End of the Trainer Tour til next winter :-(

Makes me a little bit sad. Got started late, so didn't attend as many as I would've liked. But I met some people and they've encouraged me to join on regular rides.

I went Tuesday and Thursday this week. Tuesday wasn't what I would call easy by any means, it was hard work which was good. When I look at the workout last night in comparison though, Tuesday was not bad at all. :-) Last night we did ladders - where you start on a medium rear sprocket (17) for 4 minutes, then go to a smaller one (15) for 3 minutes, then a smaller one (13) for 2 minutes and then the smallest (12) for a minute each with an easy one minute spin separating. We also did 4 reps of 30 On and 30 Off in addition to one leg at a time work on the Big front ring and 12 in back. One leg work is tough for me and I have a difficult time getting a cadence more than about 40 RPM (and that is tough!). We did all of the above twice in addition to the warm up and cool down portion of the workout. when I add the warm up and cool down I put in about an hour and 15 or 20 minutes total.

Well, tomorrow is the 5K. My BFF is ready, I'm not! Only thing I'm seriously worried about is the fact that the temps at start time are forecasted for 32F. I will be warm enough, just worried about breathing.

I am looking forward to Sunday with temps soaring to 60F! Finally a chance to get on the road with my bike again.

End of Feb already?

Can we stop this train, just for a few moments? It's going so fast now there are times that my head is spinning. I can hardly believe it's almost March. It's Leap Year - US Presidential elections and the Olympics in Beijing.



I miss my BFF. She's got lots of stuff happening, both work and family. I miss my Sis, she's in love and getting married. Another BFF is seeing someone too! Everyone should be fortunate enough to find someone that cares for them.


I need to make some plans and fast! I am ready to get out and ride. I want to have a little bit of time to build some self confidence before getting too bold too fast. But I really want to start riding regularly with a group.


Oh dear, just 4 days til the 5K. Hope that angel is till hanging around somewhere.

A sense of calm

has come over me. Wouldn't it be lovely if it stayed around for a while?!

I sincerely wonder how many menopausal women come close to insanity, the loonie bin, total seclusion. This last year and a half has been one helluv an emotional ride. Jam packed with more life changing events than anyone should experience.

Aw heck fire, this is an adventure. I'll enjoy the calm while I can. Something is just around the corner to stir things up again. I just have to keep this smile chasing away the frowns.

Time to start planning again

This virus has had it's turn, it slowed me down. So did the cold weather (I know we don't really have cold weather). I am not ready for the 5K next Saturday, but I'm gonna do it. I told my BFF that I was so sorry that I'm going to disappoint her at this race. She just comes back with, "don't worry about me, I was just doing it because you wanted to". Thank god she urged me to stop smoking with her. Best thing I've done in a long while.

I was looking at my training log. I haven't run enough in a long while. Most weeks I've had 4.5 - 5 hours on the bike with one or two coming up around 3. This week I've already got 4:15 and still have tomorrow, which should be at least an hour. I put in 1:45 today. 45 early and an hour after dinner. Just easy spins this week. Barely raised my HR each time. Just nice spinning on 42/19 about 95 RPM. Trying to stay in form, but this saddle is wearing on me. I noticed it more today after the second ride. So I've been out surfing for ergonomic saddles. I found one I'd love to test drive, just not sure I can locate one close enough. I need to check out the return policy, 'cause I'd like to try it and know I can return it if it's not right. It's pricey, running over $200. But I think I can splurge since my bonus should be in my account at the end of the month. :-)

I want to get back outside. Trainer and basement are starting to wear thin. Guess I should've looked into some videos, but there's always next winter for that. I missed the Trainer Tour on Tuesday night this week due to a business dinner. Weather cancelled the one on Thursday, which was good as I wasn't well enough to attend. This is the last week for it, so I hope I can get out there and get in a really good workout or two.

Think I need to start looking at nutrition if I'm going to start trying to run several times a week on top of riding. I'd love to get to around 10 hours a week of training during spring and summer.

Speaking of planning, I need to get a vacation scheduled. My Sis is getting married in June, so I'm thinking maybe taking time late June or early July. Time to get the calendars out and see if there are any races/rides I can start penciling in.

All in all a lacklustre week

Too much crud all weekend. Finally felt better on Monday, which was a holiday. We went to see Chick Corea and Bela Fleck in concert at the Brown Theatre in da Ville. Great show!

