lessons learned.

1. I should have never picked up the habit of drinking alone.
2. I'm totally a sucker for casinos. I can resist the gambling but the elevated oxygen levels lead to
spending $$$, either way. I guess with gambling at least there's a slight chance of winning. With drinking and shopping... well...
3. Molly is built and colored just like an MGM lion - and her roars sound the same too.
4. When the people ordering before you at the bar get a foot-long of 190Octane with a shot of everclear, you know you really shouldn't be there (especially when on a business trip).
5. Dude, NY NY. What's with the cheesy black ceiling tiles? I don't get it.
6. Dude at the bar next to me, you're rooting for the Cubs because you like "the idea of Wrigley Field," although you're from California? Um. ummmmmmmmmm.
7. "Hot girls for you in 20 minutes or less." Wow, how do they do that? Do they have dozens of women stashed in a hotel room on the strip, just waiting? How else can they guarantee 20 min delivery when traffic on the Strip sucks?
8. Holy misogyny, batman.
9. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! Why must every building have incessant binging noises???
10. There's this slight tinge of satisfaction in knowing that the space that so many people occupy on the strip tonight will belong to a handful of dedicated runners in the morning. I hope it doesn't hurt when I wake up with them.

99 degrees.

The bank across from the Stratosphere, about halfway into the run: "99 degrees at 6:32 am"

OK, I take back anything I said about being excited to run the Strip. Lots of escalator overpasses to completely kill my pace. It was ok between NY, NY and Wynn, but after that it started to smell a little too much like last night's beer and cigarettes, and a little after that, piss. There was a serious fleet of runners out that time of day, though, and we all grinned and waved at eachother. It was the friendliest running crew I've ever encountered. Didn't even try for the pace run. Was faster than pace for the first few miles, then just settled in. I'm happy with it.

And... Happy Birthday, Judi!

DeKalb Cross course contemplation

Last night, a group of Half Acre riders and Ben went out to DeKalb to meet up with the North Central Cyclery Crew and scope Hopkins Park, the location of the October 5 ChiCrossCup race.

Let me start by saying that North Central Cyclery is a rad shop. Who would have thought that in the middle of a small town a shop would be selling Long Haul Truckers with fenders and Brooks saddles like hotcakes? The shop has an awesome aesthetic to it, which I love. You should check it out.

Hopkins Park is, in short, huge. It's dotted with mature trees, has a few short but steep hills, a little bit of easy singletrack, a bandshell, a perfectly new bathroom/shelter with kitchen and fireplace, and it's going to host an awesome cross race. Tobie and the NCC crew showed Adrian, Ben, Bob, Dan, and I around the park, and then it was down to business... where to put barriers? How hard is too hard? Do we have the course run the bases of the baseball diamond, or not? Folks came to some pretty awesome conclusions. I think anyone who comes will be more than happy. The NCC crew bought pizza n' beer afterword and we talked about what we all learned traveling to cross races last year... all tips we'll be taking into account.

We didn't get home till midnight last night, though. I don't know how I peeled myself out of bed 6 hours later for the 5 miler, but I just needed to get back on program, so I did. Ben was gone by the time I got back. I'm back in Vegas, but I fared a little better in the room department this time- a full kitchenette and a table with a 15th story view just off the strip and wireless stolen from MGM Grand. Tomorrow, 8 mi on the strip. Supposed to be a pace run but who knows with the heat...

Alterra WORS: why we ride.

(photo: Jeremy) I had a silly crisis this weekend. Saturday was filled with officiating a TT and drinking margaritas, which left Sunday for me to race WORS and run 18 miles. The crisis: am I a runner or a rider? Really, I suck at both but I enjoy both. I went to bed Saturday convinced that, since WORS would cost ~$50 to do, I would make a financially-based decision and be a runner. Then I woke up Sunday, a rider. Threw my crap in the car (thank god the bag was still packed from last week's canceled WEMS) and fretted about whether this was the right decision the whole way to Crystal Ridge. By the time I saw Amy and teammate Jason in the parking lot, the stress of the 18 mi run in front of me, wedding crap, and lack of sleep had me on the verge of breaking into tears. I was a wreck. Apologies to anyone who had the misfortune of talking to me before the race.

