So far in July: little running, lotsa biking

Keeping things organized here to keep the progress going. Let's see...

• This morning was a road race in the tiny town of Langdon, which I missed! They'll do it again next year, I believe, so I'll catch it then. The reason I missed it was because I've been having foot problems: the tissue that makes up the upper part of each foot seems swollen and painful following exercise, and stiff when I get up in the morning or even after being sedentary — say, driving for an hour or more. My wife says I need to stretch it more, and she's right, I think. But in the meantime, I've been avoiding any running, including jaunts with the dogs around town, which are now just walks. They don't seem to mind.

• To compensate, I've been adding a lot of time on the bike. This past Wednesday, I took a moderately long round-trip to Nashua, to visit my mother's property and then my mother (in a skilled nursing facility), and then took the long way back, along rural Route 3A up the opposite side of the Merrimack River. It's a good ride for a warm evening, light traffic and mostly flat — enough for me to stay in the highest gear I have for the entire time I was in Litchfield!

• There was also a shorter ride from Henry's Auto Body in Manchester to my house in Bedford, but challenging because of the need to negotiate the eastern end of the new bridge over the Merrimack River that's part of the $180 million airport access highway. Turns out there's no way to get on the dedicated bicyle path from Brown Avenue other than lifting your bike up and over a four-inch granite curb. Some planning!

• After a spell of sticky stuff, the next few days will bring fine summer weather to New England. So tomorrow I'm going to attempt an 80-mile out-and-back ride to Harrisville, N.H., and then another good ride on Tuesday or Wednesday. Plus I'll start aggressively stretching and getting the new running shoes broken in in advance of the big triathalon on Saturday, July 14.

No White Mountains running just yet; we'll see how the feet feel after a week of stretching and shoe breaking-in.