...Can't YOu Come Out to Play in Your Empty Garden?

From inside the car at another rainy bike race.

On Sunday, John was going to try to do his first mountain bike race at noon. I got up around 7'ish and was going to take my time trial bike out, but it started raining the minute I stepped out the door. Thwarted! I went back in and sat on the screened-in porch, drinking tea and reading my book. Not a bad alternative.

We headed to Cedar Rapids to the mountain bike race around 10. It was raining a little in Iowa City, but by the time we got to Cedar Rapids, it was storming with crazy close lightning and torrential rains. They can't hold a mountain bike race when it's too muddy. It tears up the trails and hurts the tree roots and it's pretty dangerous for the riders too.

Somebody lost their muddy shoe in the parking lot. It looks like a pretty expensive loss.

By the time we got there and got settled, the rains had stopped. They were going to have a two hour delay to let the trails dry out and then continue the races. John decided he didn't want to waste the whole day waiting around to race, so we headed back home.

Since the clouds headed East, the rest of the day was sunny and warm. I finally got to do my Time Trial bike work-out and then got home, changed and did a 4.5 mile run. I was sufficiently wiped-out after that work-out. So, it did what it was supposed to do.

Later in the afternoon, I finally got the fence put around my garden and the old bike wheels I painted last year up in my garden. Now, all I have to do is get the veggies planted. Hopefully, this week?

No More Lookin' for Brains in all the Wrong Places...

Iowa in the Spring road warriors.

 On Saturday we went on a fun social ride to the future home of James T. Kirk in Riverside, Iowa. It was a warm and windy day. One of our friends got a flat tire on the way there. He didn't bring any extra tubes or a pump. He has an old 80's bike with different tubes and valves than we have on our bikes, so he couldn't use our extra tubes or CO2 cartridges to fill his tires. There wasn't much we could do for him. We tried to call a few friends to pick him up, but no one answered. He walked back to the last town and ate and drank at the bar there, until we made it back. He also ran into a guy who had a tube he could use. Whew!

 
I love the countryside we get to ride past.

We made it to Riverside and ate lunch at Murphy's. Our friend, Seaghan met us there and John was, apparently, hungry for brains...

I made the boys do a photo op with me at the Star Trek Museum on our way out of town. In my world, dorky photo ops are very, very important.

We headed back to Iowa City and the head wind we had on the way there, switched around and became a head wind on the way home too. The worst of all possible situations. We met up with our friend who flatted and John and I pulled the boys home. Even with the head wind, our little draft line went out at a nice speed. A little over 35  miles of riding, there and back, a nice lunch, a cheesy photo op and a warm, if not windy ride. Is this heaven? No, it's....Oh, never mind!

You Got to Learn How to Fall, Before You Learn to Fly.

It was a beautiful day here yesterday in Iowa. They have this cool little garden outside my office by the fire escape, and I try to go there on my afternoon breaks to read. No one else is ever there, so it's like my own, secret reading garden. How cool is that?

It's just a damn good thing I got all that yard work and house work done on Wednesday, because last night we spent the whole evening playing on mountain bikes in Cedar Rapids.

John is doing a race on these trails on Sunday and he wanted to get familiar with them before that. I was just in it for the fun. I love riding trails. It's like being 10 years old and riding with my older brother and the neighbor boys.

I'm also getting better and faster at it. The nice easy, flowy sections are my favorite and those are the parts of the trails that I'm improving on. The more technical stuff? Like that pile of logs in the above photo? Yeah. I still don't have the guts to ride over that stuff. We'll see if I ever do...

As John as I were riding the trails, I heard someone calling my name. It was one of our teammates. He is really funny and we love hanging out with him. We waited for him to catch-up and then he and John took-off.

John is great about waiting for me on the trails. If we're on trails that I know, then we both ride at our own speeds and meet at the end and go on to the next system. Since these trails are pretty new to us, we had to stay together a little more, so I don't get lost. Once our teammate caught up with us, they took off a little faster. Which was fine. I was laughing to myself that throughout my childhood, I was always trying to keep up with my brother and the neighborhood boys. It felt so comfortable and familiar and it has always made me work harder. I did lose them for a little bit when I took a wrong turn, but that was cool too, because I ran into 3 young deer and I stopped, so we could stand on the trail, staring at each other. They had no idea that a human with wheels for legs even existed.

We met another one of our teammates in the parking lot and ended up talking longer in the parking lot than we meant to. By the time we got back to Iowa City and made it to Short's for dinner, the kitchen was closing in 10 minutes. Oops! I hate to be one of THOSE people who orders food right as the kitchen is closing, but we had no choice.

Obligatory Friday cat photo.