Spent all day Tuesday in a meeting and then dinner that night. Wednesday was another full day of work and spent some time with my Sis. First, talking about a possible work project and then finally about the wedding! We've made plans to shop for dresses Saturday (tomorrow).

Thursday and Friday this stupid cold/virus relapsed. I missed too much sleep on Monday and Tuesday nights. I only put 30 easy minutes on the trainer on Wednesday after an easy 60 on Monday. Today I put another easy 60 behind me. I worked up a nice sweat, but never got my HR up or breathing too heavy. Didn't want to have a coughing attack!

Seems I've passed this bugger on to my hubby. He's stopped up, earache, and sore throat. I just want to get to where 1) I don't produce phlegm by the container full
2) I can breathe deeply with out coughing up a lung
3) I can try to get some running behind me before next Saturday's 5K.

I don't think that's too much to ask. I've had this crud for over a week and it's time to be done!

LOL, well a girl can dream, right?

I think I read something about daylight savings is almost here. :-)

I love full moons

I always have loved them. Almost always something good happens or else something downright bizzare. I was admiring the one tonight while driving home. The sky was fairly clear, with only a few wisps of clouds around. No need for the high beams while driving Routte Rd. The moon lit up everything so well.

Received some good news at the end of the day, but timing the way it worked didn't have the opportunity to celebrate or really share with more than one or two people. Hubby is at his Mom's, so we talked on the phone. Feels anticlimactic.

There are times I get melancholy. Maybe some of it is the full moon. Think I'll go out and check it out once more before bedtime.

No more whining - at least for now

So I missed a warm day to experience some fitness in the out of doors. The temps were in the 60s, yes it rained, but I don't worry about getting wet when it's that warm. The bigger issue, as far as riding the bike, would've been the wind. It was blowing wild - 25 MPH with gusts above 35. I don't think I would even attempt riding the bike in that kind of wind. At least not yet.

So, I looked around online and then emailed a bud about continuing with the programme while under the weather. I know better than to do anything if I have a fever. Most advice is just common sense. Don't if you don't feel good. Go easy if you are up to it. I got up this morning all clogged and took another dose of meds. Then decided to see how it felt just to spin. I wound up putting 60 on the trainer. Nice and easy. Kept the gears on 42/21 or 42/19 most of the time, though I did jump to 52/23 for a few minutes in the middle. I kept my cadence between 75 and 85 RPM. So I had a nice sweat going, but I didn't escalate my heart rate much at all. These legs are happy with me again!

I've been stuck in the house all weekend and am ready to break free! Going to a concert tonight. Should be interesting, Chick Corea and Bela Fleck. Another interesting thing, I won't be running outdoors to catch a smoke! I'm excited to see this concert. I've followed Chick Corea for a couple of decades and loved when he formed "Return to Forever" with Stanely Clarke and Al DiMeola.

Tomorrow morning will be decision time for me. Whether or not to take my bike and try the Trainer Tour after work tomorrow night. I'm thinking, even if I'm not up to doing the workout at 100%, just being there would be inspiration to keep going. This would mean missing a dinner with colleagues though.

Well, I know that I should continue to spin if I feel up to it. No matter if it's in my basement, outside, or with the Trainer Tour. I want to build this base and start to get stronger and stronger. The weather is going to start improving with each week from here on into the spring. I am ready to try and hit some more hills and add some length to what I've been doing. Less than 2 weeks to the 5K and I'm going to be in such misery 'cause I'm not ready. Oh well, I'm still gonna do what I can with it.

Stupid virus

Well, I took Friday night off. Rationalised that I hadn't taken a day since 2 February. Dumb ole Sherri. This cold has been trying to grab hold for a couple of days. Got out of bed Friday and the entire right side of my head was clogged up. Pressure in my sinuses and right ear. Thank goodness for antihistamines. Kept me dried up most of the day and evening.Took my vitamins and had a good meal and turned in about midnight.

Got up this morning, same thing. Took another antihistamine which kept me dry for a few hours at a time. I wanted to get out and run since it got up into the 40s. Wish I had now. I did get in 60 on the trainer. Nothing difficult, but switched from 52T/19 to 42T/15 most of the routine while maintaining 95 RPM. Had to stop about 25 minutes in and catch my breath. I had read somewhere that you can continue to workout as long as you aren't running a fever. I wasn't.

I am now. Feel like crap, When I cough, my lungs burn and I think I've strained a muscle around my ribs. I'm down to one antihistamine, but I found the robitussin. Now to sleep sittin up all night on the couch.

