Day off

Today is President Lincoln's and Charles Darwin's 200th birthdays. In honor of, I have the day off work. I also took tomorrow off work. So this morning, I taught an hour of classes, then had a good 25 minutes on the fancy elliptical (I can't find a photo), then I did this workout [modified], then I went and got a banana, then I went to Darcy's pilates class. Phew! All that by ten a.m. Now I'm trying to reach my chiropractor for a little tune-up before my back crumbles on me.

I have been making a pretty strident effort to clean up what I eat and reduce what I eat and enjoy what I eat (not my strong suit). The effort is great, and I'm hoping that it will eventually pay off when I don't have to lug all 800 pounds of me up hill on my bike. Last weekend, I had a fast, flat ride on the trail and was able to keep up an 18-22 mile pace for all 22 miles of the ride. Perhaps that's just because I'm so incredibly rested after not riding for so long, but I'd like to also think that maybe as I get stronger and lighter, I will also have more fun on the bike.
So . . . here's to some good training!

This weekend is the Tour de California. Lots of biking going on in Northern California. Sacramento has the kick off this year (Saturday), and then on Sunday, the cyclists (including Floyd Landis [I bet that name went over well in elementary school] and Lance Armstrong) start in Davis and ride to Santa Rosa -- on the same road NCAC '07 rode over on Day one and the same road we still train with. It's a kick-ass ride. I'll try to remember my camera.

I have some photos from some rides and maybe some from my fundraiser -- I'll try to upload those soon. It's raining here in NorCal right now. We sure need the rain, and I guess I could ride in my garage. . .

Anyway -- a little anecdote from the gym this a.m. Maybe I'm a little judgmental (ha ha ha), but I can't quite get on board with this girl's aspirations.

I had a girl who's a senior in high school in my class this morning. Then I chatted with her on the elliptical afterward.
Me (after the typical high school-type chat): What are you going to do next year?
Her: Well . . . college.
Me: Do you know where?
Her: [Muffle muffle muffle], so I might just do 2 years of community college.
Me: So what do you want to do?
Her: I don't know. Are you a mom?
Me: No.
Her: I just want to be a mom. Have kids.
Me: Oh?
Her: Yeah. But you know, I'm going to go to school and get a degree. You know, you can't put your kids in school and you have to have a certificate or something to home school your kids.
Me: You want to home school?
Her: Kids are learning about sex in school. My kids are not learning any of that.
Me: Are you home schooled?
Her: No. You know, it's good to go to college because you have to have something to fall back on. If your husband loses his job, you have to be able to, you know, get a job. Really I just want to have babies. But you have to have that fall-back.
Me: do you have a boyfriend?
Her: Oh yeah. I have a boyfriend. [Like it was a dumb question and of course she has a boyfriend.]
---
Then we talked about why she quit soccer (it takes too much time, and games are on the nights she works at Jamba Juice and she's also in the church choir), how she wants to workout every morning before school, and I tried to explain to her what I do (she did not assume, however, that I go to court every day, so either she's never heard of a lawyer because she's busy reading, "Girlfriend's Guides," or she was just open to hearing what I had to say before assuming. You know, like most 17-year-olds).