Teaching a not-so-old dog new tricks

Hey everyone! I hope your week is going really well! Time is just flying, I can't believe it's been around a week since I've posted!

Let's see....what's been going on??? Just the usual stuff - busy at work, home and training. At work I'm currently working on our store's Easter assortment. Yup, Easter. Gotta love retail!

At home we're getting ready for a MUCH needed vacay! We're leaving later this week and spending a few days in a lovely Southern coastal city. We decided against flying anywhere this year - there ended up being so many places in Cal-y that we wanted to see we decided to just go next year and spend more time there. We also spent some time last weekend working on our kitchen on some framing around the door. We really just have a few minor touch-ups to do on a few things and then we'll be done. Our next project is replacing our old fence, hopefully once it's a little cooler this fall.

In Pippin news - we're trying to teach him a new trick - "shut the door". Really, there's no reason he shouldn't be able to. Since we have a fenced in back yard we send him out to play and when he's done he comes running in by pushing the back door open. And he wants to go in and out, in and out. All.night.long. And it seems like every time he comes back in we're both in the middle of something and have to run and shut the back door to keep some of this precious air in when it's 100and50something degrees outside. So, Saturday I decided to start "shut the door" training. When he comes in now we RUN back there and get him to push on the back door until it shuts. It's pretty hilarious. Sometimes he just sits there and stares at us, waiting for a treat. He's put together the whole coming back inside = treat, but not totally why. Sometimes he pushes on us, and then sometimes he has totally figured out he's supposed to push on the door. I know we'll get there eventually, and it's pretty stinking cute when he does it right and gets all excited as we get all excited. His teacher, Miss Mary, would be so proud. I think "shut the door" will fit nicely with his other words - "get daddy", "dance", "get the mail"(which means go to the front door) and "hi-five".

We've been training, too. Saturday we drove to Brentwood Sports - they've had an ad ALL SUMMER in the local newspaper, the Scene. It showed a girl in swimwear and swimcap and said to "come in and check out their GREAT selection of Speedo swimsuits and goggles."SWEET! So, we drove 20 miles to check it out. They had one small rack. Very, very small. As in maybe 6 or 7 items for women, total, and 6 or 7 for men. I'm not talking styles - I am talking entire selection. And in this tiny store - we WEREN'T EVEN GREETED OR WELCOMED by the one lone employee. That's serious false advertising. We were SO mad. So, Brentwood Sports - YOU SUCK.

From there we stopped by the nearby Y and checked out their pool. We got 500m in in their outdoor lap pool. The pool ended up being twice as long as our usual pool- which we were realy glad to find out because it was wearing us out! Overall that's a pretty nice Y and the outdoor lap pool was pretty cool! We also got 300m in the following day at our Y. We had planned to do more but it was SO uncomfortably crowded with irritating people! And I'd like to tell you how swim class went last night but our teacher didn't show up. Didn't.show.up. Didn't call and tell us he wouldn't be able to make it, and didn't call to apologize today. So, tomorrow I'm calling his boss to complain and see if we can have someone else more reliable or get our money back. Because that's just not cool, and we've had a whole summer of incompetent contractors and I'm not going to put up with an unreliable coach.

AND, we got in our first ever brick this past weekend! Sunday afternoon we rode 15.5 miles and then ran 3 (Brent ran 2). It wasn't bad except for the heat. After the bike it took about a .25 of a mile for my legs to get adjusted and then they just knew what to do. It was just so stinking hot by that point. I couldn't keep my HR down and I was pouring sweat. A homeless guy at the park said something to me about being crazy. I was just glad it was more of a heat issue than feeling like I couldn't do it. I took a short walk break in the 3rd mile to get my breath back but still finished the 3 miles in 28 minutes flat. The first two miles were each around 8:45, so I really should have started slower.

So, that pretty much catches you up to date! It actually RAINED here tonight. It was so crazy to hear our gutters overflowing! We haven't mowed since July 4th, and have had about 5 drops of rain since then. The thunder actually scared Pippin, it's been so long since he's heard it! Hopefully we'll get some rain while we're gone, otherwise my already sad, overheated garden is going to be ash like the rest of my yard.

Have a great night!

