There is Freedom Within. There is Freedom Without. Try to Catch the Deluge in a Paper Cup.

I met a new zombie statue friend on my run.

It looks like I'm getting behind on my posting...Again. On Sunday it rained, and rained and rained. It turned out okay, because we were scheduled to go to a family lunch for John's mom's side and we had to make food for it. So, I cooked, and cooked, and cooked. I made spicy peanut butter slaw, hummus, veggie refried beans, veggie enchiladas, Mexican rice and guacamole. That oughta get us through the week.

After we got back from the family party, John and I both went running. It was just cloudy when I started, but the rain picked up again during my run. It was warm enough, that it felt pretty good.

On Monday morning, we headed to Davenport, so John could get a race in.

It was cloudy when we got there. John went off to warm up on his bike, and I went along the river for a run. Obviously, I stopped several times to take photos. It rained for a little bit and then stopped. I got in 4.7 miles altogether and was nice and sweaty by the time John's race started.

I am such a dork. I ran up the ramp and ran along this bridge, just because it was there and looked cool and I could. I really am lucky to be THAT easily amused.

John's race went well. It was in this nice little area right by the Mississippi River with lots of cute shops and restaurants and bars. I had a great time walking the course and taking photos of his race. The guy who was John's biggest competition in Iowa, had a slow leak, so John was able to beat him this time and finish 6th overall. That's a great showing in a race with people from California, Minneapolis and Chicago showing up.

After the race, I ordered tacos at Rudy's and we sat outside at a table eating lunch, watching the races and waiting for John to be able to pick up his prize money. It was another beautiful day.

I was singing bad 80's songs to the cows and they all came over to me. At first I thought they liked my singing, then I realized they thought I was going to feed them.

We headed home, so we could meet our friends for a nice, easy social ride at 2 pm. The weather was so lovely. It was a tad windy, but that kept us from getting too warm. We rode to a little town called Solon, about 17.5 hilly miles from us.

When we do these social rides with our friends, we are all at different strengths and speeds as riders, so we either ride slowly with the person who isn't quite as strong, or we go a little ahead and then wait at designated spots and regroup. That way we keep people from getting lost, or if anyone has a mechanical, we can help get that fixed.

On the way out, we saw some cyclists on the other side of the road, photographing us bombing down the hill on our road bikes. I had no idea who it was, until I got home and one of the guys who prerides RAGBRAI every year to make sure all the logistics work, posted this on Facebook and tagged me in it. I love it. This right here, is one of the things that make me happiest in the world - bombing downhill on a fun bike ride with my friends in perfect weather. Crazy how that hasn't changed since I was a 10 year old kid.

All this rehashing of last weekend is getting me really excited about this weekend. Here's to bike rides, gardening, running and reading excellent books! I am reading a book called "Remember Me Like This". It takes place in Corpus Christi, Texas and it's about a family who's son was kidnapped and held for 4 years by a gross, awful man. Most of the story takes place after they find the boy and deals with how the family handles things on his return. It is very intense and incredibly well written.