Adjusted Reality

Stop, Ramble Time!

Tri Minus One:

Last night, we completed a “splash and dash” type race (it was actually called PFive55), it was a 500m swim then 5k run).  I had a blast – both the swim course and the run were super nice (man made lake, and then a nice flat trail around said lake), but damn, running then swimming is HARD.  The bike definitely gives you an opportunity to catch a breather.  Coming out of a hard swim, throwing on the shoes, and immediately running was rough – I thought that it would be nice to not have brick legs, but I honestly would prefer brick legs than breathlessness!

My swim was a bit slower than I would have expected/liked (a little under 13 minutes), and I’m not sure why – I got a better start and felt like I had my rhythm most of the time, and I feel like I should have been swimming closer to 10-11 mins.  I think I went a little conservatively because I knew I had to run immediately after, and I haven’t been training that much speed in the water (since I’ve been actively working on my run and bike speed, swims have been mellower workouts).

My transition was pretty swift (although I did take a minute 30, which could get better with practice).

My run started, as I said, with me breathless, and fumbling with electronics (garmin and music) to get out of transition faster.  It took my garmin a while to get the satellites, and trying to run all out while booting up and finding a playlist was not fun, but I knew it would pay off since I just run faster with music driving me.  Next time, I think I’ll just make sure both devices are fully charged and leave them ON for this type of race (for tris, I don’t have to worry about the music since it’s not allowed, and the garmin on the bike is not as critical).  I got on the trail, and settled in somewhere between 9 and 9:30s.  Honestly, I’ve never practiced a swim to run transition and my body was a little shell shocked.

I was able to maintain below a 9:30 pace most of the time through mile 1 and 2, and started to pick up speed as I passed people.  I would kick into gear, make the pass, and then push myself to stay faster.  I stopped really relying on my garmin in mile 3 as I just ran as fast as my body and brain would allow comfortably.  I kicked it up a bit when I saw the mile 3 marker in the distance, and again when I passed it, and sped it into the finish line.  I finished around 28:30, which equates to about 8:50/miles.  Under 9s!  I was pretty happy with that!  I think I could tear that course a new one with fresh legs (and plan to go back and try), but also, that makes me pretty confident I can finish in the 27s on the tri (lungs a little more rested after biking; more speed training).

Approximately 43 minutes overall.  Race site is down so I don’t have the official times, but it was up last night so I remember the gist of it!  Once the pics are up I’ll post those as well.

Body Movin’ On Up:

So we’re about 4.5 weeks into project: half ass cleanse.  My highest weight was 174.8 (first week), lowest was 168.0 (second week), and I’ve been somewhere in between ever since.  I’ve been counting from the high point of the week and each week Monday’s weight has gone down.  Fluctuating less makes me less crazy so that is happy!

While I’ve not taken off all that much weight, things are looking and feeling different.  A pair of pants that didn’t fit well a couple months ago was lookin’ hot today.  My leg muscles are ridiculously poppin’ from the bike, the runs, and the strength work.  My arms and shoulders are starting to look more defined.  My tummy? Eh, well, there’s still some spare tire but I’m continuing to work the core anyway.

However, this style of eating (watching the sodium, less meat, more fish, less dairy, less wheat) is agreeing with me.  I feel really good when I’m able to generally stick to it.  Instead of being hardcore about it 3 days a week, I decided just to attempt to eat it for all the meals I could while not driving me crazy.  So if you make allowances for lean ground beef, I stuck to it about 2/3 of the time all week.  Most other meals I made healthy choices (but that Mediterranean sammich w/onion rings was AWESOME, and the brownie cookie half I had today was super amazing).  I have not been able to bring myself to track calories, but I think this might be a good step.

One major change that I’m very proud of?  I’ve cut out all artificial sweeteners for the last 2 weeks or so.  I think I may have had a bit of a fresca while intoxicated, but for the most part?  Off ’em.  Drinking soda water, decaf tea, and water exclusively.  After getting through the “wtf do I drink” and getting used to flavored seltzers, I actually don’t miss it.  And honestly, if all sodas were were as equally evil?  I would probably choose a regular coke over a diet for a very, very occasional treat.

