Christmas Festivities

Last I posted, I had collected a few boughs for Christmas decorating from my day trip up to NH. Since then, I learned not to collect greens from Christmas trees found on the side of the road. By the next day, the pile of greens were mostly branches with a carpet of needles underneath. The bulk of my greens were not usable and I had to clean up the mess. I decorated a little but missed having the Christmas feel that comes with a plethora of winter greens in the house. Ornaments and lights just don't cut it on their own for me. 

Fast forward to this week and after work I had swung by the grocery store and the Christmas trees were half off. I partly felt bad for them going to waste and not being used but decided to pass and save the money. Mainly because I wouldn't have time to decorate the tree until after I got back from my travels and then would have it up for only a week before I would need to put it out for the week of tree collection. 

Today we will have our department holiday party and yesterday was the larger campus wide party - a Christmas breakfast in Annenburg Hall which is very reminiscent of the great hall in the Hogwarts movies. It was such a big breakfast, I skipped lunch and barely had a dinner. I arrived midway through and loved that as I was walking down the hall between the occupied tables I was saying hello to person after person.  It was amazing how many people I knew across departments from my short time working. I made a beeline to the food and then came out and was trying to figure out where to sit, who to network with, when I saw my staff waving me over. A good time to connect and bond over the wonderful setting and enjoy the smorgasbord of food. 

I missed a ton of options  even though I went back for seconds and thirds of different options. I started with the hot meal offerings, than moved over to bagels and lox and all the fixings, finally going back for a round at the pastries. Completely missing the drink stations.  Eggnog and mulled cider and the most decadent hot chocolate bar with all the fixings from homemade whipped cream, to peppermint crumbles to chocolate shavings to add to your mug.  Which I didn't see until I was leaving. 

Speaking of which, I ended up leaving with two huge garbage bags. As we were wrapping up our dining and things were winding down, the staff started clearing the tables of decorations which consisted of mini poinsettias on a bed of winter greens. I popped over and asked what they were doing with them and if I could take some home. It worked out perfectly since they had just commented it was a shame to toss it all. Luckily I had parked nearby and could drop the bags off as I went to meetings. When I got back to my car later in the day, it smelled beautifully of Christmas - nice fresh greens. actually that's what I should do next year, a sniff test to see how fresh any greens I come by are. 

What I liked about the whole experience is that my approach to things has changed, and stuck. During my time off, the first Christmas, I had swung, the other way and had bought three Christmas trees (two little ones and a regular one). Granted, I had stumbled upon a local nursery that had good prices, so the cost was not much more than what I'd paid for one tree in years previous.  

But by last Christmas, I had shifted my approach, partially due to lack of disposable income. And couldn't afford a tree. Which is when you get creative and I hit the jackpot of fallen branches up in NH during an orienteering meet. That's the year I found that I still felt like I had accomplished the feel of Christmas, even without having a tree. 

And this year I was resigned to figure out how to achieve the feel of Christmas with minimal greens. I'm actually planning on doing more decorating next week after the holidays. I want to go through my Christmas boxes and really try to use everything. And if it's not being used, question why am I keeping it. Granted, I'll give myself a little buffer so I can rotate things on display year to year. But if it's been two years and I haven't put it out, it's time to reconsider. And last year, by not having a tree I was dictated by the town trash schedule of when I had to take things down. As a result, I had different levels of decorations up much longer.  I'm now thinking of it as decorating for winter. Enjoying the greens during the cold white months and having a little sparkle of light through the dark nights. 

I love that because of my different thinking, I was more inclined to notice these opportunities. I don't know if I would have noticed staff cleaning up in years previous. And I love that I'm rethinking what is a necessity. And not resulting in deprivation. I still decorate way more than a bunch of family and friends, it's just a different approach. It boils down to living below your means (I.e. I spend less than what comes in). And as a result, I get more creative, which in turn gives me an energy boost when I come across creating something new and it works out. 

