Runs, Rides, News

I ran twice this week and rode once. 10.5 miles running, 33 miles on the bike...and all of this took place in the last three days.

• Friday - Run - 3.21 miles, 33:36 (10:29)
• Saturday - Bike - 33:6 miles, 2:32:52 (13.9 mph)
• Sunday - Run - 7:02 miles, 1:12:58 (10:23)

I don't really know how to think about or represent the riding time. I am riding with a 14-15 mph pace group, so this week I averaged a little less than 14. What I do know is that I am not at the BACK of this particular group, and we did ride UP Torrey Pines.

Learning to ride with a large group has been a learning experience. I'll admit, some of the whole riding with a pack thing makes me nervous. For example: I will never understand how people go flying down hills with abandon. My top speed going down a hill yesterday was about 30mph...and it was scary. I slowed down repeatedly on Torrey Pines (That's not where I hit 30mph). Although we were going downhill for about a mile, it was not my fastest mile.

See that 400 ft to 0 ft descent around mile 5 and then the ascent  around mile 30...that's Torrey Pines. It's a little more than a mile each way.

I'm a big chicken when it comes to speeding downhills. I'd rather go up 'em. I'm not kidding. I was really happy about going up Torrey Pines at the end of the ride. It wasn't a fast climb, but I never felt like I was shaky or had to stop, and I've felt that way about this hill before. Like I said, it's a long climb. AND I'd already ridden 30 miles...so BOO YA!

You may have noticed that all my riding and running activity this week took place over the weekend. In the long run, that is not good for me. This I know. Overdoing it on the weekends is a sure-fire way to get injured, but I had some good reasons for not getting in any mid-week runs or rides this week.

Walter's father was in the hospital all week; he has colon cancer. He didn't go TO the hospital because of this, but it was something that was unexpectedly found because he was there for something else. 

Yes, it sucks. There was a surgery. Modern medicine is downright, freekin' amazing! A surgeon, who did  the surgery (and who not really look old enough to be a surgeon BTW),  removed the tumor laproscopically (is that a word?), which is the huge, effing, amazing part to me. For my FIL to be able to have that kind of surgery (three small incisions) was a godsend because we were not so sure he'd make it through an actual surgery. He's 89. He came through the surgery like a champ. 

So, I mention this because this is a running (sorta) blog, and my father in law is the person who really started my running adventures. He didn't really do it on purpose, he just signed up the whole family for a 5K about 6 years ago, and I got the wild idea that I could actually run a 5K since there were so many other people running who looked a lot like me...meaning they didn't really look like what I then thought ALL RUNNERS looked like...you know like this

(Full disclosure: I still pretend that I look like that when I run, which is probably why I never purchase race photos, which never look like that, but I figure it's the photographer's fault for that, not mine).

So, really, today's blog is dedicated to my FIL. If it wasn't for him, I may not have ever started this craziness. He is just a stud, is doing well, flirting shamelessly with all the nurses, and is going to be OK.