Bike to Work Day

I love Bike to Work Day in Austin! I had fun last year and planned this year to be even better! Kendra and Linda were going to ride with me and we planned to stop at The Peddler, Thunderbird Coffee on Manor, Freewheeling, Mellow Johnnies, and City Hall. I even took an hour of vacation time so I'd have more time to hang out and have fun.

We left my house a little after 6:30 and got to The Peddler before 7, they hadn't even finished getting the food ready yet, but it was worth the wait! The Austin Culinary Academy made eggs, bacon, and potatoes all very yummy!Guys from the Culinary Academy serving up breakfast

Kendra, Linda and I at The Peddler
We hung out, ate and drank coffee, then decided it was time for the next stop. Walked over to my bike and saw that my front tire was flat- crap! My tires are really tough to get off and on, so I knew this would take awhile.
Working hard to get my tire off the rim- I'm not even smiling!! The guys from The Peddler were super nice and offered to change it for me at least twice. I found a piece of glass in the tire from our Thursday hill repeats, there was a ton of glass on the road out there. I knew if we rushed we could still make all the stops, but I wanted a leisurely Bike to Work Day especially after hill repeats the night before and the Tour de Cure on Saturday and Sunday. So I decided to skip Mellow Johnnies and City Hall and let Kendra and Linda do those on their own.

On to Thunderbird Coffee, crossing I35 was actually pretty easy, they have a nice bike lane on Dean Keaton/Manor that I hadn't ridden before.
Linda, Kendra and I at Thunderbird

More coffee and breakfast tacos here, we hung out awhile and then went on to Freewheeling.
Linda, me, and Kendra at Freewheeling

More coffee-yeah it was almost like the Tour de Bean, I had almost 3 cups of coffee and was wired by the time I got to work! and more breakfast tacos. We talked with the owner of Freewheeling, he's a pretty cool guy. Then the KXAN news van pulled up. The reporter was looking for someone to interview and Kendra said "you should interview her (pointing to me) she rides to work a lot" So he came over and interviewed us.




Here's the segment that was on the news that day.

After the interview it was getting close to 9 so I headed back to campus and work while Kendra and Linda went to Mellow Johnnies.

Another very fun Bike to Work Day even with a flat tire!

Spectating at Skeese Greets

Tri Zones at Skeese Greets Photo by Tom Marek
I had a Skeese Greets pre-race dinner as a fundraiser for my Tour de Cure (which is this weekend!). As always pre-race dinner was a ton of fun, and again I forgot to take any pictures! I had a great time talking and laughing with everyone!

I got to the ski ranch around 7:30 and found Kelly and her husband in the parking lot. As soon as we walked through the ski ranch gate there were Tri Zoners everywhere! Every time I turned around I saw another Tri Zoner to hug and wish luck! One of the first people I ran into was Katherine Mudge who was doing her very first tri that day! She introduced me to her daughter and son and showed me the shirts they had made. They all said different things on the front like "Momma Mudge making triathlons sexier since 2010" and "if it were easy they'd call it basketball" worn by her basketball coach son! How fun and what an awesome support crew!!
Katherine and her support crew photo by Tom Marek
I also saw Theresa who had been pretty nervous about her very first tri at the swim on Saturday. She looked great! She introduced me to her husband who made this awesome sign! and her son who had a special made Tri Zones shirt- another awesome support crew!Theresa's awesome sign Photo by Tom Marek

I wished everyone I could find good luck then headed over to the swim exit to watch for my Tri Zoners and cheer like "the Crazy Cowbell Lady" as Ingrid says!
Watching intently for the next Tri Zoner out of the water photo by Tom Marek

There must be a Tri Zoner coming by! photo by Tom Marek. I cheered for everyone else too, but probably not as enthusiastically.
Stacey H., Carolyn, and Coach Gina hung out with me at swim exit too. Photo by Tom Marek
We waited and cheered the very last person out of the water (not a Tri Zoner). Then Stacey, Bonnie, and I headed over to the bike finish. Everyone looked awesome finishing the bike! I didn't realize Theresa had gotten a new bike, it looked pretty and zippy out there! Annette looked SO happy to be racing, she zoomed by us on Buzz and scared the volunteers she was coming to the dismount line so fast! We thought Jody might be the last person to finish the bike (she was one of the very last people to start) but she wasn't last by a long way! But we went over to transition to cheer her out onto the run.
Bonnie and I at transition photo by Tom Marek

