Sun, July 15: right as I was getting ready to go on a long run, I got a text and decided to go bike and visit a friend instead. So... 36 mi of biking (round trip). A little sunburn on arms. I forgot that 20 mi could be considered a long ride by my skin ; (
Mon, July 16: 12.5 mi-- to City Limits, again. This time for half a soup and half a vegetarian sandwich. Walked a bit to do an errand in Bellevue, and then ran after a bus and caught it back most of the way to Nashville (1 mi away from my living space).
Tues, July 17: a lazy rest day. Staying at home, vegging, eating, not eating enough vegetables. Walked out to find the site of my orientation tomorrow, and then came back: a short, sweet, purposeful meander.
Wed, Jul 18: rest. Intended to run, but succumbed to the heat and languor of orientation.
Thurs, Jul 19: 1 mi run in Vibram's in the a.m., then didn't get to a mileage run in the afternoon. did bike 4 mi total (lol) to an orientation picnic @ the dean's house, though.
Fri, Jul 20: Finally! 6.26 mi afternoon run first grazing, then passing through, Centennial Park to Elliston, 16th, etc. Looking forward to tomorrow's rafting adventure with perhaps an a.m. Vibram's run. Not sure how to balance mileage with foot strength right now, but I figure I'll figure something out. : )
Sat, Jul 21: rafting... no a.m. run

Wed, July 4: 9 mile run with Lili @ 8:40 pace or faster. I stayed in contact first half, but by the last mile was dragging. Wowee, though! What a great runner she'll be.
Thurs, July 5: rest. Flew to Nashville.
Fri, July 6: ~24 miles biking (to Bellevue in the a.m. with a stop for letter-writing @ Bruegger's; back in the p.m.)
Sat, July 7: lots of walking for errands and such
Sun, July 8: 3 mile run in the morning (too much attn from a homeless guy on Music Row : ( ); more walking
Mon, July 9: 12.5 mile run in the a.m. to City Limits for a "Banini" (Bagel Panini); read; walk 2.5 miles and then take the bus the rest of the way back. Walk ~ 5 mi in the evening: to and from a bar to meet other Vandy meds.
Tues, July 10: rest (walk ~6 mi: to and from the library). The homeless and the youth are, as usual, the most unwelcome compliments.
Wed, July 11: ran 5 mi to the meeting point of East Nasty runners, then ran an easy ~ 4 mi with them (~9:30-10:00 pace?), and then got a ride home. Then 1.5 mi walk to buy stuff off Craigslist.
Thurs, July 12: ran ~4.5 miles (legs so tired from beginning!) to Love Circle and around Vandy. I like that running around Vandy is a greater distance than running around Caltech, though it's much busier in terms of traffic. I see a few hills in the neighborhoods around me, and start pondering future hill workouts with them...
Fri, July 13: This is supposed to be my rest day, but I want to runnnnn! Maybe I'll just do a lot of walking. Make a pilgrimage to Whole Foods and the library or something. UPDATE: Walked 3 mi (6 mi round trip) to Trader Joes/ Whole Foods, and later in the evening another 6 mi of walking to and fro downtown Nasty. Oh what a hipster am I? I actually really enjoyed the fresh, cheap produce of Trader J's. I might make a weekly pilgrimage there from now on...
Sat, July 14: What happened this day? I know I had an emotional hangover, but I don't know what actually happened... I know I walked to and fro the library (6 mi total) to see Ridley Scott's "The Duellists" (1977), and I probably didn't get any more exercise after that...

Tues, Jul 3: 1 mi swim around noon (sweet smell of blackberry bushes and random trees... plus those excellent, awesome Oregon clouds when I do the backstroke). In the evening bike to frisbee (only 3 mi one way) and play for 90 minutes (first of those are just throwing the disk around), and bike back. A summer-era triathlon. Needs more running???

On the plus side, I'm starting to feel like myself again. Nay-- to *be* like myself again. (Feeling is so passive. Except when it's passion, but that's a different story.) I woke up, ate a light breakfast, went outside and picked a couple pounds of blueberries from the yard. Then I went swimming, as you know, came back, ate blueberries and lunch, then got to work reading various things and doing small errands. Eventually fell into a nap and woke up in time to snack and head off to frisbee. When I came back I started eating, but got distracted by the awesome idea for making a gluten-free, sugar-free banana pie using my mom's leftover sugarless oatmeal cookie dough in the fridge for crust (with some retained and mixed with coconut for a crumble ontop of half the pie), walnuts, bananas cooked on the stove with cinnamon, all topped with toasted coconut. It was excellent, and surprisingly intensely sweet, from the banana's natural sugar. The family received it warmly, but to my folly Lili can't eat walnuts : (. For penitence I'll make more pies tomorrow that she can eat. Oh yeah, and I did the dishes and the counters. I don't know if I'll get to mopping the floor tomorrow, but I ought to or I'll lose my perfect record so far. Man, I get so much pleasure from running around, eating hand-picked and hand-made food, and doing scullery things for the family. I could be a kick-ass domestic goddess, but in the meantime I think I'll go become a doctor.

Sunday, June 17- Thurs, June 28: biked with Stephanie. See bike tour blog for notes. Lost 5 or so lbs during this time, on top of the 5 or so lbs before that. They make some joke about losing x pounds (when ex-bf weighs x lbs), but in my case it's x+10? New weight: 130lbs. Constantly hungry now, though. I will probably have to keep quite occupied if I want to keep it off.

