I Can't Tell One From the Other. Did I Find You or You Find Me?

Hey! look at me. I'm finally writing a blog post.

Since it's been a while, I'll just do a quick recap of the races we've done in the last few weeks.

The end of April sees us switch from running races to cycling races.

The last trail running race I did for the year was the Sugarbottom Trail Race. My problem with trail races, is that I always go out too hard. I started doing that this race, but caught myself pretty early on. I stopped to walk up a hill and decided that was the last time I would walk during the race. So, when I started running again, I slowed it way down to a pace I could comfortably keep and that sped up my race in general.

The last couple of miles, I ended up running with a couple in front of me and a couple directly behind me. We all kept a nice pace together and it was nice to have people to run with. Somewhere in the last mile, I must have been getting tired, because I tripped over a rock and almost fell flat on my face. I had a dramatic (arms flailing, leaning over in several different directions trying not to fall) recovery and just barely kept from falling hard. It shook me up for a minute, but I'm hoping the couple behind me we able to get some entertainment value out of it. It must have been fun to tell their friends, "So, we got to run with a female Dick Van Dyke today..."

Anyway, When we got to the gravel section and I could see the finish, I had enough energy left to pick up my pace. I went past the four other people I was running with and realized someone else was coming up behind me. I looked over to see John (who ran twice as far as me but left in the first wave of runners, while I left with the second to last wave of runners) coming up behind me. I cheered him thinking he would run past me, but he didn't. He even lost a place to a guy in order to cross the finish line with me. That was pretty sweet of him.

I ended up being second in my category and I had a blast during the race. I wish there were more trail running races that worked out for me to do. Maybe next year.

Last weekend was the Iowa City Road Race weekend. If the weather was going to be nice, I would have done the road race on Saturday, but it was in the 40's with snow and rain and high winds, so I bailed on that.

John did the criterium race on Sunday. The weather was much better then. He has mostly been training for running races, so he hadn't focused on the bike much yet.

He thinks he went out too hard at the beginning and got dropped on the big hill a couple of times.

We had camped out in front of the Deadwood to cheer him on and some of our friends were drinking beer and then they started a dance party.

John had been dropped from the pack and was basically riding by himself, when he gave up. He rode right up to the outdoor beer garden where we were hanging out and left the race. I asked him if he wanted me to buy him a beer and he said, "Sure!". Done and dusted. Race is over. Some days are just like that.

Thanks to Matt Hartman for the photo.

This Wednesday, our team put on the first of our Time Trial series outside of Solon, Iowa. It was in the mid 50's, so we weren't sure if people would show up. We got 29 people there and a few others said they would try and come for the one in June when they had more time to train. It has been a long, and seemingly never ending Winter, so I get it.

For me, I'm stronger than I've been in a long time. Which is good. I'm also heavier than I've been since the last time I was pregnant in 1993 (thanks, perimenopause). Which is bad. So, I wasn't sure how I would do in the race. I've been training on longer, flatter courses than the one for the race, and it showed.

I went out to slowly. By the time I made the turn-around, I was feeling pretty good, so I tried to go faster up the hills than I normally do. I was having problems with my gears and toward the end, when I was tired, I messed too much with trying to get my chain to go in the big ring, instead of just going hard and not worrying so much about it, which cost me some time. I finished and didn't feel too bad. Which isn't good, but luckily, I got my best time on the course by .04 seconds (the blink of an eye, but I'll take it). I will try to train differently, and better for the June race, and we'll see what happens.

So, we had a mixed bag of good races, bad races, ugly races, and everything in between. The thing I like about racing is how it keeps my mind and body sharper and the social aspect of it. I know I always say this, but the racers I know are some of the nicest, weirdest, funnest people to hang out with.