Then we headed to the finish line to watch lots of new Tri Zoners become triathletes! very cool! We missed a lot of our fastest athletes finishing, but we got to see most of the beginners finish.
Kendra, Diana, the bunny (who still needs a name) and me cheering at the finish. photo by Tom Marek
Tom Marek our favorite Tri Zones photographer! Photo by ?? Ed Sparks I assume, who also took lots of awesome pictures out there! Ed works for KVUE and has been known to post race pictures to their website.

I was really impressed with the number of friends and family who came out to spectate for our Tri Zoners at Skeese, it seems like almost everyone had a great support crew out there. And how fun to finish your first tri to the cheering of your friends, family and lots of other Tri Zoners! I had a great time and it was just awesome to see how strong everyone looked during the race and how happy everyone looked during and after the race!

The Rookie Tri

Pre Race
The Rookie is a super sprint and the first race of the Texas Tri Series. I had a hard time getting excited about The Rookie this year. At the Tri Zones open water swim Nick yelled "See you tomorrow Heather" while I was out in the water and I thought, how am I going to see Nick tomorrow, he's racing. It took me a minute to remember oh yea, I'm racing too! Geez! Jeff and I had Torchy's Tacos for dinner- yummy but terrible pre-race dinner! I did manage to get to bed early and sleep well which was good since Red picked me up at 4am- thanks again for the ride Red! We were the first people to get to the Ski Ranch besides the crew and Red took off for her volunteer parking duties. I got my transition area set up, said Hi to Katherine volunteering in transition, and hung out with Ron & Roger for awhile, Ron would be doing his first tri today-awesome! Roger helped me set up the Tri Zones tent and then the other Tri Zoners started arriving. I knew I wanted to do a swim warm up, but I knew I would get cold getting out of the water and waiting for my start so I brought my sleeping bag to use as a blanket. And I'm glad I did! I was freezing when I got out of the water and I still had 40 minutes until my start! The water was chilly but not bad and it didn't seem too dirty, although I did smell something gross a few times while I was swimming, was that smell from the goats?? I'm not sure but it wasn't good.

Goals for this race1. beat my Skeese Greets (same course) time from last year2. beat my Skeese Greets swim time from last year
3. beat my Jack's Generic (fastest bike pace at the Ski Ranch) bike pace from last year4. beat my Skeese Greets run time from last year
Swim
I started fairly close to the front of my swim wave, about 3 rows of people back, but as soon as I started I was blocked in and stuck behind slower people. I should have known to start right at the front, the best swim I've had at the ski ranch I started at the very front of my wave right next to Desiree Ficker, so I should have known better. Kendra was volunteering at the swim start and said later "yeah you should have started at the front, I could see you got stuck behind people right away". I finally pushed my way through the slower girls and just a couple of strokes later I felt my watch fall off (don't feel bad for me, it's a crappy $5 watch that I've had for 2 years) I tried to grab for it but it was gone, oh well. I really noticed how much nastier the water was since I did my warm up, all those guys before my wave really stirred up the muck from the bottom- yuck! I got around the buoy and was heading back toward shore when the girl beside me decided to breaststroke, she kicked me hard right in the kidney and it really hurt! Ugh! The swim was not going as well as I had hoped. I finally got out of the water and they had a volunteer telling us "stand up and wipe off your face" I really appreciate that because it's not cool to do the rest of the race looking like you have a beard and mustache from all the muck and gunk in the water! I didn't know until after the race, but my swim was 8:04 compared to 8:02 at Skeese last year, I guess that's not so bad considering I had a pretty bad swim this year and a great swim last year.Side note about the swim
The ski ranch water is pretty dirty but it's no where near as bad as the old Cinco Ranch venue or from what I hear Tri Andy's (I've never done Tri Andy's). And the ski ranch water is WAY better at Skeese than at Rookie just because it's a smaller race and the muck doesn't get stirred up as much at Skeese.
T1
I got out of the water just ahead of Southie Bonnie and she said something about drafting off me on the swim. As I was leaving transition, Shelley came in looking like she had had a great swim. T1 was 3:12 compared to 3:43 last year.

