Paul and I had been planning to bike with his regular group at 7:30 this morning, but a combination of a late night and temperatures in the 30's convinced us to stay under the covers. We went to a holiday party Friday evening and managed to get to bed by 10:00pm, only to be awakened a few hours later by a barrage of barking. Paul got up to investigate and I went from half asleep to wide awake when he hollered, "We have a new dog!" I ran into the kitchen to see a large yellow lab bounding around with our three dogs. Apparently, he had been hanging around in the front yard and, when Paul opened the door, he came right in!

I placed a late-night call to the number on his tag which turned out to belong to the neighbors from a few houses down...who had been sound asleep with no idea that he had escaped. Paul and I had a great time watching our kids play with their new friend, who is appropriately named Rogue, until the owner, wearing pajamas and carrying a flashlight, knocked on our door. It took a little while to get back into a deep sleep after all of the excitement, but it was worth it. What a fun night!

I should have gotten a photo of the escape artist, but here are our little ones, freshly groomed for the dog-sitter who will watch them when we fly to New England in a few days.



Back to this morning... With warmer weather forecasted for Sunday, we decided to hit the track for a speed workout and save the bike ride for tomorrow. I had not done any speedwork since a few weeks prior to the marathon and so I eased back in with just five Yasso 800's and a total of 6.5 miles. It felt good - challenging toward the end, but within reason.

Tomorrow, after the temperature climbs above 50 degrees, we'll have our final tandem ride of 2008!