Where have I been?

Now that we've asked the question, "What is wrong with people?" we'll move on to, "Where have I been?"

I know, it's been a while...sorry! The bummer is that I've had a lot to blog about, just no time or energy to do it. So, here's a quick rundown of what I've been up to, and if I have time at a later date, I may spruce up the details.

So, since I last wrote, a few of my friends have celebrated birthdays - Lonnie, Carol, Cindy and Dave - Happy Birthday to each of you, and best wishes for another great year ahead!

I've been working just about every weekend at Epic, which is always interesting. I honestly learn multiple things every time I'm there, and continue to love it! Don't get me wrong, I'm still not back there building bikes, but I've installed a few things, changes some tires, sold some bikes, and given lots of opinions!

I may not actually be "earning" money, however, 'cause it seems that I've been exchanging the value of my paycheck for some nicely discounted merchandise along the way. Hmmmm. Funny how that works.

It's also good because I'm converting over to some Specialized products. Why is this good? Because I work at a shop that sells Specialized merchandise...I should be able to talk about the products and how much I love them, right? I bought the S-works Road Shoes
I've had my other shoes since I first started riding, so they were pretty worn out. So far, I love these shoes! I also got some new pedals - Look Keo. Same story here...the pedals I had up to this point, Terry had given me when I bought the Look from him. So, it's nice to have new (much lighter!) pedals to ride.
What else? Oh yes - new sunglasses. See previous entry on my Oakley's getting STOLEN at a race this summer! I still haven't recovered, but really needed some new glasses before heading to Austin. So, I went Specialized on these as well and got the Optic ARCs...very nice. The best thing? They don't fog up!

I took the day off last Friday and took Tucker to the vet. He now weighs 87 pounds...doc says that's a very healthy weight for him and noted how muscular he is. It was a good visit and now we're all set for another year. Woohoo.

After the vet, mom, bill, kim and I met at Sports Authority. We ended up buying bright orange fleece pullovers for the KC 1/2 marathon on Saturday. We drove over to the running shop and I did a stride analysis on the treadmill. The good news with this is that I've actually been wearing the proper brands and models. So, I was pretty excited about that. I stuck with the Brooks, and purchased a new pair. Yes, I did wear them in the run - they worked great!

Later in the afternoon, Kim, Bill, Bailey and I went down to the expo to pick up our packets. This was followed by some quality people watching in the hotel lobby, whilst sipping our coffee from the fake Starbucks that doesn't really make their coffee the same and doesn't take their gift cards.

We headed back to mom and dad's for dinner. mom cooked a delicious pasta dinner for all of us, but the bomb? We made a fire out back in the fire pit and toasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Mmmmmm! That was so much fun! (pics coming soon)

Saturday morning we met back at mom and dad's a bit after 5 and headed downtown for the marathon. Bill, Kim and I ran the 1/2 and Mom walked it. I'll try to do a more detailed blog later, but the weather was perfect, we all finished the race and had a great day!

I traveled to Houston on business Tues/Wed of this week. I was able to see Peggy and George (and Gabby too!) which was a lot of fun! Now, I'm packing it up and heading back out to Austin tomorrow morning. I'll be doing the LIVESTRONG Challenge bike ride on Sunday. More to come on that - I need to get to bed!!!