black and blue

is the way my body feels this week. This post is going to be a mish-mash of my work and workouts so sorry if it get's a little confusing or frustrating.

Since I'm signed up for a sprint duathlon on Memorial Day thought I'd go out and do a test run on Monday to make sure the tri-shorts I'd bought will work ok. Good news is that I was ok with the minimal padding on something under 15 miles, bad news is that due to my current weight loss plan is that the tri-top and shorts are already slightly too large.

Anyway, set out all my stuff on the bbq grill, aired up the tires and took to the roads. First was the 2 mile run, ended up being 2.02 miles in 19:06. I did take Elsie on the first leg so it was a little slow due to a doggie bathroom stop. Back to the house, quick bathroom stop, change shoes, put on helmet and off on the bike. 12.06 miles in 45:07--16.04 mph ave--did have some traffic slowdowns. 2nd run was 1.95 miles in 17:43. Distance was off because I was using my garmin without resetting it between segments, once I hit 16 miles total I thought I was done and ok, didn't realize the last run segment was short, grrr.

Monday night was the first time in a very long time that I had a lot lizard knock on my door. Had gotten a later start than usual so ended up parking in the truck pull-out area in Mt. Juliet. This area used to be notorious for that kind of activity but police enforcement does have it minimized now but unfortunately I got the one persistent person banging on the truck. I know Elsie sure didn't like whoever it was (either that or she was as cranky about getting woke up at 2:30 am as I was). By the 2nd round of pounding, Elsie was full-on growling with hackles raised, the 3rd time I was finally coherent enough to open the sleeper window and yell "What?!". The person finally got the hint that I wasn't going to let her in my truck and disappearred by the time I was up and looking so I could call the cops with a description. Ugh, took me forever to get back to sleep I was so p.o.ed.

Tuesday--No coffee and interrupted sleep makes for a cranky Gabby. The crankiness was only exacerbated by the fact that some idiot had dropped a trailer that needed some work. The regulator valve for the air-ride system was out and the air bags were completely flat, the shocks were blown, had a tire with flat spots, and a marker light out. My choices were to call road rescue and then sit at a TA all day trying to get it repaired (at an exorbitant cost of course) or drive the 300+ mile to NLR to get it repaired at our shop--minimal cost and very short time being shutdown while it was repaired. I chose the company shop. For those that don't drive truck or have never pulled a trailer with the airride system out, it's a very uncomfortable ride. Bump, bump, and every so often the trailer will just jerk. Not a pleasant ride. Called the shop to let them know my eta and explained the problems so all I had to was pull into a bay, do a write-up slip and let them go to work. I was very impressed with how quickly they got it done, one mechanic said it was a personal record for him to get 4 shocks changed out in under 30 minutes. The only hiccup was that one mechanic was balking at changing the tire and came to get the shop foreman to look at it. Well, the boss looked at it, found the flat spots and told the mechanic I was right and that Penske wouldn't accept it and to change it out. YES!!!!!! It's so nice having somebody in charge that listens to me.

Wednesday--tempo run at Winfield, TX. Just over 4 miles solo, then took Elsie out for just under 2. Beautiful day but windy.

Thursday--James and I both had to wait on trailers this week because of Cinco de Mayo and the flu shutting down most of Mexico the previous week so it was a Mall del Norte run. Did 2 laps with James and Elsie then 1 lap solo. Warm, humid, and windy

Friday--nothing interesting, just had a nice long chat with the shop foreman about my trailer issues earlier in the week and drivers not writing problems up when they're dropping equipment on the yard. We came to the conclusion that the company needed to start charging the drivers who drop defective equipment for the time that others are having to sit getting it repaired. I really like this guy, he listens to me without me having to get James to back me up on what needs to be done. And if you're a driver that takes care of the equipment he will bend over backwards to make sure that your issues are taken care of and work you in if you're on a tight schedule.

Saturday--woke up at 5 am to get my long run in before meeting at the bike shop for an easy ride but didn't feel good so just sat there and griped about not wanting to run. Needless to say my long run didn't get ran that morning. Just felt like crap all day, my allergies are horrible this year and I think it's because of Elsie wanting to sleep right up in my face at night. Finally got my 11 miles in that evening--7.33 miles solo in 1:07:02 and the rest was with James and Elsie. Cranky, cranky, cranky until about 3 miles into it then I just seemed to perk up and run the next 4+ miles too fast. We also did an easy 8.1 mile ride on the mountain bikes around town earlier that day.

