Tuesday

Good morning! What a pleasant morning it is! And, if I read the article right, today is the earliest the sun will rise all year. I did notice that daylight was showing up pretty early today. When does summer begin, maybe tomorrow or the next day? It started a few weeks ago in my mind. I guess that's what really matter. Summer is mostly a state of mind it seems to me.

I started yesterday with a conservative 3 mile run. After riding 100 on Saturday, I wanted to be careful, especially as I anticipated a time trial ride and the Jim-N-I Triathlon this weekend. I didn't want to go into tonight's time trial ride tired or over trained, and I want to be fresh for Saturday's tri adventure.  Three miles it was. I was hoping to do the late morning swim at Mitchell's pool, but interruptions kept coming, which is fine. I did not make it to the pool. Again. My lack of water time is a concern. But, wait! There are other things afloat. Keep reading.

Me, being Mr. Flexible and Mr. Spontaneous all wrapped into one dynamic, charismatic body, (stop rolling your eyes!) decided to pursue lunch with a friend. We had a nice time talking of life and ministry. Following this fine lunch, I went to see a couple who are struggling in various ways, and I helped them the best I could.

A stopover at the Store is always good for my soul. Yesterday was no exception. There are lots of people and wonderful employees to see and hear. Yesterday, as is usual in the summer and especially summer Mondays, was extremely busy with donations. We get a lot of yard sale leftovers. It's always interesting to see what people donate. We get lots of unusual things and lots of nice clothes. Most of the clothes I wear in the summer came off the ReGen racks -- 2 dollar shorts are hard to beat. Columbia shorts!

My lack of water time was bothering me yesterday afternoon. I was reasoning through about what I needed and how I was going to get there, trying to figure out how to be "good enough" on August 11, which is my first official sanctioned triathlon. Literally while I was thinking about this, I got a text suggesting that there might be some good quality pool time in just a couple of hours. Score! I ended up getting an hour of time and instruction that really helped move me along.

After the pool, I made my way over to Murry Park to watch the church boys play softball. That's always a nice, relaxing, entertaining event. Last night was no exception, and they won!

Today I will do some study this morning, followed by serving at the summer meal program at Burris School for a couple of hours. Following that I am meeting a college student who needs to volunteer at our food pantry. I will hang out there for a while. Then I have a meeting at 3, and after that it will be time to get ready to ride!

The wind is the going to be the big issue AGAIN. If the wind is more southerly than westerly, then we will time trial tonight. If it is the other way around, then we will paceline. We'll just have to see. It is supposed to be blowing at 10-15 mph, which is a significant wind.

OK, off we go...