What a Week

Tuesday night was kick-off for the next Team in Training season. I'm going to be a captain with the run team this season, so off to kick-off I went. It was great to see so many people come out and want to raise money despite the lovely economic situation our country is in. And you know it's a small world when one of the people signed up for your team actually went to high school with you. Wow! It's going to be an interesting season.

Wednesday night I headed out to hill repeats. I got there before anyone else so I figured I would go ahead and start and see how many hills I could get in. I headed up the hill feeling good, cooled off in the cul-de-sac at the top of the hill like we normally do, and then started my decent. You can build up a lot of speed if you want to, but still being a little cautious on the bike, I feathered the brakes more than normal on the way down. And it's a good thing I did. As I got near the bottom something felt "off" to me. I slowed down even more with the intent of maybe stopping and that's when I heard it. Pssssssstttttttt. The front tire was flat. I couldn't get stopped and clipped out quick enough and down I went. This time on the left side. Some minor road rash on the left elbow and a big bruise behind my right knee from where my leg hit the bike frame. I'm starting to feel a little jinxed on the bike. I was so mad that I went home and ran 4 miles.

Thursday after work I headed out for a run. I was hoping to get 4 in, but running at 5pm in the lovely heat and humidity is not something I'm use to at this point in the year. I got 3 in and called it quits.

Friday was a "get things done" day. We took Tank back to the vet for a check-up and to get his heartworm medication, I registered for Sunday's local 5k, clothes got washed and my road bike got yet another new tire and tube put on. I also caught up on some tv watching that got missed this week.

This morning I woke up early, loaded my cycling gear, and headed of to meet the run team. Since this was the first group practice I wanted to be there at the start. As soon as the instructions were given and the runners took off, I took off to meet the cycle team. When we headed out, I was very nervous. I was afraid of getting another flat and crashing yet again. After about 10 miles I started to relax just a little bit. We had a great group of us riding together that stayed together until our first stop around 20 miles. From there we took off and ended up in a couple of groups, but still close enough we could see each other. The group of us together decided to do the extra 5 mile loop. As we were heading west on that loop, a cold front hit. One moment we were hot and going with very little wind and the next moment we were chilly and fighting a huge head wind. It was that quick. As we turned the corner to head north, I got nervous again. You could tell that it had rained there because the streets were slick and the crosswind was VERY strong. At one point I felt like it might blow me off the road. I didn't want anyone near me and got very close to calling the sag vehichle to come get me. But I kept going. We somehow managed to dodge the rain until we got close to the end of the ride. And it didn't start raining hard until we got back to the starting point and were loading our bikes. Then the team went to eat together like we normally do. I ended up with 51.9 miles.

When I got home, I took a long shower and then tried to take a nap in the recliner. I never did fall asleep, but it felt good to just lay there. Then I had to take Madison to volleyball practice.

Tomorrows plan assuming the weather cooperates: 5k in the morning followed by another bike ride!