Margaritas and Mineola

Man, I have some catching up to do.

Thursday night, I met up with Blink, a super sweet triathlete and blogger and his wife JazzyB, and Andrea, MacGyver (aka Jack), and Andy. We headed out to the one-horse town of Mineola, IA for the Taco Ride. It was a BLAST. Loved meeting everyone and the atmosphere is something you just have to experience for yourself. Where else (besides maybe RAGBRAI) could you experience tiki torch toting bike trailers, really drunk, Lycra-clad Karaoke singers, and a steakhouse full of sweaty cyclists all in the same evening?



It was super fun. As Blink mentioned in his post, he was so kind as to rig up JazzyB with a head lamp that was almost as bright as the sun and a jimmy-rigged flashlight on her handlebars that he secured with duct tape. She pretty much looked like daylight! He also rigged up a flashlight to his own bike as well. Safety first!



JazzyB



Blink and JazzyB - ready to ride off into the night.

It was a lot of fun, although on his blog, Blink did accuse Andy and I of a blocking penalty. I would like to deny these allegations as there was no way Blink was going to have the legs to pass us after the Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich that he put down at dinner. Just kidding, he is so fast that I am not sure I can think of anything that would slow him down!

I also have to say that 6 tacos and a pitcher of margaritas for $16 is very nice indeed.

ready to race...

... three weekends in a row.

This weekend, July 28th is the Papillion Mayor's Triathlon. A sprint distance race here in the area. The Cornhusker State Games (which I did last year) are on Sunday and so I will be interested to see what the turn out is for both. I have a buddy that is doing the State Games but I didn't know he had registered until I had already signed up for Papillion. Good Luck Eric, I'll be cheering for you.

On August 4th is the Ironhorse Sprint triathlon in North Platte, NE. This would be Tri-Dummy's home turf. He will be racing with his son that day which is very cool! I am also hoping to meet Duane as I may have mentioned before. I believe he will be doing the Super Sprint division of that race, but don't quote me on that.

Then the following weekend is August 12, which is the Des Moines Big Creek Triathlon. This is an Olympic Distance Race and it will be interesting to see how it goes after the two previous weekends. I am going to give it the best I have. It is supposed to be flat and fast so hopefully that will be a PR in the making.

Been a nice easy week of training. Nothing serious although I did fall off the nutrition today by eatting some processed foods that I normally wouldn't. That is okay for one day, but back on tomorrow. I did manage to pass up the cake at the baby shower I was at so that was a step in the right direction I suppose.

Have a nice end of the week to you all and be ready for a string of race reports in the the next month. I know, you can hardly wait. =0)

Good News

Was a hot, hot day today but it was all recovery for me today and so I lift legs this morning and will do 45 mins of core strengthening tonight. Nice.

I would like to thank Blink for helping me straighten out my facts. The Ironhorse race in North Platte, NE is on August 4th which means I can do both the Ironhorse and the Big Creek races. Woo-hoo!

I just need to get my registrations in now. =0)

Happy Monday all.

The Rest of the Story/Season...

Gotta Love Paul Harvey...

I have been contemplating the rest of my race season. I have the Papillion Mayor's Sprint Tri on July 28th and am hoping to get to Lincoln to cheer on a buddy at the Cornhusker State Games on the 29th. Here is where the problem lies. I want to do two races on August 12th, one is the Big Creek Olympic Tri in Des Moines, IA and the other is the Ironhorse Sprint in North Platte, NE. I am torn. I want to go to Des Moines and race with some of the cool people I have met through the HyVee Triathlon but there are a handful of people (mostly bloggers) that I want to meet in North Platte. My favorite super Clydesdale, Duane, is racing and I am not positive but I was wondering if Tri-Dummy would be around or if he has another race that weekend. (I haven't checked his race calendar.) A tough decision. One is a sprint the other is an Olympic. The entry fees are similar and I am pretty sure that the race in Iowa is closer in distance to where I live. I will ponder that little quandary and keep you all posted. I know, the suspense is killing you all.

After that, it is probably going to be the Jackson County Tri in Lee Summit, MO. My husband's dad is involved in getting this race all set up and so I think that I am going to do the Oly and he will do the Sprint. Haven't fully decided. I am also planning on doing a half marathon in October but I haven't decided for sure on that either. Look at me being Miss Decisive (note the sarcasm).

Hope you all had a great weekend. Stay cool with this weather!

Good day.

Run for Justin 2007

Thanks so much to everyone for all the nice comments and emails I received after the last post. That was so nice of you all.

Ok, this morning my husband and I ran a local 5K race. The race has been run every year to honor a young man that graduated from high school in my husband's class. He was an avid and passionate runner who had just signed up to run for Team in Training when he was accidentally hit and killed but a police car in 2004. Justin loved to run and ran the 2003 Chicago Marathon. His family found his running journals after he was killed and they all started running to honor his memory. The family has put on this run three years now and each year it gets bigger and better. There were about 500 runners and walkers there this morning. Pretty good for Nebraska.

It was a REALLY HOT morning, 93 F as we were coming home in the car. There is very little shade at the park we were running at and so it was a bit brutal but it was only a 5K, so it was alright to push it.

We did see some of my husbands friends at the race. Guys he hadn't seen in quite a while. He finished in 19:30ish (3rd out of 42 in his age group) and I came in about 6 minutes later at 25:00ish (2nd out of 41 in my age group). I had to sprint like crazy for the finish line because I knew there was someone right on my heels and sure enough she was in my age group.

It was a good race. A little more difficult that the 5K I did a couple of weeks age. Much hotter and with 2-3 good hills. There were also more bodies to maneuver around. I didn't feel as good as I did last race I think because I had been down for the count earlier in the week but really pulled it off.

Wanted to close this post with a picture of my big man, Brick, chillin in his new pool. This was after a run earlier in the week. When he first saw it I could see the wheels turning. He was thinking, "that is the biggest water dish I have ever seen. I can't drink all that!" But he made a valiant attempt and was well hydrated for the next few hours anyway.

Have a nice weekend all!

I'm coming back...

Yes! I successfully ate dinner last night at about 8:45 pm. Scrambled eggs and diced potatoes. I ran a couple of miles this morning with the dog and I am feeling better. Still tired and lacidasical but better. I am going to Master's tonight for a swim workout and that will feel good. I am bummed that I missed out on 4 good days of training but I guess sometimes the body just needs a break. I haven't taken 4 whole days off since I can remember. Maybe I will sneak a trail run in tomorrow after work as a treat to myself.

Gotta stretch, shower, eat breakfast and get to work.
Later!

Happy Fourth of July!

Well, I am finally back to feeling close to myself. I had a touch of food poisoning or something for the last three days but am feeling better. Yuck. Patrick flew home from Alaska yesterday (just in time for my birthday)and will probably sleep for the next week or so. =0)

It is amazing how much of a damper a few stomach issues can put on your training. I got three unplanned rest days because I was running on ZERO calories for at least 48 hours. I tried to run the dogs around the block on the mountain bike rigged up for just that purpose. I was exhausted after about 8 minutes. I knew that running was out of the question. I am slowly adding calories (careful... careful) and am hoping to do a short easy run this evening. We are running a 5K race on Saturday in memory of a classmate of Patrick's that was hit and killed by a police car a few years ago. No need to bust my behind, but I would like to be competitive.

So everyone... have a fun, safe, happy 4th of July and enjoy being outside with people you love.