To the Sound of a heartbeat pounding away

Job interview, shoe pain, shoe fix, back to meat, long runs, lunch with family, slow week.

This week I had an interview for a YMCA aquatics position in Raleigh. It went fairly well, though I am well-acquainted with one of the interviewers and that made it go very smoothly. Interesting thing happened. Afterwards I stalled going back to work in Durham, instead stopping by the Cary YMCA. And I learned about some enticing job opportunities there. The downside? It's only 29 hours, part-time. However, if I wanted to pursue EMT as a second job, that part-time aspect may actually be a plus. It still makes me a little worried about job security, but really, I'd rather be doing something I enjoy than be safe in a bad job.

My latest trail shoe has been the Altra Superior. It's a slightly slimmed down version of their Lone Peak trail shoe. This company specifically makes zero-drop shoes and this was my first venture into this arena, and also my first with this brand of shoe. I haven't noticed any problems with the heel drop, but for some reason the laces on the left shoe were pinching/digging in to my foot like it was no tomorrow. No matter how loose I made that crossing, it'd always tightening down and hurt like crazy. Despite only being about 2 weeks old, I was seriously considering getting a new shoe; maybe specially ordering the Brooks PureGrit2 if need be.

THANK GOODNESS, I identified the problem. You'd never realize what a difference looping OVER rather than UNDER can make. It took a while to finally spot the difference [from the right shoe], but it came as such a relief. Though, I didn't notice until after my run this morning, so I haven't been out to verify that it's truly fixed, but I am hopeful.

Other than that pain, my long run this morning went pretty well. At 66F, temps at the start felt ok, but I felt like I worked up a sweat way too quickly. In the second half of my run, I can't explain it, but there was an oddly "fall-ish" feeling, and even though the temperature felt the same, I also felt cooler. On a different aspect of my run, I decided to scrap my original planned route after about 2 hours. My original course would have taken me over Turkey Creek and the Sycamore trail. I ditched that in favor of some uncharted miles along the 286 trail. They keep forging a lot of new trail, which I guess is good, but it gives it too much of a confusing labyrinth feel.

Earlier this week I tripped and had an great recovery in that I did so without even breaking stride. That luck came around today, where I probably stumbled 4-6 times, with 2-3 hard crashes. Ouch.

This week I started eating meat again. I've eggs for breakfast a couple of times, and some chicken for dinner once. So far nothing painful, or performance-altering. Though there are some... digestive changes; I expected these. I may give some yogurt a try tomorrow and see how dairy works.

I had lunch with parents and brother this afternoon. It was nice. I wish I could say I love spending a lot of time with my family. I love getting together at Christmas and Thanksgiving, going to Scotland, our camping trip. But sometimes it's best in small bouts. And this afternoon was a perfect bout of being able to catch up.

I will say though... the past few weeks, I have noticed my brother and I talk a lot more. Not in person or over the phone, but we email more often about little things going on day-to-day.

It's says slow week above... that also means boring... sorry.

Soundtrack:
"You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell, theme to Casino Royale as I finish up my 007 series
"The Day the World Went Away" by Nine Inch Nails, it line with movies, this was in the trailer for Terminator: Salvation