So I woke up this morning and realized that I'd planned to meet up with a friend RIGHT SMACK DAB in the middle of my Saturday-bike-ride opportunity so I went on a run instead. It was less than satisfying. First un-fulfilling run I've had in awhile. And just to mock me, I was passed on the corner of Riverside and Fulton by a group bike ride. Sigh.
Total: 3.0 mile run
Saturday
Friday
01.30.09
Whew! So I DID, as promised, go on an actual factual bike ride today; Riverside to Woodman, Woodman to the Orange Line, Orange Line (which is a busway and has a bike lane next to it) to Balboa, Balboa to Roscoe, Roscoe to Reseda, Reseda to Victory, Victory around Balboa Park and back along the busway/Orange Line home. And all before noon.
I also biked into the office for a bit, so that puts me at an almost legit amount of ride time for the first time in a loooong time.
Total ride time: 33-ish miles, bike (24.96 - I kid you not, short by .04 miles - in the morning, and my normal 8.3 work commute)
I also biked into the office for a bit, so that puts me at an almost legit amount of ride time for the first time in a loooong time.
Total ride time: 33-ish miles, bike (24.96 - I kid you not, short by .04 miles - in the morning, and my normal 8.3 work commute)
Thursday
01.29.09
Morning run prior to dealing with my day. Nothing yesterday, I got home rather later than I usually do from Santa Barbara.
I feel like I've been half-assing things all week. I HATE feeling like that.
Tomorrow I'm going on a bike ride, dammit.
total: 3.0 m run (yes, a full 3, because I ran the extra short block to the corner of Coldwater and Riverside and back)
I feel like I've been half-assing things all week. I HATE feeling like that.
Tomorrow I'm going on a bike ride, dammit.
total: 3.0 m run (yes, a full 3, because I ran the extra short block to the corner of Coldwater and Riverside and back)
Tuesday
still 01.27.09
I just ran almost four miles! And could have run farther!
It felt good.
I also made a decision. A decision I don't plan to tell anyone about. A decision I hope to maintain without telling anyone.
total movement: 3.87 mile run
It felt good.
I also made a decision. A decision I don't plan to tell anyone about. A decision I hope to maintain without telling anyone.
total movement: 3.87 mile run
01.27.09
It's gotten chilly in the Valley! Not that LA ever gets THAT cold, but I was wearing my long warmers and my jacket biking to work yesterday and I was still kind of cold. I even broke out my long-fingered gloves! Maybe I'm just a wimp. Either way,
1/26/09 - 8.3 m bike
Today I have to drive to San Diego and back for work, which probably means I won't get home until 9 or 10 pm. Seeing as how I have to spend my Wednesday in a car as well, I'm hoping I have the motivation to go on a run tonight.
Either way, I have decided that I am no-excuses-valid going on a REAL bike ride on Friday and maybe Saturday too. When you arrive home from work and wish you could keep on biking past your apt, even WITH your laptop on your back, you know it's time to get a legit ride in.
1/26/09 - 8.3 m bike
Today I have to drive to San Diego and back for work, which probably means I won't get home until 9 or 10 pm. Seeing as how I have to spend my Wednesday in a car as well, I'm hoping I have the motivation to go on a run tonight.
Either way, I have decided that I am no-excuses-valid going on a REAL bike ride on Friday and maybe Saturday too. When you arrive home from work and wish you could keep on biking past your apt, even WITH your laptop on your back, you know it's time to get a legit ride in.
Sunday
01.25.09
You know those days where you get back into bed in the middle of the afternoon with your jeans still on? It's one of those days. I'm feeling lazy.
Biking to work on Friday was an unpleasant experience. I knew it was drippy out, but I thought it was just a little bit drippy. About halfway to work it went from 'a little bit drippy' to 'quite drip-droppy'. I had worn my full-leg biking pants too and had NOT brought a 'normal' pair of pants to change into, so I spent the afternoon in damp biking pants. As I said, unpleasant.
total biked 1/23/09: 8.3 m
I had a board meeting this weekend, so there was no movement to be had. Hopefully I'll work on that in this coming week. I really want to try and get out on an ALC training ride, but I have an odd aversion to driving to a meeting point and THEN riding, so I've been waiting to hear about something happening in my corner of the world. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.
