Busted!

It has happened before and people would laugh about it, but not today.

Monday we had a candidate in to interview for a position in our Philly office. I wasn't on the interview schedule, but since I work with people in the Philly office, I was "encouraged" to attend the presentation.

Hey.. I can't help it that the presentation was boring. It was also warm in the room and raining outside. Well, I got busted for nodding off. I was sure people saw me and I tried to cover it up by pretending to take notes, but I don't think it worked.

It didn't.

I had my annual review today and got a very nice raise. I think part of the raise has to do with the fact that I'll be taking on my bosses work when she goes on maternity leave in early September. Maybe they think it'll encourage me to.. oh, get to work at a decent hour.. be more productive.. and not fall asleep in presentations and meetings.

Well, I'm feeling good about said raise until she stops by my cube. You know it's not a good conversation when she lowers her voice and starts with, "I know I shouldn't be talking about this here, but.. "

Apparently The Big Boss from the Philly office, who was there as well, noticed me nodding off. On top of that, one of the VPs of the department was sitting behind me and my head kept falling back and forth.

I was told "you might want to work on that for the next quarter".

Duly noted.

Back on the wagon

..training wagon, that is.. and it was the Total 200 that helped me jumpstart my training. I haven't done much since Eagleman, but was looking forward to doing this ride as I was a participant in the inaugural event last year. As with last year, it was well organized even with twice as many participants.. and volunteers!! Three early flats and pouring rain didn't stop me from completing the event. Alas, I have to admit that I only covered about 185 miles since I had to be 'sag'ed up a few miles. I lost a lot of time with the flats early on and there were cutoff times for each aid station that I was in danger of missing.. and missed on occasions. However, my ass feels like it was in the saddle for 200 miles.

I could've used one of these afterwards, too, but I'm still going dry until Montreal. Damn, it looks good!!

Final Recap

The week has given me time to reflect on the weekend. After getting out of the water Sunday with a nasty cramp/knot in my left calf, I haven't been able to work it out, so I made sure to schedule a massage appointment for Thursday. I was hoping to get it worked out, but the only thing he worked out were tears. Friggin ay that SOB HURT!! It is a little better, but I got chastised for being and athlete and I stretch more and bla bla bla.. It is feeling a little better, but I still have a long way to go.

With that, I think I'm finally starting to come out of my training funk. After finishing up my classes in early May, I really had no direction and didn't know what to do. I enjoyed eating ice cream, watching TV, sleeping in, being lazy.. hell, having a life that didn't revolve around time/distance, cadence, laps, reps/sets, or weight. But now it's time to get back to it. For real. I have Montreal at the end of July and a slew of other possible races in August with an Iron-distance race at the end of September. I also have to get back to training towards my New Years Resolution, which is to do 2 full pull-ups (palms in) by the end of September. I haven't forgotten about that.. it only seems like it.

Interesting story from Pride weekend. Before leaving the first bar, I was standing in line to use the restroom. I was just inside the door next to the papertowel dispenser (people actually wash their hands!) waiting my turn.

Chick gets some towels and says to me, "I just wanted to say you have nice features."
I'm a bit taken back and say, "Which ones?"
She replies, "All of them."

I think I might've mumbled 'thank you', but I was so shit faced I have no clue. All I know is that 1.) I've never been 'propositioned' in the bathroom before and 2.) god help me that it had to be an ugly chick. My luck... or lack thereof. And then I go to say 'good bye' to my ex, I tell her the story, and apparently that chick told the story to her. I'm sure she didn't realize it was me she was referring to.. hopefully she asked, "was she hot?" only to find out later it was me. I don't know what her answer would've been and I don't really care.

Another thing from this weekend.. It's actually an accumulation of events from April or so, but I've decided to give up booze for a bit. I think of how much I've had over the past couple of months, how shit faced I've gotten in the process, and how much money I've spent. I have to admit, I love drinking beer. I love alcohol. I love both. I love binge drinking. I like to drink to get drunk when I go out. I've just been doing too much of it. I love the courage it gives me when I go out. I especially love to drink at work functions because it's free. We have a happy hour every month and I sooo look forward to it. My department hosted the Cinco de Mayo part and I got hammered. I had 5 bottles of Dos Equis in no time. There were 10 small plastic cups of sangria lined up that they didn't want to waste when clean up began. All five people looked at me and I started pounding them. I finished off 5 of them including the orange and apples slices in the glass. I then took 4 beers home with me. I had another happy hour to go to that night and stayed out until 2am. I did an open water swim the next morning. Sounds a little too similar to the events from this past weekend.

I actually skipped my departments 'picnic' last Thursday and the tri club happy hour this Thursday. You know you drink too much when the party planners ask ME what kind of beer I want before they go out shopping. My boss didn't realize I was going and I told her, flat out, if I went to the party, I would get hammered. I was still recovering from my weekend in Atlantic City, too. Who knew I'd get so bombed at Pride. ya, well, okay.. I kinda had an idea..

