Motivated to Succeed

9:45 AM - Woke up and saw it was sunny and blue skies. Temps in the 70s. A little breezy but as I wanted to just get a good easy ride in today I figured it was near ideal conditions. Suited up and out the door. Felt good and no killer dogs today which was good. No other cyclists out on the roads this morning which is weird since it is Sunday and hence most people's long days, but did see two runners and a rather rotund grandma in a bikini with an eletric weedwacker trimming the grass by her mailbox. (I nearly fell off my bike trying to close my eyes to get the picture out of my head!). Ended up doing an easy 35 miles. Felt good. Now time to order textbooks :( . Not cool. Looking like it will cost me $400 even WITH scoring some good deals from half.com. Grr. Stupid private Catholic Colleges. *shakes fist. (Well it only cost me $320 through half.com -- amazing that you can order books from CA, WI, even Hawaii and get them shipped to you and it costs 80 bucks less than the campus bookstore that is 40 miles away ahaha!)

WEIGHT THIS MORNING: 166! Lowest all year!

Total Time: 1:59:40 Total Distance: 35 mi Average Speed: 17.55 mph

7:40 PM - Muggy and temps in the high 70s around dusk when I got home from work. Changed and went to the track. An awful lot of people there so I took it easy and started with a walking warm up and then when the track cleared eased into a jog. My legs felt pretty sore and tired today from all the biking and jogging this week. Doesn't help that I'm still on my feet about 8 hours a day at work too. Took it slow and played it by ear. Man is it ever a sweet, sweet thing to be able to call myself at least a jogger again! Ended up doing 2 miles in 9:52 and 10:10, then cooled down and stretched. 3 miles total for today. Felt really good though. This would be the third day within this week that I've been able to jog! My cousin and her babies are up this week and she said she'd like to jog with me at the track tomorrow, so hopefully I can keep my promise! Keep on truckin' FRBloggers!

10:00 AM - Harry had an eye appt today and I actually made one too as it has been about three years since I got glasses last and my vision is blurry. Ended up going to the track with the family before hand. I biked there and then eased into a run. 3 miles jogging with negative splits! 9:10, 8:40, 8:17, then cooled down with .57 miles of walking (34:30 total). Felt really good. Strong. Then biked home. Ride there was 14:55 and home was 17:55 (took it easy). The way there I really pushed hard, hitting 3 miles in 9:12. Felt like I was flying. New glasses should come sometime in the next week :). Temp right around 60 and sunny. Gorgeous out there :)  WEIGHT: 166

9:45 AM - Warmer than yesterday. Temps in the mid 70s. Slight breeze. Biked to the track and then stretched and eased into a jog. Ended up doing 3 miles without stopping again. Felt really great doing it! This truly is an awesome feeling. Felt good to get out there and enjoy the day. Biked home afterwards. Splits for the miles on the track were a tad fast, but I felt great and no pain. Tomorrow will probably just be a short bike ride after work. Splits for the miles: 8:28, 8:45, 8:30 .

5:00 PM - My mom and cousin wanted to go to the track again like we did yesterday, so I of course couldn't turn down an offer to tag along. I road my bike back to the track and stretched out and waited for them. They must have been slow getting the babies in the car because I beat them there for the second time! My legs were a little tired from all the hills on the bike today, but I eased into a jog next to my mom who is just starting to run again. She's had a muscle disease since I was in fourth grade, and she's taken to swimming, especially in the winter, but lately she's been trying to jog more at the track. As it is she usually walks a couple miles a day with my dad there when he gets out of work. We did realy well. Ended up jogging a mile in 9:24 and then walked 2 more miles briskly in 14:33 and 15:00. Coming home I took it easy until about halfway home and then pushed hard on the uphills to get home. Phew! I'm exhausted! over 2000' of elevation gain on the bike. Time for another shower and then food! :-D Feels so great to be a jogger woot woot!

5:40 PM - Got out of work and zipped home and right into riding attire. It is getting dark really early here with the sunset by about 7:30 each night. Depressing. Was determined to get in a decent ride so headed out down Jockey Street into Charlton. Took the usual roads into Charlton and then Ballston and back. Only bad thing about the ride ... the bugs. Too many bugs in the face and such. It was annoying to have to keep wiping bugs off. Note to self: invent "the BugGuard" for the cyclist! Total ended up doing 31 miles. Not bad after having a week off. Need to get back into shape now!

Total Time: 1:50:00 Total Distance: 31 mi Average Speed: 16.9 mph

Not exactly how I wanted to end my week... in pain. At work today I was helping carry out an outdated fixture mainly of metal that had one of those computer lookup things in them that customers can use to search store inventory. Well It took about an hour to get the computer components out of it, and then finally carried it to the dumpster with my General Manager... We got it halfway in and he decides to climb up on the dumpster and push it deeper into the bin. Bad idea. It slid out and I tried my best to get out of the way, but there was a gate in my way. It comes crashing down on my toe with a THUD. I thought my toe was broken, but somehow I got the toe out of the way.. well most of it. It filleted me like a fish, an inch and a half piece of skin. I didn't even know until I got inside and someone said "Benn are you okay?" I go "Yeah just my toe's sore." They go< "Dude your shoe is gushing blood!" Sure enough it was. I went upstairs and what could be worse than a foot injury like that? Not having a First aid kit. All we had in the store's first aid kit were bandaids and an opened packet of gauze. So I came home early because I said I needed to ice my foot and get it elevated if they expected me back into work tomorrow. Grr. I'm just frustrated. Was finally feeling things were on the up and up, now I have to go and take a couple more days off. Such is life though. Oh well, now I can get some ice cream and watch Ryan Hall in the marathon! Come on USA!! This is what I've been waiting for.. Hall, Ritz, Sell. Slicing and Dicing!