Bike
I got out on the bike and had to pass quite a few people right away. Amy flew by me around mile 3 or 4. I remembered this course being pretty hilly, but it didn't seem too hilly today (maybe that's from all those hills with Coach Jen last year!). I had some trouble getting into my big gear so I ended up just using my small front gear, I'm sure I could have gone a little faster over the first half of the course if had been in my big gear. Shelley and I played tag quite a bit. I really enjoyed the bike today, the second half was hillier but still fun. Amy flew by me again around mile 8 or 9 and said "I rode 105 miles yesterday without a flat and now at the RACE I flat!" That sucks! But it sure didn't seem to slow her down much! I was really wondering where Eva, Julie, Sandra, and Kim were, they started after me, but are much stronger cyclists so I expected them to pass me between miles 6 and 9. Finally on the I35 frontage road with less than 1 mile to go Eva passed me. At the dismount line Julie passed me. I was happy with my ride and knew I had beaten my goal. My Jack's pace last year was 14.2 and my official pace today was 14.8, although my Garmin says 15.1 and 11.4 instead of 11.1 miles, so I'm going to go with that :)T2
I got into T2 and someone had racked their bike right in my spot! That has never happened to me before, I quickly asked the volunteer what to do and he said "just rack right on top of them" so I did, then changed shoes, grabbed my stuff and got going. T2 was 1:40 compared to 1:33 last year, I'm going to blame that on taking time to ask what to do about my stolen spot.
Run
I knew I would have to work really hard to beat my Skeese run pace from last year so I tried to keep my pace up and my feet fast from the start, my legs felt really good. I saw Katherine as I headed out onto the road. I had forgotten how much fun this run is since you get to see everyone on the way to the finish on your way to the turn around and everyone heading to the turnaround on your way to the finish. I high fived Southies Bonnie & Jessica, Julie, Eva, Sandra, Kim, Shelley, and a few other Tri Zoners on the run. I remembered the hill on the run being worse than it felt today. There must be something to all this hill work with Coach Jen! I was working pretty hard, but still having fun. I came around the lake knowing I would hit my goal. I high fived Cheryl and Anna, Annette, Red and Kendra and crossed the finish. Wow that was fun! Run pace was 9:18 compared to 10:02 at Skeese- cool!My over all time was 1:16:51 compared to 1:20:53 at Skeese last year so a 4 minute PR for this course! We hung out post-race and it seems like everyone had a great race! I decided to go get my transition stuff and missed Julie and Kim getting their awards. We headed over to help Eva and her brother take down the tent, but I saw Ron & Roger and stopped to see how Ron's first race had gone- he did awesome! I headed over to the tent area and everything was gone- thanks for taking care of all my stuff Red, Kendra and anyone else who helped!

What a fun morning!! And now I can't wait to go cheer everyone on at Skeese next weekend!

Lonestar 70.3 Race Report

I know it’s now the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas, but to me it will always be Lonestar. I’m also really sad they retired the armadillo logo I love so much (so I just used the one from last year here).

My original goal for Lonestar was a PR and possibly a sub 7 hour half, pretty big goals for the first race of the season, but it’s a flat course and with strong training I figured I had a good chance. Then miserable March hit, I got sick twice, I tried to train through the first illness, but it didn’t work all that well, after 2 weeks of feeling tired and sluggish, I got really sick again and missed the Champions Tri relay Ingrid, Kim and I had planned, and then Coach Jen strongly advised me to take it easy and make sure I recovered well so I wouldn’t get sick again and miss Lonestar entirely. By Lonestar time I was feeling recovered but a little undertrained after missing quite a bit of training. My new goal was just to have fun and enjoy the race, although I still hoped to PR if conditions were perfect, of course you never know what the conditions might be at Galveston.

Moody Gardens, transition, and the team tailgating area

Jeff drove Red and I to Moody Gardens early and I got my transition area set up with no issues.

I borrowed some sunscreen from Red, I don’t usually worry about sunscreen for races, but since it was a long race and early season I figured I should (unfortunately it did me no good after the saltwater swim).

