Let The Cycling Season Begin and I've Been Tagged

Thursday evening was the kick-off for the spring season with Team in Training and this morning was the first group meeting for the cycle team. Most of the team met at a local bike shop to talk about bike fit, helmets, shorts, jerseys, gloves, etc. You know, all those things they will need for the season.

But, there were a few of us who have done America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride before and we took off for a nice ride. If you are not local, you won't care where we went, but for those of you who are local, here is what we did. We started at Bicycle Sport Shop and head out on Barton Springs toward Mopac. We rode south on the access road to Loop 360 and then headed north from there. We rode up to 2222, crossed under the bridge and started back. I have forgotten how much hills take out of me. And as we were coming back, I noticed my bike was making a rattling noise. Not good. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from while I was riding, so I stopped. My gears in the back were somehow loose. Not good. I was done. But, I got in 20 miles on some great hills and feel good about it. It will take me a little time to get use to the hills again, but I'll get there. It's amazing how much different running and cycling are.

One of my teammates was taking his bike to the mechanic that I use and offered to take my bike for me, so my bike is now with the mechanic. Hopefully I'll have it back by mid week. In the mean time, if I ride I'll just use my tri bike. The joys of having two nice bikes.

And if the training has started, that also means that the fundraising has started. For those that don't know, I became involved with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program in 2005 because my brother-in-law is a lymphoma survivor. I've stayed involved because I have met many people since then that have had leukemia or lymphoma. Some have survived and some have not. And it makes me mad. Especially when kids are the victim. So, I fundraise once a year with the hope that one day there WILL be a cure.

If you would like to help me raise money to fight leukemia & lymphoma, you can visit my fundraising site at: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ctx/ambbr09/broehling and make a donation. No donation is too small or too big. Seriously, if you give up going out for lunch just once and donate that money, it will make a difference. If you would prefer to donate by check, let me know and I'll get you the details. I know the economy is tough right now and I know some of you have other causes you support, so I truly appreciate any donation!

And now, I have been informed that I've been tagged by Suz over at Day by Day...My Life As A Busy Bee with the "honest scrap" award.

The rules for this award are:
First, choose a minimum of seven blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
Secondly, show the seven winners' names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap".
Lastly, list at least ten honest things about yourself.

I'm going to do what Suz did and pick the last 7 people who commented on my blog.

Grandma J over at Ask Grandma J. Grandma J is one of my favorites. When I ran my first marathon with Team in Training, she actually came out to meet me at the finish line because I had been signing her grandson's caringbridge page. How cool is that? And now she lives not too far from me and she drove up and had lunch with me and Cortney one day.

Missy is a fellow triathlete. Only she has done something I still have on my "to do" list. She has finished an ironman. I enjoy reading her blog and about her training. Plus, she has a boxer, too!

I can't put a link to Shauna's page because it's password protected, but she is another wonderful person I met because I found her son's caringbridge page. One of these days we want to run a marathon together.

Not sure how Steve found me, but he was nice enough to leave a comment. He's a fellow triathlete as well. Thanks for visiting Steve!

Suz commented as well and she's the one who tagged me. I'm not sure it's fair that I'm tagging her back, but I need seven, so I'm cheating.

M is another of my caringbridge friends. And she actually came out to meet me when I did the Nike Women's Marathon, but in all the excitement and exhaustion of the day, it didn't happen. So, I guess I'll have to get back out there so I can meet her in person. She's an awesome mom and teacher.

And if you are reading this and haven't signed my blog, TAG, you're it!

Now for the honest part.
1. I'm not a morning person during the week, but can jump out of bed and be cheery when I'm headed to training with my TNT friends.
2. I'm very competitive and it frustrates me that I'm not faster in the water, on the bike, or while running.
3. I don't use the dishwasher. I was dishes by hand.
4. I love to take naps.
5. I love to read.
6. I would love to be on Survivor or the Amazing Race.
7. I'm a reality TV show junkie.
8. I can't imagine not spending Christmas Day somewhere other than my parents and hope they never move far away.
9. I don't like when people call after 8:00 at night. Especially telemarketers. I hang up on them.
10. If I'm watching one of my reality shows and the phone rings, I sometimes let it go to voice mail because I don't want to be interuppted.

So there you have it.

A Much Needed Update

Sorry to have left everyone hanging, but a lot has happened since I left for Orlando.

Dalton and I arrived in Orlando Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel, went to get my event passes, and then caught a bus for Downtown Disney so that I could walk across the street to the gas station and buy gatorade and water. I 4 huge gatorades and a case of water for $10. One small bottle of gatorade at the hotel was $2.50. So, it was worth lugging the case of water across a busy intersection to get back to the bus. When we got back to the hotel, we grabbed something to eat and then waited for the rest of his teammates to arrive so we could get instructions for the morning.

