July 24, 2013

Texting and Treamilling

Texting and Treadmilling

My 12th day of #runstreaking found me on the YMCA treadmill once again; twice, actually. The first time was 15 minutes prior to my youngest boy's swim class, and 35 minutes during. Connor was already in the pool for swim practice, and Nora was up in Kids' Stuff. She's really been doing well, only crying when I drop her off and when I come to pick her up. My voice gives it away. I need to remember to whisper when I show up so she doesn't start to cry immediately.

While I was running, there was no real disconnection from the world around me. Texts rolled in for on-call service events – luckily, for things that generally clear on their own – and escalations from clients. It was client need that prompted me to cut the run short at 50 minutes instead of 60, pack up the kids, and head home early. I wasn't planning on leaving the Y until at least 20:30, but we were out the door by 19:45. Fun times!

Oh yeah, something weird happened today during my first 15 minute run. The arch on my right foot felt as if it was pushing against the shoe, or perhaps the other way around. I concentrated on relaxing the muscles in my feet and calves and landing squarely mid-foot, and after a couple of minutes, the "bulge" feeling went away. The shoes were comfortable again. Weird. Here I thought the shoes had gotten to a point where I'd have to replace them. (Size 13 Brooks Pure Grit - yes, trail shoes on a treadmill.. Not quite right.)

(I slightly "cheated" on the blog post. Since most of what I want to share is about running, and I generally share this at Daily Mile, I copied my workout entry there. Technically, this is far more detail than any micro-blogging site, so I feel I've covered my bases! I could have reduced the detail on DM to save it for here, but what's the point?)

Work

Luckily, the customer escalation didn't appear to be a major problem, which makes for a restful night. Life was very busy at work today. In a Support Engineer position, everything is interrupt-driven. You may feel that you've got a handle on your "plan" for the day, but essentially it's just a loosely defined "TODO" list that you may or may not be able to complete. Custom scripting, SQL research, log diving, software release coordination all comes with the territory. It makes for a challenging and fast-paced day; never boring. I'm glad when the day is over, and I hold out hope that the "pager" stays quiet throughout the night.

Tags: running work