I’m still considering the nutritionist heavily.  My confidence in this is growing, but I”m still not sold that I can do this by myself.  Incredibly slow progress is still progress, but it’s sometimes hard to make sure it’s still going the right way when it’s crawling.  I think I’m going to try an experiment next week but we’ll see if I can bring myself to do it…

Still making athletic gains, so I can’t complain.  I’m a poet, and I guess I know it?

Odds and Ends:

• Zliten said last night that he wants to complete the Texas Ironman (140.2 or whatevs) before age 40.  Just putting it on the internet as public record.  To be honest, the bike part of it scares me the most.
• Lots of tri tips (mmm, tri tip… oh wait, what?) for getting faster here!
• Most stressful week of work this year.  We’re closing on a deadline, working towards a few other side goals, planning out the rest of the year’s milestones, and tensions are high.  While I have to work this weekend from home monitoring things, at least it will be in my PJs.
• Besides the work time, looking forward to a nice mellow weekend after having BIG PLANZ for every weekend since about February.  On the docket?  Cleaning the house and thoroughly cleaning the kitchen (ants and flies, oh my), some outside workouting, lunch with the parents for mother’s day, and a celebration for a friend who just accepted a job Saturday night.  Yep, that’s my version of a mellow, do nothing weekend.  Heh.
• Tied my race reports for each race to my race page, because duh, what a great idea!
• It just hit me this week that I graduated college 10 years ago.  Crazy!  If you would have asked me what I’d be doing 10 years from then, I would definitely not have expected this… the plan was, one year off, then go back to grad school, get my Psych PhD, and become a college prof and do research like a mad scientist in a lab on people’s brains.  Instead, I have no interesting prefix on my name (I always thought I’d get a kick out of being Dr. Quix), didn’t even bother with grad school, but I head up a very successful video game. Woot!
• Addicted to this tri forum – been a great resource to learn tips and tricks and get motivated!

I’m going to continue with the relaximication tonight and I’ll be back next week with more tales of getting faster, healthier, and awesomer.

Hell Run.  I didn’t take the name seriously.  I mean, I love me some Warrior Dash, but they do exaggerate a bit when they tout the badassness of the courses.  Not to say they’re not fun, or a challenge, but craziest frikkin day of your life?  Nah.  Try running a semi-trail half marathon in late June in San Antonio.  Now that is a crazy time.

However, we love these things.  From the costumes to the obstacles to the bands to the post race party… they are way fun.  Whereas most races are about going all out and getting a PR,  these are about the experience.  We love getting the costume together, we love the mass humanity and people watching, we love the obstacles breaking up the run, getting muddy, post race muddy pictures, the post race beer or 4, and chillin’ out in the sun listening to a band.

Hell Run had a lot of that, and I figure they’ll figure out more of it with more races (this was the first one ever).

I had intended to do something different superhero-y (since the schwag included a cape) because supergirl is getting a little tired.  However, the week got away from me and I didn’t put anything together until about 11pm the night before.  I decided I was just going to go with  Super Quix, because if you throw knee high socks + short running skirt + a cape on, anything looks superhero-y.  There were a lot of wonderwoman costumes so next time I might do batgirl.  Or just elaborate on my own super outfit.  I definitely looked like I had the “before” version of my super suit (think Kick Ass – when he’s just wearing the old wetsuit).  That’s ok, because I still felt super.

I mean, come on, check out these biceps!  They kinda snuck up on me.  I’ve got some righteous guns forming here.  Hooray swimming!

The capes had to go for the actual race though… they were a bit too big and cumbersome, but they sure looked cool!

So anyhoo, we got there pretty early and actually ended up with pretty rockstar parking (3rd car from the front), picked up our packets, dropped off everything but the keys, bag checked, and went to go watch people at the finish line… and we ran into J and J (the folks that put on the duloop), which shouldn’t surprise me because we run into them every friggin’ race, but still blows my mind.  They were running in our wave so we hung out with them.  I hit the porta potties one last time and ran into Tricia and family.  She had just completed the Super Hell (6.85 mile) course with her hubbs and said it was a blast.

