Decisions, Decisions...I suck at them.

So I ran 3 miles last night. Actually 3.11.
I don't remember my time except I had negative splits, and kept telling myself to dig deeper.
It was fast (for me) being less than 42 minutes.
I'll post it later.

The Alpharetta Greenway has receded. I ran it last Friday and the flood waters were at the sidewalk. At one spot it was completely muddy, thus where I decided to turn around. And it smelled. Yesterday there was no smell, lots less water, and a lot of sand. Still some debris.

There is the excitement that is my running.

So now I have my running for the year pretty much sewn up. 2 10Ks, 2 5Ks and a 5 miler.

But the question is... next year?

April 24: Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon or Nashville Country 1/2 Marathon (I want KY, D wants Nashville). He doesn't want to go to Churchill Downs that close to the Derby and not go to the Derby. I think it will be cool to run at CD.

May 10ish: Tri the Rock

June 13ish: West Pointe Tri

June 20: Assateague Assault

June 29ish: Iron Girl

July 12ish: Triangle Tri

August 9ish: Acworth Tri

September 18ish: Tri 2 Remember


So I know I can't do all those Tris (they are all Sprints). I know D will be training for an Olympic most likely. So now I have to figure out which ones to do. Decisions, decisions...

It's alive!

Yes, I'm still here.

I'm "training" for a 10K. By "training" I mean I look at my schedule and imagine I'm going to run that.

The race is 10/10. So far I have run 2 miles in my plan.
I have missed a 3 miler, and a 6 miler. I'm running (not in quotes) 3 miles after work. The winds are 17mph, so that should be interesting.

So since my triathlon, I have pretty much been sitting here, going "I'm a triathlete." My friend JJ (from last post) is now an IronWoman 70.3. She completed Augusta. I'm not sure her time because her chip came off during the swim. Thus all day Sunday until she posted I was worried something happened to her. But nothing did, and she did terrifically!

Georgia Tech won on Saturday which is why I didn't run 6 miles. I ate lunch at 10AM. Then I drank. Then I went to the game and got poured on. Then I went back to my cooler and drank. Then on the way to the car, I stopped at a bar (I wasn't driving) and drank. Then when leaving the bar, my friend saw someone he knew so I drank. Then friend dropped me off, but not at home but at another bar, so I drank. Somewhere around 9pm I realized I was hungry. So I got tater tots. My beers of the day were Yuengling which I managed to get down a cup of before I realized I was struggling getting this beer down, when I had beer in my cooler to drink, Kalamazoo Stout, Guinness and Terrapin RyePA. Mostly Guinness.

After a cab ride home, I went to bed (D was working all this time). Sunday felt "stellar". In addition to my horrible stomach ache, I got to watch my team, the Redskins, become the laughing stock of the NFL by losing to the Lions. So eh.

Monday, I got up at 5am to run. Took Porter for a walk, completely dressed in my run clothes. I dropped her off at home, and went upstairs and went back to bed. No 6 miles just wasn't in the plan. I have abandoned those miles, and now have moved forward to 3. I WILL do those after work.

In triathlon news, V, D and I decided we would do the Assateague Assault. Until I realized it was in the ocean. With waves. And started hyperventilating. And we haven't even signed up! So now we are looking at Rock the Tri, the Triangle Tri and of course Tri2Remember.

And now we are looking at a half-marathon for the first part of 2010 (Jan-April timeframe).
We have almost settled on the Kentucky Derby Mini-Marathon. But D needs to read some info. He has no internet at work, and sending him info by texting just doesn't seem to convey everything.

This post is totally about nothing.

Race Report: Tri 2 Remember

So I did my first Triathlon yesterday…

Friday afternoon, I drove to D’s work, picked him up and we went to rack our bikes. I was a little frustrated that we weren’t getting to the registration at opening (12) but this was the earliest D could get off and he pointed out it would be dumb to go separately. So we got up there. There really way no point to get there early. I knew there were 7 bikes to a rack, so I thought that meant you had a 2/7 chance of getting an end (you were assigned a rack based on your race number). Technically, yes, you could get an end of a rack. But there were 7 racks on each side of an aisle. With the aisle on one side and a wall on the other. So my rack was at the end next to the wall. So with my rack, there was a 0/49 chance of getting the end, regardless of the time I showed up. Not a big deal. Only 2 other people had racked on my rack. I made a newbie error, although no one said anything at anytime. I racked my bike the same direction as the person next to me. D was across the aisle (men and women were separated). So with the bike racked we left (we had also checked in, gotten our numbers, T-shirts, freebies, etc.)

Friday night, V came into town from MD. She had to do the whole bike drop thing too, so around 6 we got a call. She was lost, but not terribly. She did exactly what I did the first time going up, so I knew where she was. She had been in the car about 10-12 hours, stuck in Greenville for 2 of them due to an accident (not her) where 85 had shut down. So she was about as testy as I was.

