They Just Don't Appreciate That You Get Tired.

O M GEE, kids! Saturday was rough. Originally, I thought that my biggest problem would be pain in my feet, but that ended up being the least of my worries.

It was a cold morning, but really beautiful. I decided not to wear a jacket at the beginning of the race and boy was I glad I didn't have to carry that thing around with me for 15.5 miles. I also noticed that I screwed up the laces on one of my shoes, right before the race, but didn't have time to fix it. I hoped that it wouldn't come back to bite me during my race...

I think I was doing the Frankenstein Shuffle here. Thanks to the Hawkeye 50 for the photo.

I started the race at a nice, slow pace. Map My Run barked at me that I was running about a mile a minute slower than I was the year before, but I knew I wasn't going to be strong enough to go much faster than that. I carried one bottle of water and one bottle of Gatorade and three salted caramel Gu's on me and it seemed about perfect for fueling and hydrating during the race.

No surprise, my biggest problem during the race turned out to be how undertrained I was. There wasn't anything I could do about that, since I couldn't make myself be uninjured all Winter long. So, all I could do was plug away and hope I was strong enough to finish the race.

About 2 miles or so into the race, a woman came around me and asked, "Are you a talker or a quieter?" I think she was looking for someone to run and chat with, and we were pretty closely paced. I felt bad, but I told her I was a quieter, because I couldn't breathe very easily when I ran. She said, she totally understood and went past me. I really appreciated her asking me, because some people just assume you are like they are and want to chat. We ran pretty closely together, passing each other at different times until I got to the Spillway. The water was a bit higher than years past, and there was ice on some of the rocks, so I was pretty careful not to fall as I crossed. There was a nice little group of us running/walking up the crazy hill after the spillway. It was there that I realized that my shoe lacing problem was going to mess with me. My shoe was so loose that I was afraid it was going to come off, so I had to stop and untie and retie it tighter. Of course, it all took way longer than it should have because I got my hands wet during the water crossing and they were freezing in the cold air. By the time I got all recombobulated (it's a word in my head. Trust me), all my running group friends were long gone.

By the 7th mile, I was in a bad place. I was already exhausted, I couldn't see anyone in front of or behind me and I thought I might be last. I also was silly and was trying to do math to calculate what time I might get into the finish at my current pace...I can't really do math when I'm not oxygen deprived and exhausted, so that was clearly a bad idea. I calculated incorrectly, and thought it would take me 3.5 hours at this pace. I also started breathing too shallowly, which can turn into panic breathing. So, I told myself to chill the Eff out. I worked on slowing down my breathing, tried to rationally look at the chances that I was actually last, and admitted that I saw people behind me at the water crossing, and even if I was last and it did take me 3.5 hours to finish, so what? All I had to do was get through this next mile, and if I had to walk, then I'd walk. My breathing calmed down, and I carried on...Albeit, very slowly.

I walked up most of the big hills, because I knew I didn't have much left and I didn't want to burn all of my matches on the uphills. I ran past a woman and then a couple and then a man and by the time I hit the paved road with about 4 miles left, I passed another woman. I kept trying to go one more mile and see if I could do that without walking, and finally I was at the turn-off with about a half mile to go. John was waiting for me there and told me I was almost there. Two women came out of nowhere and passed me like I was standing still on the home stretch. If I had any oxygen left, I would have said, "Good on you. Go get it!" I finally finished and I could barely stand. I finished in 2 hours and 38 minutes the year before and this year it took me 2 hours and 55 minutes. Yikes.

I will say, that if my whole point of racing is to push myself past certain limits, then I was a HUGE winner. Unfortunately, I may have pushed myself way harder than I should have. I could barely walk after the race, I've had digestive problems and haven't been able to eat much since the race and I was passing-out on and off for a day or two after. Today things are getting back to normal, but I'm not doing any physical exercise, except bike commuting to work and back to let myself rest until tomorrow when I'll reevaluate.

John's race went better than mine, but not as well as he had hoped. He finished a few minutes slower than the year before and said he didn't feel that great during the whole race. He still managed to be 4th in his category and 18th overall. A pretty great result, as far as I'm concerned.

