Public Safety Announcement

After last weeks less than impressive race I have been trying to get back into my training and switch focus toward my next race. This week has been pretty uneventful but the training has gone very well and I am feeling much better.



On Wednesday, for the first time ever, my lunch time run was interrupted by a Head of State. The President must have been addressing congress and as he left Capital Hill the Capital Police shut the roads so that I was unable to get down The Mall. I had to wait 5 minutes or so before he passed but he did give me a wave to make up for it.



This weekend I had a 4 hour bike ride on Saturday and today I swam 3k, biked 2 hours and ran 40 minutes. Despite a blow out of my rear tyre as I descended Sugerloaf Mountain in Maryland I was able to stay on my bike and the rest of the ride yesterday went very well. I used the ride as an opportunity to do a couple of loops of next weeks Poolesville High School Road Race route. The route is not too bad but the gravel section of the course, for which it is infamous, has some really nasty pot holes and I am a bit concerned about my wheels.

So what is the public safety announcement? Well as this is a bit if a no news week I thought I would take the opportunity to share with you one of my experiences following a long summer ride last year which will hopefully act as a warning to others. Last summer I was out for a ride and I was wearing my tri shoes without socks, as I normally do. About an hour or two into the ride I was caught short and decided to answer a call of nature in the woods by the side of the road. Unfortunately being still relatively new to these shores I am not used to looking for Poison Ivy and must have brushed against some with my ankle. The resulting reaction did not clear up and I ended up having to go to hospital to get some steroid cream. So if you do need to 'spend a penny' beware. Here is a pic of my leg - enjoy.