Registered barely inside the the 30 min window and got my butt to the line. The citizen women are the jam... so friendly and totally welcoming, and it was great seeing Anne and Amy and meeting Liz, Ashley, and Kathleen. We took turns making excuses for why each of us would be last, me throwing out the totally true "this is my fifth time on the bike this year, and I haven't been on trail in three weeks." Down a caffeinated Gu. Roll up, gun, climb.

The first singletrack portion was like trying to get off a full plane: if the person in front of you fumbles their suitcase or walks with a cane, you're stuck behind them at least to the jetway, and then if you're not a jerk, into the terminal. I puttered along on lap one, my heart rate comfortably in the 150's, passing people in doubletrack and uphills. Reeling 'em in, one by one. The trail was easy to me, the flow was great, I rode all but that bump on the craters climb. Nobody passed me in the whole race, except one woman, who I passed back right away. Lots of people on the course were shouting my name, and by the second lap I was trying to thank them by name and answer their inquiries about where Ben was. ("Not racing, bachelor party last night.") When traffic cleared in the second lap, I hit it. Those King hubs roll through downhills like nothing, making the flow fantastic. I was really, really fast in the singletrack, and even better on the gravelly doubletrack.

By halfway into lap two people were telling me I was toward the front. I was riding with a big grin on my face, and for those 55 minutes I forgot about long run pacing and place cards and reception music and all that crap. I was just having fun, I felt great, I was strong, and except for that on-grass uphill finish, I really really liked this one. I finished 5th overall for citizen women. (yeah, it's citizen. But I'm a solidly cat 4 rider, and it's where I belong.)

Went home with that 18 on the mind. by 3:30pm I was out the door running. Molly crapped out from the heat within 3 miles and I dropped her home. Ran to the Chicago Crit site and said hi to a few folks, then continued out toward the Planetarium in the unshaded hot sun of the lakefront. And the heat hit. After 7 strong miles, I was downing cool water trying to get the core temp down, but too much water made me sloshy and unhappy. Begged for ice in a Dunkin' Donuts. Slogged home in the slowest time yet, getting in just 11 miles. Didn't register for the marathon, and now that I'm off the training schedule, not sure I can/will. I'll count this as next Saturday's 13 and try to get the 18 in sometime this week... flying to vegas tomorrow AM though.

rest day.

totally unrelated: cyclists once again save the day.

Threw $4 in a video poker machine at the airport, and on the very last hand pulled a straight flush and won $20. Yay. On the flight last night I read Runner's World, which had a completely banal "special" on running skirts, and how they're "controversial." My expectations of these glossy, glorified-ad magazines are low, but come on, it's a piece of clothing, how can it be "controversial?" It seems simple enough to me- if you don't like them, don't wear them. I can't imagine how anyone could be anti-, but I guess if you're despirate enough to fill magazine pages...

Got home at 1am. My legs are sore, I'm exhausted. Made eggs for Molly and me on the cast iron griddle for breakfast- don't know how we ever lived without one, it's surely the best cookware we have. I have today off from running, 18 mi to put in tomorrow (after officiating a time trial) and I'm still thinking about doing the WORS race on Sunday. Maybe I should just sit Sunday out... my only attraction to it is that both of the races on my calendar for this month were postponed, and I'm behind in my goal # of races this summer. I hate the idea of going up the kamikaze switchbacks, though, and could use a day to sleep in. I'll call it as it comes.

The pieces of Ben's cross bikes are slowly arriving, and all the RSVPs for the wedding are in. It's midsummer and fall is taking shape. I have just three more looooooong runs before I'm ready for marathon two (18 on Sat, then two 20's in August) so I'm going to register for it. Here goes nothing.

Red Rock.

Light was just peeking over the hills as I hit the road for Red Rock Canyon this morning, getting there 10 minutes before opening time and waiting for the gate. I asked the bleary-eyed park service guy what was good running, and he recommended the same trail that the running store did: the Willow Spring/White Rock Spring loop, 6 mi.

The road through the park was littered with very slow cyclists who had jumped the closed gate for their morning workout. I had to honk at one as she veered in front of me with headphones on. I think midwesterners would be far faster cyclists if we had terrain like this to deal with.

