Monday a.m.

Good morning! Luke sent this picture from Guatemala on Sunday morning. He is leading a team of Lipscomb students during their spring break. Part of their week's activities is to pour pads for another bridge.

On Thursday evening we were able to have a meal with Luke, along with his friend Lydia, and Rebecca. We had a wonderful time! It was Luke's 23rd birthday. It was good to see him on that day and right before he took off on his trip. Rebecca also left for Central America on Saturday. She will spend about a week in Mexico.

We also found out from Luke that he is headed to Liberia for 10 days in April. His firm is going to do some work for an American tire factory there, helping with water treatment. Luke gets to be involved in the project. He is getting some really good experience in a job he loves. That's hard to beat.

After a really good meeting at Lipscomb on Friday morning, Kedra and I made our way home. It was a beautiful day, if you recall. I made it home (barely) in time to ride with Iron Bill and James F. We managed to get 21 miles in great weather: warm with little wind. I ran Friday morning. Now I had a ride in. There was only 1 thing left to do: go for a swim. Check! Friday I did the triple, which would make Saturday a challenge.

Saturday morning was really nice, a lot warmer than I expected. I sweat a lot during our 12 miler, which went pretty well. We didn't go too fast. I knew I was going to ride later, so I was really glad we took it fairly easy. Riding after running is not the easiest thing to do, especially after doing a triple the day before. I was pushing it and knew it. How can you know your limits without pushing? Plus, it was too nice not to do something!

Iron Bill, John H. and I took off from Lighthouse, heading to Orleans via Amish country. I had Kedra drop me off, and I was going to go straight from Orleans to my house via hwy 60. We had a nice tailwind while heading south and west. This would be paid for on the return trip, and we knew it. John turned around early, due to a time constraint. Bill and I headed to Huck's for his obligatory Milky Way and Diet Coke. I opted for a Pay Day.

Time to return. West wind. Tired, tired, old man. Hills. Slow pace. Good friend leading the way, letting me suck wheel. I managed the west segment OK. Now to turn north. More wind. Stronger wind. See how this paragraph begins and apply to the northern portion of the ride.

We got to the place where I would continue north to 60 and Bill would turn east to 37. An unemotional good-bye and best wishes were spoken without a slowing of cadence. Up the hill I went and then down the hill into a stiff wind. Right before I got on 60, I threw my chain. I'm not sure what happened. I fixed it and headed into the west wind on high way 60. It was an areo grind for a couple of miles. Then onto some sheltered country roads. Home with another 27 miles for the training log!

It was a good weekend for endurance training. Lots of miles on the run and the ride and several yards in the water. Sunday was a great rest day, after nearly 9 hours of sleep! Now we're into a new week. Wonder what happens this week?