Biking to work on Friday was an unpleasant experience. I knew it was drippy out, but I thought it was just a little bit drippy. About halfway to work it went from 'a little bit drippy' to 'quite drip-droppy'. I had worn my full-leg biking pants too and had NOT brought a 'normal' pair of pants to change into, so I spent the afternoon in damp biking pants. As I said, unpleasant.
total biked 1/23/09: 8.3 m
I had a board meeting this weekend, so there was no movement to be had. Hopefully I'll work on that in this coming week. I really want to try and get out on an ALC training ride, but I have an odd aversion to driving to a meeting point and THEN riding, so I've been waiting to hear about something happening in my corner of the world. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.
Thursday
01.22.09
Well. We officially have a new president. Let's see what he can make of this mess. I've got confidence in this one, but people have said that before. I'm proceeding cautiously with my inside-fuzzy-feeling.
I spent this past weekend in Santa Rosa at Camp Newman, helping my regional board run West Coast Party Jr. This means that I did not have a chance to move until last night. It's been kind of cold and drippy down here in SoCal, which I'm not complaining about - it makes for a much more pleasant run. And then I biked to work today.
Someday soon I'm going to have to break out of my 2.87 mile run/8.3 mile roundtrip bike to and from work, or I will be sorely (literally) unprepared to ride 545 miles in June. Maybe I SHOULD join a gym.
Wed. Jan 21st: 2.87 m run
Today thusfar: half of an 8.3 m bike work commute
I spent this past weekend in Santa Rosa at Camp Newman, helping my regional board run West Coast Party Jr. This means that I did not have a chance to move until last night. It's been kind of cold and drippy down here in SoCal, which I'm not complaining about - it makes for a much more pleasant run. And then I biked to work today.
Someday soon I'm going to have to break out of my 2.87 mile run/8.3 mile roundtrip bike to and from work, or I will be sorely (literally) unprepared to ride 545 miles in June. Maybe I SHOULD join a gym.
Wed. Jan 21st: 2.87 m run
Today thusfar: half of an 8.3 m bike work commute
Wednesday
01.14.09
Well then.
Tuesday I biked my regular 8.3 miles roundtrip to work. Then I proceeded to drink a bottle of wine over the course of the late afternoon and early evening. So. That's that.
Today was my lots-of-driving day, but I came home and ran 3.08 miles like a good little Dusty, which was probably smart of me because I'm driving to Santa Rosa tomorrow night and that's a LOT of car time. On the 5. Gah.
Tonight's run was mostly uneventful (which is always good for a nighttime run, eventful usually means something bad happened)...AND I got to see some stars! In LA?! It has to be REAL clear to see stars in Sherman Oaks. I may have almost tripped on a branch due to my stargazing-while-running. Don't judge.
Tuesday I biked my regular 8.3 miles roundtrip to work. Then I proceeded to drink a bottle of wine over the course of the late afternoon and early evening. So. That's that.
Today was my lots-of-driving day, but I came home and ran 3.08 miles like a good little Dusty, which was probably smart of me because I'm driving to Santa Rosa tomorrow night and that's a LOT of car time. On the 5. Gah.
Tonight's run was mostly uneventful (which is always good for a nighttime run, eventful usually means something bad happened)...AND I got to see some stars! In LA?! It has to be REAL clear to see stars in Sherman Oaks. I may have almost tripped on a branch due to my stargazing-while-running. Don't judge.
Monday
01.12.09
work + return trip + Trader Joes + return trip = 11.2 miles.
It was SO warm today. The pleasant comfortable kind of warm. I biked home in the dark in bike shorts and a jersey and was comfortable. In January. LA is craaazy.
In other news, Tatty's on her way to preparing for the ride*. The boyfriend is no longer joining her but SHE'S still in. It always amazes me when people join me on this ride; for some reason I don't feel special for doing the ride, but when people I know make the choice to ride, I find them incredibly special. And not in a 'he's not weird he's special' kind of way, in a 'but you're actually going to take the time to DO this? you must be crazy wonderful!' kind of way.
*AIDS/Lifecycle 8, hereafter referred to as 'the ride' is a 545-mile ride from SF to LA that raises money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and LA Gay and Lesbian Center, two organizations that provide medication and support for those living with HIV and AIDS and also work to spread awareness about HIV. This is the real reason I'm keeping this blog - it keeps track of my pitiful attempts to quote-unquote train.
It was SO warm today. The pleasant comfortable kind of warm. I biked home in the dark in bike shorts and a jersey and was comfortable. In January. LA is craaazy.