Elsie got her yearly shots Saturday, I swear she's the only dog I know that WANTS to visit the vet's office. Everything's ok, vet said she was in excellent shape and he also complimented us/her on how well she takes her shots. Now if we could just get her to behave the rest of the time.

Sunday--Slept late, stayed in bed until after 10 am, which is unusual for me. A normal late start is around 0800. Met Gary for a road bike ride in the afternoon, it was a beautiful, cool (but windy) spring day for once. It's either been rainy or hot, not much of a spring this year. We're booking right along until we turned into the wind then we were struggling to keep the speed over 13-15 mph. I was having some major saddle/shorts issues though, shouldn't have skipped the body-glide. Ended up with 32.55 miles in 2:12:58, kind of slow because of the hellacious wind.

After my ride with Gary I rushed home to switch bikes because James and I were meeting up with another friend for the airport loop. She's a little slower but she does have some endurance. I was having trouble adjusting to the mountain bike after the road bike, felt like my knees were up to my chest and couldn't get down in the drops to fight through the wind. Did 18.66 miles on that section for a total of 51.21 miles on the day, my butt and lower back is sore today! Finished up the day with a short 2 mile run with Elsie before supper, which I ended up practically inhaling. I was famished.

Women Run Arkansas 5k

What an awesome, awesome race, can't believe I almost backed out of showing up this morning (another night of very little sleep). I am soooo glad that I showed up, it's not that I had an especially good race (25:01, right where I've been stuck at) but getting to see all these ladies line up to run and/or walk their first 5k was exceptionally uplifting.

After my finish I grabbed a water, said hi to James and Mike and walked back down a little ways from the finish line to cheer on the other finishers. Got some thank yous and huge grins, one of the biggest smiles was from a little girl. She beamed this humongous grin, made my day! Just absolutely amazing seeing all different sorts and sizes, some were very determined, others just happy to be able to do the 3.1 miles. Yeah, yeah I'm kinda gushing here but y'all should have been there. As a matter of fact if there's anything like that in your area I strongly urge you to get out and support the racers. You wouldn't believe how much it helps to have people, esp. strangers cheering you on.

While I'm gushing here, just have to throw in some flowers (truckerspeak for compliment) to the Cabot Cruisers. The most fabulous and supportive running club in the state! I'm very proud to call these ladies (and guys!) my friends. I ran today with a very nice woman from the other side of the state (Paris) who was so impressed with the club that she's considering joining us, YAY! While we were running together, I was getting "Go Gabbys" from the Cruisers that were the clinic leaders and from a couple of other non-Cruiser friends and she told me that I was very popular, LOL. I told her no, it's just how supportive my running group is!!!!!!! BTW, have to give an extra thank you to Miss Vic for personally escorting my lazy butt up to the front of the start line (I had lined up about 1/4 of the way back).

Ok race performance review, as I mentioned already I finished in 25:01. However my Garmin showed 24:58, and the clock had just ticked over to 25:00 when I went by it. Also spoke to a couple of other friends that their times posted were different from what was on the clock and/or on their watches.

The only time we saw the sun was just before race start and during it. Since it had been raining just an hour or two prior that made for some steamy pavement, ugh. Anyhoo, hot and humid! I also didn't have enough of a warmup--less that 3/4 of a mile and that was stop and go so I could talk to different people. According to Garmy mile 1 was 7:31, mile 2 8:14, mile 3 8:08, mile 3.13 1:04. My stomach did start to cramp a little around mile 2 but thankfully that went away fairly quickly. I think that I finished 24th overall counting clinic and open racers and was 1st in my age group.

Not a bad race and my foot was ok, just a slight soreness right now but that's because I didn't stretch immediately after. And any race where you make a new friend and get to meet back up with one you haven't seen in almost a year does make for a pretty good day ;-).

procrastinator extraordinaire

I have not gotten a single decent night's sleep all freaking week. No reason for it--well, maybe a few reasons ranging from work stress, thunderstorms almost every day, and a dog that's on the verge of a nervous breakdown from aforementioned storms. Anyway, the result was yesterday I drove a grand total of 390 miles. Which was not enough to get me into Arkansas (home).

