Sunday, December 24, 2006

i used to like running.....

so i am back in glorious oHIo for christmas. i am missing my bike, so i thought i'd go for a happy little run. like the good old days.

i go out my house in barberton, ohio...run down hopocan street, pass the beautiful scenerey -- the recycling factory and train tracks. then i go up the hill...that i use to actually think was a hill, but it really isn't. i pass the sokol club (the dodgy sign where there is a slovakian center...with a supposed bowling lane inside....but i have like 4 bowling alleys within a 2 miles radius of my home, so i haven't ever visited this one). then i pass the hopocan gardens; it is a restaurant that is hungarian and they say they have "chicken paprikash" (which makes me laugh because in hungarian it should be spelt paprikas (no h) but pronounced with an h...nitwits. anyways, that place sucks.).

But I digress.... My run. It is about 9 minutes into my run. It is cold and I am already getting the winter ear ache from running outside....i am becoming a california softy. :( At 15 minutes I turn around. At 17 minutes i get so tired i have to stop. I usually am stubborn and never stop, even if I am puking on myself...but it is xmas and i wanted to have a fun run, so stretch a bit. Then i run 2 more minutes...then i get a cramp. then i walk more. Then I suck it up and run all the way home. The longest 30 minute run ever. How am i so weak? I have been a biking a ton!

Next day: i can't walk. i mean, i really can't walk. i am bracing myself going up and down the strairs. my calves and shins KILL and my hamstrings can't even be straightened. this is the most pathetic thing ever. i am sooo sore. i know i haven't run since july and I was booking it for the first half...but, i have been biking a lot i shouldn't be so sore.

Moral of the story: i am not ever running again.... unless i am late for the bus. that will show that stupid sport. i used to like running.... that is until i discovered i could roll everywhere instead! stupid crap.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

saddle sore? I think not.

so I had a minor freak out moment in the bathroom today when I felt a large lump on my butt. my roommate looked at it and it was kind of blue. Was this a saddle sore? I was freaking out because it seemed like it was a weird spot... but who to ask? I can't call Fred. And I don't know many women bikers. I called every woman cyclist I knew - which was about four people. Some who I have only ridden with twice... awk-ward.

Narda called me back. She is a sweet masters time trialist - and an awesome women. But I definitely don't know her well enough to be talking about bumps in my butt hole. But she was awesome and gave me the diagnosis. Not a saddle sore -- a hemorrhoid. HEMORRHOID?!?! How do you get these?
  1. being overweight. (nope)
  2. inactive. (nope)
  3. sit a lot. (not really)
  4. pregnant. (nope)
  5. eat lots of meat and not enough veggies. (nope)
  6. have trouble pooping. (definitely nope)
I determined it must have been over straining myself from going on a ride with the juniors. (bad idea) Crazy shit. I bet Narda is having a good laugh out of me now.

Monday, December 18, 2006

juniors are ass kickers

So I have been off the bike a bit cause I was on vacation- so I thought on my first long ride back I wanted to do a nice ride with the Duros, expecting not to be able to keep up and fall back. Fred and I BART into Walnut Creek and get there early. The Tieni Duros - a junior development team - meets earlier and leaves. Fred is friends with this guy and they invite us on the ride with them, so we go... and let me say, I am not so excited cause high school boys are fast.

You don't even know. I think we started off the easy paceline going down San Ramon Blvd super fast-- then we go up Dublin Grade and of course I feel like I need to stay in the front and I am just killing myself trying to keep up with these boys. Then we start going down and I realize we're doing some crazy rotating paceline down and I think I am going to crap my pants I so scared cause I have never done this before and we are going so fast. Thank god I make up. Then we go up redwood and I hang and hang and probably about a mile to the top, the top group goes in front of me...I was feeling a little sorry for myself, until I realize some of these juniors are like national champions and have pro contracts with Lombardi. (But this was their easy day in the off season). I came home from Pinehurst, instead of going back to Walnut Creek with them. I passed out I was so exhausted. Teenage boys are ass kickers for sure.

Best conversation of the day, while in double paceline.

Jr.: So what school do you go to?
Me: Uh, actually, I am graduated....from college. (And of course, I feel like a loser.)