Dreaded long day & a reconnaissance mission

This week I had a rough week of training. For some reason each of the workouts I did I struggled on. An eight mile run on Wed was the worse of the bunch. My left knee was hurting again like it has been for almost a month. So no surprise there. But this time my left hip and lower back was hurting also. That's usually not a problem though, I will just train through any pain. But for some reason I was so slow on every workout I did this week. Agonizingly slow. So consequently I was really dreading my long brick today. I was scheduled for a 6 hr bike followed by a 45 min run. To make me even less enthusiastic I got off of work @ 6am and was scheduled to return again that night at 6pm. When I got home I slept for as long as I could. I knew I needed to be on the bike by 9;30 to have enough time to complete my workout and then get ready for another 12hr shift of work. I got 2.5hrs of sleep. I was dang tired when I had to get up. To make me even less exited about my workout, my wife was home because this was her 1st day home as a stay @ home Mom. I missed her. Because we have been working opposite shifts I have only seen her once or twice a week for the last month. I really missed her! I decided to do the first part of my workout on my indoor trainer so that I could at least talk to her a little while I rode. I actually had a great time being with her while I got in my mileage. We talked for quite awhile. Then turned on the TV & we watched my favorite TV show The Biggest Loser. While watching the show Cindy pulled a stool next to my bike and we held hands for almost ten minutes. Holding hands while I rode my bike indoors wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world for either one of us. But we missed each other so much we were content despite the awkward angle I was having to ride in and how sweaty our hands were. I ended up doing 3hrs on the trainer. 1.5hrs was the most I'd ever been able to tolerate before. The last 3 hrs of my scheduled ride I rode from my house on highway 14 just south of Santa Fe, North on 14 past Madrid NM. While riding through Madrid I hit a pot hole and my new PDA fell onto the road @ 25 miles an hour. I Stopped, picked up the pieces & continued riding. I was pretty P.O.'d at having busted up my palm pilot. Yes, it is expensive, but the reason I was most upset was because it was such a kind and considerate gift from my wife And I ruined it in less than a day.I ended the bike ride feeling a little more tired than I usually am at that distance. 81 miles in 5hrs 51 minutes. I believe lack of sleep had allot to do w/ that. I hit 8 thousand miles on my bike today which was a pretty exiting mile stone for me. I felt much better on the run than I usually do after a long bike like that. As a matter of a fact, I felt great! I felt fast which is unusual for me I felt like I could of completed a marathon. Good thing considering I will need to run a marathon after 112 miles in the saddle in less than a month I ended up completing 4 miles in 40 minutes. I know, not what most would call fast. But it is for me.After my brick I started getting ready for work and noticed the air bubble on my left work boot had popped. Who knows how long I'd been wearing those boots with improper support for my left foot. I believe I have found the culprit of my nagging left knee, hip, and lower back issues lately. I'm really exited about the possibility of fixing that problem. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the boots were indeed the issue. After I finished getting ready for work I had some extra time to see how bad the damage was to my PDA. Believe it or not I was able to put the dang thing back together again and it still works perfectly! The back side is pretty badly scratched but that is the extent of the damage. No damage to the camera lens, the touch screen or anything else. I'd suggest the Teo 700 for anyone wanting a biker proof PDA.I suspect tonight I'll be exhausted. Tomorrow won't be any easier either. I will be doing a 2.5 hr run as soon as I get off work. & then the wife kids & I are going to be driving to Hobbs to visit my family. I'll get as much sleep during the drive as possible, by that point I'll be very sleep deprived to say the least.I've driven to Hobbs many times. But this time I'll be doing some reconnaissance. You see, barring snow, Sunday Nov 18th I'll be leaving my house on my bicycle. My destination....you got it, Hobbs. It will be a 3 day ride of a total of about 350 miles. I tell you, life is good. And I'm choosing to live it to the fullest.