After the race, we met some of our friends at Big Grove for lunch and beer. I was feeling okay at first and got to play with my friend's beautiful baby girl. I gave the baby back and then I was starting to feel hot and dizzy again. I tried to go outside and sit with my head between my knees, but that wasn't working either. I went inside and told John that I needed the keys to the car. I was pretty embarrassed, but I knew if I didn't hightail it somewhere where I could lie down, I was going to pass-out. John came out to check on me, but we had ordered food, so he went back into the restaurant. I told him to go back and  have fun. I would be just fine, as long as I didn't have to sit up. I don't know how long I was out, but when I woke-up/came-to, I felt a lot better. I went in, and John had already eaten and had the waitress box up the rest of our food. I told him I was feeling better and took a few bites of my salad. I wasn't hungry, but all I had eaten so far that day was some oatmeal and a couple of Gu's and I had burned about 2300 calories during the race, so I figured I should. We stayed and chatted with everyone about a half hour more, and then we headed home. It was a great day and I was happy I finished it. My body might be a little pissed off at me, but what else is new?

Keep the Pace Hold the Race. Your Mind is Getting Clearer

Jaxson kept eating my book while I was trying to read it. It would have been annoying if he weren't so damn cute.

 I woke up yesterday with very sore leg muscles. I tried to remember what I did the day before to cause it. Had I run a marathon, or done a 100 miles on my time trial bike? Was it from all that puppy playing? Then it hit me. It was something way more strenuous and brutal than all of that...Yup. You got it - yard work and gardening. It gets me every year.

After work yesterday, I was doing a nice, easy, run on the bike trail. I saw a couple of ducks up ahead of me and I was quickly gaining on them. I would have caught them too, if they hadn't resorted to using their amazing powers of flight.  Little cheaters.

So, tomorrow, I am signed up for the Hawkeye 25K. It's that 15.5 mile trail run I do every year. Of course, this year, I am in no kind of shape for it. The longest I've been able to run without my feet hurting so badly I could cry, was 9 miles. I am going into the race the same way I have everything this year - cutting myself a sh*t-ton of slack. If I can't go very fast, I'll go slowly. If my feet hurt too badly to run, I'll take myself a nice walk in the woods. The only thing I'll hurt is my pride.

I am glad that I did so well last, year, because I don't have that pressure hanging over me. I will have a great time.  I plan on Enjoying the amazing scenery and then going to Big Grove brewery, where they gave us half priced beer after the race last year, and meet some of our bike racing friends who are also doing the race. I'm looking forward to the fun.

Round Here We Stay Up Very, Very, Very, Very Late

On Tuesday I had originally planned to take a vacation day and ride my bike. As it got closer, the weather got crappier. The I decided to use that day to get some work done around the house and just rest. As I've mentioned before, I haven't been feeling the best lately, and I've had a hard time sleeping, so I feel exhausted and dizzy much of the time. So, I figured a rest day might do me good. Then on Monday, I found out that my newest grand puppy got into something and spent the night in the puppy ER. You would think that a puppy that small wouldn't be able to get into anything, but puppies are like babies, they seem to be able to defy gravity and somehow gain the power of flight to access all the things that are oh, so very bad for them.

I volunteered to watch the puppy and give him his meds at the appointed times and make sure he pooped out the bad stuff. It was a pretty damn good day, if you ask me.

Stinky was bringing the puppy over at about 8:30, so I got up early to run my 4.5 mile route. It's been a while since I've been running when it was in the 20's. That was cold for my old bones.

Jaxson and I had a grand old time. We played with the red dot, and all the cat toys and he chased Archie around...Of course, Archie is still terrified of Jaxson, since Archie only weighs 15 lbs more than the puppy. By mid-afternoon, right as Jaxson was eating, Archie got a little braver. Too bad Jaxson licked his bowl clean, because Archie was kind enough to finish his food for him if he couldn't. Archie's a giver that way...

I got Jaxson settled on the couch and I was trying to read my book, when we both decided to take a little afternoon snooze. Archie got extra, special, brave after Jaxson fell asleep. he even nudged the puppy with his paw just to see if he was really asleep.

