Long Hard Weekend

Thursday when I got home I just waited for my daughter to call and tell me she was through with auditions. Then I picked her up and headed to the grocery store. Then I came home and hopped on the treadmill for a 4 mile run while switching between Survivor and the A&M vs. Miami football game. Let's just say I wasn't too happy with that outcome.

Friday night some teammates and I hosted a wine tasting fundraiser. So, I rushed to pick up my daughter from school and grab the goodies from home before heading to the wine tasting. As soon as I saw my daughter, I knew she didn't make the play. She said that only 3 sixth graders got parts. She was pretty upset but I told her how proud I was of her for at least trying and for getting as far as she did. By the time I left for the wine tasting, she seemed to be ok.

The wine tasting went well I think. There were 4 of us who organized it. There were about 25 people there and they got to sample 4 different wines. My friend and running buddy who is also one of the coaches this season did the wine tasting for us. Her and her husband own a wine store, so she gave the lesson on how to swirl, sniff, slurp and swallow. I think everyone enjoyed the evening and we made some more money toward our fundraising.

The tough thing about the fundraiser was that I didn't really eat dinner Friday night and I didn't get in bed until 11:00. The alarm went off Saturday morning at 5:00 am. Uggghhh. The Nike team was scheduled to do 16 miles. I didn't want to do that many because my plan was to ride my bike after, plus I was doing double duty again. I ran with the Nike team for a while, turned around and went to meet up with the other team. I ran 7 miles with them and then ran backwards a little, ending up with 13.5 miles. That was good enough for me.

After everyone was finished, my friend and I headed out to the race site for the half ironman I'm doing in two weeks. She said she didn't mind following me in her truck so that I would be safe. I got everything ready and took off on the actual course. The course has been described as hilly and I expected some really big hills. That's one of the reasons I wanted to ride it. What I didn't expect were so many long rolling hills and false flats. I knew there were some, but it seems like that's the whole course. There were really only one or two hills that I could cruise down the backside at over 30 mph. And I like to cruise. It let's my legs rest. Big hills and long rolling hills don't.

The other bad thing was that I didn't start until noon. It was in the low 90s and climbing. The sun was hot. I stayed hydrated and had some energy gels and gummy bears (I love gummy bears). But at mile 40, the sun got to me. I was slowing down a lot and knew I needed to get done so I could make my son's soccer game. I decided it was time to call it quits. We loaded my bike in the back of the truck and drove the rest of the course. I was disappointed, but my friend reminded me that on race day I will have had a good dinner the night before, I will have gotten more sleep the night before, I won't have run 13.5 miles before I get on the bike, and I won't be out there in the hottest part of the day. She's right, but I was still disappointed. I'm sure I can finish, but at this point, I'm thinking the time my get close. We'll see.

The other thing that's getting me right now are my allergies. Mold and ragweed are high and those two things really get to me. I'm taking all my medication, but I'm sneezing like crazy and waking up in the night with a stopped up nose. So today after church I ate lunch and took a nap.

For our youth group tonight, we went to worship with a church on the east side of town. It's an African American Methodist church. My husband and I have worked with their paster at some youth retreats and have a great respect for him. We also know a few of their youth from those same retreats. The kids from both churches all had a really great time. I hope we do it again.

I mentioned at the first of the month that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Well on Monday, September 24th, Chili's will donate 100 percent of its profits from restaurant sales to St. Jude. So, be sure to stop by a Chili's on Monday for lunch or dinner. It'll help a great cause.