New Wheels

Saturday I had to hustle through my run because I had to go meet with my banker and do some car shopping.  I had been eyeing a car for a little while and my car has been on its last leg for a couple of months now.  (please see reasons I hate my car which hasn't been amended for awhile, mind you....)  After a full morning and afternoon of car shopping/test driving/mondo shmoozing I am now the proud owner of a 2006 Scion tC.  And yes...it is love....

So as to ease the jealousy that Princess Leia was throwing down, I decided to go on my longest bike ride to date.  I wanted to go between 20-30 miles, and wasn't sure how far I could get on the bike trails.  I tried to keep my speed up for the majority of the ride, but the first chunk of miles to the north, I was into an intense wind (according to weatherbug up to 25 mph wind gusts).  No biggie, since I would have those at my back on the way home (I was doing an out and back) right?  Wrong.  By the time I started heading in the direction of home, the winds had changed to the north west.  Sunnava.......  There were also some areas of the trail with BMX looking ramps for bikers to take to go over pipes/etc. that were leading to the river (I assume from the flooding).  You'd better believe I slowed waaaaay down for those puppies too. 

I did 23.65 miles in 1:41:02 for 14.2 mph.

Monday I hit the trails for an easy 6 miles.  I was shocked to see that the pace actually felt easy for once.  I feel like my legs have been dead tired lately.  Apparently they really needed the rest/easy runs from last week.  Also, the weather was GORG.  Mid to upper 70s with a breeze.  Low humidity.  Perhaps I've actually died and am now running in heaven.  Excellent.  I started out the run with 4 super consisted mid-9:20s miles.  Then when some dude thought he could pass me, I of course picked up the pace just a smidge.  I chased him down for the next 1.75 miles until he turned around, and I finished the miles right at 9:00.

I did the 6 miles in 55:39 for a pace of 9:18.

**Oh and for the record, I've still biked + ran more miles than I've driven in my new car.  And I'll probably keep it that way. ;)

I'm a Biking MACHINE. Wait, isn't that actually a bike? Hmm..

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning, and my body was raring for a long run.  Sorry body, maybe next weekend!  I had planned on taking Polly out for a spin, but it was COLD and WINDY.  I'm a hard core runner, and that wouldn't stop running Jeri, but biking Jeri is a WUSS.  To the gym I went.

I set the bike for 60 minutes and an interval routine at a level of 9.  Oh my goodness, this kicked my butt!!  The two times I checked my HR, it was between 135-155.  This is the first bike workout that I felt was as tough as a run.  I happened to be biking next to a giant mirror, and glanced down at my legs while biking away and realized that my calves look SICK!  One benefit of being injured apparently, I'll take it.  :p  I biked 12.15 miles in the hour and could literally wring my shirt out when I was down.  Impressive fo sho.

Post workout, I met up with an old co-worker to do some shopping.  I've alluded to this briefly on my blog, but over the course of the last year I've lost probably 25-30 pounds.  I never thought I was heavy before, but was just bothered that my body no longer looked athletic, as it has always looked.  Well obviously after losing that much weight, my clothes don't really fit the greatest, but I haven't let myself get new clothes for some reason.  (????)  I finally thought about it and realized that I should just sell the clothes that I have that are too big and use my Xmas/Bday money to get some new threads.

Our shopping trip was primarily for browsing, but I did find some CUUUUUTE items I couldn't pass up.  :)  Since the only pair of jeans I own are also starting to be loose, I got a new pair of jeans.  Sidenote:  I may have tried on a legit pair of skinny jeans at Banana that didn't look horrible on me....that's straight up SHOCKING.  Haha.  No way I'd spend that much on jeans though.  :p

An adorable tank.

And a great cardigan.  I literally live in cardigans.  It's the librarian in me, I guess.  :)

I always got a pretty sweet comment about my new black running jacket.  I was giving my friend a fashion show with the new coat, after previously showing him the green coat and how cuuuuuute it was, and how bummed I was about sending it back because it wasn't worth the $90, to which he responded,
"Oh that coat looks way better on you than the green one did anyway."  Here, let me just set my ego in your lap and you can continue to stroke it for the evening....awesome.  :p  Hah.

I tried out the great new running jacket on my loooooong Sunday bike ride.  I waited for the temp to reach 30, because I'm a wuss, and set out.  I wanted to do 18 or 20 miles, which would be my longest bike ride by 6-8 miles.  I loaded up my sweet new road trip playlist and hooked my ear phones into the collar of my coat (instant speakers!).  It was a bit chilly out, but I warmed up pretty quickly.  I tried to keep my pace around 12 mph, which was fine for the first 8 miles, but after I reached my turn around spot, I could tell I was getting TIRED.  It's a bit taxing to take on some hills with a one speed beach cruiser.  :)

I did see some CRAZY things while I was biking.  First I saw a muskrat, I think.  It was BIG like a small raccoon but not marked like a raccoon.  Then I saw a ferret.  Or what looked like a ferret.  But I swear it jumped in the river after it saw me, and I'm fairly certain ferrets don't swim.  Although, I wouldn't be surprised if that river doesn't make super strains of animals.... eeew. Ever see that episode of the simpsons?

Also, I saw two gorgeous deer.  They leapt out in front of me on the trail.  Luckily they are much faster than me on my slow bike, and crossed right before I got to them, because I would've been too slow to stop.  EEK!

Because the bike trail ends about 8 miles away (which I wasn't aware of for some reason) I had to tack on another 2 miles towards the end of the run.  I had to bike through a whole gaggle of geese and they were hissing away at me.  Since I was on a bike, I didn't feel nearly as threatened as I do when running, and hissed back at them as I pedalled through.  Felt good.  Hah.

I ended up doing 18.07 miles in 1:35.  I swear my feet are still cold hours later.  :(

In other EXCITING NEWS.  I am planning on attempting my first run Monday!!!  Everyone please say multiple prayers that the foot is a-ok, because I'm ready to get back running.  I've already decided I would be cutting my running from 5 days a week to 4 for the duration of my training, and I'll have to do some long run adjustments as well.  I just want to run the race pain free and enjoy myself.  I don't think I'll be able to PR the race, but it'll be cool having my brother, sister in law, and nephew there cheering for me.  :)