"you can't stop, because if you do, then you won't start again." ~new friend from Riverside, IL

So here we go again, or, shall I say,  here I go again.  It's summer in Oak Park and Ironman is coming. Crazy time!!!! Yesterday I polished off a list of every workout that I aspire to finish before the end of summer.  When I can fit the whole thing on a sheet of paper, it's some sort of sign.  Well, it actually looks like some of the scratchy scratchy rantings that women on Telegraph Ave. (Berkeley) used to carry around and refer to, but to me it's a meditation, a method, an approach to organizing my time and goals.  But in response to the thickening of the training module, I'm up and down, emotionally, energetically, it's all in the package.

hmmmm....at least 80 workouts in 80 days...see a problem here?

  Today is a spectacular example of such.  The weather is simply fabulous, perfection indeed.  But as early as 6-something this morning I was grousing around in the pool.  Someone disobeyed pool etiquette this morning and when he didn't stop with the gentle pat that I applied to his heel, I simply grabbed his whole foot and stopped him, in order to swim by.  Poor fool, he didn't realize that it was a Master's workout and he was jumping in front of me, as I was leading about 5 other people into the final 100 of a 1500 meter set.  You just don't do that.  But I was up again and in good spirits soon after, joking around with chums and preparing for a fabulous Friday.  Now that the kids are away (zoo, and travel swim meet), I can polish off my first attempt at yarn-bombing in the backyard.  I've got a concept that will involve lacing high yarn bomb for wily grape vines to travel upon and over.

See the sky? NOT California!!! It's right here!!!!

 I'm loving it, but, as in all things, attaching the granny square to the tether is more difficult than it looks.  There's a situation with slumping together that I predict will drive me crazy in the not so distant future. Alas...here's my first shot, and I'm enthused, particularly given the amazing sky and backdrop on a morning like this.  

Rope from hardware store, heavy duty fun!

 I have hopes of adding more motifs, or some other sort of free-form work across the double ropes that cross from garage to house.  That said, I have a tendency to leave partially-finished projects out for a while. I guess yarn-bombing is more difficult than it looks and the same might be said of Ironman training.

I'm so fond of the lattice of wires in our sky.  It is what it is.

Sometimes we get to thinking, "If I only had more time," or, "If I was only as good an athlete as so-and-so", or "these kids/job/house really gets in the way of my Ironman aspirations", and one of my favorites: "if the weather wasn't so awful I could really pull this Ironman thing off!"  But on a day like today, when my kids are taken care of, the weather is perfect, I have time off from work, and there's no urgency attached to the house, getting out there for that six mile jog was still a really hard thing to do.  When I finally got out I walked and walked, and I stopped long enough to see if a friend was working in her yard (she was), so I could stall a bit more.

The slouching of which i speak: no longer a perfect square....

But I just about did it! Well, I really did do it! Today I did what I said I would do!  In fact, soon after I left my friend's yard, I took off running down Marion Street and I saw a rather older gentleman loading a road bike onto a car rack. He was wearing helmet, gear, and a TOMRV 08 jersey.  I couldn't resist: "I just did my first TOMRV this year!!Were you there?"  He smiled, and said, "No, my COPD has gotten too much, so I can't do TOMRV anymore, that's why I ride with this Oxygen tank (and yes, there was a small oxygen tank in the water bottle cage).  I was amazed.  We got to talking and introducing ourselves.  He reached out to shake my hand and when we touched, he said: "you've got a firm grip, and a wedding ring." What a twinkle in his eye. I was completely tickled.  After exchanging a few names of companions to narrow down our degree of separation, I said that I had to get back to running. He agreed: "you can't stop, because if you do, then you won't start again."  And how true is that?? There is wonder all around you. Go out and grab some!