On the flip side, I've found this is one of the more challenging Christmases for shopping. Usually I squirrel gifts away all year long while I'm out shopping, seeing something I think so and so may like. But now that I don't really go out perusing the aisles, that part of my brain that was really good at finding things is getting mushy. I went to TJ Maxx this week - which used to be one of my favorite stores, and it was just meh. I couldn't find that many treasures (I also think they have shifted their business model and the goods aren't as good as they used to be). Plus, I'm not great at shopping under deadline. But on the flip side, I was getting creative, due to limited funds, and swung by my local used bookstore where I have credit. And I found a bunch of goodies for people. Now that I'm cash only, when I went to wring up (they only let you use credit for a portion of the purchase), I found the total came up about $8 more than a hat I had on me. I started to head off to my car to grab some more money and then I paused and problem solved in a different way, I swapped out one item for just as good an item that was slightly less. As a result, the total came in under what I had on me. 

I used to excuse my spending in the past, by using the loophole: it's a gift so it's ok to be indulgent. But I've learned you can still be indulgent without just throwing money at the situation - and usually the receiver won't notice the difference. I'm almost done my shopping and I think I may be able to pull it off within my regular monthly budget I give myself (I go to the atm at the first of the month and pull out $300 for all my expenses - I don't use my credit cards or debit card any more). We'll see.  The biggest expense is where I'm not allowed to be creative. One person asked for a gift card and there's no way around that expense. And Nick and I are giving out teenage cousin cash - another one you can't get around. 

And on a final note, I find myself making one of the gifts, a repeat of last year.  And yet I didn't learn from last year that it always takes longer than I plan and I always run into snags and roadblocks. I feel great once I've finished and love the end product, but I really need to be more disciplined with when I work on the project. I'm off to try to finish the project this morning, before I try to squeeze in a visit to the gym and eat breakfast and get ready for an early morning meeting.  A little too much to cram into a morning, but time is ticking. 

Well that's me - as I see the time - must run. 

First on Tan

Yesterday, as I "slept" in on a Saturday morning, I kept debating if I should just stay home and get stuff done around the house or go to the orienteering meet. It's the last one of the season but was up in southern NH, over an hour drive away. In the end I rallied, partly because of combining a bunch of stuff. Last year, at this event, I had been able to collect some fallen boughs for Christmas decorating around the house. There were a ton of pine on the ground that I loaded up on at the event and then on my drive home, there was a branch fallen by the road I shipped a few more from. Last year my trunk was stuffed full with boughs. 

This year, not so much. I think I forgot there had been a windy storm before I had gone last year, which helped. Also, this year, we were in a different location of the park and not so many pine trees. I did end up making it out the door a little later then usual, but made it up in plenty of time before the course closed, but... Not before they ran out of maps for the course I wanted to "run". I'm an intermediate level, and have had one foray into advanced courses, this summer, when dad and I went to the canoeing orienteering event. We tried a tan course and after finding the first two markers, promptly became lost. 

It was frustrating haven driven over an hour, across state lines only to be told, too bad. Their printer was out of yellow ink and they couldn't do anything about it. Ugh. They recommended I try the advanced. Based on my last experience, I wasn't wild this was my only option. Going down a level wasn't appealing either as I've found those too easy. Well, I grumbled in my head and took a tan map. 

And you know what, I think this one was an easy tan. Somewhat like an orange like I usually run. It was on the shorter side which helped. And after finding the first two controls realitively easily (I overshot the first one but was able to easily correct) I was feeling ok. On the next control, a more advanced fellow overtook me and got to the control first and then dashed off into the woods for to the next control. I just plugged along, enjoying my hike (not running) and a few minutes later I came across the same guy, running around in the vincinity of the next control. He mentioned he knew it was around here but couldn't find it. Having learned from my previous times, I didn't let him distract me and focused on what direction I thought the control should be, not where he was heading. And I found it for the both of us and again, he sprints off to the next control. And again, a few minutes later I catch up to him dashing back and forth looking. By now I fell like an old regular, and slowly made my way directly to where I thought the control should be. He dashed ahead and clocked the control first and in the meantime, another more advanced fellow comes running up the hill and mentions he's been looking for the control and can't find it. I asked him if he wanted to know where it was, and pointed him in the correct direction. It was literally several feet from us. 

