Soaking Wet

It was the weekly hard/fun Wednesday group ride. I love this ride because it consists of a small group of friends who all like to work hard but are all nice to one another if someone is having a rough go. We had a great steady workout until the last 25 or so minutes when the skies absolutely opened up and a deluge came down. Did that tropical storm take a wrong turn and come up through Durham or something? We all yelled and cursed our weatherman who promised blue, sunny skies. I have never ridden in such hard rain - a total downpour where you could barely see in front of you, and even if you could the rain was pelting you right in your eyes so it wouldn't have mattered. Thousands of needles were stinging our arms and legs and we were riding through newly formed rivers in the road. At one point my right pedal downstroke had my foot completely underwater! The only positive thing I could come up with was at least it wasn't COLD and raining. Been there, done that, never want to do it again.

We all made it safely back to our cars and when I got home I was a good girl and cleaned and lubed my chain. I'm patiently waiting for the pizza to cook before I gorge myself. While I'm waiting I'm drinking a Michelob Ultra Pomegranate Raspberry beer. It is totally girly but I love it, so nyah nyah.

I have a very strict time schedule in the morning because I need to get on the waitlist first thing for the Wilmington triathlon. That thing filled up overnight while we were at Eagleman and I really, really want to do it. Fingers crossed...

Degrees of Separation

I was thinking of ways I know some of the current Olympians, and was hoping I would become faster by proxy:

• Shalane Flanagan (10K): My family ran into her on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and was introduced to her by a high school friend of mine. She was, I think, in her sophomore year at UNC
• Kara Goucher (10K): Sat next to her at the Junior Olympics cross country awards ceremony in Alabama when I was 13. She won. I was 21st. Hmmm, hard to see which one of us had a wee bit more talent. We also were at Footlocker Nationals at the same time (the one year I made it).
• Amy Yoder-Begely (10K): She lapped me at the indoor SEC track meet my freshman year. Luckily, I didn’t get pulled off the track. They usually pull the lapped runners down to 12. There is a lot of strategy in the back to make sure you’re in the top 12 at a certain point in the race!
• Laura Bennet (triathlon): Her brother, John Reback, was one of Marty’s constant competitors in Florida. John is nice even though some of the guys liked to call him “The Dark Prince of Triathlon” when he would win literally every race back a few years ago.
• Hunter Kemper (triathlon): Actually do know him from way back, when we did triathlons as kids growing up in Florida.

I slept in this morning instead of going to Master’s practice, woopsy. But in my defense, I was only planning on swimming today so moving it to this evening was not a huge deal. I was feeling pretty tired and knew the extra sleep would be better for me. After TWO bike rides this weekend, (one of them being hill repeats), I was feeling a little wupped. I almost hit 11 hours of training, which is really good for me. How some of you manage close to 20 hours with a job and a life is beyond me!

I’m watching the tropical storm/hurricane information in Florida with some interest. Obviously because my parents are in St. Pete (even though, knock on wood, St. Pete gets spared all the time from the storms). I’m also interested because I know how absolutely chaotic everything gets when a storm approaches. First off, they can never predict where it’s going to make landfall – and that’s really the only place where it’s bad. Unless you get a storm like Charley which ripped through the state so fast that everything in its path was up for grabs. 2004 was a bad summer for Florida and I remember it like it was yesterday. Even though we had 3 storms come rolling through, we barely missed any work because they all came through on the weekend! What were the chances? So at least this one is midweek so everyone should get a paid day off :) They would have us wrap our computers in plastic before we left for the weekend in case there was some massive flooding (there never was). Then you try to get gas and all stations are empty or there are huge long lines. You stop into Publix and all essentials have been cleared out. You’d think it was Armageddon, not just some tropical storm! Fun times - enjoy yourselves Florida!

You Know You're Addicted To The Olympics When...

Marty and I don't typically watch a whole lot of tv. We DVR some shows but other than that it's pretty limited. All bets are off during the Olympics, as I'm sure most of you out there are nodding your head in agreement. I realized today that I have been watching WAY too much tv - and I know I'm not alone. Here are some of the things that tipped me off:

• You start saying the local NBC station's slogan out loud (ours is: "NBC 17, Accurate, Balanced, To the Point")
• You openly complain about the commercials you hate the most (mine: Honda's Mr. Opportunity and McDonald's new chicken sandwich)
• You tell your friends that no, you can't go out to dinner on Friday night because it might interfere with the Olympics coverage
• You don't know why that horse is prancing around and it's rider looks like a mannequin, but you can't stop watching
• You feel like you intimately know Michael Phelps
• You file a protest about the Chinese gymnasts being too young
• You get emotional when a long shot wins a medal
• You get annoyed that the guide on tv says this: 10-6, Swimming, Gymnastics, Fencing, Volleyball, Soccer, Rowing, Equestrian, Diving, Trampoline - but it doesn't stop you from watching the entire 8 hours
• You screamed out loud at the final of the Mens's 4x100 meter relay
• You shake your head and frown at the slightest bobble on the balance beam (that'll cost her at least a tenth!)
• You are more sleep deprived than normal

Those are a few I've realized, you guys have any others?

