Motivated to Succeed

7:30 AM - Sunny skies and temp above 50 so I went for it. Did a long ride. Was going to go farther but when I stopped at home to refill my water bottles Jonny and Kyle were there and about to leave to go meet my mom and Harry at Applebees. The scouts had a pancake fundraiser there this morning and we decided to get lunch there.

The ride today was fun. I went down into Charlton and then over to Saratoga, stopped at mile 28 for water at the springs (I'm cheap like that.) There was a tour group of Japanese men and women and I had to giggle as I was filling up my bottles with spring water and they tried the sulfur laced mineral water. Haha. Then I gave them directions to the Hall of Springs. Got a coffee and bagel at Borders and then biked home, went past my house and decided it would not be a true ride without at least one circuit of the hill of doom. I will now refer to this loop as the Widowmaker, a 7.5 mile ride of true hell. Three vicious uphills followed by 2 miles of the fastest downhills around. I am completely exhausted and yet still need to manage to do an 8 page proposal for tomorrow's class as well as prepare for a 15 minute presentation on a chapter I haven't read yet. Oops!

Funny thing was about 15 miles into the ride I saw the lead runners in the Tour de Cure ride (either 25, 50, 62, or 100 miles) for the American Diabetes Association. They were basically following my route only backwards, so I was swimming upstream. They actually weren't riding very fast and later on I ended up riding WITH them a bit on Route 29 and I was going a good 5-6 mph faster them! I am really anxious to find a bike race to enter! I want to see how I can do! Favorite quote from a cyclist going the other way was a lady that was waving at me furiously, "Other way man! Other way! You're going the wrong way!" I wanted to yell back "NO no. I'm poor and can't afford the 250 buck minimum entry fee! Sorry!!" I am also anxiously anticipating Century Ride #2. Should I do a point to point? Maybe I will follow their route! Heck, the numbers and arrows are still painted on the roads! I think that's just what I might do! Need one more decent long ride and then I'll have my confidence to gun for the next century!

Total Time: 3:16:57 Total Distance: 55.75 miles  Average Speed: 17.0 mph

1:30 PM - Very cloudy, rainy and drizzly. High humidity but temperature only around 62 or so. Not good bike weather. Emmy surprised me after class yesterday and she was here so we decided to drive to Saratoga and went to Spa Park to go running. Wasn't really sure what was going to happen. I've only done 1 or 2 runs since January when I rehurt my knee. It went really well though! :-D We started off and warmed up to the bathrooms, stretched, got some water from the fountain of natural spring water, then continued on the 5k course. Then did a .5 mile cooldown. I had ZERO PAIN IN THE RUN!! Except for the fact that my legs weighed a million pounds or felt that way. It's amazing how much different running is than biking! I am getting excited and hope that I can run a 1/2 marathon or something before the end of the year!  Splits were:

• Mile 1: 9:40
• Mile 2: 8:58
• Mile 3: 8:26
• .67: 6:06 (9:08)

Total Time: 33:12  Total Distance: 3.67 miles Average Pace: 9:03

REALLY HAPPY I DID NOT DIE TODAY!. At the end of a bike ride I was coming down my road and a cat was on the right side so I went to put on the brakes a bit thinking it'd run into the bushes. It was just watching me and then came back across the road towards me on the left. I slammed on the brakes and tried to swerve, but the cat went right under my front wheel. I tried to find the cat for five minutes but I don't know what happened to it. The front of my bike is totaled, but I am counting myself lucky to be alive. My sunglasses went flying like 15 feet, my helmet cracked in half, I hurt my knee, my right calf muscle seized up and hurts a lot, I have a 10" patch of road rash on my right quad/hip, and my right elbow is pretty bad. Add to that a ripped bike glove (Emmy's bday present to me) and effed up handlebars (including the new handlebar tape Emmy got me *sigh I am a crappy boyfriend) and today was not my day.

9:30 AM - Humid and temperature about 70 degrees. I went to Spa park after meeting with Mr. Morris, one of my cooperating teachers for student teaching in Schuylerville. He's really nice. Run went well except I fell and biffed at like mile 2. Someone driving stopped and yelled out : "Oh no! Are you okay! " I waved and smiled and said "Guess I should stick to biking!" How wrong I was there too.....

Total Time: 26:24  Total Distance: 3.10 miles  Average Pace: 8:31

11:00 AM - Got home and decided to do one of my small bike routes. Just a 26 mile loop I do a lot through East Galway and Charlton. Well the ride went really well except that in the last .5 miles, on my dead end road, I was coming down the hill going 25-30 mph. I was just going my normal speed, not pedaling. Then the incident with the cat. I yelled at it as it started to come towards my bike and slammed the brakes, but they skidded and the middle of the cat went under my front wheel. I flew through the air and did a half flip, landing on my right side. The front of my bike is totaled, but I am just glad I didn't die. I got really lucky. I'm a little shaken up, and just sad because I had to call Emmy and tell her that I can't make our bike date on Sunday. *sigh. But at least she still has a fiance if that's any consolation! Had to walk home and called my mom to come check me out. I don't think I have to go to the ER.

Total Time: 1:29:57 Total Distance: 25.69 miles Average Speed: 17.1mph

8:50 AM - A really smart woman once told me : "There are always setbacks when you are achieving greatness." Fortunately for me, I get to talk to that young lady each and every day. Today it was sunny and there were those tiny little puffball clouds that look like folded mashed potatoes in the sky. I got up early at 6am because my brother had ACTs and my sister Su had one of her certification tests for school too. I headed to the track and stretched. There was an older lady walking on the track and I said "Good morning! How are you!" She said, "Oh fine, fine! You make me remember my youth! Nice to see young people enjoying the out of doors!". I smiled and she made it a good run. I ran in lane 6 all the way on the outside and about halfway through my run I noticed something moving along the fence. It was a 30lb snapping turtle!!! I made sure not to get too close. I guess today was the tortoise vs. the snapping turtle. I felt pretty good though during the run. My right calf muscle is still a bit tight. That was the one that seized up as I flew over the handlebars the other day. Thankfully my other injuries and my sore neck didn't affect my jogging. Maybe because I was standing upright and not bent over the bike. I'm anxious to get back out there on the roads though, but my dad said he wants me to take some time off. I'm still really lucky I didn't get seriously hurt or worse. Finished with a cooldown mile on the big nature trail at the school. Felt good to get another run in. No aches or pains aside from the ones associated with this week's bike crash. Splits were:

• Mile 1: 8:37
• Mile 2: 8:05
• Mile 3: 7:14
• Mile 4: 9:37
• .1: :53 (8:55)

Total Time: 34:27  Total Distance: 4.10 miles Average Pace: 8:24