Julie and Sandra trying to keep me warm before the swim, my teammates huddling together to keep me warm is becoming a pre-race staple.

I was one of the last swim waves to start so I had about 3 hours to hang out. I saw pretty much everyone pre-race and wished them luck. We watched the pro waves start and then all the men, the water looked a little choppy but not terrible.

Cassie and I hanging out pre-race

my swim wave getting in the water

I felt good at the start, but about 2 or 3 minutes in the left side of my goggles started to leak and that stings in saltwater! I figured it was from the sunscreen I put on my face and if I tried to adjust them it would probably just get worse, so I started breathing only to my right side since that kept the water mostly out of my left eye. I am definitely a bilateral breather so breathing only to one side was a little annoying for me. I noticed the chop but it didn’t seem bad. Then we turned into the headwind for the long leg of the swim and I definitely felt the chop then! A lot of times when I’d turn to breathe I’d get saltwater instead of air- YUCK! I had to stop and cough up saltwater a few times. Sometimes when I’d look ahead to sight I’d get hit by a wave. Red said it felt like whiplash- yeah that’s a good description. I even started to chafe on my underarm which has never happened before- ugh! I still felt like I was having a fairly decent swim, I looked at my watch a few times and knew it wasn’t fast but it didn’t feel terrible until I hit 40 minutes and hadn’t even made it to the last turn buoy yet! Yikes! That’s pretty bad, I was hoping for 40-43 minutes for the swim. I ended up at 52 minutes and I was not at all happy about it. Through transition I tried to relax and forget about the tough swim, I figured if I had a really good bike I could maybe even still PR.

Coming into T1

I got out on the bike course and had a head/cross wind which I completely expected. No big deal I had planned to keep the average speed as close to 15 as I could and then go fast after the turn around when I got a tail wind. I know a lot of people think it’s boring to ride in Galveston, but I enjoyed seeing the ocean and the beach houses and seeing the pros, then the fast age group men, then the fast age group women, etc. coming back on the out and back course. I played with my gears on the way out- faster cadence easier gear for 5-10 minutes, lots of resistance for 5-10 minutes, just changing it up. And I stuck to my nutrition plan well. I was really looking forward to riding over the San Luis Pass, but when we got there the cross wind was pretty fierce and I couldn’t really look out over the water too much in the wind. Volunteers along the course were all telling me how many mile to the turnaround and “you get a tailwind after that” I hit the turnaround feeling pretty good, but as I got going I realized I definitely did not feel a tailwind. I know from experience that sometimes in Galveston you get a headwind heading out and nothing but crosswind coming back- YUCK! Some people say crosswinds feel like headwind, maybe I agree. I was disappointed to see my speed only slightly faster going back and I knew my chances for a PR were quickly diminishing. Photo by Tom Marek

Around mile 40 or so my legs started to feel a little tired. I knew I was a little undertrained from being sick so I wasn’t surprised, just a little disappointed. With about 10 miles to go I did finally feel a little tailwind which was really nice, and I tried to take advantage of it even though my legs were tired and I was way off of any goals. Coming into transition I was just happy to be finished with the bike. I finished in 3:50 and I was hoping for 3:30-3:40. I was disappointed in my race so far, bad swim, bad bike, but I decided there was no need to be negative I could still try for a half ironman run PR.

At the last minute I decided not to wear my compression socks on the run (I know I know “nothing new on race day” and trust me NEVER AGAIN) As I started the run, I felt really thirsty, that seemed weird since I did a good job with nutrition (Infinit) on the bike but I didn’t realize how dry the air was. Galveston is usually very humid, but it was dry on Sunday. My first loop felt pretty good, I stopped at all the aid stations for water and drank my Infinit, but it felt hot and I felt like I was already fading a little after just 3 miles.

I may have been fading, but I still looked happy to see Tom! Photo by Tom Marek

85 isn’t really hot but in April after a very cold winter when you’re used to running in 60-70 degrees 85 feels pretty darn hot, heat doesn’t usually bother me much so I really hate to think about the people who are more heat sensitive than me. Last week I read an article in the Jan. issue of Inside Triathlon called “Heat Shield” it said that holding ice in your hands was more effective at cooling your body than putting ice in your hat or shirt, so I tried it and held ice in my hands until it melted or they were numb and it seemed to work pretty well.

