lets say the bottom drops out

I haven't been running since last week: I planned a nice set of indoor activities for the weekend, swimming and yoga, since the highest temps were supposed to be around 8 degrees. And I tried water running on Saturday! I put on a little floaty belt and made a complete ass of myself huffing up and down a lane in the pool. It was fun, but it didn't really feel like a "work out" no sweat, no breathlessness, definitely no speed to speak of.
And on Sunday I woke up in total agony.
I've had this weird cramp in the middle of my right calf every once in awhile since this summer. I think it was caused by a gait change originally, and I haven't really given it the time or attention needed to fully get rid of it. So it is usually a little sore in the am and more so after a longer run. Something about the water running set it off in a big way and I was all a-hobble Sunday morning.
I called my mom (my go-to medical consultant) and she made me do a couple of stretches and tell her how the pain increased or receded to try and determine if it was a blood clot...it didn't react like a blood clot, so I took some Ibuprofin and laid around with my leg elevated for most of the day. I did a little light yoga in the afternoon, and then nothing at all yesterday, and today it is feeling mostly normal...
so I'm going to try a run tonight? I think?
I really don't want to hurt myself, but I really do want to be increasing my mileage so I can register for the 10miler this Friday.
Its always something, isn't it?

rattle dem bones

I ran a lovely outdoor 5 miler yesterday and am still slightly self satisfied about it. Granted 5 miles is not that long in the scheme of things ( 1/2 the distance I want to race in early February, just over 1/3 of a half marathon..et cetera and so forth) but it felt long because it was part of my work day, and it felt good because I checked the weather and it is supposed to be bone chillingly cold all weekend so running outside might not be in the cards for the next couple of days. Running probably will be though, just more of the treadmill variety.

studiousness

Back at work today and just an hour left to go. I am glad, mostly, to be back at work. The structure of the work day really helps me out, being on vacation without any set plans meant I spent (or perhaps misspent) a lot of time thinking about what I should be doing but not actually doing it. Today I went down to the gym and ran 3 treadmill miles around 11:30 and then came back and had lunch and have been cleaning up in my office ever since. A good day. Oh and I just paid my credit card bill. I am so embarrassed to even have one: I saved money for christmas and was determined to get through the gift giving season without carrying around plastic debt but it snuck up on me: all of it spending on non-christmas items (groceries, gas, drinks, more groceries) to the tune of $300. Plus $40 I spent on a tutu in a fit of please-like-me-ness that I don't really want to talk about(I saw it on the statement and was all frustrated all over again with myself. Sometimes I want way to badly to be liked. And tutus are not going to help. And I know this, and yet...). So I never carry a balance, and was kind of flustered by the fact that my due date for payment was today, and I had a balance, and it said there was no payment due --I think because I last paid in mid-December, though I don't admit to entirely understanding, so because of that I paid the balance in full today from my E-Fund, in a little mini panic about possibly screwing up my credit score by missing a payment. That is an emergency, right? The panic more than the actual $340 I mean. I have the E-Fund so that if something bad happens I have money to help, so I'm totally counting this as an emergency (small "e" though). I think I'll pay it back into my E-Fund with my next paycheck most likely, but hooboy that was a tense minute there.

year in, year out

I ran a little over 500 miles in 2009. I'm pretty pleased with that, but I wanted to run 20 miles this past week ( I was on vacation) and ended up running only 14. As with any winter running, it was complicated by the weather--really cold to start the week off, and now we're in the middle of a multi-day snow storm. Not ideal running conditions. I am still kicking myself for not running long and outdoors on Monday when it was in the 40s. If I'd done seven or eight miles then I probably could have made my goal for the week despite the weather--but I ran eight miles on Saturday, so shorter seemed better at that point.
I would like to run more in 2010--my weekly average for 2009 was around 10 miles a week, which is kind of weak. I'd like to run enough this coming year to bring my average mileage per week up over 15.
2009 was a good year all in all. And hopefully 2010 will be even better once it gets going. I am working on revising my savings plans in the new year--my goals are rather broad and as a result I feel like (a) I am not saving enough and (b) I am always broke and (c) like any goal I have I am unlikely to ever reach. I've been doing the steady-as-she-goes little bits of money into lots of different plans approach, and am feeling frustrated and stymied and (did I mention?) broke at the moment. But on the upside, I have an e-fund, a "small e" fund, travel fund, house fund and Roth IRA in addition to my company retirement plan. So its okay, its just that I am really questioning trying to continue to grow them all at once, and at the same time having trouble deciding which ones to put aside. Way back when I had very little money I would do one-lump sum kind of things, so that every three months or so each of my funds got a semi-sizable infusion of cash. With the increase in my paycheck when i changed jobs I realized that I could fund everything steadily at a lower level, and I've been doing that for awhile. This year has been hard only because my living expenses have increased but I have been trying to keep my savings rate the same. I do realize its not the best idea, but I am uncomfortable with the thought of saving less.
I managed to spend less than $100 this whole week I've been on vacation, which has been great, but I know come Monday I am going to have to do things like put gas in my car to get to work, and it kind of sucks to worry about those kind of recurring expenses. I'll let you know if / when I figure it out.
Happy New Year!