Started out just north of Laredo, made it to Cotulla where I stopped for a couple of hours (5 mile run that was supposed to have been 7 and breakfast). Drove another 70ish miles to Von Ormy (shower and transflo paperwork). Drove another 1.25 hrs to Buda for a Wal-Mart excursion--Elsie had stepped in poop at Von Ormy so had to buy a small tub to give her a bath in. Baby wipes didn't work to clean her up, don't know what the other dog had been eating but it was nasty. Also waited on James so we could visit for a little while before going our opposite directions.

Next stop was Robinson for fuel (in and out quickly for once) and then finally made it to Dawson with an hour to spare before my 14 hrs was up. Felt like I accomplished absolutely nothing yesterday and my logbook reflected it--a grand total of 6.5 hrs of work for the day and I was dragging when I stopped. Just one of those days...............

And the pisser is it didn't rain today at my house--I could have gotten in some quality miles on my bicycle today if I'd have done what I should have yesterday. Yeah, I'm in a heckuva mood right now. Oh and everybody's out riding their motorcycles and I can't afford to repair mine for at least another month. We're needing to kind of watch things until we find out if and how long our plant will be shut down this year. James kept telling me that I could ride on the back of his but about the third time I snapped and asked him how he'd like it if his bike was down and I kept telling him he could ride on the back of my softy. Thought so..........

Whew, I feel better......Nothing like a good rant to clear the air. Sorry about the general angst and ill temper.

parking etiquette

Just a short little grumble here and also to tell on myself just a little because I kind of stuck my foot in it again.



Now in some areas of the country you have no choice but to park in a rest area to sleep because unfortunately parking spots can be kind of scarce for vehicles 60 feet plus in length but TN on I40 between Brownsville and Hurricane Mills (approx. mm 56-143) is NOT one of those areas.

Tonight I had planned on making a pitstop at the 143 but too much coffee and water pretty much made that impossible, :-) and I found myself having to stop at the itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensy rest area at the 130 mile marker. Now considering that it was approx 2100 I knew it was going to be a gamble on finding a slot open but I had to check anyway (getting desperate, don't know why it couldn't have hit me back at the 126).

To my surprise there was actually one spot open and while it was going to be a tight squeeze I knew that I could maybe wiggle the truck in there. Which brings me to one of my complaints, there was one big truck that for some unknown reason didn't pull forward far enough to leave room behind him yet wasn't far enough forward to make getting into the only open spot easy for the next person. This happens quite a lot by the way where you have 1 driver parking in a way that will take up 2-3 spaces.

Fortunately this guy hadn't gone to bed yet (still sitting in the driver's seat) and when he saw me trying to parallel park, he called out over the cb to let me know that he was going to back up and give me room. This wasn't necessarily being nice on his part, after all if he'd been more considerate he wouldn't have been taking up 2.5 spaces in the first place. I think it was more of a fear that I was going to back into him. But, hey, at least he was polite enough to back up.

This is where I stick said foot in mouth, told him thanks, that I appreciated it and that it would have been difficult maneuvering into the spot because of the way he was parked. Now I never meant that last little bit to actually be uttered out loud even if it was true. Somethings you should just keep to yourself esp. at night in a rest area. You could tell it peeved him but hey, at least it got him parked correctly and I didn't get cursed out. Well at least out loud, LOL.

2nd complaint--I already wrote about there not being a shortage of parking spots in that certain area. There are 2 nice size truckstops in close proximity to this rest area that I was making a potty stop at--4 miles west at the 126 and 13 miles east at ex. 143. Why at that time of night would you stop and sleep in a rest area with such limited parking? There's room for maybe 6-8 big trucks and there are almost always open spots at the 2 places I mentioned up to around 11 pm at night. Plus you're not right up against the freeway getting woke up by people catching the rumble strips on the shoulder. I think 1/2 the parking lot was still empty at the 126 when I went by. It would just be nice if everybody left the rest area spots open if at all possible for those who are just needing to make a quick stop to use the facilities.

Yes, I do realize that not everybody knows that particular stretch of highway as well as I do. You'll also notice that I only mentioned 2 of the larger places but there are several others. I'm just not going to give away my secret parking areas. The major spots though are easy to look up in the truck stop guide books that are available and are usually for sale right beside the atlases. I also know that in certain areas the rest stops have the only available parking spots. It just isn't the case in this area early in the evening.

Ok probably going to get hate comments with this post.......

I'm gonna wash that.....

