unwinding.

(photo: Naz) it seems like it takes one day to recover from every day we're on the road racing. we come home short on sleep, sore, with a mountain of laundry, a dog demanding our attention, and nothing in the fridge. i still need to wash n' tune the bikes from last weekend, but i've got a little time.

with a little space separating today from the races, it's no longer so dramatic or disappointing, it just is. I'm hearing comments ranging from "it's the heat- wait till the mud comes and he'll be back in front" to "you should stop wasting your money and get him on the podium in local races." really, though, talking to me is pretty useless. this is Ben's gig. i'm just along for the ride.

the facts still stand... the best way to get faster is to ride with people who are faster. even if he's not in the front, he's still in the race, and he's learning how to pace, move up, finish, throw elbows. and as much as the stress of that 40 minute mark is probably taking time off my life, i myself am really enjoying meeting folks and being part of a super-friendly community of 'cross dorks. this weekend was particularly fun, staying at Zach's mom's house with Naz, Devon, and Tim- it felt more like a camp than a race weekend and though sometimes it was all business, much of the time we were family.

this morning i ran yet another "fastest mile ever," shaving 3 seconds off my last time. i'm still hovering around 20 mile weeks. to stay motivated, i registered for the Flying Pig yesterday, claiming an "expected finish time" of 4:45, 15 min faster than Eugene but something I have no doubt I could go do tomorrow if i wanted to. training for that doesn't start till Jan 4 but I'm trying to use the interim time to (1) get faster, and (2) stay comfortable with 10 milers. I'd like to run that and Chicago next fall and I'd like to get in under 4:30. Amanda and I run a 5k this saturday- her first ever- and I'm really looking forward to it.

walking to work today, listening to the Mountain Goats, i realized that I have lost all credibility for singing along with emo songs about dating. This is a good thing. Really, really good.