Ahhhh Monday. Another glorious week at my job. I saw an article in runner’s world about a new job trend…dog runners. Lots of people have dog walking businesses, but this is running. I saw it and my heart leaped, what a perfect job for me….but starting my own business scares the nee nees off of me b/c of the chance of losing a bunch of money and not making a salary scare me too much. I am not much of a gambler.

Anyway, had a nice weekend; although it was very much a study in what not to do. What not to do the day before your first group bike trip – weighted squats for the first time in 8 months! I lifted Friday morning and by the end of the day my quads were sore to the touch. I couldn’t go down stairs w/o pain, I knew I was in trouble. While getting ready to meet the Shaker Group, G and I discussed our strategy – should we just stay with them for 20 miles and then break off? Should we just tell them we only want to ride an hour in case they are too fast for us? But we ended up meeting the group w/no plan, there was no discussion about where we were going or for how long, we were just off and biking. Luckily, 2 ladies came out for their first ride too, so I was very lucky for that later. We started off just fine, there were about 20 in the pack and we had no issue keeping up. I stayed in the back, but that was on purpose, I was not feeling confident enough to get into the pack. About 15 miles in, the group leader dropped back to talk to me and the other 2 ladies and asked if we were in for 50? I said sure and he said “ever been to Holden Arboretum?” And I said – yes – turns out that’s where we were going and booooyyyyyyyy are there some serious hills on the way. I managed to stick with the group up until about mile 20, then I got to the top of a hill and went to shift and my chain fell completely off. I pulled to the side of the road and saw the group whooshing on and knew this was it. Gary was up with the pack. I yelled to the lady in front of me, but I didn’t think she heard me. I sat on the side of the road trying to figure out what the heck happened to my chain and having a hell of a time getting it back on. I had already decided that I was just going to head home, but the 2 ladies realized I was gone and turned around and they helped me by holding up the back of my bike and turning the pedal while I fed the chain back on. The whole ordeal took about 8 mins. The group was long gone. One guy was friends with one of the girls and he tried to call her, so they noticed we were gone. We got back on and hammered to try and catch up; but we got to a fork in the road and had no idea where to go. We sat at the top of a mammoth hill talking about whether we should go down this giant hill or not, a hill so giant it has a warning about it. Knowing if it was the wrong way we had to come back up it! Luckily I had my cell phone with me and it rang at this time and it was Gary. He was now lost from the pack too b/c he realized I was gone and fell back. He told us where he was and it was at the bottom of the giant hill so we got ready to take off. At this point 2 cyclists went by and we asked if they knew the way to Holden and they said to follow them. So, 5 miles later we were safely at the visitors center. When we turned into Holden, the group finally re-appeared and were on their way back. But at this point, we hadn’t rested or eaten, so we decided to just go rest. We refueled, hit the bathroom and took a look at a map to figure out our way back. The ride home was much easier. My chain fell off 2 more times, but I think I figured out why and it has to do with something I was doing with my shifting at the top of a crest. The 4 of us had no problem staying together and we averaged about 17 miles the whole way back. I was so happy to get home, my quads hurt so badly I just wanted to cry. My neck was a little sore too, but mostly I was hungry. I definitely didn’t eat/drink enough on this ride. We were on so many windy hilly roads, I never felt safe reaching for my water bottle and I slow down a bit when I drink, so I was trying to keep up. I haven’t decided yet if I am going to give the group another go, on one hand, it’s nice to try new routes, but on the other, I kind of don’t like being in a huge group on hills, I would much prefer to bike with 4 or 5 people near your level. I have a group ride planned for Thursday night with the ladies Joy and Natalie that I met. So, the whole thing pretty much went as badly as I thought it would J But at least I didn’t get hit by a car or a get a flat tire. Honestly if my chain hadn’t fallen off I know I would have been able to stay with the group, they aren’t nearly as fast as I thought they would be. Now, on the way back, they might have lost me on the hills if they weren’t as worn out as I was. I think next week I am going to do close to the same ride b/c I have a friend in town who wants to ride for 3 hours.

After the ride we were worn out. I knew that we should go for a walk or something. But we sat on the porch and devoured chips and guacamole. I knew I should have take an ice bath b/c my legs were so trashed, but instead I took a hot shower. I knew I shouldn’t lay down, but instead we took a 2 hour nap! See, I told you it was a weekend of what not to do. After the nap, we felt much better. We made some dinner and shook off the sleep. I had plans to meet my friend Lauren for a drink. So, at 7 I headed to Brennan’s colony and we sat on the patio for a few hours. My plan was to just have A beer. Instead I had 2 rum and diet cokes, ordered a third, drank part of it, realized I was drunk and switched to water. I also ordered nachos…I’m lactose intolerant. I knew that I had to get up early to run, so I at least had the sense to call it a night at 10. But I knew there would be stomach woes in the AM and there were. I met Debby, Sara, Ilana and Abbie to run at 9 am. I felt like shit. The run felt like shit. Not my body so much as my stomach, I kept thinking today would be the day I poop my pants. But it wasn’t! We ran 6 miles.
So, I got in a total of
13 miles running.
3500 yards swam
82 miles biked
1 strength session
Not bad at all! Sunday afternoon we took Gary’s mom to Mitchell’s Fish Market for lunch and ate so much that I lay comatose in bed the rest of the day on the verge of throwing up. Hmmm, maybe it wasn’t such a great weekend.