Saturday Thoughts

I had a nice run today, following a familiar route to Hermann Park and Rice University. I came upon some sort of race going on near one of the zoo entrances, but I'm not sure what it was about. There's a race next month benefiting the park and zoo, so I'm pretty sure today's race was for some other purpose.

I haven't decided what I want my next big project to be. I want to get back into triathlon, but my hip is a problem. I have to tape my hip to run, and you can't tape a wet body between swim and bike, or bike and run.

Triathlon would also require I reorganize my work schedule so I could swim in the morning. Pool chlorine leaves me sniffling for hours, so I have to swim early if I want to sleep later. The problem is that I really like working early and leaving early, and I also don't like swimming at any hour, much less first thing in the morning. I may try it out this week, though, just to see how such a schedule would work. It might not be as bad as I think it would be.

I'd also like to do some of the MS-150 training rides this year. I don't want to do the MS ride-- the Houston to Austin ride is way too full of amateurs to be fun or safe. But I miss the training rides, and my only real problem is how to get to them, since they're all way out in exurbia. My car is old and I'm not so sure I want to do battle with Dan to get driving privileges for his prized Jeep. I've recently discovered that a co-worker will be doing the MS ride, though, and I might be able to work something out with him to get to the training rides.

Or I might just focus on overall conditioning, including core and upper body work. I like being able to keep my own schedule with no worries about race dates and training schedules. The rec center always has interesting classes, so maybe I could reorganize my schedule for a dance class or martial arts or something.

In other news, I'm getting back into cooking again, after a lapse over the holidays that continued into January. Why cook when you have a fridge full of leftovers? I'm back to cooking up meals for the week on Sundays, though, and Dan is getting into the act, too. He cooked up a big batch of pasta this past week and I added veggies and pine nuts. Last night I made banana bread with the overripe leftover bananas from the week. It came out pretty good and was much quicker and easier than I thought it would be. A lot of cooking is that way, though. You think it will take forever, when in actual practice, the prep time isn't so bad at all. I especially love the convenience of rice cooker and crock pot. Ten minutes of work, a week's worth of meals.