You Summer Lover!

Gorsch, do you ever miss summer vacation?

I think I’m too much a busy-body (not to be mistaken for a busy-busy-busy… I just like to always be in the act of accomplishing SOMETHING!) for the real thing, but imagine what I could accomplish with three whole months of sunshine!

Run in the morning, swim in the noon, nap mid-morning, bike everywhere I need to go. I could run dogs and write my thesis, do my gardening, up my culinary quotient and mispaint more rooms in my house.

I’d like to say I appreciated break when I was a kid, but I don’t think the imminent disappearance of the thing occurred to me… until right now. Mostly kidding. Growing up, I swam pretty much everyday—two practices in the morning, 6-8 hours at the pool each day, a brief break for dinner and back to the pool until close—all day. There was also tennis and soccer and inevitable cycling everywhere. What a woman of leisure I was!

But when I was 15 I started working full-time all summer long. Sure, I’d skip days here and there (part of my teenage work ethic), but it was mostly to either watch the paint dry indoors or recover from all the energy it took to stay up late, wake up early and just be 15. Swimming went out the window. I stayed inside.

Now, here I am, years later, wanting it all back. Like we always do. Every morning when I walk into work, I take big breaths of the fresh early air and wish I could spend it running or cycling from here to the moon. By mid-day, however, the heat tempers that urge. And by evening, my motivation and I accept a toned-down version of my morning self.

As such, my 7.5-mile tempo on Thursday night transformed into a 5-mile semi-tempo, which I ran between 8:20-8:30/mile. The pace pleased me—not only because it’s, umm, faster than my racing pace, it didn’t feel at all laborious and it was sticky hot last night.

My racing self really blows my mind. Am I not properly warmed? Do my nerves keep me tight? Am I still oh-so afraid?

After my first 2-3 races, the anxiety of race day lifted. Aside from the Akron Marathon, I really have no question I can finish my distances and I’m not exactly in a place to compete for anything but wholly personal achievement and pride.

So, why the nerves or whatever else affects my pace? I have no flabeepin’ idea.

And the tempo wasn’t cut short by ability, heat or effort. I just wanted to hang out with my boy (Neo came home late from work just as I was headed out to run)! It was after 7:30 p.m. and I thought it would be a total bummer to get home around 9 p.m., give him a high-five and go to sleep. We’re all about healthy relationships at the IronG-Neo household.

Healthy commutes are in vogue here as well. While the move has opened up some fun summer-loving time on its own, I’m thinking about extending my summer-loving time with bike rides to work. It’s around ten miles and I think it would be totally rad to find other cyclists traveling this way in the morning.

It’s only necessary then that this weekend is bike-buying weekend. And the finalists are… a Trek and a Felt. Both roadbikes. Both awesome.

But who will by my trusty steed this commuting and triathlon season?