Cat's Hill

That's me in the shadows on the right...

Cool things from today's race, in no particular order:

* Despite the field being small and the course being headwindy, it was nevertheless an active race

* I picked up 4 primes and 3rd in the race!

* When I filled the tank in my car this morning, the total came to $33.33... this was an accident but I think next Saturday I will aim on getting $11.11 worth of gas, just in case there is some performance correlation going on.

* Karen Brems won for something like the 9th time!?!

* Second time up the eponymous hill, a neighborhood cat ran out onto the road right in the middle of the peloton. Miraculously, none of us ran over it, and it ran off scared but unscathed.



Anyway, as usual Cat's Hill was a blast! I love that downhill into the last corner, it's so much fun. Last year my race ended early with a dropped chain, so I was really pleased to get to race hard the whole time this year.


For some strange reason, this morning I packed my running clothes and sneakers in my race bag. I guess this was another act of fate or something, because I really needed to run on my way home from Cat's Hill. After our race ended, I found out that someone very close to me had to be taken to the hospital today. Teeming with worry, helplessness, and post-race adrenaline and what-if's, I headed to the trails in the Oakland hills to pound it out for half an hour. It was great - 6 p.m. on a Saturday is a wonderful time for a trail run, hardly anyone was out there, and there were definitely no high school cross country posses running four abreast across the whole trail! Plus I love running after riding, my legs seem to open up immediately. Both riding and running put me into meditative states, but something about the constant, solid rhythm of running is better for me when I am upset or agitated. I came home in a great frame of mind, ready for what's next.