Left the car at Willow Springs and decided on a counter-clockwise loop, started off running. The trail was rocky and went up, up, up, right into the rising sun. It was hard, my breathing blocked out all other noises. It got to a point where I could walk uphill faster, so I did. I honestly had forgotten that trail running was a challenge and had sort of imagined rolling along a flat gravel road that went around a mountain. This, though, was jagged, narrow, up and down and up and up, and it was dry out. My sweat evaporated fast, leaving me salty, and I was halfway through my water by mile 2. I was putting out some serious power to get up those inclines, though, and impressed with my newfound strength, the day's mantra became "trust your fitness." I've never been in this kind of shape before.

Hit a trail junction at 2.5 that said 3.5 to go on the loop, or I could just turn back. At my pace I was going to be very late for work, but I wanted to press on. Good thing. As I climbed over that pass, the dirt turned red, the trail started to descend into a valley, I saw the gorgeous rocks in the canyon, and I imagined myself the only one in that canyon (probably was). It was the reward. A camera couldn't capture the cedars, scrub, hills, red dirt, all in the morning sun. The other side was nice, but this was an effing movie set and I was a cowboy comin' through the valley for the first time. The trail went downhill for those last 3 miles, and I was moving at race pace. The air was cool and fresh in that valley. I felt great, floating over the jagged rocky trail.
I must come back.
...
One month till the wedding.

Greetings from room 3XX.

I put on my swimsuit to try out the pool, dipped my toe in, found it to be child-pee temperature, and swiftly returned to my air conditioned hideout. I'm enjoying a low-calorie malt beverage, taking in the view of TGI Friday's and Joe's Crab Shack, and plotting my quest for tomorrow. The high temperature for tomorrow is one hundred and six degrees.

Today I realized I needed a water bottle strap, and, having left mine at home (I've never needed one for 5 mi before, but I've never run in the desert before) decided that the day's quest was to find one of these. I found success when the local running store listed on that website didn't have it but oh-so-friendly directed me to the REI at the Green Valley Ranch Resort, which was my marginal somewhat brush with fame, since that's the location of the restaurant that Rock won a job at in season 3 of Hell's Kitchen. I popped in to ask and the host said he didn't work there and made it seem like further inquiries were less than welcome. Yes, I'm a dork. (Yesterday's marginal somewhat brush with fame was when a co-worker pointed out Wayne Newton's house.)

So the plan for tomorrow is to run some trail in Red Rock Canyon when it opens - 6am - and somehow make the run, the 30 min drive back, grab a shower, and get my butt to work by 9am. Wish me luck. I really haven't run trail since back in the Shenandoah days, don't have the right shoes for it, and have no idea what I can turn out under 2 hours. One would think the 11mi loop is doable, but then again, the 5 mile hike says it takes 4 hours. I'll ask the experts as they sip their coffee and curse my type for making them open that there place so early. Judi warns of scorpions but I can outrun 'em, though they'll probably still be in bed.

And finally, random internet find of the day: shoes. Interesting.

4:30am

It's still dark out. I'm rather annoyed at the situation, since I really want to get running before this city heats up like a pizza kitchen in Egypt, but I don't know the place well enough to trust running before dawn.

Since I'm trying very, very hard to stay positive about all this, here are the benefits of business travel: frequent flyer miles, you can make a little money on per diem if you eat cheap, and free soap/shampoo. I was hoping they'd have Versus, but no such luck. I should note to all of you who think it's a good thing to be in Vegas-- I would usually agree, but that's only when you're on the strip and don't have to work at 9am.

The slot machines in the grocery store took me by surprise, but what really surprised me was that people were using them. I went across the parking lot of my hotel to a local sporting goods store to try and buy Body Glide (took a year but I killed that last stick) and had an interesting conversation- try explaining what it is to a clueless staff person *without* making it sound sexual. I lose.

Because Molly is missing 18 miles of running this week, we're sending her back to daycare on Wednesday. Did I mention that she did well last week? Of the dozen or so dogs, she was the only one not given a time-out. They said she's quite well behaved and the only "issue" is that she's the first dog ever to be able to jump over their 4' tall door from a sitting position. Woot.

17.

up nice 'n early, 17 done before 10am. It started hurting at mile 6 when my legs realized they were in for more than the usual. After that though, just truckin' through. ran ~8 out to the planetarium and down to 18th on the lake front path with Molly, then dropped her off at home and ran ~9 more up Ashland and then down Halsted. I like running Halsted, it's my only opportunity for hills.

