1. I haven’t blogged much because I don’t have much to say, but the last time I started a post, it said: I’ve been feeling really good about training now.
I look forward to every run. “Only” running five miles instead of eight on Wednesday morning was more disappointing then relieving.
Disappointing like, “Oh, I hope I put in the hard training I needed to because the time to put in the hard training is over*”
But NOT disappointing like, “Oh, I get to sleep in an extra 30 minutes this morning!”
2. I joined, at the last minute, a team for Reach the Beach NH, which is a 200-mile relay over 24 hours next weekend. It’s a group of cool cats from the Midcoast Triathlon Club. Someone dropped out due to an injury and I’m taking that spot.
The distance altogether is 14 and a half miles ran over the course of 24 hours. Our team has 12 runners who alternate running legs of the race three times. So it’s like running a 5K and two 10Ks over 24 hours while eating and sleeping out of a van. 
I think. I don’t know. I’m excited. I’ll blog about it.
3. Speaking of which, it’s … racing season! I am spending 66 percent of the next 6 weekends weekends pinning on a bib and eating liquid nutrition:
- 9/9 — Lake Auburn Half Marathon
- 9/15 — Reach the Beach Relay
- 9/22 — rest
- 9/30 — Maine Marathon
- 10/7 — super rest
- 10/14 — MDI Marathon
Maybe a better excuse for not blogging will be, “I’m racing too much.”
4. I noticed driving my car last week that the brakes were seriously wonky. That vibrating feeling when you hit them too hard. I had to stop driving it until I could get it fixed.
So I’ve been thinking: Can we be a one-car household?
Tony with the car about 20K miles ago, on the trip to start my internship in Florida in 2008.
I live close enough to work that I don’t need a car to commute. It’s about an 18-minute walk, or a 7-minute bike ride. We live next to TWO grocery stores. And in walking distance of at least a dozen restaurants. And the gym. My house is 82% on the walkability scale, and honestly, I feel closer to things today then I did when I lived in a dormitory at college.
But having a car, you use it even if you don’t need it. The times I still drive to work because I wanted a few extra minutes. Or drive to the grocery store because I don’t want to carry things home. Or go places just because you can.
It’s not really about the money, because in the grand scheme of things, fixing the brakes won’t cost THAT much, and we wouldn’t get anything to sell the car, and cutting my car off our insurance will only save us about $200 per year (and I have comprehensive insurance!).
It’s more about the principle of the thing: I don’t think that humans can continue to live in a world where everybody drives a car. It’s bad for the environment and it’s bad for our communities.
And the sacrifice I would make to go without a car is so small compared to other people. I see sometimes a college professor who lives on outer College Road who commutes on her bike, and I hear she doesn’t have a car. That’s a 6+ mile commute, and she does it even in the rain and snow. I only have to go 1 mile.
I’ve mentioned my experiment to a few people this week and the common reaction I’ve heard is, “Gosh, do you want a ride?”
The sentiment is really sweet, but no, that’s not the point. The point is that I want to rely on cars less … and I’m not going to do it until it’s not an option.
The car is getting fixed on Monday for $400. 
But just some food for thought. Could you live in Maine without a car?