ITS NOT THAT I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING.

Despite the injury, I am continuing to train and move forward. It just has been terribly busy at work. Just when I thought I was going to have a slow summer--and I even said so--things get turned upside down, and I find myself working on more cases than one person can sanely handle at one time. On any given day, I find myself on the phone with process servers in San Diego, Texas, three different places in Michigan, and Las Vegas of all places, tracking down a guy at a convention! While it is interesting, to say the least, it is tedious and time consuming.

As for the ankle, some strength is returning. I did have a fairly decent bike ride the other night, considering it was like riding through a furnace, with our high heat right now. I actually found myself with an average of 14.6 for a 17.40 mile bike ride! Woo hoo! Remember, before I got my new wheels I was only averaging 13.5 at the most, so even with the injury, this is a significant improvement. I am hoping to bring that speed up that in the next few weeks as I regain full power in my ankle and knee.

I also have been using the elliptical to replace the running. Not quite the same, but it has helped stabilize the ankle and helped with strengthening. Who knew?? I'm not sure how long I can hold out on this before total boredom sets in, but for now it is better than nothing. I more week of forced layoff and then I will resume running again. I am anxious to see how the ankle is doing so I can plan my next event.

I've also been doing some open water swimming. Monday night, with the temperature still in the mid-90s after work, we headed to the lake for a swim. The water was a very comfortable 80+ degrees, but sitting on the beach after the swim was relaxing and a great way to cool off. We met up with three other friends--Frank who did Lake Placid recently and who does not run anymore because of severe arthritis in his hip. He actually WALKED the whole run portion and finished in 16:15. Then there was Julie, a newcomer to the area and a pretty decent triathlete and so nice besides. She has been fun to get to know. And Bob, who will be doing IM Louisville. This guy is so strong it is scary! He just got back from RAGBRAI (bike ride across Iowa). Not only did he bike every day (I think he said a total of over 500 miles for the week), he also ran every day as well. Then he comes back here, swims 3 laps in the lake (that's almost 3 miles!) and then runs 5 laps around the lake (5 miles). Barely breaks a sweat. The guy is 50 yrs. old.

And then there is the IM Louisville trip. There are 3 athletes from here going to race, 5 others going to volunteer (me included). Yesterday, after realizing I was not going to be able to get off work to drive down with the others, I started looking at flights. Surprisingly, I found a cheap enough one and booked that immediately: leave early Saturday morning, come back late Monday morning. It saves me 15 hours of driving and all the stress and hassles associated with the drive as well, and it means only one day off from work, so it was worth the money. I'll be calling in sick as it is! Another thing that happened yesterday connected to this race is I got an e-mail from IronPol about the IM get togethers. I had almost forgotten about all the bloggers planning on being there! (Side note: the people from GR who are going are NOT bloggers or into blogging. They are just so not happening! LOL!) So in addition to him, there was a flurry of e-mails from others as well. I am hopeful I will be able to meet up with some of them. Its starting to sound like a big party, as all the IMs I have attended have been in the past. Something about this one though is starting to get more exciting. I guess it is the anticipation of meeting up with all the people I have been following over the past several months and hopefully putting faces with names.

Tomorrow, I head down to Benton Harbor to WATCH the Steelhead race. So far, Shelley will be there. Waiting to hear who else. Much as I regret not being able to do the race, I know I am making the right decision. Last night, I went to visit my sister who is staying at Lake Michigan, and of course we went to the beach to watch the sunset. Just as I suspected, one misstep on the beach and my ankle was sending me signals to get off the sand! I would not want to risk messing it up during the race and starting the rehab all over again. Sometimes it is just best to sit out a dance.

Hopefully I will have some pictures to share from the race and a spectator's report.

And on a sad note, the bridge collapse in Minneapolis--what a huge tragedy! Hopefully no one had any family member or friend involved in that. I am so glad my daughter is not living there any more!