I'm Loving It!

And we ain't talken about McDonalds!  Although I must say it was sheer torture yesterday to ride the elevator up to my gym on my lunch break already hungry with some office workers and their McDonald bags, knowing I was heading for a run and had something much more healthy (boring/bland) to eat upon my return in an hour and half.  Oh the discipline I must have sometimes!


So the weather is finally smiling down upon us here in Northeast Ohio!  That can only mean one thing!  More outdoor training!  I am trying to not get too caught up with it all.  The sunshine called my name Monday lunch hour so I went outside to catch some rays and ran with Espeed and the boys through the flats run (err ghetto).  Then returned to work for a late day before rolling home on the motorcycle ...yes first ride to work of 2010!

Tuesday rolled around and again, more sun, more warm temps!  Lunch time came and logic tells me my legs are a bit tired and I know I have the road ride with the boys later.  Yet, I feel the need to go outside and run and I had found a sucker to go run with me so out I went.  I had made it clear this was to be an easy run and that it was.  Wow, it really felt great to run so effortlessly!  (Knock on wood) I finally think I can start to run a little more and the tibia is not flaring (getting tender) like it had been for awhile so I am hoping I can continue to integrate some more easy running days into the training because when it is nice, I just need to be outside!  More super easy runs, the better!

Last night was a fantastic night of riding.  There was a pretty big group that turned out for the Cleve Touring Club Tavern Ride.  Turnout has been rather small to date this year between the rain and cool temps, but last night there was a pretty big group with a lot of different abilities on this sunny gorgeous day.  I went off with the four boys in the front and it was taking me a bit to loosen the legs up and the heat was definitely pushing my lungs a bit more than usual.  Typically there is not much talk the first 10 miles or so but as we hit Punderson the pace eased a bit and my legs finally started to loosen up just in time to outrun a dog and then climb up Butternut.  Most of the ride we took turns pulling a pace line.  As we pulled into the parking lot 31 miles later, I was pleased to see that even though the second half felt pretty easy, we had managed our fastest average pace of the season by a decent margin.  I have developed a lot of respect for these guys that I have rode with quite a bit now between last summer and this year.  Many of these guys have years of experience.  I have found that pushing myself to ride with them, riding along in the pace lines, taking my turns pulling and climbing the many hills with them has been so very valuable to me and I am thankful every Tuesday when I ride with them!  Oh please let this beautiful weather continue!