We slept for about an hour. I have to say, puppy naps really are the best naps.

I tried to get a selfie with the puppy, but that was easier said than done. This was about all I could manage without squirming and blurring all over the place.

I probably don't need to tell you that I didn't get much done on my day off...Except for eggplant parmesan over linguini with steamed asparagus made for dinner. But it was a perfect day to not go to work, play with a puppy and rest. Exactly what I needed.

Also, the puppy seems to be healed from his foray into garbage cuisine. Silly old boy.

All For Freedom and for Pleasure. Nothing Ever Lasts Forever

I saw this thing along the bike path. I think it's a stripped down bike helmet with some kind of spike in it? Is it a hoodoo message to cyclists?

Since it is April 6th already, I thought I might finally get around to doing my monthly stats for march. here we go:

Cycling Miles - 177.

Running Mile - 87.60.

Swimming Miles: 5.

Walking Miles - 2.

Races: 2. One 10K road running race and one 25 mile part gravel/part road race on my cyclocross bike.

Books Read: 7. "The Secret Garden", by Frances Hodgson Burnett, "Norwegian Wood", by Haruki Murakami, "Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance", Carla Kaplan, "Wolf in White Van" John Darnielle, "In the Woods" Tana French, "Last Kind Words Saloon" Larry McMurtry, "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity", Katherine Boo.

House Projects started or comepleted - ....Yeah. You know the drill. One of these days...

Drawing/Paintings started or completed - I did do some doodling and a few rough sketches, but I'm still having a hard time coming up with an image I really want to paint.

Yard Work - I started some seedlings of organic basil, tomatoes, cone flowers and marigolds for the garden, I've been playing pick-up sticks in my backyard almost every day with these colossal winds, and I'm clearing leaves away from the garden, so the earliest flowers can get sunlight and bloom away.

Out of Town Trips - 1. To Des Moines for a running race.

So, that was my March in numbers. I'm hoping that the weather starts getting warmer and less windy this month, so I can stop wasting my time eternally picking up sticks in my yard and start playing more on my bike.

It Was a Wicked and Wild Wind

On Sunday we decided to ride our road bikes. According to the Weather Channel, it wasn't supposed to be as windy as the day before...But it was more than windy enough. I thought the gusts were supposed to be up to 30 mph, but once we got out onto roads with nothing to break the wind, it was closer to 40 mph.

It was the first ride of the year for one of guys and the wind was killing all of us, so we stopped for a minute in Hills, and a random guy pulled over to where we were standing, behind a building trying to shield ourselves from the wind. He was some kind of RAGBRAI blogger, and he gave us his card, so we could check out his blog. Crap. I still need to do that.

We took another break about 8 miles from Kalona. If you look at the photo above, you can see by the red rag on the Embargo sign exactly which way the wind was blowing and just how strong.

We take a couple of dirt roads that aren't bad for a road bikes, but when we were getting ready to turn onto the last one, we realized that they had just regraveled it and that new gravel was crazy thick. One of the guys we were riding with said that it was tough enough to ride with the wicked head and cross wind without trying to maneuver on thick gravel with road bikes, so we continued straight onto Highway one, which can be busy but has a really wide shoulder for all of the horse and buggies from the Amish community,

As we reached the Highway, we saw a woman getting blown away just walking along the road. She laughed when she saw us and asked, "What are you guys doing?" We wondered the same thing. The Highway was even worse with a cross wind. I have never in my life wished that I weighed more before, but I would have paid money for another 50 lbs to keep from blowing into traffic with each gust. It didn't help that I was riding a bike with dish wheels that worked like sails.

We crossed the highway and tried the other side of the road, so that the wind would blow me into the ditch instead of into a truck on the highway. Blowing into the ditch wasn't all that much more fun, so about a mile from Kalona, I told the boys to go ahead and I'd meet them there. John was nice enough to stay with me and we walked until we got to Highway 22, where we could finally turn and get the benefits of a tailwind into town. Whew!

