Catch up . .

I've found that catching up after a short hiatus is becoming increasingly harder. Maybe it's just my age beginning to peep through.

Last week I was in Oklahoma for my sister's wedding and tried very hard to keep up with my workouts. I managed to hit one cycle class and get in a grueling 10 miler around a local lake. The run was SO hard that the day of my run I almost decided to throw myself in front of oncoming cars or drown myself in the lake I was running around!! It wasn't the distance that bothered me -- it was running into a 35 mph headwind that killed me! When I woke that morning, my sister told me that they had severe wind warnings and asked if it was okay to run in that kind of weather. I replied, "Of course. I mean, I'm a bad ass tri-girl. I can take it." Uh, no. No, I can't.

I spent the first 3 miles running into the headwind. It was killing me but I figured where there's a headwind, there's got to be a tailwind somwhere. And, as luck would have it, I spotted a water fountain. Yay. If there is one water fountain, there's bound to be others so now I could throw away the cumbersome water bottle that I was carrying. This wasn't going to be so bad after all. I made a turn onto the top of the dam and smacked right into winds that can really only be described as tornadic -- they seemed to change direction constantly and whipped me all over the place. I then made another turn expecting to catch a tail wind -- but lo, and behold, I was only blessed with a crosswind. Luckily, I spotted another much needed water fountain. Hmmm. That's funny. I push the little button and no water comes out -- must be broken. That's okay, I can make it to the next one. At mile 6, I see another. Dammit. Broken too. At mile 6 1/2, I make a wrong turn and reach a deadend. Dammit again. I backtrack. At mile 7, I see another water fountain. Hallelujah. I was starting to wipe white salt from my face so I knew I was getting dehydrated. But, that water fountain was also not working. By now, I'm cursing the entire state of Oklahoma. I made it to the final turn back to the starting point -- and again into the 35 mph headwind. I finally reached the car AND water. When I got back to my sister's she informed me that they usually turn the water off in the winter months because of the ice in the pipes. Guess I should have asked about that. I have to say it was by far THE WORST run of my life!! But, I did it!!!! So, I feel stronger and ready for anything! There's always a positive, I guess!

Upon returning to Richmond, I was busy catching up with "life" since I'd been away, fighting some nasty allergies and some stomach bug thing. I was out of commission for a couple days but was ready for action by the time we hit our sprints on Saturday. Well, at least I thought I was. The first sprint was a pretty nice 3:39. Followed by a 3:48. Then a 3:52 -- but I was dead beat by then. The third sprint I paced with TriGirl DB and felt much better at a 4:07. Number five was 3:58. Okay, I was going to leave it all there on number 6. I felt like I was flying. I was sure that Kenyans couldn't catch me and my bad-ass stride. I really felt that I was going to have some sort of kick ass PR in that final sprint. Woo hoo! Last hill toward the finish point and I look down at my Garmin. Woah. 4:09. But, hey, wait a minute -- I thought I was flying! It reminded me of when our son tried roller hockey. He was about 8 and was out on the rink with kids ranging from from 4 years old to 12 years old. We watched him shuffle around the rink while 4 and 5 year olds whipped past him. We figured he would get off the rink feeling defeated. But, when he finally scootched around to us, he said "Mommy, did you see how FAST I was going!!!!" I replied, "Yeah, baby, you were so fast you were like a blur!!!" Oh, well, my flying time of 4:09 gave me a really good laugh at the very least! We then biked for a boring 2 hours that was only made bearable by the company of Tri Girl Lynn and Suzy Q. Thank God for Tri Girls!

Tonight I went to Som's six o'clock swim where I heard that some fast girls had been last week. Rumor has it that they were kicking some serious swimming booty. And, it was no lie!!! New Tri Girl Courtney kicked my butt!!!! And, I loved every minute of it! Totally inspired me to try harder. She was extremely fast and also super nice. I think if I have to try to keep up with these girls I am sure to be swimming like a champ by the end of the season!

Now, I'm off to bed with my final glass of wine. I'm hoping to adhere to all of my workouts this week!! And try to figure out what the heck I'm going to do to replace the 1/2 marathon that the rest of the TriGals are doing next Saturday. Wish I would have signed up but now it's too late. Oh well. Next time.




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