Weekend in Larry-ville

Last weekend I spent every single day in Lawrence, KS. I love Lawrence. It's a cute, quaint but rather large, college town (University of Kansas) and has the best bars, shops, and just overall laid-back feel to it. But it also takes about an hour to get there from KC, so I don't go very often.

However, this weekend, I was there Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

My brother, Brian, and his girlfriend, Maria, live in Lawrence. So Friday night, I left KC with my parents to visit them and celebrate Brian's 29th birthday. It was a good time with good conversation, homemade BBQ, and ONE beer. Maria bought an RV about two months ago and they are currently refurbishing/updating it. Come August when their lease is up, they are going to hit the road, working part-time via telecommute, and travel west for 6-8 months. Jeal. Ous. They also leave for Europe tomorrow to take part in the World Cup festivities in Berlin, Amsterdam and some other "host" cities for the cup.

Saturday I was up EARLY in order to get my workout done, hurry home, shower, and meet the BLVD ladies who would be part of my relay team for IMKS 70.3. Remember, I decided last year NO MORE 70.3s!! Nothing longer than OLYs in 2010. (Ironically, our bib number was 2010.) We headed out to Lawrence/Clinton Lake for the usual: bike drop off, packet pick-up, chat it up with friends, etc. It was HOT! 93 degrees that day!! Whew! At the athlete meeting, they said the water temp was 81 and I thought, "there is no way the temp will drop to 78 or lower by tomorrow". Totally fine. I could do it without a wetsuit no problem. I would be slower, but I could still rock it!

Let me just go on record to say that the IMKS course is great! Parking is not. You have to park about a mile away on packet pick-up day, and 2-3 miles away on race day!! There were shuttles on race day, but still.

Anywho ... back to KC Saturday afternoon and had a couple hours of down time in the AC before heading to a friends for dinner and a movie. Good times. :) Laid my head on the pillow Saturday night at 10:30 pm and took a 4.5 hour nap - 3 AM wake up call!!!

Back out to Larry-ville on Sunday morning. Out of the driveway at 4 AM and into T1 by 5:45. We learned on the shuttle bus ride in, that the water temp HAD dropped to 77.5 F and the race would be wetsuit legal. DOH! I didn't even bother to bring it with me!! I swam in my swimsuit and nothing else and STILL pulled out a decent time! Boo-yah!

Relay team did fantastic! Teri was smokin' fast on the bike (but we all know that) and Darcey exceeded her goal time and ROCKED her very first half-mary!! Who said cyclists can't run???


Honestly, I was SO happy not to be doing the full race. Those things are fun, but just soooo looong!! Even spectating takes it out of you! Standing and yelling in the heat for all my friends - and people I didn't even know - I was so exhausted that I skipped my easy 40 min. run for the day.

We got back to KC at 4 pm. Just enough time to shower and change then head over to the Stewarts for dinner. Thank you to Tony and Teri for hosting a bunch of tired, hungry athletes!!

Congrats to all my friends that raced: Amy, Ashleigh, Brian K, Brian S., Carly, Casey, Darcey, Dave, Derick, Gretchen, John, Meredith, Teri ... and anyone else I forgot!!!

Next weekend is MY race weekend: Hy-Vee Olympic!! WOOT! I'm ready!!!