Oops, wait a minute I want to keep the man I've got so no washing him out of my hair--wow that's an old commercial, dating myself way too much here. Anyhoo, part one of this weekend's craft project is done, got the base color of my hair done. Kind of scared that it may be darker than I wanted but hey, I did go through a phase of dying my hair black for a couple of years in my 30s so it's not going to kill me. It's only hair after all, it does grow back if you have to strip it down and fry the hell out of it then cut it all off ;-).

Tomorrow is phase 2-the highlights. Now this is where it's going to get tricky. Aforementioned man, aka James is going to have to help me here. I'm in luck though, unlike me he has no problem coloring within the lines, lol. Have I mentioned that Abigail my niece is just like me with the coloring? Personally I think it's a sign of creativity that no lines can box us in.

And in case you're really bored and wondering why I don't go to a professional to cover up my gray, it's because 1) it takes too darn long and 2) they always want to make you sit there facing the stupid mirror while they're working on you. I have no desire to sit and stare at myself with my hair sticking up in all directions looking all weird for 30-60 minutes (depends on if it's a single or double process frying). I can do a lot of time-sucking web browsing at home instead--or as I prefer to deem it, multi-tasking!

Toad Suck Daze 10k

Cabot women with some of their bling!

It was cold afterwards!!!!!!!!!

Quick recap of race #8 in the ARKRRCA Grand Prix series the Toad Suck Daze 10k. First year for me to race the 10k, I've ran the 5k the previous 2 years and in 2007 this was my first race ever..........the start of the insanity! A friend of ours told James today that they have this neat little treatment for mental disorders called shock therapy. Really?! Hey, I'm not the one that has to take 3 pills a day just for high blood pressure. Although we did have a few people watching that called the entire lot of us insane, LOL and I must admit there was a time or two today when I was inclined to agree with them. But, hey I'm not alone, there were almost 400 of us just in the 10k, no clue on the number running the 5k.

So let's see what did we have?

Torrential rains-check

Ankle deep (and then some) puddles-check

Lightning (eeek) between mile 3-4-check

Creeks and ditches thisclosetooverflowing-check

People in cars grumbling at us for blocking their road-check

Some nausea and aching butt muscle-check

Great conversation-check

Satisfaction of completing a race in challenging conditions-CHECK!

Company of awesome friends as obsessed as you are--DOUBLE CHECK!!!

No personal record today for me other than a course p.r. but I'm not the least bit unhappy about how I did. This wasn't a race that I felt great running, more of a git-r-done (yeah, I know that phrase is way past over-done but that explains today perfectly!). Managed to catch up with Brenda and Cindy after fighting my way through the middle of the pack but today was Cindy's day, I couldn't hang with her at all, the force was strong with her (me a geek? maybe a little!). She did fantastic! Surprised me when I caught up with Eugene, unfortunately he pulled a hamstring today but he still finished a few seconds behind me. Normally he would be close to 10 minutes ahead.

Ok, was nauseous between miles 3 and 4, my butt had started hurting (why?), and I think my shirt and shoes weighed 10 lbs more than when I started. Normally, I love running in the rain if it's not too cold but not today. Probably had a lot to do with me not wearing a cap and having rain pelt me right in the eyes, yuck. Despite all the moisture I desperately needed a drink of water and thank goodness Brenda caught me when I stopped at the last water stop, she gave me a much needed boost.

Results--52:43, 158/368 overall, 36/166 female, 4/20 age group. I did get the 3rd place age group award because Lisa F. who's the same age as me took 2nd place female masters. She's soooo fast, she started behind us and still blew by most of us, LOL! 46:37, isn't that amazing?!

Next weekend will be the Women Run Arkansas 5k. The Women Run Arkansas club sponsors running clinics every spring that are designed to help women get started walking and running. Great program and the clinics are free, the 5k is optional but I think it's a great morale boost for everybody that participates. This will be the first year that I've run the race and I'm not able to participate in the clinics because they're held on days that I'm out on the road so for me the only way to support this is to get out and run and cheer the ladies on. I know most of the ladies in the Cruisers have put in major amounts of time with the Cabot clinic.

Continuation of a thread

Elsie chasing bugs at Hubbard, TX picnic area.

First off I got to meet Terry live and in person for a short while Monday night and terrify her with my four-wheeler driving. She also got to experience firsthand my very bad habit of starting to talk about 1 one thing and end up on 4 other subjects without ever finishing the first topic. Anyway enjoyed it very much and maybe next time it will be when we're both not on such a tight schedule. Indy, she's even cuter and more personable in person than she is on her blog so you're going to have to make a special trip back to the states to meet up with her.

