Well, I am officially worn out from the long weekend and it’s not even over yet! HA! We had a blast at the Singletrack Mind Festival over the weekend, but now it’s crunch time! This might be confusing, but bear with me…You know how I keep talking about edits? Well, my dissertation is 5 chapters total. Each time I made major changes in a chapter, I save it as a new version, just in case I need to change things back or refer back to an older version. I am on version 11 of chapters 1 and 2 (so I have edited those chapters 11 times), version 10 of chapters 3 and 4, and just submitted version 7 of chapter 5. This week, I am doing final read throughs on Chapters 1-4, so before I submit everything and defend, I only have major edits left on chapter 5! I have a meeting later this week to talk about that chapter. I’m SO close!!!
Let’s rewind to Friday – my morning started with a 9 mile run with Jyssica. The weather was PERFECT.
Jyss and I were running up a pretty long hill and we saw a girl standing at the top. As we got closer, I realized it was Kayla! She was out doing her long run, too. Of course we all stopped to take a picture together.
Jyss and I got 9 in, talking the whole time so it was nice to catch up, then it was home to have breakfast with Jake. He took the day off from work because he is one of the race directors for Singletrack Mind and he helps get the courses set up.
He got some cuddles with Lu before he left.
I worked on chapter 5 all morning, then took a lunch break. Tofu and my favorite brussels.
I wore my hair curly for the first time – it’s definitely crazy! I pulled the top half back to tame it a little. I have really thick, curly hair, so it can get out of control, especially when it’s short.
I worked a little bit more then had a snack before I packed and hit the road.
Right as I was leaving, this package from Truly was delivered!! Thank you, Truly! How awesome is this??? Truly makes those delicious spiked sparkling drinks I love so much. I love all of this SO much!
I headed to Two Rivers, which is the mountain bike park where Singletrack Mind is held, and carried everything into our room. We stayed in the house that is on the property, which was awesome. How adorable is this bed?
It’s hard to see, but look in-between those wodden beams. Jake and Jesse (one of our friends – his wife is in charge of the festival. She’s amazing.) were building trail for hours after some pretty crazy rain messed up a few spots. They worked SO hard and it turned out SO well. I was impressed.
On Friday night there was a crit race (let’s see if I can explain it correctly). There’s a loop, less than a mile long, and people race as many laps as possible within a certain amount of time. They had 30 minutes on Friday night. Jake wore his Hooters outfit and his friend wore a Spice Girls dress…aren’t they pretty? And in case you were wondering, yes, I am SUPER proud. ; )
I enjoyed a Truly with my new koozie!
Everyone getting ready for the race.
Jake in his outfit and Jesse in his underwear. HA!
After the race, there was a movie played on the big screen. I tried to get some pictures of the set-up, too.
Lu stayed with my parents for the weekend and I woke up to this text from my Dad Saturday morning. Hahah!
Pre-run fuel. Also, this was about the time I realized I forgot all of my running things at home…no pack, no arm band for my phone, no water bottle, no race belt…UGH.
So, this wasn’t my best race. But I also wasn’t racing it, so I guess it was okay for a training run. I did the 15k, but since I had a major brain fart and forgot everything, I carried my phone in my hand the WHOLE time because I wanted music. I also didn’t have any water, and at mile 4, they told me I was in 3rd place, so I took a tiny swig from the aid station and kept going, thinking I’d get more at the next aid at mile 7. Well, I was dumb and got confused and thought we entered the aid at mile 7 from a different way, so I didn’t get any water the rest of the race. That was kind of miserable (but 100% my own fault). I also took a route that I ALWAYS take because a section didn’t look like it was marked….well, turns out that route isn’t a real trail…so, I got totally off course and ended up running more than the race called for. All in all, it was a good day because I got to run, but I definitely made a lot of dumb mistakes. This is post-run after I stopped being mad at myself…
Repping Team Trail Sisters!
There are always food trucks at Singletrack Mind and this year they had pizza and tacos. I had a mushroom taco and Jake had ground beef. They were amazing.
We spent some time relaxing in the grass under the Red Bull tent. We were all worn out from the morning.
