Saturday, October 30, 2010

P-ville Century

Sandra and I needed to do another long ride and I wanted to make it fun, so I decided we should do 4 laps of the Hell Ain't This Hot course and invite all our Tri Zones friends to join us. I figured if we were lucky we might get different people for each lap which would really keep it interesting.

On the way to P-ville I saw tons of police cars, fire trucks and there was traffic at 6:45 on a Saturday! I had no idea what was going on, but soon got a call from Amy B. She told me she and others were stuck in traffic because a tanker truck crashed and caught on fire- YIKES! Luckily everyone make it to P-ville, a little late, but safe. It was also super COLD! 39 degrees!! So I was bundled up like an Eskimo! Sandra and I waited until everyone looked ready to ride and then took off, assuming everyone would follow right behind us- we were wrong. We kept thinking they would catch us any minute but we never saw Tom, Amy B., Laura, or Leah. I was sad that we didn't get to ride with them, I was really looking forward to Amy, Laura and Leah's awesome company! Especially since I have never ridden with Amy or Leah and every time I ride with Laura she keeps me highly entertained!

I was cold most of the first loop but not excruciatingly so. I don't think I whined to Sandra too much. We were riding along on Manda Carlson (before the wind picked up) and I heard a noise, looked behind us and saw a dog chasing us! We sped up, but the dog kept following! At first it was scary, but soon we realized the dog had no interest in biting us, she just wanted to follow us. I didn't want to give her attention because I assumed it would make her more likely to chase bikes or even cars, so we kept going. She followed us for over 2 miles!! Later, Tom, Amy, Laura, and Leah saw her too and Tom and Carolyn decided to adopt her! How cool is that!!

We got back to the parking lot and had Kim H., Little Pam, Jeff, Clint, and his friend Brent waiting to ride with us- cool! I took off with Kim, Clint and Brent. The wind was already picking up, but at least I wasn't freezing anymore! Clint and I chatted and I told him who I was since I wasn't sure if he remembered me. He said "oh yeah, I know you, I just didn't recognize you in the ninja mask!" LOL yeah, it was that cold even on lap 2! I rode most of the first half of lap 2 with Kim and we talked all about Ironman training, then the second half I rode with Little Pam and Jeff. I told Jeff I was going to be really tired of the wind by lap 4, he replied "maybe the wind will get tired of you first!" I wish!!

For lap 3 we had Kendra, Peggy, and Jody waiting for us and Little Pam and Jeff again. I rode part of lap 3 with Kendra and Peggy and then the rest with Sandra. Sandra and I had new fun things to talk about since we hadn't ridden together in a lap and a half. I was definitely getting tired of the wind, but still having a good ride. Catherine finished up lap 3 with me.

Sandra decided she was going to have to skip out a little early to get some work done (party pooper!, but I love you anyway Sandra!!) So we decided to make "lap 4" 2 laps of Coach Jen's time trial route so that Sandra could do 1 lap, not have to ride it alone, and be finished 45 minutes or so earlier. For lap 4 we had the "dream team" of Coach Cindy, Kendra, and Elizabeth H. The Dream Team- Kendra, Elizabeth, & Coach Cindy

E-beth has a sprained ankle and was really worried about unclipping so she was super excited when I told her we switched the route to the TT loop and there were no stop signs and all right turns so no unclipping til the end! They kept me chatting and laughing the entire time and even the hills and head wind on Cameron Rd didn't seem that bad, (ok, it was still tough, but made seriously better by good company!) We decided Coach Cindy needs her own fashion TV show and episode 1 will be "Roadside Underpants", episode 2 is "Topless Chapstick", and episode 3 "Antarctic Polar Sunglasses" I know you had to be there, but it was seriously entertaining at the time! Cindy's "Antarctic Polar Sunglasses" Very fashionable!

At one point, Kendra and E-beth fell behind, when Kendra finally caught up I asked what happened, she said they slowed down on purpose to make me feel really fast! LOL! I yelled out "100 miles" when my Garmin hit 100 and they all cheered for me like only Tri Zoners can!! I ended up riding 103 miles! And I think it was my most fun century ride yet!Still smiling after 103 miles!

THANK YOU so much to everyone who came out to ride with Sandra and I today! We really, really appreciate it!! You all ROCK!!!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

How Did I Get Here?