She found where she was to go. She actually got into a tiff with someone. She is so my friend!

Anyway at 730 she called to ask me what was up with traffic. She was sitting on 85 not moving. Another accident about 3 miles ahead of her (I looked it up). Finally at 8 she got here. She was clearly frazzled. She got a beer. And off we went to get dinner. D was the good one, and had diet coke. V and I each had beer. I had pizza, D had pizza. V had spaghetti.

We got home and started getting ready for the next morning. I pack and repacked my transition bag 3 times. Kept checking to make sure I had everything. Then because it had been raining forever and a day (I think 2 weeks straight), I decided to pack another bag dry clothes that I would keep in the car and flip flops.

So at about 10 I got into bed. WIDE AWAKE!!!! I watched Psych until 1030. D turned it off and the lights. I just laid there. I don’t know when I fell asleep. I woke up at 4 and watched the clock until 445. Got dressed and listened to the downpour falling against the bathroom windows. D walked the dogs. Said it stopped when he opened the doors. D and V finished getting ready while I walked around the downstairs getting some water and Quaker Chocolate Chip Cookies in .

Downstairs and threw all of our stuff into the car, grabbed some Gatorade, and off we went. I drank a bottle on the way up there. On our 60 mile trip it rained a little but not much. V slept or meditated, D and I sat in silence. We got up to the site and of course no one could park. Each person had to stop their car and talk to the volunteer. So it was rolling on 640, and I had to go to the bathroom. I started snapping again. D and V just ignored me. We got all our crap from the car and journeyed to the transition. On the way we stopped to use the rest room. We finished and back on our way. We got to transition and saw our friend J and his wife JJ. It was his first non-relay tri. JJ wasn’t doing the tri since she is doing the HIM-Augusta next weekend. Anyway we had nervous chatter, and all went to our racks. The girl next to me was setting up her transition. She was a newbie too, and so she said nothing about me racking in the same direction. I laid out my stuff. I put a towel on the bottom, my helmet and sunglasses together, stuck my socks way in my shoes, since it was misting, and put a towel on top. I pumped air in my tires, and took some pics with V, D and J. Then we went and got our arms and legs marked. And went down to the boat dock. Lots of people were swimming to warm up. I was nervous so I didn’t want to get in. But I also didn’t want to stand next to V and D because I would get more nervous. D said go to the water, because it wasn’t cold. I did. It wasn’t cold, but my feet slipped on the dock. I got back out because it made me nervous. I came back and D asked me about my goggles. I forgot to get them wet so back to the water. Then I noticed ridges on the dock and my feet could grip. So I relaxed and got a little more wet. I felt better and couldn’t believe I was going to be a triathlete. I got back out and it started downpouring. The person who started this Tri, Denise said some words, and they had a terrific-voiced person do the National Anthem. D was in the first wave with J so down to the front they went. V and I had 9 minutes to wait. We stood and watched. I started getting nervous again, as did V, I think. Although she is a very experienced bike rider she doesn’t ride in the rain. So she wasn’t excited about that. She is a very talkative person normally and she didn’t say a word. Our wave was up, so I told her I would see her in 2.5 hours and good luck.

Then the triathlon started.

I was in the back of the wave and ran in. When other people dove in, I did too. At first there were a lot of people around so I was doing a doggie paddle/free-style/head out of water thing. After about 10 of this stroke, I told myself this was too much, and to swim like a real person. I swam like I had practiced, and swam pretty straight. I got to 100m when I heard the next wave go. So I was doing well. I was doing fine until 300m. Yes I kicked some people, but it wasn’t bad. At 300m I felt like I wasn’t moving, and I was kicking more people (as they were coming up around me). Even still, I kept using my arms and going. Finally I hit the boat dock and ran up the dock to transition.

Swim 12:59…

I got to the Transition and it was on a hill. My bottom towel was totally soaked from all the water running into the transition. So I didn’t even want to touch it. My hand towel was slightly better, and the other bikers on my rack had already left so I used the rack to help me get my socks on and put on my soaked shoes. Bike helmet and gloves (they went on fine) and then I didn’t know about my sunglasses. I put them on my face and said I would decide later. I decided in the aisle they weren’t going to work, so I put them on my shirt (trying something new…gah!) I ran out of transition to the mount line. Right as I hit the line, I watched this woman totally wipe out on her bike. 5 official came over to help her and move her. Now I was unnerved.

