Best Bike Ride Ever!

Tonight I did my first "bike ride" outside in about 5 months. I figure since I have my first triathlon of the season on Saturday it would be helpful to actually get out on my bike and do a little riding. I have been using my bike trainer indoors, approximately once a week, but it's not quite the same as getting out on the road and pushing yourself on hills and different terrain.

I was excited to go on a ride since the weather was in the 70's and also since I had my new:

Speedplay Zero Pedals

Specialized Triathlon Shoes

Both of these were Christmas presents from Sean. I had tried the pedals out last week when JoJo came for a bike trainer workout. They took me over 10 minutes to clip into, so I was really frustrated, but than after a trip to the bike store and a quick tweak with an addition of an additional piece on the shoes I was able to clip into my bike on the trainer with no problem.

Also, last night Sean hooked up my cadence sensor, and my Garmin bike attachment, so I can use my Garmin on my bike which I was super excited about. In the past I've just used my Garmin on my wrist and it's been tough to ride and keep looking at my wrist. With the attachment, I can easily clip the Garmin on the bike and clip it back on my wrist when I go on the run.

Audrey was nice enough to agree to go on a ride with me. She's not doing the triathlon with me this weekend, but is doing one with me in May. I called Audrey on my way home and told her my timing so she arrived at my house shortly after I got home.

I changed into bike clothes and put our bikes in the garage so we could pump up the tires. She had been borrowing my hybrid bike since last March and it's been sitting in her house not getting any use, so the tires were pretty flat. My bike needed air as well. No problem right? How hard can it be to put air in your tires?

Well apparently we're both clueless. I really need to take a bike maintenance class and learn how to take care of my bike instead of relying on Sean all the time. I know the basics, where to check to see what the pressure should be, where to attach the bike pump etc. The only problem was that I wasn't able to get a tight seal so every time I pumped air into the tire half of it came out. I figured it was good enough and we decided to go and ride.

Now I only needed to clip myself into my bike. Shouldn't be hard, remember last night I tried and with the adjustments made to the shoes it was no problem to clip into my bike. Well I tried, and tried, okay it didn't take forever, but it wasn't quick. I finally got my left shoe to clip in and than I fell. All the momentum I was creating trying to get my stupid shoe clipped in forced me to the left and onto the ground as soon as the shoe clipped. Luckily I was on my "soft" driveway. It was then I realized why I normally wear gloves. Why wasn't I wearing them by the way. Oh yeah, it was my first ride of the season, I forgot about them. Nothing too serious just a few scrapes.

So now my heart is racing. I've never fallen before, not that this was a hard fall. It was mostly on my calf and hands and it mostly scared me more than anything. I'm stubborn though, and I wanted to figure these stupid pedals out. I moved myself to the grass and was quickly able to clip my left foot in. Now with my other pedals once you clip one foot in you start riding and, no big deal, the other foot clips in nice and quickly. Well I'm not sure if it was my lack of confidence, my inexperience or just plain bad luck, but I had to ride up and down my side street in my neighborhood until that stupid right pedal would clip in. Finally it clipped and both Audrey and I were excited.

Meanwhile Audrey is concerned about her tires, "they don't feel so great." I said we could just ride around in the neighborhood and see how it feels that way if something happened we could walk back no problem. We get to the end of our neighborhood, about a mile from my house and Audrey is fine with riding over to Ford's Colony, the sub division another half mile away. Neither of us are very confident riders on the road. One day we'll be better. We get to Ford's Colony and I yell to Audrey to get in the turning lane and that there were no cars coming. I move over and turn into the neighborhood. I look back and Audrey's still back on the right side of the road and now there are a bunch of cars. Eventually the cars thin out and she is able to make it into the neighborhood. Once she catches up she tells me about how the bike is acting, and how the bike is pulling to the right. She also mentions the tires seem low. I look and they are basically both flat. We decide to ride back home, since what's the point of riding on flat tires.

We make it back with no drama and I was able to clip out of my bike without falling. We rode a total of 4 miles. This may have been the shortest bike ride ever, but there were definitely a few lessons learned.

#1: Make sure to put enough air in the tires to last the entire 4 mile bike ride, or however long you want to ride.

#2: When you're not sure how to clip into a bike do it on the grass.

#3: Always wear your biking gloves.

#4: A 4 mile bike ride can still be fun.

We may not have gotten the workout we both wanted, but we definitely both had fun. Once back at the house Sean showed us the "correct" way to put air in the tires. Of course he made it look so easy.

Shamrock Half Marathon

On Sunday I ran the Shamrock Half Marathon. This was my sixth half marathon and my third time running the Shamrock.

In 2008 Sean and I ran this race together and he proposed at the finish, so it's our special race even if he won't run it with me again. He supports me by being my biggest fan and race photographer!

The race started at 7 am in Virginia Beach, so we got up about 3:45 and started our day closer to when most of the world was going to bed as opposed to getting up.

