Day 21

I went radio silent this week because I was out of town, visiting my mother and sister for Thanksgiving. It was a great week, lots of food and family and catching up.

Unfortunately, it did not include much exercise. I played one round of golf and tried to walk as much of the course as I could, but it was the day after a heavy rain and the course was slippery - not optimum conditions for a walk in the park.

The rest of the time was in the house, playing games and cooking, which led to catastrophe number 2. While making homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs, I mishandled a hot pan full of oil and butter, which left me with a burned right hand. I soldiered on and finished the dinner (which included a super-easy no-knead focaccia bread), but I paid the price with a gnarly blister on my middle right-hand finger:

Gross!

We returned on Saturday. I had hoped to get a long walk in after we got back, but our layover in Dallas ended up being five hours, and we didn’t make it home until 11:45 p.m.

So after that first-world ordeal, I slept late today and then went to storage for our Christmas decorations. Then I drove to Bellaire for a badly-needed jam session with my music buddies Dan, Ben, and John - these guys are good and they let me noodle around on my Korg keyboard as they play some mighty blues.

After that, I came home, checked my fantasy football scores (not great), and as the day began to slip away, I knew I needed to get out on the road.

Lisa was working at the kitchen table, and I told her that I was off for a walk and would be back in an hour, but secretly, I was ready to push myself. I started my usual five-mile route, but as I got within a mile of home, I kept walking down County Road 90 and extended the walk. In fact, I outlasted my rechargeable headphones and spent the last mile practicing a speech I have to give later this week at a legal conference.

I was wearing a pair of Saucony running shoes, which were in much better shape than the Brooks I wore a few weeks ago, and felt better than my Hokas, which still have that problem with the insole. The left quad was twinging a little, and my left heel and instep were stressing, but it was manageable. I was wearing a pair of Vuori running shorts with a boxer brief lining, and I had to adjust the boys a few times, but no real chafing.

Total miles: 7.72 in just over two hours. I averaged 16:08, with four sub-16 miles. The fifth mile was a 17:20 - not sure what was going on there - but I finished strong with a 16:02 and 15:45 for miles 6 and 7 respectively. After a pretty slow exercise week, this was really encouraging. 

Onward!