This is good

After a tough week, nothing beats a weekend blitz to salvage the mind. Friday I was able to sneak a ride in between study sessions. Saturday I took my test and feel pretty good about it. One month of waiting and I'll find out how I did. After my test I ran a few quick errands (post office, got to make that money) and then Marni and I took Turbo to the dog park for a long walk. He was extremely happy and we took him by DQ on the way home and got some ice cream too. Marni was off with the girls that evening and I was eager to test out the newly tubeless tires so we went out separate ways. I stayed out pretty late, enjoying all manner of dirt, road and bike path options with a quick stop for dinner in Boulder at the Qdoba. Refueled I rode a bit more, taking the long way home and enjoying a nice night and what felt like the stars all to myself. The new EOS II worked really well (thanks Betsy!) and I never even dug the "big lights" out of my pocket. Marni and I arrived home about the same time and lucky for me she brought me dinner from Pasta Jay's. I chowed down and went to bed, another ride planned for the AM.

Sunday brought nice weather, more sun and a group of four for a bit of road bike time. Brett, Jeremy, Erik and I, the core of the century crew, headed South for another awesome 100 mile day. I doubt any of them figured they'd be riding at least a century a month in 2009 but so far we're 3 for 3 and don't see any reason to slow down now. Pizza, cookies and beer awaited our arrival back at home, finally with plenty of daylight to spare. While we were gone, Marni retraced some of my steps from Saturday night. Isn't that a pretty picture? :D
This morning I took Turbo for a walk, getting a slow start to the day with a lot of workout hours in my legs. One of the best things about this extended time off I've been having is getting to really appreciate life and slow down a bit. It's all too easy to rush from one thing to the next, squeeze a huge weekend in between weeks of work, be unhappy with where you are and think only of where you want to be. We all strive for perfection but thinking only of what is better leads generally to unhappiness. But with a little time for reflection it's easy to see, this is good. Here and now. This is where I want to be.