A week of Biking, Swimming and Dancing

I was true to my word this week and as you can tell by the title there was no running. I decided after the WCR 5K that I was going to take the week off and let my calf heal.

On Sunday I took Francesca on her first real bike ride, we met up with Jane, Bailey Sara P. and her husband Marty. We met at Vicki's house and rode the back roads, there was still some traffic and those are some very rough roads, but it is mostly flat with just a couple of challening hills. I think that Francesca and I did pretty good, even though I did scream like a little girl when I ran over a SNAKE!!!!!! I was nervous and didn't really know how to change gears or when. Arland had set us up on the Trainer before we left to go over gears but of course I forgot everything once I got on the road!! LOL This was a beginners bike ride so we stopped a lot to get water and get our butts off the seat. I am also happy to say that I wasn't really sore during or afterwards other than my tender girly area.
We rode 17 miles, not bad for our first ride together.... I really love Francesca and I see us spending a lot of time together this summer!
Francesca is a Specialized Dolce Elite


Monday night I went to a Water Aerobics class at the Community Center with Michele. It was different!! and we laughed a lot. After the class I went home and loaded up my comfort bike and met Michele and Timmy for a ride/run. Michele ran and Timmy and I rode our bikes... I bet we were quite the sight, a runner a hand pedal bike and a comfort bike. I think we annoy a lot of drivers, but hey it's our road too!!!!!!

Tuesday was the "Tuesday night Flyer's" clinic, I had talked Bailey into going and hanging out with me, the plan was to run on the track but there was a big Track Meet so we went to plan B and they ran behind the community center. I wore my jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt so that I wouldn't be tempted to run, my calf was feeling really good! But I followed my plan and Dennis said to me many times he was very proud of me for not running for taking the time off to heal. Bailey, Andrea and I walked and talked, I was really glad I went! There was one moment though when Brenda asked me a question as she went running by and I almost started running to answer her... that was hard!!

Wednesday I went back to the water Aerobics class with Michele and then we did Jane's Latin dance class. The water aerobics was ok... we did this thing where we put weights behind our knees, well you had to really squeeze to keep them back there, and by the end of the class my calf was hurting again. It loosened up in the Latin dance class and of course we always have a blast in that class. There is a lady who used to Jazzercise with us who also comes and it always puts a smile on my face to see her.

Bailey also came to class on Wednesday night and had fun. I iced my leg and took ibuprofen before I went to bed and my leg was fine the next day.

Thursday was 10 miles on the bike in Greystone.... Greystone is hilly, I don't just mean gently rolling hills I mean monster hills!!! It was pretty scary, hard and fun all at the same time. We were running late so we missed the runners but we caught up with Jane and Cindy C. on their bikes. They had to leave soon so we really didn't get to ride with them very much. Arland took me all the way out the the very back of Greystone and made sure I rode up every last freakin hill!!!!!! At first I didnt' enjoy the downhills, way too scary, but towards the end of the ride I did relax a little bit. The last hill before you get to the Club House is a steep one and I had to get off an walk part of the way up. I still have a lot to learn about my gears, but one of the good things about last nights ride was I was forced to use them out... you can't ride in Greystone without using them!!!
Arland during our ride



Today is a rest day although I feel like even with all of the activies of the last week it has been a rest week.

I had a massage on Tuesday and OH.MYGOODNESS. that hurt so good!!! She spent a lot of time on my calf's and she said my left one was actually worse than the right (the pain is on my right side) she also said she thinks my pain is tendon related. Several people, Brenda, Michele and Shannon have all had similiar pain and it apparently takes MONTHS to heal :( The good news is they were able to keep running. I guess I need to stock up on frozen pea's and corn!!

Tomorrow we are headed to Ft. Smith to run a 5K that is in the Grand Prix series. Arland was made the official/unofficial race team cordinator and he takes it very serious so we rounded up as many as we could and we will leave at 4:30am to drive to Ft. Smith in the morning. We will have a mens team but right now it is looking like Rock and I are the only female runners. I am a little nervous about doing a 5K after not running all week, but I am going into it with the mindset of I'm just here to run... not race... but we'll see how that goes!!!