In Chicago, Chicago, Chicago. That's My Home Town.

 So, this weekend was wonderful. Coadster decided not to drive all the way to Chicago on Friday, so instead she and her boyfriend spent the night at his parent's house in the Quad Cities and met us on Saturday.

We left for Chicago right after work on Friday with Stinky and her boyfriend. John was nice enough to do all of the driving and it was pretty uneventful, except for the construction on the way in.

We got into town around 9'ish and by the time we checked in to our hotel and my friend Sarah and her boyfriend got there, it was closer to 10. They took us to a dive bar downtown, called Rossi's.

It was packed, but it was great people watching and they had a bunch of great craft beer.

We stayed out way longer than I thought we would. It was great to talk to Sarah and her boyfriend again. by around midnight, they said they had to get going. We were all pretty tired and headed back to the hotel as well.

We decided to stop at the restaurant/bar that was underneath our hotel, because they had a second happy hour from midnight to 3 am. Stinky's boyfriend was pretty sweet. He knew we wouldn't let him pay, so he snuck-up to our server and gave her his credit card. I had the ceviche as my appetizer and it was really good. We ended up finally getting to bed around 2. I can't remember the last time I stayed up that late.

I'm Glad It's Your Birthday. Happy Birthday to You.

I love the drool spot Coadster left on my shoulder here.

Coadster was born on a Friday on this day in 1992. She is turning 23 today and I feel so lucky to be her mom. We are headed to Chicago after work today to hang out and watch a Cubs game tomorrow. We're hoping for no rain. We have a hotel in the heart of everything, so it should be a fun weekend.

The cats will be missing us, but they will be guarding our house, along with an excellent cat/house-sitter...Not that we live in a cat house, but we are going to have someone come over and watch our cats and  house while we're gone.

I've been working on the cartoon'ish drawing for that painting I did a month or so ago. This is what I have so far. It looked better before I put it in my bag and it got rained on my commute home from work. Although, it's created some interesting, unintentional shading. I'll probably change it 100 more times before I actually stick it on the painting...

Archie is a little excited about us leaving. When we take-off for a weekend or longer, we let the cats free feed and they get DRY FOOD! Dry food is like eating potato chips all day for cats. There isn't much substance, but it apparently tastes really, really good. I have no doubt that Archie will eat his weight in dry food this weekend...And he is definitely already of quite an impressive girth.

I Could Sleep for a Thousand Years.

Heidi was "helping" John build the shelf for his mom's Mother's Day gift.

 On Sunday I woke-up feeling kind of crappy. I know I like to blame everything on hormones, but at my age, I'm usually right.

I was dizzy, tired and not only did I not feel like running or riding, I was too tired to even read my book. so, I listened to my body and gave myself a "Get Out of Jail Free Card" day.

I went back to bed and then woke up in time to go for a lovely brunch with John, his mom, my girls and one of their boyfriends. The food was great and the company was even better. It's been a while since I've been lucky enough to spend Mother's Day with both of my girls.

The rest of the day, I spent resting and relaxing. John went out for a bike ride. I stayed home and slept. When I woke-up, I felt much better. I wasn't ready to run a marathon or anything, but I wasn't quite so dizzy, tired and weak. We ordered pizza for dinner and then I read my book for about an hour or so before bed, while eating ice cream. It may not have been one of my most energetic Mother's Days, but it was still just fine and I got to hang out with both my girls and John and his mom. So, I was happy.

And It Makes Me Feel So Fine I Can't Control My Brain

John pointing out the log that some people are supposed to ride. People who are not us, apparently.

 Things have been a little crazy here lately. Our condo fell though for our Chicago weekend, so we've been scrambling to find something last minute. We have one more expensive option so far, and are waiting to find out about a less expensive option. I'll keep you all posted when I find out for sure.

Now, back to last weekend: Friday was lovely. Coadster came to town. I went on a quick run after work and then we had one of Coadster's favorite meals: Garlic butter salmon, baked potatoes and corn. We sat on the porch and talked for a bit, then watched the movie, "Wild". I was the only one who had read the book, and we all agreed it was pretty good, just a bit confusing in parts if you haven't read the book.

Those long, skinny bridges scare the poop out of me.

 On Saturday, John went to work on the mountain bike trails. I wanted to help again, but we had way too much to do in our own yard. I told John that he should go clean-up the trails and I would mow and work on our yard and run some errands. Team work!

When he got back, we packed up the mountain bikes and headed to the trails in Cedar Rapids. We rode for about an hour and a half. I wasn't feeling the best, but riding my bike makes everything better.

The gnats are out now, so I have to remember to bring my Bug Soother, everywhere I go for the next couple of months.

 

Coadster got back from her history nerd trip to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library around 7. We took her to Frida Kahlo's in Solon for dinner, because the food is pretty good and her boyfriend doesn't like Mexican food, so she doesn't get to go out for it very often.

What a great start to my Mother's Day weekend.

And I'm Just High on the World.

The last of my bleeding hearts.

Well, it's Friday, so there are cats on the blog, as usual, and there will also be some numbers. I have a lot of passions...Besides harassing my cats. I love to read, write, paint, run, ride, swim and cross-country ski. Just for fun, or because I'm weird...Or really, because my mom died when she was 43 and ever since then, I've had this thing about feeling like I'll never get enough of the stuff I love done before I die, I decided to add it all up this week. To see how I'm doing for the year.

My cat is a weirdo.

 Reading and writing: I haven't written even one short story or even a fragment all year. Something to work on. I have written 77 blog posts this year.

I have read 12 books so far this year - 2 nonfiction and 10 novels. I haven't read any short story collections yet.

John and his cat bonding on our porch.

 I have started one painting a couple of months ago and haven't finished it yet. I have ideas for 3 more. I guess I better get crackin' on those.

The sun rising over my favorite barn to run past.

And now for the work-out/playing stats:

CX-country skiing: 28.77 miles
Lap swimming: 18.20 hours
running: 311.46 miles
bike trainer (indoor): 7.48 hours
outdoor cycling: 1001.56 miles

I had figured out my bike miles earlier this week, but forgot about 200 commuter miles. I had about twice the biking miles by this time last year, but my knee was screwed up, so I couldn't run. I'm pretty happy with the balance of work-outs, I just need to increase the intensity of the bike rides and add open water swimming to the mix. There's always something to improve upon...

Caught by the Rain and Blinded by the Lightning.

The cows guarding their food source.

It's been raining here a lot this week. I feel like I've been slipping in workouts between rain drops...Or raging thunderstorms. Either one.

Yesterday it was supposed to storm after 4. So, I took a half day off to go on a "fun" bike ride. I love to go on bike adventures by myself.

I knew there was a South wind, but I didn't realize how hard it was blowing. I headed to the town of Lone Tree, where John's dad's family is from. It's a very small farming town. I mapped out the route ahead of time and knew that it would be a 41.1 mile route. Perfect for the time I had.

Once I got out of town and away from structures that might block it, I realized just how strong the winds were. They were killing me going South, and then the crosswinds were jerking me around so much, I cringed every time a semi passed me, because the back draft pulled me so hard.

Tank girl.

I finally made it to Lone Tree and decided to sit on the big Army tank at the town park and eat a Cliff bar, drink some water and watch the cars go by, while I rested up for the ride home.

The ride home was lovely with that strong tailwind. I turned West on 520 and saw it. That storm that was expected was looming in the distance. Dark clouds and those showers you can see coming from the sky and the hot air was battling the sudden cooler air. Crap! I hightailed it back home. I got from Lone Tree to Iowa City in less than 40 minutes. It's amazing what fear and a good tailwind can do for your speed...

...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.