Holy Cow, what a weekend

Wow, I don't want to get into the car for the rest of the week. My uncle's funeral was really sad on friday. Our whole family is really going to miss him. Saturday would have been their 5th wedding anniversary. The worst part is the only thing I could think of during the funeral was a dick joke he made one thanksgiving. Apparently the old man was hung like a baby elephant. While I appreciate a good dick joke, it was not exactly appropriate to laugh that hard even though Charlie would have loved it.

After the funeral, we frantically packed everything into the van and headed to Raleigh NC for the weekend. 5 hours each way with 2 sleeping or screaming kids (apparently there is no in-between) was as much fun as a barrel of monkeys. But we really had a great time in North Carolina. It's always good to visit with Wifey's dad and his wife, the kids loved it.

Saturday I wanted to get in a long run. And since long runs in a new city always go smoothly it was fun. I mapped a nice 8 mile route through the NC State university campus, as Mickey only lives about 3 blocks off campus. Then I was going to hit some of the city parks nearby and come on back to the house. Raleigh doesn't like street signs though, so I missed a turn. And once the route is gone it's up to my horrible sense of direction to get me back home. Yes, I got turned around on campus some, but it wasn't as bad as the city streets. I used map my run when I got back inside and found out I ran 9.5 miles! Wow, that's really farther than I have ever run before. It took 2 hours and burned over 1200 calories. But it was soooooo cool to get to see an entire new city. Sometimes getting lost (or directionally challenged) can lead to some great discoveries. I found a cool long route for when we're up there next time too.

Sunday I was determined to see some of the parks near his house, including the rose garden. So I mapped out a 2.5 mile route. After finding the rose garden, the street signs went away, and I became directionally challenged again. I didn't get a time for the run, but it seemed closer to 3 miles. Still, I got to see some of the great parks and learn my way around the neighborhood a little better. I got a couple of lucky guesses too not really knowing which way I should turn here but I know this road has shown up on the map...

So my 12 mile weekend was smashing. Fantastic. One in a million. But I think it may be time for some new stomps. My shins are killing me today, and it feels like my arches have fallen, which usually means a trip to the chiropractor. My chiropractor is amazing, he deals with athletes of all kinds including a number of triathletes. He can adjust my knees and feet to correct anything, even though his real specialty is the top 2 bones of the neck. And the last time I had shin splints this consistently it took some new running shoes and an adjustment to make it go away. I think being this heavy I will run through shoes faster than they should wear out. I think this pair has 250 - 300 miles on them.

OMG, the eating plan was shot completely while out of town. I normally refuse to eat fast food, but gobbled down taco bell for the first time in years. And pizza and burritos and waffle house and all of the other trans fat filled junky crap I swore I would never have to consume again. I felt really really terrible afterwards. Heartburn, seemingly instant belly fat, no energy yesterday all really took its toll. I'm going to have to really be healthy eating this week just so I will finally feel better. I even had bojangles and hardees biscuits for breakfast sat, sun, & mon. wow, that's really bad.

Yesterday I had to go to Atlanta for work. It's a 2.5 hour drive each way from here. So I left the house at 6:30 am, still got to the office before my boss did, worked all day and made it home about 10:15 pm. what a long day! Good thing there's not a gas shortage going on right now, when I have to spend 15 hours driving over fri, sun, & mon. Actually, about 60% of the gas stations I drove past in all 3 states were out. maybe more. Some of the ones that still had gas only had one grade. So I'm on the bike for the rest of the week anytime I want to go anywhere. Including straight to insane-land. That seems to be a straight flat road.

So best of luck to you for the rest of the week. I'm going to be in the gym today, tomorrow, & thursday and I'll try to track my bike miles too. I need to pick up one of those Garmin watches that track pace & milage. What's the best place to get one?