A weekend of falls...

I had a fall weekend. It wasn't exactly planned or even wanted. It just kind of happened.

Saturday I was up for a 14 miler. Yes, it was raining. Yes, it was cold, but the temps were above freezing. I set out on a trail that had been cleared for the most part. I wore water proof gear, even a hat to keep the rain off my head. Well, as I was running on the nice black, paved trail I slipped, went into the air and land on my tush. I thought it was a puddle, of course, my hands landed in the puddle part and my fleece gloves were soaked. My foot landed on the ice and sent me flying in the air. Did I mention that it happened at the first 1/2 mile mark? Yeah, I wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet.

I kept running and I was a little sore, but not bad. I think maybe my tush froze so I couldn't feel any pain.

It felt good to run nice and easy. I think the average pace was about 9:40, finished in 2:17, but I did have to walk in some areas where there was ice - I wasn't risking falling again. When I finished, I felt good. All day I felt good. I was a maniac around the house: cleaning, laundry, reorganizing... etc. I felt REALLY good. Not like someone who just ran 14 miles in the cold rain.

On Sunday it was GORGEOUS. Kind of made me wished I had saved my run, but I have church and other "duties" on deck on most Sundays. Bob was running at 12:30 and TriGuy had a busy schedule of parties. After I returned home from my "duties," I thought it was a great day to try my bike on a "real" road. I have only ridden it in my neighborhood and on the trainer. As I was getting dressed, Kiera flipped out because she wanted to go and promise to ride "as fast as you, mommy!"

So we went about a mile and she was pedaling SOOOOOO slow. Poor thing - I noticed that both of her tires were flat. I had checked my bike, but not hers. We made it back to the house and I did another loop while Daddy put air in her tires. Picked her back up and we did another mile together. Her little legs were tired - out of shape.

I dropped her off again and headed to see how far and how fast I could go. I did several more miles and then decided to venture out of my neighborhood. I am waiting at the stop light, trying to make a left hand turn (and I do not know the arm signals - I stink, I know!) and the guy across form me doesn't have his blinker on so I assume he is going straight. As the light turns green, he puts on his blinker to turn and so I head out into the intersection to make my left turn and slide/slipped on the sand/salt that was still on the road. Down I go. I feel like a fool. Praying that NO ONE gets out of their cars to help me. No one did... I hurried up off my bike and decide that maybe, just maybe I was meant to be in my neighborhood still! I pedaled home (did 10.7 in 35 minutes and that included the 2 miles with Kiera) thanking God that Kiera wasn't with me... she would have been scared.

All in all, I ended the weekend with 2 falls and three bruises. One on my tush, one on my knee and one on my elbow. I think my ego was bruised the most. I ran 7.2 today in 1:03 just to see if the bruises hurt. They made themselves known, but more annoying than painful. This weekend left me with one question:

Am I really going to Tri?