Biking to work

It's been about four months now that I have been biking to work, and some 2300 kms, and as always, it's been great. The weather so far has been unseasonably cool, and wet, but every day I can bike is a great day. The National Capital Commission is rehabing the pavement on part of my route, so it's a bit of an obstacle course to get around the construction, and at some point they will really start ripping up the pavement. At that point I will start using the parallel stone dust path alongside the river, but it will only last a few weeks.

Incredibly, there have been just a few days, like today, when I could comfortably ride in the morning with just shorts and a cycling jersey. Most days have required an extra layer, at some 11 degrees Celsius, or a rain jacket. Or both. Our pool has gone almost completely unused so far this summer; absolutely bizarre by mid-July. Tell me about global warming!!!

Ouch, that really hurt

In early May, a couple weeks before the National Capital Race weekend, I found myself helping our older daughter move from one house to another. While unfolding the heavy metal hoist from the back of the truck she had rented, I did not realize how heavy it was, and it slipped out of my hand. The leading edge grazed my left leg, and made quite a mess of my ankle, and in fact pinned me under it for a moment. Fortunately, nothing was actually broken, just major bruising, and of course, most of a day lugging her possessions out of the old house and into the new did not help.

Visions of doing the NCR half-marathon were quickly vanishing, but I applied a lot of Melaleuca Pain-a-trate, and gradually it was healing.

Race day came and I decided to run it. Between working long hours on the H1N1 situation at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and the accident, I really had not run for a couple of months before the race. However, the race went pretty well, although not quite as fast as I had hoped. I still managed to finish in the top quarter of my age group, and all things considered, I was OK with that.