Rae

WIDTW-
Mon-4.2 run
Tue-30min ellipt, 30min swim class,200mswim
Wed-4.2 run,750m swim
Thur-4.2 run,3.5 mile ride, 40 min tone
Fri-300m swim
Sat-500mswim
Sun-15.5 mile ride, 3mile run, 300m swim
Mon-4.2 run
Tue-1.75 run(stomach issues MADE me stop!), 500m swim
Wed-20 mins tone (no time to hit the gym at lunch today, boo for long meetings!!)

Goats and Swimming

Hey! I can't believe it's almost Friday again! Woo hoo!! So, here's the continuation of LAST weekend!

After the ride we went ahead and used our free admission tix to the fair - it's 40 miles each way from downtown so there was no way we were going to go back some other time. It was only 10:30 am at this point and we were STARVED but none of the food vendors were open yet. Blech. So we walked around for a while looking at the various livestock and I begged Brent - keeper of the money as I had no pockets - for $2 for carrots to feed the animals in the petting zoo. There were some seriously cute baby goats I wanted to buy, but the guy wouldn't sell them. So, I just fed them carrots. Then the camel came and OMG he was pushy. I was trying to give each goat a carrot but the camel kept reaching over and around with that long neck and was basically everywhere at all times. I had no clue camels were so pushy and annoying. Then this weird humpback cow thing came up and even though I thought it was pretty ugly I wanted to be friendly and give it a carrot. It had the grossest, nastiest tongue ever and Brent really captured my reaction on film. (Or SD card, however you want to look at it!) After looking around at the cheesy booths FINALLY some food vendors were open so we got a hot dog, burger, fries and a fried pie and split it all. I had never had a fried pie and I gotta say it wasn't bad. Basically it's like a little pie all wrapped up and dipped in a deep fryer, like everything else in the South. After we ate we walked around a little more and enjoyed the little building with all the vegetables and flowers submitted for "biggest pumpkin" and "prettiest rose". I should totally cut something out of my yard and submit it next year. Right now the only thing I've got is "largest quantity of landmines deposited by Pippin" but considering the vast quantity of items submitted to the fair I gotta believe there is a category for dog poo. Then we came upon the bee/honey section and there was a live honeycomb (in glass) that we were staring at when an older guy saw us and gave Brent a 30 minute lecture on the life of the bee. Then he invited him to come to their monthly meeting and start keeping bees. If only he knew how insanely skittish Brent is around bees and wasps! But he was really friendly and the building was air conditioned so we enjoyed our lecture. More time in the 100+ sun and we were done. By this point we'd been outside in the heat for about 6 hours.

We came home, had showers and a short nap, ran all over town for errands and then met up with some friends for an art show and Mexican food. Yum. I got my 6 mile run in in the heat Sunday and then we spent the rest of the afternoon lounging at the rooftop pool at the Y, swimming laps and grocery shopping.

Swim class this week went awesome again. Coach could tell we'd both been practicing and seemed really happy with our week 1 progress. We did some drills to help us with our breathing which I think have finally sunk in for me. Sometimes I just get totally overwhelmed with putting it all together, but when I stop and think about it all then I get it right, and it feels right. We worked on the three strokes and even started working on flip turns! At this point we're just practicing gliding in and flipping close to the wall without killing ourselves. I think next time we start working on the push off. I can totally see myself knocking myself out and being the "girl who had to be rescued in the 4ft deep lap pool". Yesterday we brought our camera and videoed ourselves swimming so we can each see what we've been told we need to work on. I just look soooo **SLOW**...... Like I'm just out for a lolly-gag swim or something! And I can see how my arms are way too low sometimes and how my head comes way to far up as times, too. But, we're both making progress and I'd say for a week + 2 days of swimming we have both come a LONG, LONG way.

Ok, long enough for tonight!!! Good luck to everyone at IM Louisville this weekend!! I would love to come and watch but I'm just not sure we'll have the time. Next year we need to plan a weekend in Louisville around it. I'd particularly like to see the river swim, I can't imagine a mouth full of river water!

Cya!

