Hot, hot, hot!

04/18/09 - Brick

So, what have I been up to lately, let's see. Saturday morning I woke up at 6:00am to find that I had only slept a possible one or two hours. I had quite a bit of trouble with sleep that night. I skipped our group ride and did a brick on my own. I road up into the hills, looped passed farms, cow pastures, and eventually back down to the beach. I did about 800ft of climbing, 18 miles of riding, and then jumped off the bike for 2 miles of running.

After this, I was supposed to register for the Santa Cruz 10k race, that was happening the following morning. The only way to register for the race was to go to the boardwalk, on a Saturday afternoon, at the busiest beach in town, with all the other race participants, and the thousands of tourists unloading in our town to enjoy the 80 degree weather! I headed down that way, and realized it was going to take hours, and cost me $20 to park, and then another $50 to run a route that I run all the time. Forget it! I met up with my bro and spent the rest of the day at the beach!

04/19/09 - Run

I woke up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to help PJ pin his bib number on for the Santa Cruz 1/2 Marathon! It's so exciting to be a part of races, I was a little bummed that I wasn't going to be joining him in the event, but then realized that I get to cheer him on. I dropped him at the start line, and then went and ran my own 10k. About half way through my run, I could hear the gun go off for his race, so I headed back home, put the dog inside the house, and then took off to hopefully find him on the course.

I was pretty sure of the pace PJ would be running, so I posted up at a few places on the course accordingly. I first got to see him at mile 4, and the look on his face was priceless. He had no idea that I was going to be out there. He looked great! Strong, and tall, and seemed to be taking the unwelcomed heat wave like a champ! I saw him again at miles 6, 8, and the finish. He finished fast, set a personal record, and then spent the rest of the day lazying at the beach with some margaritas! I'm so proud of the progress and work he's put into becoming a runner!

04/20/09 - Bike
Man was it nice when I woke up today. I knew I needed a rest day, so I decided to just ride my bike to work and take in the weather. On my way to work, it was in the 70's already and made my beach-side ride magnificent. I spotted pelicans, sea otters, sea lions, all basking in the light morning sun.

As the day progressed, the baromoter continued to rise. When it was time to leave work, my desktop thermometer was reading 96 degrees! I thought it was wrong... nope, record temps! I waited it out, but it didn't drop, so I headed back out for another ride, this time in the scorching evening sun. Riding along the beach in a cruiser is a nice slow way to enjoy the scenery, but I was on my road bike, and I was booking. The ocean breeze just helped reinforce how fast I thought I was going. Best part though, was the last hill I have to tackle getting up to my place. It is no longer a hill to me!!!! Could it be, that I'm starting to improve on the bike a bit? I sure as hell hope so!