So It Goes

I had such grand plans for a high mileage week...

Sigh.

Who Are These People Who Have Time To Just Hang Out?

I'm in survival mode -- focused on upcoming good events and doing what I have to do to get through my gigantic ever-increasing pile of work the rest of the time. Seriously, almost every day for the last 2 weeks, I've looked at E and said, "I can't wait to get to Hawaii."

The end of February/beginning of March is actually my least favorite time of the year, work-wise.  Every year, March 1st arrives and I think, "How is this possible?  Again?  I just finished my invoices for January!"

I tried to fit February's initial billing activities in last week, but I couldn't bring myself to do more than a couple of clients a day because when I'm burnt out, the very last thing I want to deal with is timesheets, deadbeat clients, etc.  Since it's been a very busy time, I had more invoices than usual to prepare.  18, in fact.  Note, there were only 19 business days in February.  And, of course, almost all of these clients had projects that required work on more than 1 days.  Add the fact that I currently have 3 open non-billable pro bono projects and objectively, even I can see that I'm stretched *way* too thin.  I probably did some work on every single day in February, in direct conflict with my doctor's orders.

So, for once, I actually did something about this.  I finally found a way to bump my junior associate up to 75% time.  I am so excited about this, I can't even tell you.  Yes, the reality is that junior folks are never as efficient as experienced folks, but she's been with my firm for a year and she's learned a ton in that time, so I do think it is realistic to start offloading more stuff to her.

Obviously, I had to bag several planned runs to get my work done.  Total mileage for the week was 26.92 and that included a couple of days where I just fit in a short walk (because the shower/get ready time required post-run wasn't available).  I had high hopes of getting in a decent long run on the weekend, but it was not meant to be.  It was hot in my hometown on Saturday, so since I was headed to SF anyways for a night out with my girls, I decided to drive early and do my mileage there in the cooler weather.

This plan had many flaws.  First, there was crazy traffic (like 20 minutes going an average of 0.5 mph to get past a horrid accident), so I lost more time on the way there than I expected.  Then, it was absolutely gorgeous in San Francisco.  Which was wonderful.  Except, I'd planned to run the Embarcadero, through Fort Mason, out to Chrissy Field, and possibly Fort Point and back.  And, when San Francisco is sunny, all the people come out to enjoy those very same places.

Seriously, look at the picture above -- hundreds of folks just hanging out in the sun at Fort Mason. (Who are these people?)

Immediately upon leaving the hotel, I could see that continuous running miles were not going to happen.  I would have to stop to walk when the crowds were too heavy, which would be often.  I could have turned around and hit the treadmill, but I just couldn't bring myself to miss the beautiful day outside.  So, the long run turned into less than 8 run/walking and I scrapped Sunday's run altogether in order to try to dig myself out of my work hole.

Oakland may end up being yet another "just get it done" half-marathon where I don't race at all and just try to finish it comfortably.  Maybe I'll try to commit to the SLO half marathon...