In other news, Tatty's on her way to preparing for the ride*. The boyfriend is no longer joining her but SHE'S still in. It always amazes me when people join me on this ride; for some reason I don't feel special for doing the ride, but when people I know make the choice to ride, I find them incredibly special. And not in a 'he's not weird he's special' kind of way, in a 'but you're actually going to take the time to DO this? you must be crazy wonderful!' kind of way.
*AIDS/Lifecycle 8, hereafter referred to as 'the ride' is a 545-mile ride from SF to LA that raises money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and LA Gay and Lesbian Center, two organizations that provide medication and support for those living with HIV and AIDS and also work to spread awareness about HIV. This is the real reason I'm keeping this blog - it keeps track of my pitiful attempts to quote-unquote train.
Sunday
technically 01.11.09
Do we sense a pattern here with all of these 'technically's? I don't sleep at normal times. So sue me.
I found a bike path today! Well, that's not entirely true. I knew it was there but I hadn't gotten around to biking it at all, and today I decided that enough was enough, I was a biker, NOT a runner, and I needed a bike ride so there. Just to spite me, it decided to be windy as fuck all morning, so it wasn't as enjoyable a ride as it could have been what with me struggling against invisible obnoxiousness. However, I managed to stay on bike-laned roads and bike paths for most of my ride, which is a major coup in L.A.
16.8 m total for the day. Not impressive, but it's a start. I wish I still had the Santa Monica beach bike path right down the street, that was quite convenient.
I found a bike path today! Well, that's not entirely true. I knew it was there but I hadn't gotten around to biking it at all, and today I decided that enough was enough, I was a biker, NOT a runner, and I needed a bike ride so there. Just to spite me, it decided to be windy as fuck all morning, so it wasn't as enjoyable a ride as it could have been what with me struggling against invisible obnoxiousness. However, I managed to stay on bike-laned roads and bike paths for most of my ride, which is a major coup in L.A.
16.8 m total for the day. Not impressive, but it's a start. I wish I still had the Santa Monica beach bike path right down the street, that was quite convenient.
Saturday
technically 01.10.09
This entry could be titled "Dusty and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". Remember that book? Alexander had a terrible horrible no good very bad day (without even COMMAS!) but by the end of the book it wasn't SO SO bad?
Right. Movement.
1. About halfway through my bike ride to work, my pannier (the little sidebag doohickey people put on the backs of their bikes to carry shit around) fell off of my bike and got run over by a truck. This ruined the hooks that enable the pannier to BE a pannier. So now it's my 'biking backpack'.
Work was stressful and full of upset people. But there was chocolate-chip challah.
2. After work I (quickly) ran errands (on my bike) in order to get home in time to change and find an apartment in which a guy was selling a kitchen table for $20.00. Upon finishing my errands and biking to my doorstep, I realized that I had left my keys at Wells Fargo. The bank is four miles away in treacherous L.A. traffic. And I was going to be late. So I hopped back on my bike (still carrying my newly converted pannier-backpack containing my laptop and various other heavy and awkwardly shaped items such as a pair of dress boots) and went straight to Table Man's house. Table Man is maybe the nicest human being in all of Los Angeles. No. Really. He helped me load the table (hereafter known as LAH aka Large and Heavy) into HIS truck. Then he drove me, my bike, and LAH to the bank, where I collected my keys. THEN he drove me to the apartment and helped my carry LAH up two flights of stairs and into my apartment. At the top of the stairs, I got that feeling you get when you stand up too fast. Except I was already standing up and it didn't go away. And then I got the tunnel hearing thing going too. And in front of a perfect stranger, I had an almost-fainting-spell.
Before he left, we finally introduced himself. Table Man is also known as Pete.
The rest of the day was pretty basic;
3. I ran approximately 1/4 of a mile (whee?) to the drugstore and back and then biked to the grocery store and back and then spent the rest of the night NOT moving.
Total miles traveled:
13.something via bike
.88 via sneaker
courtyard length + two flights of stairs carrying LAH.
Right. Movement.
1. About halfway through my bike ride to work, my pannier (the little sidebag doohickey people put on the backs of their bikes to carry shit around) fell off of my bike and got run over by a truck. This ruined the hooks that enable the pannier to BE a pannier. So now it's my 'biking backpack'.
Work was stressful and full of upset people. But there was chocolate-chip challah.
