Another week in the can.

Looking back I think, “Wow, another week FLEW by.”

I guess nothing can be done about the pace in which it appears that life run, you just have to hold on and enjoy what you can.

On Sunday, I took the ol’ SS MTB to an EFTA mountain bike race in Rutland, MA. I *thought* my cousin was going to race, so I figured I’d go out and harass him, but he bailed. I still went out just for the *fun* of it, and I took a beating.

I didn’t have any preconceived ideas of how I’d do as, while I’ve been riding, I haven’t really been training. And there IS a difference. I was just hoping to get out and ride some new trails—instead, I suffered, cramped and walked my bike through long stretches of mud, rocks and pain.

Looking back, there were SO many things I should have done differently. I should have either fixed my shoes (the tread on the bottom of the shoes was getting in the way of my pedals) or used different shoes. I should have swapped out the rear cog on my bike. I should have brought my electrolyte tablets… so many would haves and could haves. Oh well… it was still “fun.” I do enjoy racing and I miss the scene. I don’t think my schedule will allow for any more mountain bike races this season, but cyclocross season is starting soon!

Other than that, my past week was essentially dominated by intensive preparation for lectures I gave to the PA class at the University of New England. I love participating the education of future PAs and I try to lecture/present whenever I can. However, I’m a little insane when it comes to putting together my presentation. I make notes and outlines, and I make one final version that I send out as student handouts, and another version I convert to PowerPoint slides. Of course, for the slides, I try to obtain pertinent images to help explain the content as well. AND then, I rehearse what I’m going to say, including more notes to myself. Yeah, I spent HOURS on this and it culminated in a 2hr presentation that could have gotten me to the final round of America’s Got Talent. Maybe. Okay, probably not. But the important thing is that I provided lots of information to the students in a format that was (hopefully) easy to understand and retain. I’ll be heading up again in the spring for more lectures.

So, that’s mostly what I did Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and the lecture was Wednesday, up in Portland, ME. As soon as the lecture was over, a weight was off my shoulders, so I took off for a road ride on one of my favorite road loops through Falmouth and Cumberland, Maine. Unfortunately, road construction thwarted my plan. I still had a good ride and then hung out with friends Mike and Jo for dinner.

I had Thursday and Friday for errands, and then it was back to work! One of the things I needed to do was to pick up dog food. I like to bring the dogs with me because they're allowed in the store, and they love commerce. We go to the Barking Cat in Salem. We got there a little early and the shop wasn't opened yet... but, there was a LARGE grey cat sitting out front. He didn't like the fact that I brought some dogs near him so he did the only thing that made sense in his little pea-sized feline brain--he attacked. Somehow he swatted at all of us and I got scratched. That secured it... I hate cats.