Bigfoot on the trace?

I woke up just prior to the alarm. The alarm was set for 4:30AM. I have to leave the house by 5:00AM to make it to Adult Swim on time (regardless of driving or biking). I try to bike as often as possible and especially on Wednesday’s – I like to do the bike ride after work. I made my way to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and turned off the alarm on my ironman watch just in time.

I loaded up my backpack which has become more like a purse. I put everything imaginable in this thing. It weighs a ton. So I was drinking a couple of coffee and getting dressed in my office and cramming more and more stuff into the bag. I had my watches, my clothes for the day, my swimsuit, my goggles, my wallet, my cell phone, a towel, flip flops, keys, sunglasses, MP3 player and then I decided that I needed a pair of shorts. I don’t like to wear pants on the bike from the gym to my office (about a quarter mile) because I can get grease on my pants. I went back into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of sleep shorts from my closet.

I headed out the door into the early morning darkness. I turned the headlight on and pushed play on the MP3 player. I have started to enjoy these dark rides. There is almost no one on the trace at 5:00AM. There is one older couple that walks on the trace with bright flash lights but mostly it is rabbits and opossums.

I was cruising along at an easy rate through the darkness. Previously I had seen a bat take some flying insects down that were attracted to my headlight. It was pretty neat to watch.

Then something hit me up on the left side of my head. It was not something small like a bug or stone or anything – it was like a slap to the face. My first thought was that I had just been attacked by Bigfoot or something. The slap was not hard at all but it stunned me. It was like when you hand brushes something in the lake. I took notice. I immediately turned my head and starred into the darkness. Of course I could see nothing – it was pitch black.

I then thought that it might have been a bat. That shocked me. I was more careful as I continued my ride. When I got to the natatorium I noticed that my back pack was not even zipped. I was half asleep when I left the house. I did a quick inventory of the contents and thankfully nothing was missing except for the sleep shorts. I guess they had worked themselves loose and flew up and hit me on the side of the head. Or did a Bigfoot grab at me and open the pack and dislodge the shorts. We will never know.

Adult swim was challenging again. I am pretty good with the longer stuff (150 yards) but swimming fast 50’s is eating me alive (10 x 50 @ 40 seconds on the 60 - I best I could hold was 42 - 43 seconds). I just can’t hold the fast pace right now – lots of stuff to work on.

Later in the day Jodie went for a run on the trace and she thought that she saw my sleep shorts but wondered to herself why would they be out on the trace. I am going to try and locate them on my ride home.

UPDATE:  Oh yeah, the ‘prickly heat’ is getting better. It is really not visible but I sure can feel it.   After the shower I have been loading up with the baby powder. I have been going into a corner at the gym locker room and basically throwing up a cloud of the white stuff and dancing around naked. It pretty much covers every inch of my body. I have gotten a few stares but I don’t think they can see much due to the smoke screen. Also, I don’t know if the chlorine from the pool is good for the skin but the cool water is very soothing.