YEE OUCH!

Today I rode my bike to work. Nothing new. Been doing it for a few weeks (except the last week because I was waiting for new tubes to arrive).
Anywhoo...
The commute in to work was dark. I had all the lights I own on and was hopefully lit up like the Griswold's Christmas tree. Morning commute was good.
Afternoon commute...


not so good.
A coworker waved me on in the parking lot. Thanks, friend. I went to wave, hit my brake and flipped over the handlebars. Man. I was falling in slow-mo and hit hard. My wrist is killing me- I hope it's not broken. Of course I fell in front of students and other teachers- so that's nice...
I'll be sore tomorrow. Dang me and my clumsiness!!
THEN- a car tries to turn right directly in front of me. Well, she sped up to get around me and then tried to turn in front of me. She slowed down, I hit my brakes, and then she turned. Stupid people. I'm not walking, you know- I'm riding and moving along at a pretty decent clip. Stupid drivers. I'm kinda thankful I made it home alive today.
I hope tomorrow's commute is far less eventful!

Ate everything in sight today, too. I've got this voracious appetite the last 2 days. I would probably eat poo if you put it in front of me. What's wrong with me??? :)

Off to ice my wrist again... and eat.

Rian's Redman pictures

Here is a summary of Rian's Ironman weekend in pictures. Picture description appears below the picture. Enjoy!

FRIDAY MORNING BEFORE THE RACE:

Friday before the race at Lake Hefner

wiggling into his wetsuit for a practice swim Friday

checking his bike into transition Friday night- getting everything ready



RACE MORNING:




Out of the water and getting his bike


running with his bike getting ready to head out for a 112 mile ride


Coming off his bike, back to transition.


Running his bike back to it's spot


Putting his running shoes on to go run his marathon


the turn-around at mile 6.5


mile 13.1- halfway there


not too much further, Rian

Rian Brown, you are an Ironman!! Finished in 13:09. Impressive!!

Getting his timing chip taken off, breathing a sigh of relief


A good friend greeting Rian afer his finish. He finished an hour 20 minutes before Rian.


An Ironman and his Iron dog (Jimbo is wearing his medal)

Redman weekend is over...

And although I worked very long out at the lake and I'm STILL totally exhausted- I'm sad it's over. It's such a great weekend with such great people. It's the signal that the season is almost totally over. I'm a little sad.

More reports on Rian's big Ironman race in a day or two. Once I've had some time to sleep and recover...

g'night!

Body Vs. Earth day 2: Race day, baby!

Today is day 2 of my adventure- race day! Woot!

I woke up to rain on the tent and lightning and thunder outside. Ruh roh. I just hoped it would stop before the swim so it wouldn't become a duathlon instead of a triathlon.


Thankfully it did, and we went to the beach to begin. Gun goes off and we hit the water running. I must say that Lake Elmer Thomas is the clearest lake I've EVER swam in. You can see the bottom where it's shallow. It's amazing. Clear as day. You can see all the swimmers around you, and know when someone is about to collide with you or you can see people's feet in front of you and hold on for dear life to draft. Awesome!

On the bike it started to rain. It was a drizzle the whole way and the roads were pretty wet. I took it easy and didn't push too hard. I knew I had a really tough run ahead and I not only wanted to conserve energy, but I didn't want to slip and fall on the wet pavement.


The run was tough- as always. It was really slippery and I had to be extra careful. I got to the top of hill #1 of 3 big hills and was exhausted already. The view sure was pretty, tho.Continued on up and down to the top of hill #2 where I chatted with the guy at the aid station. Took a few minutes to rest and breathe (all while under the guise of talking to the man. I'm sneaky... not really.

Then it was down, down, down only to get to the bottom of hill #3- the steepest of the 3 hills. It doesn't look too steep in the picture, but I assure you it IS. Use your imagination. I got passed twice on this hill, but I didn't care. I walked up the whole thing. No shame in walking up a hill that I would normally have walking poles on if I were hiking instead of racing.


Finished happy and with a smile on my face. :) I love to race. I'm not speedy, and I'm not always a winner, but I sure always make sure I have a damn good time. I packed up my stuff and headed to the clubhouse to change clothes and head home. I had no hopes at all of placing in my age group, but when I came out of the bathroom I noticed they were announcing winners in the womens 30-34 age group. What the hell- I thought I'd stick around and see if I won anything when they announced the 35-39 age group. Who knew- I took 2nd in my age group. Granted, there were only 2 of us in that age group, but whatever. I'll take a win no matter how I get it. I was very happy to get my medal.

I headed out to make the long, wet drive home. Talked to Rian almost the whole way to keep me awake. Made it home safe and sound. What a great day! This race always bitch slaps me, but I LOVE it. Can't get enough. I'm always so nervous before a race and don't want to do it. When I'm done, I'm always SO glad I did it and so proud of myself. Any day my body is able to race is a good day. Life is good!!!

Body Vs. Earth Triathlon- Lawton, OK

Tonight I left for Lawton to do the Body Vs. Earth triathlon. Rian couldn't come because he 1) had to work and 2) even if he was off he wouldn't do it and risk injury a week before his Ironman race. I had to leave him for a night, which I hate to do. :(

I left home at about 5:30 and headed down south for the 1.5 hour drive. Usually it's pretty uneventful. Today would be different...



