catherine's running efforts

A little longer ride today - 26 miles. I think I'm starting to like being on a bike a little bit more. At least today I didn't have any oh-my-gosh-I-think-I'm-going-to-crash-and-die moments. 

We're moving to Provo on Friday. I completely freaked out about it (again) this morning. I lived there for 2 years during my master's program, and I remember thinking it was a really young town. That was five years ago. And the people living upstairs are 19 and 23 and about to get married (and when we were there earlier today we could hear everything they were saying), and there are 3 nurseries in the ward we'll be in. But probably everything will be okay and I'm just going through my I-hate-change phase.

Liberty Park loop with Eric. My legs were kind of heavy - probably because of yesterday's bike ride. 

Up to Virginia and back (ish). 

Faux Thursday. 

I spent a bunch of time today trying to find out about gym memberships in Provo (mostly Gold's and 24 Hour Fitness). I decided that gyms (or at least the people you get on the phone when you're trying to find out about prices) are evil. I'm pretty sure they all get off on being withholding. 

Pipeline trail with Eric. Better than last time, but I still had to poop twice. I only had enough toilet paper for the first incident, so I had to sacrifice my underwear for the second. Fortunately, even though the trail was pretty busy, I don't think anyone saw my nakedness.  Eric is an excellent lookout.

I've about had it with this particular problem, though. It's really really frustrating. For awhile I thought it was because I was trying to go farther/do more than my body was ready, but at this point there is absolutely no reason I shouldn't be able to run 9 miles (and really it doesn't feel that different from 4 or 5). It doesn't seem to matter if it's morning, afternoon, or evening, or whether I've eaten before or during the run. Maybe today it was the little sips of water? But it seems like that's not something I should cut out. I think it's part of why I've been avoiding long runs even though I know I should be doing them (the other reason is that I procrastinate and run out of time).

Oh - there was a rattlesnake near the trail. I didn't see it, but I was scared. 

Once upon a time my goals included running a marathon and riding a century before I turned 30. Then the goals were to do those things *while* I was 30. Now I'm about to turn 31, and I still haven't done either. But at least now I've done a "metric century." Eric and I joined his parents at the ULCER this morning to do the shorter option (60 miles instead of 111).

Some highlights: 

- I probably consumed more calories at the feed zone than I burned over the four-hour ride.

- Eric was serious when he (I thought) joked that I couldn't knock him off his bike even if I tried. It was nice of him to keep me from crashing when I started to tip over because of the effort. 

- It's *so* *way* easier to ride in a pack than by yourself or with just one other person. 

- It probably wasn't the best idea to try a different kind of clipless pedals for the first time on a big group ride. It was über embarrassing to beat people to the top of a hill (I know, it wasn't a race) only to later stop at a light and then have them all pass me while I kept trying to figure out how to flip the pedals over and clip in.

- People in a bike ride talk a lot more than people in a running race. A lot of it is really annoying. 

- If I've recently gone on 3 or 4 rides, with the longest being 26 miles, I can ride happily for 50 miles. After about 50 I get cranky and want to quit.

In other news, we moved probably 85% of our stuff to our apartment in Provo on Friday and Saturday. So far it's not so bad.