We made it to the brew pub and I was starving. I normally get the salad there, but I needed something more substantial. Pizza! I had a migraine earlier in the morning, so I couldn't drink alcohol. John thought it was sad that I couldn't even drink a beer after putting in that much work, but drinking lemonade was actually perfect after all the wind and the heat. After our other friend, also named John, found out that it was 80 outside degrees, he said, "So, basically, we've been riding into a hair dryer?" Pretty much.

As we were sitting at the table, we all agreed that if over the course of our lunch, the winds had changed and we had to ride home in a head/cross wind like on the way there, we would give up and call for a ride. Luckily for us, we didn't have to do that. We rode back and for the first half of the ride we had the most glorious tail wind I have ever experienced. I have never ridden my bike that far in winds that strong before, so I had no idea what kind of joy that tailwind could bring. We had contests to see who could go the longest without pedaling. For me that was almost two miles of uphills and down, with an average pace of 20 mph. I wish I had my bike camera on me. I would have loved to get a photo of the boys riding in front of me with both arms outstretched and not pedaling. It was beautiful.

Of course with all good things, it had to come to an end. Once we got back on Sand Road, the winds had shifted enough that we had a bad West cross wind. The two boys fell behind, but I couldn't go slowly enough to wait for them to catch up, without getting blown off the road. So, John slowed down for them and they caught me waiting at the red light on the way into town.

I was talking to John about the ride later on, and we both agreed that however hard it was at parts, that ride was so worth it. Talk about an incredible adventure...

There's No Time to Cry. Happy, Happy.

What a weekend, what a weekend! Holy cow. We started out Friday night with me going into the garden to see if the hyacinths had bloomed yet and finding a ton of fresh catnip...And since it was the weekend, we got the cats high. Archie was totally all about the mellow.

Thanks to the Red Shamrock Foundation for the photo.

On Saturday morning, we got up and ran a mile and a half to the site to do our first trail race of the year. Of course, for me, it was my first trail run of the year too. I had planned to do a trail run a week for the last month, but that never happened.

Soooo, here's my race report:

I went into the race without a lot of hope for a great outcome. I decided to go out slow and try to do some negative splits. I usually go out balls to the wall, but I knew I didn't have it, and even if starting out slowly isn't the fastest, it definitely makes the run less painful and more fun.

I probably started out a little TOO slowly, but I'm okay with that. The first mile or two didn't feel that great. I even warmed-up enough this time too..By the second mile my quads were cramping something fierce. I have no idea why. We hit a long uphill section and I said, screw it, and walked up part of it. After that, my quads were just fine.

After the race when we are all windswept. Thanks to Brittany McConnell for taking this.

I got into a group of four guys and we hit a single track, technical section. I suddenly remembered how to choose my line and hit my feet in the best place over logs and among the roots sticking up on the trail. It was so much fun. After we reached a more open section, two of the guys took off, I passed the other two guys and ran off, but wasn't able to catch the first two. When we got to the bouncy, bridge, I knew I was getting close to the end of the race. There were about 5 of us on the bridge at once and every time my foot came down, the bridge came up and I finally had to yell, "I hate this bridge!" and all of the other runners laughed and agreed.

I came into the finish and was very happy to be done. The winds had been ridiculous and I was exhausted, but so happy. I ended up being 6th out of 16 in my category and I was more than fine with that. They changed the course some, so I have no idea if my time was better or worse than previous years. Basically, I finished the run and remembered all over again why I love racing...Even when I'm not at my strongest. Also? I need to run more trails. I forgot how fun they are.

The winds were crazy all day on Saturday. Can I mention again about how windy it was? Apparently, I can. We both rested after the race for a bit. Then I heated up pizza for lunch and we headed to Beverly in Cedar Rapids to ride some mountain bike trails.

The high winds weren't so bad in the cover of the trees, but there were many, many sticks blowing onto the trails. About a half mile in, John got a big stick stuck in his derailleur. It looked like we were going to have to walk our bikes back to the car, but John was able to bend things enough and not use his two easiest gears, so we could ride.

We had a blast on the trails. I hadn't ridden in Beverly since last Spring, and I did miss it. They have the coolest dirt berms there. We rode about 10 miles and my legs started to get very, very sore. A vulture was following us around the trails, and I figured I should take that as a sign that he was just waiting for me to die, so he could pick my bones, and we called it a day...A lovely playing on trails kind of day, and went home. There is nothing better than the feeling of being so tired from playing outside all day that all you can do is go home and eat and rest.

