Tonight was the first of a batch of group swim lessons I’m taking with some buddies from my Tri team. Dave’s Airheads rip

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only mandatory is that we put in at least two hours of practice between lessons. I guess that means I have to start swimming again. I did actually swim on Tuesday. But, honestly, it was the first time I’d been in the water since Turtleman.

I still can’t say I like swimming. But I want to get better. Coming out of tonight, my goal for the week is to focus on my “ladder”. Apparently, the catch-up drills I’ve done as part of the TrainingPeaks.com workouts were doing me no good. I’m swimming really squirrelly/squiggly. We need to fix that.
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Okay. I don’t even think I need to type words for you to understand how rough the finish of my run was. This picture should be enough:

I was hurting. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a race in this much pain with absolutely nothing left in the tank — not even at my half ironman.

Man. Look at that face! I’m not proud of the photo — but it certainly says a lot.

What happened you may ask?

Well, lack of fuel happened. Lack of planning combined with lost nutrition on the course. Nice.

It’s not all bad. I beat last year’s time by 4 seconds. This is a half-marathon PR for myself: an 8:44/mile pace. But, I’ve never been in such pain and I’ve never been so sore as I was after this race.

So, here it goes.

It starts off with the bad planning. Aside from the fact that my training was spotty, I didn’t even think about bringing fuel with me to the race. Don’t ask me why. It just didn’t occur to me. Perhaps because I’ve been so done with racing and my summer kind of sucked. Regardless, when I got to the race registration, I figured I could pick up some gels at the expo. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything to really choose from. Certainly not the Gus and Hammer Gels that I’m accustomed to using. There was some Accel Gel (or something like that). It was in an orange flavor (blech) so I only dropped $2 on one and figured the race organizers would probably have gels on the course (bad mistake). I thought I remembered them from last year.

Armed with my one gel, I started the race at the front of the group. It was perfect weather: cool and crisp. I think we started in in the lower 40s (perhaps high 30s) and the high for the day was the mid-50s. And aside from the fact that Sascha and I rode to the finish in the back of a minivan on the floor of the cab (don’t ask — another useless story), I felt good. I wasn’t even that upset that I didn’t have time to warm-up and barely had time to use the facilities and get my chip before the start.

My game plan was to stay between 158 and 162 bpm and my plan started out well. I few times I had to force myself to speed up a bit because my body was happier at around 156/157. But I felt good. I started recording my miles and even though I was cruising at a fast clip, I felt it was sustainable. Between miles 3 and 7, I was consistently hitting each mile at 8:26 each. I started to get excited. At this pace, I would certainly beat last year’s time. I was also psyched that I could (possibly) finish the race averaging 8:30s.

Then, at mile 7, when I decided to fuel up, I’d noticed I’d lost my gel somewhere out on the course. It had fallen out of my pocket. And the worst was that I’d noticed this after I’d gone through the water stop passing up fuel and Powerade for just water to wash my gel down with. I knew I probably had another 2 miles until the next stop and I didn’t have any fuel. The next mile wasn’t so bad, but I knew I was running out of energy quickly. Luckily, the next stop was only a mile away. But they didn’t have gels here (or at any of the remaining stops), so I grabbed a banana section and a Powerade. This would have to do. The banana was tough to get down (I had to walk longer than I’d liked). It also didn’t give me a boost like a gel usually does. 2 miles later, I repeated the same thing, but I still kept feeling weaker and weaker. My pace started to slow even though my heart rate was staying consistent at 158. I saw 8:45. I saw 9:10. I was starting to bonk. And the Powerade and bananas weren’t getting me through.

With two miles left, two women that I’d passed earlier passed me up. I vowed to not let them get away. I used whatever was left to stay on their heels. They got me through a really, really rough spot. I felt defeated and rough but I just concentrated on the one lady’s grey shirt and stayed on them. Finally, one mile was left. Then a half-mile. At that point, I actually pulled ahead of the grey shirt girl (she was having a tough time, too) and I used everything that was left even though my joints were aching and my body was drained.

