My Adventure as a Roadie

Sorry for the long, pictureless post:

Last night I went on a Wolverine Sports Club ride. I admit it, I was a bit afraid. I was worried about a lot of things, like would I get dropped, would I look like a dork, would I crash, bonk, ect? I was feeling pretty excited about this ride since I rode on Monday with Kristel at Island Lake and it was a debacle, to say the least. This is what went wrong on Monday, so these were things that I had already planned to NOT go wrong on Wed:
1. Have a cage for my water bottle- I have my road bike here in MI since we had a space issue to bring the Trek up until late last night. As a result, I had removed the cage from "Burly #11" as we will call it and installed it on "Bones". I actually remembered to bring a FULL water bottle with me knowing that the sinks are not on yet (mistake from BBB that Kristel fixed with a gallon of water she got en route for me). I just had no where to put it. ARG. At least it was cold and dreary, and I wouldn't lose much water through sweat.
2. Have my bike computer set to the right bike. I had no cadence readout which drove me nuts because I forgot that my computer was smarter than me and knew which bike I was riding.
3. Have ALL things needed to repair a flat, not just a tube and pump. My levers are in my new fancy "smancy draft box" Kristel flatted, and I had to ride back to get her car for her.
3. Have my bike in good working condition. My road bike is a triple, and I totally forgot that the middle ring wasn't working so hot. I remembered this on the ride back to the car. It was into the wind and I could no longer hang out in my big ring without dying. I switched to the middle and it gave me major problems. Suck. I was either spinning like mad or grinding hard. Either way was no fun. Especially given the wind. I was never more happy to run on Monday than I was after this ride because it totally blew. Valerie and Cristina were smart to bail on this one.

All of those things were addressed before yesterday's ride. I took my bike into the shop bright and early on Tuesday and they got it all fixed up. They even let me leave it there so I didn't have to take it apart to fit it in the hatch of my car. I could ride to the start of the WSC ride from there easily. I remembered my tire tools and my old water bottle cage (it was not a favorite, but it looks really pretty so I figured I might as well use it). I switched my garmin to bike profile 1. I arrived in the parking lot for the start with Valerie. There was no one else because it started to rain. It was gloomy all day, and it just now decided to rain. Ugh. Finally, right at 6 two others appeared and it was going to be the 4 of us to ride together. This was my first experience in a pace line and WOW, did it make a huge difference. Danny pulled us for the first 16 miles and it felt super easy. We averaged almost 20mph for the first 10 miles. We rode on Hines Drive, which was the road where I got my BQ at Martian, so I knew it pretty well. It was also closed to cars at some points, and that was also nice. There was not hardly any reason to stop because it was straight road with very few intersections. At close to 15 miles, I did start to feel tired. I now know that 14-15 miles is when I need to gu/gel. We regrouped after 16 miles gued, and turned around. I am proud to say that I pulled for 13 miles straight on the way back (and should have gued)! Go me! We finished with an average pace of 18.6 miles, for 32.2 miles. While I still feel like I have a lot of work to do on the bike, this was the confidence booster that I needed. Not only did I ride in the wet grimy yuck, but I did well in it. I didn't wreck or get lost (you can't on Hines Dr until Northville anyway). I didn't get dropped. I accidentally dropped Valerie (for a really short time and she caught back up on her own, I fell off on the way out as well, and had we not stopped at the turn around, might have never caught back up), which as front person is bad, but as a triathlete, I can just say "sorry", as I am not used to being responsible for others. I didn't even know we lost her there! Oops, my bad! It was crazy how much easier it was to draft. Now I know how Ryan does his rides so insanely fast all the time (that and he is a stud). I also was on some crazy adrenaline rush from this ride because I felt like I could run at least a 10K afterwards. Valerie didn't have her shoes, and it was getting late, so we just headed home. We were so yucky grimy from all the road grit that we had a lot of work to do on our bikes to get them clean and then clean ourselves. It was pretty late when I finally was able to eat dinner and then relax finally. I still need to get my bike from Valerie's. Kent was nice enough to help us get them cleaned, dried, and lubed, as well as was the babysitter for the evening for all the kids. Whoo Hoo! I was so hungry and tired once I got home. I can't imagine how tired I would have felt had I actually ran.

