Two Fer

My Navy pal (and long-distance training buddy) Lizichka called me from San Diego last night in the middle of her training ride to tell me I was officially trying to kill her. (She has been a competitive runner and body builder but I'm the one who talked her into the triathlon we're doing at our Navy reunion this fall.) She has called me several times since we began training to lovingly cuss me out. She called me the morning of her first Masters Swim class - at 5:30 am. Lizichka is NOT - by any stretch of anyone's imagination - a morning person. She is also not terribly fond of swimming. She called me again a couple of weeks ago on the morning of her first open water swim which was an Aquabike race. The race, which was dedicated to the memory and spirit of Dave Martin, turned out to be twice as long as she expected it to be, making it further than she'd ever swum before. (Interestingly, I didn't get a call from her after her bike wreck in December which resulted in a broken collar bone, surgery, and a metal plate! Even though she didn't blame me for that, I want to say - I'm so sorry Lizichka! I wasn't there but I'm glad you didn't run over that dog 'cause it would be dead and that would rip you up - dog lover that your are but I'm so so sorry you've had to go through all that other mess!) So. She called last night. In the middle of her ride. To tell me how I was trying to kill her this time.

She was chugging away uphill when she saw a swarm of flies up ahead. Flies? Gnats? Mosquitoes? No - BEES! And then she was in the midst of them. She was stuck in her pedals not wanting to risk another tail over teakettle trip to the hospital by trying to jump off. She did the only things she could think of. She screamed her head off and pedaled up that big ass hill at 20mph! She managed not to get stung but she doesn't know how that's possible. Maybe her screaming scared them away? She told me she's glad now that she couldn't do what her instincts told her to do - which was stop and jump off the bike. She thinks she'd have been stung all over for sure if she had. Be that as it may, she was a freaked out camper! I promised her that bees (and hills for that matter) would not a huge factor in our race. I'm not sure if she can laugh about the whole thing yet, but maybe this will help:


**Can y'all tell that my other writing is completely stalled today? I've run (yay! Finally a GOOD run - 3 miles at the fast-for-me pace of 11:13!); I've blogged (twice); and I've been inspired by Wes to lift today. (BTW - Wes' fabulous wife DeeDee had her own close encounter with bee kind this weekend! What's up with the bees tangling with the tri chix? Don't bees know they're gonna lose?! Maybe this explains the bee shortage.) Ciao friends!