A Week Away

The big Tahoe ride is one week from today! Yikes and wahoo all at the same time. At times the season seemed like it was getting long, but at yesterday's practice, it was hard to believe that it was the last group practice before Tahoe.

We met at the assistant coach's house and headed out from there for a nice out and back. The only bad thing is that you don't realize going out how much of a tailwind you have and how many downhills you are going down --- until you turn around to come back and it hits you smack in the face. Going out, we averaged 17.5 mph. My total average when I was done showed 14 something. That tells you how slow we were coming back in. But it sure was fun to fly down the hills at 35mph on the way out!

After the ride, we went back to his house where they grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and ate lots of other yummy food while we had our "things to know before you go" meeting. When you go to a marathon, all you really need to remember is to pack your shoes, socks, shorts, sports bra and singlet. There's so much more with a bike. And not only do you have to remember more, but we have to ship our bikes early. We have to have our bike at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society office on Monday (yes on Memorial Day) at 1:30 to pack up. That's when the truck will be there and if we miss it, we have to find another way to get our bike to Tahoe. I think I'll be there at 1:00 just to be safe. And sometime Monday morning I need to get the bike ready for shipping. They suggested we put foam padding around the tubes so they don't get scratched in the process.

Anyway, after getting all that information and last minute reminders on when to be at the airport and what to pack, we took a group picture with one of our honored heroes. It really has been a great season and we have lots of fun, caring people on the team. The event weekend is going to be a blast.

This past week was also a good one in the fact that I FINALLY got to the pool for my first swim of the season. With triathlon season right around the corner, I really need to get some swims in. I wasn't as winded as I thought I would be, but I do need some work. Since I will be bikeless (well, road bikeless anyway) after Monday, I'm hoping to hit the pool next week for some swim time. And then I need to determine whether I'm doing Danskin or not and see if registration is still open. Danskin is June 8, so one week after Tahoe.

We are trying to enjoy the 3 day weekend, so last night we went to The Main Event for my friend's birthday and bowled. It was lots of fun. Then today after church, the whole family decided to head out to the lake to ride bikes - the kids and my husband on the path around the lake (about 3 miles) and me out on the country roads around the lake. I was a little nervous as I have always had someone with me in the past. Today I was going to fly solo. I intended to get in about 20 miles, but the heat and wind was brutal and I cut it short at 11. I may (depending on when I wake up in the morning) try to get in a short ride Monday morning before taking my bike to load on the truck. We'll see. I know I'm ready and I know I need to rest my legs. After all, I have a 100 mile bike ride in 7 days!

Other than loading my bike tomorrow, I have no idea what we will do. I don't plan on using an alarm clock to wake up to. When I get up, I'll do some sort of exercise. And sometime tomorrow I want to go to my parent's house. My mom got the new Wii Fit game and said it's lots of fun. We haven't gotten it yet, but I do want to get it.

To anyone who may be reading this who is currently or has been in the military, THANK YOU for your service to our country. May God bless you and your families.

The 5K That Wasn't, and Grandma J's Visit

After an 80 mile bike ride last weekend, I decided to focus more on running this past week. I even ran on the treadmill one night while under a tornado warning waiting for the storm to come in (that will make you run faster!). I was safe, watching the news and the radar so I could get off if I needed to. And doing all that running this week made me want to run the local 5k this morning. I wasn't sure how I would feel or how I would do since I did a 58 mile bike ride yesterday, but I thought I'd give it a go.

So this morning, I jogged over to the start for a total of 1.13 miles at 11:03 pace. That was a nice warm up. The weather felt great for a 5k. I lined up right at the front and took off when they said go. Right away I felt like I was huffing and puffing, but it's only 3.1 miles, right? I can hang on. I hit the one mile mark and looked at my mile split - 8:26. Perfect. If I could hang on, I might set a PR (personal record) today. I kept going. At mile 2, the split was 8:49. A little slower, but it was over some hills. I knew the last part of the course was downhill or fairly flat. Could I PR?

