Got the pic. How cute you guys are in your widdle helmets. aww. hahahaha. I especially like Richards purple hue. Very nice.
ha. I'll be visiting the journals to see how it went. FIRST I have to write some terrific news. We went up to Chico today for the day. SO fun. My kids played at the park and rode their bikes as I ran my 13.1 dress rehearsal run for the race that'll be there in 2 weeks. I know the course because I've ran the race before. This was the first time in my new shoes on the road.
I've been unusually tired the past week but last night I went to bed super early after downing a few cups of airborne and extra vitamins. I woke up good to go.
We didn't get to Chico until noon but that didn't phase me. I ate a PB sandwich on the way and had iced coffee to see how that would settle race day. I've been caffeine free now for a good 3 months. I've had nothing but herbal tea and water

The caffeine made me CRAZY and it was only 8 oz! lol
okay so I'll cut to the chase. I went out comfortable and actually pretended this was the race. I'd intended to kick back and just do the distance...but how many times have I been able to do that so far and not compete with myself?

so I ran like I wanted to. I looped the park once (6.5 mi) and looked at my watch at around 5.5 miles (sorry FF, I totally forgot about the negative splitting plan). I was at 42 minutes. wayyyy fast but I figured I'd probably drop off in the next loop. I felt so great up till then. My breathing was even, my pace was easy, my legs didn't hurt. The only thing that was a little achy was my core.
Started in on the second loop. Got water at 7 miles, again at 9. At 10 I had to start pulling out the mental games, time was 1:15. Felt great between 11-12 a a burst of energy hit me. More mental games 12 till the end. Hit my watch at the end exhausted and didn't look at it until I found my family and got in the car guzzling water. I was afraid to look
As you can see....1:42:06!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I sat there with my mouth open staring for a good few minutes. NO WAY. Yes way, I did it! I beat my goal, I far exceeded my expectations on a PRACTICE RUN! My official best time ever has been 1:51. Unofficial is 1:49 and that was with a LOT of intense training. I feel like I've hardly done any running for this thing compared to that. I'm not sure what I did next but it caught my husbands attention and let me just bask in the moment rambling on and on about how the run went, how I felt where and junk. If nothing more comes of this race in 2 weeks I can rest well knowing I got the time I want and I can be happy. REAL happy.
Oh one more thing...after that we went to pizza and then we were passing The North Rim shop where some bikes were. Off the bat one caught my eye. A 51cm TreK Equinox time trial bike. OH MY GOSH it was SO beautiful. I got on and they let me take it out. I fell in love. It was SO comfortable, totally fit me and was everything I'm looking for. The aero bars were adjustable and SO fun to ride with. It was so encouraging since I've had trouble finding "THE" bike, to know they are out there...just a little more penny pinching to go and I'll find it.