Weekend Recap - Help!

So first I got my 15 mile long run last week cut short to 12 miles b/c the mp3 player died and you just can't do that crap on the treadmill without it. So hey, that's allright. 12 miles is fine, and they were fast enough to make a snail cry. The mp3 player died about 10.5 miles in. I knew I'd never make it.

This weekend was a blast! Kelley and the girls came to Raleigh and Kelley and I actually got to go hang out with some friends saturday night! It's so cool to have friends here. I got hammered. I didn't realize how much your alcohol tolerance can increase with heavy training and no regular drinking. But I drank a butt-ton more than I ever used to when I drank all the time. To the tune of a 3-digit bar tab before tip. bah, it's all in good fun though. We got to hang out with Kelley's old roommate from when she met me and tell all kinds of embarrassing stories to some other friends. I hadn't seen Robin in at least 10 years though, so it was wonderful. And apparently I had forgotten how often I used to wind up drunk and naked in public back then. Robin had not forgotten. She did notice that I am about 60 lbs heavier now though. ha!

The sunday hangover left me in a prime position to watch football. until the kids woke up. and that's all I can remember about sunday.

Monday I got in a 1000 yd swim over lunch, tri power in the morning and then had to work late. Work had everyone on the team pretty upset, so I really tore a hole in that pool water. Nothing like a good, hard, fast, who's-your-daddy swim to work out some demons. Of course, that also meant I was starved through all of the afternoon meetings.

Today was interesting. I did yoga before work as usual and packed up all of the bike stuff. Lunchtime 3 of us went out for the company mountain bike ride. It was 64 degrees and sunny, perfect weather to go for a nice hard ride. We do a loop in Umstead state park that's 12.3 miles, and today it took us 1:03 to complete. However the fun started about 5 miles in.

The first 5 were great. We were hitting the climbs hard and pounding out some good speed (for mtb style). But we took the loop backwards this time. I bought some pedals for Roberta finally, and picked up a second pair of MTB pedals for the mountain bike. So now I have 2 pairs of shoes and 3 bikes that all have the same SPD clipless pedals. Today was the first time I took the MTB out with the black road shoes. So about 5 miles in I went down a big hill in a high gear. At the bottom it turns sharply, and since I'm still a wuss on the trails I corner slower than I maybe should have. The trail immediately turns straight uphill. The bike wouldn't shift gears fast enough, so I stand up to try and power up this 12% grade in the biggest chainring. Then of course I came to a complete stop and couldn't unclip my shoes in time. So I just fell over. Imagine that.... uphill, complete stop, fall down. I got a little trail rash (like road rash?) on both legs. Ended up laying flat on my back still clipped in holding the bike above me.

But hey, that's why I shave my legs. Sure when the ride was over I had to pick some gravel out of my skin. There was some bleeding. But I can put all the bandages I want on these nice smooth legs without having to rip out leg hair when they need to be removed. Ah. The only real problem is there are blemishes on the sexy parts now.

I walked up the rest of that climb, and rode the last 7 miles of the trail with bloody legs. Adrenaline is a powerful drug. But after that fall I just never had the same energy. It seemed much tougher. I also decided to skip my planned 5 mile run for after work today. No need to beat up these frazzled legs.

Tomorrow's plan is to put a mile in the pool over lunch and hit speedwork on the treadmill after work. Then I'm getting together for beers with Chris, I haven't seen him since the B2B where he also ran the half iron. I can't wait. Then this thursday's long run is supposed to be 20 miles, but that's increasing my milage too fast. I might go for 15 again and hope the MP3 can survive this time.

I need your help with something. Kelley and I are going to enter one of these pictures in a "cutest baby" picture contest somewhere. She knows all the details, but we can't pick a picture. Only Evil Genius is young enough to be eligible. So please tell me which one of these pics we should submit:



And of course I can't put up all of these EG pics without putting up one of Bigun. We took the kids to a park saturday afternoon for some fun outdoor time while it was semi-warm. They loved it!



Thanks guys! Have a great day! And remember a cutest photo contest is a great time to de-lurk! I missed national de-lurking day last week, so leave me a comment anyway dang it.