Exciting week

So, internets, I believe I haven't been keeping you up to date with my general goings on. Mostly because my general goings ons are mostly the same day in and day out, and you've read about them before. But I did have a couple of newsworthy items of late.

1. I signed up to do a 5k. Yes, I know that's a run, not a bike ride. But, what the heck. My wife is a runner, and as she points out she rides her bike with me. Not often, but certainly more often than I run with her. And it's probably good cross training. After running for about a week I could feel a difference in my inner thigh muscles. It makes me wonder if too much cycle training has left those muscles weak and prone to injury, as I did last spring.

The down side to running is, well, I injured myself. The training was going well, I got a new pair of shoes, and I was starting to find my stride. But on Sunday after about 1/2 a mile my knee started to hurt. And it hurt more with every step. I stopped running and walked back home. The knee felt better on Monday, but hasn't improved since. I'm starting to wonder exactly what I've done to it. Fortunately it feels fine when I bike (which is fortunate, see below). But since I procrastinated starting my running regimen, I don't have the slack in my schedule to be able to take time off and still get up to a full 5k by April 17.

Tonight I went out to see how things would go if I tried running. I walked for about 1/3 of a mile and the knee felt OK. No worse than it has been for the last few days. I started running and quit after about 30 seconds and then limped my way back home. I have a feeling this 5k will be a complete FAIL.

2. Because of the previously mentioned injury, I drove to work Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night on the way home, my brakes decided to stop functioning. I realized this when the light turned yellow and I was approaching it on a downhill while going approximately 50mph. As the light turned red and I wasn't slowing, I cranked the wheel over hard right (screeeeech!) and careened onto a lesser travelled and more level road. The combination of the turn and the flattening allowed me to coast to a stop on the shoulder while I tried not to have a complete panic attack. I managed to get turned around and make it the remaining 1/2 mile home (fortunately I live on a hill and I could approach from downhill). I eased the car into the garage and haven't touched it since.

3. The best of all is that tonight, I was making dinner and tidying up the house and my daughter, Morgan, came up and gave me a hand made card that said I was the best dad ever. And she even put a funny joke inside. She wrote "You're like a father to me. Ha ha." Which, for a fourth grader, is hilarious. Often fourth grader jokes are, um, not. Totally out of the blue, and totally made my day.