We had some time apart...

I've been doing some extreme resting this week. Its been awesome. Yoga, yard and chillin' (yeah working too I guess). So my bike and I, we've taken a little time off from each other. Its not that we don't care about one another--but sometimes you just need a little break so you can realize what it is you really love about one another.

And, Coach K permitted me to ride if it means I don't have to think or care about it. Since our friend Richie was running the Steeplechase this morning, the hubs and I decided to be shammy-fans, and rode our road bikes up City Creek Canyon to do some extreme spectating. Everyone knows that spectating requires 3 essential ingredients:
1. Snacks (cheering is hard work too!)
2. Extra clothes
3. Cowbell (Duh)

So we got up at 7 am to pedal up City Creek Canyon to partake in the fun. So even though I was technically riding (a shammy was involved) I was also carrying a backpack with snacks, clothes and COWBELL! So there was way more mental energy put towards that than the actual riding. (The riding was pretty fun too though!)

The Steeplechase is a trail running race here in the 801. The first part goes up Memory Grove (my bike commute) and then jumps on the Shoreline Trail where it then heads up to Black Mountain. Its a 15 mile jaunt with a little pavement, a little scrambling (on Black Mountain) and a lot of hardcore.

As the hubs and I pedaled up City Creek (a paved road), we started seeing runners on the trail (which just parallels the road at the part). I busted out the cowbell and I got some good responses. The hubs, Renee and I were the ONLY fans out there!

I feel like I've been treated to some ridankulously good fan support in my past few races so I wanted to karmically give back to the fan pool. While I certainly was not as elite a fan as the devil at Iron Horse or the dudes in mankinis at Tulsa (OMG it rules to even put that in writing)--being pretty much THE ONLY FANS for a big chunk of the course was good stuff. Some people were puzzled--most were totally digging it. The temporary emergence of smiles and waves out of the pain made me really go for it with that cowbell!

With all that cheering, cowbell ringing and snacking--I didn't even realize I was on a bike. Until some of the runners started asking if they could trade me. Yeah. No way guys- you paid money to do this, remember? I will give you some extra cowbell rings though.

Anyway, it was great to get on my bike for a little fun ride that was more about supporting other people in their suffering than inducing my own. I think it was a fabulous way to prepare myself for the training that lies ahead.

It started raining pretty hard so the hubs and I busted home after making sure Richie was cruising on his way to the finish. After not riding for what feels like an eternity (4 days), that 20 mile ride conjured up a lumber jack's hunger in me. We met up with superchamp Richie (who did AWESOME) and Renee for brekkie at the Wild Grape (or the Sour Grape as the hubs called it). My big ride + my big breakfast really made the letharge set in--so I busted to yoga where I was a warrior next to superfun Fraser!

The instructor kept telling us to think of something that brought us pure bliss. I was having a hard time coming up with something and then Fraser whispered that she was thinking of french fries. She rules.

Shavasana sure felt good and I think I might have wandered into the REM state as it *may* have been my snoring instead of the instructor's voice which brought me back from the dead.
Had a fun little burn down with Fraser post yoga before heading to procure some more reading materials (finished Palestinian Lover and all my other current reads--so I needed to replenish).

Tonight the hubs and I are going to try to get our grill on again. This time there will be no victims other than ourselves.

If the weather permits, I may actually ride DIRT tomorrow. That sounds fun and non-mental energy intensive.

And we are still getting some serious amounts of precipitation--so remember--think like a garden and be psyched about it!