T1: 3:55

So I got on my bike and nearly fell off. I told myself to calm down and started. I was nervous about riding in the rain, but remembered what my friend B told my on Friday. She said that since it had been raining forever for 2 weeks, the road’s oil was already washed away, and there was nothing to worry about. I decided to take this as gospel. I was almost to Cleveland Highway, when I kept seeing this flash. Oh they are going to call this for lightning, I thought. No, it was the photographer. I’m smart like that. So up Cleveland and the long drawn out hill. There was a no pass somewhere here, but I don’t have to worry about that… As I was going up this hill, I saw people walking it. I have ridden this hill twice, so I was not walking it. I counted mail boxes, cracks in the road, street signs and was finally up. I passed someone on the downhill, but she passed me on the next incline. I guess she didn’t like being passed because she started going fast. We turned on Honeysuckle and she braked going down the hill. I remember D telling me to pedal here, so I did and passed her again (I always told her I was coming). I got up part of the huge hill, but didn’t have it. So off the bike. By now I was really thirsty, so I took some water off my bike. I looked infront of me and everyone was walking. I looked behind me and everyone was walking. I finally got to the almost top and got back on, and took off. I got to halfway of the last hill on this road and had to get off again. This woman passed me on her bike. I got to the top and back on. She was about 50 ft infront of me in my age group. I don’t know what was up, but I flew past her right after we turned on Clarks Bridge, and she never passed me again. Seemed weird to me that she could get up the hill but not ride on flats. She didn’t finish the Tri I found out later. And then I took off. No one was infront of me but no one was behind me. I just rode. I saw a turtle. I saw some cars. I saw a lot of puddles and rain. I got to the end of the road and the last hill. The police would stop traffic when they saw bikers, so I got to Limestone and turned. Another drawn out incline, but it seemed to go fast. I got to the top and turned back on Cleveland. Downhill, and some man passed me. I got to the GSP hill and it seemed really easy. Some car came passed me and flipped me off. Later V said it could be worse. On one of her JDRF century mile rides, someone threw piss at her. I finally got back to Old Cleveland. All the volunteers were there telling me to go slow. Here I got pissed off. I was about 50yds from the dismount line and this guy is waving his hands to stop(volunteer). I stopped and he says it is 50 yds ahead. Go slow. I’m thinking I stopped for that? I got to the dismount, and almost tumbled but did it.

Bike: 83:47

I got back in Transition and there is trash and equipment everywhere. I ran over some of it. Sorry but if you leave your crap (shoes) in the middle of the lane, not my problem. I put on the race belt, took off my helmet and gloves and sunglasses. I racked the bike, and grabbed the Gatorade. Except it was so wet I couldn’t open it. So I tossed it in my helmet and left. But not before I saw a woman talking on her cell phone to someone, and she still had to run as well. It was nice that there was no one grabbing their bikes to leave.

T2:2:23

The water was right at the beginning of the run, and because of the Gatorade issue, I grabbed some. I also was trying to pull up my shorts. The volunteers were directing me and cheering me. I got to the turn to the main part of the course, and the volunteer told everyone to get out of my way. At the top, the volunteer was on her phone. I said loudly, “Where the F am I supposed to go?” I was slightly irked. The run course was pretty bad, imo because everyone (people and cars) was on it, but it isn't like they can put it somewhere else...It was a 1.5 loop, so everyone thought I was on the last part, and kept telling me I was almost finished. I wanted to quit so they would stop telling me “almost there”. I got to another water table. Then down to the dog park. So many people were in my way. I kept yelling…”Runner coming through, get out of my way.” I finally got to the running trail and was by myself. I got to Mile 1 and there was Gatorade. My mile was 15:50. I started on mile 2. I really didn’t want to be here. Maybe I can just quit. Why am I talking like this? I got to this hill that although not long was steep. I walked up it. I just kept having all these negative thoughts. By now I was starting to panic, that these were going to sabotage me, and wanted to cry. I came out of the trail, and this woman who recognized me from the OWS clinic yelled, “GO ALLISON!” It totally picked me up. Down the hill I ran and up. I could see MM2 (15:30). J saw me, and started running with me. I was now less than pleasant to people in my way. J was talking about his swim and how he did. He said D beat him in the swim and had finished strong, as did V. He said JJ said I looked good in the water. We got to the front of the park and J told me I only had to run to a shrub, and not to the entrance (a hill). This pleased me . So around the shrub. J kept talking and running. He was infront of me. So I kept trying to keep up. Then we saw D and he started running with us. He was my blocker. He stood infront of cars preventing them from passing all the walkers into my path. My finger went up a lot. J was laughing. It was also now pouring. So most people were running away from my direction. However most of them still cheered me on which now the “almost there’s” were very appreciated. The one person I remember the most was the guy in the speedo. Why are you wearing a shirt with a speedo? D said, “Oh he put on a shirt.” This made me giggle because really, if you have the wherewithal to put on a shirt, why not pants? So by now, I was in a much better mood. We came up on Mile 3 and D and J said told me to give it everything I had. I heard someone screaming for me, and D goes “You know who that is!” V was now jumping up and down for me. They called out my name and I finished. I almost cried. Someone grabbed my leg and got my chip and someone handed me a cold water. D came and hugged me and J, JJ and V were all there. The last mile was 13:56. At the time, I didn’t know my times, but was convinced I was last. And I was convinced of this all day.

