Hey, kids! Remember me? So, this weekend it rained and rained and rained some more. The Iowa City Race weekend was going on, but I had a rough week, physically and last year I did the road race in 40 degree temps, 25 mph winds and rain and I don't think I need to have that experience again for a little while.
So, instead, I ran errands in the morning. I had a $10 off of $30 gift card for Running Wild, I won at a raffle for a trail race I did a month ago. So, I headed downtown to get a new pair of running shorts with it. I also ducked into Prairie Lights to celebrate independent bookstore day, by buy some new novels. Then Archie mucked them all up by lying all over everything. Sigh.
Once I got home, I decided to go for a nice run in the rain. I actually love running in the rain, if it's warm enough and I'm not going all that far. 3.5 miles seemed perfect.
I've been having troubles with my legs cramping up on runs on and off for a while, so now I'm leery about how I'll feel on my routes. Saturday was the first day in a long time that I felt great. I almost forgot how wonderful it can be to go on a run and feel strong....That is, until I saw the baby drowning in the creek. On closer inspection, it was a doll, but it was a bit disconcerting when I saw it out of the corner of my eye, crossing the bridge. Yikes!
After my run, it was time for a long, hot, shower and lunch. The night before we had fish tacos for dinner, so I made fish taco nachos with the leftovers, with all the fixin's. I know I say this almost everyday, but man oh man, do I love all the fixin's.
We did some serious cleaning around the house in the afternoon. John tackled the kitchen, while I tackled the bathroom. I was also able to make about 10 new kittens with all of the hair I brushed off the couch. Damn shedding cats!
We decided a rainy day, was perfect for a nice lap swim and a steam, and we were right. We were both pretty happy when we were through and I got to watch the rock climbers while I waited for John to get done showering. Very cool.
We headed to Apres and had a lovely dinner and tried their new seasonal cocktails. Who said dreary, rainy days can't still be perfect?
Sunday was the first time since John moved back to Iowa and started racing that he didn't race the downtown criterium. He was initially going to do a mountain bike race in Cedar Rapids, but it got canceled because it rained too much and they didn't want to damage the trails.
So, instead, we went down to watch some of the races. We wanted to see the women and the men's masters, for sure. There was an early, two person break away in the women's race and they basically lapped the whole field. Of course, it was still an interesting race when you watch the amazing skills these women have. I tried to take photos of them screaming down the big hill where they have a quick turn at the bottom. The one above was the best I got, because they were all going so fast that all the photos turned out blurry. Look how far she is leaning (and she wasn't even in full lean there) and notice that there is still some sand in the corner there. How bad-ass is that? I'm always in awe.
After the women's race, John and I headed to Micky's to see if Stinky was working. Sadly, she wasn't, but happily, I still got to eat my cheese fries.
After lunch we wandered back to where the races were happening. It was just starting to rain, when we saw a friend of ours hanging out at Atlas. She told us to join her. I was all over it, but John wanted to run around the course and watch the race.
More people came by and we had a great time watching the race with cover and under heat lamps. It was the best way to watch a rainy race. We sure worked around the rain this weekend, but I am sooooo glad that it's been sunny so far this week.
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