Days Like This

I was feeling bummed out for most of the day today. The day was too nice to be in the dumps, but it was one of those days. Thankfully it ended on a good note.

Today was my tutoring session with the ODLH School kids. They take their AP test in a couple of weeks. Today we practiced brainstorming. I've been tutoring for about six weeks now, but today was the first time where I felt a little more in control. Unfortunately there's only one more session left.

Afterwards, I braved traffic, which wasn't so bad today, and made my way back to Arcadia for track practice. TNT's summer team started speed workouts last week, so today I decided to join them. It marked my first speed workout since before the marathon--almost two months. I got there at 6:30, the usual start time from my previous teams, but it turned out this team meets at 7. I was a little early, but that was fine. I wanted to get home early anyway and catch "American Idol."

For tonight, since it's my first speed workout in a long time, I decided to take it easy. I would do three mile-repeats at an 8-minute pace. I did the first lap of the first mile way too fast. I wound up running that mile in 7:38, which felt good, but I was off in my pacing. The second mile came in at around 7:40 again. I felt great, so it wasn't an issue. The third mile was just about at 8 minutes. Since I felt so good, I threw in another mile, which also came in at under 8 minutes. Throw in the two miles of warm up and cool down and I wound up doing six miles for the evening.

I might be helping out on Saturday with the team. They're doing 18 miles and the head coaches have to leave early. I was planning on taking a yoga class that morning, but nothing beats coming to a TNT practice when you desire a pleasant, relaxing morning.

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I didn't get home early enough tonight to see the first two Idol performances. I also missed Phil when I had to take care of something in the bedroom. As such, it's pointless to rank the performances tonight. Of the three I saw, though, LaKisha was the worst. Blake sounded so insincere, but he at least sang his song fine. LaKisha, though, tackled a song by yet another AI champion and wound up drawing negative comparisons. By performing "I Believe," the only conclusion anyone could reach was that LaKisha was no Fantasia. She again had problems with the quiet moments, the parts that required her to--you know--sing. She can yell fine but when she's not screaming LaKisha is just an OK singer.

Jordin's "You'll Never Walk Alone" was fine, but I wouldn't say it was one of the best in the show's history. In fact, I think I prefer Jerry Lewis's annual version over Jordin's.