Talk about a boost of confidence. Here are two runners who are used to doing this level course, and it's me finding the controls. I think it also helps to go slow and steady versus trying to dart around. They were on another course that happened to overlap mine and I didn't see them again, but enjoyed the rest of the course finding everything pretty easily. It also helped its winter is so crossing through the woods wasn't too slow going. Although, tons of snow and hidden ice. Another reason to take it slow and steady. 

After the last event, I had bought a pair of gloves that I could sweat in that worked out fabulously. I started off being cold but by then end, was taking off the gloves and hat. At the end, I was making my way back to the finish and jogging a little, and along came another guy. Because of him, I ended up running all the way back and it was only then I got wet feet running through massive puddles in the fields. Luckily, I had also packed a second pair of sneakers and my super warm and cozy socks. 

It was such a lovely day and such a beautiful setting with the narrow (and slippery) bridges through the marshes and I found this one tree whose trunk had grown at a 90degree angle and then straight up, making for a perfect height bench. I had left my phone behind and had wished I had brought it for the pictures and also, I forgot, I wanted to "track my run" so I could look at what I did afterwards. 

Looking at the splits, I find I did ok, but my saving grace was slow and steady and that's how I eeeked out coming in first!  Not too shabby. 

And, after I downloaded my results and was heading out the door, I noticed on the porch a tarp with a huge pile of greens. Clearly, they were using them for making wreaths or something, so I couldn't take the,  but, they had a trash barrel full of scraps and I rummaged around and got a pretty good haul (nothing last year). And, as I was driving back to the highway, I couldn't help scanning the sides of the road , hoping to find another fallen limb like last year, and guess what. I found one! Except, I think it was a Christmas trees eons bought that had fallen off their roof. It had been there awhile since the needles were falling off.  But there were a few branches that were worth saving. Fast forward when I got home, and was doing some quick yard work, putting beds down for winter and found, some grasses I usually trimmed earlier in the fall, had dried in this beautiful way and I thought, this will make for some nice decoration, along with the bamboo clippings I had saved from an earlier yard clean up. So I think I have enough to decorate with. I like having stuff straight from nature and not going to wage (and not costing anything). 

So I had a great orienteering event, picked up some boughs, and also swung by two stores where I found some birthday/Christmas presents. So all in all, definitely worth the trip, and I'm glad I talked myself into going. It was a full day away and now, I need to go off and get all my chores done for the weekend, into one day. 

I've been practicing a new technique. I write down everything I want to get done today, divided into two groups: have tos (like it's going to be hard during the week if I don't do this now) and like tos (like I'd like to paint my bookcase but it doesn't have to happen this weekend). But in addition, I've started putting an estimate of how long (I.e. 20 minutes). And then throughout the day, I make note of how long it actually takes. Interestingly, I've found that a bunch of things take me twice as long as I thought they did. So I've been resetting how long I think it takes. And also, I'll add up all the times, and realize I have two days of work I'm trying to get done in one day which is impossible. So it resets and manages my expectations. I feel much better at the end of day because, although there is still a lot to do, I know I got a lot done. Speaking, of which, this post took longer than I thought it would, surprise, surprise, so need to dash. 

Coyote Siting

I just came back from another orienteering meet yesterday. The last few meets I've been finding that I come away with wet feet. And a resolution to pay attention and plan my route better around water features. I always think of the spring as a time when creeks are gushing full of winter melt from the mountains, but apparently it is also the case in the fall. Anyways, no matter how carefully I try to cross creeks and bogs, I end up with at least one wet foot and this weekend I couldn't help but think it wasn't great to go from wet foot in a stream onto snow. It had snowed last week and mostly melted in town but out in the woods there is still some snow on the ground. Luckily it's still warm out so not too bad. 

As I was out on the course I was finding my mind straying from the current moment, and ruminating about all the stresses from work. I kept trying to recenter myself and live in the moment, that's what I always appreciated about orienteering, you have to be paying attention. 

