Whoever said it was like riding a bike was smarter than me....

So - Day Eight!!  Day Eight!!  Can you totally believe that???  Me either.  Feeling good, positive, and days appear to have more productive hours in them.  Hmmm.

Anyway;. as planned, I made it to the Cool Running 5km Twilight Race last night.  I use the term "race" loosely for me, as I just gambolled around the path, smelling the smells, taking in the sights, saying hello to city folk who aren't used to such forward behaviour, and mostly scowled at me.  Have to say, the bay run smells a bit yucky.

Anyway, my achilles was very sore and tight, so I planned to go nice and slow.  When you've got sore bits, no matter what speed you are doing, it feels super slow, painful and frankly, quite unpleasant.  So I was glad when it was over, but glad to have done it too.  Caught up with so many familiar faces, and vowed to come to more of these runs, there is a great vibe and everyone is sooooo friendly and nice. 

The plan was to do the Cool Running West 5km challenge this morning, but as soon as that foot hit the floor I knew I would be foolish to run on it when it was so inflamed.  So I found some High Impact Interval Training websites and sort of followed what they were doing, although hopping over things was out of the question, so instead of the jumpy cardio stuff, I substituted vacuuming the floor, running downstairs to get the washing out of the machine, and generally did a couple of sets of weights, some floor work, AND I got all my housework done.  Ha!  So it wasn't so much High Impact, except to the cleanliness of my house.  I spent about three hours all up mopping, bicep curls, vacuuming, squats, you get the picture. Not sure if any studies have been done on the weight loss benefits of weilding a steam mop, but anyway...

This afternoon I still felt a bit unfulfilled and was contemplating a little run, then I caught myself on.  So I took the bike to the bike shop and asked the man to pump up my tyres.  Embarrassing thing number one.  I had planned to take my pump with me to show him that I couldn't get it to work, and see if he could work out why.  However I left the pump on the roof of the car, and of course lost it somewhere on the way.  One new pump later and I was on my way.

Now, it has been a while since I got on the bike, and I am a bit scundered to say that I rode for 10.5km thinking my gears were stuck, until I remembered that the moving the brake lever to the side actually changes the gears down to an easier gear.  So I did the first 10km in the biggest gear and was thinking after about like 20 metres how hard it was on the legs.  Der. 

Once I worked out how to use the gears, and managed to get them down into a sensible place, the ride was actually quite nice.  Now I don't know about you, but I don't like going round in circles for no reason, so whilst I started with a lap of the Lake at the Regatta Centre, I knew if I was to continue doing laps I would  bore myself senseless and wouldn't last for 10km never mind 30.   (30km was todays goal).  So I rode all around Penrith and around the river, and really really enjoyed it.  All up I did 37.5 kms and the best thing was that at the end my garmin said I had used 950 calories!!  950!!!  Excellent.  That will more than cover the tuna fish sandwich I had a craving for mid morning.

So when I got home - feeling all fit and healthy I got the lawn mower out and mowed the lawns.  So now I am officially "at rest" for the day - going to enjoy a nice shower and get ready for a birthday party tonight.  Not at all concerned that everyone will be drinking and I won't be.  I am feeling strong and positive, even bordering on "smug"!!!!