Ahhh...

Great day, absolutely great. Since I cannot sleep in like a normal person I was up and around at 7:30 even after I stayed up until 11 last night finishing Twilight (Looks like I will be making a trip to good ole B&N to get book #2..plus I know have another movie I can watch while on the trainer). I really did try to keep sleeping but it just wasn't happening. Thus, the coffee was made (and drank), Starbucks Via of course, I had a nice breakfast of a banana/honey/peanut butter/and yogurt. This is a really tasty pre-workout meal which I highly recommend based on its tastiness (i think it has some good nutrient ratios as well..but hey, whatever works!) After letting the food settle while watching some more Arrested Development (Hulu has the entire Season 1 up on their website until the first of the year, then its season 2 on 1/1/10..so I have about 6 episodes to catch up on by then. They are short so I should have no problem wrapping them up..great show by the way, I advise all to give it a shot. Absolutely brilliant writing and acting). Keeping with the Jason Bateman theme (Arrested Development, Up in the Air) that I seem to be following lately I started up the movie Juno which I rented on iTunes using my Christmas gift card from my Aunt Deb (THANKS!). As I spun my way through an endurance workout on the trainer I really must say that I enjoyed Juno very much. I have heard a lot about this movie and was pleased it didn't disappoint. It wasn't like a awe-inspiring movie that I can't stop talking about but it was funny and had a nice "warm" feeling to it. Anyway, as planned my spin was only supposed to be 1 hr but since the movie was about one and a half I decided to just ride it out. I basically rode at a moderate level for the hour and then backed off a little for the rest. My Coach will probably "hate" me since in addition to this extra spin session I decided to throw in a little extra cycling. Instead of heading to the gym to doa little core strength training (I'll do that tomorrow instead) I decided to hit the great outdoors on my Mountain Bike. The bike has been taunting me as it has been sitting in my garage for the past couple of months. With the weather cold and the daylight short I have just not had the time to get in any "extra" little rides. Well since I am not one to waste a day off from work I suited up in my winter apparel and started making my way to my favorite bike shop in the world, Towpath Bike Shop! My journey took me through residential streets covered in ice and snow, main roads with fast cars, snow laiden sidewalks that almost took me down, and an old train track path behind the shops on Monroe Ave. I finally made it to downtown Pittsford and coasted on into the bike shop. After checking in with the guys and seeing that my wheel was being worked on (I'm getting a Powertap! Booo yah) I saddled up and headed back to the apartment for some warmth and food. On the way back I stayed on East Ave. (and avoided being hit) and made it back relatively quickly. All in all it was really nice to get out on the Mountain Bike and truly "just ride". Cycling has been the one discipline that I have truly fallen in love with, so anytime I can ride outside with no time or exertion level in mind...its just well...exhilarating and being on the mountain bike is pretty cool because its just so different from being on a Tri or Road bike (With that said, I really can't wait to start hitting the roads on my awesome Madone in the Spring, I really miss the Sunday morning rides that I started going on with a GREAT group of guys this summer, our schedules are very different, especially in the winter so we see very little of each other but over the Christmas weekend an email did get circulated between all of us and it was really nice to at least touch base with these guys, I feel really bad that we've lost touch over the last few months but I know that once the weather gets better that we will find each other again)... Not to say that training rides are not exhilarating for me, because they are..I love training, I mean anyone who is in Triathlon has to at least like training...and I am no exception..I LOVE IT, which is probably why the Ironman appeals to me since it requires so much training if you really want to be prepare correctly. So...that brought me back to my apartment where I grabbed some food (Big apple, left over Ham from Christmas Eve (still very good), and some almonds...if you cared to know. Now here I am sitting in my favorite spot at Starbucks (Right at the bar area, typing away in my own little world). I find it interesting that of all the places I could "hide" away in, I pick places like Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, Wegmans. I picked these places last year when I was studying like crazy. I could have chosen many other quiet places like my apartment, or the Fisher Library, or the Brighton Library, or the Office, or many other places that would have allowed me solitary silence. But that's not me, I thrive on being amid the crowds, "being anonymous in a crowd", I get a "high" off of being around people...I guess I really gain energy from other people. I don't require conversation or anything from these people, all I require is their presence, the liveliness....whatever it is I enjoy being in these populated places, I am able to concentrate more easily. I guess this is a testament to how when people are in "their element" or their comfort zone that everything is clearer..more easily accomplished.

I am also very excited because tonight I am finally going to "Next Door", Wegmans new restaurant that opened right across from their flagship store in Pittsford. A good friend from home who moved into my apartment complex is going to go with me, which is very very cool since the amount of people who I can comfortably go to dinner with is still few and far between up here in Rochester. I don't know how to explain that, I guess I am one of those people who has trouble reaching out to new people, I'm very shy in that respect...nervous of disappointment, I need to work on that. Enough of that...I'm super stoked to be going out to dinner and a movie. There is something to be said about bunking up and staying in but getting out amongst the crowds of people is truly a treat. I don't have a bar scene, or a club scene so I don't really associate with people of my age that much. I guess I just don't really know to many people who are into the same things as me right now. I mean I like to get my sleep..so I go to bed early and get up early to train. On New Years Eve I will be in bed before the ball drops since I am going to do a running race on New Years day. This does not depress me or bother me at all...its what I want to do! I want to run in a race more that I want to get drunk in the middle of the night, weird? I don't think so...That reminds me of something funny, as I was leaving swim practice last night some of the older guys joked with me about how New Years was coming up and one of them made a comment that inferred that I would be out partying because I was the "young-guy". I didn't say anything about this but inside my head I was just thinking about how funny that is to me. I mean honestly the last time I was out partying was during Senior Week of my Senior Year in College...and before that there really wasn't much "partying" going on. I guess once I hit a certain point in my life, sometime around the beginning of my Jr year in college I decided I was going to do what I wanted to do, be who I wanted to be instead of trying to fit in with certain crowds. I feel I have a natural gift of being able to fit in with many types of "clicks" for the lack of a better word. Thus, throughout my youth I really felt like I was always trying to fit in to be accepted, not really being who I truly was. So anyway to make a really long story short I changed...for the better. I know I have drifted from people, but that's life...the people that really matter will still be there no matter what. Life is very complex and difficult but I'm on my own path and no matter what, that's on the right track, wherever it is taking me.

Alright, getting back on track...I'll wrap up today's post by saying that today has been great. I wish I could do this everyday...someday...someday....You've got to at least try in order to succeed. What's the worst that could happen, failures? Ehh failures are just like growing pains. Hurts when they happen but you end up growing bigger and stronger from them.

Until tomorrow...

-Matt

Yesterday's Points (12/27/09)
Vege's - 1
Fruit's - 1
Water - 1
Not Overeating - 1
Wegmans - 0 (But I used a gift card that I got for Christmas so it wasn't like I was depleting my own bank account...which is nice)