We saw the wave before us gathering, and the folks we were with decided to wave jump, so we did too.  Felt a little bad about it, but it just kept getting hotter and hotter and caved to peer pressure.  Karma caught up with us, as we ended up in the back of the pack, and a quarter mile in, we came to a complete stop and shuffle.  For like, 5 minutes.  We figured we were at the first obstacle, but nope, it was just a steep narrow downhill.  With each of those steep downhills (this was the first of many), there was another evil uphill.  At first it was grass and dirt, and then the terrain got worse – sand, and then rocks.  Not nice, small rocks, but apple size rocks.  I spent a lot of time playing the “where to put the foot to avoid bruises and turning my ankle” game, as I was wearing old shoes and was just terrified of hurting myself.

I can’t say they didn’t warn us.  The damn place WAS called Rocky Hill Ranch.  The run WAS called the Hell Run.  I just didn’t have the respect.

The obstacles were sorta standard fare.  There were mud pits (sadly, they were pretty dry by the time we got there so it mostly got our shoes muddy.  Hopping over walls.  Hay bale climb.  Jumping over fire.  What WASN’T standard fare was the steep uphills and downhills and amazingly uneven terrain.  Very quickly, we decided that we weren’t really going to push it.  I have a 5k in a few weeks I am REALLY wanting to PR.  I have no use for the idea of not being able to run hard in preparation.  We walked when it seemed appropriate and ran when the hills weren’t SO steep and there were clear paths.  We saw the super hell course split off and were almost tempted but figured breaking the rules once to jump waves was bad enough.  Maybe next year!

The second to last obstacle was a swim through a pond.  That pond was NASTY.  Apparently, to add to the soup, someone had thrown up about 15 minutes before.  Didn’t know it went I went through, and it felt damn good even though it was stinky.  We hopped over the fire (was a lot lower than WD but we ARE under a burn ban now so it was cool they even had it) and finished up.  Sadly, we weren’t very dirty, but we were VERY happy to be done.  We finished in about 56 minutes, which was super slow, but preserving my body was absolutely first priority.

We waited in a HUGE line to get hosed off (one dude with a hose), enjoyed our post race beer (plus another), and hung out with our friends.  We were going to wait around for awards because they might have had a chance at the age group awards, but it took longer than expected so we all just took off.

The drive back was nice and uneventful, and then Italian subs and champagne ensued.

The aftermath the next day?  A hangover (but that wasn’t the race’s fault, heh), screaming quads, a sore wrist from bracing myself from a near fall after jumping over a wall, but NO feet bruises.  So nothing is sore that I needed for today’s sprints, so that’s super happy!

I’d do this one next time.  It has potential, I’d just like to see less people per wave (send them off every 15 mins maybe) or a course that isn’t so dang narrow, more mud, a better tech tee (it’s kinda lame, although men’s small fits ok now, so I know and don’t have this drawer full of pajama race shirts), and instead of having the band on the course that you saw once for 10 seconds, have the band at the post race party area.  DJs just weren’t the same.  However, I loved the cape, as frustrated as I was with the course while on it, I would just need to be prepared with better shoes, a better position for the start, and knowing what to expect.  However, that being said, the next one in the area is the same weekend as Austin Warrior Dash.  I would likely do the dash over this if I had to pick.

There may be a Hell Run coming to your area – you can check it out here.

Just an addendum: a week after the first tri of the year, and I’m feeling warm and fuzzy about it.  I’ve reread my race report a few times and it might slant more negatively than I’d like.  I nitpick, because I want to get better, not because I have any qualms about my rock-itude.  The coolest things are that what I didn’t rock at as much are easier things to get better.  Trying to take 4 minutes off my run time is a lot of training.  Trying to take 4 mins off a 6 minute botched transition just takes some practice.  Trying to get faster at swimming is hard.  Figuring out a good spot to start in and doing it just takes a little confidence.

I think it’s kinda a metaphor for life – I almost think I’m fixating on this damn 20 lbs because just about EVERYTHING else in my life is awesome and perfect and wonderful.  I’m out of the evil cold time of year and it won’t be back for a long long time, so that’s happy.  We have so many awesome things on the schedule to do, it’s like the spring of AWESOMETASTIC AWESOMENESS.  I couldn’t even have imagined that my life would be this perfect, having the most wonderful husband in the world, balancing a great job at a successful company making what feels like silly money for what I do, and also being able to pursue a hobby like triathlons/races.

