Driving down the 101

My sister and me at her graudation

Whew. What a weekend. I actually left this town and left my laptop and work behind! (Although I will admit I did - briefly! - check my email on Saturday.) Hence my lack of posting, as well. So I'll try to catch you up...

Thursday afternoon I left for LA and actually ended up flying with my parents (we didn't book them together), which was nice. Bryon met us at the airport and we drove off into the sunset of Santa Monica...or at least into all the smog.

I love SoCal! Of course it had to be the hottest weekend of the year, so far, for them (temps were beating records set back in 1880-something!), but it was fun nonetheless. Saw William Shatner at LAX picking up luggage next to us, and my parents were antique shopping in Santa Monica next to Marcia Cross. Bryon got to see the Hollywood sign up close for the first time and down Sunset Blvd and Rodeo Drive. Ugh - I do hate the LA traffic though. (Where do all these people come from? And how are you able to go to the beach on an early Friday afternoon??)

The R's take Hollywood!

Friday morning, bright and early, we went to the USC campus to see my sister graduate. I was happy to say I got her her first piece of alumni gear! It was very exciting but extremely hot and stuffy, especially in the tent we were stuck in for 2+ hours! We saw her walk, helped her move out of her "apartment" (it was an attic added on to an o-l-d house that looked like it could be blown over with one puff of air), and made it to the beach for a couple of hours before we met up again for dinner.

My workout for that day: 5+ miles of walking in 93+ heat, all before noon!

Saturday was busy busy too - Bryon and I woke up and ran 6.5 miles down the Santa Monica/Venice Beach boardwalk. It didn't seem like 6.5 miles but it was - we were so distracted by the variety of people that show up! Plus, it was the first visit for Bryon so he was quite amused. And bewildered. He didn't realize that area was so dirty... After the run we rushed to get ready and went to the 3rd Street Promenade to meet the family for breakfast and shopping, took off for the Hollywood Hills and then came back for dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Promenade that Bryon and I ate at Thursday night (but it was really, really good - but the service SUCKED!).

Sunday, we raced. Of course! Can't take us R's anywhere without wanting to race. We did the Playa del Run Santa Monica aquathlon - 1000m ocean swim and 5k run. It was small and Bryon and I could actually place our transition spots next to each other, as well as start at the same time! And dang the water was cold! 63 degrees. And then we had to trek what seemed FOREVER up the beach through soft sand to get to our shoes. My legs were shot from the days of walking the whole weekend and I definitely wasn't fresh, but it was good to do a race and get an ocean/wetsuit swim in, and before CapTex this weekend! I did do what I estimated I would although I know my run could be faster. The ocean current was strong, and there were 3-4 swells that you were paddling through and all of a sudden you were stroking through air and not water 4 feet high - what a rollercoaster ride that was, so my swim time was fine with me. Plus, I finished right before Bryon! I finally got to a point in the swim at the end where I could stand up and start running out and for some reason I look behind me and there's Bryon popping up from a wave! We were at our transition spots at the same time and Bryon offered to help me out of my wetsuit, but I said no - I didn't want to keep him behind! The run was tough - I think I swallowed too much salt water and the heat was pounding down. But I kicked it in gear after getting over a stomach cramp and finished in 50 minutes.

What you don't see in the below photo is our two plates of Krispy Kreme donuts and croissant rolls! Yum. :)

The R's after the race. We tried to show those LA Tri people what's up. But uh, they were pretty fast...

After the race we cleaned up, packed, laid by the pool, said bye to my family and left for the airport. Again - whew!

Now it's Tuesday, and I haven't done anything remotely active... eek!

Oh, and can't forget - it's supposed to rain all weekend not only in Dallas, but Austin as well!! This better not be a repeat from last year when it was rained out!