140.8

I didn't post last week. I weighed myself on Tuesday and was so mortified at the weight gain (I was 142.6) that I just couldn't get on and post. See what I mean about summer? Last Tuesday was coming off of five weeks of essentially no exercise at all. But Claire is at camp at UMBC this week and last, so I've been going to the gym--three days last week plus one ten-mile outing on my bike, plus I've been laying off the cookies at night, so I was happy to see that 140.8 this morning. This week I went to the gym just the once so far, but I *finally* managed to commute on my bike this morning. Except for the hills it was actually pretty fun, and I definitely feel more energetic right now than I normally do at 9:00 in the morning. But the logistics at this end of the trip are a PITA. There's no place near my office to wash off and change, and no place near the gym to lock up my bike. And going to the gym adds nearly a mile onto the trip since I have to take the ring road around campus to get there. But I did a temporary lock up against a bench, changed really quickly, and made it into work with my normal amount of lateness. Oh, and I rode my bike across campus to get to a bike rack near my office, wearing my little summer skirt. I'm not sure which looked more dorky--me in my screaming yellow shirt (see, Mom, I'm doing what I can to keep cars from squishing me flat!) or me in my skirt riding a bike not meant to be ridden in a skirt!

Amazingly, the bicycle computer you all gave me for Christmas back in 1990 (Amy doesn't remember doing this, so maybe I'm remembering wrong. I thought it was a group gift from a bunch of you) still works, so I can tell you I went 13.44 miles (not counting the bit back across campus at the end) with an average speed of only 11.1 miles per hour (did you know when you type "miles" with your fingers one key off on the right it comes out as "nukes?") and a top speed of 29.6 m.p.h. And the scariest bit of the whole trip was the two miles on the bike path between Catonsville and Ellicott City--too curvy and bumpy and debris-strewn, and when it switches abruptly from pavement to boardwalk with no warning there's an inch and a half jump that nearly knocked me off my bike. I'm going to try the road next time and see how that goes. I also spent way too much time at traffic lights, including one at the very end that is triggered by traffic in the lane, but my bike wasn't enough to trigger it to turn green in my direction and no one came up behind me. So I waited through three or four cycles before crossing at the crosswalk.

The calorie counter thingummy tool (not on my computer--it's not that technical!) says I burned 504 calories this morning. And I get to do it again tonight. I don't, however, get to do it again until sometime in August--Claire is back to Kids on Campus for the next two weeks, then we've got a week of Pennsic. But I can probably manage a couple days a week for the rest of August and into the fall.