Rae-
WIDTW-
Fri - 400m swim
Sat - 31 mile ride
Sun - 6.1 mile run, 500m swim
Mon - 4.2 run
Tues - 30 min swim class, 200m swim after class
Wed - 2.2 mile run (long story - it took the lady TWENTY MINUTES to complete my receipt for paying for swim classes), 750m swim
Thurs - 30 min bike ride for fun, 40 mins toning

Police Chases, Bikes and Birds

So, rewind to last weekend. I was pretty nervous on Friday about Saturday's ride. Our longest ride was 20 miles, which is only 2/3 of the 31 mile distance, and it's only been about 6 weeks since I pretty much learned to ride a bike. After work I walked down to the library to pick up some books I had ordered and to the downtown grocery store for some bananas before heading home. We made some pasta, watched a movie and relaxed before heading to bed around 10. We got our stuff ready (there's SO much more to lay out for bike events!) and climbed into bed. We'd only been in bed for a couple of minutes when Pippin started barking. First of all he was sleeping in a different room, which is weird because he's gotten where he pretty much always sleeps in his little bed in our room. And he is really not a barker. He'll bark when he's playing games with you (or other dogs) but he rarely barks otherwise. So when barks, we get up and check things out. Or Brent does. He got up and peeked out our front window in time to see a Honda speeding down our street. A little odd, but not that odd. Nothing else really seemed to be going on, so we settled back down to get some sleep. And just then we heard sirens and blue lights radiating through the windows. We jumped up just in time to see the Honda being chased buy a police car that nearly took out our entire little corner of the world. Then about 5 or 6 more police cars were right on their heels and in the snap of an finger the police helicopter was overheard shining it's spotlight in our house, our yard, and those of our neighbors. A little unnerving. We watched out the windows for a while and ultimately the helicopter ended up quite a few blocks away. Who know what happened but it really wasn't the best way to drift off to sleep.

The alarm chirped waaay to early and we got our bikes loaded and out the door. The ride was 40 miles away, in one of the eastern-most 'burbs of Nashville. A few miles out we started seeing a lot of other cars with bikes so we just followed them into the fairgrounds. I was so incredibly intimidated. There were some serious looking bikes there and some serious looking riders. We kept to ourself until time to start. One guy saddled up and promptly fell over, right on the ground, so that made me feel better. At least I didn't have the stress of clips! We tried to get near the back, and right as it was about to start two girls pulled up, one with a hybrid like us, and we declared ourselves the back of the packers. The other girl had a gorgeous brand new road bike that she didn't know how to use. We ended up going back and forth with them the whole way, which was nice.

As the peloton headed out I could feel my heart beating at record speed and I was scared to death to kick off. There were probably 200 riders and I just didn't want to be "the girl who knocked them all over". I merged in and off we went. One guy just sort of stopped in the middle of everyone and i could hear a lot of huffs. I was just glad it wasn't me. A few minutes passed and I was feeling ok with the ride. I would cautiously pass others when needed and everything was cool. And then we started hitting the hills. UGH. I was letting my HR get way too high and pushing too hard. Brent just soars down hills and once I would get down I'd pedal to the metal to catch up and burn way too much energy. And the heat wasn't helping, either. Being in the back of the pack you see a lot of suffering, and I saw several people drop the ride and a lot of people were walking their bikes up the hills. Around 7 miles in I just let it all go and found my hill rhythm. Slow and steady, breathe in and out. And from then on out it became fun!

The first rest stop was around 10 miles. We pulled in and had some Gatorade and split a Oatmeal Creme Pie. I didn't understand it, but it was pretty good! A guy jokingly asked the volunteer how far ahead we were and we all had a good laugh about that one. Then we were off for more hills and heat. Ugh. A few miles later we arrived at Watertown and their cute little town square. This was the big rest stop where the 50 milers split off from the 31 milers. Once again we had our choice of Water, Gatorade and Oatmeal Cream Pies. Hmmm.... So we had another one before heading back out. We were also really glad to see a lot of people rolling in behind us.

The next part of the course really wasn't bad at all. There were hills but the first part had been one after another and I'm still getting used to switching all around in gears and keeping my momentum from up to down back to up. We'd ridden past a lot of country farmland, dry creek beds, acres and acres of dead corn, and a lot of cows. Brent had entertained them ALL by dinging his bell as he passed. We got to the final rest stop with the same two girls we had start with. This is where the volunteer told us about the guy who had had a heart attack, last night we heard on the news that he died. I've tried to find out more about him on the 'net but I haven't been able to. The number of deaths recently due to the heat is absolutely nuts.

Right as we left the rest stop we were feeling good and glad we only had about 8 miles to go. A little bird was on Brent's side of the road and he just....didn't fly away. Not until Brent was right on it. At that moment it decided to panic and flew right into my wheel. I screamed like a girl but didn't know exactly what to do because we were on a downhill and I really didn't want to crash! The bird went out the other side of my wheel and from there I don't even know. I swear this something that could only happen to me!!