As a result of all my fun yesterday, today's planned 10 miler was almost shortened to 8 when I woke up tired. I thought, 8 will be good for today, right? I had a battle with some ants this morning at the condo, and that was no fun. By the time I got to the gym, I was hungry, and thinking maybe 7 will be ok. I got on the treadmill, and by 1 mile, I was turning the speed down. Mile 2, slowing down more. I was getting defeated. At mile 4 or so, I had my Roctane Gu. That would fix everything. Amazingly, it did. I don't know if those things are my mental "wubby" or what, but I was able to bang out 10 miles on the treadmill. I would do a mile, and then tell myself, one more mile. After all, I didn't want to waste that Roctane on some short run. Those things are stinking expensive, and I have finally used up all my free samples from expos. I have to buy them now. It wasn't as fast as normal, but that was OK. I even did the last couple miles at the original pace that I started at, thanks to some Beasties Sabotage on the iPod getting me going a bit.

I am really hoping to get in 50+ miles on Sat. Hopefully that is not too much given what I have done already this week, and that the weather cooperates as well as everything goes as scheduled.

Live Like Andi 10 mile Race Recap and Being a Responsible Adult/Mother

I am going to do this post in reverse chronological order...Hopefully that won't be too bothersome to read. I wanted to start with my race recap before going into some other items from last week. With the blogger outage, I had to do a catch up post that I tagged on to the end here. I am in MI, so notice the links look better and I was able to use spell check! I hope to get all my followers added to the blog roll and make an Aquaphor one shortly as well.

On Saturday, I did the Live Like Andi 10 mile run. It is for a great cause. Please check out the link on the sidebar for more info. I was excited for this run because I knew it would be for fun again. With Cristina running, there was no way I was going to win, and with the training week I had put it, I really had no clue what I would do anyway. Also, we had our church talent show the night before, and I had probably a few more baked good than I should have, as well as spent a lot of time chasing the kids. I thought it would be great if I could run at the same pace today as I did for the Derby race, but also felt it was unlikely for a couple reasons. First, it was raining. Oh, how I love this reason to take it easy. Second, I ran a lot this week already. In fact, this is the first week in a LONG time that I have run on 5 days (including the race). I had no taper whatsoever, and I could not with R4R looming just 3 weeks from today (eek!). I am still building, and with all this rain lately, I have just been trying to run as much as I can since that is something I can do in the rain.

Boy, is it nice to do a race where I don't need to look at a map to get there! My last couple I have, either due to being new in the area or weird road construction. I got there with plenty of time and met up with Cristina.

We hung out a bit and tried our best to stay dry before the start. We also found Kari and Kari, as well as a few others. We chatted with Greg from Sadler Shots, and were super excited to see our poster from last year as a flyer that was being distributed! I am on the left and Cristina is on the right. We don't know the guy on the bike.

The run was fairly uneventful for me. It did stop raining. I started off sort of fast, and by about the halfway point, I felt tired. I did not feel rested coming into this race, and I could feel it now. I felt a bit better when I took my gu at mile 5, but my pace just didn't come back down. I was glad to feel better about it, though. With the race being smaller, I was alone for quite a bit. As I finished up, there was a turn with just a police officer, not a course marshal. I knew from the past that this was the turn, as well as from the person ahead of me. As it turns out, Cristina missed this turn and went into the front entrance of the school. We didn't figure it out until we walked back on the course to find Kari and Kari. Cristina wondered why they were coming from that direction, since she didn't. She also wondered why she was running in traffic! After a quick comparison of our Garmins, we learned that she had added on an extra .25 of a mile. Thankfully, she didn't lose any places due to this mistake, but narrowly held onto her 2nd female spot. I was the 6th female, 34th overall, and 2nd in my age group with an official time of 1:17:24.

Here is the after picture. It took me forever to decide between the pink and the white socks. Andi was all about being fashionable- this race has a fashion walk, and I couldn't decide if wearing the pink would be honoring her with its cuteness or dishonoring her since it didn't match. In the end, I was glad I did since it was wet and the pink is a happier color and easier to clean on a day like today. Also, Cristina and I might have looked too much alike, especially had I chosen the tank too!

