She's a Brick...House

  

Well I did my first Brick today and it was an eye opener.  Every time I look at the parts of the Olympic distance I am not really all that intimidated.  I mean I can swim 1500 meters and  as long as I don't fall, 40K on a bike is not so bad.  A 10K is barley breaking a sweat during my marathon training so it's hard to get worked up by that.  But I know it is the sum of the parts that make it a challenge, so I thought I would teach myself a lesson in humility today.

I got up early and waited for the sun to rise enough so I could see. Then I road a quick 18 miles, only to return home switch into some running shoes and run 5 miles.  Not really very intimidating distances, but not too far off from what I will have to do.

Now my transition was no where near what you will see while watching an Ironman on a Sunday afternoon.  Instead of leaving my shoes on the bike and hopping off already at running speed...I causally stopped and walked off my bike.  I then went into the kitchen to listen to a riveting story from my daughter about the mischief her stuffed animals where getting into during the night while I put on my running shoes and sipped a Gatorade.

Really to be honest the reason the Brick was such an eye opener was because I still haven't solved my freezing foot problem.  You see, after all of the expenses I have incurred with my new sport, I am too cheap to buy the neoprene booties I need.  I figure it will only be cold for a little while longer...and today it was a whole 10 degrees warmer than last time.  I thought the 2 sox and a plastic bag trick would be fine today.  Maybe I need thicker bags.

It was a solid 4.5 of my 5 mile run before I had feeling back in my feet.  One of the strangest sensations I have ever experienced was running on feet that were completely numb.  I could not feel anything and they were moving like flippers, occasionally scraping the ground and flopping around with a mind of their own.  My first mile was slow as I learned to run without the use of my feet, I even got a few sympathy nods as I'm sure people thought I was training for the Special Olympics.  But eventually I got used to it and my pace picked up to respectable.  I didn't break any records, but now I know I need to work on some speed...maybe Ainsley can shorten her story next time.