Washington DC in springtime, Part II

What is the flipside of those lovely sunny spring days? Torrential downpours in umbella-busting winds. Which is what I found myself walking in this morning, on my way to packet pickup for the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler this morning. Was that Bill Rodgers that I saw jogging through the rain, too? Gosh, even runner-celebrities get just as soaked as I was! (Naturally, only later did I discover the underground mall extended nearly all the way to the place I parked the minivan).

I got the technical shirt upgrade, which has an attractive design - I'll definitely use it this summer! I shopped in the expo briefly and got 4 pairs of Gizmo socks on sale (instead of my usual white-turned-gray, this time I got black with geckos, sharks, cyclists, and kitties, so I'll look like a cool biker chick) plus a couple GUs for tomorrow's race.

I was hoping to take Buttercup out for a ride today with my friend Holly. But not in this monsoon! Special healthy vibes go out to her, she got some bad health news yesterday. Four Mile Run (along my usual running route) is completely inundated to flood stage.

Bah, my weight (due to serious inattention to my food intake and lots of salty food) is up 5 pounds in just a week. I must start paying attention to journaling my intake again. Yesterday I read Tory's excellent summary of the lifestyle changes she made to lose and keep off 100+ pounds for 3 years. Her transformation is truly impressive. Some of her words about her significant changes rang in my ears:

"[I won't] Make excuses. You know what? I might have a slow metabolism (I most certainly do). I may be big boned (I'm not). I have issues with food that stem from childhood. I have suffered from low self esteem. NONE of those things "make" me be overweight. Me choosing to stuff my face and sit on my ass made me overweight."

I'll do 30 minutes on the bike trainer tonight. That's a commitment. And oh yeah, write down all my food. And I'll get to sleep early so that the change to Daylight Savings Time doesn't kill me tomorrow when I have to leave the house about 0530 (that's - ugh - really 0430) in order to park anywhere near the race start. After ten tough miles tomorrow, I really won't want a long walk to return to my minivan! Let's hope this rain is finished by then!

P.S. Oh no! I just got an alert for a wind advisory for tomorrow morning - 30mph sustained winds, gusts to 50mph. It's not going to be a fast race for me!