The rain is out of control and the "wizards" are saying there are chances for rain thru Friday. This did not deter me from engaging in another spirited early AM run, albeit a really wet one. Not sure if it is something from childhood, splashing thru puddles or if it is some sort of inner rebellion against our insanely sanitary world, but something really makes these runs special. Rain, you cannot beat me, you can only hope to contain me. Missed the Geez again this morning. Better clear off this afternoon, I want to ride in some "ideal" weather and not defer to spin class. I hate the stationary bike. You know, I don't think I've seen so many nightcrawlers on the sidewalks before, difficult to keep an eye out for them and try to run proud at the same time. Finally got to meet "The Geez" while riding on 175th this evening. He was kind enough to slow down for quite a while so we could get accquainted. Did some hills and shrunk my ego. I thought I was doing really well getting up hills without coming out of the saddle even though I was going fairly slow. Geez made it look easy going much faster. So now I know I have much to improve on, guess that will keep me on the road. Total time today was 2:20, by butt hurts a little, probably at least 1/2hr of it was casual, social riding with the Geez. Oh, he even took a pic of me riding, posted it on his blog...checked off another one of my goals!!

I made it out the Big O, albiet a little later than planned. My wife's uncle had a suprise birthday party that lasted a wee bit too long, so I didn't make it to the start until just before the 1/2IM folks got started in the water. There was a gentleman at the party whose son was racing. Name was Schlagle, had about 6 cheerleaders on the sand with John Deere looking shirt with "Nothing Runs Like a Schlagle" on the back and logo of a runner on the front, simliar to the John Deere logo. I hung out with a couple of guys from Omaha (as I just moved from there in Sept) who were in the sprint, which they never did start. Also saw Jon from Master's swim and met his family. Never saw the geez and I couldn't definatively recognize Amelia. Also forgot my note with race numbers on it for those who posted them on BT, so that didn't help either. Too bad about the race. I do think I learned quite a bit from it though, watching the transition area.

Just enjoyed the heck out of my run this morning, despite not running into Byron (tear). Started out huffing and puffing and HR skyrocketing....don't know what that was about, maybe just went out too fast; didn't take long to get it under control. It was so peaceful and cool (and sticky). I wasn't expecting to see so many people, quite a few on the trails of 127th between Quivera and Switzer. Did about 2mi at 7min pace. I will definately be running in the AM on Monday and Friday, as Wednesday will probably be with Jerry's (from swim class) group on Indian Creek trail by Blackbob. If it works out I might even do my lifting in the AM on Tuesday. I'm reluctant to swim in the morning because I really enjoy the folks in my swim class on Tue/Thr PM.

Nice, easy day just swimming. I'm really enjoying being in the water. Bob gave me quite a complement today, say if I keep it up, I could be a really good swimmer with my physique. Usually you can take whatever Bob says as Gospel, but in this case I think was either trying to inflate my ego...which he succeeded doing, or make sure I keep coming back...which he also will most likely succeed in doing. DW's mother and sister are coming to town this weekend so we need to get the place cleaned up. I balked at getting started in favor of frying some rice and veggies for lunch tomorrow and whipping up some mango salsa...yummy!!

Today was an adventure that I assume will be one of many firsts. Trying to shake the "whimp" dust from my timid mind/body and taking a cue from Byron, I decided it would not hurt to take the bike out for a ride on wet slick trails and street offered in S. OP. Come to find out, Byron did spinning inside today...so know I'm confused, maybe he just meant I can run in the rain, but not bike - especially with less than 10 quality rides under my belt. Knowing full well I needed to slow down - alot - on the turns was no big deal and well executed, only a few miscues that resulted in getting off path, but no falls....mission accomplished....until.... Making a loop around the lake at Heritage I was going a tad too fast around a modest turn and started whipping out, I was thinking to myself how bad it was going to hurt when I hit the pavement, that my knee would be without skin for a number of weeks, and why aren't my shoes popping out of my pedals. This my be an exaggeration, but just before my knee was going to kiss the concrete, my left foot (the side I was falling to) popped out of the cleat, my hand went down to the grass for support, I planted my left foot into the soft grass and the bike snapped back to almost upright. Does this count as a fall? I can't credit this to experience, but in someway I think my spin instructor is responsible for not wrecking by ingraining - "engaging the core". I escaped with a minor bruise on my left calf and some minor teeth impression on my right leg. The delightful thing was I was moving enough water/mud to cover my water bottle throughout the ride so every time I took a drink it was muddy water dripping down the sides of the bottle - yum. The run was great. Rainy, humid, cool, w/ DW. These bricks are tough for the first mile. DW doesn't keep up well for the first half of the LSD, but by half way she catches up and has no problem. Need to get some defogger for my (multisport) glasses. Did the loop I'm hoping to do in the AM with Byron and Linda in almost exactly 1hr from apartment door to apartment door. DW said she is going to start running in the AM too, so the snake is already up to 4.

We had a great crowd at Master's Swim tonite, I think 9 of us. Among the usual suspects were two noobies, Joe and Jon (Denny from the AM class joined us too). Ricky and Jerry were not there. And perhaps the most suprising thing, Eric swam with us. Something 'clicked' today with the swim, I was really working my pulls and about half way thru the workout, I could feel my lats working. Finally!! The medicine/Swiss ball workout is starting to get easier and I will either have to add another set or increase resistance.