It is the regular routine for a Tuesday. I got up and made breakfast. I usually have a relaxed morning. I have started doing a number of The NY Times games as a brain teaser. One reads that if you want to age gracefully and well, you need to engage your mind. I do five the games every morning as a way to stimulate my brain first thing in the morning. After the games, I get up and make my breakfast. I am a creature of habit for breakfast – every morning it is fruit, cereal, juice and tea. The variation is the type of fruit that I have. I used to be even more of a creature of habit as in the winter every day I would have grapefruit – that came to a stop when the doctor insisted I go on a statin. I miss my grapefruit but have found other fruits that work. Here in France, I eat seasonal fruit that is more limited than all the imported fruits and berries in the supermarkets in the United States. That is not a complaint, just an observation as I really do like eating seasonal and local.
After breakfast, I write the blog post for the previous day. I write it in the morning as my mind is fresher and I have time to reflect on the previous day before I write the post. I, also, update my spending spreadsheet. When I decided to try the half France/half United States, I thought I should figure out how much it actually costs me to live in France so I started a spreadsheet that tracked my spending and did it by category. I could not find a program that was ideal for what I was doing as I was not really budgeting but just tracking. Also, other than my SSI I do not have regular income. I have an investment account but I just take random amounts when I need to so I do not really have a monthly income for budgeting.
As is my nature, I have become very OCD about tracking my spending and now it encompasses both French and United States spending. This is the first full year that I have been as complete in tracking everything. It will be interesting to see the end of year totals.
Once that is all done, I get ready to go out for my first stroll and activity in the city. Tuesday is running day so I usually eat lunch at a restaurant and then have a light dinner after the run.
Today, I decided to go to the “old folks” restaurant as I jokingly call Restaurant Gascon. Its patrons seem to be made up of older men, older couples and random families. I, also, think it must be recommended on some Asian tourist sites as I have seen a number of large Asian tour groups eating there.
Restaurant Gascon is inexpensive but has raised prices since I was here last spring. It is still a good deal – the formule costs 15.50 euros. That is a three course meal. It is hearty traditional French cooking. It is not gourmet or upscale. It is definitely filling a good. Also, interestingly, it is one of the few places that give you salad and true vegetable portions. I had beef bourguignon for the main and flan for dessert. The starter was duck confit cut up on a salad.
I rested in the afternoon before the run. After my 13 mil3/21 kilometer run on Monday, I wanted to give my legs a rest before the run. I was not sure how tired my legs would be. It ended up being ok. I ran with the slower running group and made it through the run without too much difficulty. I did not do the free fast parts of the run. I walked home from the run rather than jogging as I wanted to rest the legs and give them some recovery. I was a little stiff after sitting and having dinner but not as bad as I thought it might be.
The next couple of days I am going to try to keep off my legs as much as possible so I can recover for the half marathon on Sunday. I know now with the 13 mile run and the run on Tuesday that I will finish.
The time changed in Europe over the weekend so it was the first complete run in the dark. I love running in Toulouse at night as the city is quite beautiful all lit up. I always forget how dramatic the hour time difference is – you go from sunset at around 7:30 here to being completely dark at 6:30 pm. It is definitely a jolt to the system.
