100%

Today’s workout was a great one. I haven’t been the best at working at 100% because I know how much it takes out of me, but I also haven’t seen the physical benefits that I’d see if I’d be working at 100%. So today I decided to work harder than I had been, and it was a good decision. Today’s workout was 10-6-3 EDI, two sets: lunge with RL, squat with stick, GHR to arm’s length, curl (18), bench (45), plate front delt (10), and crunch. I had help on the manual hold for the curl, and I know I work harder when someone is expecting me to. Brett from Inversion was there, so he made me work hard and then we had a short conversation about life and push ups.

Monday’s workout was 10-10-10 EDI (only because I didn’t get to it last week; lunge, wall squat, GHR, curl (18), wall push up, crunch). Tuesday I took a ride (18.62 miles, 1:08, 16.4 mph (45.1 max), 149 HR (177 max), 1425’ ascent, 1314’ descent; 8:10 up Lynnwood Way, 8.8 mph, 146 HR). I need to make this part of my Wednesday hilly ride when I start that back up again. Sadly it didn’t work out today, but I’m anticipating climbing Lynnwood every week and hopefully getting better and better and climbing (which hopefully will also make me a better all-around cyclist).

Training my weaknesses,
Kailin

Busy Day

This morning, I got to sleep in before riding with Val, Anna M, Kat, and Jay. We made up the route as we were riding, made two stops, and generally just enjoyed the sunshine. It was great to be outside, and I really like my new bike! After a short chat with Anna, I headed to the Farkases’ to watch the Titans win and complete a few projects (for me on my computer and for ARenee with some craft stuff). Then it was off to softball. We played two games tonight and won them both, even though we were shorthanded. It’s a co-ed league, and sadly I think I got four balls hit out to me in center field, Sam and Ryan got one each in right field, and Jimmie got two in left field all afternoon—which means they either didn’t hit the ball out of the infield or didn’t hit the ball at all (the latter was mostly the case). We won by over 20 runs in both games, and we got so bored in the outfield that we started playing on the line for both girls and guys just so that we’d have to chase down the ball if it got hit any farther than 200ft (it didn’t). We did make the pitcher mad, though, because he wanted to pitch a shutout and didn’t want us to have fun.

Stats from the ride:

• 31.89 miles, 2:01:35, 15.7 mph (44.5 max), 115 HR (170 max), 2592’ ascent, 2281’ descent
• Climb up Lynnwood West to East: 1.17 miles, 7:14 (a new record), 9.7 mph

September 24, 2011. Lynnwood climb: 7:14, 1.17 miles, 9.7 mph, 104 HR (can't be right)
July 25, 2011. Lynnwood climb: 7:40, 1.17 miles, 9.1 mph, 173 HR
April 6, 2011. Lynnwood climb: 7:51, 1.16 mi, 8.9 avg, 173 HR
March 3, 2011. Lynnwood climb: 8:23

Team Swiftwick

I can’t seem to keep up. It’s not that I don’t have time to blog, it’s that I’m not making time to do so. I really enjoy writing, but I have definitely liked the break. And I haven’t had many pictures to add, which makes multiple wordy blogs in a row seem so boring.

I got to be a part of Team Swiftwick this morning for the Nashville Women’s Half Marathon. We met dark and early, but if I’d have had my phone out I’d have taken a picture of the sunrise—it was beautiful, and we got to enjoy it while we were getting our assignments and last-minute details for the race. We headed over for the start, listened to the national anthem, and then were off. My job was to carry a radio, ride behind the leader with the 2nd or 3rd or whatever place girl (if they weren’t all together), and communicate with the race organizers at the finish line where the ladies I was with were and who was who. I rode mostly with the 2nd place girl and radioed to the finish line her number and when she passed each mile marker. I also could hear what the leader’s times at each mile marker were, so I could get a read on splits if she wanted them. She never asked, but she was never really out of sight of the leader. I really enjoy supported races this way—you get to see the race from such a different perspective than if you were racing.

My next assignment (after breakfast!) was to just roam the course, cheer for the women who were still on the course, and help anyone if necessary. All told, I was on the bike 4 hours and covered 30 miles. Quite likely the slowest 30 miles I’ve ever done on the bike, but it was faster than I’d have done had I been running! I headed back to the car as the final couple women were finishing and didn’t see the last one finish, but a couple of the other Team Swiftwick women stayed to support her and cheer for her.