10am flight to Vegas on Monday. Four days a week in Vegas for the next month or so- probably until the wedding. Sucks.

even more not riding my bike.

The worst possible time to have a race called off is after you've gotten up at 5am, loaded the car, driven through the rain, paid tolls and burned gas, set up tent n' gear in the rain, and sat through a 1 hour rain delay. Unfun. Damn you rainclouds.

Luckily the Half Acre ladies don't let a little cancellation ruin the adventure, and we spent the next 6 hours stopping at the Mars Cheese Castle, collecting beer at Woodman's, having Indian food lunch on Devon, and engaging in other shenanegans. It was fun, but it wasn't riding a bike.

The net effect, though, is I haven't ridden my bike, I haven't done my 17 mile run, and I have until 10:30am tomorrow morning to make it happen because wedding and family commitments fill the rest of the day. Um. Yeah.

I should also mention the make-up date for today's race falls on our wedding day. And I think I'll be there for a lap...
...
Pitchfork Festival is about 1/2 mi from here, and you can hear it from on the balcony. There are hipsters about our neighborhood.

swimming.

I think in order to overcome the group-swim feeling of walking outdoors this week (or is it a group steamroom? either way, i wish everyone would take a few more showers before going outdoors...) one could recommend a mask and snorkel. Only the snorkel would have to be really long to get you clean, un-stale, reasonably humid air. I'd venture to guess it would have to stretch to Northern Wisconsin or maybe even Canadia. Probably prohibitively expensive.

Right now WEMS is saying 50/50, which sucks. I want to ride my bike . I also have 17 mile run on the schedule for this weekend, so either way, I need to HTFU and get out there.

Cross is on the brain. It's true, I don't ride cx, and never have in my life. But I'll be out there in the pit, workin' for Ben, so schedules n' stuff matter. Ben approached me earlier this week and asked me to replace the derailer on his road bike.
"You can do it, Ben. Why ask me?"
"Time to get practicing for cross season."
Our team is also hosting one of the new ChiCrossCup series races and it's super exciting thinking about course design n' such. Fall can't come soon enough.
...
Today is Molly's first ever day at doggie day care. We're doing it as a trial run for when we have to board her for the wedding- she's never been boarded before and did terribly at the kennel when she was in the rescue. I'm sort of like an overly concerned parent on the first day of kindergarden. I really hope she doesn't start anything.

take it or leave it?

So, i commute by bike only when I have places other than the office to get to- the rest of the time I walk. My commuter has a lovely, large saddlebag that holds a good six pack of beer, or whatever else I choose to bring to work, but I have to bring its contents along after locking up so they don't get stolen, of course. Sort of.

It took about three months for me to realize that the flat kit I leave in a side pocket included the tools necessary to steal my stem, bars, saddle, seatpost, pedals, etc. That now comes with me. Yesterday my hand pump finally got stolen out of the bag. I've left a beer koozie in the bag for months, but I guess it wasn't worth anything to anyone but me, and it's still there. Recently, the dilemma is whether or not I can leave a pair of sandals in the bag. They're worth something, but they're still used shoes, and a pain to carry around. Would anyone steal those? I took them with on yesterday's excursions, but I'm thinking I could leave them...

I think I'll start an experiment. Leave things in the bag and see what disappears. A loaf of bread? That day's newspaper? A box of condoms (unopened or opened)? A ball of twine? A dollar bill? Ben says I shouldn't push my luck- that I'm fortunate the whole bag is still there.

Got ideas? Let me know. I'll give it a shot.
...
This morning I just ran slow. Second 4 miler this week of no ipod and no heart rate strap. 50 sec slower than pace. But miles are miles.

my turn for a sufferfest.

This morning's run ranks right up there with last winter's 10 degree below zero runs. I haven't struggled like this since winter, with the possible exception of that 10k. Everyone says that in heat and humidity you need to slow it down, but it wasn't even 80 degrees this morning, and despite the 75% humidity, I decided to go ahead with the 8 mile pace run as planned. Big mistake.