An online friend of mine who will be doing Ironman Cozumel too just wrote a "How Did I Get Here" post, I thought it was a pretty cool idea- so I'm stealing it! Thanks Hassan! He also said "This is a moment I will NEVER (this is one of very few times I CAN say NEVER!) have again. I will NEVER again be 4 weeks out from my FIRST Ironman." WOW! 4 weeks!?!?! Deep Breaths!

So, how did I get here? I was never an athlete, as a young adult, I always worked out just enough to not get too overweight, I was an overweight kid and didn't want to be there again. In 2002 I was finishing grad school and had just started my first "real" job at Duckworth-Cole, Inc. I wasn't walking all over campus anymore or swimming at the A&M rec center. I needed to do something to stay in reasonable shape, so I joined Aerofit gym and started swimming a couple mornings a week. My swims coincided with the triathlon group's swims. They were all really nice (and REALLY fit) and kept trying to talk me into swimming with them. Finally I gave in and told them "ok I'll work out with you, but I'm never (that's right I said NEVER- Ha!) going to do a triathlon, that's just crazy!" I started swimming with them, then doing a few spin classes and eventually a little running. I held to my "I'm never going to do a triathlon" thinking for months, honestly I was afraid. My go to excuse became "I don't have a bike" I must have used it a few too many times, because that year for Christmas Jeff got me a bike! I didn't know whether to be happy or scared! I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 16 or 17 and I had never ridden a bike like that! I had to learn how to shift all those gears and use the brakes (I had only ridden bikes with coaster brakes!). I had no excuses anymore and everyone in the triathlon group assumed I would do a triathlon that spring. YIKES!My first road bike, a Specialized Allez

The first ever Brazos Valley Triathlon was on April 6, 2003. It was a sprint with a 1000 meter swim, a 15.7 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run. I was scared to death I would be LAST! Turns out I was last in my age group (of 5) but far from last overall. Even though the water was only 55 degrees, the bike course was fairly hilly, and the run was partially on a trail, I had FUN and I told everyone in the tri group that I'd do sprint triathlons "but never (that's right, I said NEVER again!) anything longer because running more than 3 miles is just dumb."Running at my very first triathlon

I did the Splash Triathlon at Sea World that fall, this time I wasn't even last in my age group! In 2004 Jeff and I got married- so no races that year. In 2005 I did 2 triathlons including my first race longer than a sprint- the Galveston International Triathlon, which later became Lonestar. No races in 2006, but in 2007 I did the sprint at Lonestar and as I was running through Moody Gardens in the pouring rain I thought "This is so much FUN! I really need to race more!" I did 4 sprints that year and somehow got it in my head that I might, maybe be interested in doing a Half Ironman someday!

I signed up for the 2008 Austin Half Marathon (since the Houston half sold out) just to see if I was actually capable of running 13 miles. That was by far the hardest training I had done, all my long runs were tough and I expected the race to hurt. But somehow, my "Inner Runner" broke free during that race and I had a BLAST! I hadn't run any hills during training, but I loved running the hills and I loved the race atmosphere in Austin!Finishing my first half marathon in 2008

The Austin half gave me confidence and I signed up for Longhorn 70.3 in the fall. I also joined HRTC and met Ingrid, Del, Cassie, Kim, Matt, David, etc. and trained for Longhorn with them all spring and summer. I still had no interest in doing a full Ironman, although at least I had learned not to say Never! We talked about Ironman races a lot that summer and at the time I think Cassie was the only one who definitely wanted to do one someday. Longhorn 2008 was probably the toughest race I have ever done, but I loved it! As soon as I crossed the finish line I knew that I wanted to do an Ironman someday!Running at my first Longhorn 70.3 in 2008

Jeff and I moved to Austin in 2008 and about a week before Longhorn, I joined Tri Zones. Structured workouts and real coaching helped me a ton and I had an awesome 2009 tri season! At the end of November (after her first Ironman in Florida), Ingrid emailed me saying she and Kim were signing up for Ironman Cozumel 2010 and asked if I wanted to do it too. Since the race is over Thanksgiving weekend the subject line on the email was "Turkey Tacos!!!!" At first I said no way, but after talking with Jeff, Coach Jen, Ingrid, Cassie, Nicki, David, etc, etc! (thanks to all of you!!) I decided to go for it!!

