Coming off the series of calf injuries, I made to time to stretch, although not right away. Stretching was finally fit in from the sidelines of YaYa’s 1st baseball game of the season — right after assessing the damage of a wiffle-ball-to-eye accident during pre-game warm ups. Thankfully, those wiffle balls are pretty tame compared to the real deal. YaYa was ready to go by the 1st pitch.

And…as you might have guessed, my time of the bleachers was not exactly comfortable. Then again, are bleachers ever comfortable? My sources say “NOT!”

As you might imagine, I was thrilled to have finally gone the scheduled distance. Now is when it matters. It’s peak training for those of us heading off to Boston next month.

It’s not everyday one is able to enjoy 20 miles of solitude and sweat. I sure felt lucky that this was my day for a little success. Following the many trials-of-training on my path to Boston, this run was surely reason to smile. The cool breeze and sunny skies were pretty another.

I’ve a feeling that my ability to get on with my day in the full-steam-ahead manner post-20 miler had a lot to do with the high resulting from successfully getting back on track for my big race. Because, after riding the same distance on my bicycle today, I crawled into bed immediately after a quick stretch and shower. I napped for nearly 2 hours and awoke feeling like I needed twice as much more rest.

Twenty miles of running and 20 miles of cycling: No matter which way you look at it, that’s pretty darn cool.

But then what?

• Participate in one of the many century cycling events;
• Do my first ultra-marathon;
• Complete another triathlon or two;
• or maybe even work towards that IronMan.

Well, I’ve already started the wheels turning toward changing things up a bit. It’s kind of exciting.

LOOK!

Apparently, there is a world out there other than running. Who knew?

By the way…she still needs a name.

Since then, times have changed and flip-turns have too. But not mine.  As inefficient as they are, they are all I have to swim continuously in the pool. Make that had.

My colleague from work and I got to talking about swimming, flip-turns, and such. When I told her how I did a summersault and then turned over AT the wall BEFORE pushing off, she explained how she does her flip-turns.  She made it simple, explaining that after the summersault she begins her push off while still facing up and simultaneously turns over as she leaves the wall. It sounded simple.

So I tried it…

My 1st attempt was a bit awkward. Still, I managed to do the turn without much effort. The best part was that I wasn’t at the wall so long that I was air-hungry by the time I got my breath. Actually, I found that my swim was relatively effortless for the entire 1,500 yards. Certainly, I wasn’t breaking any records but it did make me wonder if it was the change in flip-turns or the fact that I’ve been working on my upper body strength. Regardless, it was pretty sweet. I felt like I could have swam for twice the time — except that I had to pick up YaYa from football practice.

Also, it proves that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Well, I did a little hiking out in Squamish, British Columbia wearing my five fingered (or toed rather) footwear, took a few pictures along the way, and promptly forgot about the contest until it was too late. I’m not sure that it matters much anyway.

My grip-your-world perspective, though wonderful in my own mind, is probably not exactly what they were looking for. None-the-less, I shared it with them anyway — AFTER the deadline.

I do love my Vibram’s.  I love the way they provide a heightened awareness of the world beneath my feet. While wearing them, I feel more grounded and in touch with the earth. But that’s not what I wrote about.

I wrote about how running (in general) is how I deal with the feeling of my world slipping away from me, how running reminds me that life is good and to hang on to it — to “grip my world.”

It’s not profound but, for me, it works.

Vibram’s Grip Your World site is still taking entries.  The contest, however, is over.  Whether you entered the contest or are only now pondering the question, how do YOU grip your world?  Do tell.

It wasn’t long before I was heading uphill towards the reservoir. I grunted and gritted my teeth as I made the climb. At points, the shoulder seemed to disappear and the vehicles reminded me of my vulnerability as they passed by too close for my level of comfort. I said a prayer and pedaled harder.

Upon reaching the reservoir, I stopped to contemplate my next move. Would I continue on and over or go back the way I came? The unknown made me nervous and I wondered if I had what it took to brave it. I decided I’d keep within my comfort zone.

After clicking my foot into the pedal, and watching another cyclist pass, I promptly changed my mind. I went for it.

Much to my surprise, the hill was non-existent from that direction. I was on the other side of the hill in no time and heading back towards home — fighting the wind and feeling the burn as I went.

As for my sanity, it turns out that I had it all along.