I couldn’t even sprint the finish. I just finished.

I was so relieved when it was over.

Ironically, as I crossed the finish, I ran into a friend of mine from high school. We hadn’t seen each other in 18 years and here we were. She told me I looked the same (really!?!). She looked pretty much the same, too, except way cuter. I was a little out of sorts and probably blabbered too much about no fuel. We promised to meet up later.

After the race, I couldn’t find James and the rest of the Birchwood folks for a while so I wandered around, got some food and made my way to the results where I was shocked to find that I actually did manage to eek out 8:44/miles. I thought for sure I’d ended up pacing it over 9-minute miles averages. I felt pretty good about that even though I felt like shit. I went and got a post-race massage and finally found my troop.

Afterwards, we hung out at the cabin. We made a home-cooked meal and sat around a beautiful campfire drinking beer and eating s’mores. It was a really, really enjoyable night.

The next day, I was sorer than I’d ever been, my calves especially. That didn’t stop us from going to the Meadery, though. ;)

So, there you go. Another season has officially ended for me. And while my results were good, it was still a weird race — kind of on par with the rest of my season. I can honestly say, I’m really glad this season is done.

+ + + +

In other news, I had my first dryland training with the ski team tonight. (Did I mention I’m buying skis this year?)

The workout tonight was totally fun and I know my ass is going to be super-sore tomorrow. We did a running warm-up and then “ski-walked” up this hill about a million times concentrating on strength and balance. It was super-hard. After that, we ran back with some push-ups and tricep dips thrown in and finished with core work. It was a great workout. Hopefully, more peeps will show up next week.

I also start group swim lessons on Thursday with some other peeps. Good stuff.

Between these things and finally getting back to setting up training schedules on Training Peaks, I feel like I’m back in the game and being active. I’m sure starting the job has helped generate the momentum.

Shoot. Today, I even came in perfect for my WW points.

It’s amazing how satisfying these little things can be….

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I’ll have a full race report later, but I did manage to squeak out a 1:54 half-marathon at Whistlestop in Ashland, Wisconsin on Saturday (that was technically four seconds faster than last year’s time). I finished 14th this year (out of 110) — again, slightly better than finishing 13th out of 84 last year.

Good stuff considering I lost my nutrition on the course and bonked around mile 9 making the last four miles the most painful of any half-marathon I’d ever run. I was also sorer than I’d ever been after a half — a result of pushing so hard when I really, really had nothing left.

So, I was disappointed and happy with the results. The coolest, though? I crossed the finish line at the exact same time as an old high school classmate. We hadn’t seen each other in probably 17 years. But more on it all later. Just wanted to give ya’ll an update…The Cottage

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Eep. Haven’t finished with my vacation entries — still have days 8 and 9 for you. But, those will have to wait. We are taking off for Ashland, Wisconsin this very minute for the Whistlestop Half-Marathon. We’re sharing a cabin with buddies from the cycling team. It looks like we’re going to have perfect weather. And I can pretty much guarantee there will be no internet access.

So, have a good weekend ya’ll. I’ll see you on the flip side.

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Man, I’m on Day 7 already?! I can’t believe it’s going so fast. I haven’t gotten don’t half of what I’d thought. Ugh. Pressure. Eek.

Okay. Seriously, I’ve been loving this. I was telling my hair stylist just last night that I finally feel like the old me again. Like I lost part of myself in the past 15 months and that part is now being restored. Which is not to say that I didn’t dig my job, I totally did. But it started to define me so much and I was so dedicated to it that everything else in my life receded. I’m really hopeful that this new opportunity will not have the same effect and I’ll be able to balance my life in a way I haven’t for the past year. That aspect was a selling point of the recruiter for the corporation that I’m joining, “we work hard, but we play hard, too.” As cheesy as it sounds, it was also WAY appealing.

