Week = Half Over.

Couldn't resist sharing a few more pictures from the race:(Don was exceptionally proud of this one... he told me to get on someone's wheel on the short pavement part, and I followed directions!)

(Slogging through mud to get up this hill was harder than it looked- I'm starting to master the art of "one foot down and push the bike!")

(At the bottom of a downhill aware that now it's time to hop off and start climbing the same hill, all the muddy, slippery way back up.)

And, the aftermath. My sister and I post-race.


All right, I promise, that's the last of the cyclocross pictures for now! I'm honestly just proud of myself for even trying it. Especially in those miserable conditions- my dad put it succinctly when he said, "well, you learned how to ride in the worst conditions you'll ride in, it should be easy now!"

I'm not sure if that's true, but we'll see. I think my biggest limiter is my not wanting to get hurt- after that tiny knee twist last January set me back months of running, I'm in no mood to do anything like that again. I'm in it for fun, not to get horribly injured. So that will slow me down a lot, taking everything a bit cautiously. My results were pretty pathetic, but hey- it was my first race and I finished it, which is more than I expected. Before the race, even at the starting line, I was wondering if I could just quit and walk away. So I'm glad that I didn't. (We all knew I wouldn't, but still, it was tempting.)

I'm pretty stoked about next weekend, since it'll be our local race, and fun no matter how badly I do!

Anyway... this week so far:

• Had Master Swim yesterday morning and managed to swim a 1:25 100 meter after having already put in a 500 meter warmup with drills, followed by 4 x 300 meters at a pretty hard pace. I was happy. Followed it up with another 9 100's, all at between 1:35 and 1:39. So slowly but surely, I am getting faster.
• Played with a breathing drill for the cool down, where I think I surprised Keith with how competent I am at holding my breath. "Swim Yoga," he calls it, and it's just 25 yards breathing every 3rd stroke, then 25 at every 5th, then every 7th, and so on... Did two sets of that, then went the whole 25 meters without a breath. How's that for yoga? Thanks to all the ocean swimming and surfing I used to do, I'm good at holding my breath unerwater- nothing like wiping out in a huge wave to teach something like that!
• Yesterday I also had what I consider my worst run of all time- maybe I shouldn't have done it right after eating leftover Chinese food for lunch, but I had a growling stomach and only 1:45 before I had to be fed, run, showered, and out the door for work, so digestion time wasn't really on the table. So, ran pretty much right after I finished eating, which just resulted in a quick step to the bathroom, then the rest of my pathetic 30 minute run hovering in areas near the bathroom and praying I wasn't going to throw up. But I went for 30 minutes... sometimes, it's the little victories.
• Spinning at night relatively hard for 30 minutes. Why? Frankly, I like cookies. So I decided whenever I want dessert, I have to do something so that way my metabolism is revved and ready to eat, so I don't go to bed with cookies sneaking their way onto my hips.
• Getting very tired of school, classes, tutoring, and nanny-ing. Considering becoming a librarian in order to avoid the human race. (I almost went to grad school for library science, got into the program and everything, so this isn't a stretch.) It won't happen, I'm sure I'll get over this hump and remember that I do want to teach English and work in a high school (read: coaching and free gym access, as well as summer off to train and race!), but right now, I'm feeling a bit frustrated and like I'm in a 'cross race, stuck in the mud, and spinning my wheels.
  

But, it's mid-week, soon it will be the weekend (then again, I have a 23 mile run on Saturday... maybe I don't want it to get here!), and I will be thoroughly enjoying two days of (relative) freedom. Is it just me, or as the days get shorter, does it seem like the weeks are getting longer?