UHHH Has it really been four months since we last spoke?

Yes it has!  It has really been that long and I have seriously put off blogging.  It's easy to forget about blogging when I am not racing.  So for the time being how about I inform my readers of a few life updates:

I'm engaged these days (what's new?  It's been four months!)

I'm planning a wedding, that will hopefully all fall into place on September 15th, and I am learning a whole lot about wedding planning.  Perhaps a career change?  Hehehe.  JK.  My posts for the next 6 months will probably consist of wedding planning extravaganzas, and maybe some race reports here and there. 

Who knew that wedding planning could be such an adventure (okay so I'm sure most people who have planned weddings know this), but all the dirty details of planning a wedding are not quite explained to you.  How the heck am I supposed to decide what I want for my centerpeices?  I don't know a single ounce of info about flowers, or vases, or anything for that matter.  It's just a game of guessing and choosing what might actually fall into place together.  I am also learning...you can't have everything.  Sacrifices have to be made, and you have to choose what you truly REALLY want!  What is going to be the most important thing for you on that particular day.  With that being said, we will later find out what is most important to me. 

Now, onto the really fun stuff!  Training!!!

Okay, training for my current racing season has been TERRIBLE!  I had a very bad feeling of what this season is going to hold for me this year.  Winter seems to have dragged on forever and ever.  It rains every day and the high doesn't get above 45 degrees.  Did I the mention the wind?  It seems every year is the same.  January through March I am tucked away in this dark cave and all I want to do is sleep and not communicate with anyone.  I want to eat cookies up the ying yang and I DON'T want to go outside and ride my bike.  Even though it seems I have logged a lot of trainer hours this winter I have been able to get outside on the weekends and put in some "quality" training long rides.  When I say quality, I am not quite sure what I mean by that.  I just know I need to ride my bike for an extended period of time. 

I also haven't been the most motivated person these days when it comes to racing.  A couple weeks ago racing sounded like prison to me.  I wasn't excited at all.  About a week ago I got sick and thought "wow thats really going to put a damper on my racing".  It didn't, and some how I pulled out something from inside that said "go race".   I think it was my birthday present from Chris.  He bought me a Garmin500!  So I wanted to play with it and I knew I should get a race in before Walla Walla.  I needed to size myself up against my fellow competitors.  So yesterday I piled my stuff and myself into the car and drove south to race IVRR.  Please refer back to this blog post from last year:
ouch!
As I was driving I kept visualizing the race course in my head.  I kept bringing back those painful feelings I had from last year, and thought how the heck was I going to pull through for this race?  I sure knew I hadn't been riding enough, especially outside!  I think there were weeks where I only rode outside...once, twice if I was lucky.  Thinking about the first hill made me cringe, the hill that never ends.  Thinking about the second hill made me wince, it's so steep!  Needless to say, I psyched myself up for something scary. 

To put a 2 hour and 47 minute race in a couple of sentences it went like this:  my team rocks.  I love the women I race with and I am one lucky gal to be a part of something this great.  Jess wanted to win the race, and that's just what she did, with an incredibly large margin.  She rocks.  So as a team our goal was to protect Jess and make sure she didn't work too hard in the pack!  I, I wanted to finish the race and try to support our team as much as I could.  As it all turns out, those hills were not something to be scared of, I dominated them, and ended up finishing 4th (in the 1/2 field).  I was pleased all around.

 So onto the next race.  I think the next race is the Volunteer Park Crit.  I have never done this race before, and it will be my first crit of the season.  I guess we will see how that one goes!

And because we all love pictures, here are a few engagement photos at Birch Bay.

We can jump.  www.alyssabrownphotography.com

www.alyssabrownphotography.com

www.alyssabrownphotography.com

www.alyssabrownphotography.com

www.alyssabrownphotography.com

And there you have it folks.  We shall chat again soon!