HUMBLED by Sunday's run....

Man, I NEED a work week to recover from the weekend!! Does the theme sound familiar? I RAISED HELL this past weekend!

Went to the Run The Woodlands 5k race on Saturday. I left Tessie at home because bringing her might have left the American Bulldog alone and wanting to escape the yard. I'm not yet sure how to handle Tessie's running with the disappearance of the old Border Collie. At least 5 people asked where my dog was, 3 of the people asked for her by name! Of course no one knows my name, only Tessie's!

I wanted to really kick some tail on Saturday. About halfway through the 5k race, it was evident that it WASN'T cool or un-humid. I was dying out there! I did pretty well at 22:22, but it surely wasn't sub-22.

Sunday morning brought the opportunity to run with The Woodlands Running Club, as the forest run was canceled due to rain that didn't fall. In my typically cocky, lackadaisical way, I approached the 10 miles easily, "sheesh, it's only 10 miles, piece of cake".... WRONG!! I was HUMBLED by these people and this run! HAMMERED! These folks run FAST!! I thought my toes were all broken when I finished.

My athletic fortitude SUCKS! I was looking to BAIL! I'm torn up this morning! I now realize that I'm not nearly as well off to go run half-marathons as I thought! I'm actually going to have to WORK at this!! ARGH!!

Sunday after nearly dying on the run, I "loaded up" and went to the Motocross track! Of course, did you think otherwise?!! Saw some friends out there and rode for an hour...QUITE the workout! Don't think that MX riding isn't very strenuous just because it's motorized...riding MX is plenty tough and a stout workout!

Then there was a shower, lunch, and a NAP! Yea!

I've gotta recover, tough weekend! FAST RUNNERS!

Well ANY takers?? Clear Lake Olympic Tri, this weekend!***EDITED***

I REALLY shouldn't be doing this! I have a bunch of reasons why I should NOT do this tri! I'm not at all trained for it. I have a TON of stuff to do. I would miss my COVETED Run The Woodlands 5k. I still have stuff in San Antonio that needs to get moved NOW.

But that's not to say I wouldn't go do it. A challenge from a fellow competitor to show up (challenge only to show up and compete, not a performance challenge) would likely seal the deal.

Well? I dare ya! I double dare ya!! Let's go race this thing and go have some breakfast tacos following the race...Let's go!

****EDIT****
While at the gym this morning, I decided that I'd GO FOR IT and run this Tri!! With all of the rain, there won't be running in the forest on Sunday and motocross is surely not happening. Ah schucks, I can do this tri, piece of cake!

So upon checking online, the 2 remaining opportunities to register and pick up my race packet are BOTH down in Clear Lake!! ARGH!! I'm not driving to freaking Galveston to pick up a freaking race packet....ARGH!! THUMBS DOWN!!

She left me 2 days ago...still baffled...

Sunday morning I returned from running in the forest with a great group of 4. Decent pace, 7 miles. Sopping wet! I rode the dual-sport motorcycle (street legal dirt bike!) to and from the ride.

It took me a little while to figure out she had left me. It wasn't until after I showered and got ready to go out to my workshop, that I realized.

I've been pretty lost the past couple of days! I carry my cell phone with me always and I keep looking out toward the fence and gates, imagining her coming home!

I'm not sure whether she's coming back, we got along GREAT and she seemed so genuinely comfortable here. Geez. My 2 dogs and the cat are moping, too. They're not stupid. I'm super bummed...:(:(:(

My beloved Border Collie, Jazz, is MIA....the tag on her collar has my phone number...a reasonable person would call me...She's a really old dog, my least favorite from a personality standpoint. She adopted me outside my gate when I arrived home from work, back in 1997 at the end of my long driveway, in Helotes. A week and a half later, she had 6 puppies. Someone had obviously dumped her. People suck.

She's never known how to play ball or tug-of-war with the other dogs. I think she was just so occupied with existing that she was deprived of playing. She's emotionally needy. But a GREAT DOG (I'm faaking BALLING now)who DID fit in with everyone!