Stats from the ride (though I missed at least 20 minutes at the start of the race):

• 24.58 miles, 2:55:43, 8.4 mph (22.4 max), 77 HR (149 max), 2621’ ascent, 2621’ descent

Kat and I then headed back downtown to visit the Frist Center for the Arts. It was something like Smithsonian National Museum day, and I got 2 free tickets for the museum. I had never been and neither had Kat, so we took advantage of the freebie. They had 3 exhibits that we enjoyed.

Exhibit 1

The first was the kids’ place, where we drew a conch shell (as well as we could), admired some kids’ artwork, and drew pictures that were then printed in reverse. As we continued through the museum, we were happy we started with those drawings so we appreciated the paintings even more!

Exhibit 2

The second exhibit was something I didn’t understand about a woman who creates buildings with cardboard and films herself in them in mystery stories. I’m sure there is more to it than that, but I didn’t get it.

Exhibit 3

The final exhibit was a set of paintings from the time of Jesus—his birth and young days, his ministry days, and his disciples. They were really well done, and a couple had interactive pieces that the museum had added (like a comparison of 2 pictures of Jesus as a baby: one was a poor Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, and the other was them as wealthy. Below each print were four textured materials so you could feel the difference in the portrayals.). We also appreciated the description of how they made paints and what materials they used. Then we headed back to the cars, way too late for lunch and quite hungry!

Thursday, Val and I met for a walk at lunch and then Anna S and I met at her house for a run and walk after work—it was absolutely beautiful out, and I was so happy to have spent a couple hours just enjoying the sunshine. I did my 5 on, 5 off thru 40 workout thru the day but can’t remember the exercises I completed.

Friday, I took BB in to Todd for a fitting. I’d only ridden twice since I’d had the bike, and the setup desperately needed some tweaking. He got me all set up, and my next couple rides felt great. Val, Jeremy, Anna M, and I met to ride the race course we did on Saturday and got in a short but fun urban assault. Then it was off to the Farkases’ to chill with the fam for a while.

Visiting Robin

This past weekend, I hopped on a plane and flew to Pennsylvania to visit my sister. Robin is pregnant with the first kid on the Acheson side, and her friends were giving her a shower. I wanted to go to it, so I did. It was also quite nice of them to schedule it on a weekend after my season, so I definitely had to make an effort (though it didn’t take much) to get out there. The shower was Friday, and hopefully I can get a photo of all of us who were there. Robin got some great stuff, and it took us quite a few trips to the car and then into the house! Saturday Jason made some tasty waffles; we walked to a bunch of garage sales in their neighborhood; we played Settles of Catan: Cities and Knights; Robin made some good pizza; and we skyped with Mom and Dad (well, sort of—Mom and Dad could see us but we couldn’t see them). Sunday I ran and then we went to church where they are studying Luke—the same book we are studying at Fellowship. After lunch at Wegman’s (a grocery store that has lots of variety for lunch), Robin and I watched Jason play ultimate Frisbee with a few his friends before I headed off to the airport. It was a quick trip, but I am so glad I made it out there.

Before the fun weekend, though, Thursday I rode with Valerie the course of the Nashville Women’s Half Marathon that’s taking place on Saturday (we are going to be bike support people through Swiftwick) and then went to Inversion. Friday morning I ran a couple miles. Seldom do I wish I had a camera with me while I run (too distracting), but this morning I wished I’d had a camera. First of all, the sunrise was amazing, so I ran into it until I had to turn lest I end up on the highway. Then, though I didn’t want to, I turned around—and was amazed at the full rainbow (and its shadow) on the other side of the sky. I was in awe, amazed at the color, thinking I was silly for not having wanted to turn around and what I would have missed had I just kept going straight, and awed by God and is work. WOW.

Now that the weekend is over, it’s back to real life. Monday (not a rest day because Saturday was) I did 5 on, 5 off thru 60 pull up, wall squat, wall push up, and standing ham after work (while cutting lots of veggies and preparing supper). Tuesday I hit the DHY pool at lunch (for a quick 800, to which I need to add yardage just to keep up with swimming) and the MFY after work for 40 minutes on a step mill—one of my favorite machines. I probably should’ve run outside, but I didn’t and still got in a good workout. Hopefully soon I can get out on my bike; I just need to have Todd set it up and I’ll be good to go.