So I'm hoping I can hold off drinking until Montreal. There are a lot of opportunities to drink between now and then - another club happy hour, a couple work happy hours, I have 2 beers in the fridge at home, there's beer in the fridge at work.. I'm gonna be around it, but will do my best to avoid it when the opportunity to drink arises. I'm not gonna chastise those around me that want to drink.. that's fine.. and I'd love to join you, but my liver, my waistline, and my wallet need a break. I'm not going to start carrying around a wooden nickel or whatever that says how long I've been sober and I'm not gonna get all preachy.. I'm just taking a break. I need a break..

..besides, I need to work on those nice features of mine ;)

musings.. cont.

"you stink," my sister tells me.. "get in the shower"

I go through the motions of showering, dressing, and packing. Thankfully, most of my stuff it together. My friend crawls in bed and is out in 2 seconds. I try to leave a note for her with my sisters cell # in case she needs anything and slip a spare key in the pocket of her jeans in case she decides to go to the festival 8 hours later. Ride shows up and we're off.

It's 4am. I have been up for 31 hours. I drink a little water, eat a banana, and then nap during the 90 minute ride. Groggy upon arrival, I sleepwalk through the setting up of my transition. I realize I've forgot socks. Oh well. I miggle with some tri buds and score another banana and an apple. These 2 bananas and the apple are the only things I've eaten since 4pm Saturday, and it was all I needed.

I swear it was like a light went on. I get in the water at the start of this race, and I'm on auto pilot. I've done it since 2002, so I know what I'm doing. I "should've" known to put on more sunscreen, though, as I have a nasty (now blistering) burn on my back where the sunscreen didn't reach. I did the run sans socks or any lube or whatever on them, and got a few blisters. It could've been worse, though.

So I finished the race and did okay. "Okay" because of a lot of things, but it was a fun race. And what made it fun was all the people I knew out on the course and there cheering. A group of us went out for pizza and beer afterwards. Yes, more beer. And then having to deal with a looong trip home. I laid it bed at 9:30pm, woke up briefly at 2am when my sister came home, then I was up for good at 7am.

And then a new week started..

Musings from this weekend

Well, it was pretty obvious that I've had an interesting last couple of weeks and was able to answer a few questions that I proposed in my last post.

I ended up going to the Pride parade and to a few clubs afterwards and I still did the triathlon.

"how much do I drink and how late do I stay out?"

I drank a lot. And I did most of it on an empty stomach. Here's how my Saturday went. I left round 12:30pm for the race site. I had to get registered and check in my bike. About 45 minutes into the drive, I realize I left my front wheel at home. Not only was it at home, it was in the road (near the curb), and luckily it was still there and unharmed. I was able to get registered, rack my bike, have dinner with a friend, and get back to DC by 6pm. I figure if things were going to be out of whack, I might as well stick with the tradion of eating at the same place since 2002. It's bland food, but it's cheap and decent and doesn't upset my stomach.

Got up to the parade around 7pm and it was a fun time. They were throwing out candy and beads and other crap, and I was stuck behind some amazon woman that was grabbing everything within 6 feet of her. Her wing span was ridiculous and she grabbed everything out of the air above all our heads. My friend met up w/ someone else and we ended up talking for awhile. A few people she knew came up to say 'hi', which played in our favor later in the night.

So we got in line for the first bar around 8:30pm and stayed there about 45 minutes. A creepy guy walking around in REALLY short shorts and a T started chatting with a few of the girls in line behind us. One of them notices how short his shorts were and says something to the effect of, "I bet my package is bigger than his," so she proceeded to drop her drawers so they could stand side-by-side for pictures to compare. It was quite the sight.

We finally got in the bar around 9:15pm and stayed until about 11pm. I found a few people to chat with and there were a few creepy people as well. I also ran into my ex-K. I had warned her via email that I'd be out and about and I wasn't sure if she'd see it, but I was still surprised. I had at least 5 beers in me by now, so I went over to see her. Turns out she was with her ex from before me. Yknow, the one she had bad-mouthed to me over the years. Yeah, that ex. So it looks like now I'm "that ex".. the one that's bad-mouthed. Whatever. I saw her again before we left for another bar and gave her a hug. I know she didn't want to, but I said, "It's pride.. live a little."

It was a short walk to the next bar, but the line was ridiculous. While looking down the street to see how long the wait actually was, we ran into the two chicks we met after the parade when my friend was talking to a friend of hers. They were about 1/3 of the way from the door. Talk about luck! So we jumped in with them. They ended up leaving and we were getting impatient, so my friend started walking up the line. Next thing I know, she's calling me to come up front.. "just pretend you're looking for someone." So I do, slip under the rope, and we're in withing 5 minutes.

