I’m pretty good about self-maintenance. I workout regularly, eat fairly healthy, do the self-grooming things that girls do; i.e., pedicures (well I used to when I had toenails), regular hair appointments, etc. In fact, today I got a 90-minute post-race massage (my Massage Envy membership is one of my best investments ever!).
One thing I am not so good at is car maintenance. I was due for an oil change 3 months and 3,000 miles ago. I hadn’t had my tires rotated in…I don’t know how long. I drive to work in the slow lane convinced that one of my tires will blow at any minute.
I just hate having to wait at the auto shop to get this stuff done. The best time to go is in the early mornings on weekends while I’m usually out for a run, or doing some kind of workout. If you go later in the day, chances are you’re waiting for a couple of hours. So I’ve avoided it; for months. Until today.
I made a 10 am appointment for a tire rotation and alignment with plans to go to Jiffy Lube afterward for that long overdue oil change. This meant, I had to get to the gym extra early. I usually get there at 8:15ish and swim for an hour (about 2200 meters in the pool), sit in the whirlpool for 20 minutes, then take my time getting ready.
But today I had 2800 meters scheduled (that would be 2 times through the alphabet + A-D a third time). So I got there at 7:45 am (that earlier half hour took a lot of effort), swam it in 1 hour 15 minutes, got my whirlpool time in and was out the door by 9:45 am – perfect timing.
I got to the auto shop, fully prepared to drop an obscene amount of money on new tires. But the mechanic looked at my tires and said they were fine and had about another 2,000 miles on them and not to do a rotation. Sweet – money and a couple hours of my time saved!
So I ventured over to Jiffy Lube, ready to do whatever maintenance they tell me my car needed. Come to find out everything is in great shape and all I needed was a standard oil change! Best news ever!
I don’t plan to buy another car anytime soon (fingers crossed) so I really need to do better about maintaining it.
The moral of the story? There really isn’t one, except now I can buy my plane ticket for the Vancouver race. I had had sicker shock when I saw how expensive it is to fly there!