The Wise Woman

Proverbs 14:1 “The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands.”

Today’s workout was a good one, spread out all afternoon. My plan had been to get all the exercises done that I could during the day so that I could play a game (Dalmuti) at lunch and ride with Valerie in the evening. However, I got only two exercises in during the day and didn’t ride with Valerie, so that meant that I could finish all the rest at the same time. It was 10×30sec, 1 set, manual holds if possible. I did have a partner, Andrew from the CSY, for the last two.

• Standing ham (done at work so not GHR)
• Wall squat (done at work)
• Lunge R, L (this was crazy hard—as hard as 5 minutes of work!)
• Push up (this was crazy hard too—they just never get easier)
• Curl w/18lb, with manual hold
• Crate crunch with manual hold

New Blue!

Today was an easy run/easy ride kind of day. Getting outside twice is always a good day, so I’ll take the easy day. Plus I got a ride on my new bike! I sold the Trek and replaced it with a Blue, which is named BB. Here he is:

I went out at lunch to the DHY and headed for the trail. I wanted to be in the sun as much as I could, so I went down the road toward the city property and turned the opposite direction of where I’d gone last time I went back there exploring. I like the other direction better because it’s longer, but this was perfect for the time I had today. Short and sweet, and faster mile times today than Sunday. Success!

• Totals: 2.0 miles, 15:24, 7:42 pace, 167 HR (181 max), 235’ ascent, 256’ descent
• Mile 1: 7:41, 164 HR
• Mile 2: 7:42, 170 HR

After working in the afternoon, I headed out to Cool Springs to pick up and adjust the bike. That didn’t leave me with much daylight, and I had to stop mid-ride to readjust, but it was so nice to get out on two wheels—I have not ridden since the Clarksville metric century, 9 days.

• Totals: 8.52 miles, 29:56, 17.1 mph (32.7 max), 149 HR (178 max), 598’ ascent, 909’ descent

Ah, Lists!

I read through a great list today, 50 Rules for Dads of Daughters. I've written my favorites below, in order of appearance on the list but not necessarily in order of favorites. And I'd say this applies to any man with his woman, whether she's his daughter or his wife.

#19: Teach her how to change a flat tire. A tire without air need not be a major panic inducing event in her life. She'll still call you crying the first time it happens.

#42: Let her know she can always come home. No matter what.

#44: Write her a handwritten letter every year on her birthday. Give them to her when she goes off to college, becomes a mother herself, or when you think she needs them most.

50 Rules for Dads of Daughters

Original blog location

Work today was great but long, and then I had a good hard workout: 3×30sec heavy. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done this, but I wanted to jump right back into these hard workouts even though Will isn’t here to push me hard this off season. I will just have to push myself without him. Maybe some of my teammates will want to come train with me some once I have a schedule down. Here was today’s workout:

• Lunge R, L, 45lb bar + 20lb per side = 85lb
• GHR at 60°, 25lb
• GHR at bottom
• Standing hamstring, 25lb
• Push up
• Pull up
• Curl, little, light bar with 15lb per side = 40lb or 45lb

I felt good, which is an encouraging way to start the week. I also read some good verses tonight. Evidently it was a good day for reading interesting stuff!

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.

I am so thankful I have good fiends who speak to my heart when I start feeling anxious; I could not do life without Jesus, and I am so grateful He’s given me such strong, solid friends—I have a few precious ones who will be strong for me when I am just needing someone to be strong so I can be weak and need someone. I love those dear, precious friends.

Also, I think someone should start a mail deliver business—not like UPS or Fed-Ex, but rather like the USPS. Word has it that they might be going out of business, and I am sure that people will always be needing mail to be delivered, so it sounds like there will be a need soon. And since it will be about a year, now is the time to start thinking of a business plan and getting clients, customers, and things together!

220 Pounds of Chicken

This weekend was unlike any other weekend, and it was a good one. Friday, I worked my normal half day and then went to MFY for a workout: 10×10sec, 2 times, lunge with RL, GHR with reps to top, pull up (1 time), altitude drop curl with 18lb, and crate crunch. It definitely went better than Wednesday’s workout. Thankfully.