I saw Nicki on my first loop and she said she had a terrible swim and never felt like she got a tailwind on the bike, it made me feel SO much better to know I wasn’t the only one having a tough day! The run course was 4 loops which I know most people hate, but I love it, I can look forward to seeing friends and spectators more than once on the course and this course was great for that. I saw pretty much everyone I know racing and there was lots of spectator support all over the course- good thing since I really needed it! By loop 2 I started to feel blisters forming from my socks and my knees felt a little sore- man I wished I had worn my compression socks! That chaffed spot on my armpit was really killing me by loop 2 of the run, my underarms have never chaffed before so that was a whole new pain for me. You can’t imagine how happy I was to see a volunteer with a big jar of Vaseline, I grabbed a huge handful and gloped it in my armpit- problem solved! Photo by Tom Marek

By loop 3 I could feel the tops of my shoulders burning and I could see they were getting red, so much for pre-race sunscreen. I even have my race number left on my arms from the sun not getting through the marker- that's a first too! My pace pretty much spiraled downward on loops 2, 3, and 4 but I didn’t feel that bad about it, it was hot and everyone around me seemed just as or more miserable than me. I encouraged other racers and thanked lots of volunteers and spectators. I told lots of volunteers things like “if you spray me with that hose, I will love you forever” and “you have ICE in your water! You’re the best volunteer EVER!”

Very happy to be almost finished! Photo by Tom Marek

I tried to pick up the pace as I came in to the finish and Adam Reiser said “Austin’s own Heather Herrick out of
Tri Zones Training” what a great finish announcement! But I didn't really give my signature "Heather Herrick smiley celebration finish pose" this time.

My run time was 2:51 and I was hoping for 2:40 or less. I was 10 minutes off of my goals in all 3 sports and I finished in 7:43, almost 30 mintues from a PR, but most people I know were way off their goal times too, many 30 minutes or more, considering my training didn't really go as planned and it was a tough day...wait a minute didn't I say my only goal was to have fun and enjoy the race?!?!

After the finish I hugged Jeff and said hi but didn’t hug Tom and Judy (Jeff’s parents) which they seemed perfectly ok with since I was disgustingly sweaty! Ingrid and Del both agreed that it was a tough day. Even Coach Jen said tough day. I can't tell you how many times I heard the words "tough day". At least it wasn’t just me! At the Tuesday workout when Coach Tracy asked who PRed at Lonestar, Coach Jen replied "it wasn't a PR kind of day" well said Coach Jen.

At our post race celebration Drew asked how my race went and I said “I had a tough day, missed all my goals, well except to have fun” and Nicki replied “are you kidding? You actually had fun out there??” and I said “well yeah, even though I was pretty miserable it’s still really cool to be out there doing it and see people cheering and everything, so yeah, even when it’s miserable it’s still a lot of fun at the same time” Nicki said “yeah, I know exactly what you mean”

Lonestar weekend

Jeff and I had planned to sleep in and leave for Galveston around 10:30 on Friday morning. Instead, I woke up at 4 am and just couldn’t sleep anymore, finished up last minute packing and we were on the road by 8:30. We stopped and had lunch with Cherie and Cody in Houston, I can’t believe I hadn’t seen Cherie in over a year! It was great to catch up and finally meet Cody who is already 1! Just sorry we didn’t get to see Cullen too.

On to Galveston and checking in to the house- not bad, the neighbors looked pretty sketchy, but otherwise decent. The sleeping arrangements would definitely be college dormy (Nicki ended up sleeping in the hallway!), but we pretty much knew that going in. Phil (Red’s husband) started calling it the Big Brother House.

Our home for the weekend

Julie got to the house first and we headed over to the expo and packet pickup early. On the way over we looked at the ocean and there was some pretty serious wave action for Galveston, I told Jeff & Julie “wouldn’t it be horrible if someone got here and didn’t realize we’re swimming in the bay not the ocean and thought they had to swim in that!” At the expo, I didn’t have to wait in line at all since it was only 3pm and most people doing the half were coming in after work on Friday. While we were on our way back from Moody Gardens, Julie got a text from Red “OMG look at the water!! Do we really have to swim in THAT??” Julie decided to have some fun with Red and called her and said “you didn’t know that’s what it would be like? Well don’t worry, it’s calmer in the early morning so as long as you’re in an early swim wave (knowing Red was in the LAST wave) it won’t be too bad” Poor Red was NOT happy, and finally I told her she was looking at the ocean and we would be swimming in the bay and it’s much calmer. Red replied “you guys SUCK!”

Galveston waves, the pictures doesn't do it justice

Jeff and I made pre-race dinner while Sandra, Kendra, Julie and Red went to Moody Gardens for packet pickup and pre-race meeting. We had fish tacos, rice, fruit salad, watermelon, and wine. Thanks to everyone who brought stuff, helped out, or otherwise contributed. I really enjoyed pre-race dinner, it was so much fun to hang out and talk with everyone and I’m so glad we invited others who weren’t staying at the house, Kim, Eva, Stacey and Coach Jen came to dinner Friday. As usual, I meant to take some pictures during pre-race dinner and I completely forgot both nights.

Since I forgot to take pictures a generic picture of our dining room will have to do, imagine it with 6 more chairs squished around the table and 12 people all talking, laughing and eating, and bikes lining every wall.

After getting up at 4am, I slept really well on Friday night, but when I got up, I found out that there were loud drunk people (there was a bar ½ a block down from the house) and sirens just outside the house and super strong loud wind and storms all night long and I didn’t hear any of it. While I was eating breakfast Del texted me “OMG look at the water” I thought really?? Then he texted “there’s talk of canceling the swim” Wow! I wasn’t expecting that!! So Jeff, Red, and I decided to head to Moody Gardens in case Eva, Sandra, Kendra, and Julie needed moral or logistical support. They canceled the swims and did a bike run instead. All of our Saturday Tri Zones racers did awesome and seemed to take the race changes well. We hung out with Houston Racing to spectate all morning and I got to catch up with Ingrid, Kim, Del and Richard. I also got to meet Ron who saved my team for the Champions Tri relay when I got sick- thanks again Ron!

In the afternoon, Red, Stacey, Andrew and I did a short bike, checked our bikes in, ran a few minutes then tried to swim. We went to the swim start only to find they had removed the ladders to get out of the water at the docks. We could jump in but we didn’t want to walk to shore over the oyster beds and risk cutting our feet. So we walked over to the swim exit and swam there instead. We also tried to exchange our race shirts- no dice. They are really cute shirts, but super tiny. Julie ended up exchanging mine for a men’s small while I was racing- thanks Julie. All of this wouldn’t be a big deal except it meant we didn’t stay off our feet at all the day before the race.

Jeff and Phil went fishing while we were swimming, biking, running, etc. I had told Phil how much I love fresh fish so he grilled up a small saltwater trout just for me as an addition to my pre-race dinner to “help me be one with the ocean tomorrow” thanks Phil!

Jeff caught at least one fish

When we got back to the house, Jeff, Sandra, Kendra and Julie had started dinner which was awesome. I only had to do a few things. We had chicken avocado salad- my favorite!, roasted potatoes (Andrew & Sarah’s kids called them “little French fries”) spinach salad from Stacey’s garden which was awesome! More watermelon and more wine- thanks Coach Jen! Again it was so much fun to relax and hang out with everyone and get final pre-race advice from Coach Jen.

I was all packed for the morning and got to bed early and fell asleep no problem. But then about 2 hours later I woke up with a headache to loud drunk people yelling in the alley outside our window. I must have gotten up at least 4 times to make sure our cars weren’t being stolen. The sirens were pretty annoying too, I found out later there is an EMS station just around the corner from the house. At 2:30 I got up and took some Excedrin because I really didn’t want to have a headache for the race. Excedrin has caffeine, so I was wide awake after that just counting the minutes until 4 when I could get up. At 4, I threw on my race clothes and ran downstairs super excited for the race. No one else shared my excitement until after they had their coffee.