You Can't Climb Across a Mountain so High

Kids, It's been a long week. I haven't been felling the best, but that's to be expected until I get through this whole change of life thing.

At least last weekend was great. We got to ride the mountain bike trails and it I was so much faster and more confident than I was the week before.

There was a little muddy patch getting to one of the trails, so at least I got some good dirt stains.

John and I were just getting over pretty slight colds, so we still weren't blazing any trails, but I remembered more technique than the first time out for the year, and that always helps.

Saturday night was my friend, Ginger's birthday celebration. We met at Moonrakers and had a nice meal and then headed over to Micky's to harass my daughter while she was working and finally to the Dublin Underground where we ran into some good friends who never go out either and JUST HAPPENED to be out at the same time at the same bar. What luck!

So, this weekend, will be interesting. We're supposed to do about a 4 mile trail running race. I have not had the best running experiences as of late, so I'm still going to do it, but if I'm hurting, I'll slow it down and have fun playing in the woods. We also want to finally start road riding. the winds are supposed to be ridiculous, but that hasn't stopped us in the past...

Here's hoping for a healthy happy weekend...For all of us.

She's Making a List and Checking it Twice

If you think the spilled tea stain on this list is bad, you should see what my cookbooks look like...

So, remember at the beginning of the year when I said I was going to start doing some real writing? Well, it hasn't happened yet, but that doesn't mean that I can't start now. I have decided to give myself some writing prompts. They could be words or ideas or working on my issues, or making myself share a memory...Or hell, make one up. I love fiction! Anyway, this will be my first. My writing prompt is "lists".

One would think that a person like myself would love lists. I document everything obsessively and I'm spacey, so constant reminders are completely necessary for me to function. I read one thing about the spaciness that comes with perimenopause and they suggested trying to remember things by saying them out loud. Such as, "I'm putting my keys on the kitchen table". Then an hour later when you (and by you, I mean me) are frantically going through your bottomless messenger bag looking for them, you can recall the sound of you own voice in your head telling you where they might be. Which is much better and more useful than the other voices in my head...

My fear of lists comes from my abusive legal guardian, my Aunt Kath. She used to do this thing where every day in the summer, she would make a list of chores we had to do. This was on top of my every day chores of cooking and cleaning-up after every meal, dusting, vacuuming, sweeping every day, cleaning out the stalls of the horses in the barn and cleaning the two bathrooms. She would stay in her bedroom and sleep all day, while we did this work. We were supposed to get paid $2 a week for allowance, but she would wait a month or two to pay us and then give us less than half of what she owed us. We also were not allowed to work anywhere else (except they would let me detassel corn for two weeks every July as long as I got all my other chores done before and after work). The only money I had during high school was from performing these tasks and I had to buy my own clothes and anything else I needed, besides the food I cooked everyone for breakfast and dinner.

The crazy thing about her lists, was that she would make them as long as she possibly could and then when we finished, we would have to knock on her bedroom door to see if she would let us do anything. I would only want to go for a run or a bike ride, because I wasn't really allowed to hang out with other people or leave the house for more than an hour or two, but my Aunt would tell us to come back later and we would have to just sit around and wait for her to decide to get up out of her bed. Usually, when she did, she would check out our lists and think of other things to write on it and the process would start all over.

So, for years I stayed away from lists. They were my nemesis for so many years when I was younger. As I worked through so many of my issues, I got around to rethinking lists. First of all, I'm the only person in charge of me, so the only tasks I have to perform, are the ones I feel necessary. Secondly, I can put "ride bikes" or "go for a run" on my lists. They don't all have to be chores. I can write down all of the fun stuff I want to do. Thirdly, if I don't get something done on my list, it's not a big deal. I won't get the crap beat out of me or the few things I hold dear taken away from me anymore.

Now I make lists and there are no scary dark clouds hanging over my head about them and they aren't endless and they are helpful...And many times, fun. See how I turned that around?