However, I’m not entirely sure I possess the gene needed to feel simple contentment.  Not that I don’t relish and cherish what I have accomplished, but as they say in West Wing, it’s always about “what’s next” for me.  One of my great joys is to sit in the sun after race days with my champagne and deconstruct the highs and lows and analyze the race.  Note: It was SUPER awesome to be able to do that WITH Zliten doing it for himself as well.  While we didn’t complete the tri together (as in side by side), it was still a shared experience because we both traveled the same epic bike hills, swam the same course together, and ran it into the finish line together.

We are very likely (aka – I have the green light but haven’t quite hit the submit button) going to be doing the Lake Pflugerville Tri (500m swim, 14 mi bike, 5k run).  My A goal is 1h30.  Not going to lie, I would have to have a STELLAR day to get this but it’s within the realm of possibility.  My B goal is under 1h40, which will be about the same paces as this one (but 200m extra swim, 3 extra bike miles, and 1 extra running mile so still an improvement).  My C goal is 1:51:15.  My first tri was 1:51:16 and the only difference is that I have about 2 miles extra to bike.  If I can’t beat my first tri with my big ass heavy bike, something is wrong.

This week starts the 4 week countdown to my 5k, and thus – speed/hill training.  I probably won’t do any more than 4 mile runs until June, but the goal is to do them FAST.  It is such a different mental state to run a 5k all out than a half.  There is a lot of time to correct in a half.  It is essentially a dull, elongated discomfort that grows over the 2 hours.  A 5k is about 25 (hopefully) minutes of searing, white hot, intense pain.  If you mentally break and slow down, there is not much time to make it up.  Half marathons have a nice warm up period where you can settle into a pace.  5ks ARE my normal half marathon ramp up period.

I miss being able to knock out a comfortable 5k around 27 mins though, so it’s time to get back to that.  I’m pretty much making the call to stretch my speed comfort zone and let the distance zone shrink a little (continuing my base of being able to complete a 10k in 10 min miles) as I seem to be focusing on these sprint tris and shorter races and am kinda liking it.

Foodwise, I took the week off both tracking and just ate my normal healthy version of normal, and unfortunately today I’ve gained all but 1 of those lbs I lost 3 weeks ago.  Today, back to my crazy no salt no sugar no meat/animal products no nada to see how quick it goes back away.  I think I’m at the end of my rope with having tried everything here and need some professional help.  I think I’m scared though.  I think I’m also frustrated that I was SO GOOD at losing weight 2 years ago, and now I SUCK at it.

It also took me a while to get my workout mojo back after the tri.  Monday, I just walked 2 miles.  Tuesday, I walked 5.5 miles.  Wednesday, I did a circuit workout for about 30 mins and just about died.  Thurs, I just took off because my head wasn’t in it.  Finally, I got to the gym Friday and had both a kick ass 18.1 mph bike hill workout, and an easy but swift 30 min mile in the pool.  Saturday I ran outside in the 87 and sunny weather and both enjoyed it (happy warm weekend sun running rocks) and almost died (I am not heat trained or distance trained right now so I was very worn out at the end).  Sunday I got in the pool for the first time in about a year that didn’t involve me swimming laps (just swimming with my rents outside enjoying the sunshine) and it was kinda awesome.  But weird.  But more awesome than weird.

This week, the goal is concentration on eating clean and awesome feel good food (no artificial sweeteners, no sugar, low salt, mainly fish/chicken/etc) when I can, keeping the calories in check, and starting my journey to being a speed demon and add back some weights (40 pushups should not put me out of commision for half a week, thxuverymuch).

Food: Mon-Wed 100% cleanse food, Thurs – Sun 1 meal off plan, 2 on

Workouts Planned:

Monday- sprints + crunchtime
Tuesday- bike + swim
Wednesday- 5k tempo outside (morning), weights evening
Thursday- off
Friday- bike + swim
Saturday- HELL RUN!
Sunday – off

Races Upcoming:

Hell Run – Apr 30
P5 Swim/Run – May 5
Gladiator Games 5k – May 21

Not Yet Signed Up for But Likely:
Shammies and Koozies (25 mile bike/river float) – June 11
Pflugerville Tri – June 19

I think I have lost my mind with all these crazy races, but I love it.  After June it gets insano hot here so the races will likely calm down a little – but who knows.  I do have a 5k goal and there are tris a plenty out there until October so we’ll see.  I still can’t believe that when I started this blog 2.5 years ago, I had never done nor really considered doing a race.  Now, I’m heading out this weekend for #20 (and that’s only counting official ones where I’ve gotten a time, add a few more).  Mind = boggled.

