Fall rides, good friends and bad runs

Not too much going on lately, but I thought I'd try and keep my promise to blog more. Even if it's not "wow" material.

We did go to John and Diane's again this past weekend. We got there about 8:30 Friday night. It was Halloween and we usually just turn the lights off, hide upstairs and pretend not to be home. You never know who's going to be on your doorstep these days. Now THAT'S scary! Diane had made this awesome Tamale Chili Pie and it was soooooo yummy. Perfect for a Fall evening. We visited for awhile then made our way to the "Love Nest". I can't remember the last time I slept so hard. It's also really weird for the sun to be up before I'm up. We suit up in our cycling gear and head across the street to have a light breakfast. I think I eat more for breakfast than anyone else I know, even with the understanding that after our ride we'll have bacon, eggs, toast etc... Everyone else had toast while I had cereal with a banana and toast. I just couldn't help myself and I know I'm going to probably use up most of that fuel anyway, so it doesn't bother me. We had a pretty relaxing ride even though there was some climbing involved. However, this time I hadn't run 14 miles the previous day, so of course it was easier - DUH! The Fall color was good, but we agreed that if we had ridden a week later it would have been absolutely bursting with color. Mother Nature is truly on her own schedule.

Here's my missed photo op from the Longhorn 70.3. Pretty sure I didn't want to get close to this big fella though. He probably would've used me for a hood ornament!

We finished up our ride and we all felt great. I'm really starting to enjoy the social rides. Chris and I headed back across the street to gather our stuff so we could come back and take advantage of the outdoor shower because it was really nice outside. I started up the stairs and looked up and I was in the middle of a swarm of red wasps! Of course it didn't take long for me to warn the tribe with my battle cry. Nor did it take me very long to get inside. Even though the door wasn't open for every long, we ended up letting about 10 wasps in. I'm pretty sure it was the warm temps outside that brought them back out, but I'm also sure that there were some already inside the "Love Nest" (now known as the "Wasps' Nest"). We grabbed ALL of our stuff and made a mad dash out the door. I wish I had gotten a picture of my Knight in shining armour armed with a fly swatter in each hand! We told John about it and he said that he would go over and take care of things. Meanwhile, I was enjoying the outdoor shower and heard the screen door open out to the back yard and turned to see John pouring out bacon grease and as he headed back inside he said, "Don't worry Rebecca. I didn't look...much". The thing is that now I am not even close to as self conscious as I used to be. It just made me chuckle. What's a little outdoor nakedness between friends, right? We had "breakfast" and decided that a hike might be nice. John started some pork tenderloin on the smoker and we set out once again. The colors and views were awesome. Zulie (sp?) is a really great dog and climber. Not sure she knows she's a dog though.

I especially liked the Mt. Dew hood ornaments. Very classy!

We went back to the base camp and I proceeded to make the most divine cookies on which we would all make ourselves sick before and after we had the awesome pork tenderloin. One thing I can say about John and Diane is these people know how to cook and feed their guests well!

After dinner we watched the Texas and Texas Tech game. Okay, I watched the back of my eyelids more than the game - major sugar crash! We braved the "Wasps' Nest" and still slept pretty good with one ear open. We left about 8:30 (yipee for the extra hour) and Chris went on a mtn. bike ride in Cedar Glades with a group and I went for a 10 mile run. The run went pretty well and I managed an average speed of 8:53. That was one Roctane and about 20 oz. of fluid. I followed that up with these new little cookies from Fig Newton. They are not very sweet and only have 100 calories and about 2.5 grams of fat. They sit well in my stomach, too.

I worked chest/back/abs on Monday and we went for a 30 minute walk that evening. I did intervals on Tuesday afternoon on the bike then went for a very painful 2.5 mile run and when I met up with Chris I walked the other 1.5 miles. I worked legs/back/abs on Wed. I went for a 3.25 mile run this morning and it was a bit better. Leann came and worked on my legs and got most of the hip pain and shin splints calmed down. I'm feeling pretty good right now!

I should probably wrap this up; got a client in 30 minutes!