Okay. On to Day 7.

Day 7 wasn’t as productive as Day 6. I didn’t come out with a room that I’m happy to be in again, but I *did* get out of my PJs before noon. Hee.

I spent the morning blogging, once again, while noshing on my very Weight Watcher’s friendly breakfast. I also went through a bunch of mail. I paid bills. I submitted expenses to my Flex Spending Account. I refilled prescriptions. I made a doctor’s appointment that I’d been putting off for ages. All things that are very mundane but I hadn’t made time for — it was really sad, actually. But it is amazing how good I felt to get this stuff done. It’s amazing how good getting a prescription refilled felt. I know, I already said it was sad.

After the computer / office / busy time, I got dressed and met some buddies downtown Minneapolis for lunch which was really nice. We ate at a Greek joint I love (and will highly miss as I’m about to work in the suburbs once again). And since I was in Minneapolis, I took the opportunity to stop by the Surdyks Fall Wine sale on my way home. It was fun browsing the store and tasting wines on a weekday afternoon. I came home with more bottles than I probably should have and I’m especially excited about the Chateau St. Michelle Indian Wells Merlot

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and Plungerhead Zinfandel. In fact, I’m thinking of going back to get a few more bottles of these.

When I got home, I finally went on my 8-mile run. I used the workout that I reviewed in the previous entry. It was a very chilly run in comparison to this past weekend’s weather. In was in the 50s and I had to wear my glove liners for the duration of the run. It was crazy windy, too. But I had a nice pace going (again, I run soooo much better in the cool weather) and even with 10 minutes warm-up, 10 minutes recovery intervals and 10 minutes of cool-down, I still did the 8 miles in 75 minutes! I felt good. And I was experimenting with the pace I’m going to attempt on Saturday. I’m not sure I can repeat last year’s performance (I trained much better last year). But if I try to keep my heart rate between 155 and 160 for the duration of the race, I’m hoping for a sub 2-hour half marathon. We’ll see. That’s a challenging pace for me. But it’s worth a try.

After the run and shower, I had a 6pm hair appointment. It was nice to go in and get my greys and growth covered. We’re sticking with the long hair — especially since I’ve grown my bangs out. And while I felt like I should be going dark for fall, I’m kind of in love with the blonde patch that we did in front last time. So, we stuck with it and traded the reds for more chocolates and caramels. I’m pretty happy with how it came out. I can be partly-blonde in the Fall. I don’t care what ya’ll think. ;)

The rest of the evening was uneventful. I noshed on broccoli and a baked sweet potato topped with veggie chili for dinner (again, very WW-friendly) while watching the end of The Biggest Loser. And I was proud to finish my second successful day of WW adherance (you don’t know what a victory this actually is for me). In fact, I haven’t used all the activity points I earned between Monday and Tuesday! And I even spent 2 points on a glass of wine. I felt very triumphant at the end of the evening.

And that’s it. Boring, maybe. But it was actually a very enjoyable day.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a link to these

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: two running workouts provided by Powerbar and hosted by Chris Carmichael (of Carmichael Training Systems) and Lance Armstrong. The workouts are free for a limited time (until Nov. 22) and I decided to give them a try because I’m always looking for something new and the idea of tempo and interval runs coached via my iPod was intriguing.

There are two workouts, a tempo workout that is about 1 hour and 14 minutes and a interval workout that is just under an hour.

I tried the run interval workout a couple of weeks ago. It was a pre-work, pre-dawn workout. I knew I’d have to cut it short because I only had time for a 5 miler. The workout is structured with a 10 minute warm-up and a few stride-outs to get warmed up. It then follows with sets of running intervals at 100% for 2 minutes with 2 minutes recovery and then 3 minutes with 2 minutes recovery each and then repeated, I think, 4 times. There is then a 10 minute cool-down.

