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Today's bike ride home was an adventure, but this time it was all my doing.

Since I still can't run,  I convinced myself to bike to work this morning with the promise that I'd take the bus home if my knee protested or if the weather didn't cooperate. My knee and I were feeling good this afternoon, and the radar showed the rain was nowhere near yet, so I left work on my bike even though the heat index was supposed to be 100+. I was immediately assaulted with a wall of heat, and I felt ill.

I convinced myself that biking home in the heat was a bad idea, and that it surely would start pouring on me any minute, so a mere 2 miles later I turned left on Rouse to catch the bus at Colonial. I waited at the bus stop for about 15-20 min, and the bike racks were full! Ugh! So I trek back to the trail, thankful that it has cooled off a bit. This is probably due to the thunder I hear in the distance and the impending rain.

I tell myself that I can take the bus at Goldenrod, so I take the long way that adds an extra 1/2 mile to my trip when I get to the bridge. I am still too early and would have to wait another 15-20 min to catch this bus IF it even has an open bike rack. I reason I'd better use that time to make some forward movement before the rain arrives, and so I keep trekking along.

As I cross Semoran and turn onto the Cady Way trail, the air feels much cooler and the clouds look much darker. I pray I can make it home before it starts to rain, and I speed up in an attempt to beat mother nature. With about 4 miles to go, I see the biggest and loudest lighting strike ever. It's surely near me and I now fear for my life. I consider calling Amy to rescue me, but with only 3 miles to go and still no rain in sight, I don't want to inconvenience her unnecessary. Plus I figured it would take me about the same time to rush home from the mall as it would to wait for her.

While the clouds still look menacing, and there is the occasional rumble in the sky, the rain has stayed away and I'm almost home free. I urge the light to turn green at Colonial, and I speed off as soon as it does; of course, I catch every red light. After I turn onto Livingston from Primrose, I see what looks like a wall of rain in the distance as I near Bumby. I take off my glasses in hopes that I am seeing things. No such luck. Sure enough, the rain catches up to me at Bumby and I get drenched during the last mile of my ride home.

I arrive home 2 hours after my departure from work, starving, cold, wet, and looking like a drench rat.  Had I ridden home without the detour in the first place, I would have missed the rain, thunder and lighting, and been home at least 30-45 minutes earlier. Oh well, you live and learn.

ETA: And of course, as soon as I finished writing this, I got an email alerting me of a severe thunderstorm warning. I'm so glad to be home where is dry and away from the lightning :)

My right knee still hurts from the bike fall last Sunday, so I've not been able to run for a week. I tried yesterday, but the pain is still there. I am past smelling the roses, and I am now rather frustrated, but I know patience will pay off in the end. However, I biked 36 miles over 2 days this weekend and it was a lot of fun. I'll be posting all about it soon. The plan for this week is to take it easy in hopes that the knee will heal in time for my 13 miler this weekend. If I am able to run, I'll be stepping down to a slower pace group to ease into it, and may walk part of if.

Week Totals (rounded)

• run - 0
• walk - 18 miles
• bike - 36 miles
• total - 54 miles / 9.5 hours

Workout Summary

See details on Dailymile

• Monday - walked 2.5 miles (bus)
• Tuesday - walked 2.5 miles (bus)
• Wednesday - walked 7 miles (Universal)
• Thursday - walked 3 miles (bus)
• Friday - walked 2.5 miles (bus)
• Saturday - biked 15 miles (Cycling Savvy - Orlando Tour)
• Sunday - biked 21 miles (S-Cargo Ride)

I have not done a single workout this week, other than incidental exercise -- walking to the bus stop and at Universal. After I fell off my bike last Sunday and realized I would not be able to run for a few days until it healed, I opted to make lemonade out of lemons, take a much deserved week off, and have some fun. So we took Wednesday off from work and spent the day at Universal/IOA. The knee is healing, but the foot is still nagging. I may have a hill spur, so I'm going to go to a doc to get a real diagnosis so I can heal and not do more damage. Wednesday was an amazing day, and I plan to take it easy this weekend and enjoy it too.

We woke up at 6:30 Wednesday morning. After a big breakfast, we hopped on the bus to Universl at 7:45 am. We almost missed it, which would have sucked because it only comes once an hour. We arrived at IOA just after 9 am and headed to the Harry Potter land. The line to get into the land was already long, but we got passes to return for priority access at 11:20. In the meantime, we rode a few rides with very little wait: SpiderMan, Doom, Cat in the Hat, Seuss Train, and Poseidon's Fury.

We walked right into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at 11:15 and headed straight for the Castle and the Forbidden Journey ride, which had an hour wait. The line moved quickly, and I am sure we didn't wait that long. The inside of the castle was really impressive, specially the projections of the characters. The ride was amazing and very well done, but I was not as impressed with the land as I thought. It's just not Disney :) It was crowded with longe lines just to get into and browse the various shops, so we left, ate some lunch then headed to Universal. We saw Shrek 4D, which was pretty good, then ate some Dipping Dots. Why have I never had these before? Yum!

We took a break from the sun and let our feet rest while watching Inception on IMAX, and eating some popcorn and curly fries. WOW! The movie was incredible and had an amazing cast. I am already plotting to go see it again. After the movie, we headed back to Universal for a few more rides before dinner and the concert: MIB and Mummy. Dinner was shared tofu bowl at Moe's with some chips and salsa.

With no more ways to kill time, we headed to the concert early to rest in A/C and met up with Aaron before the Weird Al concert started. The concert was pretty good, although I could have done with a few less costume changes because I did not care so much for the videos they played while they transitioned. We were exhausted and wanted to hop on an earlier bus, so we left the concert early. We got home at 11 pm, promptly passed out, and slept like a baby. I think I'm too old to pull an all day of fun, but it's worth it every now and then :)

I already posted yesterday about the best part of last week, so I won't repeat myself. Also, I updated my Bike vs Bus post to include scores for each criteria. Check it out and let me know if you would score them the same. Which would win for you?

Before cycling class yesterday, Jason switched the pedals on my comfort bike so I could try out my new sandals. I forgot I was clipped in and fell off my bike within the first few minutes of class. Doh! In addition to the road rash, there is some bruising and a big welt. I won't be able to run for a few days because the impact makes it hurt; it doesn't hurt to walk, but I cringe every time I bend it and put weight on that leg when going up or down stairs.

I'm a little bummed of course, but I'm not letting this ruin my awesome mood leftover from the weekend. I only have to make it through one more day of work, then we'll enjoy another long fun-filled day at Universal. I am sure walking around theme parks all day Wednesday will be more than enough exercise and I rather take it easy this week and still be able to run 13 miles next week.

Week Totals (rounded)

• run - 10 miles
• walk - 9 miles
• bike - 32 miles
• total - 54 miles / 7.5 hours

Workout Summary

See details on Dailymile

• Monday - walked 2.75 miles (bus)
• Tuesday - ran 3 miles; walked 4 miles
• Wednesday - biked 30 miles (work); walked 1 mile (publix)
• Thursday - ran 2 miles
• Friday - walked 1.5 miles (bus)
• Saturday - ran 5.1 miles
• Sunday - biked 3 miles (plus on and off for 3 hours at bike handling class)

Accomplishments

• Place 3rd in my Age Group at Cool Summer Mornings 5K!

Goals

• Have fun! =) I am cutting myself some slack this week and enjoying life :D