I managed to struggle through 5miles on pace and then, bam! I got the head crawlies and the legs filled with buckshot and nausea and that lovely mile 22 feeling, only at mile 5. Pace dropped 30 sec, then a minute. Yikes. I hate you, summer. Boo. I finished the 8 miles, but 5 were pace run and three were "you just have to finish this."
...
With each stage that goes by, I'm reminded of how badly I want to rent a motorcycle, throw a tent on the back, and follow the Tour de France. Found this in "everybody's photos" on flickr and it's a good glimpse of the traffic backups and other mayhem involved in TdF spectating, but I'd expect about that. I mentioned my ambition to Ben last night, who quite rightly replied that it would be very expensive. He's right, of course. But it's going to have to happen...

the second marathon. it's sort of secondary.

I knew that training for a second marathon wouldn't be as exciting, life-consuming, or exhilarating as training for the first, but I didn't quite expect this. Here I am, halfway into training, not registered for a race yet, changing my mind about which one to do, and sort of not focusing on it at all. I'm getting the miles in, but that's about it.

Maybe it's that #1 was at the end of winter, when there was nothing else going on, as opposed to the summer's cycling and wedding planning. Mostly it's that I've been there, done that, and while I'm doing more mileage this time and running faster, it's just that I'm not hitting personal-best distances. Instead of reserving Saturdays for long runs, I'm fitting the long runs in before work, or the day after a bike race, or something.

It's also been hard seeing my pace drop when I switched from training for a half to training for a full. Makes it look like I've been slowing down, which is sort of not the best feeling.

I'm just sort of not motivated right now. Bought a new pair of running shoes last week and they're just sitting in the box while I run in my old pairs until I "earn" rotating them in. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the running I do. It's just the goal of Marathon Two that I'm not entirely invested in. I want to do it. I just don't want it nearly as badly as I wanted #1.

time trialing.

So, I didn't get to race. But I did get to have a mighty good time. I spent half the race as the holder at the start line, my thumbs learning to appreciate that extra bit of saddle at the back of the fizik models. For once the teeny sponsor logos on the back of the jerseys found a viewer, and I found myself craving clif bars and goose island beer and wanting to hire a slipstream coach and so forth.

Probably the moment of the day was when I looked down at a rider who had a trickle of blood running down from where his bib was pinned. Youch.

You gotta give it to the tt riders- there are no excuses. No bad corners, no team tactics, no un-rideable log piles, no rider traffic to blame. It's you and the clock, and yesterday, a nasty headwind. In the volunteering and racing category, thanks go out to Ben who raced in his schmancy new sponsor skinsuit, and Mike who kicked some butt in Killjoy black n' white. Amy of Clif Bar Midwest selflessly came out to help all morning, and Gina raced in an ABD kit (who knew?). And of course, the event was anchored by the Half Acre brigade of volunteers including Gabriel. Our team now has our required annual USAC event taken care of, and some beer in our bellies, and we're now legit to sign up for our second year of team existence.

I got a credit for a free race in the tt series since I was unable to make my start. I'm tempted to actually do it.

unbelievable.

So, this spring I somehow ended up with bad tendinitis in my foot/ankle, pulling me from running for about 2 weeks and landing me in physical therapy for three weeks, with cortisone shots in the tendon, and it still hurts every now and then. I assumed it was because I took two weeks off from running while in Morocco and jumped back into a 25 mile week. I was wrong.

In the news this week: the FDA is requiring Cipro and other antibiotics to begin carrying a warning about the risk of tendon ruptures.

The week we got home from Morocco, I had some strange digestive bug, so I took Cipro. I was injured less than a week after we got home.

How completely random is that? Who would think that a pill that you put in your mouth to fix a problem with your digestive system would hurt your foot? Amy tells me that a report on NPR quoted a woman who tore a tendon while on the drug and ended up on crutches for 11 years. Wow.

note to car drivers.

when approaching a stop sign or red traffic light, you must fully stop at the single, solid white line. You can't enter the crosswalk until the crosswalk is clear. If you can't see traffic from behind the white line, you can creep forward after stopping, but not in a way that impedes pedestrian traffic or nearly hits my dog.