Well, as I was climbing up an embankment, I heard some noise from above. At first I thought it was another person on a course, dashing through the woods like a deer. The course was compact enough that I'd cross paths with other participants. But nope, this time it actually was deer.  Three of them running across my path just ahead of me. It was quite stunning to see.  They were heading down to the trail I had just left but they stayed in the protection of the trees along the edge as they slowed down, sussing out if they should cross, and actually walking down a bit further before they ran across the trail back into the woods on the opposite side. 

I was torn as I made my way to my control, that with all these people in the woods, we were disturbing the local wildlife and yet still in awe of seeing them up close. A few minutes later, as I was making my way to another control, I had left a path and came across a couple walking the opposite direction who pointed out a coyote just a little ways away in the woods. It looked like she was intent on something and was heading away from us. Not too worried about our presence. She did seem to be heading on a path that might intersect with the deer I had just seen, although she was coming from a different direction. Again another conflict of emotions, awe and worry about what is only the natural course of events in the wild. 

I ended up making it back in good time, even after stoping and watching the wildlife and few stops to talk with others on the course. Interestingly, this was my third meet in a row where I placed in the top three.  Granted, this has more to do with who else is running the course. But the last few courses I haven't had any trouble finding the controls. Usually there is at least one that trips you up and takes a chunk of time. I'm thinking I might be ready to advance on to the next level - the advanced course. It's all woods and no trails. Making it more challenging but also tiring. 

I ended up sticking around and volunteered for the last part of the meet. Partly for my own benefit. I've been working on trying to figure out how to have more energy as I'm getting worn down from work. At work, I've inherited quite a mess of a department and a lot of issues. As I get more tired, I find myself pulled into the weeds and not able to step back as often as needed to see the problem as what it is, in a more balanced light. So in my time not working I've been falling into the habits of trying to relax and rest up but not very successfully. For me, I recognize that I'm on the cusp of introvert/extrovert. I benefit from taking time and hanging out and chatting with people. It gets me out of my head. So staying and chatting with fellow orienteering folks put me in a good frame of mind. I also found that the fuel I have also helps. So on my way home, I stopped by the grocery store and when I got home I went straight into cooking mode. If I stop and rest, I sometimes don't make it back up. I ended up cooking for three hours but have all my meals for the week ready to go. 

And what a difference Saturday and Sunday was. Saturday I went into relaxation mode and slept in, but really well and did a little here and there but didn't accomplish much and in the end felt less recharged. Sunday, having the deadline of having to make it to the meet, I got myself up and out the door and had a very productive day where I felt much better at the end of it all. And slept much better that night too. Which at first glance is counter intuitive. I did more and felt less tired versus laying low and relaxing and felt more tired. 

It got me thinking about misconceptions. As I've been decluttering I realized "retail therapy" was the exact opposite. The concept being if you take some time to be indulgent and shop, you'll feel better. Which is true for the moment, but in the long term you feel worse. It's a quick fix that hurts more than helps. 

And more recently I realized "comfort food" was the same. Yes, you feel good in the moment eating whatever comfort food - often simple carbs.  But later you'll feel worse and it didn't help at all. With the food, I know to stay away from the comfort foods when I'm needing comfort. I need the healthy stuff that will fuel me. It got me thinking of other comfort habits I have that aren't the best habits. And what actually gives me energy. I did notice that sometimes when I'm stressed I'll organize/declutter a specific spot in the house. I think this is a positive because it gives me immediate comfort but also long term, I feel an accomplishment of making something better. I think I have to keep an eye on my Netflix viewing. It definitely feels comforting sometimes, but leaves me decharged. The biggest take away is that I feel more charged after accomplishing something. Granted I need down time and can't just be go, go, go, but need to figure out what a healthy down time is for me. Well, off to feed the cats. 

French Horns

I've been trying to be good and not abandon this blog and post at least once a month. I will say that I find blogging doesn't work into my schedule as well, so I've been exploring alternatives (like vlogging) but haven't found a simple and easy way yet. 

