It was a day for the records. I hate to say that it can't get worse because there's still time for that to happen. I say this in an effort to not jinx myself. If all goes according to plan, I will be in bed soon.I awoke this morning before the alarm. A good sign because it meant that I was reasonably well rested. After an intense weekend, it was much needed. I got up, took the dogs out, and packed my many bags for the day (it really was an everything but the kitchen sink kind of day). I had a run and a ride to do and the plan was to run at lunch and ride after work. For once, I didn't feel rushed in getting everything ready (I actually got to work at 8!).
Feeling nice and organized, I decided to pump up my tires at home rather than waste time at the end of the day tracking down the pump at work. My thought was that since it would be so hot today, I'd actually store my bike inside the office and therefore avoid the risk of popping a tire with it sitting in the hot car. This happened a few weeks ago and it was an unwelcome surprise at the end of the day when I was dressed and ready to go and then, oh, flat tire. And did I mention that I also got a flat this weekend? That was even more unfortunate as it probably took 5 miles for me to finally figure it out (why is this getting harder and why am I so tired and why to I keep bouncing?). So here I was thinking that I was planning ahead. My rear tire, the one that died over the weekend, seemed to be holding up so I thought I was good to go. I got to the front tire and this thought actually crossed my mind: what is the actual pressure limit for these tires? My pump has a gauge but I just use it as a rough estimate - I have it marked and just go to where it's reasonably close to the arrow. So I pumped it within my designate range and thought, I should just give it one more pump and so I did. It's no surprise that this comes back to haunt me later.
I got to work (at 8!) with 4 bags. I got to my desk and before I even set anything down...shit! I forgot my running shoes. Should I go back and get them? I IM'd a friend to see if she had an extra pair. She didn't, so there should be no lecturing me. I have a really, really old pair at my desk (like several years old). I have them in case I want to go for a walk (we're right on the bike path) and I don't have appropriate shoes for walking (it is kind of silly considering I really only wear podiatry recommended shoes). But this I knew would be stupid. I thought I might be able to run home before lunch and grab them. Ha!
Instead, I ended up doing my first and hopefully only firing. I'm sure if I had a heartrate monitor on, I would have been in Z10. Lunchtime came and went and I had now rearranged things in my mind so that I would run after I rode. I figured I could cut the run a little short since I'd essentially be turning it into a brick. As I mentioned to HR afterwards, I hope I never have to do that again.
Oh, and did I mention another guy on my team gave his two weeks notice on Monday. So now I'm down 2 people.
Around 4:30, it finally felt like the day was finally slowing down. I was starting to get anxious for my ride. I desperately needed to get rid of some very pent up energy. But there were all these emails to deal with as well as some miscellaneous items that I never got to today. So around 5:30 I was finally able to leave. Me and my 4 bags headed off to the bathroom to change and then I went to the bike room to get my bike. I got it off the rack and started to roll it towards the door. It wasn't really moving. It was that broken shopping cart feeling where as much as you push, you just won't budge the cart because the wheel is stuck. So I thought maybe my rear wheel had locked up like maybe the brakes got hit or something. I checked them and everything was fine. I started off again and nothing. I looked down and my front tire was pancake flat. So with all my efforts of moving the bike inside to avoid the heat and the likeliness of popping a tire, I still pop a tire. I now know the answer to my pressue limit question...one pump less than what I had done.
So now it's already getting late and by the time I changed it, it would probably be about 6. I decided that I just needed to go home. I'd go home and just do my run since I needed something. But after taking the dogs out and seeing the weather getting progressively worse, I decided that I really just needed something a little more mellow. So I decided to do an hour on the trainer. I'd at least get part of a movie out of it. I changed the flat - and an impressive one it was. There was probably a 5 inch whole where it exploded. I drag everything down to the basement and started to set up the bike when the phone rang.
Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm on call? Starting today through next Monday. It was work calling about a job that failed. So I had to log on and take a look. It turned out to be nothing - had they just tried to rerun the job, they would have been fine. But for something that was nothing, I had to provide a detailed explanation, just in case it happened again. And since I was logged on, I happened to see my inbox with additional emails that I felt like I had to respond to. At this point it is now 7. If I rode for an hour, I would be eating until after 8 and I've been trying to avoid doing this, partly in an effort to get to bed earlier and partly because I just feel too full and can't sleep.
So here it is, a little past 9 on a hellacious day that I'm ready to end. It's really quite unfortunate that a day in which so much goes wrong is one that I desperately need a work out and can't get one because of all of the things that went wrong.
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