Happy Thanksgiving everybody! And congrats to all those who competed in a Turkety Trot today. Inside Out held an 8k this morning, but I know there are plenty of Turkey runs all over the country. So wherever you participated in your turkey run at, I hope you had a great run and a good time.

Me? Well, I had my own Turkey Trot today consisting of a 2k endurance swim and lift, then meeting Alicia out at Umstead for a single track 14 mile run. I tried to convince Bri to come with us, but her and Marty both were running the Inside Out Turkey Trot. Come on! Who needs prizes and money when you can run with the Ali(cia)sha’s??? hehehehehehe We make any run way more entertaining, believe me. And you know what, if you don’t believe me then you’ll just have to come out for a training session with us and you’ll see for yourself.

The trails were pretty wet today from all the rain we had over the past few days, so the creeks we normally cross on the runs were more like rivers. In other words… there was no avoiding getting your feet wet. At first I was trying to avoid getting my fet wet and stay out of the mud puddles. There was one “river” crossing that you had to get both of your feet wet. That was what did me in. Alicia skipped right on thru, getting her feet wet. I whimpered a little bit on the other side of the bank, my dry feet not wanting to get wet just quite yet. I was at the point of no return… my feet were going to be wet the rest of the run. (oh well, I am a Lion, can you blame a cat for not wanting to get in water?? hehe) Once my feet were wet though it was all over. I ran thru every puddle and mud hole afterwards. “Whatever,” I’d think to myslef, “already wet and muddy so a little more isn’t going to hurt.” And then of course I start to like running through the puddles and streams… a complete 180 from the start of the run. Hmm, so there’s some logic for you, or lack there of… you choose which.

Joe met us out on the trails with our dog Symba a little over halfway thru our run. Symba trotted along, his little brown tail just wagging away. Symba is always so happy when he gets to run… and then he gets tired. hehe, It’s really cute. He starts every run darting around and looping circles chasing all sorts of things, but he fades fast. Pretty soon he goes from running circles to running just a little bit ahead of you… then he is running right in front of you where you are almost stepping on him… then he is running beside you… but only for a moment… then he is running right behind you on your heels… and then… all of a sudden… WHOOSH… he’s 50ft behind you dragging along for dear life, his little legs moving just as much as they have to in order to keep moving forward and his tounge hanging down halfway to the ground. Needless to say, Symba sleeps very well the rest of the day after his runs with Joe and me.

Now it’s time for me to drag down the Christmas lights and dust off the decorations in our attic. We’ll get our tree this weekend while we’re up in the mountains visiting my parents.

Eat lots of turkey and pie, and enjoy the time with family and friends.

It’s cooooollddd and rainy here in Raleigh, but jeez… I think about what the weather was like last year when I was in Munich and I feel much better. It was already snowing regularly there at this time. I think Joe and I had the pleasure of being in Munich during one of the worst winters on record. It was pretty seeing the snow, but you get really tired of the grey cold that sets in across the city. Especially the old buildings in Munich just make it feel even colder. Brrrr…

So I enjoyed a long swim and long run today, with some yoga-lates thrown in. Ha! Is it yoga or is it pilates?? Who knows, you have to go and be the judge. I went to the class and I still can’t decide myself. hehe

Looks like the weather is going to clear up over the weekend. That’ll be nice. Joe and I are heading to the mountains to visit my parents and see friends. I’ll make it up to Boone at least one day for some climbing practice… been a while since I stretched the climbing legs… I’m looking forward to it!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve to all!

The fall is my favorite time of year… I’ve been mountain biking everyday this week. It’s nice enjoying the leaves and the cooler weather out.

We had a lot of trick or treaters, but we still have a ton of candy left over. Aggghh! That’s scary. Joe and I have been eating it all. Not so good… we’re going to have to take this stuff to work or start feeding the birds with it or something. Hmm… maybe the deer at Umstead will eat it?

Speaking of deer, I see TONS of deer everyday out there. On one ride I saw 8 deer. There was another ride that I stopped for a pee break and three deer were staring at me when I stood up. Here I thought the trail was “all clear” for me to have a bathroom break and I had three peeping toms!

Official training starts next Monday. I can’t wait! It’s going to be fun. Until then I am enjoying my last week of unstructured training. Joe has decided that he wants to do the Myrtle Beach Marathon, so we have been running together in the mornings before work at Umstead.

Today I will meet Alicia as well for a nice longish run, then I hope to hit the trails at Harris Lake this afternoon.

That’s right- it’s the time of year that cyclists hate the most… daylight savings time.

Well, I don’t really look forward to it, I admit, but I don’t particularly hate daylight savings. There is something to be said about shorter days, cooler weather… it means more time to be spent at home and curled up with a good book, or watching tv, and drinking some hot cocoa (least those are some of my favorite things to do when it’s cold out!).

I also like bundling up for rides and runs during the cooler months. It makes training a little more interesting and challenging, and it makes me feel more ‘hard core’ when I get out there and so something when I know it would be much easier to just stay indoors.