It was on my list of possibles, but I had written it off.  I figured I’d get complained at if I suggested a tri so early in the season.  Also, you never know with the weather here – it could be in the 30s or the 70s at 8am on an April morning.  However, Zliten got all geeked up about it after hearing someone mention it at the gym a while back, and we signed up that night.  So we trained and toiled and Zliten even said about two weeks ago he was doing this stupid race and then never doing another one again because he was sick of training and hated having to go to the gym so often.

Enter the day of… the alarm went off way too early at 5am, but we got our butts going (actually had about 6 hours of sleep, and had slept well all week, so I was ok – Zliten had been super nervous and maybe got about 3 hours max, he was less than thrilled).  We asked my parents to go with since it was Zliten’s first tri so they could get pictures.  Speaking of less than thrilled, they were NOT huge fans of the experience, 5:30am wakeups made them grumpy and I can tell they didn’t really enj0y it for the most part.  If it was ever more convenient, perhaps, but I think they figured they were off the hook on going to my sporting events once I became a grown adult (they were at most of my gym/diving meets through high school) and I respect that.

Pre -Race:

Anyhoo, we got there, got body marked, got our transition sections set up (they had assigned racks so we didn’t get to rack with each other), and ran into a few people we knew.  We didn’t really have time to get any sort of a warmup (note to self – bring two pairs of shoes next time, one to warm up in after transition is set up), so we just kinda stretched and wandered around and tried to keep my parents amused.

They finally made the call to let us get in the water around 7:30 for a quick dip and I went into my knees.  Not NEARLY as bad as I was expecting.  Maybe it had warmed up from the week before, maybe it was that it was warmer than the outside temp, but that was one major source of worry for me alleviated.  We then downed our redbull shots, listened to the pre-race briefing and the national anthem, and then the waves started.

Swim:

I was in the 8th wave, which was the second non-open wave of women (30-39 Veterans – aka at least our 3rd tri).  I got in the group when we had about 2 before us, and chatted with some peeps.  However, that kinda distracted me because once we got in the water, I literally found myself mid pack in the middle.  Ugh.  It made for a really bad start, it took me half the short swim to find some space to actually swim instead of paddle, I got water in my goggles, and got kicked and kicked a lot of people.  I guess I was really spoiled with the small starts at the last 2, but this was definitely what everyone complains about when they bitch about tri starts.

It took the first half of the race to find some space to swim in, and I found that my goggles sucked and were taking in water, so I wasn’t able to settle into a stroke until I turned the last corner, though I was totally vindicated by passing a crap ton of people.  I was expecting to do the swim in about 5-6 mins and it took me over 7.  Doh!

Transition 1:

I got out, got on my sandals, and ran all the way up the hill, and started my transition.  Dried my feet super quick, my trick laces made my shoes go on super quick, and then tried to put on my new race belt with my number.  And it ripped.  Hooooly crap.  I tried to repin it, and it ripped again.  I tried to repin it again, and it ripped again.  I spent way too long trying to figure out what to do, and a race volunteer reminded me I didn’t need it until the run, so I just threw on my shirt and left it.  I put on my sunglasses and then helmet.  I couldn’t get the helmet on over the sunglasses.  It took a few tries to get them to fit with my helmet, which was weird.  I got my garmin on and started out of transition.

Bike:

I mounted my bike and a volunteer stopped me.  I had my freaking helmet on backwards.  Argh!  So I had to stop, get off the bike, fix my helmet, and then go.  By that time I was just so frazzled that I had botched the swim and botched the first transition that I was feeling shaken.  That, in turn, after I settled into the bike, made me fucking pissed off.  I decided instead of the strategy of saving energy for the big hill at the end, I was just going to blow off steam and pass anyone I could.

