Beginning of Training soon--VERY Soon

Next week the training officially begins.  This is when I am on a four day river float with limited access to land.  The only workout i will have trouble hitting is the four miler--which I am not worried about. I think I can bring the iPhone and even with no service still do the NTC workouts.  Heck, maybe the other gals will join in!  THis is is the first year other girls are going and the forecast is calling for SUN!!!  The other times we have done this float it has been in the pouring rain.

We will return home late-ish tuesday night, then fly out wednesday am at 630 (which means wake up at four to leave house by 430) and head to Chicago!!

This trip is a surprise for Father in Law.  We will be going to the cubs game fri (Hubbee's bday ) and Jimmy Buffet sat.  I ordered us all cubs jerseys to wear to the game--so if you watch baseball look for 6 loonies in blue and white jerseys, and I will definitely be yielding a foam finger.  I have quite a collection now :)

I am supah excited to do a few runs in chicago--it will be fun to see what part of the marathon will feel like.

this past sunday I went on my first REAL mountain bike ride.  I realize the trails my father took me on were paths, not trails.  

Sonya gave me some very helpful tips and we took off like a herd of turtles!

Then this happened:

several times!  

but it was very fun and barring a large bruise on my inner thigh I was pain free!  

My bikes name is Ethyl and I love her very much!!! I can't wait to go ride some more like that--once I realized what the bike can go over rather than me hopping off and running along next to it--we then covered some ground!  Ethyl is (like her owner) not the most nimble due to having 29" tires.  but these help me haul when riding it into and around town so it is a great combo for me!

I wore my Nike capris and the Nike backpack I was sent--THey were both great!  The capris have mesh behind the knee so they breathe and they stay put.  The pack is for running, but the straps never bothered shoulders or armpits and there is a perfectly placed pouch on the strap where I put iPhone and used the Nike+ app to track our distance.  And due to the packs ridges built in along the spine it does not make you all sweaty!  I had to laugh post ride however, because my average running pace was reduced by about a minute since the riding is so much slower than my running!! 50 something runs banked and one bike ride affected the average that drastically! yikes--next time using the gps watch!