Unfortunately I'm not feeling very talkative at the moment (or y'all may actually be breathing a sigh of relief, lol). Gloomy weather here at home, I'm looking at a best case scenario $600-800 repair job/worst case $2000-3000 on my motorcycle due to my own stupidity (left the choke pulled out and the fuel on while it sat for a couple of weeks so will probably have to have the top end rebuilt), and stressing about my job (haul General Motors parts). As far as the job goes we do have the go-ahead to sign up for unemployment if the dedicated run shuts down for a while rather than going over the road but it is a 25/30% reduction in pay.

My foot is doing better but I've reduced my mileage quite a bit the past 2 weeks and I think that's also probably contributing to my foul mood. Tomorrow is the Toad Suck 5k/10k and this will be the first year I've ran the 10k.

ehh photo

Tried to get a decent pic with my phone of the new pink pedals but as you can see it didn't turn out too well. Trust me, they look awesome though!

Cool street rod

Seen in Austin on Friday, very cool rat rod with a rockabilly chick driving. Love it!

t

Rush, rush, rush

The unexpected layover Tuesday put me waaaay behind on getting back home for Saturday. If everything had gone right I would've been home Friday morning but it wasn't to be. Thursday I also had an unexpected delay but it was James' truck this time and not mine (whew). He blew a radiator hose out when he was headed north and fortunately I was where I could stop at an auto parts store to get the parts for him. If I had been south of him he was looking at a 4-5 hour wait on the side of the road before somebody could have gotten out to him and replaced the hose plus would have cost the company approx. $250. Instead, it was only a couple of hours and we did it for $60.

Yes, I actually helped replace the hose, I wasn't just standing there handing him tools, LOL! It blew out in a very hard to get area so my smaller hands and arms came in useful. What did frustrate me was that even though we were on a 4 lane stretch of road only about 40% of the traffic moved over into the fast lane while we were doing the repairs even when there would be no reason for them not to move over. It wasn't just 4-wheelers that weren't giving us room, there were a number of big trucks crowding us too. Please people, if you see somebody broke down on the side of the road, move over to the other lane if it's at all safe to do so. We were well off onto the shoulder but it's just common courtesy. Plus you never know when somebody is not paying attention and might step out close to the lane of traffic while they're working on their vehicle. And if you've ever been on the shoulder, you know how it rocks your cars when somebody blows by you at 65+mph. Just think about what that's doing to a person who weighs much less than the car.

Anyway, I didn't get to N. Little Rock until Saturday morning. James came and picked me up at our drop yard and we drove to Ward for the 5k at 0800. A friend was the race director and it was excellent! Very nice course, the best raffic control, awesome goodie bags, and from what I hear great prizes! I finished 7th overall (male and female) which surprised the heck out of me. Not much sleep and I wasn't feeling good until I started running. Once I got moving though, I just cruised. Had no plans to kill myself on this 5k for a pr, just wanted a decent finishing time and the only time I pushed hard was sprinting for the finish line, wanted to get past the woman just in front of me, LOL. Garmin is showing 3.2 miles in 25:12 but I don't know what the actual finish time is because like always forgot to turn it off right away. Won my age group so think I was probably 4th woman across the line. No results posted yet and we weren't able to stay for the awards because of needing to get back down to the Little Rock area for the alzheimer's walk that started at 1000.

Another friend was director or co-director of the Little Rock Alzheimer's Memory Walk. I have some busy friends, LOL, I feel lazy next to them! This was another awesome event, we walked across the Big Dam Bridge and back. Elsie was happy because she was finally getting to get out and move with us (it was overcast and I didn't want to get in the middle of the 5k, have it thunder then have to carry her all the way!). Elsie also got to make friends with a 9 month old Great Dane--absolutely gorgeous dog, but HUGE!

Visited with friends afterwards for about 30 minutes then it was off to Russellville to my sister's house for Mike's birthday cake at 1300. I was absolutely starting to reek at this point so the second thing I did once we got there was shower. First thing was hug the niece and nephew (duh!). I had been craving a burger all week so was glad I hadn't stopped Friday for a Whataburger before leaving Texas because I got to eat a very delicious turkey burger at my sis's (with avocado, mmmmm). Also had fries and german chocolate cake so it was a heckuva diet cheat day :-). Finally got home about 1630 and was flat out exhausted. I even had fallen asleep in the pickup leaning against the door with Elsie's duck as a pillow between Atkins and Conway.