So- my day with an added extra hour?? What did I do?? I spent it with my husband, Joe, watching an Angel marathon curled up on the couch with our dog. It was fun! I’m hooked on this show… yes, I am a Buffy and Angel fan, I will fully admit it.

It sure is a dreary day today. I worked for a few hours this morning during the Inside Out Half Marathon. Man what a perfect day for a long run… it’s only about 50 degrees out, gray, dreary, and drizzling. Absolutely miserable for any type of outdoor activity, but that is the kind of weather I love running in the most.

I skipped this half marathon and worked instead to make some extra money and to fully enjoy the off season. I have a few short weeks before training resumes, so I need to take advantage of it while I can. I did a short run in the morning with my dog, Symba, but other than that I enjoyed sitting on the couch. There’s not many days you’ll find me doing that!

A friend of mine is putting on a winter time trial series that started today. I wonder if anyone went out there in this mess! If they did, more power to them! I will probably make it to some of the later TT’s but not during my break time. Hmm… there’s the “off season” again…

Time to go run some errands… stay warm!

Alicia, Gary, and I traveled up the mountain on Friday afternoon for a punishing weekend of training in the mountains. Joe and Bradley (a Tri friend) met up with us in Blowing Rock later that night.Saturday was the Blue Ridge Brutal Century. We started at 8am on the dot… the weather was absolutely perfect. We couldn’t have asked for a better day! It was also special because it was Alicia’s birthday. She likes punishing herself with tons of climbing on her big day… hmm… I think we’re more and more alike the more we hang out. It’s kinda scary. I believe we were twins in another life.

I wasn’t feeling too hot, but I decided to tough out the ride anways. I made it in with a good group of guys. They were kind enough to let me suck wheel and pull when I could (which wasn’t very often). We finished up in under 5hrs, around 4:50 I think.

Alicia didn’t have a very lucky birthday ride. A chain mechanical slowed her up at the start. Joe and Bradley stopped and helped straighten her chain out enough to where she could do the ride. She rode the entire 100 miles pretty much.

If you’re interested, here is the ride profile and ride cue map. As you can see, it was definitely BRUTAL.

Congrats to Bradley for finishing his first organized century! He’s done some long rides before with co-workers, but this was his first official century ride. Tough one to start with!

Alicia and I ran after the century, then we all loaded up the cars and headed back to the house for an evening of relaxing and sitting around the house and cooking up some good food in the kitchen. Steve came over and my parents came up from Drexel. It was a great night just laying around and recovering from a long day.

Sunday held another day of training for me and Alicia. While the boys slept in, we got up and ran the Bass Lake Bridal Trails in Blowing Rock and then went on a 55 mile recovery ride. It was a nice, relaxed training day… with good company.

I actually think we got the better end of the deal because the guys had to clean up the house and pack up while we were gone training so we’d be ready to head back to Raleigh. hehehe- so all I had to do when I got off my bike was shower up and fix my post training meal and get in the car. NICE!

Now I’m lounging around at home, ready for a good night’s sleep before my training in the morning.

Whew, it’s been hot around here in Holly Springs the past couple weeks. On average our highs have been in the 90’s and with the heat index we’ve been feeling well into the 100’s. So I have been drinking gallons of water… I feel like I drink non-stop, constantly, and I can never quench my thirst. Now I know for sure that I would never survive if I got lost in the desert!

I went up to Asheville for the Belle Chere 5k race this past weekend with Joe. We met my parents up there- my dad was also running the race. Since I have had a hurt shoulder, I figured why not enter a 5k? It’d be a fun way to see my parents and spend some time with Joe.
So Joe and I packed up and headed out for the four hour drive to Asheville on Friday after he got off of work. We were going to stay the weekend up in Asheville and enjoy the festival and riding up in the mountains, but the weather was bad (rainy-ick!) so we decided to go ahead and come back home after the race.

The race itself was hard! I mean the course was hilly and I was just trying to keep up with those fast guys and jeez… the downhills absolutely killed me. With the rain and all I was scared of falling on the slick paint or oily spots on the road, and I would have to remind myself, “Alisha, you aren’t on a bike, you’re on your feet…” But knowing my clumsy self I didn’t want to take any chances!

I ended up coming home in a 17:55, but the timing chip system clocked me at 18:00. I was kinda discouraged about that time, but I am pretty hard on myself. The winning guys’ time was 15:37 and he said that he usually runs 14:30s on the track… so that made me feel better. It just proved to me that it truly was a challenging course.

My dad and Joe finished shortly after me, and I turned around and ran cheering for Joe down the home stretch. I was so happy he was there.

After the awards we decided to skip walking thru the festival and seek shelter from the rain at Atlanta Bread Company. It was nice sitting around sipping a large Latte and talking with my parents.

It’s my brother’s 20th birthday today! Happy Birthday GREG!!! He’s in a really cool band, Pax Imperia, and he played last night in Spruce Pine, NC.