off two miles on the dreadmill yesterday, for a total of 8 for the week. Got 3 in today. This months total is going to be dismal.

Tomorrow is just a song away

This is why I love running. I've run on the literal gulf coast near Dubai, the Irish countryside, Mexican beaches and many other wonderful places. It's how I see the world. So the treadmill in Orlando isn't so much fun, but I got another three miles this morning. Feeling good.

June is a Beatch

Every week but five this year I have met or exceeded the 11.5 mi/wk goal necessary to hit 600 miles this year. Three of those five short weeks have been the last three weeks. June just sucks. It's when the heat really comes and there are no options but the treadmill. I am in Orlando this week and I did 3.5 today which was a damn miracle given I just got off the plane. I did 3.5 specifically so I have 11.5 this week. 3 Sunday, 3 Tuesday, 2 Weds and today. Damn treadmill will kill me. It's all I can do to force myself to go. No joy.

Hundreds of Ways

Don't contradict me
Don't make me cross the line
If you feel threatened
It's only 'cause I might

                       - Conor Oberst, "hundreds of ways"

I spent a week on a boat. Literally at sea level. The week prior to this rather dreamy vacation was spent mostly anticipating dreamy vacation and not doing much in the way of exercise.

Thus. Here I am.

I tried to run on the third day after I came back, and felt like I was going to die. I managed 2.5 miles and to scare myself away from running for a bit. I downshifted to the elliptical which is where I spent the following week.

Yesterday I finally had what I would consider to be a normal running workout, four miles on the treadmill. It wasn't as easy as it should have been, but the last mile was spent telling myself "it's one more mile, you can do it" rather than "MY GOD MAKE IT STOP." So, you know... progress.

For anyone who has never gone through this sort of altitude adjustment, it feels like there is concrete in the bottom fourth of my lungs, I just can't get a good deep breath. And this, Sandy Sista, THIS is why I typically exercise even throughout my vacations (this was quite literally impossible when spending a week on a boat, and I mean literally a boat, a catamaran, I think it was called... but it's a boat, not a cruise ship), because I don't just have to come back, I have to come back to THIS altitude and it is just fucking murder, it is SO hard.

At any rate, I didn't want anyone thinking I had disappeared. Any time I go away, it doesn't mean I've quit, it just means I'm kicking and fighting my way to the surface. Never think otherwise.

Lucky

Is it too much to ask for every Sunday?
- JT

Days like today I feel like the luckiest girl in the world, sitting on the patio at my gym overlooking the pool and mountains and eating a healthy lunch whilst reading my book. I managed 3 miles on the treadmill this morning, which was quite a feat. Yesterday it was only 2. What keeps me motivated is the promise of a poolside read and relaxation. I have college orientation tomorrow and tues so may do some running up in flag. Apparently parents have to be oriented too these days, which is funny because my parents dropped me off at my dorm, the first time I'd ever been in campus, and I managed to figure it out. But looking forward to a mini-getaway with my sweet pea.

A simple plan

Sometimes the best laid plans go awry. And when there's no plan at all, sometimes anarchy ensues. So I'm in northern CA this week for work and it is gorgeous and cool outside, so after work I went for a run in this preserve park. It was hilly and soon felt remote on a path winding through the trees and down a ravine and across a river. I started thinking about the time I went running in rock creek park in DC the year after Chandra Levy's decomposed body was found, only then I was with a group. I started to feel very alone and it occurred to me that if anything happened, nobody would miss me until 10am tomorrow. They'd have to check with hotel staff to see if anyone had seen me, and maybe someone would remember me asking about a running path. I turned my music way down so I could hear anyone sneaking up on me, and I turned around. I took a different route back and the path eventually disappeared, but I pushed forward thinking I knew where the road was. And then I stumbled upon these bones. And further down the path this decomposing jacket. Officially creeped out, I jumped across the creek and ran up the slope on the other side, through some unfortunate underbrush that quickly felt like hundreds of needles piercing my skin. I did find the road and hustled back to my hotel with visions of poison ivy and urgent care and missed meetings. Alas, I showered and went to bed. It still burns and I have these welts like blisters on my legs but I think I will live. Perhaps I will skip the run tomorrow. Perhaps not.