Run: 44:44

V and D got me some water and coke. My stomach really was a mess (wanted to puke more from emotion than anything else). We all stood in the rain for awhile. I didn’t trust my stomach so I wanted to walk. We all walked back to transition. We said good-bye to J and JJ. My towels were about 50 pounds, and I had those, and a cooler, and the bike and a bag and a helmet. D had as much as did V. D just went and got the car and brought it to transition (which was now very empty). We packed up the car, and I changed my shirt. D drove back to ATL in the pouring rain. We stopped at the beer store, and then came home. We drank some champagne to celebrate that we all rocked. And had some beer (Coal Porter). Then we got ready to go to M’s birthday lunch at Vortex. We got there. M had a date that night, so we all asked about the guy. After Vortex we went to Corner Tavern and had more beer. B and M left. So we did too. V, D and I went to see Clay. I nursed beers there, because I had pounded earlier. Anyway after dark we came home and watched TV and ordered dinner. That we didn’t eat.

Overall it was an awesome day.

J came in under 1:27

V came in under 1:40

D came in under 1:43

I came in at 2:17:46…which made me ecstatic because I had estimated 2:30.

And the last person wasn’t me.

And Grandmas…They were there. You can call me hokey, but my shirt is blue. Alzheimer’s color is purple. Look at my breast. I see the purple ribbon. (If you don’t see it, shake your head and say, I see it too!). Also D said at mile 3 there was a woman under a tree who cheered me on. He said it was the spitting image of my grandmother and he had to do a double take. So they were there cheering me on too.

Tri 2 Remember Triathlon in Pictures

Friday afternoon...Transition Arm Tag and Garmin Charging

What should I wear?

Goody Bag

Saturday Morning, my stuff

2 Pups who want to Tri

Checking my tires

V and me checking my tires

Turning on my Garmin

D, me and our friend J

V, D and me

Me coming out of the swim

J cheering D finishing!

J finding me on mile 2 and running with me. Trying to pass Jesus.

Me at mile 2.5.

Coming up to Mile 3. D and J are still running with me. The rain started really coming down, again.

Me finishing

V's bike, and all of our shit which was all completely soaked. It rained the entire time. D and my bikes were yet to be put on the bike rack.

V, D and I celebrating at home

Celebrating out

Out with M, B me and V. D took the pic. It was also M's birthday...so double celebration!

V and D some hours later. We were still celebrating!

I am a triathlete!

D, V and I are going to go celebrate that and M's birthday.
Race report later.

Still have much adrenaline!

Ear worm for the day

Rock-n-Roll, Hoochie Coo.

These are the only words to the song I know. But over and over they play in my head.
No signifacance.

I now know how to change my bike tires and get them off my bike. I went to a class yesterday and it was hands on. So I actually did these things, not just watch.

I have one day left before the tri. I'm so nervous. I told my friends I am more nervous for this than I was for my wedding.

I have stopped reading my emails today because I have gotten some really stupid ones scaring me to death about the tri. I know I'm pessimistic, but one of the ones I got was "Are you excited? Are you scared of hitting a pebble or somethign and crashing?" WTF kind of question is that? Just freak me out a little more. I mean really. Let's point out all the things wrong with tomorrow and tell Al. Seriously folks...

OK, so I'm freaked and nervous, and cleaning and doing laundry. I am going to go get my number in a half hour, so ahhh.

A few more days...reflections

First, Po is doing much better. Thanks for asking about her.

The Tri is in a few days. I'm so nervous every time I think about it. They had a webinar last night, but my computer acted up, so I wasn't able to listen. They sent a transcript. Thursday, they are having another class on how to change tires, so I'm trucking up north to go to that.

I looked at my donation page, and I have raised $870 for the GA Alzheimer's Association (if you don't remember (no pun intended), I'm doing the Tri 2 Remember Triathlon(go here and here). I've been thinking about both of my grandmothers lately and would they be proud of me. I think they would be. Would I have done this triathlon or any other for that matter had they not both succumbed to it...I don't know. Most likely not.

So I also thought about this summer. This has probably been my most active one in quite a few years. I learned to ride a bike. I ran consistently the entire summer. I added swimming. And I did most of it with D. Did I lose 1million pounds? No. Did I lose what I thought I would? No. Did I lose weight? YES!!! I lost weight going to breweries, weddings, vacations, road trips, etc. So that was a definite plus.

I'm still freaking out about the Tri. I keep thinking I'll be last. I'm not sure why it is bothering me. I had no problem being last on the group ride. I'm always near the back of the pack running, and looking at the times from last year, I will be near the back of the pack swimming. I keep telling myself, "Hey, but you'll have done a triathlon." For some reason this just makes me want to vomit. So I have to tell myself something else. If you can think of something let me know.

