I can’t remember what was in the last update so I’ll tell you guys what I think I haven’t already. We started out to do our long run of 20 miles on Sunday morning as usual. We planned to do three loops of the run to Caspersen Beach. After 13 1/3 miles, two loops, I was hot, nauseous and light headed so I quit. Good sense got in the way of macho-ism (is that a word?). Jean ran the same 13 1/3 miles and her leg started to hurt so she was done also. It was funny that this leg was not the same one as the one with the toe problem she’s been having for weeks now.

I rode 55 miles of flat road on Monday again out on Highway 776. It was 88 degrees by the time I finished. Jean’s legs hurt from running the day before so she took the day off. I had a bad start to the day. I went out, loaded things up and started to drive out to the parking lot on US-41 where we leave the car. I got to “The Rialto”, a turnoff from Business US-41, when I heard something on the top of the car. It was my new bike shoes. One fell off into the middle of the road and the other stayed on top of the car. I went back to get the shoe that fell off and stood there 5 minutes waiting for traffic to clear. I was just about to go out to get the shoe when a truck came by and smathered it!!! The shoe was fine but the cleat ended up 30 feet from the rest of the shoe, was bent and the plate was shattered. Luckily, I brought 2 sets of shoes in case of emergency so I did my ride anyway. How anal is this-2 sets of shoes, 2 helmets, 4 pair of swim goggles, 5 tubes, 2 spare tires and a large suitcase full of riding and running clothes?

I ran six and two third miles this morning on the familiar Caspersen Beach loop. Jean did the same loop several times on the bike since running still bothered her toe.  We went to the YMCA and I lifted weights for one and a half hours and swam one hour. Jean swam one and a quarter hours and didn’t lift quite as long.

Being down here with lots of retirees make us feel young. Everything is comparative, but the average age of people Venice is the highest in Florida and maybe the country.

Jean had a massage at three so I went to the Presbyterian Church on Highway 776 to see if we could park in their parking lot while we did our long bike and save the congestion of US-41. It was no problem with them as long as we parked out near the road and didn’t use the spots up close to the doors. I told them we wouldn’t be riding on Sunday so that shouldn’t be an issue, but we would park at the far end of the lot just in case. While I waited for Jean’s massage to end, I got hot and thirsty so after I picked her up downtown we went to Sharky’s, a beach restaurant, for Bait Buckets. They are Margaritas made with Blue Curacao and served in 16 ounce plastic beach cups. There’s a sign above the bar saying the limit on the blended drinks is two per customer. We felt like we needed to eat something to help soak up the alcohol so we ordered a basket of stuffed mushrooms.

I will cook Grouper and Portobello Mushrooms for dinner. Life is good!!!!

Hungry now so bye!!

Jack & Jean