We also found Keira's preschool teacher, Miss Jan. It was great to see her, and she ran the 10K, finishing 1st in her age and 13th female. She has run Boston a few times too. I hope to still be running that fast when I am her age!



In other news, I think I am missing a few comments from the great blogger outage of 2011 on my I Want That Hat giveaway post. Please make sure you have the correct number of comments for the entries you think you should have. Also, if you have not yet entered, please do!

I also did my first ever official group ride! It was a ladies only ride out of the VO2 Multisport store in KY. It was fun and more of a social ride. We still averaged 16mph for 20 miles, and I when ahead and ran 2 miles after (hence my extra day of running this week).

Finally, this probably should be a separate post, but it is time to be a responsible adult/parent:

That is no fun sometimes :( I have had a bit of a [MAJOR]scheduling crisis for my August tris. School in KY starts August 10th (or August 15th where our apt is located). The first crisis is that we can't send Keira to public school using our apt address. They are just not good, so we are going to need to scramble to get moved now. The second crisis is that Steelhead is now completely OUT. T-Rex is also completely OUT. I am not really sure what will happen with the Maybury Time Trial. I think I will let Ryan decide if he is going to do it. If he wants to, then I am in, if not, then it is also out. Keira may miss a half day to do it, so not a big deal. Ryan won this race last year, and has been his "A" race for many years. This sort of solves my problem of how I was going to live through that week of 3 races, but it was also completely disappointing to have my "A" race completely not an option. I can't hardly have my daughter miss her first day of Kindergarten EVER (which in Jefferson Co is the day after Steelhead) or miss the whole second week of school (if we are in Oldham Co, which is what we want). What kind of responsible adult would I be? Seriously. So, I totally should have listened to BBD and Shelby when I did my "freak out" post and decided then to do Muncie. I am deciding now, which means I have a little less time to prepare, but honestly, the weather has been such a problem and with Ryan's training being all messed up too, I don't know that it would have changed much in my training plan (or lack thereof). I do have a HUGE week of cycling lined up and have become the MASTER at acquiring babysitters to ride, thanks to some AWESOME friends hooking me up (oh, and I am in MI still for this week, hence the babysitters). This week is going to be great! Now all I have to do is get some hotel rooms for Muncie and hope it doesn't sell out before R4R is over. I don't think I can be signed up for 2 70.3s without having done any EVER before.

Now that would be irresponsible.

I Want That Hat Giveaway

I am really excited to announce my 2nd giveaway from I Want That Hat. One lucky reader/follower will win an owl hat of their size and color choice from I Want That Hat. I hope you don't think I am crazy for doing a hat giveaway as soon as the weather started to turn around here, but as a savy shopper, the spring is the best time to get your deals on next winter's children's clothing. I already have hats, coats, and snowpants for my kids for at least the next year, if not two, bought on clearance. I saw these hats on my friend Angie's children, and she referred me to Noi, so I could get my own. Here are Keira and Soren in their hats.
I ordered mine a little big so they would be good for next winter. Keira has a 5T + and Soren has a 2T-4T size on, and both of my children are very small on the growth charts for their ages. You can also measure your child's head circumference and consult the size chart for more accurate sizing. Noi and Pat also make a lot of other cute animal hats as well as florals. This giveaway will go until Sunday, May 22nd, with the winner announced on Monday, May 23. Your hat will be made custom for you, so it will take a couple weeks to arrive, depending on your location and how fast you can decide your colors. It took me forever to decide because they were all so cute!

To enter: Mandatory (leave a separate comment here for each)
1. Be a follower of this blog
2. Go to "I Want That Hat" on facebook,
http://www.facebook.com/IWantThatHat
like them and leave a comment there telling them that I sent you.
Optional (please leave a separate comment here for each)
3. Share this contest on your blog, facebook, or other social networking site.
4. Tell me which hat is your favorite, or a hat you would like to see.