I have a run on tap for tonight. Just 3 miles. I don't think the bike will be happening this week, as it has been raining non-stop forever.

And if you would like to donate, feel free too. If you don't, that's fine too. My cause isn't everyone else's cause, and vice versa, so I get that. (Click on the picture to donate or to just see a pic of one of my grandmothers).

Less than a Week Away

So last week's training didn't quite happen, because of the Pumpkin above.

Tuesday night I was going to run 4 miles. I came home, and smelled a dog mess before I even got to the main floor. I didn't hear any feet dancing, so I knew D was walking the dogs. I walked down the hallway and sure enough, one side of the rug to the other. Back to the kitchen and I grabbed paper towels. I walked through the dining room, and didn't see the vomit on the ground. Down I went. It was all over my pants, and feet so I took off my pants and cleaned my feet and the vomit.

D came home to me standing in the middle of the living room in my underwear just staring around. Now, it is funny; then, not so much. So after cleaning myself and helping him clean the carpet, off to Bed, Bath and Beyond we went and bought a steam cleaner. The one we wanted had to be ordered so we still don't have it. By then the run was out the door. We walked the pups and Porter was sick from both ends. She also stopped eating and drank vast amounts of water.

Wednesday day I called the vet to make an appointment. After describing Porter's symptoms, they cancelled the appointment and said bring her in for observation. It also started thundering at 5pm so no bike ride. D got home before me and told me that Porter had been sick. We've had Porter since 2003, she'll be 8 this October, and NEVER has she pooped in the house. Again everywhere. Kind of gross, but we determined the mess of Tuesday, had mostly been Porter as well.

Thursday I took her in. The good news, she lost 6 pounds since April (she has been on a diet). The bad news, she didn't want to stay. They finally took her back, and I left and worked from home. About 5 hours later, they called. They think she had a virus from all the rain (tons of mushrooms in our 'hood). Also they did X-rays. The x-ray caught something else. The dog has no ball and socket joints. They are rubbed away. So of course I bought meds for that. Anyway I picked her up with a ton of meds. Every 2 hours that dog went. One of the meds was doggie immodium. D got home and we weighed going to the GA Tech game and coming home to "presents" or staying home and watching it on TV and walking the dog every 2 hours. Dog won.

Friday, I stayed home and worked again. Porter made it every 3 hours now. At 4 I texted D saying no more immodium. Somehow the text lost translation because while he was cooking her dinner (another part of the prescription...chicken and rice), he gave her one.

Saturday, D and I did our brick. It was a group ride at the course site. No drop. Poor truck guy must have been bored out of his mind. I was last. I listened to cars behind him honk and honk but he wasn't bothered. Anyway I walked up 2 hills instead of the 3. I know why the first time I rode I had to walk up the 3rd. Anyway the beginner group leader told me to pedal and shift more. So I took 10 minutes off my ride from last time. The run...well each mile was faster than the last. The first was 18+. I walked a lot. I can't compare with last time, because I ran the route backwards. The second mile was 17:17 and the third was 17:11. Things I did differently than last week on the run...I ran 3 miles as opposed to 2, my legs had a harder time recovering than last time, although I didn't feel I pedaled harder on the bike portion. I walked more this time. Eh. I finished.

We got home and Po left no presents. Actually she left nothing at all. D and I went and got dinner and then went to the bar to see Clay. Lots of beers later, a cab brought us home. We walked the dogs, and nothing. Sunday, nothing. By 4pm, I said, "Dog, you will go." And 30 minutes later she did.

I didn't do anything Sunday besides lots of dog walks, because well, I was hungover.

Anyway it is supposed to rain all week, so the lake will be cold. D is still saying he is going to change from his bathing suit to shorts for the tri. And he doesn't care who sees his junk. Since I haven't bought him anything I guess that's the truth...

Time: 72:46 (bike)
Mileage: 12.14 (10.01 MPH) -different from last week because I forgot to turn on the Garmin
Time: 52:36 (run)
Mileage: 3.0 (17:32 min/mile)
Calories: 1555
Max HR 179
Avg HR 157
In Zone 60:18

Weekend 10 DONE!

Why did I choose Sparkpeople, was asked last time. Since I already pay the WeWa thing...simply put, it was free. Some of my friends use Daily Plate. I found SP before DP and I don't like change.

So back to Week 10. A swim and a bike ride were skipped.

So on Friday I had a bike ride planned. But everyone left work early, and I didn't feel like waiting around 4 hours for D. So I went home. It took almost 2 hours to do that. So while watching TV, I fell asleep. When he got home, I was not functioning and thus workout skipped.