About 20 minutes from home I see the view below. The sky was actually much darker than the picture indicates. I was a little worried...
Not 3 minutes later I'm at a dead stop on the highway. Speed limit 70- I don't think so. A couple emergency vehicles pass on the shoulder and I know there's an accident ahead. The rain was so heavy you could barely see the road. It was pretty bad. When we finally moved, there was a 4 car accident that didn't look terribly bad- but bad enough.
This is how many accidents I saw in the first 45 minutes on the road. Then the rain tapered off and I continued on my way incident free. Thank goodness!!!
I arrived in Lawton just before dark, grabbed a Whopper Jr. from the BK, and headed to camp out. I set up my tent right before the sun went down and got settled in for the night. I got a new "super bright" headlamp and tried it out. Am I a spelunker or a camper? Hard to tell the difference.
Drifted off to sleep about 9:30 and slept pretty well. Good day! :)

Splash and Dash

About once a month our triathlon club gets together for a splash and dash. We swim and then run for fun. No timing, no prizes, no flair- just for fun. Tonight we had our last one of the season. It was a lot of fun. I splashed, but did not dash.
On our way out there, the sky was looking pretty creepy. Thundery, lightningy and kinda dark. Ruh roh.

I got in and swam for about 20 minutes before it all started. The wind picked up, the sky got dark, and I started wondering if lightning strikes water across the lake if I'll die from electrocution all the way across the lake. Ummm... the answer is yes! Time to get my ass in gear and get finished. Yowzer.


On my way down to the beach I looked down and found a penny. Score! Hubby and I have this thing where we pick up all money we find in nature. Last year we found $34 worth of money while exercising outdoors. Not bad for just finding stray money while working out. Score again!
About 30 minutes after I got out, it mostly blew over and the "event" began. Lots of people and lots of craziness. I was glad I swam before everyone.


I took a couple pictures, then stood on the shore with Britney and yelled (cheered) for the people still "racing."
Good times!

Now it's bedtime. I have a 5:30 am run in the dark with a friend. Woo hoo. Hopefully I don't break too many ankles...

What a terrific Tuesday

So for having a long weekend, and not wanting to go back to work- today sure was a good one.
Rode to work in an increasingly darker morning. Boo to winter coming on. :(
School wasn't too bad. Kids were good. Time flew. Forgot my laptop at home so didn't have a computer at work, but I survived.

On the way home, I saw an amazing sight. I saw a colony of brown butterflies swarming a cut up tree by the street. There were probably a couple dozen fluttering all about. When I stopped- a few even landed on my bright pink jersey. They were so beautiful. If I were driving I 1) wouldn't have even gone that way, and 2) if I had gone that way would have driven right by without even noticing. There are certain benefits to riding your bike- like getting to see nature in it's beauty.

I then swung by the grocery store to get some much needed milk.


All in a day's work.
Life is good!

Happy Labor Day

To celebrate all the laborers, I ran today. Ok- so not really labor, but it was fun. I'm getting back into running. It's slow, it hurts and everything tells me to stop- but I'm still doing it. I used to run marathons, but I'm starting all over again from square one. It's like the first time I ever ran. I'm planning on doing a 6 hour trail run in late October, so I'm very excited about getting into running shape again. I can throw down a hundred miles on my bike- but running 2 miles almost kills me. Go figure...


THEN... Rian and I went to Arcadia so he could go swimming (training for Redman). You can see him swimming in the picture below. He's the little dot between the two far buoys. Ok- so maybe you CAN'T see him. He got in a good 45 minute swim. It was a great day for sitting on the shore and watching him (which is exactly what I did). :)
Here he is coming out of the bathroom after his swim. He looks angry, but I'm not sure why...
Then I saw this awesome little butterfly as he flew by and landed by my foot. It only took about 10 pictures to get one of his wings sorta open. He sat there for the longest time before taking off. I LOVE butterflies. I wish I could be one...

A day of building:

So today I built a gazebo to put in my courtyard. Two reasons: I love to be outside and I hate to get eaten alive. Every time I go outside I get bit at LEAST a dozen times. It's extremely irritating to say the least. I'm SO tired of going out and coming back in to spend the next few hours scratching my legs. It has a removable screen that I can take off and put on when I need it. So far I've eaten dinner out there and I LOVE it. Damn you, bugs. You can try to get in, but you must stay OUT!


While I was taking a picture in my courtyard, I took a picture of my St. Francis statue that guards over all the little creatures that live in the courtyard. Too bad Jimbo pees on it every time he goes in the courtyard. How dare he pee on the very man who protects all creatures great and small. :)


While I was building for a few hours, Rian was out riding his bike. His last long bike ride before Redman in 2 weeks. When he got back, I just had to get a picture of all his bottles. He had 3 on the bike, and 2 in his back pockets. Me, I would rather re-fuel at a gas station, but Rian hates to stop unneccessarily. He'd rather just carry it all with him. It turns his super-light bike into a heavy, hydration carrying pack mule.

Gotta love a Sunday off! :)