like a champion, but don't be fooled�
what i WILL tell you right now is that the rest of my vacation went by too fast. by last wednesday, i was (already?!) back here and at work. don�t laugh, but i wore my finisher's medal the day i flew back to DC so my parents could see it when they came to pick me up from the airport. and don't laugh, but i also wore it to work on my 1st day back! i was greeted like a champion when i arrived. as soon as i walked in, my secretary looked at the medal dangling around my neck and exclaimed, "She did it!", and people gathered around me to hear all about it. you see, many of my co-workers knew i was going to do danskin and had wished me well before i left. many told me that come july 17th, they'd think about me or say a little prayer that i'd safely and successfully make it through the event. so on race day morning, it felt good to know that people back home were rooting for me. my doctor and my acupuncturist were both impressed, as well.
BUT�don�t be fooled by all of this. as big a deal as this was/is to me, and as much as i've talked incessantly about it here, i'm no super jock and i'm still just�me. and that means i'm still recovering from my adventures and even had a slight flare. it also means i have no problem leaving a nice butt-print on my couch from sitting there for several hours straight, reading Harry Potter & napping. and i'm still very much a sissy when it comes to biking hills. in that sense, maybe i still belong on that banana-seat huffy bike, not a trek! speaking of hills, i'll leave you with this: (click for larger image).
the prairie looks flat, doesn�t it? haha, you were fooled! don�t let anyone tell you the prairies in colorado are flat! the wide-openness of the grasslands camouflages some pretty monstrous hills as �gentle and rolling�. but once you get out of your car and see them up close and try pedaling over them on a bike against a headwind, you realize they are killers!
much more later. perhaps with some action photos of yours truly�
