Proof of Concept

There’s not much more to be said about the Bluff Point Trail Race from Friday. I ran hard and finished without too much left in the tank. Could I have gone harder? Yes – there’s this guy in a blue shirt that passed me at about the 4 mile point who I trailed until the last water stop, but then let go who I think I really could have caught. Oh, and the high-school cross country runner who passed me right before the last water stop. But, I can’t be upset – I met my goals, met the Running Chicks, and had a great evening.

And it turns out I did tweak my left ankle on the absolute last bit of bedrock at about mile 3.5. Jake was down hopping on the bed at 7:01, just like every Saturday morning (He’s such a great kid – he’s got a wake-up time, just like he’s got a bed-time, and won’t get out of bed until his digital clock says “seven-oh-oh”. Though some mornings about 6:45 we hear a thump-thump-thump over to the bathroom, a flush, and some playing in the faucet as he washes his hands, gets a drink, gets another drink, etc. Then, he’ll sit and play quietly until 7, at which time he’s down the stairs like a shot.) I pretended to talk to him until the baby woke up, and about fell over when I put weight on it. It got better, though.

Saturday was complete and total rest. I went through the annual ritual of “Crap, new rock – let’s go get a new mower blade” thanks to frost heave. AND we had folks over for burgers and s’mores, courtesy of the trees I dropped last weekend. Mmmmmmm, s’mores. It was downright cold Saturday evening – everyone was huddled around the fire. Which is interesting with small children. Especially when they’re fascinated with new categories – “what will burn” and “what daddy will freak out over before I can see if it will burn”.

Today – I got the virtual elbow in the ribs from my wife (I was in the foyer with the baby and a runny nose) when the preacher mentioned how he was at peace with his 5 year old bike even though there were shinier ones out there. (Little does she know – I do still like my bike). Legs were feeling better, so after Jake and Melissa got back from a youth orchestra thing (she’s trying to get him the music bug, mostly by keeping him as far away from me as possible when I sing), I hitched up the trailer to the MTB and dragged Jake and Nate to downtown. We went and picked up a new helmet for Jake, gave his old one to Nate, and pitched the lid that was on its fourth baby. Then, we went to see the drawbridge, and to play on the playground downtown. Rock on.

Ride back was good. There’s still the one hill near the house which is absolutely brutal, but I managed to drag the trailer up, with two kids, and with the front deraileur unable to move the chain out of the center sprocket. Yeah, baby, I’ve got legs. Stats: Who cares? Probably about 5 miles each way, about 30 minutes each way.