Despite having this horrendous sore throat all week, I've had a pretty good workout week, other than Wednesday. After two hard rides Monday and Tuesday nights, one night being colder than most any other time I have ridden, and Tuesday with being one of the hottest (its Michigan, what can I say??), Wednesday was to be another ride. Not necessarily hard, just another ride, in an attempt to build up my riding miles. I am not a strong biker by any means, and even with a good swim and a tolerable run at any triathlon, usually I am beat because of my bike. This is where I will be caught if not on the run, and then it is because of the bike.

Where did the sore throat come from? Most likely from the grandkids over last weekend. Its kind of hard to not catch something from a kid when they sleep with their face next to yours. There have been different degrees of soreness, and until Thursday, not much else, so I didn't figure on strep throat, and the kids didn't have it either.

So Wednesday's ride was to be just another ride. I was really tired, and had it not been for the sudden downpour right as I got out of work, I would have ridden. It was best to lay low that night. I actually went to bed before 9 pm.

Thursday then the only time for a workout was going to be morning, so off I went on a short run, barely able to swallow, but feeling fine otherwise. Thursday night was also graduation, and I knew it would be a late night. Midway through the day, we finally got some steady rain that had been threatening since the night before. And wouldn't you know it? A tornado watch. Now the definition of tornado watch as opposed to a warning is that the weather conditions are favorable to producing a tornado or other volatile storm, but as is usually the way it goes, the rain had stopped, the sky was bluing up, and while it was windy and cloudy, it was actually quite pleasant. Two schools cancelled their graduations but thankfully Justin's wasn't one of them.

Justin goes to one of the largest school districts in West Michigan, so it shouldn't have surprised me that in the 4 years since his brother had graduated the class size would have grown to what it was: 530. Its gotten so big that a separate sports arena is rented for this production, complete with big screens to watch the whole event--that is unless some big meathead isn't blocking your view every time your kid was in view of the camera.

The arena was great in that it had actual stadium seating as opposed to bleachers, which having to be there for almost 4 hours was a blessing. And it wasn't stifling hot, as the school gym was in years past. It was almost a little too cold for the liking, and with the air conditioners running full blast, me with a sore throat was getting more miserable all the time. By the time we got out of there, I could barely swallow and I was getting congested and my eyes were watery.

So, by Friday morning, I had almost lost my voice, I hadn't slept well the night before because of the late night and sore throat, so I was groggy and sleepy most of the morning. But I did get in a swim.