Unfortunately I have a Monday appt this week so will have to leave out later today but if everything works out right I should get home early. Hoping this coming weekend will be nice, I'd love to get some cycling miles in on the road.

What you don't want to see.....

.........is the looks of dismay and pity on your friends' faces when you start describing an ache you've been having. Yep, not formally diagnosed but evidently I have plantar fasciitis or a pretty good imitation of it. For a couple of months I have been having what I describe as a stone bruise on the inside bottom of my foot in the heel area. Achy when I get up in the morning, usually ok once I get to moving, feels great when I run but walking aggravates it. Grrrrrrrrr, I don't want this!!!!!!! Ok, ok I know that nobody wants it but this blog is all about me.

Got home after my long run this morning and immediately started researching p.f. Need to ice, stretch, strengthen, and rest. One website recommended a cold soda can and rolling it around with your foot and that actually works. I had been using a tennis ball to do the same thing, the coke can just adds the icing element. No walking barefoot (but I love my saltillo tile floors!), no flip-flops, no speed-work, and no hills. Actually I guess I should lay off running for a couple of weeks but that's NOT going to happen, thppppt!

Ok, weekly recap

Tues. 5.25 miles in 50:50 at Lebanon outlet mall (2.49 with Elsie, then bathroom break for me)

Wed. 4 miles in 40:37 with Elsie at Lebanon outlet mall again (laid over, gotta love the auto plants and suppliers)

Thurs. Tempo run at Winfield, TX 5.21 miles in 49:34
mile 1 10:08 (warm-up)
mile 2 9:32 (into the wind and uphill)
mile 3 9:00
mile 4 8:52
mile 5 9:50
mile 5-5.21 2:10

Friday rest (work)

Saturday Beyond Boundaries Boot Scootin' 5k--Garmin is showing 3.2 miles in 25:12, forgot to shut off right away. Small race-I was 7th overall (male and female).

Sunday 11.96 miles in 1:56:20

CCC 10k

Elsie wondering why we're being so mean and not letting her run

Watching the runners go by

Happy race, got my mojo back!

Outtakes and bumpers!

My attempts at trying to take Elsie's picture in the bluebonnets. I was having a hard time trying to get her to stay still!

James was holding a bluebonnet sprig in the air to try and get her attention.

Indy, this one's for you, although I'm sure you've already looked it up by now! The ICC bumpers that we have now (on trailers newer than 1998) are supposed to keep people that rearend a big truck attached to their heads. Most docks also have these locking mechanisms that hook to the bumper to keep the truck in place at least long enough for the forklift driver to get out if some idiot decides to pull out while being loaded or unloaded. If you see one of these bent in the middle it's a sure bet that the driver didn't double check to make sure the lock actually disengaged before moving or rolled back into the dock causing it to re-lock.

They're called ICC bumpers because the Interstate Commerce Commission was the regulatory board for trucking and rail in the U.S. (initially rail, ICC was est. in 1887, dissolved in 1995) that required bumpers on the big trucks in 1953. What blows my mind is that it took until 1991 before any action was taken to improve the bumpers in order to prevent so many of the fatalities. Prior to that it was pretty much guaranteed that anybody who rear-ended a truck was going to be decapitated.

This is one instance where I think additional safety measures was actually warranted. There is the problem of occasionally finding a road obstacle (usually railroad tracks) that will cause the bumper to drag or hang up but I think a good portion of those have been fixed (I hope, lol) or marked as no truck.

I love my local bike shop

Ok, had a very frustrating week so decided to go with a positive title :-). But I really do love my local bicycle shop! First off, the owner (who James and I are lucky enough to consider a good friend now) allowed me to keep my new road bike at home even though I still owed him approx. 1/2.
2) he only charged me their cost, not msrp
3) he GAVE us the new store jerseys (cost him $50 each)
4) I couldn't make up my mind which trainer to buy so he allowed me to take both of them home to decide
5) He wouldn't let me pay for a seat I'm trying out until I find out if it's going to work for me
6) He ordered the pink Speedplay lightactions as a surprise for me and was just going to swap for the black ones--however, I paid for them and kept the black ones to put on my Marin since it's taking up permanent residence on the trainer

Now isn't that just a great list! Now, I realize that James and I spend quite a bit of money there but we always get a discount so it's not like he's making a living off of us and when James and I told him we wanted to pay for the jerseys I was told that he's looking at it as advertising (especially from me since I do so many cycling events).