Also, in other news, I am happy to report that I DID in fact get to go on a group ride yesterday with the ladies from VO2 Multisport. My first ever group ride with people that I did not know at all, and I must say, I had a great time. I did not get lost or dropped and I made some new friends. I am expected to be out of town in MI (yeah!) for next Monday's ride, so I likely won't be able to ride with these ladies again for another 2 weeks. Hopefully I can get a sitter back home and get in a ride with my MI ladies instead. I am feeling a little bit better about R4R since I swam in the morning before the ride, did 20 miles at a relaxing 16.3mph, and then ran 2 miles afterwards for a mini brick. The course was pretty twisty and turny, so I didn't spend as much time in aero as I hope to in my race. Also, being a group ride, I needed to stay up for stability. It was pretty crowded and conjested in the beginning with lots of cars, runnes, and other riders, but I hear that as the newness of the nice weather wears off, the crowds will thin. I felt good afterwards too. Mostly, I felt insanely hungry afterwards, and could have done more had it been required of me and I had taken in more food during the ride. I was happy that I was able to successful get my smaller bottle in and out of the cage while riding without wrecking or stopping. I didn't try to use it to refill my aero drink while riding. I will have to save that for another day.

And the winner is:

Erin! at E-Run (http://e-run-run.blogspot.com/) - yes, still more issues over here with pasting links. ARGH! Random.org picked you with #3.

Please send me an email with your address and I will get that right over to you!
m (dot) christensen (at) live (dot) com

Also, I am getting stressed about having only 27 days from now until Racing for Recovery. Yikes! I spent last weekend having a great little vacation in Chattanooga for my husband's century ride called the 3 State 3 Mountain Challenge. This area had recently been hit by tornados, so the ride was shortened a bit and it was only 2 mountains instead of 3. My husband and his group are like me and will ride in circles in the parking lots to make sure their Garmin's read "100" or whatever round number they need to get to, so they opted to ride from our hotel to the start and back to get their full century. Even with the hills, they averaged 19.4mph. WOW. Maybe I can just have Ryan bike for me in R4R. No one would notice that, right? Ryan is in the middle. We were pretty excited because we had Austin (far left) who got the #1 bib, because he was alphabetically first. It made us all feel cool.

Hopefully I can get in a group ride today if Ryan can get out of his meeting on time and the weather holds out. It has been beautiful all day so far, but with the luck I have been having getting time in on the bike, I can't say for sure that it is a go yet. I didn't get any riding in this past weekend due to the trip. With the kids, staying home would not have gotten me any more riding either, so I just enjoyed it, seeing sights and eating. I did get in a short 3 mile run in downtown Chattanooga with the stroller. It was hard to find a route not knowing much of the area. The path I planned on taking when consulting the map was not stroller friendly, so I ended up doing a lot of walking, but I am sure I got a good workout chasing 2 kids around all day in a new city. I will be hoping to post pictures on my personal blog in the next day or two if you want to check it out. We took over 200 on two different cameras, so it is going to take me some time to sort through them and get them uploaded. Here are a couple favorites to hold you over:





Check back tomorrow for another giveaway! Yeah!

Yankz Review

Things have been going surprisingly well, despite rain keeping me indoors and having a sad toddler who (at least per day) breaks down and cries, "I want to go home". I am really glad I am currently running a giveaway because I have won TWO giveaways recently. The first product was a pair of Yankz laces that I won from Chad, Ironman and new manager of the Novi Running Fit, one of my favorite stores in MI. His blog is part of Running Fit's multisport blog, http://rfmultisport.com/chad.

I received my Yankz a couple days before the Derby race, and it was killing me to try them out. I was good, and resisted the temptation to try something new during a race, (although I did use a new fuel belt, messing with my feet is a little different). It was fun to get mail here at the new address too! The installation directions looked a bit complicated just because they were long, but then I read them through and they were not difficult at all and included step by step instructions with photos. Here are my shoes all ready to go:

I got them all set up and they feel comfortably tight, although I can still slip my feet in and out of them. I ran 5 miles in them yesterday and they felt great. I really am wondering how I ever lived without these, especially as a triathlete. I had been using lace locks (also purchased from Running Fit) for my previous tris, but those were annoying whenever I wasn't racing because my laces were too long when just secured with them (I dealt with it for racing). I couldn't cut the laces because I needed the length to be able to slip my feet in. If I didn't keep them installed, I lost them. I am pretty sure I have a single lace lock in my change purse right now with no mate. I love that these are just on and there all the time. I think I may need to get a second pair to put in my bum around town old running shoes so I don't have tie or untie them either. I probably won't, since it is SUPPOSED to be flip flop season - I shouldn't have to worry about wearing shoes for anything other than running or biking soon anyway.

