Austin Appreciation Weekend

I'd like to personally thank Little Miss Runner Pants for making me feel like a bad-ass...and making me appreciate Austin all over again with her posts of how wonderful this town truly is. I couldn't agree more as evidence over and over again this weekend.  

Saturday 7/26 -50 Mile Bike Ride

The plan called for 60 miles, but I put in a solid 50 at 17.9 mph average. I invited AJ along with us on the T3 journey to Kyle, Texas and back and she hung in there like a trooper. She insists that I'm fast, but it's all relative when I compare myself with most of the other cyclists out there! Not more than five miles into the ride, Hubster hit a huge bump and flatted. He showed us what a stud he is by changing his tube in less than 5 minutes. Still though, this put us behind pretty much every group and we were on our own. It turned out to be a great ride even when the cloud cover burned off and the sun came piercing down. Because it was an out-and-back course, we got to see the dozens of T3ers blazing a trail on their way back to town. It truly is inspiring makes me yearn to become a better cyclist!  With one mile to go before getting back to our cars, AJ flatted and we quickly got her tire changed. Both she and Shawn were stopping at 40 miles, so I just did one loop on S. Mopac so that Shawn didn't have to wait all day for me.

Sunday 7/27 - 14 Mile Run

My T3 Longhorn 70.3 planned called for a 12 mile run, but my October 26th Marine Corps Marathon called for a 14 mile run. Right now, I'm focusing more effort on running so Hubster and I headed out from our house at 7am towards the Lady Bird Trail for a 14 miler. T3 wasn't starting their run until 7:45am, but I wanted to get it done a little earlier. It was so wonderful and encouraging to see so many people out there this morning including so many T3 teammates like Logan, Nancy, Joe, Blythe, Erin, Tom, Michelle, Liz and more. Small conversations and shouts of encouragement mean so much to all of us!  I finished the run at my doorstep with 14 miles at an overall pace of 8:32.  Sweet...

I made coffee and hung out on my front deck to stretch and visit with little Tripod Kitty who has made himself at home on our deck table. Our neighbor across the street was out working in the yard and blaring some old-school Willie Nelson music. I thought to myself, "God I love this town."

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Also on Friday, Shawn and I went to see Comedian Kathy Griffin of "My Life on the D-List" fame. She was totally raunchy, immoral and degrading and I loved every second of it. As the name of my blog implies, I LOVE comedy used to do stand-up in Austin. I was also in a sketch comedy troupe called Gag Reflex. (technically still in the cast) I live to attempt to make people laugh and got chills at the way this comedian was able to hold the attention of over 2,500 people with just a microphone and funny stories. My goal in life is to have a show like Ellen's. It may just be a simple little podcast with 10 listeners, but it will happen someday :-) I sorta dropped out of the comedy scene when I started doing more serious racing. It was a little difficult performing in a smoky club until 2am and then getting up at 6am for an 18 miler....Maybe again someday! She got me all geeked up about comedy again :-)