Saturday morning we woke up early and ate breakfast in the room (I had packed the small boxes of cereal and some lara bars for me). We met the team by the bus stop at 7:15 to head over to Disney's Wide World of Sports. Once we got in and found our field, the boys warmed up. They won their first game 9-3. They had a short break before their second game which they tied 3-3 (the other team scored the tieing goal in the last 30 seconds of the game). Then we grabbed some lunch and watched another one of our teams before our final game of the day, which they won 6-0. The boys were looking great and ended up getting seeded 1st in their pool. This meant they didn't have a game until 1:00 Sunday, but that game would be bracket play, so you lose, you go home.

Sunday morning I let Dalton sleep in a bit. Then we ate in the room again and just kind of relaxed for a while. He ate a little more before heading to the fields, but not a big lunch. The game at 1:00 did not go their way. Every now and then you get a ref who seems to call everything against your team and everything for the other team. It seemed that was what was happening. You can't blame the ref for losing (they are human afterall), but the boys just seemed to get deflated by call after call not going their way. They still played hard, but ultimately, they lost the game 4-2 and were out of the tournament. The only good news about this was that meant an extra day for Disney. So, I headed to the lobby and bought our Disney tickets. And despite it being cold in Florida (lows in the 40s / highs in the 60s) the boys jumped in the pool for a swim.

Monday morning we got up and met one of Dalton's teammates in the lobby for breakfast at the hotel. Then we headed off for Animal Kingdom for a few rides before heading over to Hollywood Studios for most of the afternoon. We got in all the good rides - Mt Everest, the dinosaur ride, the Tower of Terror, and Rock'n Roller Coaster. The boys were having a great time. We didn't get back to the hotel until late and then were invited to a teammates room for some fun.

Tuesday morning we got up early again. Today we went to Epcot in the morning (Test Track is COLD when the temp is in the 40s!) and hit Magic Kingdom in the afternoon. At about 5:00, we ran into more of his teammates and hung out with them for the rest of the evening, ending the night with about 5 rides on the Thunder Mountain Railroad. Good times!!

Wednesday morning Dalton and I caught our flight home fully expecting to go pick up his new puppy that night. Yes, we finally found him a dog, but wanted to wait until after we got back to get him. However, the lady who was fostering him had some family come into town, so we couldn't get him Wednesday night. It was probably best, however, as we were both exhausted.

Thursday at lunch time my husband picked up the new dog. When we got the kids that afternoon, they had no idea. They were very happy when they found out. Dalton has named the new dog Tank. He is a little Rat Terrier mix that is between 12-14 weeks old. He and Roscoe took a little time to get to know each other, but they are doing fine now. The only problem we are having is that Roscoe wants to play and he's just so big he scares Tank. Tank doesn't run, though - he barks right back to let Roscoe know he's not going to let Roscoe hurt him. I think it's going to work out just fine.

And then this morning, I ran the 3M Half Marathon. It was high 30's / low 40s during the race. Perfect temps to run, but I'm such a wimp before hand that I wore my under armour tights and top. I could have done without the tights. I was hoping to PR this morning, but just barely missed it, coming in at 2:00:55. Last year's time was 2:00:40. I'm still hoping to break 2 hours in a half marathon, but just can't quite get there. I've decided to do the Austin half February 15th, so I'll try again there. Only it's a more hilly course. Then there is a new half marathon in April that I may do, but again on a hilly course. Hopefully I'll get there.

Then this afternoon I took Roscoe to his obedience class. He's doing well, but just wants to play with all the other dogs. He gets easily distracted. We'll have to work some more this week on his ability to pay attention to us.

Oh, and this weekend marks the start of the spring season for Team in Training. I'll be training for the America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride again. Details to follow soon. For now, I need some down time before bed.

Heading to Orlando

I'm packed and ready to go. This afternoon, my son and I fly to Orlando where he will participate in the national 3v3 soccer championship tournament at Disney's Wide World of Sports! I was hoping for a little warmer weather once we get there, but hopefully it won't be too bad. I think the lows are high 30s/low 40s and the highs are high 50s/low 60s. At least it won't be below zero like it is in lots of places right now.

The tournament is Saturday - Monday (the kids have off school on Monday for MLK day). How they play will determine if or how much time we get at Disney. The primary point of going is for the tournament. They are guaranteed 4 games. They have three on Saturday - at 9:00, 10:30 and 2:30. That means they will have at least one game on Sunday, probably in the morning. Hopefully they do well and get seeded well in the bracket play from there.

Hope the airlines don't give us any problems about taking our soccer ball on the plane! Wish us luck.