I wish I had a pair to give away, but I just won the single pair and they are MINE. You can check out Yankz on their website (http://www.yankz.com/Yankz-Sure-Lace-System-Colors-Styles-s/48.htm) or go to Running Fit to get some. I love that you can get them customized with your own logo too for a large order. The pair I have has the Running Fit multisport logo on it, and that is so appropriate for me since most of my tris are theirs.

Also, I wanted to thank Kim at (Just) Trying is for Little Girls (http://23imaginaryfriends.blogspot.com/) for randomly picking me to win the Chocolate #9 giveaway. I am so excited about this because I am both a gel AND chocolate addict, so this is perfect for me. Hopefully I will get them before Live Like Andi 10 mile so that I can try them first in training and then race with one to give a full review of those as well. Otherwise, my next race is *GASP* Racing for Recovery, and since this whole distance is new, I am going to be using as much old standby stuff as possible for that one (vanilla/plain gu with maybe a cherry lime roctane for variety), although the Chocolate #9 will be used for training I am sure, or the Triceratops tri the next week.

Finally, as you can see from the links appearing in the text, I am still having trouble pasting links. I am sorry to my new Aquaphor team mates who have added me to their blogs as well as the other new followers sites that I am following now too and I have been unable to return the favor since adding links is not agreeable to the new laptop. Worst case, I will be on the desktop for LLA and will get my blog roll fixed then. Spell check isn't working either, so I am sorry about that too. Hopefully I am able to find all my own errors. Also, even though I was provided with these Yankz, free of charge, this is still my own opinion.

Kentucky Derby Festival mini Marathon Race Recap

This was a great race that really fell together perfectly for me. It was super fun, and it was totally NO pressure for me. It is really crazy how well everything did go, and I feel really blessed to have everything work out. Here is the timetable and race recap:

Sunday night, arrive in Louisville and unload the cars, put kids to bed.
Monday Morning, go to VO2 Multisport (first stop of course) and ask around about the Derby Race, get a maybe on a bib.
Monday evening/Tuesday- completely stalk person at VO2 to ensure I have a race bib. Get confirmation Tuesday. Bad weather prevented me from riding my bike. Now that I have a bib, I guess I can do a mini taper for this half marathon and justify my lack of riding or swimming this week. The heater in the gym pool is broken, and the water is not normally as warm as Powerhouse in the first place. Another reason to wait until it is fixed.
Wednesday, ensure my mom can come to watch kids for the race since Ryan needs to get in a long ride on Sat with group. Also hand over an envelop of cash to a different person at VO2 store and stress about it getting into the right hands. Continue to stalk 1st person to ensure he received my money.
Thursday, get word that my packet was in fact ready for pick up. They required IDs, so I couldn't just get it myself.
Friday- go to expo and get my packet from the VO2 store booth. I was really glad I chose this option. First, it got me into the race vibe since I have always gone to the expos for races of this size. It was a nice good sized expo with cool stuff. I bought a fuel belt to hold my gus since I had forgotten my giant safety pins in MI and only had small ones. I also will want to use a fuel belt at Racing for Recovery to hold my gus and number so this would let me try it out. Second, it alerted me to the fact that the exit Google told me to take was closed due to flooding. This was key in determining my directions for Saturday morning.

Race day- Ryan and I actually got up pretty close in time to each other so that he could eat prior to his ride too. I got up at 5 to eat 2.5 hours before the start and had a marathon protein bar. I emerged from the bathroom as Ryan was getting up with full eye makeup on and Ryan called me out on it. Seriously, though, this was going to be a fun half marathon and what else was I going to do while digesting? I left a little before 6am to head down to the race. I found parking very quickly in a small parking lot that filled up before I even left the truck. It was very close to the start and finish, as well as porta potties. I had the girls who parked next to me take my picture before the race.

