Cycling and Running, and Swimming – All Here in Woodinville.

I signed up to blog several weeks ago, excited about the idea of writing about cycling and running in Woodinville. That obviously didn't happen. I've been too busy – cycling and running, and swimming – all here in Woodinville.

All that cycling and running and swimming paid off this weekend. I "competed" in Ironman 70.3 Boise (the 70.3 means it's a half Ironman). While the actual event was just 6 hours on Saturday afternoon, it feels like the last 6 months have all been part of it. Getting myself outside to run in February and March, even though it was cold and wet; crawling out of bed at 5:40 to be at the Redmond Pool at 6 am to swim; all the hours I spent on the trainer inside, because while running in the rain is fine, riding in the rain isn't nearly as much fun. (Actually, bicycling in the rain is just fine, and I do lots of it, but that's on a bicycle with fat tires and fenders and disc brakes - not a triathlon kind of bike.).

Our never ending winter meant that swimming outside wasn't practical for quite some time. It wasn't until mid May that I finally went over to Cottage Lake, struggled into my brand new wetsuit, got in the water - and discovered that I couldn't breathe with that horrible thing on! The next 2 weeks were an anxious time, waiting for weather nice enough to swim again, and doing what I could to figure out why my brain thought I couldn't breathe, and convincing it that we were just fine. Somehow, my third time in the lake, something clicked, the wetsuit and I made peace with each other, and swimming in it has been fine ever since, even in the frigid 53 degree water of Lucky Peak Reservoir in Boise.

So does this have anything to do with Woodinville? I'm proud to say that all my training – every run, every bike ride, started and ended at my front door. I even walked to for most of the swimming I did there. (of course, any pretense to eco-rightuousness went out the door when I got on the airplane to fly to Boise.). I discovered a couple neighborhoods I'd never seen before, ran along some streets where the County Sheriff could do a good business issuing speeding tickets, had a key returned to me a couple days after losing it. While a few bad words escaped my lips, I think that Woodinville drivers are a decent lot in terms of treating cyclists and pedestrians well, and have few complaints in that regard.

Saturday I spent 6 intense hours swimming, cycling and running.

Sunday I could barely walk.

Today I mowed the lawn.

Tomorrow I will cycle 30 miles (my round trip to work), and will undoubtedly come home having had some new adventure on my bicycle. Perhaps a close encounter with a bunny, maybe I'll strike up a conversation on the Sammamish River Trail.

Then the cycle starts over. Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens is in 2 months.