i didn't do any more running this week, because it seemed to be staying fairly stiff after running last tuesday. as usual i have been continuing to bike and aquajog, since biking keeps up my cardiovascular fitness and aquajogging works the same muscles as "normal" jogging. in general i've been trying to aquajob and bike as many times a week and for the same duration as my normal runs, estimating a conservative time of 10 minute miles. so, this weekend that meant that last night i jogged in the pool for the equivalent of 16 miles or roughly 2 hours and 40 minutes. i usually can keep a fairly good clip in the pool and was surprised this morning to find very little residual tightness in my knee and calf. since i felt pretty good, i decided to bike with the rest of the crew this morning while they ran their 16 miler, which meant i got 40 miles under my belt.

amazingly, despite the 16 miles last night and the 40 miles this morning, i'm happy to report very little pain. indeed, all things considered, i'd say i was nearly pain free!

i'll see how i feel in the morning, but this week might be the week that i work back to running full time. it'll be interesting to see how all my cross training has affected my conditioning.

about 32 miles into my bike ride, i made one of those mistakes that you only get to make once. if you're lucky.

i was trying to make up time by keeping a 20 mile an hour pace in a bit of a head wind. coming up to an intersection of the trail with a 2 lane road, i looked both ways. twice. quickly. too quickly. and in missed a car that felt like it came inches from hitting me. hard.

kill-me-dead-don't-call-the-ambulance-hard.

i didn't even have time to hit my brakes, which is good, because if i had, i'd probably be dead.

i look back - my adrenaline virtually squirting from my pores - to see a shirtless, moustached, burly man leaning out his window of his late model brown chevy sedan, gesticulating wildly and obviously cursing, although i couldn't hear him over the blare of the ipod . inexplicably, i shout "FUCK YOU!" and tear off down the bike trail.

i get maybe 10 full pedal rotations down the trail and i come to my senses. inebriated from the effects a hellish cocktail of 10 parts adrenaline and a splash of the donnas , i'd become an asshole's asshole and felt immediately, immensely despicable. to top it off, i was positive that i'd meet the moustached man at the next intersection.

i was right. just as i get to the intersection, the late model brown chevy screeches into view and he starts to get out, looking dangerously close to wanting to duke it out. in a bit a fancy verbal footwork, i deftly deflect his verbal jabs the situation starts descescalating. "yes, in fact, i'm dumb." "no, sir, i don't normally swear at complete strangers who almost kill me because of my dumbness and honestly i have no idea why it came out of my mouth." and so on.

as it turns out, he lives nearby. three people have been killed at the same intersection doing exactly what i did. enjoying a fine summer day, blowing through a seemingly dead intersection in the middle of nowhere.