So French horns.  It has to do with the orienteering event last weekend. I just got an email that shared they had posted pictures of the event.  Looking through the pictures, I found I was checking to see if I could see myself,not expecting to since I would have remembered someone taking photos. But, as you can see, I was focused on the course at hand:

It was a great day for being out in the woods. I can tell this photo is later on because I had started off with a hat and gloves but trekking around, you heat up. This event was different and had a great energy in the air. Usually for orienteering, you show up, get an epunch and map and head out and try to be as fast as possible, sometimes crossing paths with others, usually on different courses. It's a rolling start in a two hour window. This event had a mass start which means we were all heading out at the same time. 

The way they make it work is that there are three different courses we all do, but in different orders and they are all on top of each other. So you're in the woods running into a lot more people than usual. Which adds a different energy and can be distracting - you second guess if you are heading the right way or should veer off in the direction the other person is heading, but then they might be on a different course. Anyways, we had a great mass start - instead of starting pistol there were French horns!

How fun, right?!  A great send off as we head into the heart of the forest. Needless to say, I had a fun weekend and so happy I found this sport. I did have one control that took me forever to find, but I did finish which is half the battle. 

It was a great break from the craziness of work. I'm still excited about my job but what I inherited is a mess and exhausting to get back up and running smoothly. That's what I love about orienteering.  It brings you outside and you have to give it your undivided focus or else you get lost. It's a great break for a busy mind. 

Another Dog

This weekend, I realize, I've been mentally preparing for the big procedure tomorrow - my first colonoscopy. Right now, I'm sitting in my bathroom ready for the next phase after just downing the medicine. BTW, my dosage was pretty decent - tasted like a super sweet drink. Speaking of which, I feel like all I've had today is sugar. The clear diet really limits the intake. I had some broth throughout the day but have found when I get a hunger craving I reach for some ginger ale. 

I had pretty much cleared my calendar this weekend in preparation. Figuring I'd need to run errands and get things in order around the house. From what I've heard and seen on tv shows, I'm preparing for being out of commission after downing the last drop of the meds. And know, as I write this, I realize I may have imagined something worse than it really will be... Or I just need to give it time to kick in. 

Anyways, yesterday, after having a nice long consultant with a gardening coach, I was hopping in my car to go pick up the medicine and grab the special diet food at the grocery store. As I was pulling out my driveway, this random dog comes trotting down the sidewalk.  I stopped suddenly and hopped out since I didn't want him (turns out it was a girl)to head into the street or go towards the super busy street. It was a friendly dog and happy to see me as I get out of my car. The strangest thing was that she not only had a collar with tags but also had a leash on that was dragging behind her. I looked around and no one in sight except a jogger coming from the same direction. At first I thought the dog was the joggers, but nope. He stopped and helped me try to figure out whose dog. And even held the leash while I pulled my car back into the driveway. The tags were just rabbi tags and no other info. 

So I ended up having a bit of a detour - my new friend and I went for a walk to the local police station. Along the way there was a lot of sniffing of posts and many marking with the pee. And as we got close to the station we even stopped and had a poop. Luckily, the leash had a built in poop bag holder so I could take care of her business. 

I brought her into the station and the officer had a chuckle when I explained the situation. They don't have tons of random dog drop offs, but apparently this guy is the one that is usually on duty when they show up. My new friend was happy to go with the officer and that was that. 

I did look around my neighborhood a bit more after I got back to see if I could find anyone looking for a dog. And part of my imagination wondered why she was on a leash, like mayber her owner fell and was hurt and the dog ran off. But nothing. And went and ran my errands.  I'm debating about calling the police department to find out if everything worked out. And hope she was reunited and everyone was ok. I'm just happy our paths crossed because I do think she might have ended up in the middle of traffic. 

Well, I don't want to tempt fate, as I feel my tummy working through the meds. So I'll sign off and post this and queue up a fun movie to watch in my new hang out space on the throne. Wish me well. 