You've Been on a Road That Just Don't Seem to End

This was the vacant lot where my girls and their friends played "town" in the Spring until the poison ivy came in every year. I'm sad they cut all the trees down.

I took a half day of vacation on Tuesday afternoon. It was supposed to be the one nice day this week before it rained yesterday and snowed today.

It was a lovely day, I just didn't feel that well. I was going to try and do a 12 mile run, out to the Coralville Resevoir and back, but I'm pretty sure I had one of those weird migraines without the actual pain. I was dizzy and achy and an aura and I had some weird digestive problems, just like when I have a migraine, I just didn't feel the stabbing pain with it, is all.

I love to do adventure rides and runs. I know people who only want to do hard training rides or runs, and I do harder, training rides and runs too (although, judging from my results, probably not nearly enough....) but I love the long, slow, adventure rides where I go out and run or ride at a nice pace and check out the scenery and see what I can see...Which is exactly what I did on Tuesday.

I had no idea how long I'd be able to go, so I set off with no pressure and figured, if I got too dizzy or my feet hurt too badly, or I just wasn't feeling it, I'd head back and if running was too much for me, I'd walk back home. Either way, it was a beautiful day and I'm so much happier when I'm outside moving.

I just ran slowly and enjoyed the view and listened to music on my iPhone and talked to some cows and my feet got pretty sore, fairly early on in the run, so I turned around when I got to Newport Road and didn't make it all that very near the resevoir, but that was fine.

Once I hit Dewey Street on the way back, I ran into some of my old neighbors and they were just going to take their dogs for a walk in the cemetery. I hadn't seen any of them for a long time, so I stopped and walked a ways with them in order to catch up a little.

I took off back to my house and my feet were still hurting, so I stopped after I hit the 9 mile mark. It wasn't quite as far as I wanted, but it was better than not running at all. I couldn't have asked for a better adventure...Okay. I would like to ask for new feet that don't hurt and not to get any more migraines (not even the painless kind) but everything else was great.

I Ride Down the Lane With a Happy Refrain

Hey! This week has been crazy, and most importantly, I've been reading a book that I can't put down, so I'm not getting much Blogging done....Or anything else, really.

So, we'll just right a little weekend post. It was lovely and wonderful. On Friday night I made some spicy peanut noodles with shrimp, miso soup and mixed greens with a homemade balsamic vinaigerette dressing.

On Saturday I read some in the morning, watched a professional bike race on-line and then did my 8.3 mile run outside. The run felt great. My metatarsalgia only hurt a little at the end, and all my other ailments kept themselves in line and didn't grieve me much at all. Ahhh.

That evening, we headed over to the Hilltop for our bike racing team party. Our racing team is also a riding club, so it's nice and mellow and some race and some ride and it also includes off road cycling, running, triathlon, and CX country ski races. It is perfect for me, because I'm not a hardcore road racer and I'm old and I would not fit in with a serious road racing team at all. I like our mix of weirdos and lovable freaks. It was nice to see everyone. That's the only problem when you have a team of people that all race different things or don't race at all, you don't get to see everyone very often.

On Sunday John got up early and ran a 13 mile route. I got some things done around the house and then Stinky called to see if we wouldn't mind watching her puppy. We didn't mind a bit. John tried to take a nap after his run and shower, but Jaxson didn't make it easy for him.

By the time I got home from my 4.5 mile run, I came home to two sleepy boys. It looks like John got the puppy to nap after all...

After lunch, John and I decided to head to the mountain bike trails. They were finally open. Yea!

We were both pretty tired from all of our over-playing we already did over the weekend, but it was fun to slowly ride along and get used to my mountain bike and riding trails and staying back on my saddle on the downhills.

It felt so great to be outside playing. It was in the 40's temperature wise, but after riding for a bit, I wasn't the least bit chilly.

After a little over an hour, I realized I was too tired to ride anymore. I was doing stupid stuff and almost crashing all over the place and figured that meant I was done.

We headed over to Big Grove for half priced beer and split some olives, spicy brussel sprouts and smoked trout salad. Yum.

We headed home and since had already eaten, we had plenty of time to watch a movie. We decided on "Singin' in the Rain". It was an excellent choice. Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. How fun is that?