One thing I've noticed with my new Jamis Xenith Femme is that I'm getting treated more seriously by "real" cyclists. It's making me smile thinking about it even now, lol. Shoot, I would've thought that it'd more impressive riding a century on an entry-level road bike rather than the mid-range one I've got now! Although, I must admit that it's kinda cool getting the respect, ;-).

Now for a quick recap on the frustrating week

-Was snowed on Sunday night and Monday morning (was just flurries but it's APRIL, for crying out loud)

-blew a tire on Hwy 19 going south Wed. morning (I skipped my run trying to hurry down for nothing). On the bright side road rescue took my suggestion on a shop and wasn't smart-assed for once.

-the trailer I was picking up Wed. night had issues (turn signal out from corroded wiring, a very bald and flat tire, and the landing gear crank came fell apart in my hand, grrr). Shop closes at 8 pm and doesn't reopen until 8 am, it was 2200 when I was trying to drop and hook.

-Thurs. morning found a bolt and a nail in a drive tire (losing air around the bolt)

-New shop policy, mechanics can't work on the tractor and trailer at the same time. Never mind that even the mechanic that worked on my stuff would've preferred to do it that way. Had to get the trailer worked on, pull out and drop, then get back in line. What would've only taken an additional 15 minutes took 4+hours. Oh yeah, pulled into the exact same bay that I was originally in.

-While waiting on me to get out of the shop James was asked to do local work. Wouldn't have been so bad but it was going to the Union Pacific rail yard and when he got there with the first load was informed that no billing had been received so he had to wait for an hour outside the gate until that was completed. You would think that when he went back for the 2nd trailer that the billing would've been processed for it as well, but nope, had to wait again. So that put us even further behind because I waited around for him another 2 hours after I was done with my repair work.

-I frustrated a fuel desk cashier at the Love's Encinal Thursday evening when I refused to leave my paperwork with her to be trans-flo'ed while I took my shower so had to deal with her snarkiness. After I told her that "No, I prefer to wait" she decided that she was going to make me wait as long as possible before she scanned the sheets. Just because she's that blase about her own personal info doesn't mean that I am about mine.

-Friday on the I35 corridor is bad enough, but add in Easter and it was a mess. Bumper to bumper traffic from San Antonio to Waco then we were on backroads, thank goodness.

Now, I realize that the week could've been much worse but I really wanted to get in for a special event Friday and it seemed like fate was working against me being there.

Good news-
-We finished up the flower bed around the mailbox yesterday-I think the neighbor across from us backed into our whiskey barrel last month. It's now surrounded by pavestones 3 high so if they run over it it's going to hurt their suv, HA.

-State refund arrived so Buffy (the new road bike) is ALL mine

-the pink lightactions match perfectly, lol (James had been teasing me all week that they would clash

-James is making me cassoulet!

Double Header

I was starting to think that I'd lost what little marbles I had left, this weekend I KNOW that they're gone, LOL....

This weekend was the one-two punch of back-to-back races in the AR Grand Prix, the Capital City 10k and the Hogeye Half-Marathon. I'm not sure what twisted person decided this was a good idea but from what I understand it's been this way for so long it's now a tradition. Yes, I know I didn't have to race both but as Terry says about her job, I do love me a challenge :-).

First off was the 10k Saturday. I absolutely loved this race!!!!!! It's nearly completely flat and it's out aways from the city, practically in the boondocks. I was disappointed that Brenda and Lisa weren't going to make it but was very happy to see Cindy. I thought that I would be able to run with her for a while before she left me but to my surprise I was actually feeling great so we ran together for practically the entire race. Although she did kind of fib to me about going out easy the first mile, LOL!

At the 5k point we were faster than our 5k time in last week's Spring Fling 5k so was happy about that and I was still feeling strong. It wasn't near as cold and we didn't have that hellacious wind, thank goodness. One highlight of the course was when we were running by a horse farm and we had several horses run up to check us out--beautiful. At around mile 5.5 we had another woman pass us and I couldn't stand it any longer, I felt great and started picking up the pace. I even caught and passed a guy (at the very last minute) that had been joking with Cindy and I about age. Never did catch the woman that passed us, she must have been feeling good too :-).

