long distance squirrel

i woke up this morning and didn't have enough time to get in a decent ride, so i went running. at one point, i caught something move out of the corner of my eye. it was dark and appeared to moving along next to me. i kept running, but looked a little close and realized it was a shadow. lest you think i was scared of my own shadow though, this was the shadow of a critter, a squirrel to be exact. i looked up, and there was a squirrel running along the phone line over my head. he was keeping up pretty well for the less than 20 feet he ran with me. with a little bit of training, he might be able to keep up with me for 50 feet. regardless, it was pretty neat to have a shadow that was not my own (or another person's or a dog's) moving with me.

graduation is the weekend at ut. traffic is crazy. i'm not moving my car until i have to go to the airport sunday morning, if i even move it then. anyhow, i had leis shipped in from hawaii, and am in the process of finishing making other ribbon leis. i'm not sure people here will understand the tradition of giving leis, but hopefully they like them.

on a somewhat related note, i went on an adventure to michael's (the craft store) yesterday to obtain ribbon, and if you're in austin, i highly recommend not being anywhere near bee caves on bike during rush hour. if you try it, you'll immediately understand why. i'm still alive though, so no worries there. after stopping at the craft store, i went and rode lost creek and barton creek to get in some hills. i did lost creek for the first time last month when i was at my peak mileage training for boston. all i remember from that experience is that the hills were huge and steep. i remember having to stand up out of the saddle to get up the hills, and i very distinctly remember how tired my legs felt. well, yesterday, as i was riding up those exact same hills in the saddle, i found myself musing about how one's imagination can really affect one's memory. i'm not saying lost creek doesn't have respectable hills. they are respectable. they are short and steeper than a roller. BUT they are no where near as bad as i remember them being from that first experience. the whole ride yesterday told me a few things: (1) my training for boston this year was more draining than i thought it was, (2) my legs have recovered well and (3) i just love riding my bike (though i think i already knew that).