And I did.  I’ve been training to rock the hills, and I got used to saying “on your left” as people slowed down to climb, I sped up.  The miles went quick.  As shaken as I was on mile 1, by mile 4 I was feeling awesome and confident.  I was often looking down at my pace and it was under 3 minute miles (aka – over 18 mph).  Sadly, I passed someone that was lying on the side of the road and needed medical attention (the ambulance had just arrived).  I hope they ended up being ok!  I did have to get off and walk briefly when I slowed way down to round a corner and then there was an immediate steep uphill, but all the people that passed me chugging up that hill I passed within a mile (I think).  I figured the slowdown of a walk would save my legs more than trying to power up it.

That big hill at the end?  Ended up not being a big deal.  It was tough, but with 9 miles of warmup, I got through it, took a quick recovery, and then started jamming into the bike finish and getting mentally prepared to run.

Transition 2:

Another dumbass moment – I couldn’t find my rack with my stuff!  At least an extra 30 secs/1 minute trying to locate my towel.  Grrr.  Once I found it, I had to deal with my number again (just pinned it to my shirt with the 2 pins) and then I was off!  Except for the mistakes, I didn’t lag too long.  I was READY.

Run:

Again, was a little shaken due to the transition, but I got it together quick.  I was very happy that the first quarter mile was downhill to get the bricks out of my legs, but then we ran back uphill.  The first half mile went VERY slowly, but I settled in just under 10 min miles.  Anytime I looked and was going over, I sped up.  After the greak fartlek run earlier in the week, I had planned to go fast/slow/fast/slow in intervals, but when I tried that once, I ended up not being able to speed up that much again, so I just tried to hold a pace instead.  I was very happy that you could see the finish for the last third of a mile, so it kept me speeding up until I sprinted into the finish pumping my fist in the air while they called my name.

Splits:

Division Place (Vets, 30-34): 20th/33
Total Time: 01:17:43 (7:43 over A goal.  Pretty close to B goal of around 1:15-1:20)
Overall Place: 285/406
Gender Place: 92/162

Swim Rank: 268/406
Swim Time: 7:14  (fail – A goal was under 5, B was under 10 with transition.  Next time, to the front of the pack – I have the skillz to keep up with the age groupers here, just need the confidence – or at the very least to one side)
Swim Pace: 2:25/M

T1 Rank: 392/406
T1 Time: 06:30 (fail – will work on this next time)

Bike Rank: 254/406
Bike Time: 42:32
Bike Speed: 15.8mph (A goal was 40 mins/around 16mph, think I might have hit it if I didn’t have to dismount and fix my helmet.  B goal was 45 mins with transition which I did.  CHECK!)

T2 Rank: 280/406
T2 Time: 02:04  (Could be better)

Run Rank: 277/406
Run Time: 19:21
Run Pace: 9:41/M (A goal was 9 min miles, B goal was under 10 min miles.  B goal CHECK!  I need to speed train more to get speedier runs again)

Parting thoughts:

-I will diligently practice the transitions before the next one.  I could have EASILY taken about 5 mins off that time simply by transitioning better.

-I will have the confidence to push my way up to the front next time.  I am a strong swimmer.  I can keep up.

-I will continue to kick ass on the bike and train hills the way I have.  It was my strongest leg this time, whereas both tris last year it was my weakest by far.

-I will speed train 5k distances again to the point where 27 is a fairly easy 5k on rested legs. 9 minute miles should not be this unattainable.

-If I was a rookie, I would have placed 13th out of 40 in the same age division.  Without the rookie/vet distinction, I would have easily placed in the top half of my age group.  For someone who finished both tris pretty close to the bottom last year, that felt AWESOME to improve so much.

-I may stick with sprints instead of pushing to do an olympic.  I feel like I have a lot more ass kicking I can do at this distance!

-Plus – this was Zliten’s first one, and he LOVED IT!  He’s hooked.  He said it was the most fun he’s had at a race!  This makes me so happy (especially considering how blah he was about it two weeks ago), and we will likely be signing up for another soon!

Any other super cool tri stories?  Who out there has tried a tri?

Each weekend in March, we had BIG PLANZ.  This is my account of the second half of the month.  Goodbye birthday celebration and hello fun races!