Later I headed to my teammate Kat’s sister-in-law’s house to help her mother-in-law (Celia and Patty) cut chicken. We had at least 220 pounds to cut—4 huge boxes with lots of 6 double-breast packages in each one. Thankfully, the chicken was still frozen, so that made it easy to cut. However, after more than an hour, we had made it through only 1 box and decided we were probably going to be there all night! It was almost overwhelming. Kat and Jay showed up eventually, though, and with their help we finished in less than 4 hours. But what the chicken was for was the most exciting part of the weekend.

Saturday morning, I got up early to stop at a produce stand in Nashville and then head out to Ashland City, TN, for the NashVegas Triathlon that Kat was organizing. I wasn’t racing; rather, I was feeding her almost 550 pre-registered (and possibly more with race-day registration) athletes who were competing in the sprint distance, Olympic distance, or half distance triathlon races that were going on that morning. Celia, Patty, and I were in charge, and we had a lot to do before the athletes finished and were hungry: steam rice, cut all the veggies (squash, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, and onions), cut the watermelon and peaches, marinade the chicken and veggies, grill the chicken and veggies, and set everything up in an organized way. We had one grill to work with and started grilling early with the hopes of having enough cooked all day. We didn’t quite succeed, but we didn’t have many complainers, either. They could see that the food was being cooked and that we had enough, so they were patient and that made it easier on us. When we finally cleaned up, I felt as tired as if I’d have done a marathon!

Sunday I slept and slept, getting up in just enough time to get to church. I am so glad I didn’t miss this weekend’s service. One of our pastors was previously a pastor in the DC area, and he planned a fantastic 9/11 memorial service and time of worship. It was a great reminder that God is good and powerful. I walked away praying this:

Psalm 91:1–16

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked.

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”

The sun was out when church ended, so I went for a run, doing the same loop I’d done on Thursday. My goal was to run each mile around 11 seconds faster than last time, but I never looked at my watch while I was running—I was just trying to run faster by feel. I succeeded for the first mile, but not for the last 2.25 miles. Stats:

• 9-08-11 Totals: 3.25 miles, 25:19, 7:47 pace, 166 HR, 369’ ascent, 428’ descent
  9-11-11 Totals: 3.28 miles, 25:37, 7:49 pace, 168 HR, 384’ ascent, 564’ descent
• 9-08-11 Mile 1: 7:59, 137 HR
  9-11-11 Mile 1: 7:48, 166 HR
• 9-08-11 Mile 2: 7:38, 178 HR
  9-11-11 Mile 2: 7:44, 173 HR
• 9-08-11 Mile 3: 7:42, 179 HR
  9-11-11 Mile 3: 7:54, 169 HR
• 9-08-11 Mile 3.25: 1:58, 184 HR
  9-11-11 Mile 3.28: 2:08, 148 HR

The final event of the weekend was a softball double-header. I had to sit out the summer season because of cycling (so definitely sat out by choice!), and for this fall season I am on a new team. It was fun to play with Boo-Yahh tonight and to get to see my old Fellowship team. Sadly, I’ll miss the games we play against each other, but I’m sure I’ll see them all around the field during the weekends that I’m there! The games were great fun, and I fielded well. I played first base in the second game, one of very few, if not the first, times I’ve played there. I really do not like the infield, but the girl who had been there just wasn’t catching the throws to her, and they wanted someone who could catch. I much prefer the outfield and am much better out there, though. My hitting was OK, and I hit at least .333, which would be fantastic if I were in the majors. But this is a slowpitch fun league, and that is well below what I know I can do. I need to work on that for the next games!

Long Walk and Short Run

It was beautiful out today--like real fall weather, even though it's 2 months early. It's going to get hot again, but I'm going to appreciate and enjoy the moderate temps while they're here. Today at lunch, Val and I met outside at the pond across the street and took a good 3-mile walk. We warmed up just enough to take off our sweaters but not enough to sweat. Perfect!

To make the day even better, I went for a run before Inversion. It was relatively short, 3.75 miles, with 3.25 of that a run and 0.5 of it a walk (the final 0.5 through my neighborhood). My mile times were pretty consistent, and I felt great. Plus it's a route I can do frequently and get faster at every time. Goals like that are goals I like!