Hard to believe that was 46 weeks ago!! So far training and racing this season has been a lot of fun. I got to do my first marathon, 2 half irons, and a few shorter races this year. When I signed up, 50 weeks seemed like such a long time, but so far it has flown by! I have a couple more long training weekends, a taper, 3.5 weeks of work, and a lot of packing to do before we leave for Cozumel and Turkey Tacos Baby!!!!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Longhorn weekend

When Adrian got the new coach, he told Jeff and I that he wanted to use it as much as possible, so I suggested we take it out to Decker for Longhorn and just stay out there all weekend. He thought that was a great idea, and wanted it to be at the Tri Zones Team Tailgating area, so I got all the oks to have a huge motor home out there and Jeff and Adrian took it out there on Friday while I was still at work. I got out there around 6pm after they had done all the hard work! We picked up our race packets and within an hour the Expo area was pretty much deserted. It was really cool to be out there by ourselves, we let the dogs run and play and watched Office Space on the outdoor TV.
Saturday morning Jeff had to go to work for a few hours and Adrian and I did our short pre-race workouts. Kendra was first to show up and Julie and Sandra were just behind her. They all wanted the pancake breakfast, I knew that was a really bad idea for me and Adrian was making eggs, veggie sausage, avocado & fruit so I had that- YUM! Definitely going to be my Saturday pre-race breakfast in the future!
Kendra, Sandra, Julie, & Amy all came back after the pancake breakfast and hung out for awhile.
Kendra, Amy, & Adrian relaxing at the coach. It was a completely lazy day! We sat around in the cool coach chairs with our feet up ALL day! Most of the Tri Zoners who would be racing stopped by. The expo area stayed pretty crowded all day with people picking up packets and everything and we were just off the main walk way to the expo center. We had fun people watching all day and that definitely went both ways. Tons of people actually stopped and stared at us! At one point Adrian said "this must be how zoo animals feel" haha! Funny but true! It was so nice to not have to worry about timing packet pickup, lunch, bike check in, dinner and everything else, we were right there! When we got hungry we went inside and ate something, when it was time to exchange shirts I just walked over and did it in less than 10 minutes.

We decided to go over and check our bikes in around 4:30, I knew bike check in was open until 7, but we wanted to do it before dinner. We drove the Xterra the mile or 2 to T1 so we wouldn't have to walk all the way back. I was surprised that I got a really sweet parking spot. We were leisurely walking our bikes toward check in when some guy said "be prepared for a lecture" I said "what?" he said "for being LATE!" I was completely confused. But when we got over to check in Carolyn and all the other Tri Zoners were pointing at their watches and saying things like "it's about time!" "we wondered where you guys were!" Apparently bike check in actually closed at 4:30! I would have sworn it was 7! Guess I better read the packet more carefully in Cozumel since it won't be Carolyn and all my Tri Zones friends in charge of bike check in there!! I felt really bad because I know Carolyn and everyone had been out there ALL day and I was one of THOSE people making them stay later than they needed too- SORRY guys!

Back at the coach, we had dinner and hung out with Carolyn, Tom, Del, and Kristen, then watched the stars and played with the dogs until bedtime.
Bonzai being a lap dog
Katie being a lap dog
Connor chillin' out
Abear being silly

Longhorn 70.3 Race Report

Photo by Tom Marek

This was my third year in a row to do Longhorn 70.3. Goals for this year: 1. to have fun and not get hurt, Ironman Cozumel is just 6 weeks away! 2. maybe a PR 3. if conditions are perfect and I feel great, maybe a sub 7:00. I knew 2 and 3 were both stretches especially since I didn't taper for this race. But they were still in the back of my head.

Even though we were staying in the coach at Decker we still got up early on race morning since Kristen was coming over to set up the Tri Zones tent, we still had to put stuff in T2 and I knew if we didn't get on the buses early, we'd have to wait in line forever. Julie, Sandra, & Kendra also stopped by the coach early and we all bussed over to the lake together. I was disappointed that nothing says "Longhorn" this year, it's all "IM 70.3 Austin", when I saw Julie had a Longhorn temp tatoo from last year I remembered I had some too, so Sandra and I put them on our faces. I love temporary tatoos! I got my T1 set up and had 2 hours to wait... sigh, I was in the 15th of 17 swim waves. It wasn't as cold as last year, or maybe I was just better prepared, but we found a picnic table and hung out. Coach Gina showed up fully prepared to be spectator extraordinaire! She had Tri Zones temp tatoos so Bonnie, Jess, and I (the only ones left to start) put those on too. Finally it was time to head down to the water.swim courseswim start photo by Shayla Neris

