And The Racing Begins...

10 out of 10.

That's the score I'd give last weekend if it were judged against all other weekends so far in my life.

It was the weekend of the Swamp Classic, the first race of the season, and I wasn't sure how I'd feel on my bike. Well, after winning the USCF and collegiate time trials, getting second behind my team mate in the collegiate criterum, and going on to win the women's Pro 1, 2 criterium, I think I can confidently say that I'm ready for the 2009 season. My performance was sort of a relief to me. I'm coaching myself this year, so if I fail there's no one one else to take even a fraction of the blame.

But the 1st 1st and 1st places were only half of what happened. Outside of the racing, me and my team mate, Morgan, each gave pretty lengthy television interviews. We talked about Team Type 1, our sponsors, and our message. I also met a little girl who has diabetes, and I got to win a race while her and her parents were there watching. Knowing they were there was really what helped me overcome the pain and give it that extra kick at the end.

And if you were unfortunate enough to see me in the days after the race, you'd know that I had to overcome A LOT of physical pain. On top of the muscular pain, my legs were feeling jello-y. Weird feelings in my legs are always the first indicators from my body that something is going wrong. My legs start to feel weird if I stay up too late, walk a lot, eat something different, sleep to much, or drink a few sips of wine. That's right, my legs (not my fingers or lips) start tingling after only a couple ounces of alcohol. So my legs were feeling weird today, and I knew it was the 'I'm getting sick' weird feeling. And because I wasn't feeling my best, my mind was starting to turn on me as well. During the race, my thoughts went something like this: "what the **** am I ******* doing here. I need to get my ******* **** ***** self *****home to bed *********. My legs feel like ******* ****. Can we slow the ***** **** down." I don't care if you're the sweetest person in the world, if you're miserable in a bike race, you're thinking the exact same thing.

After crossing the finish line, I pedaled home from the race, showered, crashed into bed, and stayed there for 60 hours in a pile of tissues and sweaty sheets. I owe a big THANK YOU to the friends who took care of me and the young girl for giving me the strength to win.

I took the Dade City weekend off because I was still recovering from the illness.

I'm not the champagne bottle-opening expert.

February 16th was my birthday! The big 21! I told my friends they could throw me a party under one condition: everyone must be gone by 11pm so that I could go to bed with minimal negative effects on my training and recovery. Heather arrived at 8:30 with some flowers, chocolates, and a bottle of wine. By 8:35 my legs were tingling. By the time everyone else got there at 9, I was laughing and carrying on and ready to hug a East Gainesville hobo if that's who happened to come stumbling through the door next. We had cake and talked, and everyone was out the door by 11. My senior citizen version of a 21st birthday party was a success! It was awesome!