Where did the week go?

I guess every single post I create could have that title. This week seemed particularly whirlwindish. In desperate need of some form of time off, I took off Thursday and Friday and created a long weekend for myself. My "no weekends" at the hills was short lived as I had an 11 hour shift there today and work there all next weekend. The long weekend was really just to get a break before I another long working jaunt.

Tuesday and Wednesday...
Tuesday, I did some speedwork on the treadmill. I really need to get outside and run as the treadmill was a drudgery on this particular day. Some days you have the mindset for it and some you don't. It didn't help that I slept a little later than I wanted but all in all I made it work and marked speed intervals off my list for the week. I followed that up with boot camp on Wednesday.

Thursday...
I headed to Stone Mountain for a 5 mile run. I decided to top off the run with a 1.3 mile hike up the mountain. Let's just say it has been a while since I powered up the mountain. In my head I had minimized the difficulty a little too much. It certainly isn't rappeling and rock walls but a little more intense than I remembered especially after a 5 mile run. It was a great work out. As you approach the top, there is a fairly steep section. There was a man up there running hill repeats on the top section. Pretty impressive.

Did I mention it was hot?



I had forgotten a lot about the walk up the mountain over the years. Along the path, there are several cool carvings where various people throughout the years have etched their names in. Not a lot but a few random ones. Mostly over 20 years ago (I noticed one newer one but it was done in a sharpie, I guess the art of carving is gone...LOL). This was one of the older ones. It is pretty cool to think someone was here over 130 years ago.



Found this on the internet about them... apparently they dated for 5 years (or more)before they were married. There was some speculation on the internet site that Mrs. Goodyear might have been a chaperone.

The Georgia Enterprise, June 22, 1883:
"Married
Mr. Josiah A. Carter, city editor of the Atlanta Constitution, was married to Miss Annie Logan Anderson, at the residence of her uncle, Col. Newton Anderson, in Covington, Saturday last. Rev. J. N. Bradshaw performed the interesting ceremony. We wish the newly wedded pair all the joy and pleasure that a life of love and hope can grant. To such a well-suited pair the future is sure to be one of peace and plenty.'





This is the beginning of where the man was doing hill repeats. Here and then to the top which has another steeper section.





Thursday evening was my first group ride with the triathlon group I mentioned on Tuesday. The ride started out great. It had been quite a while since I had taken out the bike and it was well, just like riding a bike.... It took about 10 seconds to recall which levers controlled which gears and I was off and running.... for about 5 miles.

At the 5 mile mark, I got a flat. We all pulled over and assessed the situation. Luckily, the ride leader knew how to actually change a tube as NONE of the rest of us did. It is one of those things I knew I needed to learn buy just had not gotten around to it yet. I did, however, have a spare tube and CO2 cartridge. The unfortunate part is that the guy at the bike shop who gave my bike a once over and put together my road kit for me failed to recognize that my tires are 650s as opposed to the more common 700s. (or something like that). Anyhow, the tube was too big for my tire. Ride leader, pulls out her patch kit. She puts a patch on the hole and attempts to inflate. Turns out there were 2 holes. There goes the CO2 cartridge. Husband of ride leader patches second hole. The tire wasn't quite seated in the rim and blew out as it was being inflated. Random guy on bike comes by and asks if he can help (he had ridden by earlier with a pack of his biker friends). I took him up on his offer, we loaded the bike in his car and hitched a ride back to my car. (My new bike friends took off on their bikes after taking a picture of his license plate in case I never made it back... I might be too trusting of people, that never occured to me). So my first experience with the tri group wasn't exactly as planned (I felt soooo bad). I assure you, they will never forget me AND they all know they need a repair kit to carry on their bikes and have some idea how to change a tube. :)

Friday...
I took the bike to the tri shop around the corner from my house where I got a new tube and two new tires as it turns out mine were on their last leg anyhow. I feel like it was good the flat happened or I would have had no idea that the tires were in bad shape. I am still not really sure how to tell as there really isn't tread like there is on a car tire. I will have to figure that one out another day. Friday night was the last match of my mixed team's season. I lost my match but the team won overall so we won the division. WOO HOO!

Saturday...
lots of cleaning. Part of that purging I promised myself months ago. Tons of things headed out to the trash, goodwill, etc. and am not even close to being done to my satisfaction. Baby steps :)



Cheribundi...
Have you guys tried Cheribundi? It is a tart cherry juice with the "jiuce of 50 cherries in every serving". They sent me some samples to try and I might be a little biased because cherry is my favorite flavor ever but this is really yummy! Their marketing material says it tastes like cherry pie and I have to say they are correct. I was given the regular flavor, lite and protein packed versions. All were tasty and would definitely recommend them.

Interestingly enough, in my purging yesterday, I came across an article in a magazine from a few months back talking about the benefits of cherry juice. The article stated that a 2008 British strudy showed that runners who downed 16 ounces of tart cherry jiuce for 5 days prior to and two days after the London Marathon had reduced inflammation, oxidative stress and muscle damage. Might be worth a try!