Sad, Sad Workout

I am "reading" through the Bible via iTunes and the Daily Audio Bible podcast, and this was part of what I heard today. Wow!

Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; you will remove iniquity far from your tents. Then you will lay your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver; for then you will have your delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down, and you say, "Exaltation will come!" Then He will save the humble person. He will even deliver one who is not innocent; yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands. Job 22: 21–30

I think I should not have attempted a workout today. It was supposed to have been 5 minutes of work, but it was really 20 minutes of me forcing myself to try to work. I don’t know why it was so hard, especially since Monday’s workout was so good. I went to the MFY with high hopes, yet I didn’t make it 20 seconds of the first exercise—push up. After trying a couple times to succeed, I finally got up and found the push up handle to try those. Still no success. Then I moved to the wall, which resulted in failure—but at least I lasted 1:30 on this one. My head just wasn’t in it.

I’ve had days like this before, so I just walked around for a minute or two and told myself that the workout didn’t have to end how it started; that is, just because the first exercise resulted in failure, the remaining exercises could still end in success. On to curl, which I completed with 8lb dumbbells, but it still didn’t feel like a success because of the low weight. It was a step in the right direction, though. By that point I’d decided to do only a couple of the listed exercises, and only those that I knew I could do; I didn’t give myself a chance to succeed at those I didn’t do, but I also didn’t allow failure—I don’t know which is worse. I’d like to complete everything, but I’d rather not end up crying. I’ve been there more times than I want to admit, and it’s not pleasant nor the least bit profitable.

So I completed the rest: standing ham, lateral delt, and crunch. I’m hoping for better results tomorrow.

Compatibility

I stumbled on this fantastic blog today, I think through Jonathan at Inversion or Michael at Fellowship. This is the part that affected me the most, but I'd encourage you to read the entire thing.

The Truth About Marital Compatibility 

5 Questions for Singles to Ask When Seeking a Biblically Compatible Spouse:

1. How do you know he or she willingly submits to godly authority?
   
   Ladies, if he does not submit to godly authority, he is a dangerous man. Period. Men, if she doesn’t submit to godly authority now (as a single man, that’s not you by the way), she is the kind of woman Proverbs warns you to avoid. 


2. How do you know he or she is teachable?
   
   If he or she likes to argue, they are more concerned with being right than being made righteous. When you think you’ve won an argument in marriage, you’ve actually lost. Marriage is about humbly maturing, realizing you have much to learn for the rest of your lives.


3. How well known and involved is he or she in Christian community?
   
   It’s easy to put on a good front when you are attracted to someone and motivated to marry. If he or she is unknown in community, they are unknown to you. Others need to vouch for the person’s character, integrity, and faith.


4. How does he or she speak of others?
   
   If he or she is critical, demeaning, or flippant in their attitude and words now, it will happen in marriage. Soon, you will become the brunt of their anger and pride.


5. How does he or she respond when confronted with their sin?
   
   When someone tries to hide, misrepresent, blameshift, excuse, or rationalize their sin, they have a distorted view of the Gospel. Because of Jesus, we can confess sin (I John 1:9), repent (Rom. 2:4), walk in the light (Eph. 5:8-9), and be reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:17-21).

My hope today was to have gotten out to run, but it’s been raining since Sunday. So my second choice was to go on the step mill, but that didn’t work either—I had to run errands in Cool Springs, and the CSY doesn’t have any step mills, or even any steps. I went with the next best option, I figured, short of the treadmill: 30 minutes on the elliptical. My goal was to get at least 3 miles in, and I succeeded.

• Mile 1: 9:57
• Mile 2: 9:18
• Mile 3: 9:23

I would have liked for the third mile to have been faster than the second, but I was doing the varied workout and minutes 19–22 were rest minutes, so they were easier. I was trying to not take it easy by keeping my strides per minute to between 180 and 190, but it definitely still kept the distance down. Oh, well, all is not lost, since I did complete 3+ miles in that time.

