because i came back to home/work and received some interesting news (i'm getting my OWN office. with like a window and 4 walls and a door and everything... to myself... PFFT. how hysterical is that!?! and... my dog gets here friday. WHOA! i have a lot to do to get ready)... i'm going to feed you my trip list-style, as a series of things you should know, if you ever decide to trip it on down to austin on your own.
so here we go.
1.) wetsuits are small.
they are abnormally small.
when my smaller-than-me friend said i could borrow her suit, already i had my doubts. she's, as i just pointed out, smaller than me ---- already.
but her suit!!?!?... that was a joke. i lifted it up in front of me and nearly choked on laughter.
i'm sorry. what?! you want MY ASS to get inside of THAT tiny piece of rubber?! pfffft. i. don't. think. so.
it took me over 20 minutes of on, off, on, off, yank, pull, grunt, jump, off, on... until finally... A-HA!!! i got it.
that was just dumb. i'm going to have to wake up an extra half hour early on race day to have enough time to suit up.
2.) watching someone else take apart your bike and arrange it into a bike box?!
yeah.
infinitely easier than actually doing it yourself.
also?!
watching them take it apart does not necessarily mean you'll understand how to put it back together.
4.) although you might not understand exactly what you're doing... putting together your own bike in the driveway of someone's house --- MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE A ROCKSTAR!
even when, afterwards, it wont shift right so you have to take it to your local LBS.
hee. whoops.
5.) i still can't drive my friend's old red mustang without a pillow to prop myself up on. i felt like an 89 year old woman.
6.) there's this spot on Congress (... or was it 1st street!?!) where you can order a coke, and get it in a glass bottle. mexico style!
this, alone, made my trip worth it.
7.) doing laps in an outdoor pool makes me feel like i'm training for the olympics. i feel fairly certain that if this were an option for me here in KC (which it will be, ya know.. in like JUNE when it gets to be warm for more than 3 days in a row) i would swim all the time.
i would be a machine.
8.) there are bike routes in austin all over the place.
i sort of knew that'd be the case, but my version of all over the place, and their version of all over the place, were not at all the same.
because by "all over the place"... they actually mean all over the place.
this i found to be disturbingly delightful.
9.) when in San Marcos... stranded.. in the middle of the day... with a flat tire on the side of the road... next to a busy street and a baseball field...
there will be no end of friendly drivers, in trucks, pulling up to see if you need help.
unfortunately none of them will be matthew mcconaughey.
10.) when further stranded in San Marcos because your idiot "friend" doesn't know how to answer the phone, you're back tire is rotating wobbly, there's a whole in the rubber of the wheel and you've just bit it once again on the side of the road...
getting in the truck with a random stranger (who's a fellow triathlete chick and your same age) is not only a good idea... its an absolutely great one.
11.) finding out that your arms don't reach your middle back, and so therefore your sunscreen application wasn't without flaws...
hurts.
a lot.
make this mistake once, and you will NOT make it again.
12.) the congress street bridge is long.
L-O-N-G.
especially when you have to cross it, on foot, upwards of 5 times because you're lost, the people you're meeting are always on the opposite side of the bridge, and you're a moron.
13.) running at town lake is divine. especially at 10am monday morning.
especially when running 8 miles at a 9:34 pace and setting a new PR.
turns out-- i can run.
apparently i just have to be in austin to perform well.
13.) it is damn near impossible to take off bike pedals without severe brute strength and a local bike shop.
14.) whataburger is and forever shall be my prize for any southern training weekend.
..... and that, more or less (but of course not actually at all) sums up my weekend of fun, sun, and an eight mile run.
i could say SO much more, go into minute detail, and post for days on the enjoyment i had this past weekend, but suffice it to say...
it was everything i wanted it to be.
and i cannot WAIT to get back!
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