I knew the first few minutes of the swim wouldn't be great since I didn't do a swim warm up, but after just a couple of minutes I started to feel good and pass people. The entire swim seemed fairly crowded, I guess we had a big wave. I think the only really annoying thing that happened was someone kicked me hard in the calf, I actually have a bruise from it today. Otherwise I felt really good on the swim. Swim time- 41:45. I never saw Shayla when I got out of the water, but she obviously saw me and shot a great series of pictures of me getting wetsuit stripped!Photo by Shayla Neris
Photo by Shayla Neris
Photo by Shayla Neris
Photo by Shayla Neris
I ran up to the wetsuit strippers, didn't see E-beth H. so just laid down in front of some guy. Then as I was running off with my wetsuit in my hands, E-beth yelled and waved at me! Saw Jeff as I was running up the hill too and he got this picture. Into the T area and I realized my feet were a muddy mess so I took the extra time to try to wipe off at least some of the mud before I put my shoes and bike stuff on and headed out, got to see Jeff again as I was leaving. T1- 5:17Bike course, photo by Shayla Neris
The first part of the bike course is the hilly loop around Decker lake, I've ridden it quite a bit and know what to expect. The only part I was worried about was the steep little hill after the turn off Lindell (aka Little Tard) It seems like there are always people walking, crashing, and weaving up that hill, but there are advantages to being one of the last waves to start! There were only a few people on the hill when I rode up it and no one was doing anything crazy- nice! By the end of the Decker loop I was happy with my pace and confident I could PR the bike if all continued to go well. My legs started to feel a little tired on the hills on Taylor, but I wasn't surprised since I did a 100 mile ride last weekend, and I still felt good knowing I had some good flat sections coming up. Unfortunately, it ended up being one of those days where the wind picked up about halfway through my ride, so I got a very slight tailwind for the majority of the first half of the ride and then a much stronger headwind for most of the second half. By the time I turned on to Webberville Road and felt the headwind there I knew I wasn't going to PR the bike course, but I also knew I wasn't too far off and if I kept pushing on the bike and had a good run I could still PR the race. So I pushed pretty hard and passed quite a few people in the last 15 miles. Bike time- 3:44:11, 4 minutes slower than last year (when I had pretty favorable winds).

Nutrition note- I drank 3 full bottles of Infinit, which really surprised me, I thought it would be hard to drink enough since it wasn't very hot, but with the wind and drier air I was really thirsty.
Photo by Shayla Neris
While I was on the bike course all our awesome Tri Zones volunteers and spectators headed over to the Team Tailgating area.

I tried to hurry through T2, still hoping for a good run and a PR, I did have to put on compression socks so 4:35 isn't too bad. As I ran out of T2 I saw Jeff and told him my bike was "just ok" Actually I had a good ride and I had fun, I was just a little disappointed to have not beaten last year's time.

The run this year was only 2 loops and would include the grassy trail section that was left out last year. I loved the 3 loop course last year because I got to run through the team tailgating area 3 times. The team tailgating area was just after the run start.
Photo by Tom Marek
I LOVE the Tri Zones team tailgating area! Best part of the entire race was running through, high fiving everyone and feeling like a total rock star! That's definitely the Spirit of Tri Zones right there!!
I'm actually laughing as I run just past the team tailgating area! Photo by Tom MarekPhoto by Tom Marek
Who wouldn't laugh after running through that!?! Thanks SO much to everyone who came out to spectate, you all seriously made my day!
Photo by Tom Marek
One more of the Team Tailgating area. It wasn't just Tri Zone out there, Kathleen and some of the other T3ers and lots of strangers cheered for me too. Then I ran out of the Expo area toward the park, got to see Julie and Sandra on my first lap. I also saw Bonnie and Jess finishing the bike and cheered like crazy for them- so much that a few other runners looked at me like I was crazy! I really just concentrated on running aid station to aid station, there weren't many spectators by the park so it was great when the volunteers cheered and encouraged us! The grassy trail section was tougher for me, it's a nice change of surface, but it slows me down a little and especially this year I was worried about twisting an ankle. I was happy to get back on the pavement and be heading back toward the team tailgating area!
Photo by Tom Marek
Photo by Tom Marek
While I was out running some of the Tri Zones spectators/volunteers needed a well deserved break. Most of them were out there all day Saturday for bike check-in and back out by 5:00am to volunteer in T1 on race morning! Thanks so much! You guys are all AWESOME!!!