We kept on trucking and before I knew it I could see the fairgrounds ahead. It was so weird, it was just like a race where you can see you destination and you're SO excited to see the finish line but then again you're having so much fun you really don't want it to end either. We pushed the rest of the way back and we were done! We both felt great, like we could've easily kept going. The ride took us a total of 2 hours and 50 minutes including breaks and 2 hours and 29 minutes of just riding. Obviously we are slow and spend way too much time talking at rest stop! Our goal was 3 hours, so we're really happy with our time. And we would totally do it again.

Ok, this post is totally too long so I'll have to post about the fair later! Have a great night!

We did it!

We did it, the 31 miles of the Ride Across Wilson County this morning, which I would like to rename as the Who the hell knew there were hills like this in Wilson County Ride. It was hot, it was hilly, and we had a lot of fun. And thank God we weren't last. At one of the aid stations a volunteer told us someone had a heart attack out on the course this morning, so hopefully they're doing ok. I saw several more people drop and get in SAG cars. The number of heat related deaths this week has been nuts.
The ride coincided with the Wilson County Fair, so we used our free admission passes right after and spent even more time in the insanely hot sun. Who wouldn't want to walk around a midway when it's 100 degrees+? There are many, many thing I learned this morning. Here are just a few until I have time to post my proper race report with pics from our fun day.

1) Brent is just plain more aerodynamic than I am.
2) It is possible to hit a bird on your bike, have it go through your spokes and stay upright.
3) Riding 31 miles is waaaay easier than running 31 miles.
4) A lot of cyclists have massive pick up trucks.
5) Wilson County has a lot of cows with stinky poo.
6) Apparently cyclists love Oatmeal Creme Pies. My dad should be a cyclist.
7) Having a road bike does not necessarily make you fast, but riding a hybrid amongst a throng of road bikes does make you bad ass.
8) Camels are incredibly pushy.
9) Fried pies aren't half bad.
10) Brent secretly wants to be a beekeeper.

That's it for now, time to blow my hair out and hit the town! Brent got a call from the art gallery asking if he could do two more pics so we need to hit the frame shop! Yeah for selling more art!

Cyclist extraordinare,

Rae

Pips and the Package

So, last week Dr Mike posted a pic of a birthday gift from Phog to Pippin. I honestly thought it was a joke, until yesterday when a package from Phog to Pippin arrived on our porch.

I think he had stared at it all day through the window because he sort of knew it was his. As soon as I opened the box up he was practically inside it!


























We opened his card (which he looooved)













And then it was present time........













I had a nearly impossible time getting it away from him to cut the tag off!!



























Obviously this toy is a huge hit with Pippin!! This is the "before" of the toy I posted pics of a few weeks ago. For now he has abandoned the old "string" in favor of working this one intro shreds and getting those offensive squeakers out! It's made of firehouses so hopefully if we ever do have a fire he won't attack the hose! Anyway, much love to Phog from Pips for his b-day toy!!

In other news, Saturday is the big ride! We're doing the 31 mile option of the Ride Across Wilson County (one of our 'burbs). I don't think the ride concerns me as much as the heat. Today it was 106 degrees. Yesterday was 104. We're having the hottest August in history for us. We've had over 21 straight days of 90+ temps, and something like 11 of the last 12 days have been over 100 degrees. That other day it was 99. It's just unbearable, when the wind blows it literally feels like someone is flashing the oven door in your face, and I honestly don't remember the last time we had rain. Seriously. It may have been around July 4th? Our yard is nothing but dust and I don't even want to talk about our garden, it makes me so sad. Pippin doesn't even like to play outside now, and sometimes he refuses to go out - like he does in the winter or when it's raining! Right now, at 10:16 pm it's still 93. The ride starts at 7:30, and it's going to be hot. We were actually hotter than Phoenix and Vegas today! So, the plan is just to take it slow and easy and do what we can. It's not a race so we might as well just have fun and take our time!

Oh well, time for bed! Have a great weekend everyone!!

Rae

Just Call Me Summer Sanders

Tonight was an important night. Brent and I started swim lessons. Our journey to world domination of the water has begun. And it's probably fitting since this Saturday is the 31-mile ride we've signed up for.