Decluttering Books

In my decluttering journey, I feel like I've come along way but also am aware I'm only part way through the process. Books is a good example of where I feel I'm in the middle. I used to keep almost all my books and only thinned them out occasionally. With more books coming in than going out, overtime, my bookshelves were overflowing. I used the Ciscero quote to enable my book acquisition - "A room without books is like a body without a soul."   Side note, I first saw the quote in my local bookstore in college - tricky marketing. 

But these last two years, I've been slowly unpacking my relationships with books and what's behind the surface. Logistically, I took all my books and sorted them into two main categories - books I've read and books I've not read or not finished yet. Of the books I've read, earlier this year, I sorted them again into, books I read and I really enjoyed and would want to reread and worth carrying up several flights of stairs when moving. I was brutal and really questioned if I'd reread the book again.  Making it clear that for every book I reread that meant I couldn't read a new book during that time spent. And interestingly, I was able to weed out quite a few books I enjoyed and liked and would recommend but didn't need to own any longer. My keep pile is suprsimglu small and I feel like I could revisit again and make it smaller. 

What really helped was that in the pile of books I had read I noticed some mental themes. For me I was holding on to a lot of books from two periods of my life: young adult books and books I read in college (not text books). I split the books into three piles and found I could be ruthless weeding out books I've read these last twenty years but the other two groups I was much more sentimental. Was I really going to reread Little House on the Prairie series, and if so, couldn't I just get a copy from the library. Same with some of college books - I loved the Russians and Dickens, but haven't ready any in years. I still have books from these two groups but they are now separated out and I have a time limit.  I'm giving myself some time to see if I'd reread any, otherwise they go. And I'm slowly, mentally, uncoupling the sentimental side of keeping the books. 

But the biggest pile was books I had aquired that looked interesting but I hadn't gotten to yet. I'm slowly realizing they are part of my "fantasy self". The self that knows what's in the books - I've read them already.  Just like with beautiful things, I can't have and own every beautiful thing I see. I don't have enough space (or money). Same with books, I can't read every book I find interesting, there literally isn't enough time in my life. So again, I've been learning to add the filter to prioritize. 

Which gets me to the point of my post. I've been volunteering at my local library helping organize and prepare for their annual book sale. I like the work because it's basically sorting the books into categories and then organizing them on the tables. Last year, I ended up with an armful of books I took home. And had resigned myself that I'd probably do something similar but hopefully not as many, especially since I was out of space on the bookshelf that housed my unread books. 

But surprisingly, this last week. I found myself using some good questioning techniques. I was sorting through the cookbooks and would set aside a few I was interested in and at the end I looked at the books and found that, one, I liked the cookbooks I already owned better (prioritization), and two, that often I was sucked into the idea of the lifestyle (fantasy self). Either through beautiful pictures/graphics or with the idea of the dish. I'd love to eat it and even be able to cook it, but in reality this was a big jump from my current cooking style. Granted, I may want to shift my cooking style, but you only need one cookbook or handful of receipts - not a mini library. If you have more than one book to experiment with, you start feeling burdened for not being your fantasy self, that you've already failed.  And in the end, I put all the books back. 

As I worked through the other sections, same thing - I saw a book that looked interesting. Set it aside. And in the end decided I had enough at home. And at the end of volunteering, I left empty handed. The questioning of priority and fantasy self helped me but also the time delay. Waiting and reflecting after the initial discovery helped the endorphins settle down.  

Now the question will be, will I escape without any books in the next week - the book sale is next weekend and I still have a bunch more volunteer time. And I'm ok if I bring home a few - it's not an absolute. But more about understanding why I want to have the book and being more mindful about my acquisitions. But I feel pretty confident I won't have a huge stack like last time. It's all about progress and not being perfect. 

Weekend Update

Saturday was a beautiful day for the bike orienteering. I had a slow morning which turned into a rush to get to the orienteering meet before the event started at 10. Which meant I took a look at my bike and thought, "the tires are fine". They could use a little air but not having much time to spare I rushed out the door figuring it would be good enough. As I'm biking to the meet I can clearly see my front tire is a bit flat and more importantly, it was a challenging ride. I lucked out and found a hard core adventurer who was pumping up his bike tires before the start and borrowed his pump and fixed my bike tire situation. So that was the first mistake I made, but fixed it before the race. 

