This weekend started off with a BANG... literally, my birthday was on Friday & Allen & the girls woke me up with a surprise party, party poppers and all! After getting the girls off to school, Allen joined me for a 6mi tempo run. It was a beautiful morning with my favorite jack rabbit! In the afternoon, I got in my 2600yd swim. I'm growing to love swimming, especially because I've been going during aqua therapy time & I really enjoy watching them underwater :-) Later that night we had dinner at Paloma Blanca with a few of my closet friends. It was so nice to be able to get everyone together... not wearing lycra! But the BEST present I could ever receive came via text: "I walked I walked!!!" My friend Monica had taken her first steps in the parallel bars at PT!!! Wishes do come true!!!
On Saturday, Kris, Linda, Kelly, Alphonso & I headed out for an 80mi. training ride, Tri-Sition Area to Castroville. It started out as most ride have in the past few weeks... cold & rainy! Oh, well, it is what it is... pedal on! 20mi in Shelly met us at the Exxon and cruised with us to Haby's for a birthday donut. But before I could enjoy my donut, the Iron-gods had to make sure I earned it... FLAT TIRE, 5 mi from donut!!! It was just Linda & I, no Brian Loftin ;-( I was a little nervous at first, but what else was I going to do but fix it! I started to take the wheel off & remembered I didn't have a spare tube (used it last time I flatted!) & Linda only had a 650 on her, not a 700. Yikes! Luckily, another cyclist stopped to check on us & gave me his spare. I knew he was good people when I noticed his Tri-Sition Area shorts! The rest of the ride went well & the sun was even generous enough to peek through just as we were finishing. After putting 75mi in the books & showering, I headed to the hospital because... I was oncall.
Sunday, Herothon 13.1! The icing on my birthday cake weekend! Kris, Shelly, Orissa, Linda & I were Team Captain America!!! No, not Ms. Texas or Ms. Puerto Rico or even Wonder Woman... Captain America!!! I learned from the last 13.1 that pacing was key! I started out at a comfortable pace & kept finding myself creeping faster. Whoa, girl... slow it down! I saw a lot of friends along the course cheering, which is always like a boost of adrenaline! Robert, Brian, Lexa, Jaime, Laura & Brody were all out there, fueling my fire! When I saw Brody, Laura's 9 year old son who runs a 7:30 mile, I gave him a big sweaty hug hoping to channel his speed. It worked, because next time I looked at my Garmin I had to pull on the reigns again... Whoa, Nelly!!! The plan was to kick it in for the last 3mi, like we did last weekend on our long run... that didn't happen! I was content with just keeping the same pace at that point. Right before the homestretch, I turned the corner and my worst fears came true! The bridge!!! We DID have to go back over it :-( Ok, time to find another speed! I beasted it up the incline and right when I got to the top, there was Brody! "Run Faster!"... OK! I guess he didn't just see me run up the hill, but I couldn't say no to Brody! He ran me down the other side & at the bottom, right before the final shoot, there was Laura! " Don't let him beat you... KICK!"... OK! I threw it into high gear and so did the guy in the orange shirt (I did end up beating him!)! I finished unofficial 1:51... tied my PR! On 75mi. legs... I'll take it!
All in all, I will say I had a wonderful & exhausting birthday weekend filled with lots of love & happiness surrounded by fabulous family & friends! Thank you to all who were a part of it near & far!
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