We didn't get home until almost 10 o'clock. Needless to say, the cats were pissed. We promised them that tonight, after a little run, we will lavish them with attention, out on the porch. Who knows? Maybe we'll get a little crazy and get them high on catnip. It IS Friday after all.

Yes, It's Summer. My Time of Year.

I know some of you are Fall and Winter people, but I am definitely a Spring and Summer girl. I love warm weather, I love flowers, I don't mind bugs or heat and I love to mow the lawn...Seriously.

I also really, really love plants and flowers.

Yesterday I had to get off early to meet the guy from the city who was supposed to assess our house for tax purposes. Since the weather was supposed to be absolutely perfect (70 degrees, no humidity, gentle breezes), I took another hour or so off, to go for a nice, 6 mile run. As you can see, I was almost dizzy from the flowering tree smells.

I went home from the run, mowed the lawn, cleaned my garden beds, tidied up my house and then gave myself an hour to read my book on the porch. Man, but I could get a lot of stuff done if I could only afford to work part-time...

I think I've told you that John has dinner at his mom's house every Wednesday. Yesterday, I cut a bunch of tulips and lilacs for him to bring to her. They looked and smelled amazing.

Here's to Spring and Summer and reading on the porch and running and flowers, and unicorns and rainbows. I am giddy with all of this bounty.

Wide Awake. I'm Wide Awake. Yeah

Sunday came with better weather. It was a little chilly, but the winds calmed down and the rains made their way somewhere East of us. Bye bye. I did wake-up with a slight migraine, but it wasn't too bad and it was the first one I've had in 2 weeks. So, I couldn't really complain.

Stinky asked me a couple of months ago if I would do the River Run with her. It's an easy 5K run and it would mean not racing the criterium. I hate crits and this is a hilly crit, which sucks even more for me, so I gladly agreed.

Stinky had one of those Winters where she gained more weight then she wanted to. She also was working 3 jobs and had very little time to work-out. She wasn't even sure she could finish a 3.1 mile race. John was sweet enough to come to the race with us and wait for us to finish.

 Stinky did great. I could tell going up the one big hill that she wanted to stop and walk. She started thinking up excuses. She: "My calves are pretty sore..." Me: "They'll be that way." She: I feel like I'm going slow enough to be walking anyway..." Me: But you're passing all of the walkers, so that can't be true." Me: See that? We're almost past the worst of it. As soon as we hit that rise, the very worst part of the race is over and everything will be so much easier. So, is my talking to you helping, hurting or making you want to punch me?" She: "It's helping me...And making me want to punch you a little."

The good news is that Stinky didn't stop to walk even once. She said she knows she would have if I hadn't run with her and talked her out of it. she also beat her goal time of 40 minutes and finished in a time of 33.25. I was one proud, annoying muthah.

I took my migraine meds after I finished the running race and headed home so we could quite literally switch gears and get ready for John's criterium. I think I mentioned yesterday that John was battling for first place for the Omnium. he got 2nd in the road race, 1st in the Time Trial and the criterium would decide the winner of all 3 races for the weekend.

It was great to watch the race. John was strong throughout, but he will tell you, he isn't the strongest sprinter, and ended up getting 3rd in the criterium and 2nd for the Omnium for the 50 + masters men's category. Very impressive.

Some of our friends showed up to cheer John on and after the race, we got to hang out at an outdoor patio and watch the races go by while we ate and drank.

The races ended, John and I went home and this time it was John who fell asleep by 8:30 while we were trying to finish The Big Sleep. I suppose next weekend, we should probably try to watch Wide Awake instead, huh?

Weather's Gonna Break and Hell's Gonna Fly.

This weekend, we went completely insane and did three races in 2 days. The craziest part about it, was the weather conditions on Saturday. The first race I did was a 26 mile road bike race. It was about 40 degrees,which was chilly, but not awful, the winds were gusting at 25 mph, which was careening dangerously close to awful, but the driving rain in our faces, chilling us to the bone, dropkicked us way past awful.

I wasn't sure how to dress for the conditions. I decided to wear my Fasterkatts - cycling boots. Even with shoe covers, I knew my feet would be too cold. I also wore tights, a Merino Wool long sleeve undershirt with my thermal team jacket and Winter gloves. At the last minute, I decided to wear John's plastic rain jacket. If it had even been 5-10 degrees warmer, the rain jacket would have been unbearably hot, but it was the only thing that kept me from getting hypothermic like many of the other racers. Thanks, John!

Photo courtesy of Steve Hanson.

This is the only road race in our area that has a masters women's category. Which is awesome. Sadly, I was the only woman who signed up for this category. Sigh. The good thing about that, was that all I had to do is finish the race and I would win my category. Sounds easy, right? Well, in those weather conditions, it was a bit of a challenge.

