Wow.   I thought I’d catch up on the weekend events yesterday but I was wiped when I got home and didn’t get up early before work to post. Prepare yourself for a long post.  You were warned.

Saturday I got up and headed over to Columbia, IL for a group ride which I was running late for after I realized the directions I was taking had a detour.  Awesome.  Honestly, I don’t do well with cutting it close to the last minute things, but when it involves sleep, well, I’m a bit more flexible.  Regardless, I arrived at 7:35, and some members were still getting ready so I was good to go.  I changed into cycling shoes, put my cadence meter on my bike…gloves, helmet…nutrition.. lots of fun details.  In a last minute decision I globbed sunscreen on my arms before heading over to the group and boy was I glad I did.  I finally headed over to the group and met everyone that was doing the ride and was glad there were some individuals doing the 64 mile ride and not just the 100 mile ride.  I knew a few of the people, but met quite a few more.  Then, we were off!  Off in-freaking-deed.  As in 18 mph to 20.  Uh…. really?  for a 64 mile ride?  Yipes.  The pace did settle down, but most of the individuals in this group has some serious experience in their legs.

During the first 30 I chit-chatted with several different people I hadn’t met before and overall had a great time.  There was one hill that (I believe) due to breaking on the downhill, I had zero speed going back uphill and had to (It hurts to say this), unclip and walk it up the hill.  I really wasn’t comfy chugging up the hill out of the saddle and not doing that, eh, I was going to fall over.   The group was great though, those that passed me said ‘good job’ and ‘no shame! keep going!’ (eh, there still was shame, but that felt great to hear in a low point).  And then we kept going.  And going.  Overall I felt amazing, other than being the pokey little puppy trying to keep up at 16mph or so, but everyone in the group was just great.  I learned a ton of IM tips and riding/racing tips in general, which was awesome.  Plus, I stuck to my quasi nutrition plan and all went well… four gels, a packet of honey stinger chews and a bottle of Gatorade Endurance.  I’ll probably need more than that for the half, but my tummy didn’t experience any sloshing.  Hooray!

After the run I hurried to the Y for a 1,450 yard cooldown and then met JMR for a date at the pool.  Too bad it wasn’t very warm and no one was at the pool (generally good for good people watching), but we still had a good time.  After the pool we were off to dinner at a local place where I consumed an entire Reuben sandwich listed as ‘Reuben the Great’.  Yeah, it was ridiculously large, and I was hungry, and in retrospect, it was pretty gross I was able to eat the whole thing (I’m still a bit grossed out, except, well, it was good).  I’ve ordered it countless times before and never finished it…if that lets you know the excessiveness of my consumption.  Anyways, I’ll just show you a picture of a beer we had instead of the sandwich.:

The next morning I was all business, I had a run and then was meeting JMR and his parents at the baseball game.  Unfortunatley JMR didn’t know when they were arriving (and I was wiped from the day before) so after figuring out what time to meet up, I  only had time to run 10 miles instead of the planned 12. Argh.  (I’ll be paying for that this coming weekend…), but I’m glad I got it done and met them at JMR’s place, and we all headed to the game.  The game was fun, and it didn’t hurt that we were in a party box with unlimited food and drink (if his parents weren’t there, I would have taken a picture of my food), but the game went on…and on…and on.  19 innings.  Thank goodness we left after the 13!  Here’s a shot from the suite:

After the game I took the little guy out and retired to the couch…which is what I’m doing now.  This week is a ‘rest’ week, so I have a ride and run on the schedule for tomorrow, but the mileage is low, so I’m pumped.  I would have gotten on the bike tonight but I got a migraine around 4p so I’ve been out of commission on the couch since 😦

As exciting as all of that is, I have to cut my story short 🙂  Catch you tomorrow!!