back from philly in time to whine

seems like the days are still spent dealing with the house and contractors, but we did take a break and go to philly for my mom's birthday and had a very nice visit with too much food and not enough exercise, but a nice trip, including a stop at the nike outlet store. fortunately the ride up and back went much better than usual and we didn't sit in construction for hours. even gas was cheaper there.

and back home to the continued mess which we call our house. can you hear the plumber and the carpenters in the background, while others just paint quietly. a shower leak, two broken toilets and new doors are being dealt with as i type. next week we are back to tile and painting. with some luck most of everything will be done but the storm doors- one was ordered ad one mistakenly not -- more mistakes there i won't get into.

run and golf wise not much has happened. squeezed in what little i can by going out in the dark, but today they were here at 7am and rode the bike indoors instead. may even go run tonight if people are out of here early enough. am many weeks behind on the marathon training and will hope that all of the 3 hour runs in england will carry over some. did do 12 twice and one 15 here but not enough and not enough longer runs either. can 184 marathons of experience help- the mind maybe, but not he legs.

also my golf handicap has doubled since we left for england. squeezing in a little practice, but nowhere near enough and not playing hardl at all-as my friends are at penderbrook playing today and i am here cleaning tile.

what i have become is a good indoor bike rider-ha on that huh? rode 27 good miles while watching our future president -who???- one of them anyway- during the debate last night and another 26 this morning. morning heart rate is stuck on 48, much too high. do notice that the legs can ride easier than run as the tight quads and hip flexors and the torn abductor muscle don't seem to affect the bike spinning like they do the run striding. am hoping it helps a little bit- heart rate wise i can get it up into the 75% range if i ride real hard. mostly the rate is more like a very slow jog or a fast walk.

didn't help gaining a bunch of weight at my mom's, but it did prove to me what i have really know for some time-i have no metabolism. any eating at all of more than my most recent senior type diet causes weight gain- 4-6 pounds goes right on and takes forever to come back off. back to fruit and veggies.

all for now. with no power as they turn it on and off i have lost several emails and just stopped trying. with no computer at my mom.s either i am just way behind. fighting an urge to just do nothing sometimes i need to somehow keep myself motivated and sometimes i do and sometimes i cannot. the goals are getting squashed and so the really good stuff is hard to keep doing, though i try and i do some little stay in touch stuff. not enough and i am not winning the fight the way i used to win it. to play lousy golf and run so poorly it takes more motivation than i have sometimes, so i wear myself out gardening, while they work on the house and i perfect my little chip shots in the back yard- a week now since i hit a wood and days since i putted. will change that i hope.

whining a little i know. tired of lousy work done on bad schedules for lots of money. it is like eating out in oxford-so-so food for lots of money and slow,bad, unfriendly service. everyone seems to expect you to just live with what they offer as they know you can't do better.

time to talk with the plumber, who seems like a good guy. the whining stops for a little bit.