Playin' Hooky

I've spent the last three work days running numbers in every possible permutation I can think of to prove to our budget office that they owe us some money. $2.7 million plus change, if anyone's curious. To make a dull accounting story a little less unbearable, suffice to say that me and one of the budget bigwigs just couldn't seem to see eye to eye on the matter. (Why the university budget office doesn't know how much money they're supposed to give us is perhaps a question better left for another day.) So to finally set things straight, we had a big meeting today with two budget hotshots, my business boss and her business boss. We were done in fifteen minutes, my number being determined to be correct.

Who says a liberal arts degree is useless? My History/Spanish double major trumped an accounting degree today!

So there I was, freed absurdly early from one meeting, no one expecting me at a conflicting meeting a few buildings away and no one expecting me back at the office, either. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, a fresh breeze was blowing...

An hour later I was on trails!

Since it was my first warm run of the season and I had deliberately left my fuel belt at home, I took things a little slow. I didn't bother with my watch either, but I think I was doing about a 10 minute mile pace, which was quite reasonable for temps in the mid-80s on an uneven trail. I did the north side of the trail first, since it usually doesn't have working water fountains, whereas the south side has three. There weren't a lot of people on the trails yet, which was nice. It was just a good day to be out running in the warm sun and cool wind, steady pace, up the hills, over the gravel, across the grass, onto buckled asphalt and baked mud ruts left behind by mountain bikers. Bees were busy in what was left of the spring clover, dogs were chasing each other in the dog park, the flowers were blooming and the mockingbirds and last of the robins were flitting about, enjoying the afternoon as much as I was.

I found myself wishing I could do this more often, take off work a little early and go for a solitary run. I was even starting to formulate a plan until the warm sun on my shoulders, back and bare belly brought me back to reality. This is Houston. We'll have maybe a few more weeks of this at best, and then unbearable heat and withering humidity until October. The only place I'll be going after getting out of an air conditioned meeting is into another air conditioned building.

How nice then, that I got to enjoy today!

Tidbit's Tip!
When running on a warm day, rub a little cool water on your ears from time to time. It sounds strange, but it helps cool you down. Good advice for bunnies, good advice for humans!

Recent Workouts
Monday: 45 minutes core and strength training, no evening workout - Mary really beat me up in my massage session, and boy did I need it!
Tuesday: 45 minutes core and strength training, 45 minutes elliptical (intervals)
Wednesday: 45 minutes core and strength training, 5.5 mile run