He’s pretty cute. Even though he tried to get me killed. ; ) After the running races, the mounting bike races started. They started with an enduro. There’s a super sketchy part of trail that is crazy scary (a little tid bit about me…I am the biggest chicken in the world. If it’s dangerous, count me out). Well, we went up to the area to watch the race. It’s a super narrow part of trail, and when you spectate, there’s not really a ton of room to stand around, so everyone is smooshed and trying not to get in the way of the riders. On one side of the trail, it’s a huge rock face and the other side of the trail is a huge drop-off into the river. Picture that. SKETCHY. Jake is standing on the rock face in this picture. Sooo, Jake shows me an area to stand (this whole thing isn’t his fault, it was just a bad spot), it was down on the drop-off, with my back against a tree. I had literally been standing there for maybe 10 seconds when a guy comes flying off the trail, his bike soars down the drop-off, and he slams into me. Then he bounces from there and would have just kept flailing down the hill if two guys wouldn’t have jumped out and grabbed him. It was terrifying. For real. I felt SO bad for the rider. But, he grabbed his bike, got back on the trail, and kept going. I think he eventually came back and said he had broken something on his bike, but I can’t remember. He was fine, thank goodness. So after that, a few more people crashed in the same area, but they didn’t hit me. But it was enough for me to know that I did not like where I’m standing AND I didn’t like what I’m watching. Remember, I’m a chicken? Then as I was talking about moving to another spot, along comes another rider and the same thing happens! His bike goes down the hill and me and my tree stop him. After that, I moved. Far, far away. (He was fine, too. No injuries.)
This is after the first guy hit me, before the second. I think. That area behind me is straight downhill. It’s scary.
This is where Jake moved us to…MUCH better. But still scary!
Kayla had to go back to her house real quick, so I went with her because I was craving a salad. She had me searching for songs on her Spotify and I saw this…I told her she was a creeper. (She is just SO obsessed with me…) HA! Kidding.
We made it back just as the band was setting up! We sipped on some Trulies and enjoyed the shade.
Lori, the one who puts on the entire event, is the babe in the plain black hat. We all had a blast dancing the night away.
I LOVE the Mixtapes. They’re my favorite.
Yes, I was mildly scared he was going to fall…
And yes, Jake wore his Hooters top, but this time, he rocked his Daisy Duke’s with them. Aaaaand yeah, he is majorly stepping on my foot in this picture. Are all Hooters girls this aggressive? ; ) We had a blast dancing all night – my legs are STILL sore. The Mixtapes played for about 5 hours or so. This picture is pretty representative of our relationship – me trying to annoy Jake with something (here, it’s a huge neon foam stick). Also, this is the only picture from the weekend of us together – seems appropriate.
I had to leave pretty early Sunday morning, so I didn’t get to hang out at all. My friend, Katie, got married yesterday, so I wanted to be at her wedding. Plus, I had to get chapter 5 sent in last night. I picked Lu up from my parents’ on my way home. This is the leash at their house.
She was pretty excited to see me, but nowhere near as excited as I was to see her!
I got home and made a breakfast burrito, then started working on my dissertation.
I got ready for the wedding and blow dried my hair. It was a little crazy. I’m still loving it short! It’s SO easy.
I totally failed at getting a picture of Katie, but she was absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t stay at the reception long because I had to get my last chapter finished and sent yesterday, but I DID stay long enough to share some desserts with Cassie…
Then it was home to cuddle Lu and finish up some work on that last chapter. She was less than thrilled with me. She already needs another hair cut…
She was extra cuddly.
When your man wants Chinese, you let him pick up and bring it home to you. YUM. None of this bothered my stomach, which I was worried about. YAY!
My Dad sent me this last night. She loves it at their house. I started calling Lulu “Lu-Bug”, when she was a puppy. Now we have shortened it to Bug. We also call her Loozy, Lewis, Uncle Lewis (Jake’s nickname), Loozy Toozy, Angel Butt (mine, HA!), Princess Girl, and Chubs. She answers to all of them! Or maybe she just likes my annoying voice when I talk to her…
Today is a big day for me – final read throughs on a few chapters (I’d love to get 1, 2, and 3 totally finished today – we will see. That might be a lofty goal). I also need to meal prep and finish some work on an article I’m co-authoring. Oh, and grade and maybe clean my house…I need more hours in the day. But right now, my dissertation takes priority over everything else! I’m off to the store and then it’s work time!
Happy Labor Day, friends!