No comedy club for Sherri tonight. Let's see what tomorrow brings. Feeling better I hope.

Sorry for the whining. I hate being sick, especially when it gets in my lungs. That's what I get for saying something about it. Damned Murphy must've heard me.

A different kind of February 14

It was different. Hubby and I spent some quality time on Valentine's eve. He fixed a great supper and we caught a movie on TV, etc.

Have a project at work that's taking longer than I would've liked and so still having meetings to try and wrap it up. So close, but still out of reach. Due to scheduling issues I had a meeting at the end of the day that wound up broken into 2 parts with an hour in between. So I changed into my running garb and hit the streets. The temps were supposed to be 45F, but in reality was 36F at 4:45 pm. I only got in about 20 minutes, but enough to get my legs a little warmed up and start a nice sweat. Problem was I forgot my mask and started wheezing about 15 minutes into it. :-(

Once I returned and wrapped up my meeting I had about an hour and fifteen to find something easy to digest, get my bike back on the car, and drive to the Trainer Tour. I grabbed some mashed potatoes to go from Red Star Tavern next door and worked through emails while I ate (more like woofed it down).

Traffic was a bear, guess it was due to everyone on their way to Valentine's dinner. I realised I worry more in traffic when I have my bike on the back in the carrier. I don't want anyone to hit it! Oh well, traffic put everyone behind. We got started about 15 minutes late with the video. I was pleasantly surprised that there were still about 30 people to show for it. They held a Boxer Short contest that was fun, except there were only about 6 people to participate. All in good fun!

I found the workout video challenging, but then it's all still challenging to me still. Most of the work was on the big ring/15. But we changed it up quite a bit. I spent more time on the BR/13 and 12 than ever before. Could really feel the lactic acid build up in my thigh muscles. Several times we were to stand and pedal, but that is more than I can keep doing for more than 15 seconds (have to work on this over the weekend at home!). I was feeling quite good about the workout, only a couple of modifications on my part, but did 90% just as the video instructed. (Oh yeah, my wheezing stopped about the time I left work.) Towards the end of the workout an older gentleman asked me how I was doing and I said, Great. Then I overheard him say that this workout was one of the easier ones. That's when, for just a few seconds, my excitement level dropped. It was easier than last week with all of the one-legged work. Afterwards, while everyone was packing up and grabbing a bite to eat, one of the regulars came by to chat with me. She was making me feel right at home. As we talked I found out that she lives within a mile of two of my home. I've been riding past her subdivision for months. She offered to answer any questions I have, especially about different loops that she does and their distances. She said there will be many opportunities to ride evenings and weekends come April. I am so happy that I am growing my world wtih new people of various interests and are willing to share their knowledge of cycling with me. I'm adding to my list of acquaintances and resources.

Yes, this was a Valentine's Day of a different kind. No chocolates or flowers or cards. But an enjoyable day that ended with me smiling, very pooped, and sleepy.

Perseverance - let's hope it pays off!

Of course it will! I hope it will. It had better! LOL :-)

Yesterday's ride was mediocre at best - and I whined and whimpered through it. For some reason my knee/thigh area screamed. Today was different. I went back to workout #16 and aside from a couple of minor adjustments (have a different cassette than workout specifies) I completed it. I have to admit I stopped a couple of time as I was trying very hard to maintain 100RPM in places which made my heart race. However, I stopped the clock when I stopped and made sure I rode the entire 60 minutes.

Now to eat a big dinner and make sure and get a good breakfast and lunch tomorrow along with at least 6 hours of sleep tonight. Going back to the Trainer Tour tomorrow night (yes I know it's Valentine's Day). They are supposed to be holding a Boxer Shorts contest which I'm sure will be hilarious. Worn outside the bike shorts, thank you. I don't own any boxers, :-( I guess I could borrow some from hubby.

I was worried after last night's workout being so bad that I would have a bad night like that at the Tour. But you know, everyone has a bad workout on occassion. I'm not above it. And even though I am vain, I am not terribly concerned about being embarrassed. Besides, that should be a motivating factor. Keep my legs to the pedals and push!

Just a little bummed

I was so looking forward to the Trainer Tour tonight. Mother Nature decided to dump some snow and then ice all over us last night and this morning. They cancelled the tour due to not being able to clear the parking lot.

Not sure what my physical issues are these last few days. I put in 60 minutes on the trainer before supper. My legs felt very fatigued and the tops of my thighs at the knees ached. I started on workout #16 and only got halfway through the second set of reps when I decided to spin on the big ring for a while instead. I wrapped up the last 25 minutes on the 42T working back and forth between 17 and 15 gears.