I found the workout challenging and enjoyed it. I did skip the last interval due to time constraints. And it was interesting to hear Chris Carmichael’s take on marathon training. He kind of railed against the whole “long slow distance training” theory — which I’m not totally sure I agree with considering, when I did train that way, I actually did get faster. Of course, I’ve also included some type of speed work in my training, so there’s always been a mix. He also contradicted the entire “negative split” theory with speedwork. He said each interval should be run “all out” — that way nothing is conserved. Sometimes, if we’re trying to negative split, we don’t get as much as is possible out of each interval. Again, that is according to him. I’m not sure what I think, but I still enjoyed the workout and it was kind of nice to just go all out each time. There is adequate focus on form and proper technique during the intervals so, even though you’re going hard, you’re reminded not to get sloppy and risk injury.

The second workout is a tempo workout. I did that today on an 8-miler. Again, there is 10-minute warm up with a couple of stride outs. The core of the workout is 5 intervals each at about an effort level of 8 out of 10. They lengthen in duration starting at 4 minutes with 2 minutes recovery, then 6 minutes w/2 minutes recovery and so on growing to 8 minutes, 10 minutes and, ultimately, 12 minutes. I did each interval at a heart rate of between 158 and 160 bpm. Again, I found the workout challenging. I felt the coaching was good — especially the countdowns. I felt there was enough expectation given for how long was left on each interval without too much talking.

Feedback covering both: obviously, they have a product to sell and the workouts are free so you can expect a lot of selling of the gels, bars and endurance and recovery drinks. It almost gets trite at how Lance testifies his reliance on the product. And while I do believe the science supporting the products, I think they are too quick to coach users of the workouts to taking gels and drinking the products. These workouts are only an hour to 75 minutes. And, if you’re not racing, you really don’t need all this fuel, at least *during* the workout. For people actually trying to drop some weight, being coached to take a gel 20 minutes into a 75 minute workout is a little much if you ask me. And, my opinion, if you are going to talk about the product so much, you might want to get into a little more explanation of proper use. For all the times they mentioned taking gels, they never said to make sure to drink 6 oz. of water with each — which is really necessary for your body to break down the nutrition properly.

My only other beef was just how false the conversations between Chris and Lance sounded.

The music was pretty good — mostly rock with a bit of blues and alternative lean. There is one GOOFY song at the end of the tempo workout about “my roommate is a girl and she makes my life hell” that was entertaining in a completely idiotic way.

So, all in all, my two cents is that the workouts are worth downloading — especially since they are free right now. I’ll probably continue to use them. But I don’t take any gels while actually doing these workouts. I don’t think they are necessary. That said, I do appreciate the importance of a recovery drink after each.

[Okay. I'm pissed because I just typed this whole entry up and my browser crashed on someone else's blog (not going to mention names), and now I have to re-write. Of course, this time it'll be much faster because I don't have much patience and I need to get out for my 8 mile run.]

So, Day 6. I didn’t get out of my pajamas until 4:45 pm — and it was awesome. That’s not to say that I didn’t get much done. I did. I worked on the office all day long. So, I haven’t gotten to the basement and I haven’t gotten to my closet yet, but my office is a place I want to be in now — that’s a big improvement. What did I do:

- Organized the shelves (and purged a bunch of crap we don’t need hanging out)
- Measured artwork that we’ve been meaning up put up for ages
- Clean out two of my file drawers (still need to get to the files in there, though)
- Generally went through stuff and sorted, tossed and rearranged

And now? I have an office I’d like to be in. We also took a little evening trip to Ikea and purchased some frames for the artwork (including my charter member of the The Current album). We also found a duvet cover for $30!