Of course we were totally nervous before class tonight. I had talked to our coach, "Coach C" one day last week and knew I would like him just from our phone convo. I also knew he would probably be 10 years younger than us. Well, I was wrong there because he's only 9 years younger than us (he's 21). But he instantly had our friendship by asking which college we were going to. Smart kid, flattering of age always works well on someone 6 weeks away from turning 30.

Anyway, the rooftop pool is only open on weekends now that school has started back, which has pissed off a ton of my coworkers because they like to go and lay out up there during lunch. The downtown Y doesn't attract a lot of kids (thank GOD!) so it is a perfect place to lunch. When we arrived for our private lesson the lap pool was crowded so Coach C cleared it for us to take the rooftop pool just for the 3 of us. SWEET! That really made the lesson so much easier to get without a bunch of dolphins zipping around making us feel self conscience. It's been over 100 degrees for about two solid weeks now, and the setting sun with the warm rooftop pool water was so wonderfully relaxing. (It was 107 one day last week around here (in the burb where Brent works. That is RIDICULOUS!!)

He assessed where we were and we "dove" right in. We practiced freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke. We worked on arms, legs, breathing, kicking off. You name it we got a crash course in it tonight. It was very overwhelming but also totally awesome. I suck at freestyle and Brent's pretty good at it. His breathing is so much better than mine. For some reason my left arm is crap. It doesn't like to come out of the water. I can feel it, and it's something I'm going to be working on, but it's also hard to coordinate legs, arms, head and breathing at first. I'm pretty good at breaststroke and backstroke, and Brent's not so great at those. We both have a lot of work to do! It's going to take a lot of hard work and time in the pool, but we both had a lot of fun tonight and it's nice that we can do it together. It helps so much to have someone else watch me, because I felt like I was an arm dragger and it turns out I am.

On a side note, it really cracks me up how many people are finding my blog looking for ways to keep your hair dry while swimming. Trust me, when I find that magical swim cap I will let you know ALL about it! My first swim cap was a silicone one and I really didn't care for it. I bought a latex one a few weeks ago and I really like it a whole lot better. The hair is still totally wet, I just prefer the fit of it. There are a couple of swim caps I want to order that claim dry hair, but I just haven't had a chance to yet. I also got a new pair of goggles recently. My first pair was a POS and was constantly fogging up. Ironically Brent has the same pair and has zero issues. So, when I went back to get a new pair I got a woman's specific pair and they fit SO much better, which also makes me lean towards the woman's specific road bike at the local bike shop. I'm such a midget that I feel like anything made more for a woman has GOT to work better for me.

Alrighty, time for bed. I've got a lot of pics, etc I need to put from last weekend but it'll just have to wait. BUT, I will say that Brent did great at TomatoFest last weekend. 3 of his 5 pieces have already sold which is AWESOME and way more than we expected! I'll put some pics up of his stuff later!

Little Mermaid, out!

WIDTW:
Sun - 20.3 mile ride
Mon - 4.2 mile run, 20 mins tone
Tues - 4.2 mile run, 20 mins tone
Wed - 20 min ellip, 15 min stairmill
Thur - 4.2 mile run
Fri - Rest
Sat - 9 mile run
Sun - 10.2 mile ride
Mon - 30 mins ellip (I totally forgot my sports bra so I was stuck on the elliptical. blah)
Tues - 4.2 mile run, 45 min swim lesson

Wheeeee

This is my very first post ever with my new Macbook!! Wheeee!! And I may have actually figured out where it stores my pics. And I've already had my first IChat with Mouse, how cool is that???

Ok, mission accomplished and now it's shower time as I absolutely reek from my hotter than hell 9 mile run this morning. Mike/OOSG may want Jesus to take the wheel but I want Jesus to take the heat. Blah.

Happy Saturday! It's TomatoFestival Day!!!! Come out to Art & Invention Gallery and the Exchange Gallery to enjoy Brent's artwork!!!

Baby Turns 4

Tomorrow is a big day - Pippin's 4th birthday! I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday when we brought him home on a blustery October day. He was so tiny you could just hold him in one hand and he weighed all of 4 pounds. We wouldn't even have a Pippin to talk about if Brent and I hadn't taken a whirlwind weekend trip to Chicago, if he hadn't eaten one last Chicago chili dog at the airport that left him with a week long bout of food poisoning. I'm a smart girl and I know to press someone when they're down. Brent never wanted an inside dog, and I know it took him a long time to become friends with Pippin but I don't think they'd trade each other for the world now. Is there really a better friend than your dog? Does anyone else ever love you so unconditionally? Do you ever forget that childhood dog you romped around with in big piles of leaves, that you basically grew up with telling all your secrets to? It truly hurts my heart to know that he ages 7x as fast as we do, and that this is his last birthday where he will be "younger" than we are, but I also see Pippin as being legendary, a dog we will forever compare all future dogs to. There truly is NO other Pippin!!

