OK...

Now I have been a slacker. However, it was a planned slackerhood. Well, most of it. Last week was a "transition" week in my weight training cycle where the goal is to take it easy and recuperate from the last couple of high intensity weeks. I took it a little easier than I intended to, but I somehow tweaked my neck at the beginning of the week and didn't feel like making it worse. I ran a tough four miles on Friday for about the only exercise I got the entire week. It was really only tough because we've had a lot of melting around here lately, but it still gets really cold at night and re-freezes all the roadways. I was slipping and sliding all over the place because I didn't want to wear my YakTrax on all the clear pavement. That and the fact that no one clears the sidewalks and in fact the city plows the snow/slush/sand right up on them. I ended up running down the driving part of a very busy street. This is not something I would ever recommend doing, especially since these days everyone seems to need to be talking on their cell phones while driving. I didn't make an exact count, but I must have seen at least 30 people yakking away during the less-than-a-mile I ran along Sunnyside. Scary!

I spent all day yesterday snowboarding at Pomerelle Mountain Resort with a couple friends from work. Pomerelle is a nice little family-style ski hill that gets lots of snow and has some pretty good terrain. Nothing too challenging, but since I hadn't been boarding in a couple years, it was perfect for a tune-up. I wish I'd brought my camera because it was an absolutely gorgeous day and I'd have some great pictures to post. At about lunch time we were actually almost too hot and had to start peeling off layers. In the past, I've had a hard time skiing all day because of fatigue and I've been really sore and tired for the next couple days, but not this year, because I've made and effort to regularly exercise throughout the winter. I blew away the guys I was skiing with (admittedly, they are both 20 years older than I am) and wasn't the least bit tired at the end of the day. My calves are a little sore today, but not enough to keep me from running another slippery three-miler after work tonight. It's great to see even little improvements.