The Weather Roller Coaster Continues

This is what I feel like today. Tired. Worn Out. Exhausted. Done.

Today did not go as planned. Friday's weather was VERY springlike - beautiful, sunshine, light breeze and 80 degree weather. We took Roscoe for a long walk around the neighborhood. Lot's of dogs and kids were out playing. You really would have thought it was spring.

But sometime in the middle of the night, a cold front blew in. I knew from the news that it was going to, and I was prepared to get up early this morning and run my 18 miler in the cold weather. Last night, I laid out all my clothes - my under armour, my gloves, my ear cover, etc. What I wasn't expecting was the wind.

I got up this morning a little before 6am and let Roscoe out to do his business. When I opened the door to let him out, all I could hear was the wind howling! And the trees were swaying like crazy. I decided to consult my trusty little friend called weather.com. According to that the wind gusts were 15-30 mph. Ugggh!! Not only cold, but a VERY strong wind as well. I can do cold and I can do windy, but the combination of the two is not fun. I thought about it a little and then checked again to see what the afternoon looked like. It looked like the wind would die down to 10-15 mph gusts later in the afternoon, so I decided to wait and do my run later. I got on the couch with Roscoe and we both fell asleep.

I got up when the rest of the family got up. Then I went to Dalton's soccer practice. His team breaks into smaller teams for 3v3 tournaments, and several of them qualified for the national championships. That will be in Orlando this coming weekend. At the Wide World of Sports complex. So Dalton and I are heading to Orlando Friday. (Madison and daddy are staying home). I wanted to go to the practice to make sure I wasn't missing any important information.

After practice, we headed home for some lunch and then headed out to an adoption day to check out a dog we had seen online. He was there and he was cute!!! He's a little rat terrrier mix of some sort and is about 10 weeks old. They don't do same day adoptions, so we came home and filled out an online application. We'll see what happens. Our only concern is that he is a he. We really wanted to get a female for Dalton since Roscoe is a he. But, I think if we are approved, we can do a "meet and greet" before actually deciding. I'll keep you posted.

Then we came home and I got on my running clothes and headed out. It was still cold and still windy and the wind just sucked all my energy out of me. I made it about 3 miles before deciding I'd go home and do what I could on the treadmill. By the time I got home, I had gone 4.5 miles. I only needed 13.5 on the treadmill to get in my 18. I didn't even make a mile before I felt like I couldn't go any further. So, I started a run/walk combo thinking I'd finish that way. But it just wasn't in me. I made it 2.5 miles and called it quits. I got 7 in for the day and that's all folks! Not what I expected.

The good news is that I can chill the rest of the evening and see what tomorrow brings. I'll be lucky to get in a run tomorrow though because we have a meeting at church at noon and then we start dog obedience classes for Roscoe at 2:00. I'm kind of disappointed, though, because we don't get to take him tomorrow and I'll be in Orlando during next week's lesson so my husband will get to take him to that. Can't wait to see what they say.

Make Up Your Mind!!!

No, not you the reader. The weather around here needs to make up it's mind. We had several times at the end of last year where it would be 80 degrees one day and 40 the next. 2009 has started off the same way.

New Year's day was nice. I went for a 7 mile run in shorts and a tank. (Then I relaxed all day inside - nice!) I got a call that night from work saying that if I didn't really need to come in on Friday, they'd see me Monday. Sweet!! Friday was a scheduled "off" day exercise-wise for me and I only left for a little in the afternoon to go to the chiro, but I think Friday was a nice day as well.

Saturday morning I got up early so that I could get in a 16 mile run. I had watched the news the night before and knew the temps would be in the high 50s or low 60s with a chance of rain for the morning. I figured it would be humid as well. And I was right. I went out again in shorts and a tank, and by mile 2 was dripping with sweat. But, I had on my new Garmin 305 with my heart rate monitor, so I was happy. Until mile 8. The heat and humidity was getting to me, so I started doing a run/walk combo and finished up the 16 miles that way.

After the run, I headed in for a shower and then we were off to the outlet mall. Madison has been wanting to go, and I wanted something at one of the stores. The boys figured they would check out the Nike, Reebok, and Puma stores, so all were happy. But, I was in shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops and I got HOT at times. The temps reached the mid 80s. If you didn't know any better, you would have thought it was a beautiful summer day.

Then last night, a cold front started blowing in. Temps this morning on the way to church were in the high 40s and it's not suppose to get out of the 40s all day. Tomorrow is suppose to be 40s and rain.

I'm not complaining about 80s, but it sure is hard to keep going back and forth from 40 to 80 in the course of 24 hours. I just wish the weather would make up it's mind!