with that bit of business out of the way, my day was pretty much free. i woke up very early this morning - 8:30am - during the rainstorm, to check on the porch gutter that i silicone-caulked a month ago. since then, it hasn't rained enough for me to check if it's still leaking. when i looked this morning, it was a lot better, but i could still see a drop, which isn't that bad, but at some point i'm going up again on a ladder to caulk again.
today was a scheduled run day (currently tuesday and thursday), and i left the house by 10:30am, once it looked like the storm clouds had moved away according to the doppler radar. having learned from my mistake from tuesday, i did a few things better. for one thing, i remembered to stretch before going on. i connected my wireless earbuds, and managed to sync my mi band 6 afterwards, which wasn't the case last time. i wore an old pair of asics sneakers because i was afraid it might still be wet outside and i didn't want to get my new sneakers dirty and soaked.
i didn't even bother running initially (knowing i wouldn't get very far), so started out with a walk. that used to be my routine when i ran - walked down to the charles river then run, then walked back. doing that doesn't really give me 3 miles of running, but i find it hard running on city streets, the constant stop and go and checking for car traffic is too great a temptation to stop altogether and just walk. i thought maybe the weather would be cooler because of the rain earlier, but the sun was already out and things were starting to get humid, which is not ideal running conditions.
once i was on the river i started running, but once again it was a series of run-and-walks: i'd give myself a goal, say, "run to the bridge," then walk a little bit, then "run to that sign post." although my legs that were hurting the past few days, i was still able to run with them, and it wasn't painful while i was running. the pain came more from running out of breath and general fatigue, felt it more in my chest than anywhere else.
something else i noticed that i didn't mention last time is the constant thumping as the earbuds bounce in my ear canals. it's distracting at first, but once i get used to it, i don't notice it. i also installed that hacked premium version of spotify, so no adds, and i could skip songs to my heart's content. of course i put it onto an 80's station. i'm going to get some gum to chew for next time, that was another one of my running strategies, anything to get my mind off of the fact that i was actually running.
a fun perk of running: finding street treasures! especially if i can coincide it right before trash pickup, cambridge people throw away all sorts of interesting things. the best thing i ever found were clear birdfeeder baffles, which i still use to this day. today i came across a coil of generic-brand bike lock cable that must've fallen off of somebody's bike. i picked it up and ran with it in my hand all the way home. it's not very long - just 3ft - not sure what i'd use it for.
the whole "run" took 1-1/4 hours and i got back home by 11:40am. after a shower, i had a bowl of cereal for lunch. when i weighed myself, i barely lost a pound of water weight even though i was sweating. it's probably unrealistic to think i can get back into fighting weight after 2 very-asterisked runs!
1:30pm i went out again, this time taking the cover off my motorcycle and going down to the cafe to drop off the 2 green yarns for my mother. i had a cup of smoked ham broth with a piece of corn. the weather changed quickly, and there was a quick passing rainstorm. since i was stuck for the time being, i cooked 14 more tea eggs. the rain turned out to be a good thing, gave my motorcycle a good rinsing, cleaned it of the sticky tree sap and pollen dust that'd been accumulating. i left by 2:30pm.
i stopped at the community garden to check on my plants. i brought my little bottle of diatomaceous earth powder and sprayed the eggplants and a few others. i also trimmed off all the faded chive flowers, and removed all the squash flower buds, of which there were many. i want the squash to grow a bit larger before allowing them to flower and make fruits.
the rest of the afternoon was spent watching celtics analysis videos on youtube. i couldn't get enough. anything about how great the celtics is or how bad the warriors are, i gobbled it up. of course this might all change tomorrow, should boston lose and the series tied 2-2 going back to san francisco for 2 games.
after the evening news, i napped again around 6:30pm. i woke up an hour later to close the blinds and start my evening routine. i watched an hour of the january 6th hearings which was broadcasting on all the major networks plus cable news channels (except foxnews). there might be weeks of this primetime hearing? i've got insurrection fatigue. couldn't they have made this into a 2-hour documentary broadcasted on all the major networks? americans have low attention spans! government bureaucrats love hearing themselves talk, makes them feel important, but much of what they do is boring. i don't doubt the seriousness of the hearings, but weeks of this stuff, every single night? who can stand to watch all of it? i read somewhere that the democrats don't think this will actually sway the voters in the november mid-term elections, but this is more to plant the seeds for 2024 if trump should decide to run again.
i made another chicken caesar salad for dinner. at one point i saw a bug crawling on the rim of my salad bowl. it was a ladybug, covered in dressing. could i have accidentally ate it? i picked it up and let it outside, we don't kill ladybugs in this house. i think it probably flew inside the house and landed in my salad; no way could it have survived being in the fridge or being washed in the salad spinner multiple times.