Flat Creek Winery

There are lots of wineries in the hill country just west of Austin, so Jeff and I went to Flat Creek Winery, mostly because it's one of the closest to Austin.
We did the wine tasting there and got to try 7 different wines. They were all different from what we normally drink. Jeff and I both generally like more robust red wines. We were both surprised that we liked a Pinot Grigio and a couple of lighter red blends that we tasted. We talked with our server about the winery for a little while and walked around the vineyard a little bit.

Kayaking on Town Lake

Jeff had the day off yesterday so we decided to go kayaking on Town Lake. I ran by a kayak rental place on Wed. so we went there and got 2 single kayaks for 2 hours. We started near Mopac and paddled under Lamar and the railroad bridge and almost to the First street bridge. We saw the transition area and where I got in the water for the triathlon on Monday. It was a lot of fun and really pretty, I wish I had taken the camera.

We also planned to go to First Thursday last night, but the cable guy came to set up our cable and internet and was here for 4 hours!! Firsth Thursday is the first Thursday of each month when the businesses on South Congress stay open late and they close down the street and have local people come out and set up booths to sell the stuff they make, like art, jewelry, candles, clothes, etc. So we decided to go down to South Congress anyway and see if anything was still going on around 9pm. The street was opened back up when we got there but most of the shops were still open and a lot of people still had their booths up, so we got some cupcakes and walked around and looked at shops and people's art and jewelry for sale. We had a great time, but I think in Oct. we'll try to go earlier.

Long Run

I hadn't run more than 8 miles since the end of July, so I was getting a little worried about running 13.1 at Longhorn in Oct. Wednesday, I decided I was going to run 12 miles if I could. I wasn't at all sure I could. 12 miles would be my longest run since the 1/2 marathon in Feb! I have run 10 a few times this summer. So I parked at Barton Springs and ran on the trail, it was a nice day, a little hot, but breezy. At first I wasn't sure I could do 12 miles, but I just kept going along the trail and didn't turn around until I had run over 6 miles. At mile 10 on the way back I stopped at the coolers of water RunTex puts out. I drank about 4 cups in a row. I knew it was a bad idea as I was doing it, but it tasted so good! I started running again, but I had drank too much water. I walked for about 5 minutes then ran the rest of the way for a total of 12 miles! Then I went for a short swim in Barton Springs. I told Ingrid that night that if I can do 12 I know I can do 13.1 at Longhorn! The Town Lake trail is a beautiful place to run, I ran on it once while we were house hunting, so this was my second run around the lake.

Sept. 1 The Austin Tri

I was wide awake when the alarm went off at 4:30, I slept pretty well, but I was excited about the triathlon! Matt stayed at our house the night before and since he is notorious for being late, I set his alarm for 4:15 instead of 4:30, it worked! When I got up he was already sitting on the couch eating breakfast! (Sorry Matt!)
Jeff had planned to have the day off and come to the triathlon, but Jim obviously couldn't work after his bike accident, so Jeff worked for him.
I ate my oatmeal, grabbed my race bag and Matt and I headed down to Auditorium Shores. A couple minutes after we got there, Kim and Ingrid showed up, and then David. David before the race.

As I was setting up my transition area, I also saw Kelli, she was just a couple spots down from me, so we talked for a minute. David signed up in the open wave (elite) so he was the first of all of us to start. Kim, Ingrid and I had another 30 minutes to wait after David started. I went back and forth at least a hundred times about whether or not I wanted to wear my wetsuit. The water was 78 wetsuit legal but barely. I know I would have been fine either way. I decided no wetsuit and Chris held it for me during the race, Thanks Chris! All that waiting around was also making me more nervous about the bike course.

the Austin Tri is a 1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run.

Finally it was time to get in the water, it felt cold getting in but once I started swimming it felt good. I felt much better swimming than I did last weekend at the Clear LakeTriathlon (I had some breathing issues in the water that day). I ended up out of the water in 35 minutes, my goal was 37, so I was happy with that.

David biking
It was a long way from where I had my bike in transition to the bike start, but once I got on my bike I started to feel better about the course, it didn't seem all that crowded and it was really well marked. I headed up Congress, it was uphill, but not that bad, then the first of many U turns, then back down Congress to the capital. Then over toward the steep hill everyone had been warning us about, I finally got to it and it was steep, but it wasn't that bad, cool! Back to the start and 2 more laps. I felt great on the bike, no problems at all really. I didn't like all the U turns, but I'm sure no one else did either. I finished the bike in 1:40, which is exactly where I wanted to be. Matt running Kim running

Ingrid running

Me running
I hadn't studied the run course too much and they didn't have mile markers so I wasn't sure about my pace most of the run. It was 2 3.1 mile laps. The first lap went well, I saw Kim and Ingrid toward the end. The second lap was tougher, it was getting hot! Around the middle of the second lap I started getting chills, not good when it's 90 out, so I slowed down. Just before I got to the finish I saw David, Gillian, Kim, Matt, John, and Del all cheering for me! Thanks guys! Ingrid and Chris were at the finish. Everyone had a great race! We all hung out for a little while after the race, then got our stuff from transition and left. Matt and I decided to go to Marble Slab for milkshakes, YUM! I did nothing the rest of the day, I was so tired! Sometimes after races I'm really tired, and sometimes I'm fine, today I was super tired!
Getting our bikes from transition after the race
I really had fun at this race, partly because it was really well organized and I had a good race, and partly because so many of my friends were there too. I hope Longhorn is this much fun and goes this well!

The Austin House

We found a house in Austin! We're renting a very cute house near Jeff's work. We looked at ALOT of houses, some nice some really not nice. I'll post some pictures when I get the computer working properly.

Here are a couple pictures of our Austin house. Since our old computer crashed, I still haven't found the pictures from some of the other houses we looked at.

August 31st Day 2 in Austin

Today was packet pickup and seminars for the triathlon. I also had to check my bike in and leave it at transition. I've never done a race where I had to do that before. I was a little worried about it, so I put my bike next to some super expensive bikes. My bike is nice, but I figured if someone was going to steal a bike, they'd steal the most expensive one around. Of course they had police guarding the transition area all night and I didn't hear of any problems. David, Gillian, Kim and I drove the bike course after the seminars. I was a little worried about a steep hill and about the course being really crowded and a little confusing. It was only 8 miles and we had to do 3 laps.

While I was doing all that, Jeff called and said Jim (his assistant manager) had crashed his bike. Turns out he's ok, he has a 3rd degree shoulder separation, but doesn't need surgery.

Everyone came over to my house for pre-race dinner. I think everyone had a good time, I know I did. Matt got into town just in time for packet pickup and dinner at my house. After dinner everyone left early to get plenty of sleep before the race.

August 30th Day 1 in Austin

This was the perfect day to be living in Austin. I have the Austin Triathlon on Monday so all my Houston tri friends came into town today. It was also Kim's birthday. Ingrid and Chris, Kim, and David and Gillian and I all went to Mellow Johnnies (Lance's bike shop), it's really expensive, but we all had fun looking at really expensive bikes and stuff. Then we all went to Barton Springs Pool, it was a good day for that too since it was really hot out. The water there is 68 degrees year round! Del and Patrick showed up just as we got there. When we all got cold, we went to Shady Grove for Kim's birthday dinner, YUM! We even shared her birthday dessert, mint chocolate chip ice cream pie!