swim, run -- by abby

so, my mountains are back. all last week, they were gone. obscured by smoke. i think that might have been part of my problem last week. my sense of place is key to my sense of self, and the mountains are such a key part of my existence that it's like a part of me got obscured too. mountains help me escape the anxiety and tedium and heartbreak of trying to live a normal person. without them, i guess i'm sort of just adrift and tense and missing pieces. i know they were still there, despite their invisibility. but i just felt claustrophic and closed into some weird world where everything i could count on was just beyond my reach. so. obvs, i am glad to have them back!

anyway. monday i did pilates in the morning and then swam 1500 at lunch, which broke down to a 300 warmup and 200 cool down, with a mess of 50, 100, 150s and 50 kicks mindlessly strung together. it was a short workout, only half and hour. i haven't been in the pool in forever, and i'm feeling it in my arms and upper back today. i need to pull out my old masters swim binder and put together some workouts that make sense. then, this morning i got out early for 5 miles and felt great. it was dark and the moon was bright and the stars were big and the mountains were silhouetted against the sky. i was kind of worried since last saturday's run was so icky, so i was relieved when i settled in easily and the run went off without a hitch.

this weekend, the weather's calling for snow in the mountains and rain/snow mix in the valleys. so i guess i need to find my tights. speaking of tights, these look interesting. they're expensive, but knowing that i've got three months of long, cold runs ahead makes me think they might be worth the investment.