Season 2, Mission S16: Zombies, Bike!

1.54 miles – 31:24 minutes – 20:26 min/mile

Got a late start today, but it was a short mission, so I got it done fairly quickly. No zombie chases, and looks like I was pretty slow. Ah well, it was a nice afternoon, and I didn't feel like pushing it.

And that's it for Season 2! Except for the Halloween missions, which I'd decided to save for October.

I got a new pair of running pants on eBay. They're Adidas men's pants. I wanted something full-length, not skin-tight, and lightweight for summer running. All they sell for women these days are tights and leggings, and I'm tired of those. The pants are pretty nice. Of course they're way too long (women's pants would be, too —I have short legs), so I'll have to shorten them, but meanwhile I can just tuck the legs up. I wore them today and they were very comfy. I wouldn't mind if they were a bit looser, but there's nobody around here to see me, anyway.

Today's music was Steve Earle again. I forgot to put a new playlist in when I downloaded the mission, and I didn't feel like taking the time to change it today. Heh.

For today's mission, the runners rode bicycles, thinking it would be easier to outrun the zombies. They didn't take into account things like tire blowouts!

Season 2, Mission S15: Quartermaster

2.27 miles – 44:57 minutes – 19:46 min/mile

Today was one of those days. I started off thinking, it's supposed to rain today, maybe I'll just do yoga inside. Then the sun came out, briefly, and I was actually thinking I'd like a walk, so I geared up and went out. Of course, by the time I started walking, it had clouded up again. It went on like that the whole mission — cloudy, breezy, sunny, cloudy, a sprinkle of rain, cloudy, sunny again. At least it wasn't too cold.

I didn't walk last Friday, but instead I spent around six hours working on the cat enclosure I'm building. I decided that was exercise enough. More than enough, really, I overdid it and am still feeling a bit draggy. I should set a hard limit of four hours a day of building work. I wore myself down to a nub. Still. I'm impressed that I even managed to do that much. Must be getting stronger, even though I don't feel like it.

Anyway, there was one zombie chase today, at 31 minutes, which I evaded just after they got within 50 meters. I do fine with the chases as long as I'm walking the rest of the way. I don't have to run so hard. I would like to start incorporating more running into my walks, but I will have to turn off the chases if I do. Maybe once a week?

Today's music was "Copperhead Road," by Steve Earle.

Today's mission was to visit a mad scientist who'd promised Abel some new weapons—in exchange for Runner 5's assistance with some of his zombie experiments.

Season 2, Mission S14: Circuit Training

2.34 miles – 46:13 minutes – 19:44 min/mile

Oof. Well, I blew it off yesterday. It was really windy and cold and I spent the first part of my morning getting in some firewood and fixing the panels around the swamp cooler (which I'd installed last week when the weather was hotter, and which is now letting all sorts of drafts in with the current cooler, windy weather) and making a makeshift cover for the swamp cooler fan out of a towel and some plastic sheeting. After that, and seeing how cold I was, I decided to stay in and do yoga instead. But I ended up not doing that either.

So I did my Wednesday walk today, on Thursday. Was half-way to just putting on walking shoes and taking it easy, but decided since I was doing it, I might as well do it properly, so I got my exercise clothes on and fired up Zombies, Run! and did my walk. I went around the house once, then walked down the road about half a mile and back, then around the house some more.

Had one zombie chase after I'd gotten back to the house at 38 minutes, which I evaded after the zombies got within 50 meters. I was already tired, especially after the uphill walk back to the house, so I didn't try very hard, but still managed to evade. I guess I'm getting a little bit stronger after all.

Today's music was "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" by the Alan Parsons Project.

Today's mission was for Runners 3 and 5 to go to a fitness center and find a working treadmill that could be brought back to Abel. Meanwhile, Sam was nearly delirious with fever and not up his usual standards of mission controller.

Season 2, Mission S13: Actual Cannibal Rescue Mission

2.14 miles – 40:07 minutes – 18:44 min/mile

Had my yoga week last week. Managed to get three sessions in, even though I totally spaced out on it Friday and ended up doing my third one on Saturday instead. It was hot last week, so it was good to be able to exercise indoors at any time of the day. I may end up doing yoga more often during the summer.

The weather's cooler this week, so today's walk was not bad. I ended up getting up early today, so I was out on the driveway by 8:15 am, and it was breezy and cool. Had one zombie chase at 21 minutes, which I evaded just after they got within 50 meters. Time wasn't bad for walking the rest of the mission.