Warrior Dash – March 19:

We woke up around 7am, got our superheroness on, hopped in the car, and started driving to Conroe, TX.  At least this one was right off the freeway, not in the middle of nowhere.  We passed by some sort of bike race on the way, and it was pretty cool, it even got me kinda more excited for ours.  It was a gorgeous place – everything was so green and lush.  It was definitely a little… bible-belt-y up in there.  It was pretty much church on every corner, Christian Automotive, Christian Books, Christian Grocery Store (ok maybe not but ya know…) – definitely a little different than Austin.  When our fabulously flamboyant hotel clerk found out where the race was when we checked in later, he was like, “how, erm, progressive of them” considering the race was pretty much about mud and beer.  Just a little different than Austin.  It trips me out that different parts of Texas are so… Texas.

Anyhoo, we got to the race after getting a little turned around as to where the actual parking lot was, and had to board a shuttle to get to the race site proper.  In school busses.  Total warrior style!  Once we actually got off, we realized that we left the sunscreen in the car, and didn’t have a lot of time before our wave.  Bummer.  We just decided to snag shade when we could (which there wasn’t much) and not stay too long (didn’t work either).  Got through packet pickup, got our bags checked, and switched my tshirt for a kids L/adult XS – and it was PERFECT.  One of the very few race shirts that will be anything but pajama fodder.  XS all the way from now on…

We got the last bits of the costume on and as we walked to the starting area, the wave before us was taking off.  We hung out for a bit in the shade, and then once the starting line area started to fill up, we headed to get into the pack.  Our goal was to go hard and see if we could beat 40 mins.  The countdown started, the flames went off, and we started.  It was hot, the course was a BMX bike track so it was ridiculously hilly, and some of the obstacles were killer.  However, we stuck together and we ran it harder than we had ever ran before, and got muddier than ever.

Unfortunately, since the course was the hardest yet, we ended up around 46 minutes.  Oh well, next time!  Totally proud of our performance, and it was DEFINITELY a slow course.  The winning woman was at 25+ minutes – they’re usually in the high teens.  We also ran it closer to the front because we didn’t get caught behind all the walkers who take their time with the obstacles, thus creating a long line and gumming up the works.  Never had to stop, we definitely stayed ahead of the curve even if it was the worst time yet.  Obstacles included the wind tunnel, sliding down a muddy cliff (on my ass… in a running skirt… didn’t think that one through… and, erm, there were dirt and sticks UP IN THAR gettin’ jiggy), the tunnel of darkness (and stinkiness and heat), rope climbs, and of course the traditional leap over the fire, and the crawl in the mudpit under the barbed wire.

After the race, we got a gigantic mug of beer, chilled on the grass, watched finishers and rocked out to the band.  Unfortunately it was also in the sun so we did get some wicked sunburns.  It was a very pleasant and awesome afternoon.  Someone even proposed on stage!  After a while, we boarded the bus and headed back to our car and drove on out of Conroe and to our hotel in downtown Houston.  We got our room, showered, dresssed, applied a crap ton of aloe and makeup, and headed out on the town.

We walked about a mile and hit up the Aquarium restaurant.  When we got there it was a gigantic tourist trap and a huge wait.  I almost thought about telling us to go elsewhere, but we cozied up to the bar and had a few drinks and an appetizer.  A huge plate of fried seafood – calamari, shrimp, crab dip, and bruschetta.  Considering all I had was a little breakfast and a few snacks, it sure took the edge off.  In that light, I decided to get a salad instead of something heavier.  Honestly, though, I could have been eating twigs because our seats were in front of a 200k gallon aquarium with lots of awesome fishies.  I may or may not have chased a manta ray around the tank after dinner.  I felt like I was about 5 years old and I didn’t give a shit.

After dinner we used our phones to locate a dive bar (that’s kinda what we were in the mood for) and found our way to Warren’s Inn.  A charming old bar that was all regulars and while it was a little the scene of the piano stopping, record screeching, and everyone looking at us when we entered, the barstaff ended up being very nice.  The bartender was awesome, poured us drinks that were pretty much ice, jim beam, and a splash of diet coke for color, and as soon as we sat down, the “bar mom” kicked someone out for having sex in the bathroom on his birthday.  It ended up being our only stop for the night, we didn’t move until we left around last call.  Since it was the bartender’s birthday, we tipped him 50 bucks.  He made our only night in Houston way fun.  We were pretty soused but we made one more stop at the hot tub before passing the heck out.

