It’s day two of the bachelor life.  I slept a little later, did a hilly, four-mile run, and walked the dogs.  I’ll  try another two miles this afternoon, but my thighs feel like concrete, and I didn’t even come close to conquering the hill today.  I have managed to shed about ten pounds over the past two weeks, with longer runs on more challenging terrain.  I also have a two-day growth of beard, and have that youthful feeling of an athlete in training.  Unfortunately, I still can’t regain any of my former speed, so I’ll have to be satisfied with endurance.

I always imagined what it would be like to be an Olympian.  Your only job would be to train.  I’m not sure I’m ready to give a full 8-hour day to training, but I will commit a couple of hours each day.  There is a medal at steak here, and my team is counting on me to give it my all.  There’s only 31 days until race day, and I’d like to lose at least another five pounds.  I’ll need every advantage to combat the mileage, hills, and lack of sleep associated with the event.  I should be just taking it easy in my rocking chair, but instead trying to find that guy inside me who ran track in high school 50 years ago.  Insane but true!

I did hear back from the fellow “streaker” that I wrote to yesterday.  No, we don’t run naked in public, as Ray Stevens describes in the lyrics of his hit song, “The Streak.”  We simply run every day at least once.  She and her husband operate a local running store, and have had a lot of experience with the Hood to Coast relay.  I read their blog, and was invited to run with them any Saturday morning.  Oh, you mean “everyone else is home day.  (Post #66).  I also know it as “movie night,” “popcorn dinner night”, or “run with the dogs” day, since Saturday is no longer a part of my new retirement language.  Every day is the same now and that includes birthdays, holidays, weekends, and vacations.

Speaking of movie night and/or popcorn dinner night, we did go to see the new “Spider-Man:  Homecoming” movie.  I wasn’t particularly impressed.  I’m not a consistent fan of these comic book action movies, but I did like “Wonder Woman.”  We’ll probably go see “Dunkirk” next, especially after our recent trip to Normandy.  I’m also not a big war movie fan, but the historical significance in that time frame just before D-Day is appealing.

I made a bachelor’s lunch platter of mini-peanut butter sandwiches.  It’s various combinations with honey, banana, mayonnaise, and pickles on thin-sliced french bread.  I’m apparently channeling Elvis, Kinsey Millhone, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. while watching the Cubs play the White Sox on television.  These sandwiches are not exactly low on calories and hardly on any Olympic training table, but should give me enough energy to complete another two miles this afternoon, and another attempt at the hill.

I hope to get some sun this afternoon, read some more of Dennis Lehane’s novel, Prayers for Rain, and maybe pray for strength to get me up that hill that has challenged me since we moved into the neighborhood.  I’m originally from the Midwest, so I’m intimidated by steep hills.  It’s not Boston’s Heartbreak Hill or Hurricaine Point at Big Sur, but it is as tough as it gets in this hilly neighborhood.   Before I load into that van at 2 a.m. on August 25th to head to the starting line, I want that hellish hill to be just a routine part of my daily run.  Give me strength and some Advil!