Since I was not running for myself, I was in the wrong corral. I spent a little time trying to fix it, but then realized it really didn't matter. I have a history of missing the start anyway, so whatever. I would just run through people since nothing was on the line. I chatted with some people who gave me some advice on the school systems, and snuck into corral C with them. I saw the 5:15 sign and new I had to move up somewhat. I found some guy who was doing the same thing and followed him through the crowd to corral B. I was still a ways back, but it was too close to the start to do anything about it. It took me 5 minutes to get to the start line. I spent the majority of the race passing people, and started a lot slower than I typically like to start. Again, I just wanted to focus on running as fast as I could for as long as I could to just see what I could do. If I blew up and had to slow down, then I did. I was on the fence about trying to qualify for NYC. I would need a 1:37 to do it, and that was dang fast. Also, I didn't want to qualify someone else for NYC and then stress about doing it a second time. I didn't even calculate the splits I would need to do it or have a goal plan like I did to get to Boston. I just went with the Pam Halpert plan of "run fast at the start, run fast at the middle, and finish fast". I didn't stress if I got in the low 7s, but if I got below 7, I tried to reign it it. I tried to also stay below 7:49, my average for my previous PR. I was amazed by the community support, and tried to high five all the little kids holding their hands out and cheering for us.

The coolest part of the race was running through Churchill Downs. It was AWESOME to be inside. It had a bit of an incline because we had to run under the track to get to the road on the infield. We ran on the road there, and then back under the track. The other reason why this was cool was because I came up on a dad with his 10 year old daughter. He was running with a camera and cheering her on, taking pictures as she ran. I couldn't keep up with her. She was super fast. I did come across her dad in the food line at the end and learn that I did have a faster time than her, but she finished with a 1:40. Totally amazing!

Shortly after leaving Churchills downs, I realized that I was pretty sure I was going to have a PR. I probably wouldn't get NYC, but that was fine. A PR and a fun race was what I wanted. It didn't really get "hard" until the last 2 miles, and at that point, it was still way easier than Martian. I finished with a time of 1:38:39 and felt great.

I also was able to find Jessica E who ran for Team Marathon last year. She had told me about this race and we knew to look for each other. Thankfully, we finished close to each other so it wasn't impossible to find her in the 11,00+ runners. This race was huge, and this was just one more thing that went my way. This really was a perfect race day for me!

There were so many great things about this race:
1. Weather was perfect. It was sunny and not too cold at the start or too hot at the finish. I was a bit chilly before we started, but fine once I got moving.
2. They passed out bottled water at a lot of the stops. At first, I was horrified. I can't stand bottled water due to the waste. However, I was able to drink a lot of water during the race. It was super easy to drink out of the bottles while running. Not all the stops were like this, but since I had trained mostly in artic conditions where I didn't hardly sweat at all, running this race in normal temps made me wonder if relying on water stops alone would be enough for me.
3. The new fuel belt worked out. I didn't lose any gels and I packed an extra just in case. I did pin my number because I wanted it higher up so the whole thing would be above my hips and not flapping.
4. It was huge. I had forgotten how fun big races are. It also had a big fat medal at the end. I actually asked the man who gave it to me if I got the right one. It seemed to big to be a half marathon medal.
5. It was a great way to see my new city.
6. The handed out chocolate milk after the race. My favorite! And, I had not had the chance to get any recovery shakes since we moved down here.

As far as results go, I ended up being 18th in my correct age group, out of about 1000 runners. There were over 6000 females, and I was the 71st female.

The bad thing about this race was that it was a fabulous Saturday that I should have spent on my bike instead. I just couldn't bring myself to get on my bike with my mom in town after she watched the kids all morning. I am really starting to stress about R4R. It is raining again today and I won't be able to do a group ride tonight. It will be time to hit the trainer.

