great snakes

Yesterday was a beautiful run day and I planned on running to catch the 2K swim down at town lake. I ran from my house along shoal creek and felt really good the whole way down. My legs feel the burn from the previous day's ride on the uphills, but nothing horrible. I made it to town lake and check my watch. I then decided to run the I-35 Mopac loop to add on the extra mileage and time I would need before the swim race started. Slow and steady should have been my mantra on this run, because that is the way I felt. My legs were too pooped to kick it, but felt good at a steady pace. I made it to the Mopac bridge in plenty of time before the race and ran into a few people watching other swimmers. I met Gretch at the swim finish where she said the swim was good but COLD and then got a ride back home from her. It was the perfect Sunday morning run for me.

Saturday, I had a 3 hr 45 min ride facing me followed by a 50 min run. To help me with the ride, a friend of a friend graciously agreed to ride with me part of the way and we decided that I would meet him out at Emma Long park where they were camping. Now, I've been to Emma Long, but it has been years, and what I remember is flat. That is NOT what the road out to the park is like. After the turn off from 2222 the hills seemed reasonable and then what faced me better have been Switzerland's heartbreak hill on steroids because nervous little me hopped off almost at the top for fear of the dreaded topple over from going too slow. The hill was so large to me, I was afraid of going back down it, but you do what you have to do. I decided not to flog myself over it and continue on. The rest of the Emma Long ride was rolling and felt mostly downhill. "This is going to be another rough ride out." I thought. I met Diego and his friend Brian at the park. Brian was riding this mountain bike that had some sort of engine on it that would catapult him with "20 mph bursts". This was evidenced as we went up a hill on our way to the mountain bike entrance where Brian was going to put the bike to the test and he surge right ahead of us as we churned away on our bikes. The ride out of the park was not as bad as I had thought (this is usually the case and I try to remind myself of this when I build up anxiety about certain aspects of rides). We headed back out on 360 with a head wind pushing back at us. Diego, demonstrated his hill prowess bounding up the hills, while I made it up them at a slow crawl. We turned onto 2244 for an added loop, where Diego spotted a snake on the road, maybe it should be called Snake cave road? We rode steadily and I felt pretty good and made our way back to 360. Half way to the 360 bridge I heard my phone ring in my back pocket. I looked back didn't see Diego and figured I best pull off and see if that was him. It was. Apparently the flats continue around me and I doubled back to meet up with him. I had a patch kit and 650 tube, but after taking the tire off we discovered my CO2 bottle was empty so their was no air to pump up the tire. Diego called his friends to get a ride and encouraged me to ride on. Another day leaving my riding partner on the side of the road : ( The rest of the ride went well and Diego was picked up by his friends. I donned my running shoes after getting back to the house and took an easy 50 minute run around the neighborhood with thoughts of what was for lunch running through my head.