Dear Mother Nature,

You win. I admit it. I give up. I have had enough of your sucky weather. You have changed yet another planned day outside and sent me indoors. I am not sure what I did to piss you off but I am so sorry and will never do it again. Ever! You rule the outdoors.Now if we can just get over this and go on with some good weather it would be much appreciated.


Waddler

Again this morning, there was a bike ride planned. We woke up to 25-40 mph winds. The sky was an ominous black color. Not worth it so unpacked the bike and headed to the spin room at the gym for 90 min. I did achieve a 90 minute ride at zone 2 as the schedule called for but I so wanted to ride outside. I gues there is always next week!

Waddling through the wind...............

EVERYONE IS DOWN

Our entire household currently is under the weather. House had another surgery on Monday. It was very successful and the Stimulator is functioning again to control pain but he is still recovering. Bino infected the rest of us with an upper respiratory thing. So there is alot of coughing and sneezing going on.

I did make it to my students graduation today. I made my speech as short as posssible. It was a 2 hour drive each way and took alot out of me so there is no bike ride tonight. I did have a good swim this morning.

On the local news, Drew Peterson who live a couple a subdivisions over was arrested tonight. I saw the helicopters flying overhead and knew that something had happened. I hope they can finally sort this out for the families.

Waddling to curl up with a blanket...............

PERFECT DAY

After a restless night, it was 5:30am and time to get up and get ready. Snips and I went through the ritual and had everything laid out and ready to go. This year instead of the chip for your shoe they had the new orange tags. They did not need to be clpped off at the end. The weather was beautiful. Sun was shining and temperature was approaching 60. The perfect weather for the half.

I was excited to wear my new shirt. Snips and I laughed everytime that we looked at it. I hoped it would bring a smile to others also. I ended up having converstions with many who would have just ran by me.

The race began with the release of 15 or so hot air balloons. It took us 42 minutes to cross the starting line. I couldn't believe that the weather was as perfect as it was.

Mile 1 = 11:54

Mile 2 = 12:08

Mile 3 = 12:23

Mile 4 = 12:44

Mile 5 = 12:48

Mile 6 = 13:48

We met this cow on the way into the track and tried a self portrait. Got the cow and part of Snips but only got the tip of my hat. I think we need to work on these skills.

On the track:

Mile 7 = 13:08

Mile 8 = 14:39 (pit stop for Snips and I)

As we left the track we cam upon a group of firemen doing the race in full gear. I was in awe that they also had on their masks with oxygen and used it the entire 13.1 miles. Big thumbs up to those heroes.

We were heading back to downtown and feeling good. We stopped at every other water stop. We were using Shot Blox for nutrition.

Mile 9= 13:23

Mile 10 = 12:51

Mile 11 = 13:18

Mile 12 = 13:11

I could tell Snips had a surge of energy. I told her that I was fine and to take it home and I would neet her at the finish.

Mile 13 = 12 :54

I crossed the line and looked at my watch 2:52:33. It was 1 minute faster that 4 years ago but several hours more fun.

I can't imagine a more perfect day. We both felt great and enjoyed every minute out there.

Waddling with a smile and a medal.........................

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

Waddler 2:52
Snips 2:50

Waddling after a great day............

Race report later.

PRE-INDY

Friday morning, Snips and I packed up the car and headed south. The farther we got the worse the weather became. We stopped for an awesome lunch at Cracker Barrel. The rain really started coming down. The temperature began to drop quickly.

After checking in, we headed for the Expo. Luckily the walk was short as the cold, rainy wind blew against us. Can I say that on the suck scale it ranked at least a 9? (Again, I am bitching about the weather). The Expo was excellent and well organized. Snips and I found some awesome shirts that seemed to express both our feelings. Mine is the white one . Snips bought the pink one.

As we were walking back to the hotel in the cold ,wet weather, we decided to go to the pasta dinner. We were the first ones there. Snips mentioned that it was a sign of us getting older being the first in line. The set up was great. We tried not to stuff our selves too much but our plate was loaded. We headed back to the hotel into the cold, wet, windy weather. Immediately the decision was made to take a cab.

As soon as we returned to our warm, dry room, we looked at the forecast for the AM. Go figure------WET & COLD but not windy. So we're getting everything ready to race tomorrow in the weather we avoided by running on the treadmill. Goal for the day is to have alot of fun and finish. We have reservations at PF Changs the half to celebrate our day.

Waddling to rest before the Indy Mini...........

NOT AGAIN!

Does this sound familiar? It is 6 am and I receive a text message from Snips. We needed to do our last long run before Indy. Taking a look at the radar you can see why we AGAIN headed for the treadmill for 2 hours. Flipper decided to join us for our workout. We grabbed 3 treadmills in the back corner of the gym and away we went. The time went much quicker than you would think. Congrats to Flipper who did her longest run ever and on the treadmill.

Perpetuem was my nutrition drink for the day. I wanted to try it out while I had a bathroom near by. I liked the orange flavor. No problems in the 2 hour mixture.

If you don't count the weather, training is going good. Week 2 is completed and 7 hours were logged. Still feeling good, motviated, and no injury. This week I will back it off because of the half on Saturday.

Waddling while complaining about the weather (again).......

Another complaint about the weather is coming. The plan was to ride outside. The plan included riding at 7am to get done before the rain and storms hit. The plan also included riding with friends. The plan did NOT include 20 mph winds gusting to 35 mph. Flipper, Candy, and I battled the elements for 1:15. We saw many others out there facing the same challenge. Another rider tole me that the wind was Chicago's way of making up for the lack of hills.

This afternoon, I made a trip to Performance Bicycle for a pair of riding gloves. I found an awesome saddle on clearance. Woohoo! I love a bargain. I hope that I love the saddle as much as the price.

Waddling to get ready for Sunday's run....