Let's Elaborate

Whenever Ryan is in town, my life sort of shuts down. This includes, but is not limited to: getting enough sleep, doing all my training, eating normal meals, answering my phone, reading my email, and updating my blog. Sorry.

I'm even more sorry that I don't have a SINGLE picture from his time here. Woops.

Ryan arrived on Friday. I live in a very inconvenient part of the state where I have to drive 1 1/2 hours to get to the airport (booooo).

After heading back for ONE day of work, we turned back around on saturday morning and went BACK to Chicago for the weekend. Main motivation there was for me to check out the race course before this weekend (yes, THIS WEEKEND!). My brother was tooling around Europe, so we nabbed his cushy Wrigleyville condo while he was gone.

Saturday afternoon, we hopped on our bikes (Ryan used my Purple People Eater hahaha) and headed towards Foster Avenue Beach. We got there in about 10 minutes. That's no fun, so we just kept going. We ended up biking about 11 miles up and down the Lake Shore Drive bike path. At our furthest south point, we ran smack dab into the 50th Annual Chicago Air and Water Show. The crowds were intense, but we found a seat just in time for the finale-- the Blue Angels. I could be wrong, but I don't think I've ever seen them. They were good. Impressive. I kind of want to go fly a super fast plane now. Weeeeeeee.

Saturday night was spent watching Michael Phelps get #8. Just... wow.

On Sunday morning, we headed back to Foster Avenue Beach to officially test out the wetsuit. However, I had seriously underestimated the level of embarrassment that comes with putting on a wetsuit in front of 200 families on the beach. Ryan said, "I won't judge you if you don't go in."

But I was pretty determined. So we found a less-crowded portion of the beach and I just went for it. It was unbelievably difficult to get the wetsuit on while I was hot and sweaty. Once zipped up, I jumped in. The water was only a few feet deep, so I just floated around for a little while. I was amazed at how warm the wetsuit kept me, and how bouyant I was! Even if I totally freak and panic on race day, at least I know I won't be drowning.

We drove back home Sunday afternoon. I hadn't done a legitimate workout in days (16 miles of biking downtown at 7 mph doesn't count), so I went for a 5k run.

Sidenote: Every meal that we ate between Friday morning and Sunday evening ended in the words "I'm FULL," And were followed an hour later by the words "I'm STILL full."

So CONSIDERING that fact and my lack of a good workout, I managed to PR my 5K by MINUTES. Yes... you heard right.

5K (3.1 miles) in 29 minutes and 27 seconds.

It was hard, but it wasn't impossible. This was only the second time I had run that distance without stopping (the first being the Knight Run 5K race).

But apparently that was a BAD idea... because my legs were sore for the following 2 days.

I took Monday off and then did an easy 20 minute workout on the Elliptical yesterday morning.

I'm taking today off, then I'll hit the pool tomorrow (it's finally open again!).

Ryan left this morning, which is super depressing. Because of my whacky schedule, we never know when we're going to see eachother again. HOWEVER, I have to tell you all that he is headed to Texas this weekend for his cousin's wedding. The kicker is that his cousin is marrying Ron Paul's granddaughter. Ha! It's supposed to be a 3-day EVENT. I like to picture the main wedding from "Wedding Crashers." Talk about an experience! I told him he has to go and report back on the political craziness.

On a different note, THREE DAYS until the race.

I have to do all my triathlon packing tomorrow. Does anyone have any suggestions for things I need to pack that I may not think of?

Bathingsuit
Wetsuit
Goggles
Bike
Water Bottle
Bike Pump
Towel
Shoes
Socks
Shorts
Helmet
?????

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