Had a good Thursday AM swim class with T3. My form actually felt good and more consistent than it had all week. It may have helped that I spent about 20 minutes the evening before watching Google Video of proper swim technique. It helps so much to see what is supposed to be happening. With both running and biking, you can always watch yourself and others to get tips and visuals of good form. Swimming is obviously more difficult since you can't always see others in the water and you certainly can't see yourself (thank god) unless you are being videotaped. I can't tell you how many times my coach has said, "Your arms are doing this," and I'm like, "Really?? It doesn't feel like it." Watching a few videos the evening before was definitely good visual training that I took to the pool with me on Thursday morning and tried to emulate. Slowly but surely, I worked it through the 2800m workout complete with our usual sets of drills, pulls, fins and speedwork. Of course, as we're finishing our workout in the outdoor pool, it started raining. Now that I was done with training for the day, it was time for some fun (and too many Mexican Martinis!) The rain stopped in the morning, but was looming all day. Would it hold off so that I could actually enjoy some live music??
I've been a fan of Kim Richey since 1995 when Mercury Records touted her as the next big country artist out of Nashville. I was working for a country radio station at the time and many times, record companies send their artists around the country for their obligatory "radio tour. " The artist brings their guitar, sets up in the conference room and plays for a bunch of dorky radio-types. It must be miserable for the artist to play in that type of fishbowl surrounding, but every now and then an artist will stick out from the rest. (This format is how I was introduced to the Dixie Chicks in 1997. While I thought they were fun and talented, I never thought they'd make it big because of their name. Shows you how much I know). Anyways, Kim was one of those artists that definitely stuck out from the "typical" country artist. It made sense at the time that they would promote her. She had written a myriad of #1 songs for other country artists and had sang back-up for a ton of artists as well (Trisha Yearwood, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, to name just a few). Long story short--it didn't work in mainstream country, but she's had quite the career with the AAA format since then...folksy, chick rock. There is none better.
Our local Adult-Alternative station 107.1 KGSR hosts a series of free outdoor concerts every Thursday night at Shady Grove. Well, as fate would have it, remnants of some tropical storms were blowing through and it did start pouring rain about 30 minutes before showtime. Several hundred faithful were still out there with umbrellas. Shawn and I were two of them. Kim did take the stage at 8:00pm and very humorously slapped on a swim cap and goggles for her first song. Of course, I tried to take a picture from my phone for the blog, but it didn't take for some reason. Wouldn't that have just been perfect??
She got about 45 minutes of music in before they finally called the show due to wind and weather conditions, but she did hang out for a while to say "hey" and chat with people. Yep, my hair is pretty drenched! Bummer that it was cut short, but it did feel good to be out among normal people having a grand time drinking martinis and eating BBQ chicken tacos. It certainly sets the tone for a big weekend of long runs and bike rides! It's all about having fun.
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