As I finished my first lap I knew that if I could even split the 2 laps, I would PR the race, but I also knew that would be really tough to do.
Photo by Emmie Carrigan
Back through the team tailgating area for lap 2 and high fives with Coach Jen and Kristen!
Shayla even took a video as I was running by on lap 2!
Photo by Emmie Carrigan
Adrian came out on the course to cheer for me on lap 2. He was insanely loud and crazy! I'm pretty sure that guy in front of me is looking back wondering "Did that obnoxiously loud noise actually come from a human??"Photo by Tom Marek

I ran pretty hard on lap 2 hoping I could make the PR. I saw Kendra almost finished and Bonnie and Jess finishing lap 1. I even tried to keep up my pace through the grassy trail section. By mile 11 I knew it was going to be really close. Near mile 12 Coach Gina came out on the course and ran with me up a big hill, I SO appreciated that- perfect timing Coach Gina! Thanks! I told her I was so close to my PR, it could go 1 minute either way.

As I ran into the arena I knew I was going to miss my PR by a few seconds, but it was still so much fun crossing the finish line! At the finish I knew I had really given everything I had, I couldn't talk, I couldn't reach down and pull off my timing chip or anything! Jeff was waiting for me at the finish, I told him I just missed a PR and then I started having a little bit of an asthma attack, luckily I had my inhaler in my Fuel Belt so not a big deal.

Run time was 2:39:57 and overall time was 7:15:45- just 49 seconds slower than last year!

At first I was a little disappointed about just missing my PR, but first Jeff and then everyone at the team tent was super impressed that I was so close since I didn't taper for this race, there was more wind on the bike, and the run was a little tougher with the trail section. I quickly decided they were right!
rehashing the race with Coach Jen, I think this is when she was telling me I'm a bad ass! Photo by Emmie Carrigan
Happy with my medal! Photo by Emmie Carrigan

I really love Longhorn, it might be my favorite race! Post race I cheered for the rest of the Tri Zoners, drank Kristen's sangria, and enjoyed hanging out with everyone. Later, Kendra, Del, Adrian, Jeff and I ate LOTS of pizza and Dr. Pepper at my house! Every single Tri Zoner had a great race this year- congrats to all of you! And again THANK YOU so much to everyone who came out to spectate!

Monday, October 11, 2010

7 weeks to Ironman Cozumel!!

Actually it's 6 weeks and 5 days now!

This past weekend was a pretty serious training weekend. I guess you know it's serious when there are no pictures from the entire weekend! Sorry!

Friday was an open water swim at Lake P-ville. It was supposed to be 2 loops of 1.2 miles to make a 2.4 mile swim, but the loop ended up being 1.0 mile. I got there a little late after work and quickly realized the water was Cold! Then I realized Kendra (who can handle cold water better than anyone else I know) and I (the biggest wimp about cold on the planet) were the only ones without wetsuits! I was not happy about it, but I got in and once I got going I was cold but not miserable. I also didn't eat enough for lunch so I was hungry before I even started swimming. Kendra and I swam the first loop together, then she got out and I started loop 2. I had a few issues with my feet cramping but that's no surprise since I was both cold and hungry. My Garmin beeps every mile so I knew the course wasn't quite 1.2 miles so I planned to add on a little extra to loop 2. I was just starting my "extra mileage" when Carolyn kayaked over to me and said "time to head in, you've only got a few minutes of daylight left" I figured that might happen, so I headed straight in to the beach and ended up with a 2.1 mile swim in 1:20, at that pace I would have finished 2.4 in 1:32, I'll take it considering I was cold and starving the entire swim. The minute I got out of the water I was FREEZING! Red gave me a Power bar to eat on the way home and I cranked the heat in the Xterra.

Saturday morning Del and I got up early for the Outlaw Trail 100 in Round Rock. This was my third century ride of the season and my toughest. I think it was the hills that made it tougher for me. I know, I know... "Round Rock isn't hilly" but compared to Katy and Corpus, Round Rock is definitely hilly, there were lots of rolling hills through out the ride, nothing too long or steep, but still hills. The road surfaces were pretty bad for most of the ride, lots of chip seal (and lots of it was the really bad kind), some roads with big pot holes and gravel patches, and even a couple miles of gravel road- really?? YUCK!! It definitely didn't help that I had a small saddle sore going into the ride. I was hoping it wouldn't bother me, but by mile 2 it was already hurting. I really felt every inch of chip seal on the route! I even got chased by a Doberman! I was riding ahead when Scott had a mechanical issue and the dog came running after me, luckily I was able to out run him, or more likely he just lost interest.

