Sunny Days and Bicycle Seats!

The past fews days here have been of the fabulous variety - warm, breezy, sunny - perfect for bikerides. Not that I've been out on the ol' Trek in a few weeks (it was, until yesterday, locked away in the rear apartment after a temporary tenant moved in and the landlady mistakenly locked us out and away from our remaining stored belongings). Today I became the thrilled new owner of a baby bicycle seat and will take it over to the Trek store as soon as I can to have the boys down there professionally mount it. I've got the instruction manual, but where's the sense in jimmying with this sort of contraption that is meant to safely contain my sweet goon-child when someone whose done it many times over will do it for a nominal fee? I can't begin to say how excited I'm getting just thinking of strapping her in with the little helmet atop her melon; she will be a sight to behold!

We've been getting out on more runs lately, too, and Rob has been taking one for the team and pushing Olive in the jogging stroller alongside me, then bidding me farewell for the rest of my run after he's done a mile. I'm pretty proud of him. I think I just might be able to pull of this race I'm running in two and a half weeks, thanks in large part to the new pair of Saucony Grid Ignition I got two weeks ago. I blame my recent back pain to the shoes I was wearing - New Balance something or others that were also new. I've been running in NBs since the late '90s and they'd always done well by me until this last pair. When I started feeling tension in my achilles tendon I knew something was amiss and immediately commenced the running shoe research which led to my next purchase. They're easily the ugliest pair of running shoes I've had in a long time - sugary-purple and silver, but I can't be bothered now with cosmetic details. I'd wear Disney princess tennies at this point if they promised to get the job done.

One more subject of note: I have just met and fallen hopelessly in love with a house in the neighborhood that is newly on the market. It's a steal at $399K but still very much out of our price range. It has six bedrooms, a pool, was built in 1920, a beautiful lawn, is on my favorite street in Highland Park, and butts up against the Khorey's backyard. I may just have to run another marathon to raise funds to go towards the downpayment. All contributors will get to come and live rent-free for a year!