That's what I get.

Went running today and got my ass kicked. I deserve it. I haven’t done a lick of training in the past 5 weeks, and (clearly) it shows. I pulled out of my early tri event (which takes place this Saturday) so I didn’t hurt myself, but I’m bound and determined to be ready for the Olympic distance version of the local event in a month. The first week of this is going to be painful on several levels. I have resigned myself to this fact and look upon it both as payment for more than a month of sloth and as motivation to drive me not to slack off like that again.

I’m motivated by the fact that the Tour de France starts tomorrow. I follow the tour every year, and this year it’s going to keep a driving force in my training. If frickin’ Lance Armstrong can do it, then goddamn it so can I! I’m also inspired by a book Karla found for me at the library about a woman in her 50s who retired from her life as head of a school in England and rode around the world. Can I just say that I have dreams of doing that someday? It wouldn’t be the kind of around-the-world trip Wifeness would want to take, though, and I’d feel sad if she didn’t go.

We’re headed up to Lake Spofford for an annual 4th of July cookout event. I’m bringing swim gear (no wetsuit yet--that's on the list of things to buy this month). I have no expectation that the water will be warm enough to really push through, but it can’t be any worse than my last event of 2008 when I had to do breaststroke for ¾ of a mile because it was too cold to crawl. My nuts still crawl right inside at the memory of that day.

While training is the focus of the month of July in the mornings and the evenings, the middle of the day is set aside for the myriad house projects burning a hole in my to-do list. I can do several of them without a further impact to the budget, and those are the ones I’ll get to first. Next week’s items include finishing the side porch (more than a year after it was started) and the completion of the basement workshop makeover and inventory reduction.

If I don’t post tomorrow, it’ll be because we got back late and I was beat. Happy 4th to those of you who celebrate the most American of holidays!