We're given the maps ten minutes before the start and the time rushes by as you try to figure out the best route to take to maximize your points, avoid the steep hills and busy roads. This year I was trying out a new strategy - target the bonus points. The more you get, the more your score goes up exponentially. But the bonus controls, of course, are in the far corners of the map. I ended up deciding to go clock-wise, and hit the north west corner first. 

I do have to say this happened to me last year. It's strange bicycling for three hours in near by towns, using a map that has roads and topographic features but no labels. You don't know from the map what town you are in or any of the street names. So I get focused on the course and then realize I'm near where I go for my cat supplies and recognize an intersection - it just suddenly appears and is a bit discombobulating.  

An hour into the race and I'm doing well.  I avoided any steep hills, I'm feeling in shape and finding all the controls pretty well. I enter this one park to hit the next bonus control and it's just so beautiful. There are so many beautiful marshlands with the gorgeous plants. It's so picturesque, I want to take a picture, but I'm focused and plus I know it wouldn't capture the moment. As I find the control, I think, I should come back and explore this park. Lots of great trails to explore and beautiful setting. As I'm biking through the park to hit the next neighborhood, I pass a classic middle-American landscaped portion of the park with an American flag and I think wow, this looks just like a similar corner of the park I was at last weekend for orienteering. I thought it would be neat to take my next visitor to both places so they can see how similar they are. To my defense, this part of the park is very much like a big box store - you see variations of the same thing everywhere. Not very unique. It's not until a little bit farther down the path do I realize - yup, it's the same place I was at last weekend. 

I came to the park from a different direction, but comparing the two maps from this weekend and last weekend and looking at my route, I should've recognized parts sooner. You know what it was, the perspective is different when you're on foot versus quickly biking. I was so surprised how certain I was there were two parks that looked alike versus realizing it was the same place. I have to say I chuckled over that for a good fifteen minutes of my ride. 

My next mistake was I forgot two things I did last year.  One was to set the deadline for getting back to the finish 20 minutes early. You get penalized for every minute you are late. And because I'm bad at estimating how long it will take, I built in a buffer last year - got back to the general vicinity of the start area and picked up a few extra controls near by, without feeling too rushed. Somehow I forgot I did this and this year, I was just hoping I'd squeeze everything in in time. Near the end I was starting to re-edit my route but even so, I was feeling rushed and by now I was getting tired, two hours in. But a quiet kind of tired. The kind you don't notice because the thrill of hunting for the controls overshadowed them. Which leads me to my second thing I forgot. I forgot I had packed a lunch last year. I remember packing a trail mix of sorts and snacking on that. And I was lazy and just had leftover breakfast which was just waffles and not a good hearty breakfast of veggies and protein. Lesson learned, fuel the body. 

I think it's because I'm in better shape, my muscles weren't sending up any signals of being over worked, like last year. Actually, two days later and my leg muscles aren't even that sore. A little but not as much as I thought they'd be. Last year that was the first thing that went so I'd slow down and conserve my energy.  And last year I told myself I should train before hand so my muscles for biking are in better shape. I forgot to do this and had wished I had, but then found I was farther ahead than last year. Don't know how that happened. 

I think I went wrong where I should have had the advantage. By now I'm in the south west corner of the map. Well not really, I cut out a whole section because I'm not that good. But I knew where some of the spots were because they were along where I'd commute for work. Looking back, I should have skipped these because I didn't really have the time. I did them because I could see where they were in my mind and they didn't seem that far. One control was in the park just down the street from my house. In the park that I know is at the top of a pretty steep hill. But I'm always in my car so don't really absorb how steep the hill is. After getting off my bike twice to push it up the steep portions of the hill, I eat up half an hour and finally get to the control in the park in my backyard. And it's dawning on me I'm not going to have enough time and the next bonus control is on another even steeper hill - near the water tower in town. The hill with the view of Boston - it's that steep. I mean not only do I have a topographic map that only has the steepness of hills, I've literally driven up all these hills hundreds of times. 

