Finishing the month (May 2013) strong

Last day of the month. What's the verdict?

Well, it finished with a good week for outside activities.

• Monday, May 27: My annual Memorial Day weekend bike loop from Bedford through New Boston and Goffstown. Little more than two hours. Nice to finally have dry weather and sunshine after five days of rain.

• Wednesday, May 29: Took dogs for hour-long run on humid night. Felt strong all the way along five-mile loop until turning ankle right at the very end. No serious damage, though.

• Friday, May 31: Up early and biked to Nashua to pick up my mother's mail, then back home on the other side of the Merrimack River. Six towns, about 35 miles, two hours and 17 minutes.

One note is that Thursday night I stayed late at work to try to get things done prior to a weekend visit to Chicago to see one nephew receive Confirmation and another graduate from high school. By late, I mean until after midnight, and then was up for another hour at home before finally getting into bed.

And then I tried rising at 5 a.m. to hop on the bike for a lengthy ride. Uck! Maybe I used to be able to pull that off, but not anymore. Nothing complicated about it. I need sleep, or I feel like a piece of garbage and have no fun. 

• Looking ahead: The trick will be to keep up this pace through June and the rest of the summer, making the most of the long days that will be with us from now until mid-August.

That means it's prime mountain-climbing time, and also prime lake swimming time. And that means it's time to make progress on climbing all 48 of New Hampshire's 4,000-foot peaks, and to try to get into the water and work up to doing better at a triathalon this season.

There's one coming up in June, right in my own backyard. The Greater Nashua Triathalon, parts of which cover the exact same roads I just biked this morning to my mother's house. Maybe, maybe not. Not sure if I'll be up to a third-mile swim in just three weeks.

Still, need to stay focused on keeping the momentum going, with larger or longer events every other day or so.