To prepare for the big day I've been baking a dog-specific cake for the little guy. It's a peanut butter carrot cake, and I already know he's going to love it as he's been stalking me in the kitchen all night!! The cakes I've ordered for him in the past are hella expensive - the cakes are wicked expensive and as this is Tennessee in August and it's freaking over 100 degrees every day and impossible to even breathe - they have to be shipped priority overnight. Ridiculous expensive. So, I got some recipes off the 'net and made my own. I'm going to make the icing out of his favorite things - peanut butter and cheese, decorated with Pupperoni "candles". He's gonna LOVE it!! This boy can literally hear a cheese package open from outside, with the door closed. It's his favorite treat, thanks to his obedience trainer Miss Mary (yes, I know, it is hard to believe he graduated from obedience school). So, it should be a fun day tomorrow!

Finally, as our ode de Pippin, here are some pics of the little guy over the past year. Enjoy!!

Pippin's First 4-wheeler Ride:









Pippin discovers how great fish food tastes:








Pippin still doesn't like snow - esp when his leg was all shaved following surgery:








Pippin loves Phog 4eva:









Construction does not interfere with naps:









Pippin can read the instructions:

Tour de Public Fountains

Geez, is it hot in here or WHAT?? Ugh. Miserable, sticky hot and so humid. We've been under an air quality alert for ages, and it's just been hazy for days. I don't even remember the last time we had rain. Our garden is just pitiful, there's no amount of watering that can make up for this heat and total lack of rain all summer. Our yard is crispy and the damn squirrels stole what was going to be our first tomato we've had all summer. And to add insult to injury they only ate half of it and then tossed it in our yard. So it's open hunting season in our backyard now.

I was seriously not looking forward to my long run of 10 miles Saturday am. I'm sort of over the heat, and I realize my decision to not run a fall marathon is one of my smartest moves, EVER. Last month I still ended up with 74 running miles and 53 bikes miles (plus swimming and a healthy dose of toning). This month if I make all my planned runs I'll end up with 90 miles. Works for me!!

The alarm went off at 6:15 and I actually got up. By the time I ate a little and geared up it was around 7:15. And already a sticky 82 degrees. Ridiculous. Brent is now my bike support/personal photographer and he caught up to me less than a mile in. He usually sticks fairly close by but will veer off from time to time to snap some photos of whatever captures his attention. Once I make it over the bridge and into downtown (right at 2 miles) there's a little shady area I always stop to catch my breath and swig some water, and I was already DRENCHED in sweat. I was hitting right around 10 min miles which I was ok with considering all the traffic stops, the heat, and the hills. I headed down 2nd past the empty honk tonks that now smelled like pee and up Broadway. I enjoyed the sounds of "early" morning traffic and encouraged myself all the way past Vanderbilt and into Centennial Park. We did yell at two old people who literally tried to run us over as we were in the crosswalk, with the walk sign. Brent veered off to take some pics of the Parthenon and I ran One Mile Loop and enjoyed the beautiful lake and all the ducks. Three friendly homeless guys cheered some encouragement to me and told me "only 5 miles left to go!" Actually they were right, I had right at 4.5 miles left! Brent caught me as I finished my loop and we headed back downtown and onward home. I purposefully ignored the lit bank signs on the way back because I had no desire to know how hot it had gotten. When I made it back up 2nd avenue I headed straight for the fountains at Public Square. We were only two miles from home, I was nearly out of water, and I just wanted to cool down. At first I splashed myself with the water and then decided to go all in. I can run 2 miles in my sleep, and I can certainly run it soaked. And man, it was so worth it. I sounded like a duck for the next two miles but I couldn't have cared less. And for the most part I was pretty dry by the time we got back!! I actually ended up with 10.9 miles (versus the 10 I planned), and I'll take it! I never checked my splits so I'm not sure what my pace was. I really don't care what pace I run at this fall, as long as it's even and I'm having fun. I still need to check on my Garmin, though.
















