east coast winter "heat wave"

been doing indoor training (spinning, kickboxing or both) every day since i got back. wasn't supposed to do anything today since i endured nearly two hours of spinning last night and pushed it pretty hard. the only rest days i've had this month have been the first (to keep my doable "resolution" of not training on jan 1) and the day i flew back. BUT lately the weather's been around 30/40-ish°F and i wanted to get moving outside again. there i went, ran a bit at night after class.

running total: 4 mi

starting out sucked even though i could still feel my face. well, starting always sucks. it sucks more when you're cold. i don't have running tights, so my legs felt like they were getting pricked by a bunch of needles until i reached the circle. the route's my typical 4-miler loop through dupont and part of the georgetown residential neighborhood.

the struggles you face in cycling tend to be more romantic. you know, conquering a mountain of whatever-ridiculous grade percentage/elevation change and getting to fly down afterward, or sprinting at speeds most people only ever reach by car. also you get nicer views, though you have to be on the alert a lot more to avoid the things that can get you killed. the subjects on my mind when i'm cycling tend to be one of three things - pain, car or hey-how-pretty (riding with other people changes this up). time passes by a lot more slowly when i'm running, which lets me think through a bunch of other things along with the pain stuff.

i've reached a point where even though i know i didn't need to train tonight, i wanted to do it for the hell of it because i know i can. it takes a lot of work to get to this point and you can lose it really easily. might as well keep it up while i can still afford to make time for it. i still remember struggling through middle school and high school PE, where i could barely run 10 minute miles.

also once i was on the high school track with catherine, mike and vivian. catherine was walking laps, and the rest of us were running. she said it was neat to see us run synchronously alongside each other, or tailing each other in single file as we curved around the track. she used to run a bit there too, though she couldn't anymore by then cuz her condition wouldn't allow for it. the rest of us were healthy. sad, huh? somehow i remember this whenever i think about why i run.

anyhow running's the sport of the everyday person since it's so accessible. all you need are shoes. after i finished tonight's run, i found that my new shoes arrived!

i've developed a loyalty to sauconys because they're the brand that's been kindest to my feet. this'll be my third saucony pair. the older one still has a few hundred miles left on it since shoes are good for about 300-500. i saw a sale online and nabbed it to have a clean set on reserve. i used to run in a size 8 but bumped it up half a size to let my feet settle into the shoes more comfortably when they expand during longer runs.

first class of the semester today too, so hopped on my usual commute from dupont to gtown. my legs feel a lot stronger pedaling through the little hills on the way over to campus now, even with yesterday's intense spinning session. must've benefited a lot from all the riding i did at home. getting more sleep than usual the night before probably helps too.

the residential O st, which i always take to get to campus.

dropped by a shop (where my lemond's arriving tomorrow) to get in another upper body workout before class.

another decent view of the potomac from the patio of my program's building.