Day 34: Firing on all cylinders

Yesterday was a good day. Today was a good day, too, even though it featured a visit to the dentist. (Just a cleaning; nothing untoward.)

Four miles on the trail after the dentist -- very hot and humid and sweaty, but no problem. I wore the heart-rate monitor, and deliberately went very slowly, to see what the reading was. I averaged 152 beats/minute. Since I don't know what my maximum heart rate actually is, I can assume, using the standard guidelines (225 - your age), that 152 is about 78% of my max, which puts me near the borderline of aerobic (cardio training/endurance) and anaerobic ("hardcore training"). I need to get an accurate max reading for myself at some point; otherwise it's all just guesswork.

Later, a quick (35-minute) 9.1-mile bike ride with Carson. I hit a maximum speed of 34.3 miles an hour hurtling down a hill in Arlington Heights... pretty freakin' fast. On the way back, on Mass. Ave., we came upon a group of fancily-dressed cyclists; we shot past them. They tried to pass us a little while later, at which point we left them permanently in the dust. After we pulled up to my house and were talking a little bit, Carson realized that his odometer read exactly 2500.0 miles, most of which was of course accumulated during the bike trip. Cool!

A twig either fell or was kicked up on the trail, and it disintegrated as my spokes chopped it up. Good thing the twig wasn't any thicker, or it would have chopped ME up.

Now I'm relaxing on the couch with two precautionary ice packs on the legs... excellent. Did I mention that this was a two-shower day? Let me be very clear about this: I feel like a thousand bucks.

Special note! Thanks to my generous family and friends -- most recently my aunt and uncle, who kicked me over the $2,000 mark -- my fundraising is 70% done! But remember: the last 30% is just as important... if your name's not on the list, you'll be hearing from me soon!