Just for the Joy!

OK! So my helmet is crooked...I didn't care! Today, 9 days before the PMC, as we riders wind down our training, I rode for only 13 miles at a very slow pace...so slow that the Calories per Hour web site won't even calculate it! But I don't care. It was pure joy to be out on the bike and not think about mileage or speed, I just rode for the joy of being outside on a beautiful morning before it got too hot.

I have not posted in a week, but I have many good reasons for that! I have been dorm shopping with Bridget and her godmother, Irene, who has way more patience and good sense about this whole dorm shopping thing than I have. I was hyperventilating a little and needed alcoholic beverages when we were done....and we are not even DONE!

We attended the Annual Jimmy Fund Summer Festival, although my husband seemed to be in different time zone when we made plans to attend, so we missed a lot of the fun stuff, but it still amazes me how Lisa, our Team Roar Captain, manages to put this together every year! It is wonderful to see how the kids and adults enjoy themselves!

We attended a very nice surprise 50th birthday party for my husband's friend Sahag. It truly was a surprise because he didn't shave! It was great! Everyone was surprised that he was so surprised!

I had my monthly Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor Clinical Trial appointment on Monday and complained about my port, which has been giving me some trouble lately. It has been painful and has affected my shoulder and arm. On Monday, when Katie tried to draw blood, it was not behaving and it was painful. I was sent for an ultrasound because it was suspected that I may have had a blood clot! After an hour under the ultrasound wand, it was determined that I did not have a clot, but I need to keep an eye out for any swelling of the arm and neck.

No worries! Just another day in the life of ME! Who needs to go parachuting out of planes?

This Ride is Dedicated to Matt! My Newest Follower!

A big shout out to Matt for all your support, although you sound strangely like someone I know!

OK.....So I took yesterday off, a perfectly fine day for riding, but no, I could not get my butt on the saddle. Well, it looked liked it might rain, uhmm, it was too hot, uhmm, my dog looked like she thought it was a bad idea, uhmmm, I felt fat, uhmm, my IT Band hurt, well it always hurts, uhmm, the Tour de France had a rest day yesterday! Yes, that's it..if le tour and le Lance have the day off, why shouldn't I! Yes! That's it! I feel much better about slacking off!

Well, 15 miserable miles today! It was hotter than it seemed and the wind... no matter which direction I took, the wind was in my face! Although that wind is responsible for me ingesting a little more protein today in the form of some insect that flew done my throat! Yummy!

Of to do some dorm shopping today! Hopefully, it won't be as painful as this morning's ride!

It's Official!

Yes, it is official now! Now I know that I am really riding in the PMC! I have bruises!

My first fall and alas, my first case of road rash! Not too bad though, I was more embarrassed than anything else, although I was able to secure a few nasty bruises as well.

But the black and blues and the scrapes just remind me how easily you can get hurt out here. I prove to be more of a danger to myself than all the cars and texting cyclists put together!

I fell like a moronic, over-training, tired, idiot cyclist, trying to catch up all the training that I missed! I went to get off my bike, started to shift my weight, and forgot to clip out....THUMP! What a moron! Well it least I injured the knee that is already killing me, that way I don't have to ice more than one place!

A Great Day for a Ride

It was absolutely beautiful this morning! I almost felt cold when I started off on my ride.

25 miles today! Hopefully, this means that I won't crash and burn in the PMC, which is almost three weeks away. YIKES!

Speaking of "YIKES!" I went riding on a bike trail near my home. Now, I really do not like the term "bike trail" because I find that these trails are really multi-use trails and I find very few cyclists on the one near my home, anyway. But, this morning, I was reminded that I should really stay off the"bike trail."

A woman on a bike was peddling towards me and was weaving around. I didn't think much of it at first, but then I realized, as she came within inches of crashing into me, that she was TEXTING! YIKES!

Enough bitching... other than my little reminder to stay of the multi-use trails, I had a great day on the bike. I feel better, even my knee is behaving! We will have to see how long this keeps up!

It' s Been a Long Hot Summer

Well it has been a long while since I have blogged. I finished up my treatment in 2009 for my third bout with ovarian with the riding of the PMC and promptly went back to work!

I suffered a bowel obstruction on November 15th and that kept me the hospital for two weeks and included a second major surgery within 1o months. ENOUGH!!!

Well here we are in mid July, less than four weeks to PMC and my training has not gone well at all. I am overweight and heat/humidity is killing me! But I am out there, suffering as usual and as you can see! 15 miles into a 25 mile ride and I am spent! This is not a good thing. At least my hair is back! Actually, it was cooler last year without hair!

I have begun my thirteenth cycle of the Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor Clinical Trial which means I have gone a year after treatment without relapse! Yeah! This, on the other hand, IS a VERY GOOD THING! Hope I can keep it up!