Today, at lunch, Doyle commented, "Just like L.A." Puzzled, I asked him what he meant. He pointed up and said, "All hazy like smog." I looked up, and realized, hey, he was right. His comment made me think of L.A. Sometimes I really miss L.A. It's said, people either love or hate L.A. I can't say I lurved L.A., but I did enjoy a lot living there.

I'm 2 months away from being here in the Bay Area for ten years. I was in L.A. for just over ten years. I've been here, in California, longer than any other state, but two decades? Good lord, that's a long time. Almost like this is where I'm going to be, where I'm staying. Honestly, it's a great place to be, even if it is as messed up as other places.

As much as I think I'd like to retire to a farm (well, actually, an apple orchard), I can't imagine being away from a metropolitan area. I like the ease of cultural exposure. I like the convenience of goods. I like access to educational opportunities. I don't like the people per se, but I do like having friends close.

Take for example, my journey to a craft store. Yes, the store prices were greater than a craft superstore like Michaels, but the selection was amazing. In this instance, I'll support the little guy, the family store. In a smaller town, I wouldn't be able to just head over. Internet ecommerce would be a godsend, but still, the waiting.

Eh, don't know. The Bay Area is pretty spectacular. Kris wants to be here, he loves it here. Will I ever convince him otherwise? Do I want to?

So, for the last 8+ months, my hamstring has been hurting and aching and giving me problems. The intensity of injury decreased when I started stretching regularly, but it's still there. After hearing from the triathlete who trains with us on Mondays at Velocity Sports, and from Ryan, both who pretty much said, "Nothing I tried helped until I had A.R.T. done on my" whatever injury she/he had, I finally looked again for an A.R.T. practitioner, and signed up for an appointment.

Previously, when I looked, the nearest practitioner was in Santa Clara. This time when I looked, however, I found one who worked right around the corner from me, all of maybe 400 yards from my house. Well, duh, how could I not go now?

"Expect to hurt," was the warning I received by everyone I know who has had A.R.T. done. Expect to be in pain, expect to be bruised (an easy thing for, given that I bruise just looking at a table I could walk into, no need to actually walk into it), expect to be sore afterward. Great, I knew what to expect, I was goin' in.

What I wasn't expecting, however, was the immediate, "Let's get to it" nature of the appointment. Having been to chiropractors for 20 years (ugh, did I just say that?), and a runner for those same 20 years, I know that a warm body is a lot easier to stretch. So, when I walked into the exam room, and he said up on the table, and immediately started stretching my not-warmed-up, not-stretched, quite-stiff-from-sitting-all-day leg, and by stretching I mean pushing my foot over my shoulder because it does go that far, I freaked.

I mean, come on, sure, I'm flexible. I usually warm up to that flexibility, though.

The whole appointment didn't last more than 20 minutes. Other than a lot of skin pulling, there was no pain with the process. Other than having to pee really badly, there was no discomfort. I was able to move around better, and the constant pain with my hamstring insertion point was gone (I would later discover, "for the moment"), but I didn't have any of the bruising I had expected, or lingering pain.

Maybe there's something else going on, maybe a practitioner's proximity isn't the best way to choose a healthcare provider, but that "expect it to hurt" advice?

Bunk.

Or all my friends are pain wimps. That could be.

I'm frustrated. I know I'm frustrated because I can't play ultimate because, once again, I'm injured. Once again, I'm betrayed by my body and unable to play, despite being determined to play, despite eating right, working out regularly. What is it with my life that I managed to conspire with the fates to be completely and utterly, totally stressed three weeks before the start of the fall series begins, virtually guaranteeing both a run-on sentence and injury.

Maybe I don't really want to be playing? I don't know. It's annoying.

What's more annoying, though, is the realizing that I spend more of my life doing for other people than for myself. Like, on the order of 70% for everyone else, and 30% for me, with 95% of that "for me" including sleep and eating and nothing else. The first thing to go when my life fills up is exercise, when that should be the last thing to go.

That "for everyone else" is starting to take its toll. Things I used to offer willingly, I'm reluctant to offer at all. Tasks I used to do without asking are now assumed to be my tasks and feel like instead of offering, everyone is demanding.

This morning's VS workout was designed to "make up for no workout on Monday" by combining most of Monday's workout with part of today's normal workout, which means half upper body and half lower body.

8 Runs
4 Runs with medicine ball
8 Runs
4 Runs with medicine ball

1 set of 21 reps, followed by 1 set of 15 reps, followed by 1 set of 9 reps of:

Ball slams
Pull ups 
Push ups

4 Runs
2 Runs with medicine ball
2 Runs
2 Runs with medicine ball

I was okay on the first runs. Not fantastic, but okay. I tried an all out sprint today on the quad. It was okay, but still off, so I didn't try more than two. Entertainingly enough, even without trying I managed to "win" the race. Clearly I picked the right group to boost my ego.

The downside of the workout was that we all started at the same time. With eight of us trying to use the limited supply of weighted non-bouncy medicine balls, as well as the three pull up bars, I ended up having to wait for the equipment. I finished the workout last, which was actually okay, as Kris was able to run next to me on the last runs. I really like when he runs next to me: he's quite inspirational.

"Ugh. My feet stink."

"Mine do, too!"

"Yeah, well, I have my shoes off."

"Touché."