I ran a race without intending to run a race!

Ashley asked if I would like to WALK the 2 mile route of the Frostbite Four Race in Beresford today (Saturday). Since the forecast was calling for above normal temps I thought, "why not."

I love to watch the serious runners...they all have a sleek runner's body and just seem so self disciplined. The music was blaring and there was a lot of energy as we registered at the gym. There was a record number of people registered with a total of 394. Most were running the 4 mile route and about 150 were running or walking the 2 mile route. They loaded us up on school buses and took us south out of town so we would have the wind to our backs.

Ashley and I started out running but then kept on running. I kept thinking I'll run to the next farm house and then walk, but then I thought I still had a little more in me, and kept on running. I am NOT a runner and had not trained at all for this event, so I was quite surprised that I was able to run the whole thing. For most people it would be no big deal, but for me it was. I have ran only one other race in my entire life and that was the Wakonda Centennial 1 mile Fun Run in 1985!

I wish I would have looked at our time as we crossed the finish line - but at the time I was just trying not to puke.

Regardless of how I did on time, I had a lot of fun. The puking feeling didn't last long!

After the winners were announced and door prizes given out there was a chili feed at the golf course club house/community center. I saw a few "bikers" there; Chad and Kwen. Hope I'll be seeing them both within the next couple of months on a bike ride. Days like today helps to make the winter go a bit faster!

RAGBRAI 2009 Route Announced

Drum roll please.....the RAGBRAI route has been announced! Last year was my first RAGBRAI and though I was really glad I had the RAGBRAI experience, I knew it wasn't a ride that I felt I needed to do every year. I think I'm kind of strange, but I prefer Tour deKota.

My main complaint with RAGBRAI was that it is just too long, with the travel to the starting point and the travel home, it really takes up 2 consecutive weekends. And then the Pedal the Plains MS Bike Ride is held the following weekend. I guess I just feel a little guilty leaving my non-cycling spouse home for three weekends in a row.

Riding a few days of RAGBRAI would be ideal. And this year, I need to be at work the Wednesday of RAGBRAI week (we've been warned well in advance to be present that day for a pre-accreditation 'run-through') so I know riding the entire week is not possible anyway.

No decision has been made yet, but I am contemplating riding the first few days from Council Bluffs to Indianola. It would be worth returning to RAGBRAI for the food alone! Pasafari, Peace Coffee, Farm Boys, Mr. Porkchop, Beekman's Ice Cream, etc. We'll see what develops! (I'm definitely planning on riding Tour deKota.)

Here is a little teaser about the route from Des Moines Register:

Start training, people: This year’s RAGBRAI is going to be just as hilly as it was last year.

The 37th Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, from July 19 to 25, cuts a 442-mile route through the southern half of the state, with overnight stops in Council Bluffs, Red Oak, Greenfield, Indianola, Chariton, Ottumwa, Mt. Pleasant and Burlington.

“You go south and people just assume it’s going to be really hilly, but this year will be pretty close to last year,” said RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz. “It’s the sixth-shortest route of all time, and it’ll be an extremely scenic adventure.

Home and Healing

Charlie had rotator cuff repair surgery on Monday morning in Sioux Falls. It was all done through the arthroscope - just 4 small incisions. The surgeon said the tear was quite large but with the help of several and sutures, the tendon was repaired nicely. We even got to see pictures!

Charlie woke up right away with severe pain because unfortunately the nerve block didn't work - although his ear was very numb - the block didn't seem to do much of anything to the shoulder and arm. It took awhile then to get the pain under control but between the oral meds and the IV meds (which I 'kind of' demanded - in a nice way, of course) we finally got on top of it and Charlie was dismissed later in the afternoon.

Today he is looking more perky, but with his right arm and shoulder immobilized, I have him completely under my control!

Tour de Kota 2009

I was happy to receive an email this afternoon from the Argus Leader announcing registration is open for TDK 2009! I have to admit I was a little concerned that TDK might not happen this year. A friend of mine had contacted Tym Allison, the manager of the Shuttle Guy camping service, to ask if they would be supporting TDK this year and Tym said he had heard rumor TDK had been canceled! That made me a little nervous but now with the official email sent to former registrants I think it safe to say there will be a TDK 2009.

The route is from Harrisburg to Yankton to Wagner to Gregory to Chamberlain to Pierre to Gettysburg. I would imagine that this TDK route will have the more climbing than any of the previous routes. Let the hill training begin; that will be on the trainer and spin class for me until we get some temps in the 50's.

I hope lots of Lane Hogs plan to sign up for TDK so we can show off more of our awesome karoke talents!

Sweat Fest

I did the Carmichael Time Trial workout on the trainer today. It was definitely a good workout. One of those workouts where after I'm done I have a little cough for about half hour because I've opened up some aveoli deep in my lungs that haven't used for awhile! The workout was an hour long so I'm patting myself on the back for finishing it. I normally ride my trainer 30-45 minutes max at a time.

I also have the Spinnerval 30 Minute Time Saver DVD. The Carmichael workout starts out with (after the warm up) sprinting intervals; 5 minutes on and 5 minutes off X3, as opposed to the shorter Spinnerval intervals that are a minute on and a minute off X12. One thing I liked about the Carmichael work out was that during the 5 minutes off they put in clips of Lance Armstrong and they interview the people doing the workout about the benefits they see from this particular workout. So you get a little "inspiration/motivation" along with the workout.