And Life Gets More Exciting with Each Passing Day

 I really tried to write this yesterday, but I was thwarted by high winds that knocked out the electricity in my office at 4 pm and then knocked out my internet at home, and that still isn't up yet...

I did a 25 mile part gravel/part paved road  race on Sunday. Saturday night I started getting a migraine, so I took my meds right before bed. It would be at least 12  hours until I would race, which would be okay. Any amount of time less than that can be a bit dangerous, plus if I take them too close to a race, I am even slower than I normally am.

Thanks to Amaris Hanson for the race photo!

 It had rained the night before and was still misting during the beginning of the race. Like I said last week, I haven't really trained at all on the bike this year. I've been trying to train more for running, since I have a running race pretty much every weekend in April. Also, my legs were pretty wrecked from the 10K I ran the day before. I rode the Women's B race. There was one other woman in my category.

I didn't check my bike out before John loaded it. My excuse is that I was getting the puppy in the kennel and making sure he went outside before that, but in all honesty, I often let John take care of my bike and I don't check it out before a race. So, when I pulled it off the rack when we went to register, I realized that I had my platform pedals on and I was wearing my Fasterkatt boots made for clipless pedals. Usually it's not a big deal, but for this race, where there are some impressive hills, I could really feel the difference of not getting that dig at the top of the hill. And with hills, I need all the help I can get.

So, the race started and I got dropped after the first couple of minutes. I rode along and passed a friend of mine who was not only racing for the first time, but riding a fat bike. Brave guy. I told him he was doing great as I passed him.

I caught up to the other woman in the B race and another friend of mine who was racing on a fat bike, just as they had crested the first smaller hill and could the next, very large hill coming up. I heard the girl say, "oh no!", at about the same time my friend said, "sh*t!". I passed them and  hoped that the girl would jump on my wheel on the downhill. I am heavier, so I go pretty damn fast on downhills. But I don't think she was all that comfortable drafting, especially on wet, slippery, muddy gravel. She was in sight, behind me for the next lap, but I heard after the race, that she dropped out at some point. I'm not sure if it was a mechanical or what, but I was in her sights and I bet she would have caught me, if she could have stayed in the race.

On the last lap, I started bonking hard. I was an idiot and forgot about bringing some fuel with me. I had a couple of pieces of peanut butter toast at 9 am, and then ate a Gu a half hour before the race. It wasn't nearly enough calories...Especially since I was still a bit calorie deprived from the running race the day before. Duh. Like I said, so many lessons to relearn at the beginning of the season.

We got our new racing kits the night before the race and I love, love, love them. Our old ones were green and white, which looked nice...Until you rode in the mud, or even put on sunscreen which would turn them yellow and it was almost impossible to wash the stains out of them. We got to christen these uniforms in a lovely mud bath.

John said one of the chickens was in the middle of the road when his pack came through. Iowa racing problems...

 So, I finished up my race. John dropped out of his after 4 laps. He knew he wouldn't have enough energy to race the full 6 laps after he raced the day before and was also undertrained, so he did what he could and then stopped when he ran out of energy.

Before I bonked, I had a lot of fun out there. At one point, I was "bombing" down a hill and mud was flying in my eyes, so I had them mostly closed, so they wouldn't burn and I could feel my bike sliding a little and I wondered what the outcome would be if I hit a pothole on the the way down, but I was having a blast. A few years ago, I would have been terrified to even think about riding that fast down a muddy, gravel hill. So, it's nice to know that confronting some of those fears can free me up to have some silly fun, even at a more advanced age. It's good to keep testing myself.

Also, as I've said before, I love to play in the mud. As you can see, I did enough of that...And notice the Cliff bar I had to gulp down after my race, in order to ride back to the car.

Of course, I wasn't half as muddy as the A racer guys. Don't they kind of look like those silver painted robot people you see in big cities?

It was a good day on the gravel, but man was I exhausted after two days of racing. I tried to do a nice, slow run on Monday, but my body rebelled. After two VERY slow running miles, I had to stop and walk two miles home. Which was better than fine. It was a beautiful evening and I love to go for walks. Now, for a few weeks of raceless training, before my crazy running race filled April...