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We’ve gone through 3 duvets in three years because our bratty dog Tryna keeps chewing them up and the decorative pillows that go with them. We’ve never seen her do it. We think it might be a separation anxiety thing. The point is, I don’t want to spend money on decor when she’ll trash it. There have been times the corners on new pillows haven’t lasted 24 hours!! I was actually waiting (how morbid is this) for Tryna to be gone Serpico psp Forever Strong rip before purchasing a new duvet. But this Ikea find for $30 will be a nice improvement from the tattered mess we had before. I’ve also got this plan. I purchased some long, cylindrical pillows that I’m hoping to create a bumper along the side that will prevent her from jumping up (she’s not a good jumper). Only time will tell if this idea will hold water, but it’s worth a try.

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Other notables from Day 6: Vanishing Point

- Awesome run. The temps were back down in the 60s and my 9 minute mile pace was proof that temperature really does affect my speed. I like running fast again.

- TTW Challenge: Wil has issued a challenge starting yesterday to get fit and strong. Ironically, I’d started back to logging WW points that morning before I read her post, but this will be a perfect kick in the butt to recommit. More on that later.

Okay. So, that was it in a nutshell. I’ve not got some running to do…

Okay. I know. I’m all, “I’m going to update everyday!” and that lasted, what?, two days?

I thought about updating during the past 72 hours… not that that counts…

At any rate, I want to catch up now. It’s not all that exciting. But this is my blog and I’m usually not that exciting anyway, so there you go.

Day 3: Friday

Friday, I woke up to rainy, rainy weather. As I’d mentioned, we’d attended a concert the night before so I slept in late and continued my morning ritual of breakfast, online time (ahem, Facebook: time-suck!) Hope Floats psp and coffee. James had invited me to lunch with a friend, but that sounded like work since it would require a shower. Instead, I opted for a trip to the new Trader Joe’s that opened much closer to my home than the other two locations in the Twin Cities. It was opening day, but my hope was that if I arrived early in the day (during work hours), perhaps it wouldn’t be so crazy…

A Dangerous Combination: Trader Joe’s and H&M 

I was wrong. It was still crazy. Only, instead of the craziness of mass population in the aisles, this was craziness of elderly people strolling around, standing in line to eat all the free samples and clogging the aisles as they gawked at all this strange food. Seriously. I heard so many conversations about this and that. Lots of finger-pointing. Lots of staring. And they all had, like, 2 items in their baskets each (buy some food, people!). It was almost comical if I wasn’t having such a hard time getting my Pepper Jack Yogurt Cheese, Horseradish Hummus and Applegate Farms Deli Selections in my cart!! I probably came off as more than a bit of a bitch.

$100 in groceries later (yeehaw, they had the dried Mangos AND the eggplant cutlets that the St. Louis Park store is always out of), I packed the goods in my car and strolled over to the adjacent H&M. Yes, this Trader Joe’s has gone up in the  sprawling suburbia of Woodbury, MN in the “Shoppes of Woodbury Lakes,” outdoor shopping “experience.” I normally try to stay as far away from these types of places as is possible (I’m a city girl and prefer to get my goods *in* the city). But I’m also a whore for good deals and both H&M and Trader Joe’s are known for, if anything, their prices.

So, here I was. And another $100 later, I was filling my car with some new fall clothing staples as well. Goodness, that’s a dangerous place. The worst is that I was just there recently filling my bags with interview clothes while looking wistfully at the less professional attire. So, a treat to myself, a few new pieces including an adorable sweater dress that is, unfortunately, very reminiscent of an item or two that i owned in the late 80s…

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Upon returning home, it took me some time to put away groceries. I had to cut and rearrange the lovely flowers I purchased (some cheery fuschia and yellow Gerber daisies with eucalyptus sprigs). I cleaned the kitchen and then found myself in front of the television watching Oprah.

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At any rate, after the Oprah incident, I started laundry and cleaned the bathroom. I also baked some banana bread with a few over-ripe bananas (the recipe from my Moosewood cookbook and soooo not healthy). Soon, James was home from work. And since cooking dinner was the last thing we both wanted to do, we opted for an easy dinner of the Trader Joes Eggplant Cutlets heated up with pasta and sauce. I also cooked up some fresh broccoli and mixed it with a Red Wine / Dijon sauce that I got from Cooking Light. It was very nummy (I’ll post the recipe at the end of this entry).
And now for the best part of the evening: as we sat down to dinner, we were going to watch my taped copy of Wednesday’s Kid Nation. But then, suddenly, James yells out, “Hey, leggings girl” — a reference to my purchase at H&M because I told him it would look great with leggings — “I think you need to see this.”

