CPR Dummies

Today I got certified for the first time for Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). I am hoping to become a spin class instructor, and in order to become one I have to be certified to teach spin classes and certified in CPR. I'm half way there after pushing, breathing, and heimliching the dummies. Dummies are fun and easy to work with, but they are set up to help with CPR unlike humans. While I do now feel confident in my abilities related to CPR, I hope that I never have to use them on anyone. However, should the need arise, I will be ready now. It had been since high school that I did anything with CPR, and I'm glad I'm up to date now.

On an unrelated note, my brother (Barrett) took a picture of me while we were riding yesterday and I thought it would be cool to share. That's the reason for the picture above. :-)

Spring is here???

Today it was 70 degrees around here, and that is a shock considering the weather we've had lately. Every bike ride I've done over the past three weeks has been extremely cold. It's been so cold that I haven't even enjoyed a few of them. However, riding on the trainer day after day is just as bad. I guess I should just be thankful that we had a nice day today, and that I can get on a bike and ride it.

As an update, my knee is doing fairly well. It is pretty strong (even compared to pre-surgery), but it has bothered me a time or two. I'm trying to keep building my strength, stretching enough, and icing a couple times a day. On the plus side, I've been doing lots of swimming, and I've actually enjoyed it!!! That is something I never thought I'd say.

Monte Sano

I love Monte Sano mountain here in Huntsville. Today, my brother (Barrett) and I climbed it for the first time this year (his first time ever). It was so much fun to be able to ride up the side of the mountain and look out over the edge and see the world from a true 'bird's eye' view (see picture above). Although it was a bit cold on the way down the mountain, the trip up was a ton of fun. It was also a confidence builder because I haven't done the Monte Sano climb since last year, so I'm definitely getting some confidence in my cycling right now. I look forward to climbing the other mountains in the Huntsville area over the next few weeks.

Rachel and I are contemplating buying some land in Morgan County right now. I don't know if it will work out or not, but we're excited about it.

Cycling and lots of it!!

Wow, what a week for me. As I've detailed in the recent months, I had knee surgery in October. Therefore, I didn't really get an opportunity to start riding my bike until around November 10th or so. I have steadily been ramping up my riding since then, and last week I got in 260 miles of riding (of course I was on vacation at the beach). I took it easy for the most part and just tried to get in a lot of miles. I was pleased with the outcome--including the status of my knees. I am back swimming this week--YIKES!! The swimming is going to take longer than the cycling just because I'm not as good at it.

On another note, I have dedicated to reading each night for 15 minutes or so. I don't normally enjoy reading, but I NEED to do it. I know other people with fantastic vocabularies (including my dad and brothers), and I think part of it comes from reading. I'm currently reading a John Grisham book, The Rainmaker. It's interesting so far (only 400 more pages to go). :)