We got the week off to a good start by walking to school this morning.

There was a gorgeous full moon this morning.

But probably not very many people saw it, as it had set by the time I got home at 7:30.

Monday is a non-running and non-gym day for me. For a while I thought I would just have an “at home” rest day. There are definitely many neglected things that need to be done around my house. But then I realized that although I have gotten back into running and the gym, there has been a definite lack of biking and swimming on my workout calendar. So I decided to bike to North Shore pool for a swim.

It was a beautiful morning.

There’s the pier…almost there.

Isn’t this a great sculpture?

I got a new swim cap!

I like it much better than the purple one. It is a stretchy tech fabric, so it is easier to put on and doesn’t pull on my hair like the silicone of the purple one did.

I did my usual bastardized 400 IM X 6 (plus a leisurely 100 IM at the end) for a total of 2500 yards or 1.42 miles in a little over an hour. It felt great to be swimming again. There was an elderly man swimming in the lane next to me and when I stopped next to him after a lap of butterfly he said, “You are a good swimmer! Very powerful.” I kind of laughed and said thanks, but he is definitely my favorite person of the day.

Heading back the way I came…

but not heading home yet…

past the Coffee Pot Bayou bridge…

to the Trek store!

I took Star in for her 90-day check-up (a little overdue).

If you buy a bike at the Trek store they include a free 30-, 90- and 180-day tune-up.

I called them from the pool and they said they could squeeze me in. They are always really nice there (especially Ann, who sold me the bike and seems to always be there). She also teaches a yoga class at the bike store once a week…need to check that out some time.

On my Christmas list:

Star is all tuned up and shiny again.

By the time I got home I had biked a total of ten miles.

Lap 1 is from my house to the pool. Lap 2 is the pool to the Trek store. Lap 3 is from the Trek store to home.

And in Google Earth:

Have I mentioned lately how cool my Garmin is and how much I love it? You can zoom all the way down to street level and basically see your whole route from a biker’s eye view. Awesome.

After biking home I ate lunch then ran by Publix (sorry Caroline in Ohio, no picture of Publix…and are you still in Ohio now that you graduated?) before picking the boys up from school. I tried another one of the “Ice” drink flavors this afternoon…

It was OK but I liked the pink grapefruit flavor better.

Dinner tonight was thanks to Roni Noone’s GreenLiteBites. I made her “Chicken with Portobellos”.

If you want to make it, however, I would cut down on the garlic powder. I only used half of what it called for and the garlic powder flavor was still pretty prominent.

But was a hit according to the boys! Please ignore our very messy dining room, one of the things that I ignored and went biking/swimming instead.

We’ll see what Chad thinks when he gets home in a minute. He’s not a fan of garlic powder flavor, so I’m not optimistic.

To shift gears away from the meaningless mundane blog-fodder that is my fascinating life, Chad and I are very sad about to learn about the death of Andy Whitfield, who played the title role in Spartacus on Starz, which we loved. He seemed like the perfect male specimen…doesn’t he look like the picture of health?

He died at 39, 18 months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. The show already aired a season without him, which they wrote as a prequel to the first season. It just wasn’t the same and we were so hoping he would recover and come back for a third season. It just goes to show you that despite the best efforts to lead a healthy lifestyle, life is fragile and we are all very vulnerable. I am very sad for Andy Whitfield’s family (he had a wife and kids) and selfishly sad for the show because he was perfect in the role of Spartacus. I don’t know why I’m writing about this, but I really loved him and his character. It’s just a bummer in a deep and in a superficial way.

It’s a reminder to me to not take anyone for granted. The next time Chad comes up behind me and gropes me while I’m trying to wash dishes I’m not going to elbow him in the ribs and tell him to stop. At least I hope I don’t. It’s kind of a reflex.

Hug and kiss your loved ones every chance you get.