Did not want to ride this morning - back was stiff, no motivation, tired from the weekend (supposed to be the other way around, isn't it?) But I promised myself at bedtime last night that thunderstorms were the only reason I wasn't riding today. So when the 2 yr old woke up in the middle of the night, costing me almost an hour of sleep, I decided that wasn't an excuse. Woke up praying that it was raining. No such luck. There were storms in the area, so I checked the radar half a dozen times over the next 45 minutes, but nothing. So dressed, loaded up, and rolled down the street. Thought I was in trouble when it got darker (big storm to the north a bit) about 4 miles from the house, but didn't get rained on. Met another commuter in full length pants and a long-sleeve jacket (temp was 65 when I left, and I was in shorts, sleeveless, and sandals - quite a contrast) and had a good conversation for a few hundred yards before he turned off. Found wet roads with about 3 miles to go, and got rained on a bit for the last mile, but all in all was ok. Wind did beat me down a bit, but I'm getting used to that, finally...

Read an article in a recent runner's world last night about "streakers" - people who have these incredibly long streaks of running every day - some of them north of 20 years. The topic of motivation was covered in the article, and they all had good stuff to say. The most appropriate for me, I think, was something to the effect that "if I just don't feel like going, I'll promise myself that I'll really take it easy today. Once I get moving, I'm fine." And "I try to remember that I always feel better at the end of a run than at the beginning." Both are true for me, and apply to both running and cycling. I definitely felt better when I got in this morning than when I left.