Those That Have, And Those That Will

In the cycling world, there is a saying "there are those who have crashed and there are those who will." I now fall into the "those who have" category.

Saturday morning our several of our TNT teammates and I did the Red Poppy Ride in Georgetown. It's a great ride. I did it last year and we had beautiful weather. We weren't so lucky this year. Friday night some storms had blown through the area. It was overcast and muggy Saturday morning with a little drizzle every now and then. And the roads were wet. And the lovely spring wind we've had all year was present.

Several of us started off together, being careful on the turns. About mile 6 one of our teammates got a flat. Another teammate helped to fix it, but as he was putting the tire back on the bike the tube exploded. It sounded like a shot gun. So it was round two of fixing the flat. It finally got fixed and we were off again. By this point, MANY riders had passed us. We had some ground to make up and did pretty good for a while.

Just before the third rest stop, our second teammate got a flat. The third rest stop was only a few miles ahead and I had to go pee, so a few of us went ahead and then waited at the rest stop. As soon as everyone caught up and got what they needed, we headed out again.

And just past mile 30 (of what was supposed to be a 62 mile ride) either the crosswind caught me or my front tire blew (we aren't 100% sure what happened). It caused me to swerve into my teammate next to me (sorry Patrick). He tried to hold me up and I think I overcompensated the other way to keep from knocking him over and when I did, I lost control and down I went. It all happened so fast, but I knew I was going down.

My teammates were awesome though. There just happened to be a SAG vehicle right behind us with a first aid kit. My teammates went to work cleaning me up and making sure I was ok (and also checking the bike). My elbow got some pretty decent road rash and my shoulder was sore. I was done for the day. I got sagged ahead to the next aid station so an EMT could look at me and then I got sagged to the finish.

When the guy dropped me off at the finish my car was on the other side of the parking lot. I was thinking "I'll just roll my bike to the car with one hand". Umm, not when I had two flats. So a nice guy came to help and come to find out he and the friend who was with him had gone to the same high school I did and graduated a year ahead of my brother. Once they said their names I knew exactly who they were.

I was on my tri bike and for the most part it looks ok. The handle bars took the brunt of the crash, so they may need to be replaced. I'll have to take it in to the shop to have it looked at.

As for me, I wasn't really in too much pain, just sore. The shoulder hurt when I moved it, but it wasn't throbbing or anything so I decided to wait until today to go to the doctor (and avoid having to go to urgent care or the ER). I got in to see someone this morning and they did some strength tests, range-of-motion tests and some poking and proding to see what and where it hurt. And then he said he didn't think they needed to radiate me (his words for taking x-rays). He thinks it's just a shoulder sprain and I should be fine and he said the elbow doesn't look infected.

So for now, I'm on my road bike on the trainer. I'll have to go some time this week to get a new helmet just to be safe and to get some new tires for both the tri bike and the road bike. The road bike has a lot of miles on the tires, plus it's been on the trainer a lot so the back tire is pretty worn. I want good tires on the bike when I go to Tahoe.

I Got Adventurous Today

With my allergies, I've struggled all week to get in a good workout. I've done some decent workouts, but I've had to stop for coughing fits.

Sunday - 5 mile run
Monday - 15 mile bike
Tuesday - 4 mile run
Wednesday - 5.09 mile bike (hill repeats)
Thursday - nothing
Friday - 5 mile run
Saturday - spin class thanks to the rain and everything being rained out
Sunday - 10 mile bike into horrible winds

So after that week and with a beautiful day today, I wanted to get in a good workout. My son's soccer practice was cancelled so that meant my husband could pick up my daughter and I had NO time constraints.

The road that leads out of our neighborhood heads out to some country roads. I love riding on country roads, but usually don't do so when I'm riding by myself. But after two warmups laps in the neighborhood, my mind said to go. I knew I wouldn't get in a good workout if I stayed in the neighborhood. I had no idea really where they led and I'm very directionally challenged, so I told myself I wouldn't take too many turns. Well, it turned out I didn't have to take more than one turn to know where those country roads led. You see, I grew up driving those backroads and once I got to a certain point I knew exactly where I was. And it felt great. There was some traffic, but not too much. And I now know I can ride out to the lake without going through town. I'm very excited that I decided to be adventurous today and hit the country roads. I may be doing that more often. I ended up with 21 miles on the bike in less time than I get 15 in around the neighborhood. And my coughing seems to be on the way out. Wahoo!!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter Sunday and remembering what it's really about.

