Update

The Golden Gloves tourney wrapped up on Thursday and man, there were some good fights. Hud Mellencamp was the winner of the first fight. It was three rounds of non-stop action followed by our fight which was a barn burner as well. Our guy won a 5-0 decision against a real good opponent. Both fighters were in real good shape and slugged it out right down to the last bell. The rest of the fights we stuck around to see were good also. If you're were there Thursday, you sure got your money's worth. We took 12 fighters to the tourney and ended up with six state champs. We are absolutely thrilled and hope we can keep it up in the future. We did set the bar pretty high for our first year, though.

The high mileage car made a few trips around the parking lot on Friday. Everything seems to be working as planned. We should get the mirrors and the windshield on it Monday. About the only thing left after that is the Mono-Kote and the numbers. I might even be able to take next Saturday off, unlike the previous two years when I put in 10 hour days to get things finished.

Shop Teacher Bob ran a 10 miler Saturday morning. I hadn't really been training for this but a guy I work with entered the race and then had to pull out due to injury. I had forgotten how hilly the course was when I decided to take his place. I took my time and practiced my race walking part of the way. I finished about 45 minutes behind the winner and about 45 minutes ahead of a 25 year old National Guard soldier. Of course, he was wearing his fatigues, combat boots and had a 50 pound rucksack on his back. I had a chance to talk to him for a couple of minutes before the race. Seemed like an extremely nice young man - said he had done two tours in Afghanistan already. God bless him and all the others putting their lives on the line for us. It's real easy to take for granted all the blessings we have, even during these tough economic times.

After the high mileage competition next Monday, I can hopefully get back to some of my projects. Of course, it's also the start of mowing and gardening season. I also need to make some headway on the house projects currently under way. I'd also like to start putting in some miles on the bicycle. There's a century ride in southern Indiana I'd like to ride in June. It takes a bit of training to shape up for a 100 mile ride. They also have 25, 50 and 75 mile rides that day. The promoters say the 75 and 100 milers have some "challenging hills". Having ridden a century ride down there a few years ago, I can attest to the challenging hills. We'll see what the schedule and the weather allow.