Little Miss Runner Pants

you know what the good thing is about training at the same place month after month?!?!

its easy to tell when you've improved.

today i met out at the downtown airport for KC Multi-Sport's tuesday night ride. it was my first time riding with the group in this location and i was looking forward to it.

the airport is about a 4ish mile loop, so regardless of how fast (or...slow) you might be, you've always got someone in your sights, or someone passing, or... someone to pass, and.. its nice. its more social than SMPark and.. i dunno. i was looking forward to it.

to start out with i joined the club's president/creator..person, guy. thing. and his fiance (both of whom i train with at Crossfit) for my first loop. we chatted a bit about cadence and how i need to work on mine (shocker there) and pulling up on the pedals and etc etc etc and about half way around the loop they dropped me, but..

i had fun. and Nico was having a good day, so.. i didn't mind.

surprisingly when i came back around to our starting point, the point at which in every other ride out there... ever, i've taken a breather, i sorta... forgot.

and just kept riding.

after the first turn i realized it and didn't really know what to think of the situation

ummm, whatever! why didn't i stop? i always stop. i need a break!!! i'm going to get so tired!! my legs.. they'll be so sore and water.

hello!! i need some water..

as i, without thinking, reach down to pull up my water bottle...

oh yeah. i guess i have this option now...

and i realized... i didn't stop because i just didn't need to stop.

going up the second mini-hill though... oh dude. i'm definitely stopping this time.

but, lo and behold, i got to the start point, reached for water and.. kept going. three loops. without stopping for a break. without needing to come up with an excuse to have a reason to stop, like oh i dunno.... "uhhh. my shoe's coming undone, i think i need to stop".. or.... "my chain is popping funny, i'm going to take a look at it".. or.

you know. any of those totally lame things we tell ourselves we need to take care of because.. omg i'm tired but i don't want them to think i'm a wuss!!!

and, although the loop is a short loop... it can be rough.
the back half, besides the mini-hills (of which there are two. and they're no big deal. but still) is just ever so slightly inclined, that you can't see it, but you can feel it, and the front half is a wind-tunnel that constantly pushes back into you, which is just frustrating and tiring and... you get the idea.

mid-way through my third loop my IT Band started acting up so i took a stretching breather and then rode one more loop with some other friends from Crossfit for a total of four loops.

in less than an hour.

which is something like 20 minutes faster than i've ever done four loops at the airport before!

nuts, right?! sweet nuts!

shortly after finishing the Zero Bodyfat Couple (the ones i rode the first loop with) came up.. finishing out their 6th and 7th loop and i felt a little silly for being so proud of my four... but whatever. to each their own.

afterwards we waited for a few others to finish and stood around chatting and socializing and lollygagging around and... it was just a really, really good night.

a good, fun workout.
a good, fun group of people.
a good, fun realization that my fitness has improved.

it was good and fun. and really? what more can you ask for?