a night where i had planned to do some senseless television watching turned out to be a 4 hour blackout in hot and humid weather. it all started when a severe thunderstorm hit the area and rendered the entire local region without electricity. i had nothing to do so i decided to go to bed early, but it was hard to do because it was so hot and humid. on top of that i was missing a good red sox game on cable and there was a hungry mosquito flying through the house. when the power finally came back up close to midnight (always a weird moment as the lights go back on and the clock radios go off), the peaceful night was shattered by my neighbor's blaring house alarm. i had to call the cops, and they sent over a dispatch. turns out it wasn't our neighbor but rather it was us. the previous owner of this house installed an alarm system that we haven't touch in almost two decade. i guess the blackout kicked it into active duty again!

i just sort of want this night to be over. i also want this suffocating weather to end! good news is that i found out the red sox won, 8-2 versus tampa bay. the yankees lost so now we're 3.5 games ahead of our mortal enemy.

left the office at 4:30pm, came back an hour later with ed and dan, another official 3 miles run in the bag. now i got dan saying he feels like ass too; he kept on repeating that mantra while we ran. how else would you describe that awful sensation?

you'd think running that late that the weather would be nicer, but the ground has a longer time to bake in the sun all day so it's not any better. not only was it hot, but it was also humid (humidity's the killer, i don't mind just hot). there's never a good time to run -- unless it's in the rain. that time amanda and i (high five!) did some sweet rain running, oh it felt pretty good. so now i just want it to pour when i run. of course when it rains like that, it's easy to find an excuse to not go out at all.

today i finally noticed some change in my body from all these weeks of running. i never knew it, but i think i had some shortness of breath. now though, i feel like i have more stamina, like any sudden burst of activity that had my heart pumping before hardly registers on the meter anymore. also, since i've been running, i've pretty much given up the stationary bike. although i did the bike thing everyday (at least on paper!), i think i get much more of a workout running 3 miles instead of biking for 5. how do i know this? because i don't feel like ass when i finish biking, but i'm ready to collapse on the ground and pant like a dog when i run.

now i am thinking about joining a gym. running's okay, but that's only cardiovascular. i need some strength training too. starting to get back in shape again! my doctor will be so proud!