We Got Bike

Susie says goodbye. She might look happy but she's crying on the inside.

Yours truly has no mixed emotions whatsoever.

BIKE is now safely ensconced at my office, which is craftily located right next to a bike shop.

I'm jazzed.

In other running news:

Eight miles this morning, and two of them were straight uphill on the Custis Trail. I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to take the watch, but decided at the last minute to wear it in case I needed to run by time instead of distance, since we were coach-less.

I headed out with my friend K., who is faster than me and has a Garmin. She kept me at 10:40 min miles for the first 3 miles. Then she took off. I am proud to say I DID NOT walk for those four miles, not even on the endless, freakin' totally endless uphill. I did slow down, but don't know my pace because we switched trails and the mile markers had all changed. So I ran a total of 48 minutes, which I'm sure was at least four miles.

On the way back, I ran with another strong runner, E. I took two walk/water breaks, but they were on purpose, not at all the kind of thing I've been experiencing, the just-give-up-and-start-walking-for-no-reason thing. Has the SPELL BEEN BROKEN?

My last mile took 11:40, which is fine by me.

But, curiously, I accidentally erased all my splits and my final time once I got back to the car. I guess I secretly didn't really want to know, because, as a famous German father of psychiatry once said: There are no accidents in life.


I did it. A good long hard run, with no iPod either.

My Secret Life

"D.C. Hears Our Cries, Plans for Bicycle Rental Program"
—(from DCist)

Did you know I dream about being a biker? It's true, I do.

Just last night I was very busy bitching to someone about how I don't have the dough for a bike (right now) and then voila (or is it viola?), ta da, maybe someone waived a magic helmet or something, because today I read this (cynically, but with a smidge of hope):

DDOT has announced that it will be launching an automated bicycle rental system in DC in partnership with Clear Channel. Similar to car sharing, the system would allow members to swipe a card and release a bike from a kiosk (DDOT says to think of it as kind of like an airport luggage carts -- but better).

Yeah, we know, Clear Channel is the devil, blah blah but come on, rental bikes! That work like Zipcars! Sounds pretty neat. This sort of arrangement would also do little to offer bikes to tourists, since you'd have to have an account set up to be able to rent one, but if the pricing structure makes sense and they're put in good locations around town, there's more than a few of us who would consider using them.

Tourists? Who cares about tourists?!?!

Yes, I was very busy telling this person that, back in the day, I was quite the biker. In fact, I said, I biked all over Boston for all the years I lived there. Year-round. On itsy-bitsy teensy thin tires on my 10-speed Peugeot that i bought used. (Don't even start talking to me about granny gears—I was thrilled I had any gears.) I biked thru Nor'easters and wind that would freeze your eyeballs and blizzards (for real: how else to see the boyfriend? That a-hole!).

Wait, where was I?

Then I moved to Richmond, Va, where Number One (yes and only, David) Daughter was born. When she turned eight, I bought two bikes (on credit) for $700 and it was the most money I'd ever spent in my life. And then I dragged HER all over creation on family outings.

I even wrote about "Biking with Kids" for the local newspaper.

I was a biker babe!

And then they invented triathlon and I moved to D.C. and I think now I could maybe get a bike for $350 at Wal-Mart. Maybe kid size.

I should look into that.

ADDED: If you live in or around D.C., don't forget to take the survey!