Saturday, I got up and at the ass crack of dawn, (630) and got dressed. I think I disturbed D since when I muttered I couldn't find my shorts, he got up, whipped them out of the dryer and got back into the bed. I finally got out the door at 7. Walked a bit waiting for Garmin and then went on my way. I ran 6 miles. Definitely better than I ran the 4 miles on Thursday. Nothing terribly exciting, just some hills, and flats. No dogs were out and my paranoia of being robbed didn't come into play. I saw D in mile 4. He does a 3 mile route twice, where as I start a route and then just run around. So actually I also saw him in mile 5 in a totally different section.

We both ran 6 miles, and then off to Georgia Tech. We stopped at the rib joint with some friends. I don't like the rib joint, the one we like doesn't open early enough, so D smoked our ribs Friday night. So we had a few beers, and then said we would see the friends in the game. We went off to the new fraternity house. It was pretty nice. A little work to be done, but very nice. We drank and ate. D made some stellar ribs. Then we went off with some other friends there and instead of going to our seats we sat with them. We were talking about something random and this bitch of a woman turns and starts yelling at my friend. "I've put up with your foul language for 2 years. There are small children here. You need to watch it. Does it make you feel like more of a man to use the f word? I've had these seats for 7 years and you will not ruin my season this year." I have never seen my friend speechless. Never. With my mouth agape, I looked at him. He was stunned. None of us could say anything. Now as what we were talking about...how GaTech has PSLs and we all thing they are utterly stupid. If the f-word was said, it wasn't f this or f that. If was like GaTech has a f-ing PSL and I'm not paying it. Not that that way is any better, but none of us remember hearing or using it. Next, kids around...they were 3 seats over and the parents were oblivious to us. Next, have you been stewing about this day for 10 months? Couldn't you just turn around and say, "Excuse me, could you refrain from using the F word? I would appreciate it. Thanks."

Anyway, because my other friend who is never at a loss for words wasn't there, when he got back we told him what happened. Then he used another term the rest of the game, it rhymes with pig sucker. So we really felt obliged to sit in the seats and not go to friends, "Well it has been a great time, but we're going to leave you now." Plus we wanted to see if there was any more of a showdown. Friends' next door seat people (the people who sit next to friends) called them "Potty Mouths" but that was only because they were like us with the WTF did we say to cause so much bitterness.

So we go back to the house when the score was 31-10 or something. Sat around for a little while and then D and I went home. We proceeded to drink a vast quantity of beer, and although we got up for a breakfast date, we didn't get up to drive 50 miles to go to the tri-bike course. Sunday we mulled around and were lazy.

Monday, we drove up to Gainesville GA. We couldn't find the park (with the clearly marked sign), but we knew we were on the bike course (open road), so we drove it. I immediately was intimidated. We found the park, and got ready. I decided I needed to use the rest room so we went there. I barely got up the hill. I did my thing and D said ok let's go.

Back to the main road. The first hill seemed a mile long (mile 1.5 to 2). It took me 8+ minutes to go that mile. I pedaled and felt like I was going nowhere. I got honked at and it made me feel nervous. But I remembered what my friend V said, "If you act like you belong on the road, then you do." So this gave me some confidence. I FINALLY got up the hill, and and the rest of this street was ok. There were minor hills but not that bad. We turned and immediately started downhill. I don't mean a slight thing. I mean like descending down a mountain (mile 3). Which meant guess what I had to go up. I changed gears which pretty much stopped me and I had no momentum to go up this thing. I got off the bike (mile 3.5). D asked why I didn't pedal when I went down the hill. I said because I was scared. He laughed. Since he was behind me, he had to walk up the hill too, because I messed up his speed. We got up this hill (I think we were about mile 4). It took over 10 minutes for this mile. We got back on the bike, and went down another. I had more trouble. Back off the bike. Another mile 8 minutes. Finally got over that one, and back on the bike. The next part of the ride was decent. One of my miles was less than 4 minutes. We rode over something that was part of the 1996 Olympics, but I don't know if it was a road race or water, as the sign was on the bridge and didn't specify the sport. This part of the ride, I reminded myself I belonged on the road, a lot because there was no shoulder, no passing lane, and cars were passing very closely.

The final part of this road was up a hill to a light. I did what I hate when bikers do it. I got to the top of the hill, and saw a car coming and went anyway. I knew I wouldn't be able to pedal if I stopped. Luckily he had good reflexes. The next part was a drawn out incline which I cussed. We were now in mile 10. I got up it though. Then back to the last road before the park. I was trying hard to remember to pedal down the hill to get momemtum up. One of the last hills, I should have been able to go up, but my legs decided they no longer wanted to work (Mile 11). So walked half-way up that one. What was weird was D said the next hill was bigger and I flew over that one (the graph says otherwise). He also said, and I concurred that when I change gears my feet slip off the pedals. Too late in the game to try clipless. He also said I may want to stand up to go up hill. I just looked at him. I have trouble standing up just to adjust my butt on the seat. And he also told me he can see through my tri shorts. Very nice...So we did finish the ride of 12.6 miles in 1h22m. We put the bikes on the racks, drank some Gatorade and went for a 2 mile run.