Labor Day Weekend

Holidays are wonderful, and this weekend has been a wornderful holiday weekend. It started out with a hike on Friday with Hollyn at Percy Warner Park. I’ve measured this loop before but had since forgotten, and I’m pretty sure I told Hollyn it was about 3 miles and might take around an hour. Wrong! It is 4.5 miles, and it took us an hour and a half. It is not an easy loop, and it was hot! Plus we didn’t carry water, so we slowed slightly for the last mile and a half. It was a blast, though, especially since I haven’t seen Hollyn in a while.

• Mile 1: 19:22
• Mile 2: 19:22
• Mile 3: 19:14
• Mile 4: 20:02
• Mile 4.53: 12:59
• Totals: 4.53 miles, 1:31:00, 3.0 mph (5.6 max), 115 HR (163 max), 2305’ ascent, 2332’ descent

Saturday was the Clarskville (Metric) Century, which got its own blog.

Sunday I got some things done around my apartment and then headed to Farkases’ house. Aunt Renee and I ran a few errands, we all watched some tennis, we had dinner, and then we played Sequence. ARenee and I crushed Luke and Lauren!

Monday, the real holiday, started with a 5 on, 5 off thru 40 workout. It was a fantastic workout, and I felt great. I just stayed around here by going to our Cabana, and only one other person was in there—thankfully, he was willing to have the TV off. That is, until a couple came in when I had about 10 minutes left. They also left the TV off, but the lady went on the most annoying, loudest elliptical trainer I’ve ever heard; there were 2 others in the room, yet she never moved. I’m not sure how she could handle it—I couldn’t and did my last couple exercises in the hallway. Then I headed to the movie theater to meet Anna for a showing of The Help. It was very entertaining, containing a lot of history I didn’t know, interesting stories, humor, seriousness, and more. I’d definitely recommend this one. We then went to her house, where she and Josh were entertaining for the evening. After a delicious dinner grilled by the guys (Josh, Josiah, Mitch, and Josh) in the rain while we ladies (Anna, Grace, Charlotte, Kristen, and me) and baby Bennett chatted, we played a few games of Telestrations. It’s fun to see what words and phrases people come up with and how they change or stay the same as they get drawn/written around the circle. I’m so blessed to have fun, godly friends!

Sunrise Century

I have been largely negligent in my blogging this week, mainly because I’ve been largely negligent in training. I did write a couple race reports, ran a couple times (2.5 miles and 3 miles), and hiked through Percy Warner (4.5 miles) with Hollyn, and I was otherwise quite productive. I wrote a nice long list of things to do this week, which I kept adding to and crossing things off of. It was definitely a successful week.

Today, however, we had a good long ride. Anna, Parri, Val, Lee, and I went up to Clarksville (with a bunch of other people) for their annual Sunrise Century. For the first 40 miles, I rode with my teammates and a huge group of guys. I didn’t have to do much work in terms of pulling, but I did have to do a lot of mental work trying to hold the wheels in front of me and not worry about the other people around me. Any time you’re on unfamiliar wheels you have to expend a lot more energy than normal to stay upright and ride well. I didn’t mind it most of the time, but some times it just got to me and I found familiar wheel. At those times, I just found Lee or Val and sat on their wheel.

Just before mile 40, you could decide whether to do the full century (100 miles) or the metric century (62 miles). I was just on the edge of the lead group and decided that I didn’t want to be gone (and out in the heat) all day. So I opted for the metric and found myself with 2 strong and steady guys’ wheels. It was fantastic. Here are the stats:

• 61.15 miles, 2:41:27, 22.7 mph (31.1 max), 167 HR (183 max), 1610’ ascent, 1545’ descent
• Lap 1: 19.97 miles, 49:28, 24.2 mph, 164 HR
• Lap 2: 20.01 miles, 50:14, 23.9 mph, 171 HR
• Lap 3: 19.96 miles, 58:00, 20.6 mph, 164 HR
• Lap 4: 1.22 miles, 3:44, 19.5 mph, 182 HR

I’m a little behind the times here, but I finally watched Soul Surfer tonight. It is absolutely amazing. Not only is it well made, it is based on a true story and thus super emotional and moving. Bethany loses her arm and yet still does what she loves to do because God gave her the ability to. I would like to think that I’d have that same faith and trust in God if He took something like a limb away from me, but I just don’t know. And then I don’t know whether I’d like Him to so I could see how I would react. Though He does say, “Consider it all joy when you face various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (and dependence on God).