Takin' care of business...

Earlier this week I sat through a long-winded, yet informative talk on the 1/2 Vineman Course.....the speaker was real enthused about the race, even included pictures of what the area looked like in circa 1955.....he's in his late 50's and has been going to the Russian River Valley (where Vineman is taking place) so you could tell he was super stoked about the race. However, after sitting for a few hours, my eyes started to get heavy, but I managed to come away with a few thoughts.

1. Racing in 110 degree weather should be interesting and freakin' hot. I can see my face in all of its red and white glory now....However, not much I can do about that so i'm going to be eatin' salt like no other.....AND, i've decided i'm going to be keeping a small towel icy cold in a cooler for when I come off the bike. (He suggested dumping water over our heads to bring down our core body temperature but I wasn't thrilled with that idea).......so, cold towel will suffice.

2. I'm not racing with my hearing aid. Typically, if it's an olympic, I don't take the time to put my hearing aid on since the race is shorter. If it's a half or Ironman, I put my aid on during the bike portion.....however, due to the heat in Vineman, I think it's best that I leave it off in case I DO need to dump water on my head.

3. Dave and I finally decided that he'll be coming to the race! We were going back and forth as to whether he should go, because I think we've bought somewhere between 8-10 round trip tickets this year between weddings and other travels, so we weren't sure it was wise. However, I *actually* was little nervous with the heat that if something does happen, it'd be nice to have my favorite sherpa on hand. Plus, I think he wanted to come anyway but we were trying to save a few bucks, but with Southwest, I think we can get him up there on the cheap. And, since we're both suckers for Merlot, and whatever other drinks we can get our hands on, we're already trying to figure out maybe one winery to hit Saturday before the race and maybe two on Sunday after.

I'm driving up Thursday, staying with a friend in Santa Barbara and getting up to the race site probably early Friday afternoon, plenty'a time to get settled and check out the digs in the area.

Weekend recap. Just takin care of what I need to get done for a last hard weekend and it went like this:
Friday was my long run. I was supposed to break up the run, 60' minutes in a.m. and 30 easy in p.m.....but, my email account was down and I couldn't remember the breakdown for the run, so I did it all in one long swoop.

Friday: 60 minutes hard with 4x5 minute hard efforts and 30 minutes easy......just over 10 miles.....yeah, I know, the last 30 were easy, so I have an excuse. Someone was mentioning on another blog how people waver sometimes on blogs, they're too positive. So, here's some negativity: I was burping lunch, my legs felt like crap, I had a cramp, had to run from bee's, I was counting the minutes, and I didn't feel like running =0. How's that? Got er' done though.

Saturday: 60 minute masters swim, 3 hour ride up the coast and a 30 minute fast transition run. I nailed it. It was hot, hot hot. Actually, the ride was awesome, warm, but not unbearable. Honestly, I have to thank my awesome friend Stacy for coming with me, she isn't on a training plan (but don't let that fool you, she came off a rockin' race two weeks ago at SDITri and is racing Camp Pendleton next weekend, and oh yeah, she's qualified for the Boston Marathon)......so, I KNEW if nothing else, she would drag my sorry ass around for the run. And...she did! We averaged about an 8:00 minute mile which for me is super good and for her, well, i'm just glad she was running with me =0. It was just really fun and she was excited to have someone to train with as well.

Tonight we're headed to a glorious dinner with some of Dave's peeps he works with. Translation: somewhat mandatory "work-fun." Now, don't get me wrong, he works with some great people, but if we're paying $60.00 a head i'm thinkin' like steak, or a great San Diego restaurant, not a cash bar and hotel restaurant food. But, I will bite my tongue and hope that it's not chicken cordon bleu.....=0.

So, i'm DONE for the weekend 'cause tomorrow is my day OFF. Off as in, nothing except sleeping in, bagels, dog beach with the dogs, hanging out with Dave and probably the necessary Fro Yo stop Yo.......