My allergies have gotten a little better since the steroid shot, but I'm still coughing quite a bit. I've taken the cough syrup at night and I took some yesterday afternoon, but I don't want to take it if there's a chance I'll be driving soon. Because of the whole allergy situation, last week was pretty much a bust when it came to working out.

Thursday afternoon was beautiful and I was going to get in a quick ride before picking Madison up from soccer tryouts. I needed to put a box in my car though and when I picked it up it almost ripped apart. Somewhere in trying to save the box, I tweaked a quad muscle in my left leg. With the allergies and the muscle, I decided to head up stairs to the recliner instead. The good news is that when I picked Madison up she told me she made the soccer team!

I was off work on Friday, but wanted to make sure I would be ready for Saturday's team ride so I slept in, did laundry, cleaned a bit and took the kids to the store. It's amazing what you can get done on a day off.

Saturday morning I woke up early and heading way down south for out team's group ride. One of the writer's from the city paper was their with her photographer. She rode with us part of the ride and he took pictures of us before and during the ride. Those of you who are local - be on the lookout for an article on Team in Training in the Statesman in the next few weeks.

Despite the coughing, I made it through the 40 mile ride. At one point I was with the fast group doing 23-25 mph and then the cough attack hit. I hung back and one of the captains hung back with me. We rode together to the next rest stop. The fast group was just leaving as we got there so we weren't too far behind, but we waited for the rest of the riders to catch up and headed in as a group from there.

After the ride we all hung out at the house of some of our teammates for some burgers, chicken and fajitas along with lots of other yummy treats and drinks. That's what I love about the cycle team. As much as we love to raise money for a good cause and get in some long bike rides, we love the social part as well. There are some really great people on the cycle team.

After filling my belly I headed home, took a shower, took some of that yummy cough syrup with codeine and hit the recliner where I stayed for the next several hours. My daughter was at a friend's and my husband took my son to see one of his friends play soccer. I had the house to myself (well, me and the dogs anyway) and that does not happen often. At one point yesterday I even had BOTH dogs in the recliner with me.

This morning we went to the early service at church and then Sunday school. We will go to my brother's in a little bit to celebrate my neice's birthday. Nothing else in on the plan other than enjoying the day.

Allergies - 1, Me - 0

Well, the front that came through Saturday night/Sunday morning stirred up the Oak pollen here and I haven't really felt well since Sunday night. I tried to get a bike ride in Monday, but with 20mph winds, a chill in the air and horrible allergies I only made it a little over 5 miles and called it quits. Tuesday I got no workout in due to a chiro appointment after work, picking Madison up from soccer tryouts and then getting her to her pre-UIL choir concert that lasted until 8pm. I felt so bad after that that I came home, put the kids to bed and went to bed myself. And proceeded to have a huge coughing fit at 1am and I'm not sure I ever fell back to sleep.

So, still feeling miserable today I decided to go to the doctor. With all the sneezing I've been doing I was pretty sure it was just allergies, but with Easter weekend coming up I wanted to make sure it was nothing else. Nope. Despite being on Allegra, Advair and Nasocourt I still had severe allergies to the Oak. So guess what I got? A good old fashion shot of steroids in the butt. My kids think it's funny. But I already feel better. Still not 100%, but good enough that I did a 30 minute bike ride while Madison was at soccer tryouts today and then I headed over to meet the team for hill repeats. I only made two hill climbs but that's ok. It's a hard hill even when allergies aren't bothering me. And before I go to bed tonight, I'm taking a cough syrup with codeine that the doctor prescribed. Here's hoping for a good night's sleep!

What a Weekend!

Well, like I suspected I didn't get a workout in on Thursday or Friday. But Saturday made up for it.

I mentioned before that I was going to be soccer mom this weekend and skip my cycle workout. I got up early Saturday morning, ate my breakfast, and at 7:15 took off for a run to the soccer fields. After winding my way through the neighborhood a bit I started heading to the fields. The morning was very foggy, somewhat drizzly, and in the high 50s. I was a little chilly at first but quickly warmed up. Then the mist felt good. As I hit the hike and bike trail on the way to the fields I realized they have expanded them. I had a nice wide sidewalk all the way to the fields! As I reached the fields I hit 7 miles. It felt great.

Joel had taken a bag for me with some warmer clothes so I quickly put them on. And then I realized there was no one from the other team on the sidelines. Not good. The refs came over and said the team had 15 minutes to show up or they would have to forfeit the game. And that's exactly what happened. Our coach wanted the boys to get some playing time so he asked if any parents were interested in playing the boys. Hey, why not? It wasn't like I'd just run 7 miles or anything. So I took my spot as a defender hoping the other parents could keep the ball on the other end of the field. I under estimated our parents. There were times I had four boys headed right at me and I had no idea which one to defend. But, I did make a great move on one of the boys and I did save a goal when our goalie came out of the goal and missed the ball. But, I also had a few swing-and-misses, too. All in all, it was good fun.

Then I headed home to get my things together for my "Spin for Cash" fundraiser I was going to do outside of Walmart. We headed that way and I got on my bike on the trainer and started raising money. My good friend Brandi came up and put her bike on the trainer next to mine. We spun almost non-stop for 2 1/2 hours and had a great time. I would have like to have made a little more money, but did pretty good. Every little bit counts. Here are some pictures from the event.

Dalton helping out.

Madison texting. She's a typical teen.

Then this morning after church was our groundbreaking ceremony for our new education building. And since I'm the chair of the preschool board, I got to turn some dirt during the ceremony. I didn't know until they called my name that I was going to be part of it.

This afternoon Madison had volleyball practice. She will be playing in a summer league with several of her school teammates. They looked pretty good and the coach seems to know what he's doing, so maybe they will all improve over the summer.

And I'll leave you with a great shot of the dogs taken this morning.

I'm IN!!!!!

It's a goal of mine to run a marathon in all 50 states. Doing one destination marathon a year is going to make it kind of hard to achieve in my lifetime, but maybe when I'm that old I'll finally be able to qualify for Boston. But I digress....

In my quest to branch out, I registered today for the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC. The marathon is October 25th, but it fills up fast, so when registration opened this morning my friend Brandi and I logged on and registered. I've wanted to do this marathon for a while, so I'm excited. The only downside is that it's the same day as the Austin 70.3 triathlon I've done the past two years, so I'll have to pass on that this year. I knew I would if I got into the Marine Corps Marathon so I'm ok with that.

It should be a great marathon to run and I'll have to decide if I'm going to train for time or if I'm going to have a fun marathon, stopping to take pictures along the way. I'm going to be helping out the fall TNT marathon team as they train for the Nike Women's Marathon October 18th and the San Antonio marathon in November, so I'll be able to train with them some which will help when I get to those longer runs.

In other news: Madison had her second track meet today running the 400m again. She still did great in my book, but did not qualify for the district finals tomorrow. That actually kind of helps us out as we have a busy Thursday. Heck, we've had a busy week and my training has suffered somewhat. I want spring break week back where I was able to get in several long rides. So far this week I've run 3 miles (Mondady), gone to yoga (Tuesday) and run 5 miles (Wednesday). We'll see what I can squeeze in on Thursday. Friday will be pictures for our church directory, so no working out before those. Saturday I'm committed to being soccer mom in the morning and will be missing my workout with the cycle team. The fields aren't too far from our house, so I think I'll run there. Then Saturday afternoon I'm participating in a Spin For Cash from 2:30-5 to help with my fundraising efforts. At least I'll get a decent workout then.

And in doggie news: I spoke too soon about how good the dogs had been. I can't remember if I have mentioned it before or not, but a while back Roscoe put two holes in my sheers in the office. The office window looks out into the front yard and when he saw our neighbors cat, he jumped up and when he came down his paws caught the sheer and put two holes in them. I was mad, but could deal with it. I mean... we've been in the house 8 years ... maybe it's time for new sheers. Well, then Tank saw them hanging lower (because of the holes) and started playing with them. What he actually did was make the two holes converge as one BIG hole. So, I tied the curtains up. What this did was leave a 1 1/2 foot wide section of window with nothing in the way to block the view. When Roscoe sees strange people outside he growls and barks. Well, Monday afternoon some neighborhood kids were playing hide and go seek. One even came up on our porch and ducked behind our bushes under our dining room window. My husband went outside and asked him not to hide there because we didn't want our dog to rip the curtains. If that would have been all he did, I would have been happy. Shortly after asking that boy to leave, I left for my run and Joel left to take Dalton to soccer. And right as I was finishing my run, Madison called and told me I needed to get home - NOW! I'm not sure exactly what happened because I wasn't here, but Roscoe broke the front office window. Luckily it's a double pane window and he only broke the inside pane. He's not hurt - no blood anywhere. But we have a lovely hole in our window that now has to be fixed. Oh the joys of dogs.