Beautiful Friday afternoon. Temperature in the mid-50s and mostly sunny--definitely un-November-like. I ran 1 mile outside, then went inside to do a mile on the bike in the weight room.

I ran the mile on the mile loop of our cross country course. Though I have walked and run this at least a hundred times in the last 5 years, I managed to find the one hole just big enough for my left ankle in the first 400 meters. That hurt. Thankfully, it wasn't twisted or sprained, and I was able to keep running after looking at the hole in amazement and wonder for a minute. Seriously--not only I, but also at least 200 runners in the last 5 years, at both the high school and middle school level, have run this part of the course. How do we miss this???

The bike is only moderately better than the treadmill. Certainly, it's a no-impact workout, but here I am again, staring in the mirror, huffing and puffing my way through a mile on the stationary bike, while that freshman over there does power cleans with my car. Or maybe just 160 pounds. Either way. At mile 0.08, the darn thing decides it's not going to work any more, it quits timing, quits measuring distance...after resetting the whole machine (only about 30 seconds, but stinking annoying) I finish the remaining 0.92 miles without trouble. However, about mile 0.26, I'm thinking, "I should have just stayed outside" and "It's really hot in here. It would be way better with some sun and a breeze." From 0.31 miles to 0.75 miles I wondered, "Can that heart rate really be right? How the heck does it work?" By performing some deft mid-ride experiments, I determined that it likely had to do with the metal on the handles below the seat. Good day, though. My ankle doesn't hurt at all, so I figure I'll be all right.