Exhausting

And not in a good way. But I believe that my crazy workload over the past couple weeks has finally broken. Two major deadlines passed yesterday, and while I have plenty of things to take care of (most of which was back-burnered over the past week) I have nothing that has to be finished, say, Saturday. However, the weight's been steadily building to the point that today's 4 mile "recovery" run felt more like mountaineering. Anyway, what's done is done, and hopefully a normal week to refresh the mental stores and recover from my current sleep debt will leave me ready to go at MCM in 9 days.

Although just heading home to sleep would have been fantastic last night, it felt almost equally wonderful to sink into the plush seating of the New York State Theatre to watch City Opera's production of L'elisir d'amore with my friend Alison. This story's all about the magic potion, which in addition to being a major plot device must have helped inspire Jonathan Miller in this Donizetti update -- inspire being the operative word. Nemorino the grease-monkey loves Adina from afar as she is courted by soldiers, bikers, greasers and other men. However, when the quack-doctor Dulcamara arrives in his town in his swank convertible, he impresses enough that he's able to sell the gullible Nemorino a "love potion" that will guarantee Adina's love, setting in motion a series of events and coincidences that actually lead to their becoming a happy couple. The update works very, very well and morphs Donizetti's rustic Italia into a scene of Americana that makes the story resonate in a highly relevant way with contemporary viewers. (And John Tessier's rendition of the aria "Una furtiva lagrima" was absolutely stunning.)

Wednesday: 7.75 miles in 5X:XX (didn't log this because had to be in the office early, so not really sure; close to an hour), with 3X1600 in 6:06, 5:55, 6:04 with 800 recoveries.
Friday: 4.15 miles in 30:44 (7:24 pace).