Vegan Cookies and European Men Know How to Make Me Smile

Oh, where to start, where to start...

Tuesday. Woke up. Taught cycle. Went to get my bike from the shop. Dang it, they were closed for two more hours. Well, that gave me enough time to get coffee from my favorite baristas: Kim and Aaron. Mmmm the smooth, creamy taste of caffeine and soy milk as the dance together in my plain white cup and sing a harmonious tune all the way down my belly. Oh, by the way... I'm still vegan, but coffee is back on the diet. HOWEVER... I'm pretty certain I'm allergic to caffeine. Yeah, I know I am. Either that or soy. I'm definitely allergic to one of those. But they are soooooo delicious. How could I ever give those up? Meat and dairy? That was hard enough. Grrrrrrr.

And so we return to the story...

Haha. But we get interrupted because something funny just happened at the coffee shop. I'm at Handlebar (yeah, yeah... my second time of the day... I have a slight coffee addiction and I love Kim and Aaron too much). So I'm sitting here typing and some European guys sit next to me. "I met her like an hour earlier.... Where did he go?... Don't speak the language, otherwise they are the same. In Hungary, the language is so easy to learn. What do you speak? Swiss German. No, no, no, it's really bad. I will speak Swiss German and a Deutsch. Italian. You live close to the French part..." Oh, this convo is classic. Then a man in green from Zurich walks up with a brown bag... "Here, I have a friend next door at the bakery," he says in his accent. He begins to pull out bear claws and croissants... amazingly gorgeous pastries which smell like heaven. He turns to me and says, "You are a vegan. Here, vegan cookie." Oh no, I'm okay. "No, vegan cookie. Please. As many as you like. Vegan. So good." Oh, this guy... this guy knows my heart. Okay, you got me. I'll take your vegan cookie. Mmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmm.... So freaking good! Oatmeal, raisin, cinnamon... I love you, man from Zurich! I love Switzerland!

Five minutes later, I hear him mumble, "Too much cookie." He turns to me. "Here, have more cookie." I give him a sideways grin. "I'm serious. So good. Have more. Too much." Marry me?

Now we get back to Tuesday. I drank my coffee, but there was still an hour til the bike shop opened, so I decided to waste time in Nordstrom. As I strutted my sweaty self down the aisle between the shoes and the handbags, I noticed Audrey. She was walking toward me with determination in her stride but sheer confusion written on her face. She was staring at my chest. What was so confusing about my breasts? I smiled and waved and her eyes looked up to meet mine. "Oh," she exclaimed. "Hi! I was reading your shirt!" We laughed and talked and caught up. By the time we finished, Dave's shop was open. Yeah man!

I walked across the street and grabbed my bike, purchasing a couple of Honey Stingers and Hammer Gels as well. I ran by the house and prepared my pre-race oatmeal with macadamia nuts, walnuts and Justin's peanut butter and hopped in my soccer-mom car. As I turned onto the freeway, I opened my sunglasses case to be met by (drumroll please) a dead rat! No, just kidding. A pair of broken sunglasses. So... another stop on my way up north to buy a pair of glasses. Awesome... this "free" triathlon was costing more than I bargained for.

This is where I plan to die next weekend

By the time I arrived at the course, it was 3pm. I arranged my gear for quick transitions, filled my water bottles with Cytomax, changed the laces on my Cascadias, strapped Hammer gels to Fee Figh Fo Fum and pumped his tires. As I walked down the sandy beach to the lake, I surveyed the area. Windsurfers, kids jumping off the dock, boats with fishermen and waves. Big waves. I jumped in. Brrrr! Brrr, brrr, brrrr! Swim, splash, swim. Oh my goodness. This was tiring. I tried to flip on my back and I spasmed out and looked like a fish on dry land. Hmmm... Had I forgotten the backstroke? So I turned on my side. Nope, that wasn't working for me either. Crawl it was. I didn't even know how far I swam. It took 37 minutes. Probably a quarter mile? Not much. Choppy waves hit me hard on the way back.

It was time to transition to the bike. I jumped on Fee Figh and ate my gel as I rode up the hill past the marina. It was a good ride. Hard. I was pretty depleted from my class that morning. I went fifteen miles before I noticed the sun setting. Shoot... time to turn around. As I swung Fee Figh to face the other direction, I noticed a giant, fierce animal staring at me. Ahhh! A T-rex! I'm totally serious! People up north are cray cray.

I texted Grylls:
I saw a baby bear on my run

Grylls: That's awesome.

Me: And a T-rex during the bike portion.

Grylls:  Hahahahaha. Oh, I forgot I saw a triceratops too and he chased me through the park but I got away because I hopped the fence. Triceratops are terrified of fences.

Me: I'm actually totally serious...

When I finally got back to my car, it was almost dark. I decided to use the restroom quickly and that was when I saw a familiar sight: A sign that read "Be Bear Aware". What? No way! So cool! It was like I was back in Wyoming. Too bad I didn't bring bear spray!

It was nearly dark, but I started my first lap anyway. Nash had corrected my form, so I tried it out to see the improvement. It definitely helped! Thanks, coach!

On my run, I saw wild turkeys, deer galore and a baby bear. When you see a baby bear, it is time to get out of the area. After 5.5 miles, it was dark outside and I could barely see, so I finished the workout with 6x100m strides with :30 recoveries.

Did the workout leave me feeling confident about the race? Well, I felt great about the bike and run, but swimming... hmm... it destroyed me. I would not be surprised if they pulled me from the swim because it will take me too long.

Wednesday was a day filled of two cycle classes, interviewing potential roommates and five hours learning about shoes from Nick. It ended with Pure Awesomeness and a long bedtime story from Grylls about princesses and dragons and Indiana Jones with his eagle. Amazing!

Thursday was two more cycle classes, interviews with amazing potential roommates and one weirdo then a blind date at a wine bar. Barbara has been trying to set me up with this guy for months, but I was leaving for Wyoming, so there was no point. But last night was fun. I will save the details for the private blog I am going to start for Sophia, Dana and Rebecca. ;) Haha. There was no kissing, no romantic chemistry, or any of that (not on my part, at least); however, I made a new rock climbing buddy!

Thursday's noon class was amazing as always. Lots of speed work. Every time the men had to work in zone five, they would bark at me. I love that class! They are so fun and full of life plus the guys love teasing me and egging me on. It's like I have twelve older brothers all picking fun at me. Dave brought in plums for me because he knew I had been teaching all morning. They love looking out for me.