September is here!

I love the month of September...perhaps because it's my birth month? or the it marks the start of fall - my favorite season...who knows, but I'm glad it's here. However, just two weeks from today is the 1/2 Ironman, and I'm not sure I'm loving the idea of that!

So, I started the day with a 3 hour brick workout, the bulk of which was riding. I met Jenny (she'll need her own introduction one of these days - if she'll ever allow me to post her photo on my blog!!! Jen?), Troy and Tony (Troy's friend) out at Shawnee Mission Park. Troy and Tony found a route last week, so we were planning to repeat it. We headed out from the park around 6:30/6:45. Again, with the start of September, the temps have cooled off considerably, so I was FREEZING for the first part of our ride. I wish I had thought to stuff my arm warmers in my jersey pocket! That didn't last too long, however, and it was perfect weather for a ride. We had a few questionable turns where we would stop and consult Troy's map - at one of these turns, he was telling us that there was a section of gravel that we would ride through - I opted not to do that and suggested I would just stay on 135th street and meet up with them. Well, everyone opted for this route - as we started to ride again, right in front of us was this "wall" of a hill...I was in big trouble with the group now! We all started pedaling to beat the band, with the hope that we would gain enough momentum that the hill wouldn't seem to bad. No such luck - it was a biggun'! And, as luck would have it, there was another (not quite as steep) just behind it. I wasn't sure what kind of lashing I was in for when everyone made it to the top, but we were all good sports about it and talked about what a great workout it was. Unfortunately, it was all too familiar to me, as those climbs were pretty similar to what we faced in Philly!

We finished the ride and loaded up the bikes. Then, Jen and I started out on a short run. My legs felt pretty good at first (though we were running on a slight downhill), but when we hit our first hill - it was rough! The run was short though, and I was glad the 3 hour workout was over. Of course, there was nothing more fitting than wrapping it up with b'fast at First Watch, right!?! Mmmmm!

Other than that, the day was pretty low key. I played with the dogs a bit, ran a few errands, and enjoyed a lovely little nap! I wish I could get those in everyday of the week! :-) Here are the dogs waiting for me to take them outside again.