Maybe it is best I rode at home. I don't think so. Of course, it is motivating (I thnk) to be in a room full of people that you don't know and are better than you at riding. Keeps you honest, humble, and ambitious! I really want to ride, go fast, pull some hill and record some miles. Working on it

My day started with a 6am call. Now I'm 15 minutes away from another and it's 9:30 pm. Maybe I'll sleep in tomorrow. Looks like anything that melted today will be nice and frozen by morning. I really don't want to stay home. I need to get out of this house!

Tomorrow has to be better! But have to wait and see.

I have a long way to go in my training

I realise it's a long way from where I want to be, but so much closer than last April!

I keep a daily log of my fitness activities. I started recording religiously back around September. When I look at it I realise that winter has affected all of my running goals. Less than 3 weeks until the 5K and I'm not ready. My BFF on the other hand has already run the full distance at least once, probably several by now.

I've done something each day this week. It started off by missing work on Monday wheezing like mad, which is never a good thing. I never ran a fever and so I've decided that pulling those hills on Sunday caused me to breathe more deeply than I had in a long time. This deep breathing loosened up more of the tar that I've put in there over the years.

Monday, late in the afternoon before dinner, I put 30 minutes on the trainer just spinning.

Tuesday was yoga night, I love Yoga night! It loosens and warms all those areas taught with stress. And our hostess made some fantastic veggie chili. Yummy!

Wednesday I put on hour on the trainer, not a formal workout, more adhoc.

Thursday I finally made it to the LBC trainer tour. This had a nice crowd of 30+ people (I didn't count). People were very nice. There were a few ladies new like me. Everyone comes in and finds a place for bike and trainer facing the stage. There is a big screen they play a video on for the workout. This night was all big ring work, with just the rest/spin on the little ring until late in the hour. I come in and notice there's still room to the left of the room in the back so I go set up. A gentleman comes in with his bike and eyes mine. I said, "move me over and out of your way if you like. I'm new." He nudged my bike just a few inches and we introduced each other and chatted quite a bit through the evening. I found out that I was in the recumbent corner. Interesting bikes that look very comfortable if you have back pain. I wound up moving my stuff a little further and he says it's not necessary. I said that I would be huffing and puffing and didn't want to disturb anyone. He laughed at that and said we all would be by the end of the hour. He was right, most of us were. We did one leg at a time workouts. Oh man, this made my right hip joint ache by about 45 seconds in on my right leg. I can't say I maintained a 100 MPR cadence, but I tried very hard. I did ease up on the gearing a few times. I'm not sure I'm right, but I think I'd rather keep my cadence and build up my work on those more difficult gears than sacrifice my cadence. That could be the wrong way to approach it though.

Friday I put in 25 minutes towards a run/walk. Saturday I planned another afternoon of hills. It was 50 and sunny. Well I bonked. Thing about it I started out great! I decided I needed a better warm up than I'd done on Sunday. So, I was going to get 5 miles behind me of just flat road, to warm up. 2.5 miles down the road and I was loving it. My legs felt great and my cadence was above 105 the full length. Then I turn around. I hit a wall, a 20 MPH headwind that is pushing me and the harder I work at pedalling the slower I go. I make it back to the Country Panty and I am breathing so hard. I take 5 and get my composure, drink a few sips then take off. I'm heading down Dawson Hill almost to Routte Road and the headwind is now a crosswind and it's pushing me off the road. I turn around and head home. I was defeated. I hate that feeling. When I got to the house my lungs were wheezing and raspy. Gawd I hate that feeling.

Today I put an hour and a half of spin behind me. No planned or strenuous workout, think I'll save that for Tuesday night trainer tour. It feels good to look at my journal and see a full week of fitness activities, even though they were all out. Just wait. I'll get there. I will be putting more and more miles behind me soon along with more and more hills. Just hope these lungs hold up under the pressure and just keep getting more and more cleaned out.

Let's hope for another great week. Who knows, maybe we get some more hills if Mother Nature looks kindly upon us.

Reflecting on childhood stuff

Lots of things going through my head this morning.