The run was what I expected. It took about .5 miles for me to be comfortable on my legs and go from my short shuffle gait to my regular shuffle gait. Overall, despite the time, the run felt very fast and I felt I could easily go another mile. D gave me some nice support of "I have no trouble knowing you will have no issue on your run."

We finished our run, and had more gatorade. Then we went to B's lake house and swam in the lake (more like lounged on noodles) for a few hours. So relaxing even in the freezing water.

Overall a very nice day.

Time: 8:45 (walk)
Mileage: .36 (24:18 min/mile)
Time: 96:13 (run)
Mileage: 6.0 (16:00 min/mile)
Calories: 1205
Max HR 179
Avg HR 157
In Zone: ?? (was it 1m:o3s or 1h:o3m)

Time: 82:17 (bike)
Mileage: 12.6 (9.19 MPH)
Calories: 892
Max HR 174
Avg HR 154
In Zone 34:34

Time: 2:53 (walk)
Mileage: ..1 (28:50 min/mile)
Time: 31:43 (run)
Mileage: 2.01 (15:46 min/mile)
Calories: 28+??? (forgot to turn HRM off)
Max HR 172
Avg HR ???
In Zone: ??

2 A Day Thursday!

Clarification on the weight loss tracker...that is not all the weight I have to lose. That is a mini-goal. At some point I knew why I had picked that goal. But now...I can't remember.

So yesterday, I mentioned I didn’t go for a run. Well, I decided to go for one after work. Guinness decided she was coming with me. After she and Porter did their business, we dropped Po off and went on our way. Now I don’t know why, but instead of going our normal route (hills then flat) we decided to go the flat route. Not a big deal. Until halfway through it, I thought about an email I had received earlier in the day talking about a pedestrian robbery that had taken place on one of the streets. At the time of the email, I said it was the naked bus hijacker, but while running I decided it might not be. So Guinness and I decided not to run the various outlets of the street. When it was time to repeat the loop, my paranoia was in full force so I decided we would run back in the subdivision.

I have added another part of the hood to the run, so back into the subdivision and up this other road. And when I say up, I do mean up. G and I finally got to the end, and turned back. There was a long downhill so down we ran. Mile 3 jingled on my watch. We started the subdivision and got to a hill and literally my legs felt like lead. I could breathe fine…my legs wouldn’t go. So we walked up the hill. We got to the top and ran the little (.01 miles) loop 3 times. Then down the hill and out to the main road. We got to 3.4 miles and I had to make a decision…do I repeat that hill and little loop and come back or do I run up the hill to my house, and hope that it is .6 miles (I know it is not in reality)? I ran up the hill to the house. G and I got to the house at 3.6 miles. We ran the alleyway, we ran up to the fire hydrant 3 times, we ran a big circle in front of the house until Garmin said 4.00. All the while, my legs were getting heavier and heavier. When Garmin jingled 4, I was so happy. Then I saw the time. 66 minutes. I ran 4.5 miles last week in a downpour (uphill both ways in the snow) in 64 minutes.

We went inside, and rested. When I looked at my stats, mile 4 was over 18 minutes long. Yes, I was slow.

So I sat on the couch and D texted me about the pool. OMG! The pool! So upstairs for a quick shower and change. He got home and off we went. It was 77 degrees outside. We got in the water. It was freezing. We swam anyway. My 200m warmup was fine. My 400m swim was slow. My arms were tired, my legs were tired, I was pushing off the wall, I was cold. I finished those and told D that I was going to swim 600m. I finished that. I decided I wanted to swim 1600m total, so another 400m. In the 300m section, something clicked and I got a second wind. I did that 400 meters faster than the first.

By then we were done. We decided to get Mexican Food at El Matador. We got our chips and waited, and waited and waited. The last time we were there, the service was incredibly lousy, and since the food is like every El ___ and La ___ in the city, well, your service should be efficient like every El ___ and La ___ in the city. So this was the visit to see if we went on an off night. After another table got service, D got up and asked if we could get a server. After 2 servers passed us without acknowledging us, we got up. They asked us not to leave…we just stared. If you aren’t going to serve me, let me know before you show me a table… So we went to Mi Barrio which is much better, albeit slower (why we were going to the other one in the first place), since they cook to order, and nothing is from a can, and they aren’t like every El ___ and La ___ in the city. We got service and more chips. Our nachos were good. Fresh guac. Ate half my plate and came home.

This morning, my arms are so sore.

Tonight is a 45 minute bike ride.

