It Must Be...

Tax season. You can feel it in the air. The line of sick people at CVS was overwhelming. The women's field at Bethel yesterday was thick with it and I was obviously not here to blog. Apologies, dear readers.

Training and business are both going well. Life, as usual (how cool is it to say that!?), is fantastic.

Last week I had a few days of really bad headaches...the turn off the lights and pull up the covers kind...This in no way could be related to my accountant calling to tell me that my Business (and Personal) taxes had to be filed by MARCH 15 this year, because EndureIT is now a Corporation.

Yup, excuses, excuses. Fast forward to Friday night - taxes done and good to go - a night out with [many] friends meant a nice late night. We awoke to rain on Saturday and while Sam went to teach Spin, I reveled in my extra hour of sleep.

Rather than risk: a. Sickness and b. loss of mental toughness early in the season, coach Eric had me ride the rollers and swim. Both workouts were fantastic and I got to catch up on some television while riding the bike indoors - for some reason, it makes it that much more satisfying to do both activities.

Saturday night was a blur, setting the clocks forward is always disruptive and knowing we'd wake up to rain AND darkness was less than inspiring. Add on to that, Sam's sniffles and you've got yourself a household of lackluster Mo-Mo.

But motivate we did! On the bike for a nice long warm-up, I wasn't feeling so bad. The race started and Kim from CVC-Subaru attacked on the rollout...nice. I expected some antics with the weather and depleted field, but I thought I would be the clever one. Turns out I was just tactically retarded (excuse my use of that word, but we used to be able to use that without any sort of bigoted connotation). I pulled everyone through the wind, attempted a few breaks and just had fun. One of the juniors in the field decided to go for the prime (a product giveaway) and we let her take a solo 1-lap flyer and cheered her across the line. The boys watching were dumbfounded by this.

I was hoping to get a few people organized, but no one really wanted to work. With about 7 laps to go, I thought I might launch and a few other girls had the same idea. Kim, who had gone on that solo attack right off the bat, ended up launching Pan Pan Fan off the front. Pan Pan is a friend and super-strong rider from the CRCA Metro team. I was on the opposite side of the field and didn't pick up her wheel in time. She dangled in front of me for the rest of the race. Kim had hopped on my wheel when she saw the break and said, "let's get her and work together". Turns out she meant, "You do all the work and I'll sit in". Tactical mistake number 2000 of the day. I thought she was tired and encouraged her. I told her, "short pulls" - we can reel her in and work together... figure it out in the sprint. Well, Kim decided to sit on my wheel and do zero work for those 7 laps. Well, maybe she did take two 3-second pulls on the easiest part of the course. Pan Pan expanded her lead to between 20-30 seconds and I was happy for her to have the win. At the base of the hill before the final sprint, Kim came next to me and ensured I wouldn't have a good line (or any momentum) going into the sprint. She took off and I half-halfheartedly chased her, until I decided : 1. no one was behind me and 2. I was still going home with money.

4th place last week and 3rd this week - no complaints here...but you can bet I'll be winning soon. Count on it!

A brick run after the race warmed me up...slightly. I opted out of my 2nd race with the guys and cheered Sam who took 10th. While sick, might I add?!

On to the next adventure...pictures to follow!