I found myself behind another runner that I see around the neighborhood all the time. As we approached the turn toward the finish, I see him do a double take. And I look ahead of him and ALL the runners are going straight and not turning. I then notice a cop car parked like it is blocking the road we are suppose to turn on. What????? So I yell to the guy in front of me, "isn't that our turn". He agrees it is, but everyone else is going on, so we follow the group. I knew the course is going the wrong way and would be long, but I wanted to keep going at the speed I was going to see if I could place. When I got to the Mile 3 marker and hit my split button, it showed 14:10. Yep, that mile was LONG. I crossed the line and saw my final time of 32:15. And the total distance showed 3.75 miles. So I ran more than a 5k this morning.

When I find my average pace for that distance, it shows my average was 8:36. If I put in 8:36 for 3.1 miles, my time would have been 26:40. I probably wouldn't have gotten a PR, but I'll never know. Hopefully next year they can get the course right again. As it was, I came in 5th in my age group so I'm happy.

Then I jogged back home - (1.05 miles at 10:34 pace), took a shower and headed to church.

We had a special visitor coming today and I wanted to make sure I was there to meet her. Cortney was busy setting up for our Creekside Gathering service, so I waited outside for Grandma J to arrive. We enjoyed church together and then went to eat at our favorite little Mexican food restaurant. Yummm!!!! We had a great time at lunch getting to know each other better.

We are home for a brief time before heading back to the church, so I thought I'd post an update. I only got one picture today, so here it is. This is me, Grandma J and Cortney. The others got some more pictures, so if you want to see them, head on over to Grandma J's or Cortney's blog.

Tomorrow, I'm going on a field trip with my son's fourth grade class to the Alamo. It should be a fun, but long day. We have to be at the school at 6:30 a.m.

Yes, I'm Still Here!

Yikes, it's been a while since I've updated. I guess you could say I've been busy. What have I been up to?

Well, there is the training for the century ride I have coming up on June 1st. That will be here before I know it. Long bike rides take long hours. This past Saturday, our group did the Armadillo Hill Country Classic. I did the 80 mile route. That's a long way to travel in a car, much less on a bike. But I did it. I know now that I'm ready for the 100+ miles at Tahoe. I'll try to update with more details on the ride later, but lets just say I hope Tahoe is not as hot. At mile 70, my friends bike computer said the temperature was 108. The high was actually in the high 90s Saturday, but the heat coming off the asphalt made it feel a lot hotter. I need to get my bike in to the shop in the next week or so just to make sure everything is ok before leaving and I need to make sure I have spare tubes, etc.

I've also been having lots of meetings lately. I'm in charge of a spiritual weekend for youth this summer and we have to have meetings to prepare for that. I'm also in charge of getting people together to plan my high school reunion that's coming up this summer. And I'm the chair of our preschool board at the church.

On top of that, my daughter will be traveling to Italy and Greece for 20 days this summer with the People to People Student Ambassador program. We've had meetings for that and had to go shop for some new clothes. I still need to stop by the bank and get Euros and we need to make sure we have the luggage, clothes, shoes, etc. that she will need for that. We have the bon voyage party this weekend where we find out all the final details. She leaves June 13. We found out today her flight time changed to 6:30 a.m. so we'll have to be at the airport around 4:30 a.m. That's going to kill me!!!!

And if that isn't enough, I've been planning our vacation. We didn't do a big one last year, so we wanted something nice and relaxing this year. Plus we are going to do something special with my son while my daughter is in Italy. I'll share details later.

For Mother's Day, I wanted to do NOTHING. We got home from church and I tried to nap. I think I got a little one in, but things kept waking me up. We then went to eat a late lunch/early dinner and then went out to my mom and dad's for a little bit. When we came home, it was time for the Survivor finale. Yes, I have to admit I am a reality TV junky. Survivor and Amazing Race are not to be missed. I'd love to be on either of these shows myself, although I'm not sure I could be away from my family for that long.

Anyway, I had a little time tonight between a meeting, exercising and eating (you know, I kind of need to eat), so I thought I'd let you know I am still here.

And stay tuned --- Grandma J is coming for a visit this weekend!!! Wahoo!!!!