The right dose

Its official, the perfect weekend is a three day weekend. One day to get stuff done around the house, one day to get out and have fun and do something you really want to do (thats maybe not exactly relaxing) and one day to just relax and recover from a busy weekend (best served by a Monday off, Friday off just doesn't quite measure up). That was my long weekend to a T.

Saturday I spent the day working on the house, replacing molding in the upstairs hallway and bedroom. Satisfying work that immediately adds to the decor but is still tough to find the time for amongst the usual daily grind and short but stacked weekends.

Sunday, I rode the famed Sky-Mass loop with Wheaton and Leland for the first time. Quite the ride. logging both my and Leland's longest rides mileage wise and probably logging the most vertical I've even hit before on a single ride as well. Better yet, I had enough left in the legs afterwards to kick out a couple of (very) brief sprints in the last mile or so of the ride. Encouraging to say the least and it has me feeling pretty decent going into next weekends' Stoopid 50 race up near State College, PA.

Monday was, in my eyes the perfect holiday Monday. Aimee and I got up late and drove out to Markham, VA to meet up with Matthew for a relaxing day at some local wineries. We stopped by Philip Carter first, were not that impressed and went on to Rappahannock Cellars where we spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting at a picnic table in the shade drinking 2 bottles of white wine, eating cheese and crackers and some pulled pork sandwiches. So perfect. After that, back at Matthew's place, we spent an hour or two sitting on the dock, toes dangling in the pond, just enjoying the evening breeze as the light slowly began to fade. Incredible.

Still hard to come back to work today, but knowing how amazing the weekend was certainly helps to dampen the blow.

Where have YOU been?

Yada, yada, yada... lack of posting... sorry for ignoring my fans... (I wasn't really ignoring you Mom since you were here for Thanksgiving and all)... Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

There've been a few things going on around here but not a whole lot of new stuff. Been running and riding when I can, spending less time doing each then I'd generally prefer but enjoying myself when I can get out. Went to NJ and Philly a couple of weekends ago to help out and watch a pair of regattas and support my pops, the proud (semi-new) Coach of the women's crew at the University of Scranton. These girls (and guys) are pretty impressive in that they've been operating without a coach, running workouts, race registration, logistics and equipment upkeep, purchasing etc for at least the last year.

Unfortunately a coach is a pretty useful things for rowers, especially out on the water to help improve technique and that still has not become a reality for these guys due to a lack of resources, access and other various issues. Hopefully though for spring they'll manage to work some new things out so they'll be able to get out with Coach Pat on the water for some good solid work. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for these guys to go to school, put together workouts, run their own practices, manage all of the equipment that goes with rowing, manage race registration and boat lineups etc and still get out and put in solid race performances.

Hat's off to the U of Scranton Crew team for their dedication and perseverance.

In other, family related news Aimee and I hosted our first ever Thanksgiving dinner at our place in Greenbelt this year. It was a bit of a last second thing as we weren't planning anything and we weren't going anywhere. Our plans consisted of a bit of house work for me, some black Friday shopping for her and probably an Indian dinner of thanks.

Instead I cooked my first solo Turkey (though I let Dad carve it) and we put out a large helping of Thanksgiving stuffings with plenty of veggies and mashed potatoes and wine to satiate us. Everything came out well and over the course of Thursday evening and Friday we downed at least 6 bottles of wine. Dad also helped me get some work done in the bathroom, ripping out the old flooring, yanking out the toilet and replacing the wax ring and bolts securing said toilet to the floor (who would have guessed toilet bolts can corrode completely away to nothing???) and laying a new faux tile flooring.

Saturday a trip to Home Depot provided me with the necessary tile to lay around the base of the wall and cover the edges of the new floor and a handful of other small projects including a replacement sink faucet, shower head, toilet seat, bathroom door handle and shower curtain rod. Most of it was completed and hopefully I'll have the new base tile in place by the end of Monday. Unfortunately for the bathrooms' progress I took a (I'd say much deserved) break for some Mountain Biking at the Shed/Gambrill with Darren and Chris so the remainder of the work was put on hold for the day.

