Oh no you din'nt!

Oh, yes I did! I've posted in the past that this is one of my favorite sayings:

There is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don't need money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
And, dance like no one's watching.

This morning on a solitary trail run, a song called "The Cha-Cha Slide" came on my iPod. For those who have never heard of the song, it is hip-hop line dance where the guy tells you which dance moves to employ. Well, I had just run down a big, steep hill and I thought "Why not?" So, I stopped my watch and got my dance groove on in the middle of the trail. And, you know what? Someone was watching, but I didn't see them until I'd finished. I hope I made those runners' days! I know I made mine.

Tough, but fabulous weekend!

On Friday, I received an e-mail that put a kibosh on my planned 45-minute run. My running partner's daughter was sick, so she had to cancel. I'm not ballsy enough to run downtown by myself. I was a little disappointed with the impromptu day off until the same running partner negotiated with her hubby to allow her to brick with me on Saturday and run with me on Sunday. Woo hoo!

Oh crap though! Her assigned brick was a 3-hour ride followed by 40-minute run. I haven't ridden outside on my tri bike since September and my longest trainer ride has been 1:40. 3 hours? We'll see. We rode out of N. Chagrin at 8 AM. It was a beautiful morning for a ride. I don't know if it was the great weather, wonderful company or fresh legs (was that a 6-month taper?), but I rode amazingly well. Sam did great too! Only the last 5 minutes of the ride and run were tough. Good times! Check out Sam with her new bike.





After the brick, I helped paint our dining room, then crashed for 2 hours. Yes, I forgot what Ironman training does to me - I sleep...a lot. Can't say I miss it, but it was fun to remember with Sam.

I was a little nervous about our planned 2-hour run this morning after yesterday's long workout. We had two fun running partners - Hallie and Gina - join us. (Gina is a blog buddy, who hopefully will now be a running buddy - assuming she enjoyed the run and didn't mind the pace.)

We took off at 9 AM and ran a combination of real trail and bridle trail. It was wet, but not terribly muddy - just a few bad spots. Don't get me wrong - I had mud all over my legs, but my shoes are salvageable. : ) It was a great run and I really enjoyed getting to know Gina in person! I actually held up very well and was able to finish strong.

After the run, we headed to Yours Truly for a breakfast feast. Ah, good times! Here are a couple pictures from breakfast (Gina and me, and Hallie and Sam)

I knew I was slow, but...

I ran with a friend who is 29 weeks (just about 7 months along) pregnant yesterday. I had to ask her to slow down, because she was running too fast for me. D'oh!

Then, I went to triswimming today and it didn't get any better. Not only did I swim slower than my 20-minute time trial two months ago, but I couldn't hang at all on the sets at the end. We would regroup after each 75, 50 or 25 and being the slowest meant little to no rest for me. Instead of trying my best, I just gave up and got out of the pool. Worse was I actually started crying about it. Good grief! I was mad at myself, but didn't need to be a baby about it.

TriSara cheered me up in the lockerroom and then accompanied for coffee afterwards. Thanks buddy!

In other news, we have our workout room all set up now. Matt painted it blue yesterday; we got the treadmill from Rob's place and built the Ikea table today. The TV is too low to watch from the treadmill, but I'm sure we'll figure out someway to rectify that. If not, I'll just zone out to my Ipod. Here's a picture for your viewing pleasure!

Have you ever?

Have you ever been on a trail run that was...

- so muddy that you couldn't see the flesh on the back of your legs when you were finished?

- so filthy that you had to throw your shoes away at the end of the run?

- so dirty that you had to literally scrub your legs clean?

- so fun because you had 3 wonderful women to run and converse with?

- so warm in April in Cleveland that you could run with shorts on?

- so calorie-burning that you justified ordering a shared breakfast afterwards with one of those wonderful women that was so large that the waitress called it "hearty"? and, you were still hungry when you got home?

- so wonderful, because you could run 10.3 miles with no aches, pains or worries after having not run more than 6-8 miles at a time in months?

- so fabulous, because 3 women mentioned above not only didn't complain about the mud, but actually cheered about it?

Well, I had such a run today. My friends, Angela, Sam and Tina were the perfect companions for a perfect run. I'm still smiling. Thanks ladies!

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride my bike. I want to ride my bicycle. I want to ride it where I like.

Seriously folks, I'm ready to ride outside. Any Cleveland peeps interested in meeting early on Saturday (like ready to ride at 7 AM early) for an hour to hour-and-half ride out of N. Chagrin? Matt and I are headed to Ikea at 10 AM, so I've got to git 'r done early near my house!

At least we did get to ride outside in Florida, even if it was on hybrid bikes! Here are pictures of us on our trusty steeds atop a "Florida hill" (aka bridge over road).