back in saccaminnow

back now in the house that i grew up in. it's a little odd, and a little comforting. i've been running, and riding, and walking a lot (the upside of not having our car here: J is driving it up later this week from san diego.)

while there are certainly parts of san diego that i'll miss (yes, it's pleasant to go look out over the ocean), there are so many that i won't: traffic; image-obsessed, plastic people; absurd cost of living; the right wing reactionism. it was awfully nice to walk around in december and january in shorts and short sleeves, though much of san diego's supposedly "perfect" weather is, as noted by me before, just smart (and untrue) marketing.

a series of physical and gastrointestinal ailments, and two bad colds in two weeks, have left me way off of marathon training pace, and doubting whether i'll be in good shape for a may marathon. since the travel schedule only calms somewhat in the next few months, i'm likely to reschedule training and a marathon for Utah, when i can do it right. in the meantime, the likely plan is to keep exercising and stay in good shape, so that i'm not starting over when i do begin active marathon training again.

plans on the middle burners include a bike tour (with J) down the Oregon and northern California coast, seeing how many brewpubs and wineries (if not vineyards) we can hit without going very far out of our way. i just bought the brand new edition of Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall, the acknowledged bible of this bike route, which i also used when i rode from Saccaminnow to San Diego in spring 1995.

that ride was on the cheap, and totally self-supported: i was loaded down with a sleeping bag, several changes of clothes, etc. this time around, our older and creakier bodies are requesting that we do it much less on the cheap. while we're certainly not planning a true "credit card tour", we are going to stay mostly/entirely in places with roofs, and not carry pounds and pounds of food, and find a laundromat a couple of times along the way, so that we can mostly carry extra socks and underwear, and not multiple changes of clothing. i expect it to be a hell of a lot more pleasant ride, and probably every bit as scenic.

now i'm going to go strip, sand, and stain five pieces of furniture. it's nice to have a garage and driveway to work with again!