We did some shopping that afternoon, doing our best to avoid the malls. This weekend was tax-free weekend in Tennessee. Our sales tax is an insane 9.25%, so two weekends a year we don't have sales tax on clothes, school and art supplies, and computers. AND, to take advantage of tax free I am now the owner of an Apple MacBook! We ordered it online (also sales tax free this weekend) and it should be here in the next couple of weeks. I can't wait to have my own lappy!!

Today we rode 20.3 miles. It was 96 degrees when we finished. Insane. It got up to 101 this afternoon by our thermometer, so it could have been worse. I have some seriously ugly tan lines from my shorts now. I need to get some shorter bike shorts!! We rode some greenway, some downtown, some bike routes. Our average was around 8-10 mph downtown (it's so irritating to wait on lights and traffic!!) and between 12-18 mph on greenway and bike lanes. Much better. Once again I made friends with a couple of homeless guys. I stopped to refill my bottle at a fountain and didn't realize they were on some benches nearby. They told me it didn't work and wear to go to get cold water. If anyone should know..... Then as we headed back they made sure I had found it. On our way back to the Eastside we stopped at the Symphony center to cool off in that fountain. I swear I could've climbed in it and stretched out. We ended up refilling our water bottles at the Shelby Golf Course. They have massive coolers filled with the coldest ice water imaginable all over the golf course. I'm sure it's not intended for anyone besides the golfers, but if they only knew how many times those coolers have saved us!! Absolute heaven. From there we just needed a few more miles and we were done. Not so bad, we're feeling good about doing 31 at the organized ride in a few weeks. We took some pics today but they're still on my camera!

I can't believe the weekend's almost over. We've had a good one of training, a good one of eating (Brent made some amazing crepes last night and we made some to die for quesadillas tonight), we took back a ton of stuff to Home Depot today (yay!!!), and we did some relaxing on the couch, too!

Have a great week everyone!

Rae

WIDTW
Mon - 4.2 miles run
Tues - 4.2 miles run
Wed - 20 mins ellip, 15 mins stairmill, 40 mins tone
Thurs - 4.2 miles run, 700 meters swim
Fri - 300 meters swim
Sat - 11 miles run
Sun - 20.3 miles bike

Boil Em, Mash Em, Stick Em in a Stew

This is the scene we were welcomed home to yesterday:













No, we don't normally leave potatoes laying in the floor. This was the handiwork of our baby boy.













It seems Pippin had an issue with our bag of potatoes. And he had a mission, and he channeled his inner hobbit and if he had been able I am fully convinced he would have boiled em, mashed em and stuck em in a stew. But since he couldn't he just ripped the bag apart, scattered them all over the kitchen floor, ate the rotten one and mashed its remains on the floor. Nice. For the last couple of days we had noticed him walking over to the bag, giving it a sniff and a lick and then walking off. But if you've ever met Pippin this really isn't peculiar. He gives most everything - living, dead, edible, or not - a sniff, a lick, and usually a hump in the face. So we didn't pick up on the warning sign as we should have. But we've gotten it now, loud and clear. Rotten potatoes will not be tolerated in this house so long as they are kept in a bag outside the pantry.

And the funny thing is he KNOWS what he did was wrong. I had to drag him into the kitchen to point at it and reprimand him. And he knew he was in time out when he wasn't allowed to play in the yard all night. He knows, but sometimes that inner hobbit spirit just takes over and potatoes end up all over the floor. The other part of his punishment was listening to the boil em/mash em song several times last night while we poked at him.

But that was just one day, and here are my boys on a different day chilling in the kitchen, best buddies. Next week is Pippin's 4th birthday, a week from today! I really need to order his cake tomorrow so it will be here in time.












I'd also like to get him another firehose toy like Barb and Mike brought him from Chicago. He has loved that toy and played with it just about every day since they were here at the end of April. It took him no time to get squeaker #1 out, but several weeks went by before squeaker #2 surrendered. He has then proceeded to pull it apart, string by string. This is all that's left of it, and I took this pic last week so there's even less of it now, though I am scooping quite a bit of red string out in the yard. I'm not sure if it had some "Phog smell" to it or not, but hopefully I can find one on the 'net somewhere since none of our pet stores seem to carry anything similar.









That's it for now! Good luck to everyone racing and training this weekend! I am hoping to get a 10 mile run and a 20 mile ride in. I got 700 awkward meters in at the pool tonight, go me! Have a great Friday!

Rae