My oldest is finally getting past the loss of her cat. It takes some time. We all get attached so easily. Once upon a time I tried to count how many pets and their offspring we had growing up. We had dogs first, Dad had to keep a birddog, even though he only went hunting a handful of time that I can remember. We had cats (of which I was allergic) oh so many cats! Sis had one named Puss'nBoots. She was a sweetie. Had a litter of kittens on Sis's pillow one day. LOL My first dog (that I could call mine) was a mutt beagle I named Candy. I learned about sex when I saw Candy one day with another dog. She had a litter and sis kept a female we name Cookie. I had a tough lesson on death when we got home one day and Candie's body was at the edge of the highway near our driveway. Oh dear, we also had mice and rats a hamster, gerbil, and now I won't be able to remember what all.

A friend's youngest is sick. It is so hard when children are feeling bad. You want to make the sickness/pain/yuckiness to go away.

I started thinking about my childhood and some memories come back so fast and other's popup catching me off guard. I remember not getting to enjoy winter much at all. It seems everytime it snowed I had sore throats or nasty colds or something. There was a hillside behind our house. Several houses down from us there was a road (think it was gravel back then) that went from the highway back alongside one of the houses up the hill into the woods. Each time it snowed, Dads in the neighborhood would get out and build a slope for sledding. They would all get together with their snow shovels and build up the path and pack it down to make a really fast hillside. The Moms would get together and pull out hundreds of coffee cans, fill them with sand, place them into oiled down paper bags and create candles/lanterns out of them. They would line each side of the manmade slope and light them at dusk so the kids could continue to sled into the evening. I would stand at the back door, listen and watch and imagine how much fun it was to be out there sledding with everyone else. I would cry and beg to please let me go and slide down just one time. Honestly I do not remember if I ever did get to do it. Seemed as soon as I was well enough to go, the snow would be gone. I wish it had been different. I wish I'd had the chance to experience and love snow sports. It's not too late, but with the asthma I just have to take extra steps. Maybe I'll find a way to get to a ski slope one of these days and try it out.

Of course this then caused me to remember all the times I was sick growning up. I must have one of the strongest (or weakest) constitutions ever. I had every childhood disease out there: mumps of course, then there were the measles and rubella, and of course you can't forget chicken pox. I had 3 different kinds of measles if memory serves. I had chicken pox twice, though they say you can't have it more than once. (oh yeah, had shingles in the last 5 years). I had strep throat and/or tonsillitus every winter that I was growing up. I still have my tonsils, too! In the third grade I contracted hepititus from contaminated drinking water.

I love to ride my bike now. I think about riding it as a kid. I had to wait until I was about 12 before I could ride it on the highway. Before that I had to walk it across the tall grass filled empty lot next door to the elementary school and ride it in the parking lot. Finally, I gained freedom and could ride anywhere and did! I grew up in a rural town, very small place where everyone knew everyone (still do I think). I was so happy riding. I'd go across town, out to Cindy or Beckys', then we'd ride past Camp Crescendo (band camp) hoping to catch a glimpse of those high schools boys playing their instruments. Sometimes a big group of us would ride up to Old Baldy and then hike up the knob. Old Baldy had suffered from a landslide after one of the bad floods we had and left a gaping bare spot on it's side thus it's nickname. One spring/summer, when I was 13 or 14, it rained and rained. We had floods and the highway just north of our house was submerged in about 2-3 feet of water. Rene' and I would ride our bikes for hours back and forth through the water, leading cars along the way so they could get across the water and wouldn't leave the pavement. There were several times that I rode my bike to the high school in either early fall or late spring. High School was in a different town about 15 miles or so up the road.

Funny how the mind works and wanders. It's good to think back and reminisce. Now to think about getting outside, in the sunshine today on my bike!

Is it from years of smoking or Murphy's law?

Or both? I went out to do a run yesterday. I did my 5 minute power walk to warm up and started the run. During the walk I noticed that the muscle to the outside of my left shin bone was tight and it kept tightening the entire time I was walking. Once I started running, my right achilles started hurting. In no time I was limping. I won't limp and run. so I stopped and walked home. I kept the walk as brisk as possible, but it was uphill most of the way and still painful.

I hadn't been inside anytime and began sneezing my head off. My nose dripped. This went on for 30 minutes or longer when I noticed that my chest was rattling with fluid. Damn! I had just mentioned that this was the first time I haven't had bronchitis in years. We watched the SuperBowl and my chest just kept getting worse. I found some OTC medicine for allergies at half time. I fell asleep not long after the game was over. Made my upstairs and slept until 4 at which time my brain turned on. I then tossed and turned off and on for hours. Slept til after 10 and my chest is still raspy. So, did I pick up a bug this past week meeting and socializing with so many people? Or is this due to the years of smoking and my ride on hills that caused it? Or is it just 'cause Murphy heard me say the bronchitis thing?

