Chilling Out While Working It Out
I was running late and feeling frustrated when I headed out the door for track practice last night, hoping to recall a password while I ran my loops. I’d spent all afternoon dealing with some bloated e-mails clogging my Outlook account, only to be told by IT to go in through a backdoor and delete them. This required a secret code I’d long lost.
Once I got to the stadium, I knew there was no way I’d be able to focus on a forgotten alphanumeric phrase. The workout: 8 x 400m with calisthenics and 100-yard strides between laps. In other words, we ran one lap at 70% threshold pace, then did 25 sit-ups, pushups or jumping jacks, followed by a 100-yard stride up and another back before turning right around and starting all over again. The best part: sharing lanes with about 250 others.
Full concentration was needed to avoid collisions, one of which would have been my fault. It could have been even more crowded but the unusually cold temps here reduced the turnout. The only non-running thought to cross my mind that evening was whether to be pissed or proud that my husband blew his shot at getting on the local news when a TV reporter knocked on our door at lunchtime.
While I was off at a new deli with a friend, a KUSI camera crew wanted to know if Gilbert was upset that SDG&E had gone ahead with a scheduled all-day power outage despite knowing it left people in the cold. Someone had left an anonymous tip saying babies were freezing in their cribs. It was about 45 degrees at that point. My husband proved to be a dud, claiming in the pre-interview that (a) he wasn’t that cold; (b) people might consider wearing extra layers of clothing; and (c) mostly retirees, childless couples and single people live on our block. No frozen babies.
I returned home to a warm house and a fresh idea: call the company’s ISP and ask for a new password. Within 10 minutes, I was in and instantly grateful to have avoided yet another potential pileup.
Once I got to the stadium, I knew there was no way I’d be able to focus on a forgotten alphanumeric phrase. The workout: 8 x 400m with calisthenics and 100-yard strides between laps. In other words, we ran one lap at 70% threshold pace, then did 25 sit-ups, pushups or jumping jacks, followed by a 100-yard stride up and another back before turning right around and starting all over again. The best part: sharing lanes with about 250 others.
Full concentration was needed to avoid collisions, one of which would have been my fault. It could have been even more crowded but the unusually cold temps here reduced the turnout. The only non-running thought to cross my mind that evening was whether to be pissed or proud that my husband blew his shot at getting on the local news when a TV reporter knocked on our door at lunchtime.
While I was off at a new deli with a friend, a KUSI camera crew wanted to know if Gilbert was upset that SDG&E had gone ahead with a scheduled all-day power outage despite knowing it left people in the cold. Someone had left an anonymous tip saying babies were freezing in their cribs. It was about 45 degrees at that point. My husband proved to be a dud, claiming in the pre-interview that (a) he wasn’t that cold; (b) people might consider wearing extra layers of clothing; and (c) mostly retirees, childless couples and single people live on our block. No frozen babies.
I returned home to a warm house and a fresh idea: call the company’s ISP and ask for a new password. Within 10 minutes, I was in and instantly grateful to have avoided yet another potential pileup.
