I knew I wouldn't be too consistent about writing in my blog! I haven't written in a few weeks. That's purely because i have been working and training and carting kids around to work, swim practice, lacrosse practice, etc, etc.
This past weekend was an absolutely gorgeous weekend! I can not remember a Memorial Day weekend in Maine where it was nice for all three days of the weekend. Boy did we luck out! Saturday was super hot and that brought my third 100 mile bike ride of my training for ironman Coeur D'Alene. I was curious as to how it would shake out because I just had done 75 miles in the damp drizzle two days before on Thursday with a T-run immediately following it. I was already kind of pre-fatigued for this century. Waking up in the morning it was already muggy and warm. This is the first time this year that at 6AM I could be warm enough in a sleeveless bike shirt. NO SLEEVES AT ALL! I had tons of fluids with me for this ride. i knew from the weekend before - my second century -- on a 70ish day I ran out of fluids twice, so i wanted to avoid that. And I did. But the other issue with riding in Maine on Memorial Day weekend is the official start of summer and tourism. Between the construction going on everywhere and the tourist traffic, it is nothing short of a nightmare getting around. Hence, the early start before the traffic picks up, is the key. But it takes me 6 hrs to ride 100 miles on a bike so the traffic picks up dramatically halfway through your bike time. Places that would take you 5 mins to drive, turns into 30 mins. It's tough. It's a nightmare and the roads in Maine just weren't built for the volume. And, I hate to sound a little prejudiced, but drivers from a certain nearby state, are just completely rude with bicyclists on the road. I try to be as considerate as possible and ride as close to the edge as possible as reasonably safe, but most drivers out there expect me to ride in the dirt. I am sorry folks out there, but I am not on a dirt bike, a hybrid or even a trail bike, i am on either a road bike or a time trial bike with skinny tires and I can't ride on the dirt and sand. And for all those out- out- of staters --- (that won't be reading my blog so I am wasting my precious finger energy) there is a 3 feet rule for passing cyclists. There! At least I feel better!!! So Saturday was hot. Sunday, I did two runs that equaled close to 18 miles combined. For those of you that haven't tried to run the day after biking 100 miles... it's pretty hard. it's almost easier to run on the day where you do bike 100 miles. i can say this with certainty because after my 100 mile bikes I run for a couple miles... and the couple miles off the century are much less tortuous than the first two miles of the long run the next day for sure! But I made it through the heat and the week of almost 20 hrs of training. I have one more huge week of training and then it's taper time. My body is ready!!
This weekend also brought the prom for James. he looked pretty handsome in his tuxedo. this was his second Prom of the Spring. I am feeling a little bit melancholic about this summer. Letting go is so hard. to see your kids grown and going off and out on their own, but yet so vulnerable. He has a list of Colleges he wants to visit this summer... ALL OVER the country, I might add. I can't believe at one moment I am asking him to pick up the 11 towels off his bedroom floor and the next moment we are talking about going away to College. And the squabbles between he and his little sister are less and less and the conversations get more and more grown up. It's just a really weird and big change coming up. I was so nervous and scared about the beginning of the teen years. But I am totally freaked that next year he will be registering for the draft, registering to vote and leaving home to go to college. Wasn't I just praying for his survival in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit just.... yesterday? And now i pray for his safety, that he makes the right choices and that i have given him the right advice and tools for him to survive and be successful in the real world. Wow... what a digression here... So really what I meant to say was... Poor James! He was so hot in that tuxedo this past weekend. Wish I knew how to upload a picture of him and his date. They looked great!! It was great weather for the prom. It had poured buckets my junior prom!! I was crushed because the shoes I had dyed to match my dress for the prom, the colors ran in the rain and the shoes looked horrid. Not one person even SAW my shoes that night.... they were either off my feet or hidden underneath the dress...but I was pretty worked up about it.
I was appreciative this weekend as Emily didn't have any lacrosse games either. She would have been hot running up and down the field. It gives me great pleasure to watch her play. She loves it. It reminds me a little bit of my field hockey days way back. When i was a kid, I think I was politely aggressive with my field hockey stick. That's something I am sure she will develop.There wasn't lacrosse for girls when i was a kid, but I think I would have enjoyed it. although, on the same token, I am not sure I would have played though. i was pretty stuck on running on the track team. I was surprised that the skirt to her uniform is actually a skirt and not a skort. i don't know why I am bothered by it. We wore kilts with field hockey, but we wore shorts or bloomers underneath....i just figured with sport skorts so popular now that they would do that instead of a skirt, you know? But there were no games, no uniform to wash at the last second, no practice to rush off to. It was nice!
Monday was a nice day, too. A surprise because rain was predicted and it didn't happen until these huge loud thunderstorms in the middle of the night. my parents came down and we grilled and ate outside. It was pretty nice! We had walked the beach before they came and got Callie all worn out. plus we had special company. We had a swarm of honey bees come visit, too. That was totally weird. A bee keeper came and collected them up late in the evening, once the queen returned from her outing, and while the bees were resting. But all and all it was a gorgeous Monday and i finished that off with an open water swim in Kennebunk pond with James.
My last comment about the dog days of summer is about dogs. I love dogs, but every now and again I come across a loose dog out on the road and even though I am a lover and don't fear them... I do on the bike. There is one that chases me down on Harriseckett Rd in Wells and then there's this "cujo" of a dog that lives off of Rt 11 in Lebanon.... (i know i sure do get around on the bike). However, they both love these treats i carry for dogs. The treats are the Newman's heart shaped, chicken flavored treats. My dog loves them too. I LOVE carrying them. It's a great trick... the dog approaches the bike to bite you, you pull out the treat and when you throw it, it goes far enough away so that the dog goes after the treat. I can make a break away out of the dogs territory. those treats have saved me a couple of times on long bike rides. A few years ago, Cujo almost took me down on the bike as well as another loose big dog. And ever since then, i have carried dog treats on my bikes and my long runs. Dogs don't bother me anymore...when they get close, i toss the treat. It sure as heck beats hitting them or giving up one of my water bottles to throw at them. or worse yet, getting bit or crashing because of them.
This was a crazy blog that was all over the place.... but that describes me about now, busy as a bee, running and biking all over the place, getting the kids to where they need to go and a few moments to sit and relax.... on the dog days of summer!!
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