Walking a mile in my sister's shoes!

I know that I have been a bit laxed with keeping my blog up to date. The training has been going well. Since my last entry I have completed a 55 mile ride in Half Moon Bay and a 70 mile ride in the north bay area.

The 55 mile ride I had to complete on a Sunday with only a few folks from the team b/c I had decided months ago to sign up for a relay tri with my sister and one of her friends. I was the swimmer (I can't run b/c of my knee...and really why cycle when I was going to have to do so on Sunday anyway....and in all honesty I love swimming!), Lynne (my sisters long time friend was the cyclist and my sister was the runner. I got up to the Napa/Berryessa are late on Friday b/c I got lost on the way there (typical!). The tri was to start on Saturday morning at 9am. The wind was pretty bad on Friday but I knew that it would calm down for our tri. I was wrong. The wind woke us up throughout the night and the next morning as I was putting my swimsuit I threw out to the universe that I really needed it to not be so cold b/c I left my wetsuite in SF b/c I wasn't supposed to need it. As we got ready to leave I pulled up the door to our room and the wind was so strong it pulled the door closed. That is when I looked at my sister and Lynne and said, "Holy crap we are in trouble!" We walked out to my car to load up and my sister (gotta love her) yells out, "Holy S**t, look at the whitecaps in the water!" She either wanted to scare the crap out of me or didn't realized that she actually said that outloud! :)

We got to the tri location and I just kept hoping that I wouldn't drown in the water (I know that I am an experienced swimmer but the water was really rough!) and as we got out of the car I hears some magic words that I hadn't even thought I would hear, "THE SWIMMING PORTION HAS BEEN CANCELLED. WE CAN NOT GET THE LIFEBOATS IN THE WATER AND IT IS TOO UNSAFE FOR PEOPLE TO SWIM TODAY. THERE WILL BE A 1/2 MILE WALK INSTEAD." I never thought I would hear such sweet words!

I would also like to add, that since I was only doing the swimming part of the tri that I hadn't brought my tennis shoes....so my lovely and super sweet sister offered up her shoes and socks so that I could walk that first 1/2 mile so I could at least participate in the event that I choosen for us. So in the freezing cold I passed over my flip flops and she handed me her socks and her shoes (that were too big for me). In honor of my swimming portion I walked that 1/2 mile in my swim cap! Oh yeah!

So to say the least I didn't get much exercise in that day...and my make up team ride was in Half Moon Bay (45 minutes from SF...and since I was in Napa area...it would take me at least 2 hours to get there in the morning....so I left before it was light out).

The ride in Half Moon Bay started off great, but I knew that I had 4200 feet of climbing that day...so I was attempting to go out slow and keep the ride slow and steady. I don't think I had a real concept of how much 4200 feet of elevation climb was until that day. Can I just say it is a lot! I yelled out my classic line that I tend to yell when cross country skiing...This is BullS**t (sorry mom I can't help it...I have workout tourettes)....and in all honesty I yelled it that day more than I ever have. I had to take a bail out route back to the cars b/c my knees couldn't withstand the climbing. One of my knees just had nothing left to give on that ride. I cried in pain and in frustration when I had to admit that I just couldn't do that last hill. I know that I have knee issues...but seriously can't the fates give me a break and allow me to do this....don't they know that I am doing this for a good cause? Very frustrating....

The following week I completed 70 miles with the team...and that ride went WAY better. In preparing for the ride, I got my bike refit to make sure that everything was perfect for this ride. All I have to say is that it went beautifully. I had so much fun that day. Multiple times through out that ride I knew exactly why my Pa was so addicted to riding. I even grew to love eating baked red potatoes at the feeding stops for us (something that I thought I would like at all...but holy goodness they taste so good after riding so hard!).

After that 70 mile ride day I knew that I was going to take to be able to kill the century in Solvang! I just knew it....