Back to the Pool

RunningDeep Water Running
Back to the pool today on my way home from work. Spent about 40 minutes in the water, 30 minutes of solid "running" with 30 and 60 second intervals. I could really feel that I was doing something today, checking my pulse I was certainly working which is a positive. After that I just did some attempted swimming as a cool down, problem is I do have a tendency to sink :-)

Life
Gotta go to Sydney overnight on Wednesday, shame I am not running because I would have enjoyed running through the gardens in daylight, unlike the terrifying pitch black bolt I experienced back in May. However, as a result of winning a quarterly team award a few months back myself and my 2 team mates have $100 each to spend on dinner, so I am expecing a pretty good feed on Wednesday night. Then Thursday we are having our bigger team's Xmas thingy at Toronga Zoo, God knows what they have planned. No team building/bonding crap I hope, just point me to the bar and leave me the hell alone, LoL! And Then, on Friday I have my Xmas lunch with my Melbourne work mates, lawn bowls followed by a gourmet BBQ (Veggie Burgers on special order for me), now that one I am looking forward to! So a pretty big week coming up hey!

The new blog is coming on, it's just quite a bit more detailed, more like a web page with links to different sections, I probably won't have it ready for another week.

That's me for tonight, dinner is almost ready.

In a forum discussion on Christmas Carols I was reminded of one of my favourite "Christmas" Songs, not that conventional but I am not really into Christmas anyway, the gross orgy of commercialism makes me slightly ill. Anyway, the song in Fairytale in New York, a duet with Shane McGowan of The Pougues and Kristy MacColl

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir Were singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

Another Breakthrough

RunningRiding
60 Minutes tempo session today, warm up for 20 minutes then last 40 minutes of steady pace at increased effort. Frankly, the sooner I get off that thing the better really, tonight was a real drag. But I have good news, today I decided I could manage a walk home from the station. Under normal circumstances I always walk home from the station, the bus is never on time and it's only 2km anyway. For the last 2 weeks I have been confined to the bus, but today I had a very pleasant and very comfortable walk home, bliss! And I was able to walk around barefoot for a short while, though I am not risking too much of that, I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Of course this brings me to the next and perhaps most frustrating phase. The "almost better but it could all go to hell again if I try to return to early" phase. So now I must be super patient and stick with the bike and the pool for AT LEAST another week, possibly 10 days. On that note my floatation belt arrived yesterday so I am going to the pool first thing tomorrow for an hour. I'll be well and truly throwing vanity out the window, it looks like some sort of weird bustle sort of arrangement

I bought some more Sofsoles today and at the risk of sounding like a a paid spokesperson, I love these things. In my totally uninformed opinion shoe companies let themselves down with the quality of the insole they put in the shoes. All this wonder technology goes into wizz bang jiggery pokery that does everything but go on the run for you, then they put these crappy tatty useless insoles into the shoe. Now if you have freakishly high arches like me you need something extra. So when ever I get a new pair of runners I buy the Arch Support insole, yes at $50 a throw they are insanely expensive, but as I am generally getting my runners on the cheap from the US these days it's not so bad. And for the sake of my feet it's worth it. Anyway, this is a long way around to getting to the point. Nike came through this time around and my Air Equalons had great arch support so I didn't need the inserts. But I picked up a pair to put inside my street shoes and they made a huge difference so I'll just rotate this pair around all my work shoes and street shoes, keep up with the stretching, look after my calves and hopefully this PF will not become a monkey on my back

Other Stuff
No other stuff today. I was of a mind to have a little whine and a moan (thanks Lilly Allen) about feeling like a fat cow as I am sure I have put on weight (refuse to get on the scales), but you know what! Who gives a rats!!! Let's call December my month off, I need to rehab the injury, I am still cross training and after a year of building a base and losing more weight I reckon I can kick back for a few weeks, have a few drinks and chill, I 'aint gonna feel bad about it. Next year will be huge and any extra weight will surely be gone by the end of January anyway. And let's face it, my definition of indulgence is most peoples Normal.

Been out for a while now, but has anyone heard the latest from the John Butler Trio, Funky Tonight? JJJ listeners surely would have. Man I love that song, I am a big JBT fan anyway but this one is something else. Just makes me want to get up and dance around and sing every time it comes on, really puts a smile on my dial.