It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Being sick for a week sucked, and then I got news that my grandfather passed away so I had to start planning a trip back home to say goodbye. It made me glad that I made the trip for his 80th birthday in January, but I'm still really going to miss him. When I saw him he was very sick but still full of the attitude I'll always remember him for. It was not a trip I wanted to make, but it was nice, even under the circumstances, to get to see my family again. My baby niece is getting bigger, stronger and is still the cutest baby ever. She was standing (with help) while I was there! She's only 8 weeks old! She's an athlete in the making!
While I was in New Mexico I got a call from the bike shop I applied for - I'm hired! I'm super excited to work there partly because I've wanted to work in a bike shop for awhile (for a number of reasons, one being I can work part time, another because I love bikes) but I'm also excited because I can get out of the sketchy chem lab I'm currently working in. It may be just that I'm paranoid, but I did take chem 101/102 and other lab classes and you know those safety rules they give you? Ummmmmm yeah. Those aren't exactly followed very closely. That's why I wear a lab coat, old worn out running shoes (that will get thrown out when I'm done there) and gloves, gloves, gloves! I've learned that some solvents (Toluene) are MEAN. Do not touch, smell, look sideways at, etc or else...kinda scary. Though I'm appreciative of the days when I work with Cineol a.k.a. Eucalyptol a.k.a. the main component of Eucalyptus essential oil. At least that part of it isn't toxic. Though what we mix it with might be. Again, I'm not a chemist and therefore I don't like working with it and therefore I'm super strict on the safety stuff that doesn't really get followed by anyone but me. Four days and counting. Then I start at the bike shop next Tuesday. Yippee!! I'm not sure exactly what to expect in terms of how busy it is or how busy it can be, so we'll see.
I'm currently not allowed (by my leg, not by my choice) to run. I'm having bad IT band issues probably from sitting for a week while sick. Sitting for me has always aggravated it badly, as does running as many miles as I have this winter in prep for 70.3 Kansas and the Illinois Half Marathon. I feel like I'm running strong when I'm running at all. What compounds the problem is the serious LACK of dirt to run on around here. Even when you get out of town you can't hit the dirt because then you're trespassing on farmers land and that probably won't end well either from the dogs or the shotguns they probably have. So the options are largely concrete or asphalt. Can you say IMPACT???? And I'm not even a heel-striker! So I'm sitting here on my day off and zapping the crud outta my leg, ice rolling it, zapping, rolling, zapping, rolling, etc etc etc. I'm probably going to hit the pool tomorrow for an aquajog instead of a run. Maybe I'll have to make that my recovery run on a routine basis....hmmmm....the problem is the lack of pool space in this town, though. The UIUC pool is crowded with people who don't have any concept of swim etiquette, and once the outdoor pool opens it's only going to get worse. I'll have to come up with something better for the summer, maybe a couple of memberships to different pools depending on the hours...ouch that would get expensive fast though! Here I am totally spoiled from the pools in Albuquerque that I could go to almost whenever I wanted...oh well. I'll have to bike it up all that much more then!
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