Desperately Seeking Susan

was on!

Sweet.

I missed the first 45 minutes, but I didn’t care. Suddenly, I was in Aidan Quinn and Madonna heaven. I haven’t seen that movie in years. Shoot, decades. And it totally brought me back. I wanted that green, shiny jacket so badly as a child. I loved Madonna’s trashy, underwear-on-the-outside look. And I adored Aiden Quinn. Watching this Friday, I was struck at how young he was. And very nummy to look at, too.

So, that was fun.

Day 4: Saturday

I was looking forward to Saturday after spending three days pretty much solo. We got up after 8am and I decided to attend Jan’s Saturday Morning Yoga at 9am after months away from the practice (minus my sporadic stints at home with Steve Ross on VHS). Unfortunately, Jan was away so I had to settle for a substitute teacher. Luckily, she’s a student of Jan’s and her class was just as tough (just not the same — Jan has such a PRESENCE. Just being in her class is healing).

At any rate, I was struck by how tough everything in class seemed to be. I had a hard time just doing the basic, plank-crocodile-up dog series. My legs would get all shaky in the warrior stances.  I actually had to do side plank with my knee down (I haven’t done that in years). I was starting to get panicky about my lack of strength, but then I talked myself down. I’ve had a tough year. I haven’t made the time for fitness that I normally do — let alone yoga. So, I can’t expect to just jump in and pick-up where I left off. I drew the comparison that it was like I was under a pile of rubble (aka stress) and it will take some time to remove that rubble. You can’t do it all at once. You have to remove it piece by piece. You have to be patient. You have to have faith. With consistency and effort, the job will get done.

After that little epiphany, I did much better for the remainder of the class. I was still weak (although my balance poses did still rock), but I was okay with that. It’ll come. It’ll come. Until then, there are always modifications.
I took a quick shower after class (the studio was freakin’ hot because the club’s air conditioning was off and it felt like a Bikram class). I had to meet James and another buddy at the monthly St. Agnus Bake Sale. This is a breadmaker for a lot of restaurants in the Twin Cities and they open their doors once a month to sell their delicious breads, kolaches and other mind-blowing baked goods to the public. We’d wanted to get some of their Pretzel bread for our annual Oktoberfest party later this month, but James and Addie weren’t quick enough. The doors opened at 10am, James and Addie arrived at 10:20 and the pretzel bread was already gone. So sad.

We did score some Tokyo dog treats for the girls, squirrel bread “chock full of nuts and grains”, biscotti, shortbread and this cracker bread (called Lavache) that they coat with sesame seeds and sugar.

At home, it was time to get to work. I started on organizing and cleaning up the office. James began his work on replacing our storm door in back that was blown off its hinges a couple of weeks ago. Addie stopped by a little later and we exchanged fresh mango (I had too much from our CSA) for fresh heirloom tomatoes (she had extra from her garden). It was a good deal.

James spent the entire afternoon on the door and I finally had to drag him indoors at 7pm to meet our evening obligation: a bonfire party at my former neighbor’s.

The ironic thing about the party was that the weather was in the 80s and humid. Not exactly, fall bonfire weather. But it was still a lovely evening to be sitting outdoors — we just didn’t sit that close to the fire. The food was amazing (pumpkin soup, spinach salad, s’mores). The company was great. We decided to call it a night at 11:15pm and were tucked in bed by midnight.