Fri, June 28: 2.5 hour hike in Wildwood
Sat, June 29: 5.5 mi run (50 min) with Lili, then 1.5 hour bike
Sun, June 30: 70 min run with Lili
Mon, July 1: 1 mi swim in a.m. (40 minutes?), then short bike (8 mi total?) with Malia to gather lavender and visit the bike shop. Leisurely pace, as Malia had gearing troubles. Have eaten an enormous amount per diem ever since got back. I think it's a combination of being used to eating a lot on the bike trip, and perhaps my body also trying to regain fat. Naughty, Naughty. ; p

This is kindof a low point emotionally. I quit the bike tour because it was almost too much of a vacation, and I felt like there was so much real work I need to get done-- but that decision itself might have been wrong. Either way it has pretty much kicked the stuffing out of me. I feel like I've lost 3 friends (not counting the breakup) in the last few days, but that is a very histrionic account. It's more like I was really poor to one friend, inconsiderate to another, and overenthusiastic to the last.

On the plus side, it's very nice running with Lili (who is in amazing shape!). Our legs are the same length, and we can run stride for stride with each other. I really want to take her out for a fartlek workout one of these days. I also hope to do more biking with Malia, now that her bike is fixed. The pool is pretty relaxing (though I gasp like a fish out of water after each lap), so maybe I will swim a mile each day I am here. And supplement that with a bike ride or a run? We'll see how this goes.

Most of the people I know in Nashville don't want to talk to me anymore, but the city does contain the finish of the Natchez trace, a 444-mile bike/car route with the 340 mile-mark quite close to the Alabama border. I'm thinking of plotting a few centennial or bicentennial days once I get back to TN, but that's for next week. What's in store for tomorrow?

Sun, May 27: rest, probably?
Mon, May 28: rest, I'm guessing
Tues, May 29: rest
Wed, May 30: (flew back to Irvine), ran with E + J (4 mi), a bit of a crisis afterwards to take care of
Thurs, May 31: rest, drove to SD with Steph
Fri, June 1: got a ride to Tecate to begin the incredible journey; biked 40 miles with Steph (see tour blog)
Sat, June 2: 57 mi bike tour
Sun, June 3: 22 mi bike tour
Mon, June 4: 65 mi bike tour
Tues, June 5: 72 mi bike to catch up to Adventure cyclists
Wed, June 6: 30 mi bike with Adventure cyclists
Thurs, June 7: 66 mi bike (mostly descending) to Pasadena
Fri, June 8: rest
Sat, June 9: 10k mud run @ Camp Pendleton
Sun, June 10: rest, walk to Old Pas and back
Mon, June 11: ran Brown Mountain with Steph: 30 min up (2.2 mi?), 86 min total (7.6 mi?)
Tues, June 12 - Sat, June 16: I think 2 runs in here: one Huntington (5 mi) and the other probably shorter (4 mi?).

Wow, I can't believe I haven't updated since Apr 6. My life has changed so much since then. My fitness has been an ever-changing combo of running (mostly Saturday runs in the park), biking (for 2 weeks in mid-May), YMCA boxing, and essentially sneaking into personal training sessions. A few abdominal sessions in there, but not enough to call it a true habit. Here's what I can remember of my life:

Tues, May 15: 24 mi bike on Trace, 17 minute abs (form really deteriorated after 10 minutes), then last 40 minutes of C's bootcamp
Wed, May 16: rest
Thurs, May 17: 9 mi run in the parks: intended only a 2.5 mi blue loop to recover from Tues, but the signs egged me on.
They said: Candy Cane Connector Trail: 1 mile.
Me: Yeah!
Signs: Red Trail: 4.5 mile Loop.
Me: Sure!
Then I had to get back to the car, via Candy Cane. 

Fri, May 18: 6 mile run (to the top of Morton Mill & back)
Sat, May 19: 4 mile run, I forget where... must be the Park, though.
Sun, May 20: 20 mile bike: from Bellevue to Downtown Nashville, look around the neighborhoods, and then back as far as the Hwy 70/100 jxn
Mon a.m., May 21: run to YMCA, 10 min abs, rough circuit of lunges, Hindu squats+pushups (I feel silly doing it when nobody tells me to... ?), burpees, wall touches (jumping)
Mon p.m., May 21 - Wed, May 23: rest, driving from BNA --> SNA
Thurs, May 24: rest, ~10 miles biking to various mechanics
Fri, May 25: rest (fly to PDX)
Sat, May 26: 10 mile run: 5 miles to Nature center, walk for 1.5 miles, run 5 miles back.

The incredible journey starts June 1, and I hope I don't freak the frick out. It's been an emotionally wrenching week, so I feel like I should be extra diligent in my preparation, lest important things sneak away from me...

Goals

I do really well at working and working out when I have specific goals in mind. Here are mine, to encourage me through my UPS Store and Edible Arrangements jobs. Maybe this is TMI, but I really think in terms of concrete goals (being able to run a marathon, etc.):

currently: I could quit my job and do the bike tour frugally.
Apr 7- Apr 20: +safety cushion (peace-of-mind).
Apr 21 - May 5: + relocate to NY (or wherever)
May 6 - May 20: + buy textbooks in advance! <3
May 21 - May 31: + actual margin of safety outside of loans. SWELL!!! ULTIMATE GOAL!

Exercise goals: Workout about of every other day in April, and ballroom dance. Get my legs prepared somewhat for cycling. : )
Go to psycho cycling class every other day in May, plus boxing for fun. See how it goes!