A night off...

Life is getting to me...I'm sleeping, but I'm not resting and it's beginning to show. More than one person commented at work that I looked tired, but they also know what I'm dealing with (Mom & Dad) and are nothing but supportive. Hugs all around.
Haven't heard from anyone, so I am assuming my younger bro picked Mom up and took her to the hospital to visit Dad. I did try to call him at lunch, but no answer on the cell. Wanted to give him the head's up that with the MRSA, we actually need to be wearing masks now when in the room with Dad. Especially Mom...last thing I need is two sick parents. At least we could get a joint room! What I really needed to tell J. was that Mom hated the mask and will fight having to wear it. I swear I wasn't that much trouble when I was a kid...really, I was super good and did everything I was told! Honest...
I managed to get some laundry done...it was time. My workout clothes walked themselves downstairs! So now I have clean running gear, in time to make it all stinky again tomorrow.
It was a glorious +10C (50F) at lunch today, and I celebrated by running in capris and a t-shirt!!! GLOR-E-US!!! It was Tempo day, and while my pace for a 5:30 finish is 7:48, I thought I'd just run, Forrest Gump style. My legs were still pretty gassed from last night's Puke Camp session (Trainer Josh was really trying to make one of us hurl, I swear), so I was sure that maintaining a 7:48 pace was going to be a struggle. Ahem...um...yeah...warm up klick was 7:30 (oops...it actually is supposed to be slower than the noted pace, hence the "warming up" part) and then I sped up for the next 4 km of Tempo, averaging 6:39. This was with "sore, tired" legs. Imagine the butt I am going to kick when I am all rested and ready on race day! Only 18 days left... Finally arrived at the last km, and "slowed" down to a meandering 7:05! Overall, my Tempo pace of 6:50 was pretty much a full minute faster than my training pace. This bodes well...or I'm going to bolt out of the gate and blow all this hard work. Okay, that's the last of the negative talk! There is a number I have been picturing in my head, in big bright yellow on the giant clock, so I am using the power of positive thinking to achieve that number. Whatever happens though, I know I'm going to kick my last years time right out of the park!
Lunch was really interesting today. I ended up buying at the deli (too tired/lazy to make anything) so I got their salad of the day, an apple/bacon salad. On mixed greens & spinach went apple chunks, pear chunks, raisins, bacon (REAL bacon!), red pepper slices, shredded parm and roasted pecan pieces. The dressing was evoo, apple cider vinegar and spices. It was quite delicious, as I love the salty/sweet, crunchy/soft combinations. It was a party in my mouth! Dinner wasn't quite as exciting, as I had a whole wheat tortilla dipped into some artichoke dip I made up last night (with lots of of artichokes), then some leftover Mexican rice, cheese and salsa rolled up into another tortilla. I was basically cleaning out the fridge.
Laundry is done and I'm ready for bed. Excited for Boot Camp tomorrow night (yay - 3 times a week for the next 6!) and then the Marathon clinic group are all getting together to swap stories (those who ran Vancouver) and talk strategy (those about to run Calgary) and whatever in between. It should be fun.
Later,