Running, biking and bocce ball

I got out for a 3 mile run yesterday. I haven't been running that much yet, but I'm already starting to feel stronger again. I'm sure all the endurance training on the bike has helped that. Maybe I'll have to find a duathlon to try out next spring.

Even though it was cloudy this morning, it wasn't raining. So I decided to take the chance to get out on my bike. I got 6 miles into my ride when I ran into a repaving project on the bike path. I'm glad to see it...the path was getting rough. But I had to either walk my road bike over a half mile of loose dirt and gravel to continue on the trail or turn around. I didn't feel like doing the walking, so even though I had planned on riding quite a bit further today, I headed back home.

On the way home, I had one encounter with a driver that was irritating but thankfully not damaging. I was crossing Kalamazoo Ave. near M-6 on the Southbelt Trail. I was in a cross walk designed for bike path users. The crosswalk is at an intersection that leads into a shopping/cinema complex on one side and a large high school on the other. Cars frequently make turns at this intersection without waiting for the proper light timing and without looking for crosswalk users. Since I ride this path a lot, I know to watch out for it. I'm so glad. I got the walk light and checked the lanes coming out of the shopping center on my side of the street for oncoming cars. It was clear, so I started crossing the street and began watching the right turn lane into the high school. A huge black pickup truck came roaring through the cross walk as I approached. I slowed down to let the truck go through. After the vehical was halfway through the crosswalk, the woman driving finally looked in my direction. She stopped and put her hand up to her mouth in shock that she had nearly run someone over. I read her lips saying, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" while I finished crossing the street. I wanted to shake my fist at the woman, but I just shook my head instead. She probably felt bad enough without me being a jerk to her. I'm just thankful that I learned my lesson this spring and that I now trust no one on the road to pay attention to me. It's a sad state of the world.

In a more fun note, my hubby spent a couple days in the Detroit area for business this week and spent the night at my grandparent's house out there. They gave him their old bocce ball set to being home! I have many fond memories of playing bocce with my family up at the cottage they used to have in Perry Sound, Ontario. I used to spend a week or more there over the Fourth of July holiday every summer. They had to sell the cottage some years ago, but having the bocce ball set sort of gives me back a piece of it. The hubby and I busted it out yesterday in our back yard. He beat me two sets in a row. But I'll get him next time!