The next day, we got up right at checkout time, and it took an hour to get our car out of valet.  At least I finished my book though!  Then we drove out of Houston and to NASA!!!  I had been looking forward to it mostly because Zliten wanted to go SO BAD and it would be adorable to watch him be all giddy.  However, I had SO MUCH FUN!!!  It was so cool to get the tour and see all the amazingly cool SPACE STUFF.  I touched the moon.  I walked through Skylab.  I learned a lot.  I figured we got there around 3, and we’d be over it in an hour or 2.  Well, we were the last people in there after 7 and we wished we had way more time.

However, we had to go home, so we stopped for a quick bite at Panera and then started driving back.  We got home around 11:30pm – drive was very uneventful, we were pretty much exhausted, and crawled into bed right away as it was back to work the next day!  Awesome, awesome weekend.  Houston reminded us of San Diego – while Dallas didn’t impress us (though we didn’t see all that much, so we’ll give it another chance), I’d definitely go back to Houston.

Du Loop, March 26th

Another weekend, another race.  We packed up the bikes and the camping equipment and headed out to Flatonia, Texas, to our next door neighbor’s friends property.  We got there around 1pm, set up our tent and camping area, had a little lunch, and relaxed.  This is my kind of camping – we’re set up about 5o meters away from a porta potty, and just about as close to a hot tub.  We have a double thick air mattress, comforters, and an ez up for shade.  Not to mention – there is actually a house on the property.  Yep, my kind of roughing it.

It was getting HOT.  They had moved it from April to March this year in hopes of it being cooler, but by the time it approached 4, it was pretty close to 90 and humid.  Happy fun race weather.  I headed out for a mile on the bike to get my legs warmed, changed into my race clothes, got my icy camelback on, had my last porta potty pee (best line for potty potty ever – there was none!), and headed for the pre-race briefing.  At about 3:30, we thought there was going to only be about 5 people, but everyone got there at the last minute and we got up to about a field of 25.

In a true Texas race fashion, we had the national anthem (not a singer like last year but still a nice touch), and we were sent off on the run with a shotgun fired in the air.  I went out fast, but not too fast, pacing around 9 minute miles, and even found someone to follow who was right about there.  I kept on her heels for about 1.25 miles but then the uphill started and the heat was getting to me, so I fell back to around 9:30s.  I hit the turn around, and when I hit the next hill, it was more like fighting to stay under 10s.  A while after we passed mile 2 it flattened out and the end was in sight, so I crept closer to 9s again.  I passed a few people, sputtered a bit at the end (the course was .15 miles longer than a 5k and that honestly threw me), but got on my bike and out quick. 29:12 for 3.26 miles (9:01 pace overall).  Was hoping for 27, but considering the heat of the day, I’ll take under 30.

Thankfully, the first section of the bike course was flat so I caught my breath while not being a complete lag ass, and by the first turn around about 1.5 miles up I felt good.  I booked it on the flats, tried to go as fast as possible on the downhill parts without freaking out, and did my best to power up the hills.  I’m extremely proud of my time – 31:36 for just under 8 miles.  Over 15 mph pace – my fastest outdoor pace ever.

That pace took a lot out of me, so I was barely moving for the last 3/4 mile trail run.  I didn’t walk, but I did run at about an 11 minute mile pace (8:31 for .77 mile).  I was sweaty, tired, and hurting, but I ran it in for a total time of 1:14:27.  Over 4 minutes faster overall!  My goal was just to beat my old time.  Considering it was my first outside hard run since I hurt my back, I was pretty stoked.  Even though I ran it slower, I made up that time and more on the bike.  Yay!

I ended up first in my age group (of 2), and I was so freaking proud of Zliten!  He didn’t finish DFL!  He beat someone!  He had a really strong race… I hadn’t even cracked a beer yet when he transitioned from bike to run this year!

We had the awards ceremony, we had more beers and margaritas and dinner and hot tubz and discussing life and future drunkenly under the stars, and then actually a very comfortable sleep.  It is always so great to reaffirm that my best racing years can be ahead of me – considering the gal I was trying to keep up with (and failed) is about my mom’s age and an ultramarathoner.  In the morning, we packed up, and went home.  Good times.  Can’t wait until next year – maybe next time I can actually keep up with Patty on the runs.  I just know my goal will be at least 1:14:26.