Congrats to all those crazy triathletes that braved the NCTS Invitational Race at Falls Lake this morning! You are all nuts as cold as it was… but I am proud of all of you for getting out there and duking it out.

Also, big Congratulations to Alicia for WINNING the overall prize! She must be a polar bear in another life.

By the way, did I mention you are ALL crazy??!

As many of you know, October is Breast Cancer Reasearch Month. And for those of you who didn’t know, that might explain why you’ve been seeing all the pink stuff in stores… pink m&ms, pink ribbons, pink labels on products, ect…

Today I rode in the innaugural le Tour de Femme, a benefit ride for breast cancer research. The ride started at Cycling Spoken Here in Cary at 9am. I rolled into the parking lot just in time… I kid you not. I was pumping up my tires as the group was leaving so I had to play catch up for the first few miles. Whew, not the way I wanted to start this 60+ mile ride! But I have to admit it was a great way to warm up in the cool weather.

I had the best time chatting and meeting new women out on this ride. You could tell that all the girls were really out there and into being on their bikes.

The ride was very well organized and I must say that my favorite part was receiving a pink carnation for completing the ride. The flower had a note attached to it thanking you for your help in fighting breast cancer. How cute is that??

Thanks to the volunteers that were out at each intersection pointing us the right way, and to those who were at all the rest stops making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We also had a police escort and a personal SAG wagon with a photographer… we were definitely given the royal treatment!

Again, thank you for the great ride… thanks to all the women who came out in the name of breast cancer research. I hope we made a small difference in fighting this disease.

With the weather cooling off this time of year I have noticed that I am reaching less for cool, crisp salads and going more for warm, hearty soups and baked squash.

I love grapefruit- great source of vitamin c and I love how tart it is… but with the cold weather, the thought of my usual cold fruit salads with cold yogurt or cold cereal for my morning jump-start just doesn’t do the trick.

Here’s a great recipe for you to try for breakfast before a fall weather workout that will warm you right up…

Warm Grapefruit Yogurt Pourage

1 grapefruit, peeled and cut up into a bowl
1 banana, mashed
1 cup blueberries
Plain Yogurt (I use Soygurt)
Walnuts
Cinnamon

• Place grapefruit sprinkled with cinnamon into microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes or until it’s as warm as you like it.
• Put mashed banana and blueberries in microwave for a minute. Mash up more and stir together to make a puree-like topping. Microwave longer if you want a thinner consistancy.
• Pour mashed banana-blueberry puree over the cinnamon infused grapefruit.
• Dallop with cool plain yogurt and sprinkle walnuts and flaxseeds.

Enjoy! Hit the trails with a warm tummy!

Ever wonder what athletes do on sick days? Well, I can tell you what I do…

Sleep.

Eat.

Sleep some more.

Surf the net.

Eat.

Sleep, or close my eyes and try to sleep.

Stare at the wall…

Talk on the phone.

Think about sleeping some more.

AND!!! If your name is Alisha Lion and you get bored… and Halloween is coming up… you decide to make something cute for the holidays. See for yourself! I made these cute little treat bags today, and then worked on piecing together my quilt. It was really nice to sew again.

Since I had left for Munich I wasn’t able to work on my quilt or sew any because all of my supplies were here. Now I am officially back to my domesticated self!

That’s what you should call me… Alisha the Pinehurst Popsicle. I have done many many cycling races in miserable cold weather, but this was my first experience doing a Triathlon in miserable cold weather. And the crazy thing is… I know that plenty of people have done Triathlons in MUCH WORSE weather as well. UGH! I can’t imagine!

First off I wanna say kudos to all the people that came out and raced on Saturday at Pinehurst. Just being out there and participating in the event makes you one tough cookie.

My race turned into survival pretty quickly. I was cold before the swim start, even though I had warmed up. I was fine on the swim- I wore a wetsuit and it was all good- but then as soon as I hit the air and was moving to the transition area I started to get cold.

I had decided before the race that I was going to take the extra time to put on clothes to keep warm during the bike even though my transition would suffer. I’ve always been one of those to bundle up way more than most people when I’m riding, so being wet just coupled matters.

I was freezing on the bike needless to say, but just to make my bike ride even more miserable my rear wheel was making a really weird sound and it wasn’t turning right. I finally stopped and fumbled around and took the wheel out and then put it back in. Stopping made me completely cold, and trying to get going again just wasn’t happening. I ended up barely able to see straight at the end of the bike because I was so cold and my teeth were chattering. I was actually hitting my brakes on most of the downhill portions of the course.

Well, when I got back from the bike, I plopped down in the transition area contemplating on weather or not I wanted to go out for the run or not. I finally decided that by golly I was finishing this thing, no matter how cold I was. I shoved my shoes on and headed out… “just do it as a training run,” I told myself.

My feet were so cold. I was still struggling to get warm. A girl named Amy came running up to me and said “good job!” with a smile on her face around mile two. Her encouragement entirely changed my perspective on the race at that moment. I was able to start enjoying the run. We ended up running together and talking the rest of the way. She started cramping and I was able to give her one of my gels.Â

Amy talking to me was enough to keep me from thinking about how frozen I was, and I finally warmed up!!! Yes, at mile six on the 6.2 course I was warm! Ha… but at least then I was warm enough to walk back to the car with my husband.

I am so happy that people really do encourage one another and push eachother to be their best… and it’s really cool to see it happen during a race, and especially to be able to give and receive the encouragement at the same time like Amy and I did. That is what makes an active, fit lifestyle completely rewarding!

Good job to all the Pinehurst finishers again… you are all heros to me!

That’s right! Lance is running the New York City Marathon on November 5th. Runner’s World has an article about it in this month’s edition.

The website has mp3 excerts where you can listen to parts of Lance’s interview, a video download, and predictions about how fast Lance will actually run the marathon. >>read the article< <

So I’m not the only crazy cyclist that is running a whole heck of a lot too!

*disclaimer– above statement does not refer to Lance as being crazy… only Alisha.

We’re getting a Trader Joe’s in Cary! I am so excited… I was driving to run at Umstead for my morning run and about flipped when I saw the construction sign. Weee! Now I have a Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and Trader Joe’s to shop at.