Music-wise, I got myself an unprotected version of Licensed to Ill by importing back the CD I'd burned of the protected album. CDs don't have DRM, so the songs were unprotected when copied back off the CD. I did at one point burn all my digital albums to CD, so I should be able to do the same thing with any others I want to play while on missions. I went through my library to see which albums were protected and there were only ten (nine now that I've done Licensed to Ill), so I'll do those as they come up.

Today's mission was the second part of the last mission, to rescue the sister of one of the Girl Guides who'd been captured by suspected cannibals. Only three more side missions in Season Two, so by next week I should finally be able to start Season 3! There are a couple of Halloween missions also in Season 2, but I think I'll save those for October.

Yoga week

I'm taking the week off from walking/running and doing yoga instead. I've been finding myself increasingly resistant to going out to do my walk. I very nearly blew it off altogether last Friday, telling myself I'd do it Saturday instead (which I knew I wouldn't do), but in the afternoon I remembered I needed to go down to the shed to run the generator to pump water, and I figured I could at least walk around the house for twenty minutes while the water was pumping. So I did that. A short walk, but at least I did something.

Then this morning, I was still not feeling like walking, so I decided to do 30 minutes of yoga with the Yoga Studio app instead. That was very nice and pleasant. I hope that a week of yoga will refresh me and let me get back into walking next week. I keep thinking I should really be doing both, walking and yoga on alternate days, but so far I'm lucky to just do one or the other.

Season 2, Mission S12: Search And Rescue

2.01 miles – 37:04 minutes – 18:27 min/mile

Whew. I managed to get out the door a little after 9 am, but it was already pretty hot. Still had a pretty good run/walk. I decided to try running every third lap... until I got a zombie chase at 23 minutes, just after I got down the hill on a running lap. Still, it was only finishing the lap I was already going to run and a little more (but at a faster pace), and I evaded after they got within 50 meters. After that, I decided to try running half a lap, then finishing at a walk, and doing another full lap walking. So it was a .5 lap running to 1.5 lap walking interval, instead of 1 : 2. That worked a little better, I think, especially in the heat. It's supposed to cool down a little after today, but soon enough summer will come along and I'll have to start getting up early to do my runs before the sun comes up. At least I feel fine now, didn't get totally dragged down by being out in the sun. Yay for my meds!

It's warm enough now that I've started wearing my short-sleeved shirts and leggings to run in. Which means, no pockets. I was just slipping my phone into my jacket pocket or the pocket on my long running pants, and I seem to have forgotten everything I've ever known about exercise gear, because Monday and today I just tucked my phone into my waistband, but today, since I was running, my phone started to slip down into my leggings, and I started thinking, I need something to attach my phone to... maybe get one of those armband phone holders... but no, I can't wear those because of my arm... hm, maybe I should have a belt with a loop I can tuck my phone into... And then suddenly my brain switched on and I remembered, oh yeah, waist packs with phone pockets. I have at least three of them here in the house. D'oh! Will have to dig out my lightest one for next time.

Today's mission was for Runner 5 to accompany the Girl Guides on a mission to try to find one of their members' sister. Turns out to be a two-parter. I was just thinking this morning, I'm getting a bit tired of these side missions, it will be nice to get back to more involved stories. And then we had this one, which is more like the regular season missions! Just what I was wanting.

Season 2, Mission S11: Zombies, Stretch!

1.62 miles – 32:03 minutes – 19:46 min/mile

A shortish mission today. No zombie chases, which was good, because I wasn't really feeling it today. Didn't go out until around 11:30 and it was already pretty warm, high 60s, and no clouds. Thankfully, with my meds, I can still go out in mild heat and not get too dragged down. But before long, it will be 80s and 90s rather than 60s, and I'll have to start my exercise earlier.

Today's mission started when the team got back to base, and was just various runners in the rec room doing stretches, Sam and Janine playing an arcade game, and people knitting and so forth. Kind of fun for a change of pace. I figured, I'd better not get any zombie chases while I'm inside the base! Although, as I recall, I did get a chase while I was inside someone's house once. Those zombies are everywhere!

I got to play Beastie Boys while I walked today! Turned out, only the Licensed to Ill album was protected. I usually listen to Ill Communication anyway, so I just put that on the playlist. Will see about getting an unprotected copy of Licensed to Ill but meanwhile I've got Beasties!