And if you pull your effing car into the crosswalk, I'm likely to thwap your car with my hand or my dog's leash to make some noise and make sure you see we're there, since ostensibly you wouldn't enter the crosswalk if you had seen us. And if you threaten to get out of your car because of said thwapping, I'm assuming to apologize for your misdeeds, please be aware that said dog is large and doesn't like angry people, so it's ok, just don't do it again.

thanks to Kenny and Emily we had pie and pie last night - yum! - and we got tandemized. On the way home Ben really turned it up and we kept trying to drop other riders on fancy bikes on Milwaukee. I giggled out loud the whole way. It's hard to keep up with his cadence and it always feels like the bike is about to just completely fall apart.

pace run: success!

before I begin my running-ramblings, let me take this opportunity to congratulate the second sexiest man in cycling and the world's best sprinter on his newly-held green jersey. A stage win means we'll be seeing more of him. I was worried for a spell. NORGE!

The new plan has only pace runs as speed work- runs where you go at race pace. Since my next race is the CDC, a half marathon, that means half marathon pace. Today served up a 7 mile pace run.

I've never run that far at pace, and when I tried it on the 10K I failed pretty miserably. I set the gizmo with the "training partner" - a little dude who runs with me and tells me how far ahead or behind I am. Started out strong and in three miles had a full minute gap on the gizmoman, but then it started to hurt. Started losing ground and was behind the man with one to go. Kicked out a mile :30 faster than pace, and beat pace on that 7 miler by just 10 seconds. My gizmo beeped and told me, "you win!" Finally. My fastest long run ever. I'm starting to think I can hold this pace for 13.1.

this will be me soon.

I registered for the Palos race this morning. I used the new name, since by Sept 7, that will be my name. It looks funny, doesn't it? I didn't say anything and Ben noticed. He said he had a "goofy grin" across his face.

this morning's run was 70 degrees and 87% humidity. temp, ok. humidity, please no. it was a little slower, which is ok in my new Ben-mandated not-staring-at-the-gizmo, love-it-don't-stress-over-it way. the ipod shuffle was kind this morning and the music kept me rolling. though i need more music, pretty badly. after like 6000+ minutes of listening to the shuffle and hearing every song 12+ times I could use a changeup. got a few songs you like and a reckless disregard for copyright laws? email 'em over! jeisenh at the gmail.

finally, some bike riding.

(photo by Ben) isn't it funny how, whatever i name a blog, it's a coffin nail for that passtime? the old blog was about knitting, which i do very little of. and this one is called "slow bike" and look at how often i bother with biking these days...

anywho, it's true. my first trip to Palos for the year. (Yes, I know, it's July.) I talked Ben into taking me out for a slow ride to practice jumps n' stuff, and that's sorta what we did. A last minute call from some friends meant we were 4 instead of 2 and I didn't want to hold the group back, so it was a little less practice-y than I hoped. I still need to work on the ravines, though. Either way, we did re-do's on log piles until I didn't wimp out anymore, and it was a good time. AND it counts as cross training, a good capstone to a 30 mile running week.

Big weekend coming up. Saturday the ladies will be out at Blue Mound. This Sunday is the time trial- registered yet? I'm totally going to rock it... um, yeah. Probably not. But come beat me and drink my beer at least, ok?

bikes. they take over lives.

i took the opportunity when Ben was out of the house riding with Kevin this morning to unleash my inner (future) housewife, cleaning and reorganizing. it was one of those mornings when everything seemed out of place and it took about 2 hours to put everything back in its place (or find a more appropriate place.) it also became quite clear that bikes have indeed taken over:

• a black spoke hiding behind the kitchen sink (since it's black we can assume this is Ben's.)
• our dresser buried in race numbers and medals and Ben's list of what to bring to races.
• chamois cream and embrocation on the bathroom counter.
• a pair of crank bros candy pedals stashed in a kitchen drawer.
• a freewheel hiding at the bottom of the bin o' winter hats n' gloves.
• a stack of "nutrition products" blocking entry into the cabinet above the refrigerator.
• a tire lever mixed in with the knives in the utensil drawer.

Should have seen it coming.

15 again.

Ah, yes. Remember 15? Back when it was winter and snowing and the distance was a monumental feat (and I got injured)? Well, jumping from the half marathon training plan to the full marathon plan meant this weekend was 15, and since I had today off, I decided this was the day. Honestly, I was- and still am- worried about the jump. Going from long runs of 12 to a 10k race to 15... that's a jump, and i'm injury-prone. Especially after yesterday's 7 mile pace run, I decided today to put the SLOOOOOW in LSD and just get the miles done.

