I’ll take mine without a jackhammer, thank you very much.

My week thus far has consisted of the following:
Monday: I swam laps for an hour while Mike took his swim lesson with Martin. That is always relaxing, swimming laps. For quite a while it was just me in the lane, back and forth, back and forth. Before long I was joined in the lane, first by Dr Kolste, who swam nice slow laps at a pretty comparable pace to mine, then in came Kitty the Ironwoman to do some laps. That was all good. Then we were joined by an old guy lapping the sidestroke. I think it was probably rude and it pissed him off a little that I kept passing around him in the lane but GEESH it seemed important to me at the time to do better than a 5:00 100m. Oh Well.
When the swim lesson was done, Mike and I went into “transition” and did a 5 mile out and back loop from the pool to the poop plant and back, fairly uneventful. Kinda slow, but that’s just me. I tried to test Jeff’s theory that the half mile before and after the plant would be fast, but I don’t think it made a difference in my plodding pace, sorry to say.

Tuesday: This was the next-to-the-last SWAT practice at Rockport, which makes me sad. I have so enjoyed the camaraderie of the group and the benefits of training with others at varying levels, most of which are faster than mine. It really pushes you to not only try to keep up with the stronger athletes, but also boosts morale to be able to offer support and encouragement to those less advanced (for me this is on the bike).
We swam (I got in a couple 1000m), then we took a bike ride. We chose a route that went on the back roads, which was great for me. I t was a really hilly route and when we got to the turnaround, I shared that there was a bitch of a hill just a couple miles ahead that we had not enjoyed riding (TWICE!) this weekend. So of course we took off to ride that hill. I still hate it by the way, but it is getting easier. We just backtracked our route on the way back, which was fine. It did start to get pretty dark on the way back, which makes me nervous because I hadn’t planned on it and the only light we had for the group was my taillight. When we got back to the parking lot we took the usual 2.25-mile loop around the trail and it felt pretty good. All in all a good training night – pretty easy pace with a good mix of activities, paces, and people to talk to. Sounds like there is a Masters Swim group in the works for the winter at the Milton HS Pool, which we will for sure take advantage of.

I don’t remember if I have mentioned this before but our road is under some major construction this summer. It is a main road to the high school and had outgrown its simple country road status and needed some improvements. The process to widen it, add a bike lane, curb & gutter, and sidewalks began mid-June and we have endured some minor inconveniences up to this point. Our mailbox was relocated ¼ mile up the road onto Austin Rd, the dry weather creates a dust bowl effect whenever the people who ignore the “Street Closed” sign cut through, the bajillion stakes/flags/markers/spray painting all over the lawn, and cutting down all our mature trees from the terrace were annoying but we worked around them.
This week we reached a whole new level of inconvenience. They began the work of digging out the road in preparation for leveling the road and cutting in the curb. There is heavy equipment parked everywhere. There is soft mushy dirt everywhere. Every time I drive away from the house, I feel like on of those dad-burned Duke boys flying up the bumpy dirt road, mud flying everywhere. Monday I rode the scooter to work and couldn’t get down the road to get home due to all the construction, ended up baja-ing through the grass from the school and through my backyard. It was quite a sight I’m sure, but it worked.
Have I mentioned it has become monsoon season here? We have been DOUSED with rain the past week or so. It rained Monday overnight, so I was hard pressed to get up the hill from my house to reach solid road and get to work. I ended up getting up to the wheel well in mud in 4WD halfway up the hill, then having to chuck it into 4Low, turn sideways and gun it up the wrong side of the street. The only thing that got me out of the hole was thinking about having to call Mike at 0530 while he was still in bed to come get me unstuck. Man Rule #4440 – DON’T POKE THE BEAR. If you wake him he is very, very grouchy….
The way home was equally dicey. I came up Mineral Point Rd, a direct shot from work to find equipment busily blocking me off. I could see the house but couldn’t get there. So I turned around and drove around the block (which is actually almost a 2 mile re-route since there is a big chunk of school property that must be bypassed an a highway to enter and get off of – much more than going around a regular block…) to enter the other side of Mineral point from Austin Road. I stopped to get the mail then headed down the road, eventually getting there through the muddy soft road. I checked for the newspaper, then called to find out where it was since I hadn’t gotten one the night before either. The Gazette guy told me the carrier had dropped the off at the mailboxes on Austin Road (Wasn’t I just there!!!!). I walked back up to check and sure enough there was a pile rubberbanded together and shoved between a couple of mailboxes in the bank of 12 or so. Like I would have actually found that on my own, but whatever…..
O the way back from tri practice, it was dark and we saw 3 or 4 guys standing in a hole with shovels, which was surrounded by a huge flood light and some digging type equipment. They looked sweaty and grouchy and I couldn’t tell what they were doing. When we prepared to go to bed, I said to Mike it sounded like they were out there still working on the road… like a jackhammer sound. It went on for while. We listened to it. I got madder and madder.
Finally, I had enough. I got up out of bed and found some flip flops and a flashlight to go see what was up with all the racket. I marched across the wet grass, through the school lot and approached the small group of workers standing in the hole. They did not look happy to see me. Perhaps it was because I looked like a crazy woman- the hair looked like I was sleeping on my head, wearing jammie pants hiked up to my knees, mismatched flip-flops, marching up hill out of the dark. The noise was so loud it was deafening. I waved my flashlight and pointed angrily to my watch. I shouted “It’s 11:30 for gods sake!” but they couldn’t hear me. One guy finally crawled out of the hole and came over. I shouted “Is there a plan to be done sometime soon??????? It’s late , I’m tired, and we have to work tomorrow!!” After several repetitions, he said “Hopefully” and gave me a look like I was insane. I refrained from killing him. “Wahts the plan here?” I shouted. He gave me some cock and bull story about a power line that had been pulled by some machine, blah blah blah, had to be fixed so no one loses power….” I could see I was getting nowhere. I ranted for a minute more, telling them they better be done soon or I was gonna…. (They looked really scared at this point, or maybe it was just hurting them to try so hard not to laugh at me…) . I turned around, waving my arms, bitching over my shoulder at them, and stomped away home like a spoiled child.
Returning to bed, Mike rolled over and said, (with the jackhammering noise echoing through the bedroom) “I see you really were able to quiet them down.” Miraculously, he was not smothered in his sleep last night…….
The noise finally stopped at about 0300. Yadda, yadda, yadda, I’m really tired today. I see myself being called the crazy lady who lives on the corner in the very near future.......
This morning- another Baja adventure thru the mud pit. It is predicted to rain all day and into tomorrow. Not sure if we will even be able to get home, we may need to park at the school and walk home. What do I get in return for all these marvelous improvements and minor joys inconveniences you ask? I get a bill from the city for $6000 or so. Yeah me.