2. After work I (quickly) ran errands (on my bike) in order to get home in time to change and find an apartment in which a guy was selling a kitchen table for $20.00. Upon finishing my errands and biking to my doorstep, I realized that I had left my keys at Wells Fargo. The bank is four miles away in treacherous L.A. traffic. And I was going to be late. So I hopped back on my bike (still carrying my newly converted pannier-backpack containing my laptop and various other heavy and awkwardly shaped items such as a pair of dress boots) and went straight to Table Man's house. Table Man is maybe the nicest human being in all of Los Angeles. No. Really. He helped me load the table (hereafter known as LAH aka Large and Heavy) into HIS truck. Then he drove me, my bike, and LAH to the bank, where I collected my keys. THEN he drove me to the apartment and helped my carry LAH up two flights of stairs and into my apartment. At the top of the stairs, I got that feeling you get when you stand up too fast. Except I was already standing up and it didn't go away. And then I got the tunnel hearing thing going too. And in front of a perfect stranger, I had an almost-fainting-spell.
Before he left, we finally introduced himself. Table Man is also known as Pete.
The rest of the day was pretty basic;
3. I ran approximately 1/4 of a mile (whee?) to the drugstore and back and then biked to the grocery store and back and then spent the rest of the night NOT moving.
Total miles traveled:
13.something via bike
.88 via sneaker
courtyard length + two flights of stairs carrying LAH.
Thursday
technically 01.08.09
So I actually managed to glean enough self-motivation to go on a run after I got back from Santa Barbara tonight; another 2.87 miles, this may become a habit (gross).
I also bought dental floss, which is much more exciting than it sounds.
Running at 11 pm in Sherman Oaks is definitely not as frightening as running at 11 pm in say, Van Nuys. But Van Nuys is like, a half mile from Sherman Oaks (silly L.A.) so it's all a LITTLE frightening. Initially, I kept seeing something that looked like it could be someone out of the corner of my eye. Then I realized that the various streetlights gave me two shadows instead of one. And to think I used to walk home from the bus stop at midnight without a care in the world in ghetto-turned-Vietnamese South Seattle. At age 14. Hmph.
I also bought dental floss, which is much more exciting than it sounds.
Running at 11 pm in Sherman Oaks is definitely not as frightening as running at 11 pm in say, Van Nuys. But Van Nuys is like, a half mile from Sherman Oaks (silly L.A.) so it's all a LITTLE frightening. Initially, I kept seeing something that looked like it could be someone out of the corner of my eye. Then I realized that the various streetlights gave me two shadows instead of one. And to think I used to walk home from the bus stop at midnight without a care in the world in ghetto-turned-Vietnamese South Seattle. At age 14. Hmph.
Wednesday
01.07.09
Today is a non-movement day. Aside from walking to and from my car, I am stuck IN my car. I drive about 3.5 hours total on Wednesdays. Lame. Apparently, my car-to-office 'journey' is a .43 mile walk one-way. Do we think that counts as exercise?
Tuesday
01.06.09
I have always thought blogging a mildly pointless pasttime. Unless the blog is themed. Themed blogs are exempt. I just tend to stay away from 'life blogs'. The need to share my intimate thoughts about people in my life died somewhere around age 17.
That being said, tonight I inexplicably decided I wanted to start a blog. And I have no theme. Go figure, we are all hypocrites.
Most of these posts will consist of my daily movement documentation. See below.
1. bike to work, roundtrip 8.3 miles.
A note about biking to work in LA - when leaving for work, one should really consider changes in light over the course of the day. I wore all black to work today. And forgot my bike light. The return trip at 5:15 PM after sunset in rush hour traffic was probably not something my mother would have enjoyed watching me do.
2. run, roundtrip six long LA blocks (or 2.87 m, according to walkjogrun.net)
A note about running. I want to hate it. I have hated running for so long that I almost feel an obligation to hate it. But once in awhile I catch myself wanting to go on a run. I am very disappointed in myself.
That being said, tonight I inexplicably decided I wanted to start a blog. And I have no theme. Go figure, we are all hypocrites.
Most of these posts will consist of my daily movement documentation. See below.
1. bike to work, roundtrip 8.3 miles.
A note about biking to work in LA - when leaving for work, one should really consider changes in light over the course of the day. I wore all black to work today. And forgot my bike light. The return trip at 5:15 PM after sunset in rush hour traffic was probably not something my mother would have enjoyed watching me do.
2. run, roundtrip six long LA blocks (or 2.87 m, according to walkjogrun.net)
A note about running. I want to hate it. I have hated running for so long that I almost feel an obligation to hate it. But once in awhile I catch myself wanting to go on a run. I am very disappointed in myself.
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