I Gotta Keep On Movin'. Yeah, Movin'.

 

Last Saturday, John and I did the Living History Farms Run. it's the biggest Cross country running race in the country. It is 7 miles with insane muddy ravine climbs and ice cold stream crossings. A lot of people dress in costumes. The guy in the photo above parked by us and let me take his photo. I would love to have seen what that dress looked like after the race, but never saw him again. 

I had no idea how I would do in the race. I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to finish it. My first goal was to run 3 miles of it without my calf hurting me too much. After I accomplished that, my next goal was to run the entire 7 miles without stopping. Once it was clear I was going to be able to do that, my goal was to finish the run in an hour and 30 minutes. I was able to finish in an hour and 14 minutes. Like I always say, set your goals low enough and you will actually meet them.

I found this photo on the internets. The only reason it's on here, is so you all can see Gene Simmons in a heart blanket in the background. So sweet.

Photo of the booze cruise, by the booze cruise among the river ice chunks.

After the running race, we had a couple of hours before we did a bike race called Survivor CX, along much of the same brutal, muddy terrain. There was a group of amazing women who call themselves the booze cruise who do the race and bring flasks and those little hotel bottles of liquor and they do the whole "race" on a lark and drink and ride and take photos.

I wanted to see how well I could actually do in my 2nd race of the day and my daughter was going to come by around 2:30 and pick me up for an hour or so before she had to go to work, so I was under a time constraint. I had to decline the invitation to join the booze cruise. I got stuck behind them at the start and had a hard time getting around, but when I did, I thought I'd power as much as I could before I got to the first creek crossing. Right before I hit the water, I felt something hit my wheel. I looked down and saw a large stick had shot up and jammed my rear derailleur into my spokes. Crap! I got up the creek and had a guy bend the derailleur away from the spokes to see if I could keep going. the booze cruise caught up to me and when they found out my predicament, one of them offered me a flask of Fireball and said, "Well, it sounds like as good an excuse as any to drink." I took a swig and figured I'd try to ride with them for a lap and then DNF. My bike was ghost shifting all over the place and it was driving me crazy. That didn't last long before my derailleur completely snapped and it, along with my chain, was hanging loosely from my bike. I shouldered my bike back to the start, handed in my timing chip and texted Coadster that I was done early.

It just so happened that her appointment got canceled, and she showed up at my car a minute or so after I texted her. Weird. We took off and John said he would meet me at the Machine Shed when his race was over. Around 4'ish, he thought.

Coadster and I found a place to eat appetizers and had a good talk and as we were getting ready to pay the bill, I got a text from john. He, by some bizarre coincidence had also snapped his derailleur and had to quit the race. Coadster got me to the Machine Shed and I drank beer and hung out with John and the Des Moines racers until about 6 o'clock when John and I headed back to Iowa City. I found out later I won a Brooks saddle in a raffle. So, it made up for not getting to finish my race.