The place was friggin packed! I found a bar and a new friend and we chatted and drank. I tried to convince her to dance, but she kept saying she wasn't a good dancer and needed to drink more. I wasn't going to argue, since I'm not a good dancer either, so we drank more. Before you know it, it's 2:45am, the lights go on, and everyone scatters like roaches. I lose the friend I was chatting with, find the one I came with, and we get a cab ride home. I don't remember much around that ride except asking how much the ride was and and him saying, "one hundred". I replied, "Bull shit," and he dropped it down to.. to.. aw hell, I have no clue. We get inside and my phone is ringing.

It was my wake up call. It was 3:15am and I was supposed to be getting up now so I could leave at 4am.

More later..

Decisions, Decisions

I'm stuck.

I have a decision to make about this weekend and I don't know what to do.

For one, I have the Eagleman half-Ironman Sunday. It's about 45 minutes past the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, so about a 2 hour drive if you consider weekend/bridge traffic. Like I said, I've done this race every year since 2002. I've had good years and bad years. This is going to be a bad year with training in the shitter.

For two, it's Pride Week in DC, and I haven't been able to partake in any of the weekend festivities since it always falls on the same weekend as Eagleman.

Sooo..

I have a friend in Baltimore that needs to get out and about. Coming from small-town Michigan like myself, she's in the area for a few months and probably won't experience anything gayer in her life for awhile than what DC has to offer. I figure this is the perfect weekend for her, but I don't want her to experience it alone in a city she's unfamiliar with.

So I have a decision to make.

I don't want to skip the race, yet I don't want to miss the Pride parade Saturday. It would've worked out better if the parade were in the afternoon instead of at 6:30pm. But with an evening start time, everyone will be able to hit the bars/clubs immediately afterwards.

And that's the other decision - how much do I drink and how late do I stay out?

If I stay in the District for the night, we're talking leaving at 4am at the latest to get to the race.

Do-able.. I'm sure..

*sigh*

Just My Luck

I'm not a big gambler. I don't play cards and I guess I like to play some video poker, but I prefer to watch other people lose their money. That was the case this weekend in Atlantic City. I played $20-40 here and there and I think I was close to breaking even for the weekend.

My shining moment was when the 4 of us took over a Wheel of Fortune slot machine..





Basically, you get credit if you match up the bars or 7's or whatever. In the last column is a 'spin', and if you land on that, you get to spin the wheel. I think we put in $60 and were getting pretty bummed. We had our routine going of who got to push the button when.. and if you won something, you got another turn. Corny, but fitting. So we see everyone else getting to spin and finally we get a shot. It stops on 'spin' during my spin, so I had the honors. Not like I have any control over it, but the mofo lands on 1,000 - highest possible number. Bells and whistles.. high fives around. We get to spin again a few more times, but it wasn't no thousand!

So that was the highlight of the weekend.. at least one of them..

The next was finding $1.50 in quarters in a newspaper box. Always learned from my dad to check newspaper boxes as well as pay phones. Paid off! I think that was the only machine from this weekend where I didn't lose.

So with the casino comes the free beer. And there was a lot of it. Small Dixie cups of Coors Light, but it goes down smooth and adds up fast. I must be immune to it since it took awhile to hit me and we weren't eating much. It hit me when we got to the bar, had 3 more beers, and then a shot of apple pucker and Crown Royal. Oh my. And that's when it went downhill..

I did my best to not look like a fool while out on the dance floor. I can't friggin dance. I'll admit that. And even drinking doesn't make me a good dance. It does, however, make me look good to others.. and usually the desperate. If you've ever had beer glasses on, I'm usually the type that's see on the other side. I know that's harsh, but true, and I'm fine with it. But it's worse when it's a friggin guy eyeing me. I figure 'what the hell' at least it's someone to talk to.. and yes, dance with. *sigh*

Back to the room at 3:45am.. started up again at 3pm. It was a long day and a long drive home, but a lot of fun. That's all I'm saying, though, cuz whatever happens in AC, stays in AC. Eh.. not as cool to say since it wasn't Vegas.

It was my first time to AC and hopefully not my last. Would like to get up there a little more often. We'll see how it works with my training schedule..

.. now about that training.. hmm..

The Countdown

I'm officially 10 days out from my next competition.. Eaglman half-Ironman

Am I ready for this one? Nope.

Do I care? eh.. not really.

I'm sure I'll bitch about it afterwards.. bla blah..

So I'm starting my 10-day training plan today. Haven't done much since Columbia.. maybe biked 2x for 45 minutes and 60 minutes, respectively.. and that's about it.

And I'm sure my results will reflect my lack of training.

I've got Montreal on my mind in 2 months and Atlantic City on my mind for this weekend.

Priorities are changing.