to-do’s

Since Saturday, I’ve been without hot water.  Believe me when I say icy morning showers are no fun.  On my own, and with Mr. Good Neighbor, I was unsuccessful in getting my water heater to light.  When the next available appointment with PG&E didn’t work with around the j-o-b, it was critical to find a way to allow the guy from PG&E to light my fire.

You guessed right: I called in sick… because I really did have a headache, cramps, and was stressed beyond words.

One reason for my stress was my ever growing list of home repairs and other to-do’s.  Determined to make use of the day, I cooked up a plan of attack to cross off items on my long list.  Since many of the items on the list require interaction with companies that are only open M-F [9 am – 5 pm], I put a few of these to the top of the list.  I started at the top and worked down.

At the end of the day, I have to laugh at the bolus of male interaction today.  Starting with L stopping by to leave me with coffee and kisses (nothing more), it would seem that I would spend the day talking to man after man (many of which came right to my door).  It was quite pleasant and I got a lot done.

In addition to making time for Dino from PG&E (who was very entertaining with his odd sense of humor), I moved money around (long story), invited Tony out to check out my roof, called the pastor of our church, and completed a few other chores.

After all that, I left home to get one final to-do crossed off my list….

I hit the track for my 1st interval workout of the training season: 400’s x 8.  Wearing my worst matched outfit (navy tank bra with black shorts), I donned my watch and my best can-do attitude and began warming up.

When I picked up the pace, I noticed a few heads turning every time I went by.  I tried not to notice.

I kept my focus on form and staying relaxed.  It seemed to be working.  Not only were my splits within seconds of Coach’s target pace, I got even got a couple of verbal comments on it — which is always nice to have.

One gentleman in particular, Billy, managed to extend one of my recoveries to a good 15+ minutes.  At 69 years old, this man still has the passion for running.  Unfortunately, he has one really bad knee.  He’s one of those whose discomfort can be seen from the other side of the track.  But he doesn’t want to give it up — not yet.

As much as I was in awe at Billy’s prior accomplishments (including the US Masters Track & Field Championships), he seemed in awe with my long distance accomplishments.   We wished each other good luck on our goals and ran on at our respective paces.

I resumed my focus on form and staying relaxed.  I must say, it was a nice change from the stress level which has been leaving me nauseated almost every day.