I still haven't spent much time training on my bike this year and that was so evident in the race. I really wanted to stay with the pack of women at least until the first half of the first lap, which was where we had the crazy head wind. I made it up until the first steep hill, that then turns and is still a less steep climb. About halfway up that steepest part of the hill, I got dropped like I was hot. Which wasn't so hot.

I rode the rest of the lap, as well as the second full lap by myself, with no one to draft off of in those insane winds. At one point, when I still had about 2 miles of head winds and rain pelting my face left, before I turned into a tailwind, I did question my sanity for the millionth time and reminded myself that not only was I doing this, I PAID to do it. Hey, I've never claimed to be particularly smart...

The pay-off for riding in Amish/Mennonite country. Thanks again for the photo, Mark Consadine.

I did finish the race and found out that many of my teammates were suffering from the bone chilling cold. I had to help one of my teammates take off his helmet, his fingers were so frozen. I think I gained about 5 lbs of water weight. My boots were so full of rain, that I had to dump the excess in the toilet when I was done racing.

Strangest of all, was that John was so cold, he said he didn't think he wanted to come back for the Time Trial in the afternoon. John is one of the heartiest people I've ever met and he is addicted to racing. If he is too cold to race, you know it's a big deal. We went home and I heated up soup and warmed up some brie and got some bread out, while John soaked in a hot tub. After we ate and took a quick 20 minute nap/rest, we headed back to do the Time Trial.

It was a good thing we did come back. It stopped raining, so all we had to contend with was the cold and the winds. John and I did our 13 mile Time Trial and he got first in his category and I got first, middle and last in mine, since the other woman who was registered never showed.

We were both completely exhausted when we finished our second race. We went home to shower, then went to Shorts for dinner and a couple of beers. I fell asleep on the couch by 8 o'clock, ironically while watching "The Big Sleep". It was one hell of a day in every way.

Somewhere Impossible Light Still Shines and Every Smile is as if New.

Cat Friday, you say? Well, here's the cat Friday Centerfold. Meeeee-ooooow!

 As I said in previous posts, my week started with a battle of wits between cat and dog...

Okay. On closer inspection, maybe it's more accurate to call it a battle of the witless.

Last night Coadster came back to town. She had an interview for a teaching job at a school about a half hour away from us. If she gets it, she will stay with us during the week and then go back to her place in Des Moines for the weekend. I would love to have her here, but I know she'd rather work in Des Moines and not have to be away from her boyfriend and puppy all week. I'm hoping she gets exactly what she wants...As always.

John and Coadster and I went to Mickey's for dinner. Stinky just started waiting tables there, so we got to sit in her section and harass her. It was great. After dinner, John and Coadster and I wandered into Prairie Lights, where I bought a couple of books and got a free rose with each. How great is that?

I hope you all have a tongue-waggingly good weekend, filled with books and pretty flowers...And lot's and lot's of sassy cats.

That's Life. That's What All the People Say.

Me coming into the finish line at the Dam to Downtown.

The good thing about growing old with someone and not dating someone who is much younger than you, is the ammunition you have when they try to tease you about your age.

I was clearly not half as happy as the woman behind me.

Here is a conversation John and I had right before a running race.

Me: Oh, I need to take some Advil before I start running.

John: Wow. Too bad your bones weren't creaking when you said that, for added old people effect.

Me: Well, even if they did, you wouldn't be able to hear it anyway...

John: Touche'!

John and I both take off our shoes immediately after we cross the finish line. Is that an old people thing?

Well It's Not Far Down to Paradise, At Least It's Not for Me

On Sunday the grand puppy was still here to freak the cats out...Until Archie realized that Bailey wasn't a threat in the least and began to stalk her, and made her hide behind John for protection. Poor girl.

This Sunday, I didn't have a migraine when I woke-up. It was a good day. John and I were both pretty sore from the day before, so we decided to just swim laps later in the day, and not try to run or ride.

I also forgot to bring the book I was reading home for the weekend, so I didn't have that distraction either. I decided to finally get some yard work done.

I raked out beds and lopped off all of the scraggly, volunteer, trees and bushes around my house that I've been meaning to trim up for the last few years. Bailey dog kept me company. She doesn't often get to hang out outside, so I thought she'd like it. She just started to get whiny that I wasn't giving her my full attention. Apparently, she fancies herself pretty damn special.

John worked on some of the bikes while I was busy in the yard. He finally changed out my studded tires. I feel like I'm flying to work and back with just knobbies on my commuter bike and without the metal studs. Yea!

