Lola the Early Bird

gets the worm, or rather worms. I just got back from Chicago to discover Lola has some leetle friends in her poop. The vet confirmed it's tapeworm but at least it's the kind that comes from rabbit/rodent poop and not from fleas (phew!). There are tons of rabbits at the agility field and I've been letting her run around off leash so she can get a warm up in while I'm setting up an exercise or walking a course.

I managed to get in 3 runs of around 50 minutes each and a 20 minute swim in my wetsuit in Lake Michigan. No biking as I had no time or access to a bike so my tri this weekend should be interesting. The race director is shortening the swim due to the extreme cold temp. of the lake but he's not sure by how much. He also said booties would be legal but I doubt I'll have time to get some by Friday. I've never swum in them either and trying them out for the first time during a race might freak me out. Still can't decide if I want to camp on site the night before. Waking up cold and jumping into a freezing lake does not sound appealing. However neither does getting up at 4:30 am, driving almost 2 hours then jumping into a freezing lake. Wish there was a hotel nearby but no dice. I could say to hey with it, I'm not in great shape and there's the business of that freezing lake. I'll see how I feel about it on Friday. The only other race I've signed up for so far this summer is the Glenwood Springs Triathlon in September and I'm not even sure I got in so I hate to wuss out.

My trip to Chicago was partly fun and partly stressful. My family's a little crazy and can be hard to deal with at times but it was good to see them. I also met up with some good friends that I've had since high school. One of them has a 1 year old border collie mix that is a huge sweetie and I spent a lot of time playing with her and watching her tear around the Evanston Dog Beach. That beach is quite the experience, I had a lot of fun watching the dogs and talking with their wacky owners. I also spent a lot of time walking on the lakefront paths along the Northwestern campus and Evanston shoreline. Unfortunately all of my runs were through the suburb of Wilmette where I grew up and not along the lakefront but I had to work my fun stuff around my family and that's how things turned out. Wilmette's a rich, sterile, Stepford Wives type place. The beach and park at the lakefront are nice and they've even added a small dog beach but if you're a non-resident the yearly fee is a whopping $150 which pretty much sums up all that's wrong with Wilmette. It's not my favorite town in the world but there are worse places I could have been stuck in for 5 days. Still, the place sometimes gives me the heebies even though I grew up there. I feel like some alarm is going to sound and I'm going to be wisked away by people in white Hazmat suits if I happen to step off the sidewalk onto someone's perfectly manicured impossibly green lawn.

It was a great trip for bugs because in addition to the cicadas I also hit the start of firefly season. The lack of fireflies is one of the very few things that sucks about Colorado.

I'm so glad to be back home though. The only good thing about leaving is the greeting I get when I get back.

I've got some photos but haven't even uploaded them from the camera yet. If I ever get time and if they came out o.k. I'll try to post.