Tuesday a.m.

Good morning! Man, I am missing the sights, sounds and cool breeze from the balcony of our place last week! The heat and humidity were similar to what we are experiencing here, but there was a huge difference. You could feel the sea breeze and go cool off in the water, which felt like bath water by the way. I'm not much of a swimmer, well, not a swimmer at all, but I enjoyed getting in the water up to my neck and bobbing around in the waves. Yes, that is a beautiful mental image for you to carry the rest of the day! Enjoy.

I did determine on the trip that I am going to learn to swim, do triathlons, and complete a half Iron Man, which is 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and a half marathon (13.1 miles). I know I can do the latter two. I just have to learn to swim. This old dog is going to learn a new trick. Hopefully! My plan is to do triathlons next summer and see how it goes. If I can get the distance swimming down, then I will look at what's available in late summer, early fall. Gotta have dreams!

Yesterday was a day of trying to get reoriented. I did fairly well I guess. It's summer, so everything is little more relaxed. I saw/talked to a few people, including our leader/guide in Honduras. Things are shaping up for our trip. We ate at Rings and Wings last night. Ten percent of their sales went to Help for Honduras. It looked like we helped them draw a pretty good crowd last night. We are awaiting the re$ult$.

It was hot yesterday. Did you notice? I ran 5 miles fairly early and was sweating pretty hard. I ran at the Park and included the long hill out of the village. I felt surprisingly good. All the biking is really helping my running. I am getting excited about ramping up my running miles after RAIN. I am going to focus on 2 events: Persimmon 5K and the Monumental half marathon. It's a weird combo, but I think I can make it work. I am getting my motivation back. I put so much into qualify for Boston last fall that I kinda need a break. Now I am ready again.

I read a good book on sports psychology while on vacation. It really helped me get focused on some things. This, of course, carries over to other areas of life as well. I like endurance athletics, and it serves me well in ministry. The writer of Hebrews (chap. 12) as well as Paul make references to the parallels of running and living the Christian life. Both require a lot of discipline, perseverance, and focus on the future.

This evening I plan to do a 30 mile bike ride with some friends. (Yes, I know it's going to be hot.)