This has been a tough winter. I had such DREAMS! Just kidding, I didn’t have any dreams, but I did expect to have some level of motivation – to be able at the very least to keep up with a silly little blog. Truth is, it’s a mix of things. I mostly felt I haven’t been doing anything worth sharing with the 2 people that read this blog. Then, I wrote a few things and just never got to the “let’s check this later for coherency” stage, and now I feel I have a few drafts that need tended to.

I haven’t done much of anything. I feel I had a bit of a stretch in which I was skiing consistently, but then the high temps were only barely cracking double digits here in central New Hampshire, so deep breathing was not really appealing. I was good about riding the rollers for a long while, but then I think I just cracked.

This didn’t help: Two or three weeks ago, on a day that was maybe our second large snowfall of the season, I was in the car (Nick was driving my car, for the record), to run some errands (fruitless though they were as every establishment in Concord was closed, despite it being a normal Monday afternoon). Sitting at a stop sign, my car was hit by an idiot speeding through the intersection, running their stop sign and trying to make the right-hand turn. This was the first time I was ever involved in an on-road collision of any sort. I was furious, Nick was calm, there was an exchange of information and the cops came to write a report. My car was driveable and no one was injured (though, my neck IS pretty sore…). The next day I went to the adjuster, and then shortly thereafter I dropped my car at the recommended body shop and was put in a rental car. Everything was going smoothly, Allstate was being very accommodating, the other insurance company wasn’t being douchy, I got a letter stating I was not at fault and the other insurance would pay- things were great. I have a $500 deductible, the total damage neared $2000. Two weeks later, I go to pick up my car, and I’d be damned if they charged me for an alignment without doing one and put me in a car with a bent wheel and likely wished me to die for all my trouble. I am still trying to deal with getting the wheel fixed, have not recouped my deductible, and am generally soured by the whole thing.

The day after that I got to take some cool pictures in which I took my pants off for Velocio. They designed a new bib-short for women called the “Superfly”, which has racerback bib straps and a short zipper in the back, all of this makes one able to go potty while still wearing all of the essential upper layers. They are not only comfy/feel just like their other super quality bibshorts, but now, YOU CAN PEEPEE WITHOUT BEING NAKED IN PUBLIC!! It is a little awkward pulling them down the first time, but once you get the motion of the ocean (in your bladder) it is simple enough. Check em out here. What did I learn from this experience? I have NO IDEA how to smile. I’m like a clown with 4 chins- it’s bad. I also have resting bitch face. Who knew?

 

Despite having an ill-functioning vehicle, I made the 120 mile drive to Providence to spend some time with old friends. There was a grad student social at a bar downtown, and there was planned pregaming at a wine bar. It’s a sign of getting old when you are pregaming AT A WINE BAR!!! Expensive, but delicious. They only served tapas, but that is quite alright as every trusty grad student function has FREE FOOOOOOOOOOD! At this event the bar provided us with pizzas, fried cheese, humus and pita, chicken wings, and cheese-filled potatoes. AKa, the dinner of champions. I had forgotten how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE grad student events. Grad students care just the right amount. At the formals (Grad Prom) everyone gets all dressed up, but this was just a social so there was just the right mix of people wearing office clothes and those who put on their dancing LAPs (leggings as pants). We got 2 free drink tickets at the door. For the first I got a rum and coke, also known as ice and coke. So I switched to High-Life.
The bartender enjoyed my love for High Life and gave me a free one, and let me keep drinking out of the bottle even once he made everyone else switch to cups. I felt like a princess. A sober princess, unable to get drunk, but a princess. And I danced. Sweaty in my flannel, I danced and it was like it was 2012 all over again. You may not know this, but the geologists are the COOL KIDS in grad student life. Soooo… It’s like being a rock star (THAT WAS A GEOLOGY PUN AND A TRUTHFUL STATEMENT ALL WRAPPED INTO ONE).

 

So, there have been many small events, but nothing worthwhile. I am pretty bummed about my lack of riding, but I am calling it more of a casual lifestyle type of thing. Not having any goals for the summer is not really helping on the motivation front, but maybe I will do an early spring race to either 1) guilt me into training prior, or 2) inspire me to train after the fact. That works, right? Maybe I will sign up for a triathlon then I will REALLY start working out. YESSSS!!!