Free again

I worked through the Labor Day holiday weekend, and have been free for the past three weeks. I quit a bit sooner than I had intended, because soon after I started work I received a summons for jury duty. The store managers said they couldn't schedule around a possible absence on short notice every day for a week (though retail employers typically reserve the right to change schedules on short notice . . . but that's a rant on another subject). Anyhow, they gave me a week of leave, and then it didn't really make sense for me to come back to work for such a short time, so I'm done.

It would have been good to get a few more weeks of pay, but the job was wearing me out. After my first week I started having muscle spasms in my legs at night, which made me wake up gasping and yelling in pain a couple of times. I got in the habit of popping two ibuprofen every night at bedtime, and went to sleep with a cold-pack on my back. After two nights working ten hour shifts, until midnight, I took four ibuprofen. I know everyone who works restaurant/retail jobs has back trouble and sore feet, but it was more than I could stand.

So I have been rehabilitating myself with yoga two or three times a week, and an "Active Seniors" strength training class. I was assuming "seniors" meant over fifty-five, but I am usually the youngest in the group, though not the most athletic, agile or strongest. We work out with small hand-held weights and resistance bands, plus a little cardio and stretching, which has been good for my knees, back, neck and shoulders. I was beginning to feel a bit over-stretched doing yoga, I needed to build a little more muscle.

And I'm getting out on my bike again, weather permitting. It is turning rainy again already, in between spells of perfect September weather. Yesterday I rode out to Birch Bay again, and wandered around some side roads out in farm country, a lovely cool, sunny, still day. Today it's windy and pouring rain.

The longest rides I've done this summer are only a little over forty miles - I put a cut-out saddle on the new Cannondale because I was getting kind of sore any time I rode more than about thirty miles. Now I'm good for longer distances more often. I haven't quite ridden 2000 miles so far this year - I used to ride 5000-6000 miles a year when I was commuting five days a week. But it's probably good to rest a bit while I figure out my course for the future. My places-to-go list keeps getting longer, not shorter.