Grand Birthday

My birhtday was grand!

Lunch started out perfect with my own personal menu along with a personalized birthday message at the top.



A little bit of wine with dinner...



And, desert to end the night.

My Birthday

Today is my birthday and I am glad to say that I am still in my thirties.

I have mixed feelings of sadness and joy. Sad because Mom is not here to call early in the morning and sing “Happy Birthday” to me. Today marks her six month anniversary and I miss her. She would always plan something special for me to do with the family. Luckily, I have a wonderful big sister that has filled mom’s shoes and made my morning.

All the joy started yesterday when friends started wishing me an early birthday. There may be times when I feel lonely but its days like this that remind me how many wonderful friends I have surrounding me. This year is the year for all good things. Thank you for all the birthday wishes, hugs, and everything else!!!

Knee Pain

You may have noticed that I have been under the radar with training. It’s because my knee is messed up and I have been riding through the pain. On the most recent 70 mile ride, my knee swelled and didn’t go away until today, 10 days later.

I have been poked, x-rayed, and massaged. The doctor has given me some anti-inflammatory meds that don’t seem to help. There is fluid in the back of my knee that has built up from a small leak. They are unable to identify where the leak is from and there is no place to drain the fluid because it is not significant enough or in an isolated area.

The more I ride the more likely the build-up of fluid will become. Doc says that I need to lay off riding to give my knee a chance to recover and I should consider some cross training to avoid the repetitive motion of the bike pedal.

Monday, I received a steroid shot. The shot hurt more than the knee pain. The shot is to see if this will help with the pain I feel when riding. Right now, I don’t want to even push it on the bike so that my knee can fully recover before going on tour. Saturday, I will attempt a 40 mile ride at the Hill country Easter ride. It may turn into 20 or less depending on how my knee feels.

Fiesta Continued…

It did not surprise me to hear that the major was trying to limit the cracking of eggs during fiesta. But, its fiesta! That’s not gonna happen.

Confetti eggs are part of fiesta and are carried right into Easter. I feel the mayor’s pain in the cleanup effort because confetti lingers in my car and house many weeks after fiesta. I am still finding confetti stains in my shower and stray confetti in my pillow feathers.

This year, fiesta at the market was a reminder that they are many dancers in San Antonio. I had so much fun dancing with friends and even strangers. To my surprise, a friend captured my moves and posted it on youtube. About two minutes in, you will see a clip of me dancing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HqPAyziOzo

Fiesta Fun, 2011

A little bit of this....


Followed by some of this...


Leads to lots of good times and great friends!

Bad Ride

All week I prepared myself for a weekend of riding. Saturday was going to be a metric century and Sunday a 50 miler.

Saturday, I woke up tired. But still, I got myself ready and drove an hour and half to the start of the ride. A coffee and a red bull later, I just could not wake up. A coffee at the start of the ride still did not wake me up.

Grumpy and tired, I got on my bike and started to pedal. I did not feel like riding. My legs were heavy and I could not get moving. The complaints start to fill my head.

What am I doing?
Why did I drive an hour to ride my bike?
I’m hungry.
Even through Lara bars are really good, especially the pecan pie, I don’t want to eat another Lara bar.
Spaghetti at 10:30 in the morning is starting to sound pretty good.
I want a puppet. Why didn’t they put another toy in the packet at pick-up?
My knee hurts.
I want my mommy.
My knee is really starting to hurt.
I’m only gonna ride 36 miles today.
Now I am going to have to drive myself back home.

Thirty-five miles later, I finished. Today was a lesson on listening to my body and slowing down. Even a bad day of riding is still a good day when I get to ride my bike.

Milestone

Like the nerd that I am, I log my bike miles. The log dates back to 2004 and I can tell you how many miles I have ridden for a month and for the year. ALL the miles that I spend on my bike. The miles on my trainer, the miles I commute, the miles for organized rides, and the miles for training rides.

March 2011 was a milestone month for me. I have hit 457.5 miles in a month, a personal best. Yes, I realize that others have gone before me with more miles under them but I am happy with my 100 mile weekends and a couple of weekday rides.

For the month of April, I have two century rides planned. I am on target for the cross roads training and the expected 7000 elevations feet that I will be climbing.