August already????

Wow, this summer is going by wayyyy too fast!

Things have been crazy hectic and although I have been getting in the workouts, they have been scattered at random times and have left me just feeling a bit out of sorts.

Saturday was an awesome day. I ran the Buckeye Trail for the first time ever with the girls. All went amazing well with the new running surface for me. Yet, with such fantastic company of the gals, I think it would have been impossible not to have a great day. We were targetting to get in 16 miles. However after a 12 mile loop and heading out another 30 minutes, I was calling shenanigans on Espeed's 2 mile turnaround to get in the total 16. We ended up going out 3 miles before turning around, so we ended up with 18 for the day. I am sure I was a bit fatigued by the end of the day as I kept tripping as I must have started dragging my feet the last couple miles!

Sunday I awoke with a stiff back and tight quads. Just perfect for the start of Sunday's Century Ride. I had stopped in at the bike shop the prior day only to hear that they changed the course this year to make it as absolutley challenging as possible. Fantastic!

Upon my arrival, there was no one I knew that was heading out for 100, except for one speed demon on Team ER who I could never keep up with. So I headed off on my own which was sort of a bummer. (OK Jodi I am missing you!!!) But all was fine until my computer quit working 4.9 miles in. Crap again! Two guys breezed past me with the green 100 mile bracelets, so I thought I would try to keep up. All was going well. I was enjoying the ride and talked with a few others out on the course and my legs were loosening up nicely. We hit the first stop at around 23-24 miles in. I grabbed some pretzels and some water and hopped back on the bike talking with another CTC member. That CTC member rocked by the way. I recognized him from Wednesday night cycling. This year he was turning 60. It was a big year-First grandchild, first half ironman year and today was his first century...quite amazing his acccomplishments at 60!!!

Another few miles down the road and I knew something was wrong. A flat. Luckily I have had my share of these this year so I said I was fine and started to change out my tube. However every flat has always had a regular pump nearby for me to utilize. This time I was not so fortunate. Luckily I had 4 of these CO2 tubes. However I had no idea how to make these work. Just as I was scratching my head, some more familiar faces rode up and stopped by. Yeah, what perfect timing!! However no one had used these tubes before. Then I had the realization you need a tool to pop these tubes (which I did not have!). Duh, now I know! However we were having trouble getting this to work and one guy had a hand pump so we used that too. What an ordeal to just pump up the tire! And then as we took the pump off the tip popped off and I knew it would not hold 70 more miles. Not only was the tip off, there was a weird bump or bubble in the tire that I could not see but I could feel riding down the road. I was going to just take it easy and hit the bike shop in Pennisula and change out this tube.

Upon my arrival I was saddened to see the store was closed for another 2.5 hours. Crap! Then I saw the free air sign! Woohoo! So I changed out the tube. I went to pump it up but then had the realization that the pump was not one I could use with my valves. It worked fine for the guy on the hybrid riding down the towpath but I was SOL. Now what??

I sat there debating who to call. After a bit, I thought to look at the map and saw the SAG phone numbers! I called and they were coming!! YEAH! After awhile they arrived and I said I needed a pump. They did not have one (seems like a logical thing they may want to carry wouldn't ya think) but they could take me to the start to have the bike sponsors pump it up. Well as that was my best option, I took it! Back at the start they were pumping it up and no sooner did they pump it up, it exploded! I think this day is jinxed! Lucky for me I was now back at my car so I went for a third tube. During this time Eddy's checked my tire and rim and everything was fine, so I am not sure why everything was being so difficult. However this third time was the charm and alas I was ready to ride again.

Now I was very behind. The 100 was out as I had other places to be that day. So I cut down a few roads to ride the last half of the 50 mile course. Since I was not riding 100, I made it a point to push through my miles as hard as possible. It felt good to pass lots of riders as I climbed the hilly course.

At the end of the day I ended up with only 60 miles, but still ended up enjoying myself. By finishing early I got to eat lunch and hang out with some friends who had done the 50. I was glad I had went back out to tack on the last 30 miles as the thought did cross my mind to just call it a day when I was having so many flat issues! What a day!

Monday I had a overdue rest day. Tuesday was a fantastic swim with TriSaraTops followed by a kick butt track workout with Espeed and MT!

This week on tap I have a fun team trail race Thursday night, a 5K Road Race Series race Saturday and then some volunteering at the Burning River 100 mile race! Time is flying by!!!!!!!