Interesting Conversations

I know that the capital of Mexico is Mexico City. I know a good portion of the multiplication table. I also know that my shoulder pops/grinds quite loudly, and if I press it at a certain point and time it correctly, I can get a reaction out of pretty much anybody (I seem to remember Ellie's face especially. She looked as if I had just vomited on myself).

Another piece of knowledge I have acquired over the years is that what interests me does not always interest others. In fact, it rarely does. I have come to know this is their fault, not mine.

For instance, I know that Carinne doesn't really care about the fact that:

-I bought new spin shoes [with spd cleats- which I've never used before], and they feel great, not only in comfort but also because there isn't nearly as much play in my pedals as before, with my shimano/ultegra pedals.

-The Jack and Adams team gear feels great. Especially the bib shorts, which I am looking forward to donning on a some long rides. And if nothing else, when I unzip my J&A top, I feel like a tour de france rider with the mesh-overalls showing.

-At the Pure Austin Quarry Lake location, I am excited about swimming in their lake because I won't have to flip-turn and I hate flip-turns. Also, I'm excited because two laps around the lake is roughly 1,500 meters, and that's convenient to measure a workout against. Plus, it will be good to get a few swim workouts in my wetsuit.

-Driving home from work yesterday, I caught the light right before I get on to I-35. I never get that light. Never. But I did yesterday.


These of course, are life's little victories. We all have them. Most of mine, I've discovered, are some way related to my training. (Running a ten mile Town Lake loop in a minute faster than before... Destroying Joe in T1... Buying a new Gu flavor and loving it). And these things happen and there is a sense of fulfillment. Of triumph. But just as I kind of zone out when Carinne talks about what happened in her dreams, I see that same distant look in her eyes when I talk about my bib shorts and how comfortable they really are, even on a windtrainer.

She is a work in progress, for sure, but with the patience I have inherited from my father, I will keep at it, keep relaying bits of information like: "It was a great run today. I didn't chafe at all," -- I will keep saying these things until she either finds them interesting, or abandons me. Though as she has said repeatedly, I am "the light of her life." Abandoning me, therefore, would leave her wallowing in the shadows. However, women are notoriously irrational. You can't put anything past them.

Well, I've got a phone call to make. I think Carinne needs to know that the new protein Gu powder I bought tastes milky and sticks to my throat, and will therefore be excluded from my diet. I will explain to her some other products I am considering, perhaps tossing in a few reservations about each one. I won't ask her opinion of course, but will toss her an easy question like "can you guess what I'm wearing right now?" just to keep her interested and distract her from talking about her dreams.