I found this growing in my yard. It is Pulmonaria.Since we are in the process of turning our backyard into a shade garden, I will try to get this to take over.

After we finished our chores, we went to the University Rec Services Building to swim laps. They have an incredible  pool there and they just extended the lanes from 25 to 50 meters. I was so exhausted and at one point, I found myself staring down the lane and thinking how damn lucky I was. I had such an amazing weekend and even though I couldn't really do it justice, I have the use of an incredible pool, 6 awesome bikes to ride, tons of great places to run, 2 wonderful daughters to hang out with and one amazing partner to share it all with. Who knows what will happen from day to day, but I always love to stop and recognize just how good I have it.

Make One Dream Come True. You Only live Twice.

Another weekend, another race. John and I did a very hilly 10K running race on Saturday. It was our 3rd race in a week and our legs were still a little sore from the 25K trail run the weekend before, and I had the worst sunburn I've had in a while. When I did that 50 mile bike ride on Thursday, I forgot to put on sunscreen and I was wearing a bike jersey tank, so my shoulder blades were exposed. My skin was fried. I had a hard time sleeping on Friday night and when I put on my first sports bra Saturday morning, it hurt so bad, I didn't think I'd be able to race. I tried a different style, and that didn't rub my sunburn at all. Whew!

I started out slowly and could feel how tight and sore my quads were. I figured, I'd just do what I could and I watched as many, many people passed me. By the 3rd mile, the endorphins kicked in. I couldn't feel how sore my legs were as much and I started to go a lot harder. I was suddenly passing people and feeling pretty good. By the time I got close to the finish, I didn't  have a lot left and a few people passed me toward the end. John was done long before me and he and Coadster were on the road with the grand puppy. I had to laugh through my pain when John yelled, "Hurry up and finish. Bailey needs petting!" 

I finished with my slowest time ever, but still got 4th in my age group and 60th out of 183 women overall. John didn't feel great or have his best time either, but he was 3rd in his age group category and 22nd out of men overall. Neither of us were particularly pleased with our times, but we both said that the 25K last weekend was more important to us, and we were both pretty happy with how we did in that race. At our ages, we can't expect to rock everything, right?

I was trying to get more of my bike on here, but I ended up cutting both it and my forehead out of the frame.

After our race, we went home and showered and then met Coadster and her boyfriend for lunch. I wasn't super hungry, but I knew I needed to eat...Especially, since John and I were headed to the mountain bike trails after lunch.

I thought my legs would be too tired to ride bikes very well, but I actually rode better and faster than I ever had before. Part of the reason, I think, was because I stopped using clipless pedals and I'm more confident when I don't have to remember to clip-out every time I get stuck. Another part is that I'm getting more familiar with the trails and I know what to expect when I ride. The biggest thing, was that I had a beer before I rode. Holy cow! I was so much more relaxed about things. Let that be a lesson to me!

John riding the rock garden. there might not be enough beer in the world to give me the guts to do that.

After our ride, we went home, showered and chilled-out a little bit before we went out for sushi with Coadster, Stinky and Stinky's boyfriend. While we were eating, a storm rolled in. We got hit with torrential downpours and hail on our way to the car and into our house. It was the perfect night to hang-out with the grand puppy, John and  Coadster and watch a movie while it stormed outside. We watched The Imitation Game. It was really good. So, I did a running race, I got to hang out with my girls, my boyfriend and my grand puppy. I got to ride mountain bikes and eat sushi and watch a good movie during a thunderstorm. All of the bases were covered.I can't think of much else that would make the day any more perfect.

There is No Pain You Are Receding.

Apparently, I've been a little lame in the blogging department this week. Sorry about that.

I know I've mentioned several times that I can get a bit socially overwhelmed, I'm not much of a structure person, I'm a HUGE homebody and if I ever won the lotto, I would quit my job in a heartbeat. Well, this week I started feeling like my life was moving too fast and I desperately needed some alone time so I could reboot. Since I didn't win the lottery, I had to just take a vacation day for no real reason other than...Sanity.

I did have some practical plans, but most of them fell by the wayside, to just slow everything down, hang my laundry on the line, read the book "Sisterland", which has been really hard for me to put down and go for about a 50 mile bike ride to Sutliff Bridge and back.

Don't think I forgot it was cat day Friday...

Ignore my ugly 40 years of running feet here, and imagine how lovely it is to put up your dogs, while you read a great book on your screened-in porch, as your cat eyes a bird on the feeder. Feel the warm, 75 degree breeze and smell the freshly cut grass from your neighbor's yard and notice your breathing slow down, while your brain rewires itself. Got that? Feeling that? That is sanity and I had that for most of the day yesterday. It was purrrrrfect.