Marty-less

Traveling man Marty is in Orlando today and tomorrow. He’s going to hit the downtown Y track workout tonight – I sure do miss that group. So once again Tassie and I are holding down the fort (I did have a nice dinner with my sis tonight). She is getting way fluffy again and I think it might be time for one last summertime shave. It’s always interesting to see because around this time of fluff we always think, ‘Good Tassie! You’re filling out!” She’s always been a bit scrawny. Then we shave her and we realize she’s still scrawny. We’ll have to see if this is still the case.

Training is going good – my run is really starting to come around I think! It’ll be interesting to see how I feel in my upcoming races – only 3 sprints left and I’d like to hit all of them hard.

And of course the Olympics are on and I do love watching pretty much any sport. Recently, my friend Laurie let me know that an Olympic swimmer was going to be on What Not To Wear (thanks Laurie) so of course I made sure to watch. It was breaststroker Tara Kirk and I’ve been expecting to see her in some of the races but just saw today that she actually finished .01 out of a qualifying spot at the trials in the 100 meters. BUMMER! But it gets worse…the winner was Jessica Hardy who tested positive for a banned substance! There’s a bit of controversy because it seems the committee knew about the positive test before the deadline of entries for the Olympics but failed to do anything about it. So Tara didn’t get bumped up or anything and is not at the Olympics. I just assumed that when the doper was caught they automatically reverted to next in line. Instead, the qualifier for the 200 meter breaststroke will also swim the 100 meter, even though she finished FOURTH at the trials. Jessica Hardy (the doper) also qualified in the 50 meter freestyle and the 3rd place finisher is also being left out of the games. It just seems so incredibly unfair. The episode with her in it was good, though.

Weekend Update Without My Other Half

Marty was gone this weekend but I managed to keep myself pretty busy. I got in a nice bike ride, a good long(ish) run and saw The Dark Night with friends. I've also managed to watch A LOT of Olympics and if last night was any indication, I'm going to be staying up way past my normal bedtime over the next couple of weeks.

I've also realized we really need a doggie door. Tassie loves being outside and is constantly giving us the puppy dog eyes so we'll open the door for her to let her out. Then she goes and tries to hunt squirrels and bunnies. When she gets tired, she lounges in the dirt which is great since she's a white dog. Anyways, she's discovered that with just one distinctive bark, Marty will run down the stairs and let her in. I was the recipient of this bark all weekend - it's different than her bark when someone rings the doorbell and sounds more like, "LET ME IN NOW!!! HEY!! RIGHT NOW!!" I swear she can be so bossy. Little princess!

Ben & Jerry's

ONE Cheesecake Brownie is excellent. I bought a pint on Sunday and finished it off just a minute ago. It's one of their new flavors and I give it two thumbs up. It's even good after your husband accidentally puts it away in the fridge because you were too lazy to get off the couch and you don't find out until the next morning when you ask him what the heck he was thinking and put it back in the freezer which later makes the remaining ice cream refreeze into one big frozen hunk. Still yummm.

Look Recall? No Problem!

I definitely don’t have to worry about my Look pedals being a part of the recall because the ones I Have could be anywhere from 10-20+ years old. When I first started doing triathlons again after college, I used a 1990 Trek that was on consignment at one of the local bike shops in Florida (this was 2002, so the bike was a bit old by this point). It came with the Look pedals that I’m still using today, and I’m not sure exactly when they were put on this bike. Maybe when the person got it, maybe later, or possibly even before. Now that I think about it, I think Marty has my pedals on his tri bike and I have his, but his aren’t much newer than mine.

I’m not sore anymore from the triathlon – that thing really tired me out for a few days. Next races on tap are: possibly the sportsplex sprint in Hillsborough since OSB Multisport sponsors this series. Then the Sandman in Virginia Beach, and hopefully the Wilmington Sprint. We got shut out of registration in June and will hopefully get on the waitlist early enough to get into the race. Other than that I’m not sure what we’re doing.

Yikes, sometimes my posts sure are boring! Come back again when I'm not so tired and uncreative.