Anyway, I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was as pleasant and productive as mine was.

There's more to life then sport?

Between the longer then usual recovery period after the Pittsburgh Tri, (my legs were sore for 4 or 5 days after the race) general never ending house work and the added bonus of having my Father and Bro-In-Law slated to help with that this weekend and prepping for Aimee moving in at the end of the month, my workouts took a major backseat to the rest of life. Friday I managed to squeeze out a quick loop at GNP between work and a date night with Aimee but the remainder of the weekend was full of house work/prep and family time. I'm not complaining about though.

On Saturday my father came by with Brian and they helped bust out the long anticipated molding work for the living/dining room area of my house. I'd been putting this off for way too long so it was great to finally get it going. For the base board we did basic 1 x 6 for a clean and simple look. In checking out a few neighbors' houses lately I'd noticed how nice the crown molding made their downstairs areas look so I was really pumped to get this put up in my place. I'd say it turned out great!

Molding and the new light I installed last week. The place is starting to look like a home.

There is still some painting and sanding to do but the improvement is stunning and undeniable. The area is really finally coming together and starting to look great. A major thanks to Brian and Dad for all their hard work this weekend!


After all the work was done we all headed down to downtown Silver Spring for dinner at Adega. If you've never been I highly suggest it. By far my favorite place (other then Pacers of course) in DT SS.

Gratuitous dog shot.

This morning after a a rough night of sleep (an inability to fall asleep for 3 or 4 hours is never nice) I decided to turn off the alarm, wake up a bit late and get the pup and myself out for another loop at GNP, though this time at a much slower pace. Friday I felt heavy and sluggish from a week of not working out and eating too much though the legs were pretty fresh from the rest. Today the legs were tired and sore (and my pace showed it) and my upper back, shoulders and neck were very noticably tensed up and uncomfortable. It may be time for another serious message before the Nation's tri comes and leaves my muscles all jacked up again in September.

In other news got word today that the pics from the Pittsburgh Tri were ready. Generally a bit dissapointing but in the end we don't do it for the pictures.

Some decent shots of me coming out of the water. I look like I put some work in there. Search for racer 387 for the other 2.

The new digs

It’s official; I’m a homeowner! I made my first Home Depot run Sunday morning as a home owner and did my first bit of yard work too. I even grilled out on the BBQ for the first time Sunday night. Put up some curtains, swept the walk, drilled some holes; you know, homeowner stuff…

My folks are pretty excited about it as well; my Dad maybe even more so then me. He helped me out more then I could’ve asked over the weekend including all day Saturday with moving and took me on my Sunday morning Home Depot run. Don’t have a car yet though so it was very good to have the help. He even helped me get the motorcycle in to a repair shop to get it fixed up.

I currently don’t have internet or cable and have no plans to change that so I probably won’t be posting much from home. Hopefully though I’ll start spending some time in Microsoft Word writing posts instead of surfing the interwebs aimlessly and channel surfing when I’m bored. More books would be good too, though probably the best thing that should come of this is more motivation to do things around the house with less other options to distract myself with. Need to go check out the fitness center soon and get signed up for some classes there.

The truck I got transferred from SC got into the Carmax on Friday or Saturday and should be ready to go by tomorrow, a whole week earlier then they said. Hopefully by tomorrow night I’ll be cruising to the Home Depot on my own set of wheels. I know this seems like an abrupt change and I’ll try and explain it in a future post. I don’t plan on using it that much, especially during the week so things won’t really change a whole lot. With the move to a less public transport friendly area though and not flexcar nearby a personal car seems like the way to go. On top of that with the likelihood that my folks will be moving to PA entirely and starting a embroidery franchise up there a flaxcar just won’t do the trick.

I'll try and get some pictures posted of the place soon.