What a night!

I went for a bike ride after we put the kids to bed tonight.

Twelve miles in 49 minutes. Lots of hills (both up and down). I'll take a 49-minute time as a good starting point in my training for next weekend's duathlon! The hills are a lot more intense next week, though, so I'd like to see my time improve somewhat this coming week. The ride next Saturday is 20km, which I guess is just a hair over 12 miles, too. So I'm feeling pretty good about that part of it all.

I need to *attempt* running tomorrow, hopefully. If I can string together a 12-mile ride AND a 3-mile run, I'll be a happy camper. A VERY happy camper.

Graeme's mom pointed out a very important glitch (fatal flaw, if you will) in my plan to run next weekend, though. Although my knee hasn't bothered me for a few weeks, I need knee surgery. Running is one of the things that can make my knee hurt again. Like the dickens. So, either God does a miracle and I'll be able to at least run pain-free and hope for a couple of ice-packs on the other end ('cuz the ice helps immensely!), or I'll have to bike the entire distance.

Graeme's been cutting down a few dead trees around the yard. A few being... well, a lot. The deadfall and near-deadfall that the previous owners left has created a lot of work for us, but there definitely is something satisfying about hearing the crrrrrack of a falling tree. He's been using a chainsaw. So don't make him mad. Anyway, we've also had to be clearing the branches away from the yard, and we've big huge bonfires to take care of the branches. After my bike ride, I spent 2 hours tending the bonfire. I'm a pyromaniac, and I'm proud of it.

Allergies. They're INSANE!! Thankfully they held off for an extra 2 months this year, but tonight I sneezed literally 40-50 times. Kinda funny. I told Graeme that if we had a dollar for every time I sneezed, we'd be able to go out for a really nice dinner!

I have a report to finish, and a shower to take. A big bike ride combined with two hours of fire-tending definitely would put me in the 'need' category for a shower before bed...

Tomorrow will be interesting... some good, some very trying... if you're the praying kind, would you send one up for me??