a celebratory day

A few weeks ago I celebrated my birthday.  We didn't really make any concrete plans and awoke up to possibility of thunderstorms questioning whether we should go anywhere outside.  And then we thought..why should that stop us?  So we packed up the kids and headed downtown Chicago with an initial stop at our favorite Native Foods for lunch.  YUM!

Although rain showers did indeed fall, immediately after lunch the clouds passed and the sun shined brightly on a glorious warm, but not too hot, beautiful afternoon.  After a walk to the bakery we headed to the Chicago River and boarded the Wedella Boat for a two hour cruise along the rive and Lake Michigan. And it was wonderful.  Great to be a tourist in your own town.

Our afternoon in photographs.

Chicago River

Sears  Willis Tower

Barge, going from the river to the lake height

Navy Pier

 Such a fantastic day.  Thank you to all of you who reached out to me to wish me a happy day-I felt the love. And here's a quick collage I did for our books.  Have a great weekend and try and stay cool.

 

Run. Bike. Run.

After 3 months of to-the-books training, Scott and I hit the hills of Galena for a Duathlon of 

2 mile RUN, 17 mile BIKE followed by a 4.3 mile RUN.  

Easy, right?  

I can do this..no problem..right?

but the HILLS..those HILLS!  

Oh my!

 It was hard to even imagine what they would be like, until we were actually there.

I did my best to assimilate them in training, but really, there isn't many large hills by us.

Yes, I have been to Galena before and I have also seen this race as a spectator many a times,

 but until I was on those hills myself, I couldn't appreciate the altitude and the strength 

needed to propel myself the next mile.

.... but somehow, somewhere, I found the power.

And this guy had a lot to do with it!  It was great fun to race "with" him.  

And despite the continual rain showers that had me hoping I wouldn't loose control of my bike and left my running shoes and socks (and me!) soaked..I finished the race and couldn't have been prouder.  It was one of the hardest things I have done but the sense of accomplishment and personal strength achieved while doing so is something that so very empowering and powerful.

So much so, that I think I'll do another Duathlon in a couple of weeks (which of course I did!).  :D