Ended up with a new 10k pr by one minute, 3 seconds (51:50) and was 21st female out of 173, 117/349 overall, and 2/28 in my age group. It felt sooooo good to have a race that I felt good running, it's been since October that I had one where I was really happy about my finish and didn't feel miserable afterwards.

Oh, cute story--We took Elsie and of course she was going nuts because I had my running gear on and she wanted to run too. After the race, a new acquaintance asked if she could take Elsie with her while she ran to her car and we were joking around about how long it would take Elsie to realize that neither James or I were with them and she put on the brakes. Well, Elsie made it much further than we thought and it was hilarious watching them. Wish I had video of it to share!

Saturday afternoon I packed up and roadtripped with Bailey, Jackie, and Sean up to Fayetteville for the Hogeye 1/2 Marathon. Very disappointed with the women's tech shirts, the small was more like an extra-small or xx-small so ended up not taking one home. They were giving us the option to address a large manila envelop and would send us the next size up if enough were available. Except for Bailey, the woman didn't tell her about that option and was just joking about all the women looking like they would be in a wet t-shirt contest. Very, very, very weird!

Bailey had booked the room and it was extremely nice, esp. for the price. We even had a full kitchen and would've brought our own food to cook if we'd known. The only thing I didn't like was the smoke detector. It was the style that blinked a blue light every so often and I couldn't sleep well because of it, blech. From about 12:30 on I think I was waking up every hour and found out the next morning that Jackie did the exact same thing. Oh, and we had a major thunderstorm roll through between 0200-0230. That kind of had me worried too.

Sunday morning was much colder than the previous day, it went from the low 70s on Sat. down to 48F, brrr. Strong winds were also predicted, yuck. Eugene and I had talked the previous day about him pacing me to a 2 hour finish and I was surprised that he was still willing to do it today. He's quite a bit faster than me so I knew it would be hard for him to go that slow.

On the uphills I would slow down but speed up to catch him on the downhills. Worked well until mile 10, then I kind of imploded and had to start walking up some of the inclines. Prior to that the only time I walked was through the water stations--have a hard time drinking out of a cup and jogging without it going up my nose or all over my shirt.

Garmin stats
Mile 1-11:01, slow because of the hills and crowds
Mile 2-8:29
Mile 3-8:19
Mile 4-8:48
Mile 5-8:45
Mile 6-8:47
Mile 7-8:52
Mile 8-8:44
Mile 9-9:25 (back in the hills and starting to slow)
Mile 10-9:10
Mile 11-12:51 (oops, had to walk)
Mile 12-8:25 (walked some and stomach cramps)
Mile 13,13.1-10:26 (walked some more)

I did manage to push hard the last few feet but it was absolutely, completely miserable. I have no desire whatsoever to see any finish line photos or even any in the last few miles. I was on the verge of tears and feeling horrible. My stomach started cramping around mile 12 and I thought I was going to have to find a port-a-potty, yuck. My mistake was not taking the gel that I'd been carrying in my pocket the entire race at around 1 hour in and not taking enough calories in for breakfast. Until we hit mile 10, I was actually ahead of what I needed to be to finish in 2 hours or just under.

Now the previous paragraph may have you thinking that I was unhappy with my finish time and the race, but it's the opposite. I'm absolutely thrilled!! My finish time was 2:01:36 and that's gun time, they didn't have chip timing for this race. That's a new 1/2 marathon p.r. on a course that's extremely difficult, I had been warned that's it hard to p.r. here but I did it thanks to Eugene. It was hard for him to go that slow and be passed by people he can pass with no problem but he stuck with me even though I told him to go on several times. I felt bad about slowing him down, esp. in the last 5k.

Final results on the 1/2
2:01:36
Female 44/230
Age group 3/25
Overall 183/483

Not a bad weekend!! 2 personal records on back to back races. I'm sore but happy right now. Not bad for a truck driver, eh? Did I do that right Kelownagurl?

One quick thing, I've been trying to lose a few pounds and have finally dropped the 3 from the holidays. Well today I almost had a wardrobe malfunction because the running skirt I wore is now a little loose. Until I started sweating enough for the fabric to stick to me the skirt kept sliding down my hips and I almost flashed my butt at the people behind me for the first mile. Trying to hold your skirt up and run at the same time is no easy task, LOL!