Oh man, what a crazy week it has been! My BFF Kim flew out from South Carolina for a whole week of Wyoming shenanigans, and we indeed managed to keep quite busy! We drove up to the top of the Snowies to Libby Flats in a horrendous wind storm, ate cake at 10,000 feet, fed buffalo at the Terry Bison Ranch, and stood in the parking lot of Casa Bonita.
Biggest thing we did all week was keep super active. Kim goes to the gym daily and is a runner, so that made a good combination for keeping us both active. We did a 3 mile hike on the Turtle Rock Trail in Vedauwoo. I was able to test out my new Keen hiking shoes on that hike, and so far I am liking them! I found a TYR swimsuit for an amazing deal at Sports Authority, so Kim and I hit up the pool twice. I hadn’t swam in about 10 years, but found it was *LOL* like riding a bike. Affirmed that I can actually swim 400 meters, I ended up registering for the Cheyenne Sprint Triathlon in July (eep). We also did a few days of run-walk intervals since Kim’s half marathon training began the week she was here. I managed to squeeze in one night on the bike, doing the Cheyenne Cycling Club’s time trial on Little Bear Road. I came in dead last, but I met my two goals of beating my personal records (which I did by 7 minutes) and not letting my beast of teammate Shareen catch and pass me (sorry Shareen, but you’re just good motivation!).
We topped everything off with a 5k run in Westminster – the Blazing Bullets Trail Run. I had no idea how it would go, but I figured at least I wouldn’t be winning anything. I’ve never run 3 miles straight in my life, not even when I was running track (I was a sprinter and hurdler anyway). Nearing the turn-around at 1.5 miles I was feeling good, and still running. Kim told me to go on without her, and I did just that. I kept going and going, telling myself that “after such and such I can walk.” Well, turns out I never ended up walking and I ran the whole damn 5k! My time was 33:50.85 officially (I was pretty jazzed, this was my first race of any kind using a chip timer and they had a kiosk where you could print your instant results – classy!). Not fast, but I think pretty good for someone who just bought running shoes a month ago, right? Well get this… I ended up 2nd place in my age category!! 19th among females, and 44th overall. There were 93 entries in the 5k, so top half… I’ll take that! I ended up getting a spiffy silver medal, which is the first medal I’ve ever earned – surprising it wasn’t on the bike, though!
I also ate a veggie burger for the first time while Kim was here (she is vegan). I actually really enjoyed them! I had a homemade one at Sweet Melisssa’s in Laramie, and then a Boca one at Red Robin. I love how the veggies burgers didn’t leave me feeling lethargic, so I think it is something I will indeed add into my diet. We also ate some amazing pizza at Mellow Mushroom in Centennial, CO on Kim’s last night. I had a pizza with olive oil/garlic sauce, mozzarella, red potatoes, broccoli, onions, and cucumbers. It was AMAZING. I seriously could it it for every meal! So food was definitely a highlight of the week, as I love food and it loves me and I got to eat lots of Mexican and yummy pizza.
Of course we sprinkled in the usual shopping and lounging. I had 18 empties to trade in at MAC Cosmetics, so I netted 3 free eyeshadows. I never wear makeup anymore aside from mascara, but still cannot resist all the pretty things inside of MAC! though I’ve come to realize that I own most all of their permanent eyeshadow shades… I got to take Kim to REI, where I bought a Garmin Forerunner 910XT watch for swimming/running/walking/triathlons. We also stayed up super late watching My Strange Addiction and Untold Stories of the ER episodes.
Overall, it was a super awesome week and I was so sad to drop Kim off at the airport! I think she’s one of my few friends that “get” the cycling thing, and also still has other crazy interests similar to mine. I miss her face!
After getting back from Denver, Matt and I headed up to Happy Jack for our first mountain bike ride of the season up there. I felt like absolute crap. My right sit bone has been incredibly painful since the TT, and it hurt to sit on my bike, along with the fact my legs didn’t want to work. We still banged out 13 miles, including Death Crotch. I was super pleased that I cleared the kicker of a climb that begins Death Crotch (when ridden west to east) along with the hhuuugggeee climb up to the summit. I’ve never been able to ride those before, so it was quite pleasing! I also set a new PR on the Pole Creek Trail climb. Yesterday I decided to be a bum, and the hot weather wasn’t helping one bit. Today I was ambitious and headed towards the mountains to escape the 90+ degree weather in Cheyenne, and was greeted by cool winds at Happy Jack and temps in the high 70s. I pounded out 18 miles, and only really stopped because I was worried I’d get hungry and bonk. Turns out I wasn’t as fast on the bike as I mentally thought I was, so I am still struggling with getting back into the Happy Jack terrain mode. Funny, I end up becoming fast at Gowdy, and lose my fastness at Happy Jack…
Tomorrow night is another CCC time trial, and then back up to work I go. Having 12 days off hasn’t done me any favors in wanting to return to work! Luckily I know after my three shifts I have 4 days off and get to start racing in Laramie (and I am currently debating entering the KMC Classic in Colorado Springs on Sunday for one more USAC race) But I know the weeks will fly by, and soon we’ll be road tripping to Pennsylvania for Nationals – yikes! Where has this summer gone?!
Heidi Rides Bikes 
It felt so nice to relive our week again in this entry!! I had so much fun and wish I could come back all the time 😦 When are they going to invent teleportation?!
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