I've missed a day's worth of work. It was beautiful today and I would've loved to ride again or at least run, but you can't do that and miss work. Damn! Maybe i'll put some time on the trainer. :-(

Hills!

Maybe I shouldn't get too excited too soon as there are lots bigger hills in this world and my local vicinity than the little bumps I rode today. I'm definitely in need of a lot more work and need to focus on wattage (somehow). I think that means either increase resistance on my trainer or weight training. We'll start with the former before considering the latter. :-)

I took off on a very nice sunny Sunday afternoon that started about 50F and by the time I returned was it 55F, but starting to cloud up. I decided that I could ride Routte Road end to end for my first attempt to attack a few hills. I realised on my way up the first decent incline (my definition which most seasoned cyclists would smirk about I'm sure) that I should've spent at least 10 - 15 minutes of riding some flat just to get everything warmed up instead of the 5 it took to get there. Live and learn! I tried to make sure I was planning ahead for my gears, I tried to remember what I've read and been told about climbing. I worked to keep my cadence up, this is going to take plenty more hours of training to improve. The closer I would get to the top of a hill the slower and slower my cadence. This is so very frustrating! But reinforces that I just need to train harder.

What did I enjoy? The downhill run. Oh My Goodness what a thrill! I crammed my sunglasses against my face, crouched down with hands on drops and my butt slightly off the saddle tilted facing anything following me. I have no idea how fast I was going, but if I had hit any gravel and wiped out I would be limping by now. So now, my inspiration is to work very hard to climb taller hills just so I can scream down the other side. Yeehaww!

The route is right at 7 miles from my house to the end of Routte Rd at Taylorsville Lake Rd. (http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=7446). I had some disappointment on the way back. There's a nice one that I could not keep going all the way to the top. I got off and pushed the last 100 yards. I was so PO'd at myself. But it is what it is and each time I 'hit a wall' it's that much harder that I'll work for the next time. If I stop and think about this past week and how light the training regimen was, I guess that contributed to my less than stellar performance. (is that rationalising?) I decided to stop at the Pantry and get a banana and power bar. I needed to take 5 (more like 10 - 15) and catch my breath after 14 miles. I was feeling great, the sun was still shining, so I took off down King's Church. Then I got totally psyched! I was averaging 100 rpm the whole way, which is 4.3 miles. My total ride time was an hour and 15 minutes. Total time out was about and hour and 45 I guess.

Well, now to get out and run in a little while. I've not done enough of that either and the 5K is going to be here in no time. My bff has been training on her new treadmill and did the full 3 miles early this past week. I am so proud of her! I'll get back in time to clean up and get ready to pull for the NE Patriots. I love Tom Brady!

Tomorrow and Tuesday are supposed to be 65F with rain. I wish I could work from home. I'll have to check and see what I can work out. It does look like the next 10 days of weather will be at least in the high 40s except for Wednesday. Yoga is Tuesday! I am definitely hitting the trainer tour on Thursday this week. This is the last month to take advantage.

Oh yeah, I found this triathlon/duathlon event the weekend before my birthday in June. The duathlon is a 5k, 40k, 10k. I've got until March to sign up and I'm thinking this could be a fun thing to do. A nice accomplishment before hitting that half century mark.

Full week with not enough training

Lot's of people were in from out of town for retreat. Tonight is the holiday party. I missed riding Wednesday, Friday and Saturday this week. This is too much miss for me. Two days were only 30 minutes each.

Funny thing having a holiday party on Feb 2. But it should be fun no matter what we call it.

I plan on being good tonight with much less drinking than last night and definitely more food intake. It was a beautiful day and I blew it big time for fitness training.

Tomorrow should be better. I hope I can ride outdoors and get in a run, too.

I'm sure I'll post all about it before bedtime tomorrow night.

Sadness in endings

I find that I am sad when most things come to an end. It may not be more than a tinge of sadness in some cases. Events that are planned in advance, the anticipation, the participation and then it's behind you leaving good memories if we are lucky. I look forward to our annual retreat for work. It's a full day off site of team building, etc. It was yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot! People come in from out of town. It's good to see everyone network, etc. Sad to see them go home though.

My daughter's cat died yesterday. She's always been sickly. She got really sick right before the wedding in September. It's difficult to lose a pet. Since they live in an apartment they brought her out to my house for burial. I am sad for her. She has another cat, but she's had Ally for more than 5 years.