Friday, February 17, 2006

This is the life

Until Wednesday, that is. For the next five days I'll be housesitting for my uncle Jim and aunt Denise while they live it up in Vegas. This is actually my second annual sitting stint for them, with the first being last spring as they cruised around the Caribbean. Actually, they apparently have "the life". This little gig isn't a bad temporary diversion, though.

In fact, this is like a mini-vacation of sorts for me. Here's why:

1. I really don't have too much to do here, 'cept maybe water the plants and take in the mail. They have no pets to look after or kids to take care of. This 50-inch flat screen TV hanging on the wall in front of me, however, needs to be watched, I guess. That's where I come in.

2. I'm only 4-1/2 miles from home and I have a full week of work ahead of me. Hardly sounds like a vacation, right? Wrong. Just a small change of scenery, not to mention heated floors in the dead of winter, can do wonders sometimes.

3. It's the coldest stretch of the year thus far and I'm fortunate enough that I can work on my short game on the putting green that's stretched across the living room here. It's a heavenly indoor haven for any serious golfer. But believe me, I'm no golfer. And I sure as hell don't have a short game. Don't tell those real golfers, though, they might get pissed that I'm abusing this privelege.

4. My aunt and uncle left me a fully stocked refrigerator with enough provisions to feed a small army. They loaded me up with fruit, fresh bread, a few boxes of cereal, a gallon of milk, fresh-squeezed OJ and even a chocolate cake to satisfy my sweet tooth for the week. Pretty good deal, eh? I thought so too, until I went to make a PB & J this evening and only found chunky peanut butter in the cabinet? Chunky PB, wtf!?!? I'm a smoooooth kinda guy. Eh, life could be worse.

5. Did I mention the 50-inch flatscreen TV? And the free internet access? Kinda like being in a sweet hotel, minus the high nightly rate. I will, however, have to actually make my own bed. I'll deal, somehow.

OK, that's enough tooting the horn of my temporary good fortune for one night. I'll make sure, however, to play a few similar melodies throughout the coming week. I wish I had a webcam so I could do a Cribs broadcast, that'd be pretty sweet - doesn't look like that's gonna be in the cards, oh well.

As for running, today was chock full of it. Ryan, Mark and Katie all came by this morning for a windy and wet seven-mile tour of A-town, which was completed in a comfortable 51 minutes. Despite the less than ideal conditions, a good time was had by all. Now, I don't wanna point fingers at anyone in particular (ahem, ahem), but the last time two of the three aformentioned names came by to run with me on a Friday morning, they gale-force winds followed them to my house. Coincidence? Nah.

The run was immediately followed by a trip to the The Coffee Mug for brunch - immediate being the operative word - as brunch becomes flat-out lunch at the ungodly hour of 11:30 a.m. Last time we made this trip, our timing was a bit off and we missed that blessed brunch by 15 minutes and had to settle for hamburger soup and grilled cheese. I'm happy to report, however, that we made the proper adjustments and the smorgasbord of scrambled eggs, homefries, raisin toast and pancakes we enjoyed have never tasted better - except when Christy Mae makes them for Ryan and I after Sunday morning long runs. Trust me when I type this, but nothing else even comes close.

The rest of my day wasn't all that exciting. I ran a few errands before heading out for my second run of the day, this time covering 10 equally-as-windy but not-as-wet-miles in 67 minutes. Overall, it was a good day of mileage and I'm happy to report that my ankle held up a lot better than yesterday. I ran in my old Supernova Classics this morning and was so happy with the result that I went to PR Running in Westboro and picked up a new pair this afternoon. Knock on wood, these shoes have never failed me. I've had 20+ pairs of them and they've never given me any trouble. I've been doing most of my running lately in the Reebok Road Lite III's, but those suckers just aren't lasting me very long. They tend to break down pretty quickly and generally aren't as stable as my trusty Classics. Hopefully the familiar comfort and added stability of my old favorites will help keep my nagging pains under control.

And that's gonna do it for tonight. Time for some shuteye so I can be good and rested for the morning. I'm meeting up with Hodge at 10 in Sterling for an easy 10-miler - and even though I haven't heard from them, hopefully Ryan and Christy Mae are able to join us for part of the run as well. Then it's off to work in the afternoon and back here to sit on the house for the rest of the weekend. My good buddy PL is throwing a President's Day bash tomorrow evening in Brighton, which I unfortunately have to miss due to the rigors of weekend employment. Bad planning on my part. It would sure be nice to see those clowns again - it's been quite a while. Hopefully we can meet up sooner than later for some imminent debauchery.

One last thing, a quick good luck to the New England contingent going after OT qualifiers in this weekend's Austin Freescale Marathon: Ed Baker, Pat and Casey Moulton, Nate Jenkins and Terry Shea. Also, my Reebok Boston teammate, Justin Lutz, is running the 4K at this weekend's U.S. XC Championships for the Marine Corps, and will be looking to earn a berth in the World Military XC Championships in a few weeks. He's ready to kick some ass!

OK, that's really gonna do it. Take it easy all.

Quote of the day:

I want my career to be punctuated by consistency. The positive feedback I get from running consistently makes me want to do it every time out. It’s habit-forming.

-Lauren Fleshman

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Supernova Classics are the ONLY running shoe I will wear. They are the only ones that keep my foot from getting too injured. I think I've been wearing them for the last 7 years. It's good to know they are at a somewhat local store, because I've always had to order them from Road Runner Sports, where they're sometimes on backorder.