Biking and Soccer

Shoulder and leg are still sore so I did a long bike ride today. Then went and played soccer. It's been a while. I walked away with an awesome bruise. Thanks Marcel!

Tennis

Since I'm still in recovery mode I opted for tennis with a friend today. We hit balls around and ran back and forth for an hour and a half. I'm sure my butt will be sore tomorrow since I don't usually lunge like that, but it was great to get in a bit of a workout without too much pain. Should be back to regular workouts tomorrow. 

Range of Motion

I got in the pool today to see if I have full range of motion and what kind of pain swimming causes my shoulder. Full range of motion - check. Pain - check.

I also look like a wreck with all my wounds visible walking around in a bathing suit. Perfect time to have a conversation with a crush: Him fully clothed; me in a bathing costume with gaping wounds and a lumpy shoulder like Quasimodo. On the bright side, he still wanted to talk to me.

Recovering

I'm banged up enough that I didn't even think about doing my long run today. Shoulder is very sore. Road rash is very raw. Sunburn is very hot. Laying low today. Good thing it's Sunday.

Sunburn and Road Rash

I was able to bike with a group of great guys up in the Mtain region today. The road was a bit dusty and I crashed on a turn. My shoulder is jammed up pretty badly and I have some lovely road rash on my elbow and lower leg. I hope it heals soon. I also have a lovely sunburn 4" above and below the elbow... between where my gloves and rolled-down arm warmers were and the sleeves of my bike jersey was. Sweet.

I am grateful for helmets.

Food and Potential

Today I had a great brunch at Tawlet (Souk el Tayeb) in Mar Mikhael. Loads of food, which was great after a really long workout at the gym. I highly recommend the Saturday brunch. I also got connected with a guy who goes road biking with a small group of people on the weekends. This has great potential!

I hope you feel better soon!

At the end of the school day I walk most of the kids to an area where they wait for the bus or their parents to pick them up. I had missed a day of school earlier in the week due to a cold/flu. One of the parents hadn't seen me in a while. She said, "Hi Miss Kris! How are you? I notice you've been losing weight recently. I hope you feel better soon!"

I just laughed. So do I need to feel better because I've been losing weight, or ?

Doctor?

The concierge at my apartment building speaks little English and usually communicates with me in Arabic. This is a rough translation to English.

 After not seeing me for a while, today she said to me, "Christine!" and then gestured with her hands indicating that I have lost weight. She said, "What doctor?" I laughed and said, "No. Me. Sports." She nodded with an impressed look on her face and said, "Congratulations."

It speaks loudly that the first thing she thought to ask was what doctor did I go to for the surgery when she saw that I lost weight.

iheartlebanon

Teacher's Day

Is it sad that the thing I am most excited about the holiday today is that I can workout whenever I want to today?

Jay-Z and hallucinations

I've been reading Jay-Z's autobiography "Decoded" recently and I've really been enjoying it. Today I was out on my long run and I swear I ran by a black man that had the same build and facial structure as Jay-Z! A few things gave it away that it wasn't him:
- He was alone. No body guards. No Beyonce.
- He was wearing track suit pants and a relatively well fitted dry-fit t-shirt. Not really Jay-Z's style.
- He was exercising on the Beirut corniche on a Sunday afternoon.

I have come to two conclusions.
1) On the off chance that Jay-Z was in town today, then I definitely saw him.
2) I need to do a better job of keeping my blood-sugar levels stable, especially on the weekends with the super long workouts.

Hike and bike and

I spent the morning enjoying the beautiful mountains of Lebanon. 18km hiked.

After we got back to Beirut I went to the gym and biked for another 2 hours.

I realize this is a bit extreme. But I also realize I am a bit extreme right now. And so is the Ironman.

Not exactly dinner conversation

I seemed to be the novelty at a dinner party tonight.

"Hey, did you hear Kristin's doing an Ironman?"

"What's that?"

Turns out I don't like being a novelty or dinner conversation.

Sleep!

I forgot what it feels like to have a solid 8 hours of sleep. Especially exhausted sleep. I woke up Monday morning still groggy, drunk on sleep. It was a lovely feeling. I didn't even need caffeine all day long! I should do that more often. I ended the night with a win at the pub-quiz. Turns out sleep is NOT overrated. Now if only it were a priority...