This weekend was one of mild aggavation and too little rest; but it still beats the hell out of going to work. First my garage door opener began behaving bizarrely, moving the door in the right direction for about a second at a time before reversing itself and going back about halfway to where it started. At that point I could have called a repairman; but it is my habit not to spend that kind of money on a repair job unless I am sure that I cannot do it myself, and often the only way to know is to try. At least I should be able to triage the thing and determine whether I am going to need professional help. So I took the housing off the unit, and it doesn't look good. The drive shaft is slipping, so much so that it broke the plastic inner housing that holds the main gear in place. I'm not sure that I can fix the damn thing, but I can unplug it, and as long as I can work on it without fear of getting electrocuted or crushing my fingers in a moving part, I will at least try to fix it myself. It's called self-sufficiency, and many among us have forgotten it or have been conditioned not to risk it for fear of screwing things up worse than they're already screwed. I have found that on balance, I save more money with DIY than I cost myself in during the rare moment of destructive incompetence.
Unfortunately, so far my DIY ethic has not worked on the drain that connects my two bathroom sinks, and which at present is probably the worst-clogged drain that I have ever seen. I've got some chemical drain cleaner in there right now - a last resort, as I have already tried several rounds of snaking and the natural baking soda-vinegar mixture. Yes, snaking was unsuccessful. I've never seen a drain that a snake would not unclog, and thus I fear that it may have been taking a wrong turn in there somewhere.
I am also DIY with my training, which has gone quite well of late. Going into my last week of summer base, I have built my weekly mileage up to a peak of 40.3 last week, and have exceeded 30 miles five of the past six weeks. Yesterday I did a tempo run of 38 minutes at 8:17/mi., which is well on the way to my goal of an hour at half-marathon pace by Kiawah in early Dec. By the end of this week, my long runs will be up to 15 miles -- perfect for starting serious marathon training. In short, running is one of the few areas of my life in which I have no complaints at present -- which is probably why virtually all of my entries of late have been focused upon it.