These are a few of my favorite things

I love tea. Hot tea, that is. I love English Breakfast. It's my current fave. I used to love Earl Grey. "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot." I had a winter of Chai Spice and thought Earl Grey was history, but I went back to it. It's like a favorite book. You always love rereading it. However, I wonder if Earl Grey really has been put on the shelf for me? I have been in my English Breakfast phase for a couple of years now. It's so good. You simply must put half-n-half and sweetener in it though (as with all the black teas, imo).

We did 400s yesterday. I generally love this workout. I am not fast (really?!), so this workout allows me to feel fast. Fast is a relative term, ya know.

So I was 3 minutes late to Runtex, and everyone had left. The warmup was fine, but when I got to the track, I was really hot. I stood in the shade across the street for a few minutes - just avoiding the heat on the track. This sun and heat and normal Texas summer weather is irritating.

No Gilbert at class due to a meeting, so we had Bernard to coach us. Bernard is too nice and sweet. Gilbert would have made everyone other than the newbies do 10, but Bernard told us to do 8. That sounded glorious to me since I fully intended on doing 10.

So my usual group for 400s wasn't there, so I ran with Gayatri, Leslie, and others for the first one. I knew we were going slow, and I didn't care. I only planned to run the first one with them. I didn't look at my watch till we finished - 2:46! I had no idea we were running an 11 min pace. A little scolding from Bernard, and Leslie and I were off on our own for the next one (Leslie normally attends the Friendly class but I'm glad she came to our class for 400s or I'd have had no one to run with).

Our next 3 were around 2:15 - 2:20. Half-way through, and I made a comment to Guy that it was "really hot out here" and lamented that I was only half-way done. He agreed and said he didn't think he'd be doing 8. Well, I wondered if Guy isn't doing 8, then should I do 8?

So we run our 5th one in 2:07 or something (I didn't store my times; that is sort of not my thing). I tell Bernard that it's really hot and ask if I can please just do 6. He knows I should do 8 but like I said, he's just too sweet and nice. Gilbert would have laughed at me and said I was doing 10. I see Bernard hesitate, trying to tell me to just shut up and do 8. So I tell him I will run this one and see how I feel afterward.

Our 6th one was to be Leslie's last one, so I knew she'd take off after 200 or 300m for a big finish. She did 1:59 and I did 2:04. Part of me was thinking at the 300m mark to just sprint it in with her and be done with it. But the other part of me was thinking, "you are only going to do 6 of these? How lame is that?"

I don't know who else ran 7+ yesterday. The two fast groups might have...not sure. I am fairly sure Guy stopped at 6. The beginners did 4, 5 or 6. I felt like the only person on the track when I lined up for my 7th. It's really hard to run alone at the end of these. I thought for sure I was going slower. My legs had been tired since the 4th repeat, and I didn't feel like I had any juice in them. I couldn't get my normal kick at the end no matter how hard I tried to make my legs go. My time was 1:58, which is not my fastest last lap but is under 2 so I'm happy.

Can I remind you that is was really, really hot? I walked a lap with the ailing Gayatri (her back is hurt) and Leslie. I told them about Jasper Fforde coming to sign books on Friday (he'll be at the Barnes and Noble on 183). I'm so excited! I love his books. You should read them. Really, you should. You should start with The Eyre Affair. And having read Jane Eyre is not required but beneficial. Besides, Jane Eyre is a wonderful book.

After the lap, everyone was gone. I headed out to Runtex and started jogging. My legs tightened up immediately. I ran about 1/4 mile and had to stop. I alternated running and walking back to Runtex. It's been a really long time since my legs did that. I stretched a bit and then saw some Gazelles get back from their cool down. How did I miss them? I thought they had all found rides back. Nope...they turned off at the pedestrian bridge while I stayed on the north side up to 1st (I love cooling down that way...it's so shady). I would have loved to cool down with them. The company would have been nice. If my legs hadn't tightened up, I would have caught up to them before they turned off. Ah, twas not to be.

I really want to be able to ride my bike with no hands. I never could do that. I tried it as a kid. I have tried it with my current bike. I can't do it. The best I can do is lift my hands half an inch off the handlebars for at best 3 seconds. It must be something you need to learn as a kid. It's something you can't be scared of doing. And that explains why I never could do it.