That pretty much sums up the last week and a half since I've blogged last. It has been too long since I have written but I am back and ready to write. For the past week I have been up in Connecticut visiting the family. I made an impromptu decision last week to make the drive up there and spend some time away from Charlotte. I haven't been out of town since December nor have I had anything resembling a vacation in 2009. My parents had a beach cottage for the weekend so Luna and I made the long drive up there. It was Luna's first trip ever to the beach so it was fun to see her run around in the sand, and of course, be fearful of the water. Ahh...dogs...they crack me up. I really enjoyed spending time with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and my twin nephews. It was the perfect trip except for the bee sting and the bloody toe.
First, the bee sting- I am pretty allergic to bees but haven't been stung in a few years. On Monday I was 2 (count them...2) miles into my bike ride when I rode right into a bee at about 30 miles an hour. I am coasting down the back side of a hill and I saw him come right at me. He hit my left cheek right below where my sunglasses were. If I had not been wearing my sunglasses he probably would have stung me in the eye and it would have been much worse. Thank you Tifosi sunglasses! The picture doesn't do the sting justice. My eye was completely swollen shut for a few hours making riding and running a tad more challenging without proper depth perception. Two days later my face is swollen and I am wondering if I will be able to put on swim goggles today or if my face is to puffy.
On to the bloody toe. I should mention that for the first time since 2007 I have all ten toenails. Marathon running, ironman training then ultra running have pretty much destroyed my feet. This year though all my toenails have all grown back and my feet look almost normal...until now. So after the bike ride Monday I was suppose to get off the bike and run for 4 hours. It was already challenging enough to run with only one eye but those of you that know Portland CT know that there is no such thing as flat! I choose some loops that I would consider to be less hilly but apparently the downhill running and the feet slamming into the front of the shoe resulted into the ripping off of a toenail and a bloody mess. Now I am down to 9 toenails. Oh well...
Now you are probably asking why (or even who) Beth Orton and The Be Good Tanyas are and how they fit into this blog post. When I began the run portion of my workout on Monday my legs were completely fatigued from the workout I did on Sunday. Thanks to Andy and Tracy for running with me. If it wasn't for them I might not have had the motivation to finish the run portion on Sunday. Andy ran the whole run with me, his longest ever, and Tracy ran the last 4.9 miles with us which was her longest non-stop run to date as well. It was fun running with the family. Back to the B's- as I was saying I was completely fatigued and overall just upset about my swollen face. I was on vacation and haven't relaxed at all. I just wanted to stop running and not move anymore. I had my ipod on (sorry Melissa and Melinda) for the run and a Beth Orton song came on followed by one from The Be Good Tanyas. I should probably mention that it is NOT safe to run with an ipod, or similar mp3 player, but since there isn't any traffic in the rural part of CT I was running I opted for some company. Over the past few months I have been working out with an ipod. I know it isn't safe but when some of your workouts are 15+ hours long it gets a little boring. I have added and removed artists so many times from my ipod since my mood is so unstable when I get tired. Who would have thought that I would only find the motivation to continue moving forward while listening to Beth Orton and The Be Good Tanyas- passing up mood lifting music like rock n roll or dance music. I guess when the going gets tough the music gets folk! I am not ashamed to admit that these two bands are amongst my favorites and it is all that I am listening to now. Thanks ladies!
There is a little more than five weeks to go until race day and my nerves are starting to get the best of me. More to come...time to unpack from my trip.
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