Crash

My alarm went off at 4:40 a.m. this morning for my first pre-work, early morning run. I snoozed once, Jason said, "Aren't you going running? Take Haylie with you". I slowly got out of bed, got dressed, etc and was out the door by 5:10. Not bad. 

The sun just above the horizon; view from North of the Grant Ranch entrance on Belleview.

It was beautiful out; tank top weather. I was geared up with my blinky heal light and my reflective vest and off I went. It was nice - not dark out but the sun was still below the horizon; dawn is a beautiful time of day. It is hard to run first thing in the morning without time to hydrate properly, so I was huffing and puffing more than usual. But, I was running and somewhat enjoying myself as I tried to push for my three 6 minute zone 4 intervals after my initial warm-up. I hit my 30 minute turnaround and headed for home.

I decided I wanted some music so plugged in to my iPod. "Carry On" came on but wasn't loud enough so I looked down to turn up volume and my foot slips off the concrete into the grass and crash goes me on the sidewalk. Why couldn't I have landed on the grass? That would have been too easy. 

I sat there for a while thinking my ankle was broken and crying as the blood started to drip from my knee. A car or 2 went by and then a truck saw me, slowed and was turning around to come check on me, I think. I was able to get up and walk, however slowly, and call Jason on my cell so the truck carried on his way. I almost left my phone at home, too; thank goodness I didn't. I walked the block or so to the Village Center, where of course there were tons of cars for open water swimming, sat down and waited for Jason. My sock and shoe were soaking up the blood nicely. Awesome. Oh, and my Garmin registered 4 miles exactly to where I sat down to wait for my ride. At least it wasn't a totally failed run.

Cooper and Zach were on the couches in the living room when I got home and they were pretty surprised to see me crying. Cooper saw my "blood owie" and looked a little scared. I was scared, too. And I was limping on both legs... how do you even do that. Hobble, hobble. Jason cleaned up the blood drip, I got some ice and planted myself on the couch. Shivering and feeling nauseous I sat there for about 30 minutes. Jason got the kiddos off to school and I finally got up the nerve to shower, which turned out OK. It could've hurt a lot worse. Robyn made me some deliciously salty ham and eggs, I packed my lunch, and off to work I went. 

And here I sit without enough work to keep me busy and checking FB every 5 seconds because of course I had to post my accident to the Tri-fecta FB page. All I want to do is go home and take a nap. Trauma takes a lot out of a person. I am thankful it wasn't worse. I hope to be back up and running (swimming and biking, too) soon. 

Long Overdue Post and We Finished a Century!!!!!

Yes, I know it's been like a gazillion years since I've written. Sorry about that, folks, (the 3 of you out there that are kind enough to read my blog), but I've been busy training for an Ironman and keeping the family together. It's been about 3 months since I posted and a lot has happened.

My training is going well. So well that over the past 2 weekends, I've put in 180+ miles on my bike! Woot Woot!! Jason, too. So we're both rock stars. And here we are at the beginning and end of the Elephant Rock 100 Mile Century Ride this past Sunday, June 1. 

 It's 5:40 a.m. and we're fresh and ready to start pedaling. 

 Selfie!

All done! Yay for us!!

It was a beautiful course with lots and lots of climbing, about 6000 feet. There were beautiful horse farms and wooded areas that smelled of pine. All in all it was a good day and we are really proud to have completed such a grueling first 100 mile century ride. Go us!!!

Here are a few more stories in pictures over the past few months of training, in reverse order:

Trainer Selfie! Pedaling to nowhere while watching Frozen with the kids after work/school on a Thursday evening. 

"Let it Go" is very inspirational, by the way! 

 Cooper is working on his photography skills!

 A beautiful Sunday morning trail run off of Deer Creek Road near Ken Caryl. I saw 8 deer, but no coyotes, thank goodness. One of the trails is named Coyote Song, so I was on the lookout. No rattlesnake sightings, either, so that made me happy.

Got water bottles? This isn't even all of them. I found one on the other counter that didn't make to the photo shoot. This is after one weekend of fun!

 Sometimes I feel a bit like Wonder Woman. I picked this up on my trip to Las Vegas in April. 

Dimity and Sarah from Another Mother Runner chatting about all things running and giving away great raffle prizes. Jenn L. and I went to their Denver event in Cherry Creek and Jenn scored a super awesome new AMR hat!

This Adamo saddle was a part of the Great Saddle Saga. After demo-ing a few seats from Pedal and ordering this one off the internet, I've settled on my trustee Specialized saddle. The Queen isn't too unhappy in aero and the seat is just the most comfortable bike seat I've ever owned. No back, pelvis or other pain to speak of. Just happy sit bones and happy Cindy. :-)

 This was in Red Rocks Canyon outside of Las Vegas in April when I was there visiting Jen, Eric and Alexandra. It was a beautiful and challenging ride, with about 5 miles of climbing. The rock formations were beautiful and many people were out climbing them. 

Trail run with Angie at Green Mountain. Still working on the selfie smile here.

Whole Life Challenge final results. I think I ended up where I was last year. Maybe this year's goal is to remain at these measurements or better them before next year! I was perfect until the half marathon in February then I fell off the wagon. Hard. 

A few other tidbits of my training so far. I don't have my numbers in front of me, but my pool workouts are now up to 3000 yards/meters. Most days, if I have time, I'll swim 3300 yards which gets me to 3017 meters or just under 2 miles. It's about an hour and fifteen minutes in the pool if I keep my dilly-dallying to a minimum. I've started swimming at the Buck Rec Center and I really like it there. Nice people and lifeguards, the water temp is just right and the showers and locker rooms are very comfortable. The only thing missing is the bathing suit water extractor spinny thing. Yes, that is the technical name for it. 

My running is going well, too. Ideally, I've been running an hour twice a week, mid-week and a bit longer on Sundays after my long bike rides on Saturdays. I have been pleasantly surprised at how well my runs have been going. I must be getting stronger! 

CrossFit helps, too. I'm still going once a week:

Only 116 days to go to 140.6! 

And good luck to Kelly and her girls in Boise this weekend! They have 70.3 miles to conquer on Sunday and they are going to rock it!! Kelly, you look awesome and so alive!! Go get it, girls!!!