summer is …

~the feel of gritty salt on your face and the salty taste on your lips after a long run or ride. yum!
~the raccoon eyes you get from your sunglasses blocking the sun.
~crazy tan lines on your legs.
~the dried spots of sweat all over the top tube of your bike.
~the white salt granules all over the straps of your helmet.
~80 degree days in february! already!
~lots of daylight time to ride a few hours outside, after work.
~dehydration cramps on your ride after work because you forgot to drink your 32 ounces of G2 throughout the day.
~not having to plan in advance what outfit and accessories you are going to need for you run or ride.
~getting caught in a lightning/thunder storm even though the radar was clear when you left home 5 minutes ago.
~100 mile rides in the hills (picture below was taken on Saturday in the hills courtesy of LM …notice the sleeveless jersey – 67 miles not 100 yet).
~my favorite time of year! i welcome it with open arms.
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now time to play some catch up and when i play catch up, i have to use bullets so here we go …

• my training has been awesome and i’ve been nailing all of my workouts (probably why i don’t have much time or desire to sit down and blog?). i feel really good mentally, physically, spiritually and all that good stuff. nuf said on that.
• for as long as i have been running marathons (since 1998), i’ve only run in Adidas and Saucony. And Saucony exclusively for the last 6 years or so …until 2 weeks ago. i had my eye on a pair of pretty in pink, k-swiss keahou II’s, so i said, what the heck, i’m going to give them a whirl.

aren’t they beautiful? oh yeah, and they are very comfortable. i still don’t think any other running shoe will ever replace my loyalty to Saucony. they are still, by far, the best running shoe i have EVER run in hands down. Saucony? are you reading this?? i’m your biggest fan.

• a couple of weeks ago, Devon from Outside PR|Sports Marketing, sent me some very cool Pearl iZUMi gear. i tried to take pics of the shorts and the top but the camera does it no justice but i did find similar matching images to show you.

the Pearl iZUMi Infinity LD shorts

the LD stands for long distance. what i absolutely love about these are all of the pockets. there are 2 zippered pockets in the back and one on each side of the shorts that fastens with velcro. i have already run in them several times and they are nice. no seams rubbing anywhere. great for storing lots of energy gels/bars or whatever you take on your long runs.

the Pearl iZUMi In-R-Cool Long sleeve

the one i received is all black with the white accents and some lime green accents on the back. it feels heavenly when you put it on, especially if you shave your arms like i do. oh wow! what a feeling. great for a 40-50 degree day.

for some reason, the running shoe picture came out pretty good.  these are the Streak II’s, a minimalist type of running shoe, which coincidentally, i’ve been wanting to try out. i had vibram’s in mind for a while but never followed up on them. i kind of can’t get past their ugliness. but these lovely PINK (do you see a theme here?) beauties are as light as feathers. the first time i ran in them, i ran 2 miles on the treadmill. i’ve read that if you aren’t accustomed to running barefoot or without a lot of cushioning, then start off with low mileage and build up gradually. then i ran 4 miles outside in them yesterday. they were very comfortable but i could “feel my feet” the last mile. not a painful feel, just aware that i wasn’t running with the very pillow like softness of my Saucony’s. and the worst part of all, i stepped on 2 acorns in the last quarter mile and that felt like an electrical shock going thru all of the nerves in my foot. these shoes are FAST and light. i don’t see myself running a marathon in them anytime soon, but i will continue to train with them on the treadmill and short distances outside once the acorns are gone. i look forward to running more with a minimalist approach, however, with an ironman looming, i don’t want to start experimenting too much with that. don’t try to fix what ain’t broke is my motto right now. if you are interested in this shoe, you can go HERE and read a really well written review on them.
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happy presidents day! i had the day off but i still went to work for about 5 hours, however, the call of the beautiful weather and my bike were too much to handle so i called it a day at noon and hauled butt home to Mandy, my favorite girl. we did a 32 mile ride in some seriously awful wind but it was a great test for me as i don’t normally ride solo and when i do, it is in a race because i have no choice. i was surprised how well i rode in the wind …ended up with an average speed of 20.4. i was pretty proud of that. here is a great 2 minute video of the wind i rode in today (trust me, you want to watch this video):

ok, maybe the wind i rode in today wasn’t THAT bad but it felt really tough. a character building kind of wind. while we are on the subject of videos, i have a fun video i put together of our 51 mile ride yesterday but that will be in the next post, which won’t be next week …maybe tomorrow? imagine that, 2 posts on back to back days. what is this world coming to?
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sending out healing vibes to my buddy Jeff at Dangle the Carrot who had a bit of a crash this weekend on his bike and to MissZ at Miss Zippy who has been fighting with a very, very cranky IT band. And last but not least, sending out healing vibes to Mark at Journeys of a triathlete father of five. No, he isn’t injured but his Garmin 310XT is and i know how attached i am to mine, so to lose it in such a tragic manner like he did (running it over with your car?) makes for some serious heartache.
much love and peace out!