Ride of the Valkyries

It's hard to blog when you hardly get a moment to yourself. That is what I am struggling with this week--it's stressful to constantly be around other people. The result is that I become nervous and a bit irrational; this morning I woke up in a panic thinking it was Thursday and I would be late for a meeting, then relaxing slightly realizing that it is only Wednesday--four times.

I meant to start 5K training last week, which clearly did not happen. But this week I'm slowly getting on track and fully intend to register for that 5K in March because I have a very good training plan from Runner's World that fits very comfortably into my existing schedule. In fact I ran 20 minutes yesterday instead of the prescribed 10, because I could. However, I was on the treadmill rather than outside, so 20 minutes probably works out to be about the equivalent of 10 on the road. Anyway, last week had its complications, culminating in my falling violently ill at work late Thursday morning. I felt much better (though still weak) by Friday, and after a few errands at the bank and a pedicure, Keith and I set off for Ocean City, where I was sure we would squeeze in some walking time on the beach--cameras in tow, of course.

Although the quality of the workout may not have been ideal, my muscles still felt it on Monday--all that squatting and lunging to get different photo angles. And then there was the slightly creepy Hitchcockian moment when Keith brought out a bagel to attract every sea gull within a two-mile radius for some face time with the camera.

Eventually, I had some fun watching them hovering in a pseudo-line in front of us, waiting to catch a piece of bagel. But when I replay in my mind the image of ALL THOSE BIRDS swooping down around us, all I hear is Wagner's (that's VOG-ner) Ride of the Valkyries and Robert Duvall voicing the immortal words, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

{Apocalypse Now (1979), courtesy RotaryAction.com}