Hey Neighbors

Workout: 3 miles jogged 'round the neighborhood

Two more photos from yesterday's hike, because today's run wasn't that pretty (I'm referring to both me and the scenery):

 Taken from the same bridge. It's funny what a little sun will do.

Exercise is weird. How is it possible to go from wanting nothing more than to sit on your ass all day to suddenly wanting to RUN ALL THE MILES? I'm pretty sure this has happened to us all at one point or another. It happened to me today.

I felt pretty blah for the first part of the day. I have a semi-important calculus test on Tuesday and decided I needed to start studying, so I spent the first six hours of my day with my butt glued to my desk chair learning the ins and outs of series (sidenote: why don't professors tell you you'll need limits later on? When we learned derivatives we all said "Well fuck limits! What a sham! These things do the same thing with a fraction of the effort!" Turns out limits COME BACK AGAIN. It's like an even dumber sequel to the dumbest horror movie you've ever seen). Anyway, I love calculus and I've done well in my calc classes, but it does not come naturally to me. At all. I have to spend hours staring at it before it finally clicks.

As I sat studying the wonders of math, I wanted nothing more than to curl up on a couch and read Steve Jobs's biography (SO GOOD. Read it). Working out was the last thing on my mind. But I kept looking outside at the perfect weather we continue to have, and knew I should take advantage of it, even if only for a few minutes.

I put my stuff on, grabbed the mutt, and headed out for a jaunt around the neighborhood.

My stats are only notable because midway through mile 1 until about 2.5 miles, we managed to pick up a dog that decided it needed to run with us. Guys, I LOVE dogs, but this thing was a pain in the ass. It was wreaking havoc everywhere we went, shitting on lawns, harassing other dogs, terrifying my own antisocial dog. Bailey kept getting herself tied up in the leash trying to flee this dog, and I was having to stop to untie her and to apologize to the people the dog was pissing off. Finally, I decided I was done with this dog, and ran up the disgustingly steep hill back to what I believed to be its house. Fortunately it ran ahead, got into a tussle with yet another dog (why are there so many random dogs milling about my neighborhood?), and I peaced out before it knew what hit it. And that, my friends, is why mile 2 came in at a whopping 11:25.

The only mountain on this run was the Sleeping Lady. WHY ARE YOU SO LAZY, LADY?!

Although I initially didn't want to run, I suddenly got this crazy motivation to exercise as soon as I got outside. When I got back to my place I was all, "I'm going to strength train, take a ride on the stationary bike that's not set up properly, do a million sit-ups, and go run another 20 miles." But, as tends to happen, this motivation evaporated the second I stepped through the door. She's a fickle mistress, exercise.

----

People always say you should write what you know, right? Well, I know how to complain, so here's one for you: I am having major issues responding to comments. There are two possible reasons for this: 1) I'm dumb as a rock, or 2) Blogger is conspiring against me and the rest of the human race. I'm talking about, you guessed it, human verification and the impossibility of entering those codes to Blogger's liking. Of course, as those from my generation are wont to do, I figured I must be the first to have suffered such injustice. A quick google search told me to sit DOWN because this is a common issue. But, like, how am I ever supposed to be a successful blogger if I can't prove my humanity to Blogger? Like, I can't. Ever. I nail those things time after time and yet, time after time, I get marked wrong. I don't often get things wrong. The system must be rigged, I tell you! Fortunately the comments aren't blowing up just yet, so I think I'm going to be all right.