hodge podge

So many things to rant about:

First off WE HIT OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL!!! Yet again I raised close to $7200 and the funds are still coming in! Its pretty mind blowing that that is the average that I raise each event. (still trying to top the 20+ thousand that I did for my first event ;) ) I am so truly grateful! I have been continuing to read some blogs about myeloma and am moved each day. Although people continue to lose their battles there are more that are able to power on and live full lives with their family and friends. Thats what its all about! so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

On even better news our friend Keri who was diagnosed at the start of our training just had her last chemo treatment on her birthday! I'm sure she will never forget that birthday! She has remained quite an inspiration taking this whole cancer thing like it was just another bump in the road.

On the training front, this week started off strong and ended kind of EH. My knee has been a bit of a shit, a very odd muscle pull is what I think it was. Anyways we did a mini brick on Sunday where I got to feel my bike out a bit and he felt goooooooooooooood. My knee felt like shit but the bike felt smooth like buddah! Monday I met up with some teammates and swam at the local boys and girls club. I tried to see what a difference I had in time doing 500s with and without the pull buoy. Yeah it was a difference of 2 minutes with the pull, thats quite crazy if you ask me. Why couldn't my ass act more like a flotation device, then i'd actually be a more efficient swimmer.

Tuesday I got into work at what felt like the ass crack of dawn so I could get a bike in on Coronado Island. A great place to do some lavaman specific training with the crazy winds, except I was alone and I was spooked.
Allow me to back track. A local high school girl went missing last week after a run through the trails around lake hodge. We do tons of training there and I run in the trails by my house alone on a regular basis. While I was always cautious and did not run with music, I also never had anything to protect myself. Anyways this young girl was raped and murdered by a convicted child molester. It hit home for just about every person in the country and especially here. When you live in an area that has so many inviting places to be active its troubling to have to keep yourself from these activities because of fear. All week long I wanted to ditch work and volunteer to help find this girl who was just training for her high school cross country team. As I was riding out on the strand all alone I felt like my head was on a swivel, always looking to see who was coming, were there groups of people, never wanting to be riding alone. I got a text from Bri during my ride that they finally found the body near the lake. So troubling.
At this point I was into my 30 mile ride, feeling great on my bike, testing out my aero bars and feeling like I was flying. I rode with a nice guy for about half of it and then found myself alone. At one point I was in between two bodies of water with 5 guys riding by and got spooked. THAT SUCKS! I am sorry but it totally sucks that this is how we have to think while we are just trying to live!!! It is so frustrating that now I can't just head out to the trails for my run, that I have to figure out who else might want to run 8 miles with me. SUCK IT PSYCHOS!!!! Unfortunately I am realizing that the system fails many people and its not always easy to help these people who are clearly messed up. And while the system is failing people are getting hurt. Eh enough of that rant. Now I have to find some mace or pepper spray so that I can once again continue to do the things I love. There is nothing better than just hitting the trails, hearing nothing but your heart beat, your feet hitting the ground, and your breath. I am sure that this has been a valuable lesson for so many and that this young womans death will change things for many people, but it is just so unfortnately and unfair for her, her family and friends.

Ugh just so terrible.

I was pretty beat from the week and did not get to work out Wednesday or Thursday. I thought Friday would be a day to play catch up before the weekend but nooooooooooooo. Instead I woke up with the same nasty head cold that my husband had that week. Niiiiiice. I barely made it through the day at work, came home and just tried to sleep it off. Saturdays team workout got changed to a open water swim since we were expecting rain again for the 7th weekend in a row. With the run off into the ocean it is not safe to swim after rain so we have been pretty screwed with those. Anyways coach changed it to saturday so we could get the swim in before the rain. Since I could not breathe whatsoever and felt like crapola I stayed in bed and Bri went off for the 2 mile open water swim. So proud of him. That is more than double the distance for the triathlon so he will be all set. I set my bike up on the trainer and did a mini brick by myself. I ran a mile loop around the hood (of course couldn't go into the trails alone) and then would hop on the bike for a 15 minute interval workout. I did the run 4 times and the bike the same. I gotta say the first run/bike was ridiculous for me, my heart rate was through the roof, I was dizzy, and felt like I had rubber legs. By the 3rd time around I was feeling a little more normal but was thankful to have the aerobars to rest my tissue box on. BRUTAL!!! Turned out to be a good workout but I wish it was with the team instead.

We ship our bikes to Hawaii in two weeks so I am hoping to get at least two rides in during the week and of course our rides on the weekends. THis means some early days at work and some grinding out on the road! Can't wait!

And luckily the 3 days off this week must have been what my knee needed because it is feeling almost back to normal!! Hoping this cold is on its way out because I have to get all my workouts in. I feel totally ready to do this thing and could do it tomorrow if I had to but I really do need more time on my new bike to get comfortable.

Big Al will be here in less than two weeks and Hawaii is just around the corner!!!!!!!!!