Photo: Road ride on the tri bike, 4:45 a.m., 48 degrees, Linn County, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 6,300 yds (ytd 78,600 yds.)
Bike: 136 miles (ytd 1,536 mi.)
Run: 43 miles (ytd 566 mi.)

In the still of the night... it's apparent that one of my bikes needs a tune-up.

Photo: post-7-mile-run bus ride in the City of Angels (with a savior behind the wheel for good measure)

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 4,300 yds (ytd 72,300 yds.)
Bike: 132 miles (ytd 1,400 mi.)
Run: 44 miles (ytd 523 mi.)

...not what I'd been taught he'd look like.

Photo: 10-mile run, at some point after waking up, 69 degrees, Manhattan Beach, California

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 2,200 yds (ytd 68,000 yds.)
Bike: 68 miles (ytd 1,268 mi.)
Run: 33 miles (ytd 479 mi.)

A beach run a day keeps the doctor at bay.
or
We'll have run, run, run 'til our daddy takes vacation away.

Photo: Beat-the-storm ride/run, 6:00 a.m., 39 degrees, rural Linn County, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 6,100 yds (ytd 65,800 yds.)
Bike: 117 miles (ytd 1,200 mi.)
Run: 35 miles (ytd 446 mi.)

“…Trees do generate oxygen; men just breathe it up, stink it up, and generally misuse it. Trees hold the soil in place, men are constantly displacing it. Trees provide shelter and protection to countless species, men threaten the existence of those species. When in sufficient number, trees regulate atmospheric temperatures, men endanger the planet by knocking those regulations askew. You can’t rest in the shade of a human, not even a roly-poly one; and isn’t it refreshing that trees can undergo periodic change without having a nervous breakdown over it? And which has more dignity – the calmer spiritual presence – a tree or a typical Homo sapiens? Best of all, perhaps, what maple or cypress ever tried to sell you something you didn’t want?" – Tom Robbins