Training, learning and tennis

Well the wrist was beginning to feel better and although I knew it wasn't up to road cycling I figured it couldn't hurt to do a long cycle at the gym where I didn't have to hold on and balance so much. So last night I did an hour on the bike at the gym. I managed 26.5kms on a hill plus programme in that time (16.46 miles) so I was quite pleased with the distance but boy did my wrist hurt by the end - there is more holding on involved than I thought!

This week I managed to get the book we are using at housegroup - Leap over a wall by Eugene Patterson. It is a series of studies from the story of David. In the introduction it talks about the earthy spirituality of David and how being human is our primary job - experiencing all of human life and emotions etc, however messy is actually what we are supposed to do. Trying to sterilise our life and make everything 'spiritual' and 'heavenly' kind of misses the point that we are humans and on Earth. In the David story we see David engaging with God in and through the human, earthy experiences of his life. He was ordinary, doing ordinary things and yet he looked for God and met him and interacted with him in the everyday.

On Sunday I went to church in the morning instead of the afternoon as I normally do. That was because we had friends coming for lunch and staying for the rest of the afternoon. We had a good day with them. Thomas is four weeks old now and is growing cuter by the day. He is doing great at holding his head up and he looks around and has the biggest blue eyes. And I don't care if its wind or not, he has the biggest smile too. Meanwhile, Steve and Abby had lunch with us (Duck with roast potatoes, steamed veg and yorkshire puddings - because we have yorkshires with anything!). We had all thought of the same thing for pudding - summer fruits with meringues and cream...we brought some and so did they! Oh and Pimms again too. All out on the balcony enjoying the spectacular views. Lunch was a leisurely affair and took a couple of hours. Then we spent a pleasant hour playing Scrabble before going out for a walk with the dogs - Steve nearly got tennis elbow from hitting the ball for Ruby to go fetch in the field and in the river. A very pleasant day with friends.

Now for the tennis - oh boy was it nerve-wracking to watch the Murray game last night! It took virtually 4 hours for him to win in 5 sets and it didn't finish till 1040pm - all thanks to the closeble roof which meant they could keep playing till it was done. He did eventually win and is now in the quarter-finals which he plays tomorrow.

Off to house group tonight ...