Patriotism even in links attire

Summer

Skippin' rocks on the river by the railroad tracks

Summer has finally arrived in New England! Glad to bid June goodbye (27 out of 30 days with measurable precipitation), we have begun July with a little more optimism. It was hard to adjust to the sunshine this weekend: my eyes haven't been exposed to anything that bright in a month. It seems like now we're getting into the groove of daytime sun and afternoon thunderstorms. (though it did just rain a full inch in the last twenty minutes I was writing this)

For the 4th, ski-exile Nick (with 10 additional pounds of hockey muscle weight) and I headed up to visit Keith and Caleb in the MWV, where they'd just finished a marathon 4 hour rollerski loop.

Nick displays his new bod. For the record, he's tanner than the picture makes him seem.

We played some tennis and golf, did some hiking, watched fireworks and found some time to take artsy photographs, too.

Patriotism in sky color

Other that that, in the few moments without rain it's been fun zooming around with the other Williams skiers in Williamstown. We've been doing some good rollerskiing, running, and hiking. Yesterday Sarah and Hannah joined our Berkshire training group for some 3030s up Petersburg. While they might be riding the lame-train in terms of social life, I can say for sure these two are going to be a force next winter (14 hour weeks with 2 gym sessions and 2 interval sessions is pretty solid). And I'm going to meet Atay for a run and lift later today, though it looks like the thunderstorms rolling in might dampen that excursion.

The positive side to having a lot of rain is that it makes getting in the gym a lot easier. I've already surpassed my total gym sessions from last summer. And I'm getting pretty jacked, too. Here's a picture of me ripping out some pull-ups with 30 kilos of weight. Oh yeah, I got a new tattoo!!

right bicep.