Day 5: Sunday

The storm door still wasn’t finish and that was James’ first priority of the morning. Since we were out of coffee, we did walk to our local coffee shop for some beans and a mug of java. But, by 10am, James was back at it outside. I took the time to do some cleaning. We opted out of our friend’s yearly marathon party where we cheer on the participants and drink mimosas — there was just too much to do at home.

The weather was threatening all day and I ended up going out for a ride between 11 am and 1 pm. I was afraid if I didn’t get out early, the rain would come and I would have missed my chance. The weather was hot when the sun was out and I felt badly for the marathoners who were still out there (and thankful I wasn’t one of them). Otherwise, my ride was nice. I did a quick 27 miles. Nothing remarkable, but enough to not make me feel like a lazy-slob.

When I got home, James was still working on the door. I showered, ate lunch and then vacuumed the house. James was still working on the door. At about 3pm, he FINALLY finished. We did a little happy dance and then he had to leave for a meeting. I took this time to lay in the backyard on my hammock with a book — totally indulgent and totally nice. There was one slightly embarrassing moment when I heard my gate open and I see two of my neighbors with their two kids and realize they have MY dog on a leash.

“You missing someone?”

“Um. Apparently.”

Yes, Tryna had escaped. The little shit pushed the gate open, walked across the street and ended up in our neighbor’s backyard pond! I had heard the phone ring earlier, but I ignored it. I guess that was them telling me they had my dog.

Eek.

The final obligation of the day was a Ski Team meeting. With my new job, I’ve decided to treat myself to some cross country skis and I figured that joining the Birchwood Ski Team would be a great way to learn. I’m not quite sure what I’m getting myself into, but after a few lessons on classic last winter, I think it’s a hobby I’d like to take up. Not to mention, the people on the team are awesome and there are a few other newbies like me. We chatted about training and uniforms. I learned terms like “bounding” and “dryland training.” I’m totally nervous and totally excited.

Now I just need to buy my skis.

Okay, here’s the recipe I mentioned:

Broccoli With Dijon Vinaigrette

Rating:

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CALORIES 52(29% from fat); FAT 1.7g (sat 0.2g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g); PROTEIN 4g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 67mg; SODIUM 126mg; FIBER 4.1g; IRON 1.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 7.6gEnjoy!

6:15 am Wake-Up 

The day did not start so great. About 6:15 am, Sienna was whining like a pesty little dog until I finally got up to let her out. It was still pitch dark. I was standing around in the kitchen waiting for the girls to do their business (I was afraid if I went back to bed, I’d fall asleep and leave them out there). Five minutes or so later, I open the door and only Tryna comes in. Upon further inspection, I see our front fence gate is WIDE open and Sienna is nowhere to be seen in the yard. So, I start to freak a little. I go outside in front of our house calling her (which is hard pre-dawn with neighbors!) and Sienna is still nowhere to be seen. At this point, I start to get panicky and decide to just get some clothes on so that I can walk around the neighborhood looking for her. But when I take a second look out the back, I see the back gate is WIDE open as well. So, I peek out into the alley and, THANK GOODNESS, there she is sniffing our neighbor’s driveway. Argh. I’m relieved. Annoyed. She’s the “good dog” but she sure doesn’t come when called.

At this point, I get back in bed and promptly fall asleep until after 8:30 am.

When I finally get out of bed, I eat my breakfast (once again) at the computer with my cup of coffee with cream. (It’s a bad habit — both the cream and the computer/breakfast thing). I update the blog. I play with Facebook some more (man, that’s a terribly addictive thing). The weather is so freaking gorgeous that I finally tell myself to get my butt out the door to ride.

60 Miles on a Beautiful Fall Day (pics on Flickr

)

The original plan was over 70 miles. I have a route that I go on often (although, this summer much less frequently) where I head out to White Bear Lake and then to Marine on St. Croix. After that, I take 95 straight to Stillwater (along the St. Croix river bluffs). After Stillwater, you can continue to Afton or head straight home via the Gateway Trail. I had planned on doing the Afton loop, but after getting to Stillwater, decided to head home instead.

