....And then it was November....

I haven't been super amazing at keeping up with my blogging this Fall, but I sort of do that on purpose.  In my experience, if you blog too much, no one wants to read your blog.  You must keep your readers on their toes, eager and ready for the next blog post.

And honestly, I don't want to bore you too much with my random mumblings and rants. 

Two weekends ago was my good friend Beth's Bachlorette party, and boy did we have a good time!  We attended a drag show (hillarious btw) and then we went dancing all over Seattle.  We rented a "luxary van" that drove us all over, it was the best thing we could have done!  8 girls dressed to impress piling out of this white 15 passenger van, it was too funny!  Thank you to our driver who took great care of us the entire night, you couldn't have made the night any better.



Bridesmaids!

The following day I went and cheered on my fellow racers at the MFG race at Marymoor.  It was a different view being a spectator that day, but I had a ton of fun. 



Chris running up the stairs at the MFG race at Marymoor

This weekend was a double header.  MFG hosted a race at Magnuson Park in Seattle on Saturday and SCX hosted a race in Enumclaw on Sunday.  So far this season I have finished 1 MFG race so that puts me...in the back of the pack!  Have  I mentioned I am leading the SCX series? 

I was stuck between a rock and a hard place on Saturday, deciding if I wanted to race hard or not.  Do I save it for Sunday or do I go all out.  Which series is more important for me?  What am I focusing on?  What do I want?  Crap!  One of the riders told me "check your ego out the door today" and she was right.  Thank you so much!  That's just what I needed to do.  I worked hard for the first 1.5 laps and then I just didn't know if I should keep that pace up, my rear wheel felt flat and I was honestly stuck on how hard to work, my mind wasn't in the race.  So I basically toodled around in the back, riding in circles. 

Sunday we finally had a REAL cyclocross race!  Rain, mud, a run up, barriers, turns, crowds, and beer gardens!  I had been hearing about this course for 2 weeks and I was SO excited to finally race at the new venue in Enumclaw.  I kept reading about some "grim reaper" run up, we haven't had a run up yet this year, I train for those damn run ups!  So needless to say, I was excited, I can excell at the run up and I know I can put some time into people on them. 

After pre-riding the course I knew I was going to have fun so it didn't matter where I placed because I would have a smile on my face the entire time.  At the start line I wasn't even nervous, I let it all go and couldn't wait to get some mud in my face. 

For the first time ever, I got the hole shot!  Then I was quickly passed by  Kristi and Natasha and I let myself sit third wheel...not blowing it up, and waiting for the run up.  My plan was to try and be the first person to the top of the run up so I wouldn't get stuck behind anyone going into the single track at the top.  My plan worked, and by the top of the run up I had a couple second lead on the next women.  Then the lead got bigger and bigger and bigger with every single lap and I finished 1 minute 15 seconds up from 2nd place.  I was smiling the entire time because I can't remember the last time I had that much fun in a CX race.  The course required a lot of fitness, strength, and skills.  It was such a great combo of everything cross related, AND it was nice to finally have a race that required some technical skills!  Lots of muddy off camber, an awesome muddy decent (no brakes needed), and an awesome leg cramping run up!  I'm still smiling from the weekend. 

After this race I have a pretty good lead in the series, but that doesn't mean things can't change!!!

Jess and I at the finish.  She finished 2nd! 

I finally made a headline in CX Magazine !!!

Thanks to Jess for finding this picture of me.  Also thanks to Ian's dad for capturing that precise moment in time