The Summer in Review - from Mile 0 to Mile 640.6

Wow! It's so hard to believe that it's September 2. Where, oh, where did the summer go? Looking back over the events of the summer, it's so hard to fathom all that I have unintentionally accomplished. After bruising my tail bone in January and traveling for work, I had become a relatively sedentary creature (should I say sloth?).

On June 16, I decided to get myself in gear and tried one of Woody LaRue's Monday Night Rides - a 22 mile course from Heritage Park and back. It totally knocked me flat. It took me 1:47 to do 22 miles...an average speed of 12.2 mph. EVERYONE passed me, and I seriously thought Woody was going to have to pick me up before I made it back to the park. I was one of the last people in. (This did not make me -a marathon girl - happy.) I felt like everyone thought I was a poky, unfit person that would maybe show up for one or two rides. I was determined to prove to myself I could do this. *insert Rocky theme music*

I went back two weeks later on the hybrid. Same thing happened. Then I got smart and asked Woody to borrow his road bike and went to buy one in the meantime. This was when I learned that it was the end of the Trek bicycle season and there were no women's Trek models available in my size (what!?! it's not like it's a designer shoe or anything...seriously!!) On July 5 I ordered a road bike and waited for it to come in....

In the meantime, on July 7 I tried my first Monday night ride with a LaRue custom road bike. Unfortunately, the ride proved it was not the bike but me. I averaged a whopping 12.1 miles on this ride. Perhaps it was windy. Jim & Jessica noticed I was struggling when they passed me and gave some advice on shifting gears.

While I'm not speedy, I am competitive so I went to the library and checked out "Bicycling for Dummies." Two weeks later I attempted to catch Joanna and Dehart on the way back to Heritage Park on Ray's bike. (Okay, so Joanna's knee hurt that night and I didn't know Dehart was recovering from knee surgery, but they were still both faster than me.) I averaged 15.2 mph that night and finished 22 miles in 1:27. So, understanding how to use the front derailer is pretty important in maneuvering hills. I'm so glad I had to read "Bicycling for Dummies" to learn how to shift gears. The secret was in the gear shifting...

On July 23, I picked up my bike. Trek 2.1 WSD. On July 24, I took the bike for her first 20 mile ride. On July 26, we did our first duathlon. I averaged 16 mph on a 17.2 mile bike.

The next Monday I did 25 miles in 1:31. *grin* I repeated the accomplishment two weeks later. By August 25, I was averaging 17 mph on the 25 mile route...and may have been faster if my front derailer didn't go kaput. (Seems someone failed to mention that a new bike needs a tune up after 100 miles or 30 days. I did 356 miles on mine in 33 days. Oops!)

Since June 16, I have completed one 25 mile ride on a bike (Fountain Tour - note: I showed up even though it rained that morning!!!!), two duathlons (Prairie Punisher and Jackson County), one 70 mile ride (Cider Mill Century), one 64 "hill"acious ride (Sunflowers to Roses), and one century(!!). AND - even though I threatened too about a zillion times on the S2R ride - I HAVE NEVER EVER EVER WALKED MY BICYCLE UP ONE SINGLE HILL!!!!!!! (Sidenote: I have used the granny gear...and I almost walked it up one hill outside of Lansing Prison. When I looked to my left and saw the inmates out at "recess" I really managed to hightail it up that hill lickety split.) Since June 16, my Garmin has logged 640.6 miles on a bicycle or 32,791 calories.

After a pretty rough winter/spring, I am absolutely speechless (shocker!) when I look back at all I have accomplished this summer, and there are no words that could describe how truly blessed I feel to have made so many new Christian friends that share my insanity.

The routes:

Prairie Punisher Bike: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6575214

Cider Mill Century: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6575209

Sunflowers to Roses: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6575210

Jackson County Duathlon: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6642071

LaRue's Labor Day Century: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6673497

Mud and Muck 5K

On Sunday morning, I did the Mud & Muck 5K - advertised to be Kansas City's dirtiest run. It was a blast!!! The course was on gravel and sand service roads at Unity Village. The run out to about 1 mile was an easy downhill...then there was a mountain in the middle of Missouri. Okay, okay. It wasn't THAT bad, but without my hardcore Runner's Edge speed sessions where Eladio Valdez has us run hills, I was hurting pretty badly. It had a nice, steep grade so I walked up it, but I was able to take on the next hill I encountered. On the second hill, I could hear the screaming (happy screams?) and a guy on a megaphone telling people to "really get in there." I don't know what I was thinking the entire race...I guess I thought I was running through a mud pit...oh no! We got to crawl through the mud pit. Nice. Somehow, without training I was able to run and crawl the course in 30:26. I'm always happy to beat a 10 minute mile. Here's a photo of me after finishing:

A Week of Critters

Wow! What an odd week it's been... since my intiation into trail running I seem to have had several run-ins with a variety of critters. I did confirm that I brushed up a nest of seed ticks during my trail run on Wednesday. Ticks are one of my biggest outdoor fears, so I guess that fear has been addressed. Last night, when I got home from a movie, the resident skunk returned...I had a head to tail encounter with it. Yikes!! Luckily it kept its lovely aroma to itself.

It's been tough for me to get out and exercise since the antibiotics I am on to repel the evil tick venom is kind of wiping me out (dehydration, sleepiness, and I'm supposed to stay out of the sun). Today I decided to buck up and take Big Red, my lonely Trek hybrid, out for a spin. I left my place and rode through JCCC to Stoll Park to the Indian Creek trail. In total I did about 17 miles. Pretty interesting ride...by mile 3 I ran into a snake that was crossing the trail. A cyclist was coming at me head on. What to do! I didn't want to get off my bike, and I didn't want to run over the snake... Luckily I got around it before ramming into the other cyclist. Other interesting sights on my ride included a man kicking a ball around in his red Speedos on a softball field at Stoll Park (the snake on the trail may have been a more welcome sight...) and a guy practicing his shot put at the JCCC track.

Tomorrow brings the Mud & Muck 5K at Unity Village....should be interesting! My first 5K through a mud pit!!

Trail Running

Last night I did my first trail run at Shawnee Mission Park. We did the "easy" loop twice for a total of about 4.7 miles. This was a challenging proposition for me - the City Girl. I think Girl Scouts in 4th grade may have been the last time I spent quality time in a woodsy area. Seriously. Overall, it was a great experience - much more gentle on my legs than pounding asphalt, and with time I will gain the grace necessary to avoid the tree roots and rocks. As an experienced runner, I did make a newbie mistake: I forgot to apply glide to my feet so I ended up with blisters. This may be inevitable since trail running involves so much more foot movement than "regular" running. I think this may have been the longest 4.7 miles ever: 1 hour and 19 minutes...but we did stop to talk to some people we knew on the trail, so I suppose actual time may 10 minutes less.

On the way home, I noticed I did pick up 100s of tiny little hitch hiking bugs of some variety. Some are still with me this morning as I type. I am REALLY hoping they are some sort of mite, but odds are I have some variety of tick, which is causing me great mental distress as ticks are my LEAST favorite insect.

Lessons for the next trail run: 1) buy better trail shoes and 2) buy the highest level of DEET in a can possible...

My First Blog

A friend sent me a link to a gal's blog where she was recording her training activities. I couldn't help it...I had to steal her idea. Not sure right now if I am going to go public with the blog, maybe share it with a few friends, or keep it to myself. What better time to start "journaling" online - as an avid jogger/runner who recently picked up cycling and is planning to pick up swimming I thought it would be fun to record my thoughts.