Time: 11:22 (walk)
Mileage: .36 (31:34 min/mile)
Time: 65:44 (run)
Mileage: 4.0 (16:26 min/mile)
Calories: 987
Max HR 183
Avg HR 167
In Zone: 19:02

Time: 6:21 (swim)
Mileage: 200meter (3:10 min/100meters)
Calories: 56
Max HR 146
Avg HR 136
In Zone: 0:00

Time: 12:10 (swim)
Mileage: 400meter (3:02 min/100meters)
Calories: 115
Max HR 155
Avg HR 144
In Zone: 2:08

Time: 19:36 (swim)
Mileage: 600meter (3:16 min/100meters)
Calories: 178
Max HR 146
Avg HR 137
In Zone: 0:00

Time: 11:55 (swim)
Mileage: 400meter (2:58 min/100meters)
Calories: 121
Max HR 165
Avg HR 146
In Zone: 5:02

The scale has moved...

Of course it has been moving all along, but July was a month of eating out every weekend (we weren't home any of them), and thus I thought 9.8 pounds lost was the best I was going to do. After weeks of counting calories, limiting beer (gasp), exercising and eating right, I have finally lost 10.4 pounds. Since when you ask? Oh since I joined WeWa online in October of 2005. At one point I had lost 17 pounds, but that was last year. So each milestone (5 pounds) I think of the last time I was here, and today, I can say I lost 2009 vacation weight. (I use WeWa online and Sparkpeople...why both? Because WeWa has me in to pay $16.95 a month...no actually, just counting calories doesn't make me stop eating, but points do...at the same time WeWa doesn't know what to do with a person who gains 40 Activity Points a week. So I combine them).

Yesterday, D and I went for a bike ride. It has been a week since we were on our bikes and it seems like it had been 3 months. My legs were like lead. We saw 4 deer on our ride, so that was cool. I really thought we were going very slowly, but we were at my normal pace, 10.7mph. Overall there was nothing very exciting...I had trouble sitting, my shoulders felt off, and I felt slow. The one thing we noticed is that I need to work on turning. Our ride is an out and back, and when I get to the out, I actually don't pedal to turn around. So one more thing to think about. And that hill is getting way easy.

Today is a swim. It was supposed to be a run as well, but 5AM came way too early. Can you tell I'm not a morning person? I'm not crazy about the swim. With all the rain and lower temps, I'm not sure what the pool temp will be. Oh well.

Time: 56:18 (bike)
Mileage: 10.05 (10.71 MPH)
Calories: 560
Max HR 169
Avg HR 140
In Zone 10:58

Excuse #85802345856

Did I swim yesterday? No. Actually, I didn't do the planned Brick from last week either.
After coming off my 5K on Saturday, Sunday I couldn't get out of bed. I was boiling where clothing was covering me, freezing where it wasn't. I think I slept 18 hours. Monday started off the same way. But by 7pm, I felt fine.

So why no pool? Surely it couldn't be that it was only 68 degrees outside. No...

Because I had to go see Depeche Mode.

Ahhhhh....


Anyway, there was a bit of concern on Monday, from BFF M since 2 of our friends couldn't make it. She thought that D and I wouldn't go. I think I would have worn a snuggie to go.

So, I got home around 5 yesterday, oblivious to the fact that M doesn't drive downtown, and perhaps might have needed "directions" on how to get to my house. Seriously...on one part of the highway, if you don't get in the far left lane, it will take you an extra 20 minutes at rush hour. So she gets to our house, and asks for a beer (it only took her 1.5 hours to go 30 miles). Again oblivious to what is in my fridge, I tell her we have none. D asks me if I'm on drugs. I open the fridge and say, "We have none." There were at least 12 beers in the fridge. M looks at me like I'm nuts, and gets a beer. By now I feel bad because I'm thinking she is thinking that I didn't want her to have a beer, but honestly I'm just a moron.

She drinks that, and off to Thai. Yum. Fun and good. We leave and the waiter chases me down. More moron stuff...I left him the unsigned copy of the bill. Honestly, you can't take me anywhere.

We get up to the venue just as they open up the side lot for parking. Score, no waiting in line. Park and get a beer. M texts her friend C who came by himself. So he came and sat with us. Concert was great. D Grahan sounded great, although he couldn't sing for long periods of time. Considering he had a cancerous tumor removed in Mid-May, hey... M Gore sang D's and my "song" (and about every other couples song too). Not a lot off the newest album.
I wish there hadn't been a sound ordinance as I could have listened to them for another few hours (and they still wouldn't have gone through their library). I danced, M danced. D stood there. Oh and remember Breakfast Club where Claire (M Ringwald) dances in the library. She dances better than I do. My arms seem frozen at my sides. So yes, I cannot dance, but I do anyway.

We left after the show. Walked back to the car at about 1125. We were home by 1135 and that was because I hit 2 lights. So much fun.

And M asked for a bottle of water (she knows that we almost always have bottled water in our house...up until about 4 weeks ago, when I started using the filter in the fridge and a water bottle). I told her we didn't have any. D pulled a bottle out of the garage fridge. Let's all say it together, "Al is a moron."