But again perspective. It's one thing when you're in a car. And another when you're on a bike. I figured I could hit the last control, scrap the rest and head straight back and hopefully make it just in time or only a few minutes late. I'm thinking all this in the park as I'm walking my bike up yet another hill, in the park. I get to a point I can bike and start biking, not too fast mind you, and as I'm about to leave the park, the dirt path turns right, onto paved sidewalk/driveway of sorts, I wipe out. It was going downhill a bit, I wasn't going too fast, but there was a bunch of loose gravel on the paved portion which causes my bike to slip out from underneath me as I take the turn. I wonder if this had happened at the beginning if I would have been able to recover in time. It all happened in slow motion - I fell to my right and was able to catch my fall on my hands. 

And then a wave of just being tired hit after the initial pain. For a second there I was like, no problem, I can pick my bike up and keep going, I have 30 minutes still, I can make it to the last control and then the finish. And then a moment later, I was like, nope, I'm done. I realized I wasn't in a rush to get anywhere any more. Even outside the race, no rush to get home. I had no plans for the rest of the day. So I picked my stuff up and just lay on the grass and chilled. It's weird, because I don't really do that much in any portion of my life. But my body definitely needed a moment. It was weird because it took me a bit to unpack my previous plans. I was like, I'm just a few blocks from home, I biked to the event so it's not like my car was there that I had to pick up. Literally, there was no reason not to just go home. 

I took it easy going home and by then I was so hungry. Also, another mistake, I didn't have pre made food ready for the post race. And since I'm pretty healthy these days, I didn't really have anything to just munch on. But I got myself fed and started cleaning up my wounds. My hands barely have any scratches. No one will notice them at work. Even my legs escaped pretty unscathed. I have a little bit of a raspberry on my right side of my right calf.  I'll have a bunch of bruises along my right side - a big one is forming on my right buttock. What really took the bulk of the hit was my right elbow. I just slid across the pavement on it and gauged it pretty deep. And man it's hard to clean an open wound on yourself. Luckily, I found the trick was to take a shower. I wanted to clean up anyways, plus I was concerned the sunscreen could get into any wounds. I found it was the best way to easily clean the open wound. 

The other injury is my thumb on my left hand.  It feels like it's sprained a bit where the thumb connects to the palm. All in all nothing too bad.  Some soreness throughout the body but not anything out of the ordinary. And the timing to take a nasty fall like this could not have been better - I mean if I had to take a fall in the first place. The next day, I was helping a friend organize a room and her husband is a sports injury doctor. So I had him take a look at my injuries. He did a bunch of poking and prodding and lots of questions. He went from joking around as my friend's husband, into Doctor mode. I felt like I was having a private, at home, consultation. And the verdict is all good. Give everything some time to heal and if things don't improve in three weeks come in for a follow up. Already, after two nights sleep, things are feeling much better. My elbow is starting to scab over and doesn't hurt unless I bang into it. And the rest of me is my normal bruising feeling I'm used to. And on Sunday I was till able to whip my friends bedroom into better shape. I was a little slow, but still at about 90% of my regular self. I took it easy, but the point is most things weren't impeded by my injuries. Turns out we weren't tackling her closet of clothes, it was just all the clutter and extra storage of stuff in the bedroom. She was quite. impressed with what we accomplished and reiterated she thought I should go into business as a side hustle. I was curious which of my lessons learned I could share, and would stick. It was the old adage of "like with like" that we came back to each time. It's a good place to start. For her, she had a lot of plans for things - to mend, to fix, to turn into something else.  So they all went into the same spot - "incomplete actions".  

So all in all a great weekend. I'm hoping I'll still be up for orienteering next weekend - it's the only canoeing event all year. But talk about an activity where you need a healthy elbow. I'll have to wait and see. And nothing like a bonus day (Labor Day), to take it easy and chip away at some chores. The weathers nice, so some more gardening for me. My hope is to get everything in shape before snow comes so next spring, it's not too bad.