9.14.2009

Being a Tourist

Six days until my next race. I'm a little under-trained, but I'm working hard this week, and I have good faith that I'll be able to finish just fine.

Ryan recently bought my Dad's bike (after 4 months and 2 triathlons, my Dad decided to ditch his hybrid for a cyclocross with clipless pedals). Having been ages since Ryan's owned a bike, we had to do a little shopping to get the necessities.

Ryan came home with a helmet, water bottle, and cyclocomputer. I came home with a pair of glasses...



And a new Ironman watch...



I'm excited to have a watch that can take laps. I just tried it out running 3 miles with a pretty nasty positive split.

Yesterday, our town held it's annual "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town" event. They open up 10 different downtown museums/attractions free to the public. So we grabbed our bikes and were off for the afternoon...



First stop, the science museum. I knew it was for little kids, but these types of hands-on places used to be my absolute favorite when I was younger. I just couldn't resist.



We learned all about physics, aerodynamics, optical illusions, and the human body...



And I got to be an astronaut!



Next stop was the botanical conservatory. They had some weird Wizard of Oz theme (which Ryan and I both agreed was a creepy movie)...



I'm sure it would have been nicer to visit without hundreds of other tourists crowded around. Ryan and I rushed through the hot greenhouse rooms pretty quickly.



Our inner tourists were spent. So we rode a few more miles along the river bike path then headed home for grilled chicken, corn, and roasted red potatoes.

My weight loss is going pretty pathetically. I thought it would be much easier at the beginning (last November, I lost 5 lbs in my first month of counting calories). So far, I have lost and gained back the same lb about 3 times. I would like to have someone to blame it on other than myself, but Ryan is counting calories also... and he's beating me!

Well, Maggie is bored because I'm blogging instead of paying attention to her. So off I go!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if I ever said this. But I've got a Giant OCR3 with the two sets of brake levers. What do you think about them? On group rides I often get odd looks and questions.

Diana said...

Cool idea on the "tourist in your hometown" and that you rode bikes to all of it instead of climbing into a car!
Love the glasses and watch. I have a IM watch too, but being so damn electrically stupid with gadgets, I have no clue how to actually "use" it to it's potential. So sheltered!

jeanne said...

that looks like so much fun! the IM watch is great, i've used it for years! but i still don't feel like an ironman. :(

Rainmaker said...

Positive splits have thier place in life...and a nice test run is definitely it. :)

The Boring Runner said...

This is a REALLY fun idea. I still don't know what all touristy stuff there is to do in Phoenix. Maybe I'll look into that this weekend.....

Marci said...

Love the Ironman watch and the new set of shades :)

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