The ride was absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t have asked for better weather: sunny, low 70s, not a ton of wind. Since I was by myself, I could stop and take pictures whenever I wanted without James saying, “Isn’t this a training ride?!” I could also go at my own pace: fast when I wanted, slow up the hills if I needed. It was perfect.

The trees are just starting to turn, too, so there was lots of fall color to oooh and aaaaww at. I saw a bald eagle on my way out soaring above WBL and then a flock of wild turkeys in a field (is that called a flock?). I tried to get a picture of them, but they just came out as specks. I also saw lots of cows (my favorite) and horses. And I just drank it all in.

I stopped in Marine for a bathroom break. I also took a picture to email from my phone back to James wishing he were here (And, honestly, I wished he were – I wasn’t trying to torture home. The only thing that would have made the ride more perfect would have been having him there). The straight shot to Stillwater was probably the most challenging part of the ride. I had a slight headwind which slowed my pace, but I couldn’t complain. Once in Stillwater, I stopped at Starbucks where I had a small Pumpkin Latte while sitting in the sun. Can I say it again? It was absolutely gorgeous.

By this time, it was after 1:30 pm. As much as I wanted to finish the ride in the Afton hills, I thought it would be best to head straight home (still 60 miles, that’s not a bad ride). The five miles out of Stillwater were as challenging as they always are with the hills, I never seem to get used to them. The final 12 miles home on the Gateway were nice and easy. The tree-covered trail was just the icing on the cake for a perfect fall day.

4pm Nap

When I got home, James was there to meet a repair guy for our dryer. The repair guy was gone and James was doing some work from home. I ate my late lunch and noticed the boy had made it to the couch for a nap. Soon, I was there, too. As was Sienna. The three of us napped together and it was so nice and fabulous. At least until I slipped off and knocked my shin on the marble coffee table. That left a bruise.

Dinner and a Show

We had tickets to see Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah downtown at the Fineline, so we decided to make an evening of it. We went to Masa Perfect Stranger move for dinner beforehand and took advantage of their outdoor patio since the evening was so spectacular. I got to wear a new top that I scored at one of my favorite consignment shops. We had a great dinner of cerviche, Shrimp with this crazy roasted pepper sauce, Chili Rellenos and butter crepes with goat cheese filling. I also had a cucumber margarita which was really quite refreshing. It was a very pleasant meal.

After, we walked to the Fine Line where we caught the second-half of the opening act, Elvis Perkins and Dearland 13 Going on 30 dvdrip Problem Child 3: Junior in Love Death of a President full movie

The Wild Angels dvd

. I really, really like them. They had a nice, eclectic sound. Unfortunately, the crowd wasn’t giving them much attention so we had to listen over the conversations.

Between acts, we had to wait a really long time. It was way over an hour and James and I were both getting a little bored. We people-watched (which, really, there was all to do). When Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah finally came on stage, we were relieved.

It was funny when they started playing because the first thing in my head was, “His voice is kind of whiny.” Which is fine for me, whiny singers are some of my favorites (Mountain Goats,  Counting Crows, The Decemberists, Bob Dylan), but James hates that. He always complains when I have those CDs in. So, when I thought this, I turned to him and, before I could even utter a word, James looks at me and says, “His voice is really whiny!” with almost a panicked look on his face (since he was, of course, the one who obtained the tickets).

Luckily, when the music tempo picked up, the whiny-factor lessened and the music was really, really good. I recognized some songs from the radio. The crowd seemed to be really into it. They played a good set, although we didn’t stay for the encore. The old folks that we are, we needed to get home. It was almost midnight — and on a school night for James.

We were in bed by 12:15. And as I drifted off to sleep, I had to thank my stars for such a nice, nice day. Leisurely morning, perfect Autumn-ness, great ride, naptime, awesome food, live music.

Pinch me. I don’t want to go back to work if this is what the life of leisure is all about…