Running, Mowing, Burning, Throwing

I can't recall what I wrote last, but it was probably not terribly interesting and most likely relating to my training. Unfortunately, that's what I have to say again today, too. Sorry.

I had a lot of yard work to do over the weekend, and it took much more out of me than expected. There was a lot of fire involved, as well as a smaller-than-desired bow saw and me throwing, yes, throwing trees onto a giant pile. I'm not talking about shrubs here. I had previously chainsawed down some dead trees and then dragged them out onto the lawn for later disposal. I then left them there for weeks. Saturday I needed to mow, but couldn't because of all the big thick tree hulks that some idiot left covering my lawn. So I had to finally get out there and hoist them onto my shoulders and carry them off to the burn pile. And once at the burn pile, I had to throw them ever higher up onto it, as the pile grew taller and taller. It wouldn't have been nearly so difficult if the same idiot who left these trees all over my lawn hadn't first dragged pulled-up bushes from the front lawn into the back yard and thrown them onto the pile, making it taller than I would have preferred.

By the time I had cleared the yard and burned a much smaller portion of the shrubs than I had intended, the sun was setting and I was exhausted. And then Sunday came.

Sunday - mowing time. Normally I would pull out the trimmer and trim all the annoying little places that are such a problem for my riding mower. But when I awoke in the morning I found myself in pain, as well as completely lacking in energy. So I simply started up the riding mower and started attacking 1 acre of sunburn and grass. After 1 hour I realized I was going to fry out in the sun, so I stopped and ran inside to cover myself in sunscreen. Then it was back to work. Yay, so exciting!

I may have run over a brick, which my shockingly expensive lawn toy happily chopped into tiny little red pebbles and spit out into the grass to cause me more problems in the future. This did wonders for my blades, I feel certain. They say stone sharpens stone. I'm not sure if it works quite the same way with stone versus steel, but I'm hopeful.

By the time I finished with all the fun my lawn provided me, it was after 6 pm. It was at this point I decided to wash my cars. I don't know why. I just did. There are 4 in the driveway, all filthy. One, a large 4-wheel-drive truck, was actually growing moss on the north side of the camper shell. This may have had something to do with my sudden urge to wash.

At 7 pm I finished washing, mowing, brick chopping, etc, and crawled into the house for a shower. My body was completely shot. Thank God for the weekend!

Oh wait, this was my weekend.

So, Monday came and I had to go to work. And then, of course, do my workout after a full workday.

I may have mentioned once or twice that I've been trying to train for an upcoming race. And by 'upcoming' I mean it's this month. I'm running short on time. I don't really have any time for wasted workouts anymore. With that in mind I bravely lurched into the locker room, changed into my fancy sweat-wicking running clothes, and then stumbled down the hallway to the treadmills. I needed to run at least 3.1 miles, the full 5 km distance I plan to run on raceday, that being the distance of the race course, obviously. But once on the treadmill and feeling like an elderly crippled man, I managed to run a much shorter 2 miles. And by 'run' I mean I rapidly walked 1/2 a mile and then ran the other 1 1/2 mile. I told myself that a half run was better than no run, but I know that come race day I won't be buying a word of it. I'm going to be very sorry.

So anyway, I didn't get hurt. I mean, considering my horrible record of the past 2 years I really can call that a victory. 3 weeks to go until my race and I have yet to tear or sprain or strain or break anything. Now, saying it I have no doubt jinxed myself.  And if so, and I do get hurt, I'll be honest about the fact that I have no intention of trying to run this year if I am hurt this close to race day. It just isn't worth it. Either I'm going to start the race with whatever insufficient training as I can  manage, and no particular injury plaguing me, or else I'm not running it at all. Sound fair?