Sporting fresh haircuts, Jazz on the left, Tessie on the right:


The remaining doggies, Tessie the Border Collie, and Mackie the American Bulldog are plenty bummed...we 4 just RAISE HELL every evening (plenty during the day, too)! Mackie and Tessie are the circus that gets Jazz jealously barking at them and even entering into the fray. They know I'm bummed and they're figuring out that we're one dog light around here....I better go get them RILED and raising hell so we can keep up the tradition...The remaining dogs, Tessie and Mack:

No MX racing for the kid....***EDITED***

The weather can be a tough one! I'm 5 miles from the track and barely got any rain yesterday. I loaded up and went to the track to find that all of the rain hit them hard.

What a MESS!! I can't ride in that stuff! But the hardcore dirtbike freaks were there! I rode around a bit and just sank the bike in a bunch of soupy MUD...checked out the freak show, then headed home... :(:(:(

Best not to blow off going to the gym...

Over the past several months I've been pretty good about going to the gym, the YMCA in The Woodlands. My regimen WAS pretty good until I fell off the wagon a couple of weeks ago. I returned on Wednesday and picked up where I left off...ARGH! And man was I sore yesterday!

I think I'm back into the regimen, having just gone again today. And I'll have to pick up a little bit of swimming because I'm thinking about doing the Clear Lake Triathlon in a couple of weeks....It's an Olympic length! "Ruht-roh" (the voice of Astro, the Jetsons' dog)! While the swim is only 1000 meters (not 1500 as is customary with Olympic distance), the bike is in the mid 20 miles and there's a 10k run...so THAT oughtta 'clean my clocks'! Anyone else wanna go do it? Cassie?

Note to self: Don't blow off going to the gym, it's tough to come back! Of course there's the Run The Woodlands 5k tomorrow, followed by motocross. Then there is running in the forest on Sunday morning...Weekend, bring it! Carry on....

edited...

edited

This is RANT/RAVE category....

I was SO happy to hear that Firestone was going to "make good" on TOTALLY CHEESY repairs that they charged my younger brother to the tune of nearly ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS to service. I purchased the car from him and found GROSSLY poor work! You BREAK the oil filter housing and smear epoxy glue on it to fix it???... NO YOU DON'T!!....they seemed SO caring when I called them on it and showed it to them......said they would make it right.....

....I'm riding my bicycle 20 miles early tomorrow to see what has and what hasn't happened, to pick up the car....I'm feeling MASSIVE LIES.....FAAAK, they don't EVEN know that I'm a totally professional "wrench" (wrench = mechanic = gear-head).....I've wrenched since I was like 4 years old and wrenched exclusively on Mercedes Benz all thru high school and college...supported my drag racing and jet skiing addictions...By day, I conduct engine R&D and design and build engines from scratch.....I'm the most wrenching wrench you could ever imagine going into a place like Firestone....Not guilty yet, but I'm hugely suspicious....:(:(:(

The dude told me that the engine mounts were bad and THAT caused their oil pan gasket to leak? (it didn't no way)...He UP-SOLD the opportunity and told me he could install new mounts for $950....he called me while my younger brother was at my house (bro got to hear him try to 'up-sell' me, Not JUST NO!!)....Unreal!!.....gotta go to sleep, I got's pedaling to do!!...:):):)

They've told me some unbelievable stories since last Friday...I think they're lying and are incompetent...I'll thunder in there on the bike at 7 am....

I really feel sorry for so many people who are at the mercy of "car care professionals"....people get TAKEN!! ALL the time!!.....Wish me luck in not going BERSERK on these guys tomorrow morning!....Chanting "be calm, be calm, be calm"

Faak, I wish I had someone to video this for upload to YouTube!! Sh*t Hits the Fan....;)

Squishy Socks...

I read yesterday about Tiny Frog's squishy socks and was thinking, "hey, I've done that"....

Well that's exactly what this morning's run provided. We're talking head to toes in drenching sweat! We ran a pretty brisk 7 miles in the forest with a good group. Great time! I've got a blister on my toe from the squishy socks. I'm NOT complaining, really. I LOVE summertime and I'm basking in it! WooHoo!

Time now to "load up" (dirtbike) because the track opens at 9 am....That's my cross-training, eh?!

***EDIT*** I went to the track and had a GREAT outing! Yesterday, the track was horrible, didn't stay for long at all...today it was rough and odd, but not at all bad. Some days can be really good, some really bad....sometimes it's hard to say why one's good and another day isn't...dunno!

And I've got regular friends at the track. Anonymity GONE. Good times! I'm gonna enter my first race in the novice class on Saturday, August 16th....Night race under the lights! Y'all show up!