Overall, this was a fantastic race. It really was my day! While I am not sure that I will do it next year with Boston being just a couple weeks prior, I will definitely be back. Members from my church here were passing out water at mile 23, so maybe I will do that if they do it again next year.

Please don't forget about my Aquaphor Giveaway below!

Team Aquaphor Update & Giveaway!

I am getting settled in Kentucky. Is it a shock to anyone that the first place I took the kids once I was on my own Monday morning was the bike store? Followed by checking out gyms?? And then, the grocery store. Ha. I am actually really glad I did that order because I wanted to talk to some real people about the gyms in the area. Sadly, the one that came highly recommended was out of my price range. I was also able to score a bib to the sold out Derby Mini Marathon from one of the employees at VO2 Multisport. I don't know who I will be running for yet, and honestly, it is a bit nerve wracking to hand over a wad of cash to someone you just met. I am just glad that I didn't have to get up early to wait in line for a charity bib and have to pay extra money. The person I am running for signed up really early, so I am getting the early bird price too! I am debating on going to the expo tomorrow just to check it out. I have always gone to marathon expos, so this will be a new thing for me if I don't.

I was excited that I also was able to get my Team Aquaphor team kit and samples on Monday! I got all dressed up, bike loaded, just in time for the rain to come. I was en route to the ladies ride at VO2 when the rain came down. I drove the rest of the way just to see if anything was happening, and it wasn't. I did get the comment that "I looked too serious for this ride". Ha. If only they knew the poser that I am!!!! They didn't see my mountain bike helmet with visor (the new alien helmet was left home on purpose). While it is obvious that my tri bike is brand new, it was not so obvious that I am brand new to riding a tri bike and group rides. I feel like my group rides with TIA don't count as group rides because I knew everyone from OW swimming first (where they all got to see how bad I am at that), and they witnessed my true beginning on the road. It is more of a word of mouth type thing, and not a public advertised ride. It is also an out and back course where no one gets lost. Being new to the area, getting lost was/is a legit fear. It occurred to Ryan last week as he hung on during a hammerfest because he had no idea where he was. His buddies proposed the solution, a Garmin 800 that has maps in it. Maybe next year.

At any rate, I was bummed that I couldn't ride, being dressed to look so fast and all. Here is the new tri top/shorts.

But, since I had scored the bib to the Derby race, I was justifying being OK with it since I should rest up for that race (sort of). I need to hit the bike hard next week, though, to prepare for R4R. Hopefully the weather will be more condusive to riding. It has rained every day since we got here. I feel like we brought it with us from MI. Also, I can't believe we noticed this AFTER we had our ice creams, but Graeters, my most favorite ice cream ever, has locations here and was running a special that for days that it rains in April in KY or IN, they will give you sundaes buy one get one free. How did we mess that up? I actually almost hoped it would rain today so we could go back and get sundaes today instead of single scoops. It would have been cheaper that way AND we would have gotten more ice cream!

So, here is where the giveaway comes in. I am giving away some of my Aquaphor Samples and one 3.5oz jar to one lucky follower. I do want to welcome my new followers. Most of them are from Team Aquaphor, and I am getting their sites added to the sidebar. I am not sure what to do if one of you guys win though! You already have the samples! Maybe I can dig up some marathon bars or something instead.

Here is what you have to do. Please leave a comment for each:

Mandatory:
1. Be a follower of this blog and tell me why you love aquaphor
Optional:
2. Go to Team Aquaphor on f/b and like them http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/TeamAquaphor (sorry, I am having trouble with links on the new laptop).
3. Post this giveaway on your facebook, blog, or twitter. Please comment separately for each.
4. Give me your best, "I wish I had some Aquaphor story". For example, mine was the time I wore a crappy sports bra in the rain for 11 miles and the entire neckline chaffed. I had a smile shaped scab on my chest as a result that was visable above my team Marathon tri top for at least one group ride AND a race. I had people asking me what happened, how did I manage to BURN myself there, was it a cooking accident?? No, a wardrobe malfunction.

The contest will close Sunday night, 5/8, and the winner will be announced on Monday, 5/9. If I can get a lot more followers, I will do ANOTHER giveaway that I am working on!