Tuesday morning

John, Dan, Troy, Jake, Bill, and my bike

Hey good morning! This picture is from last Friday's ride. We reached the county line with 27+ miles. We then lined up for 10 good miles back to Orleans. Several folks have commented on riding on 337. "Crazy," is usually one of the words that shows up. It's really not that bad. Traffic is usually light, and, for the most part, respectful and careful.

I guess I'm back into a routine. That didn't take long. Of course I didn't really leave it for long. I did a lot of the usual stuff yesterday, stuff I can't say a lot about. There are lots of things I would like to talk about ministry, but it's too close. Some of your inquiring minds would figure out who I am talking about.

I can tell you that my truck has been down for 3 weeks, but now it's back from the dead! I finally had to call in a professional, a mechanic, who happens to be my neighbor. He was kind enough to come to my house last night. It didn't take him long to figure out what was wrong. Now it needs a new belt and a water pump, I think. I think it's best to keep fixing it, rather than trying to replace it. Plus my truck is so beautiful. It would be a shame to drive anything else. It only has 251,000 miles.

The weather keeps slowly improving. I ran early yesterday morning, before the snowflakes started showing up. It wasn't too bad. I saw where the Indy Mini finally sold out. It took considerably longer than usual. The article says that there are lots of competing events these days. It's true. More and more people are participating in more and more athletic events.

I know some of you find the whole idea of Ironman simply crazy. You might be surprised to find out that many of them sell out in less than a minute after registration opens. Ironman Florida, the one I hope to do, sold out in 40 seconds this year. See, I'm not the only one!

Why do we do these things? I've actually spent quite of bit of soul-searching thought trying to answer that question. Existential angst? Counterfeit god? I have wrestled with those ideas, but I've come to the conclusion that I simply enjoy training. I like the way I feel, and I enjoy the sense of accomplishment. I hope that's not wrong. I also find that it is great way to deal with a stressful vocation. If my body forbids me, in the future, from doing this, then I think I will be fine. I used to love to fish.

Alright then! Time to get busy. Thanks for coming by today.