Before we left, Amber and I decided to have a little fun. She was wrapping presents when I got home from work. My goal of the day was to wrap the bedroom window. Well, seal it to be exact. Genius me dropped it back in the summer and cracked it badly. It's still holding together, but it has been a little drafty with the cold weather. I bought one of the plastic window sealing kits that looked like it would be decent enough to do the job. It turned out to be freaking great! The plastic seals super smooth when you hit it with a hair dryer. The plastic was so tight and crisp that I couldn't tell it was even on the window. Shannon was at work and our little brains got to working. Smoke filled the room as we devised a plan for a prank. I am always trying to do something to bug Shannon. I'm her husband. It's my job to be annoying, right?!
A few minutes later, Amber and I were cutting a huge piece of plastic and fitting it to the bathroom door. As Shannon reported she was on her way home, we sealed the door. It looked wrinkly at first, but the hair dryer works miracles. When I finished, it couldn't have looked better. Like the window, you really couldn't tell it was covering the doorway. It didn't even show much glare.
Amber preps the plastic
Smoothing out the wrinkles with the hair dryer
Like it's not even there...
I also thought it would be good to seal up the cereal cabinet for some fun the next morning.
The two-sided tape is enough to make you want the kit
With plastic in place
The plan worked perfect. She walked into the bathroom door. We laughed. She got mad. We laughed harder. Then she attacked us. We fought off her punches through the laughter. It was a great family moment!
The cereal trick was not as good. She was more awake than I expected and saw the reflection of the light in the plastic just before she put her hand up. Dang it!
The drive up to Elkhart went well. We made it in record time. Traffic and weather were both great. It was so funny listening to everyone talk about the weather. I've seen maybe two white Christmas's in my life. Here in Tennessee, we always talk about having a white Christmas. The people in Elkhart were all talking about a green Christmas. Apparently, it has been several years since the last time it didn't snow on Christmas Day. I just thought it was funny how different we look at it. Snow would've been fun, but I was glad that the weather was sunny and the roads were clear.
We ate a lot of junk food, especially when we went to visit Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori in Michigan. There were bad things laying everywhere!
I could feel myself gaining weight just from breathing the air in that house. Don't think that I held back though. I way over-indulged just like everybody else. I've been taking a break from all athletics lately, letting myself eat what I want and skip riding. For a while I didn't miss riding at all. Then, it hit me while we were in Indiana. I had the urge to be out on my bike logging in four or five hours a day. I knew then that I was mentally recovered from a long race season and it was time to get back to it!
Training began again this past Tuesday. Of course it was a freezing cold day. I got in a few hours of mountain biking on my newly redesigned trail. I stayed warm with a fast ride, finishing at dark just as the sleet started coming down. Shannon and I have starting running again too. I am hoping to go race the XTERRA National Championships in Utah next year, so running will become a regular thing for me again.
Keith and I went riding yesterday, logging in a little over three hours on the road after work. It was a fun ride. We didn't ride fast, but it was still a tough ride thanks to the wind. There were times we were barely breaking 12 mph on a flat road. It kind of felt weird to be on my road bike. I haven't ridden the Sette in over two months. I've been riding the singlespeed cross bike for most of my rides. Even that kind of riding has been few and far between. Prior to Tuesday, I had thrown my leg over a bike a total of three times since the Murfreesboro cross race in mid-November. Two of those rides were in cross races at Lock 4. The other ride was a quick hour on the mountain bike at my parents' house.
It feels good to be back to training. I actually love being out pedaling on the road or trail all day. I love riding my bike and I love all the other aspects that come with it like, watching what I eat and sometimes even stretching is fun. It does kind of irritate me that I seem to be off the invite list for the group rides around town. I hear about all the great rides after they happened...usually through Facebook posts. Oh well, I will be out there regardless of whether somebody joins me or not.
I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and I wish you a happy New Year as well. Thanks again for reading and for support. I know a lot of you that read the blog talk to me regularly and cheer me on at races. It is all greatly appreciated!
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