While on vacation from my desk job this week, I undertook several home improvement tasks. Channeling Tim the Tool Man, I put on my tool belt with needle nose pliers, hammer, screwdrivers and drill bits, and replaced the fluorescent lamp over my kitchen sink. Channeling the Karate Kid, I painted the living room. And channeling, uh, the guy who murders everyone in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I took shears and chainsaw to the brush in my forested backyard and chopped down a bunch of invasive plants such as wisteria and mimosa.

Excellent upper body workout. However, I admire anyone who does manual labor for a job and THEN goes out to train for endurance sports. I am exhausted by the end of the day. I ran five miles yesterday, but otherwise my plans for a vacation week chock full of exercise have not panned out. I am running ten miles on Saturday at the track club's End of Year Run. Looking forward to it!