I also decided that, hey! since Ben can decide to drive the car to where he wants to do his workouts, it's high time I did that too. I strapped Molly in with her new seat belt and away we went to the I&M Canal Trails.

We set out early - 8am- and did the black loop and 1 1/2 red loops. Never did find the yellow trail. The black loop kinda sucked- too much time under freeways and near odd industrial stuff- but the red loop was quite nice and fairly shaded. We saw a dead rattlesnake along with squirrels, chipmunks, geese, blue jays, cardinals, and small bunnies. Molly especially likes chasing bunnies. Lots of other dog people out there, too, including one lady walking with a son and two super-pudgy dachsunds who said alot i didn't hear and then, "see? The dog is overheated."

"My dog may be thirsty, but at least she's not fat." Touche!

I set the gizmo to run 15 mi at a 12:00 pace. Yeah, that's right, I said SLOW. I beat that, of course, and did my usual kick at the end, bringing the last two miles in under 11:00. Still, in the middle of the run, I slowly remembered why you gotta "respect the distance." When it's no longer the farthest I've ever run, 15 isn't all that big a deal. But when I've been on my feet more than 2 hours, it is. I also tried to do it with just gatorade (the drink served at my next two races) and no gels to try a new carb-starved training thing I heard about, which I can do if I'm not trying to go fast. Either way, gotta keep smiling. Must. Enjoy.

like bikes? come ride one.

(Flyer by Amanda Barbato)
Registration is now open for the Half Acre Cycling Chicago Time Trial Series 40k race in Hampshire, IL. Now, I know few of us are road/tt cyclists, BUT no matter what kind of riding you do, time trials are a great measure of your strength and fitness. It costs just $20 and there will be superfun primes of Half Acre beer and El Duke degreaser along with a healthy cash purse. More details on categories and payout on this here flyer.

Ben's racing it, Mike's probably racing too, so is Kevin and Tim and Naz. I'm racing it on my commuter, and I think that if you have a bike with one brake and a helmet, you should race it too. It's our little fledgling organization's first race, and we're really trying to make it fun. We were even considering a prime for anyone who rides a BMX bike in the event, but then even Ben wasn't willing to ride a BMX bike 25 miles, so we scrapped that idea... (More info on time trials is here.) Who's in?

i been done got tagged.

thanks to rachael y'all are stuck learning more about me... 6 random things.
1. I got a timeout in kindergarten for calling my teacher a turkey.
2. My first bike was a Toys R Us black and yellow coaster brake fake BMX with training wheels. I used to get stung by bees all the time riding it, and I blamed the color of my bike.
3. i hate onions.
4. i really badly want to bike cross-country sometime, probably soon.
5. i used to carry my passport with me in case the travel bug hit hard and I had to leave at short notice. now i don't carry my passport so that if i get the travel bug i don't leave at short notice.
6. after 9 years working for non-profit advocacy groups, i don't think i'll ever be able to function in a corporate environment.

and i'm tagging 6 people as is mandated: Lisa, Judi, Amy, Amy, Jen, and Emily.
here are the rules:

• link to the person who tagged you.
• post the rules on your blog.
• write six random things about yourself.
• tag six people at the end of your post.
• let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
• let the tagger know when your entry is up.

noncommittal change of plans.

ok, so i'm tentatively adding the Fox Cities Marathon to my schedule, and as of today I'm switching from the half marathon training plan to the full marathon Novice 2 plan, week 8. (Look at me!! I'm a Novice 2! )

I don't have a set goal time, but I'd like to be under 4:45 and I'd be quite happy to be in the 4:30 range. We'll see. I'm still going to run the Chicago Distance Classic and I'm still hoping for under 2:20 with a stretch-goal of 2:10. Now it'll just fit into week 13 of 18 instead of being the goal race. The really funny thing... the 20 miler falls on my wedding day. I guess we can assume I'll just do that on the Thursday before instead.

And coincidentally... marathon #2 will also be small (fewer than 5,000) and in a small town. I was thinking that I don't really like the races where there's lots of traffic. I'm a solo runner and having just a few folks is just fine with me.