Back in the Saddle

Quite literally, back in the saddle.  We’ve had some excellent weather over the last week (unfortunately to end soon) and I dragged out my bike not once, but 3 times this week! Sorry to those who live in colder climates (though it sounds like the weather last weekend wasn’t so bad – at least according to my parents).

So, I haven’t posted on anything that I’ve done over the last few weeks, so I’ll try to get caught up a little.

Waaaaay back before Christmas, I met up with some friends to do the Santa Run 5K in downtown Greenville. I did this the first year it was held (maybe 2012?) and it was a lot of fun!  The organizers string Christmas lights around Cleveland Park and set up some nice displays around the park.  They also put out the foam machine which was kind of a fun touch since it was fairly warm. We ran slowly so we could stop and take pictures and enjoy the event! The race isn’t timed so it wasn’t a big deal that it was closer 3.6 miles instead of 3.1.

Then I went home for Christmas and slacked off for a week. I did run once when it was almost 60 degrees. In Indiana. Two days before Christmas. Yea, I had to take advantage of that!

I came back to SC for the week of New Years since I was out of vacation and took advantage of some nice weather on NYE for a bike ride. I skipped out of work a few hours early to meet up with some friends. It was a bit too chilly (dropped below 40 towards the end), but I got to make use of all the new winter cycling gear I got for Christmas!

We also took stairwell selfies

On New Years Day, I convinced a few people to dive into “Lake Placid” at Paris Mountain with me.  Since this is the south, it wasn’t really all that cold (no ice!), but the water was 42 degrees, so definitely enough to make your toes go numb! I went in with everyone, but the water only came up to the top of my legs. I decided that I really hadn’t gotten my money’s worth so I went back in for a full-body dunk! Then we enjoyed some sunshine and donuts before heading home.

Then just as I was preparing to get back on training boat and ride it into the sunset, I got knocked on my butt with a miserable cold. Like, I thought I had the flu.  But I didn’t, so that’s good at least.  Then I found out I am allergic to codeine so that delayed my recovery for a few more days.  So overall, I lost the whole first week of January, which is not that big of a deal, but I was miserable so I should be able to complain.

I’m back to feeling good again, though!  I had a solid week of swimming and running last week, then pulled out my bike for the weekend! I joined in for the Enjoy the Ride event for Katherine – a local cyclist with breast cancer.  It ended up being a…bit chilly for a ride, but if Katherine can tackle cancer, we can ride outside in 32 degree weather.  It was a HILLY ride. Definitely more so than I expected and I had brought my tri bike to ride. Reaaalllly wished I’d had my road bike seeing how out of shape I am but it was still fun. Then on Sunday after my long run (training for Asheville!!), a few of us rode up the SRT to the Tandem Creperie.  I had not had a chance to go there yet and it was as good as everyone says, for sure. YUM.

I had another chance to ride on Wednesday – it was almost 70 that afternoon! So a few of us went out to the Greenville Spinners TT loop for a few laps. We started at 5:30, so it got dark and cold fast but it was a fun ride with some sprints thrown in and I got almost 20 miles in. Yaaaaaaayy biking.

So anyways, that’s been my last month or so. This weekend, I have the Asheville Hot Chocolate 10K which I will be trying not to die on the hills. And guess what? It’s supposed rain. I think that’s a sign for the rest of the year?

PS. Thinking of rain – since I have such a reputation, my cousin bought me these cool phone/key bags for my activities with the note, “Because rain…”. Sigh.  But, in all honesty, these are great and I will be using them a ton this year for sure!