Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Weekend Bounty

Last weekend was the final weekend of spring, so I celebrated with some typical summer activities. Friday night was the first stop of my stage race; it was the 5 Star City 5K. My true goal in this race is to defend my title. Not just for the title, but for the cash prize that comes with it. When some friends asked how fast I was going to run, I just said, "we'll see..." while in my head I was thinking, 'just fast enough for prize money!' 

Unlike past years, it was an uneventful, steady race. There were no ipodded teenagers to play rabbit, and most importantly, no bathroom break along the course. I coerced the husband to ride around on his bike and report my position in return for a cut of the dough, but I learned that craning my neck after each turn and scoping the competition for myself worked just fine. My first two miles were steady, and I slowed a bit for the third. I'm assuming it's 3 miles at most since I've always run faster than I'm in shape for there. OH! And I won by almost 3 minutes. I really should've slowed down more...

We ate our prerace dinner in the buffet line, which boasted lots of fried food, cake, cheese, and a couple of vegetables. Yum! Since Jeremy and I had to get down to Sardis and settle in before Dragonfly in the morning, I tackily asked if I could go ahead and get my award. Most of the race organizers have known me since I was born, or at least known my aunt for 50 years, so they very graciously handed me my very large, very purple trophy. I had a moment of panic when they forgot to give me the cash, but moments later they came through with the envelope. We headed south with full bellies and a couple of pounds lighter from the heat.


There was a little accident getting the trophy out of the car. But I feel this is a much more accurate depiction of how my legs felt during the triathlon Saturday anyway.


 
Dragonfly began almost exactly 13 hours later for me. This is my home lake; I have spent more hours skiing in that lake than I can count. Although there have been moments of panic in the Upper Lake, in general I'm pretty comfortable that in all the years of skiing on the Lower Lake, if there are 100lb catfish, one would've eaten me by now. I was calm during the swim. Not fast by any means, but calm. Hmmmm, could I be too relaxed about this? As it turns out, I was. Getting on the bike, the quads reminded me that I had indeed run a 5k a few hours before, and within 4-5 miles, I just didn't care to race anymore. In fact, I wasn't even excited to be riding. Eighteen miles seemed to go on forever, and this is coming from someone who loves long course. I was already feeling a little warm, and my temperature continued to climb.

Hopping off the bike and into T2 (and it seems I won OA there again!), I was yelling "on your right!" to a guy swerving in front of me, so yelled it to another for good measure, only to realize that this one was my husband. At this point I didn't know he'd had TWO flats, but knew something was wrong. He was too frustrated to bother running, so just hung around to cheer. I don't blame him.

I plodded along the road for a while, overheating to the point of almost sickness, and waving at my fans (parents, aunt and cousins). Into the trail at mile 1.5 was a relief from the sun, but started the uphill section, of which I walked a good portion. When MC and B came by me running up the long hill, I decided to stay with MC just for the company. Any competitive energy I'd ever had was completely missing. I knew MC hates trails, and she picked it up by a couple of mins/mi on that last road stretch, leaving me in the dust. I was just glad to be finished. Finished with my race requirements for the season, finished with the humidity (for a while), and a bit richer $$ after the weekend.

Now on to the good part. We spent the afternoon on the lake skiing, tubing, and remembering all those muscles we hadn't used in too long. For me it was a skiing success, but a boat driving failure. My timing for my mom's tricky slalom maneuver was off, but I was on a borrowed boat. I need practice.

Jeremy and I spent the night with my aunt and woke Sunday to a nice hot morning that we filled with vegetable picking and shopping. First we went to the blueberry farm, where we got some fresh corn and green beans (I'm already fully stocked with blueberries), then we headed to my aunt's farm. There we found squash and black eyed peas that needed to be picked. Here is my beautiful squash bounty. We've already eaten the small ones; I'm planning to stuff the larger ones. I've shelled the peas and will be eating those with some of Ethelyn's ripe tomatoes soon.


 

This weekend I remembered all the other things I love to do that don't involve swimming, cycling, and running. Not only is there skiing and water sports (where will I find that in southern NM??), but also spending time out in the garden with the animals. I'm planning my garden for later this summer; it'll be the first time I've had my own yard! 

It's time for a little break from the routine. My body is tired, my mind is tired, and my competitive streak is missing. Maybe I'll find it out west.





1 comment:

  1. Congratulations on defending your title!

    I found my water sports legs this past weekend too. I even remembered how to wake surf after not doing it for two years! So I totally get what you mean doing the other things you love. :)

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