But even with some issues I still had fun most of the ride. It was pretty cold in the morning but by about 9am it had turned into a gorgeous day to ride. Sandra, Scott, and I rode mostly together so I got to have great company for a lot of the ride. I think my favorite part of the ride was riding over the Granger Dam and looking out at the water. Near the end, Carolyn drove out to check on me, she found me at just the right time, I was afraid I had taken a wrong turn and would do circles around and around the park and never get to the finish! But she assured me the finish was just ahead. I rode across the finish and Tom & Del cheered for me! I was SO happy to get off my bike and be finished! 101 miles! Of course Sandra and I still had to run for 45 minutes, but I felt pretty good on the run. My legs were really tired and sore by the time we got home, so I made sure it was compression socks and feet up the rest of the day!

When I woke up, I knew Sunday's run would be painful, my legs were pretty sore. Sandra came to my house and we ran my 7 mile neighborhood loop twice. Sandra hadn't run it before so she enjoyed seeing the cute houses, nice gardens, cyclists and other runners, including Catherine and Julie H.! The last few miles were tough for me, my legs were really hurting, but I made it! So Del and I celebrated with brunch at Trudy's! I knew per Coach Jen's instructions I had to run another 30 minutes "later in the afternoon" I decided I was going to run at 5pm, and I was dreading it! Jeff and I went out for Amy's ice cream with some friends we hadn't seen in ages, which was really cool. When we got home it was time for me to run again...sigh. I talked Jeff into coming with me on his bike but I still wasn't excited about a short run that I was sure was going to hurt! I took off and the first few steps hurt a little but then, shockingly, I felt pretty good...then I felt even better! Wow! The 30 minutes went by quickly and my legs felt better running than they had walking around my house an hour earlier! The only issue I had was that the Amy's root beer float was not sitting too well, but no surprise there.

This was definitely my toughest training weekend so far, and tied for longest with the Corpus weekend. Hopefully it will help me feel stronger physically and mentally for Ironman Cozumel! Coming up this weekend- Longhorn 70.3!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Austin Fun Recovery Weekend

What a fun Saturday! I couldn't sleep in so I got up early and did my 1 hour recovery run in my neighborhood on part of the marathon route before the sun came up. I took Jeff to work & got my hair cut then Del and I went to Red's Painting Party. Hermine flooded Red's house and I had been feeling bad that I couldn't help with anything (tearing down drywall, hanging drywall, clean up days when I was working...) But she scheduled the painting party for my recovery weekend!
Julie & Kristen painting the kitchenEmmie painting Kristen!
Vanessa seriously knew how to paint!! Me not so much, I mean I can pick up a roller and paint an open wall, but trim work and stuff I'm not so good at. But I quickly found my niche! Mimosa making!!!
Nydia, Kristen, & Annette enjoying some mimosasAt one point they made fun of me for "holding a paint roller in one hand and a mimosa in the other" I made 4 bottles of champagne worth of mimosas for everyone!
Nydia getting the tough spots close to the ceiling
Red's comment to this picture "Now I understand why that wall took 4 gallons of paint!" Even with LOTS of mimosas Red's entire house was painted in less than 6 hours. I never thought painting someone's house could be so much fun!

We decided on Hula Hut for dinner. Del called to see how long we'd have to wait- no wait because most people were watching the UT football game- perfect timing for us!
Del at Hula Hut

Then we went over to Mayfield Park to see if we could see any baby peacock chicks. Jeff and I had seen these babies with their mom a few weeks ago.
We saw just this one baby chick today, but it's a lot bigger than when we saw them a few weeks agoNext it was up to Mount Bonnell for sunset
I'm not sure how after all the time he's spent in Austin Del had never seen a sunset at Mount Bonnell before last night!
Watching the sun set
Del got this cool picture of Jeff and I with the sun rays coming in from the side.

Sunday morning Jeff, Del and I did a recovery bike ride on Shoal Creek, it was pretty cold (I wore my long sleeved fleece lined jersey) and windy, but still a really nice ride. Then Del and I had brunch at Trudy's- Yum! What a great weekend!