Race report is a separate entry

Phil and Red post race having oysters and beer at Fishtales

Post race we went to Fishtales and had lots of food and drinks with Ingrid, Julie, Del, Nicki, Drew, Scott, Phil, and Red. Red, Julie and I stayed up until 11pm, is that even possible after a half ironman?!?! And I slept like a rock even though there was apparently lots of “activity” in the alley behind the house again. Monday we leisurely packed up and even went down to the beach with Andrew, Sarah and the kids for awhile before heading home.

The house had it’s advantages and disadvantages but I had a great time hanging out with everyone and I don’t think I have laughed so much in ages! Thanks to everyone for making it such a fun weekend in Galveston!

Pflugerville Ride

Me and my bike in the bluebonnets near Pflugerville. Photo by Shayla Neris

I needed to ride about 50 miles today and wanted to do something different than Parmer (although I don't mind riding Parmer over and over). Sandra and I planned to ride Pflugerville but she got sick so Kendra, Shayla and Annette came to my rescue so I wouldn't have to ride 50 miles completely alone. I rode 20 miles on Coach Jen's time trial route while they were team leading with the North Central beginners. When they got to the lake we headed out for the 30 mile loop from Vickie's Hell Ain't This Hot Half. I had forgotten how rough, washboarded and potholed some of the roads around Pflugerville are. Some of the roads are nice and smooth, but the ones that aren't are really bad. The wind was really picking up too. Despite the wind and rough roads I had a good ride and enjoyed myself (except maybe on the wind tunnel of Manda Carlson Rd) I give full credit to Kendra, Shayla, and Annette for my enjoying the ride today, without them I don't think I would have had nearly as much fun. The wildflowers were gorgeous today so we stopped and Shayla took some pictures. I have always wanted pictures of my bike in the bluebonnets- thanks Shayla!Shayla in the bluebonnets with her bikeKendra and her bike in the bluebonnets. Photo by Shayla NerisAnnette and Buzz in the bluebonnets. Photo by Shayla Neris

Tour de Cure

I decided to do the Tour de Cure this year. It’s a 2 day bike tour from San Antonio to San Marcos day 1 and San Marcos to Austin day 2 to raise money to help stop diabetes and further the mission of the American Diabetes Association- to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all those affected by diabetes.

Unfortunately, diabetes has had a pretty big impact on my life. I am not diabetic, but my great uncle, my grandmother, and my dad all had/have diabetes. Concern about diabetes is a big part of why I started working out and eventually doing triathlons. With such a strong family history of diabetes, a lack of exercise and/or a few extra pounds and I could easily become diabetic.

My great uncle Jim is a pretty typical example of how horrible diabetes can be. He lost his sight, then a leg and finally his life to diabetes. Uncle Jim was a big guy, I remember thinking he was a giant when I was a little kid, and he gave the most awesome rib crushing bear hugs, seriously you had to take a deep breath and get ready for an Uncle Jim Hug, but they were the best, I definitely miss Uncle Jim and his hugs.

I was very close to my Grandma Dona growing up and she had diabetes ever since I can remember (I think she was diagnosed before I was born). It never seemed like a big deal to me until one evening when I was in jr. high. I was talking with Grandma and she told me “Heather, don’t wait until you’re retired to travel and do fun things, I waited and thought your grandpa and I would travel and have fun when we retired, but now I can’t do most of the things I always wanted to do”. I don’t think I realized it until then, but my grandma had a lot of health complications from diabetes that really limited the things she could do. That conversation really got to me and at that point in jr. high I decided I would live a healthier lifestyle to try to avoid diabetes and the other health problems that affected my grandma. Grandma Dona died of heart problems and kidney failure directly related to diabetes in 2004.

My dad has had diabetes for a few years now. He has made a lot of small changes that help him control the disease, but I would so love to see him completely overhaul his diet and exercise habits and seriously kick diabetes out of his life forever, (or at least keep it under super tight control) before he has to deal with some of the long term effects of diabetes that my Uncle Jim and Grandma Dona had to deal with. I know when he puts his mind to it, he will do it (I get my stubbornness from my dad!). But I also know that lifestyle change is something every individual has to do on his/her own terms and timeline.

So in honor of my Uncle Jim, my Grandma Dona, and especially my dad, I am raising money for the American Diabetes Association and riding in the Tour de Cure on May 22 and 23. If you would like to donate you can go here. And thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far!!