We got down to the race area a little after 6. We had time to use the bathroom, get my race gear on and walk to the start.

My St. Patty's Day outfit!

Once we got to the start I only had about 5-10 minutes until the start. I gave Sean a kiss and he went to find a good spot to take photos while I got into my corral and found my friend Emily to chat with before the race.

Once the race started the adrenaline kicked in and I started out too fast, but what's new. I have been sick with an awful cough and didn't want to push it, plus I hadn't trained well. Today's goal was to have fun and run the entire race. Not a goal I usually have with myself, but I really wanted to take care of myself, especially since I have my first triathlon on Saturday, The Smithfield Triathlon.

It was still pretty dark out, so it's a bit blurry with the setting Sean had, but I'm still smiling at 1/4 mile!

The race ended up being much warmer than previous years, probably by 20 degrees. I was over dressed and really should have worn a tank top and shorts. I found myself drinking two waters at every water stop and dumping a third water on my head to cool myself down. It worked to make me feel refreshed.

My friend Caroline is a college friend that I haven't seen in 7 years. We've re-connected through technology and our common interest in running races and triathlons. She came down from Northern Virginia to race, so we made sure to catch up. It was so much fun!

Go Caroline!

JoJo got a new PR, must have been the Green hair that made her extra speedy!

I didn't finish fast, but I finished strong with negative splits for the second half, so I was happy and all smiles.

After the race I got into dry clothes. I was so excited to get a finisher's t-shirt, a hat and a medal. I'm all about the recognition.

Once I was dry it was time to go and watch the marathoners.

Go Jami!

Go Suzi!

Taking a break in the beer tent!

Caroline and I show off our finisher's medals!

Jami pushing it until the end at the marathon.

Go Suzy, finish strong!

Everyone had great races and are such strong athletes. I had such a fun time racing and supporting my friends. It's just the beginning of the season, I can't wait for many more races to come. 2010 is going to be an awesome year!

Irish Soda Bread

As my first St. Patrick's Day as a Murphy I wanted to be extra Irish and take a stab at making Irish Soda Bread.

I had two different recipes in my wedding cookbook (a cookbook family and friends compiled for Sean and I of their favorite recipes).

I wasn't sure which recipe to choose, so I decided to make one loaf of each.

I only remembered to take photos of one loaf, but they looked the same so you get the idea.

Watching it cook!

Fresh out of the oven!

We waited to do the taste test on St. Patrick's Day and the verdict was unanimous. Sean's father's law partner's Grandmother's recipe was the winner! Although in all fairness it did have more sugar than the other recipe, and sugar always helps, so I'm not sure if this was the reason for it winning.

I'd post the recipes but I don't feel like typing so you'll just have to ask me and maybe I'll share!

Maria visits

Maria came to visit this last weekend and we had a lot of fun. She arrived Saturday afternoon and the first thing we did was make Sangria! Every time Maria visits we make Sangria, because, let's face it, she's "Sangria Maria!"

You can't really tell from this photo, but we got this pitcher as a wedding gift. It's supposed to have our names and est. 2009. It's really cute. We have matching glasses and everything. The only problem is the manufacturer sent us one that says "Polly and Nick Antol." We have since received the correct pitcher, actually just this Monday, 4 months later, but it's still fun to pull out the Antol pitcher.

Maria stirs up the Sangria after we cut the fruit and let it soak. It looked so delicious. Unfortunately I gave up alcohol for lent so I had to make "virgin" versions which just weren't the same but were still pretty tasty.

Some of the delicious finished product

Fresh fruit is delicious

Maria becomes Mona once these glasses are put on. Playing the empty wine bottle.

After the Sangria was finished we made a few different appetizers for the evening, and than just relaxed and did what we always do, talk and caught up.  Maria is one of those people you can talk to forever, at least that's how it always is with me.  We have our Thursday phone date night and talk while I'm driving home from work, and we never have a lack of stuff to talk about.

I had invited a bunch of my friends over to hang out and enjoy our Sangria, so around 8 pm, the house started to fill up and we had such a fun time visiting.  We put the Wii on for a little bit, and although there weren't many brave soles willing to try the game I borrowed from my co-worker, Let's Dance, the few of us that did dance entertained the entire crowd.

We visited until close to midnight, and than because we're all old farts we called it a night.

Sunday morning Maria and I slept in while Sean got up early to play golf.  It was really nice out, mid 60's, so once we got up and showered we decided to go to Colonial Williamsburg and walk around.  

We first visited The Peanut Shop, because let's face it, they have free samples, and one can never eat too much chocolate covered peanut brittle, unless of course you are my sister and deathly allergic.  

After The Peanut Shop we stopped in Aromas for Maria to get her coffee, and I decided on a hot chocolate.  Than we started walking.  We didn't realize that we would be visiting the "Williamsburg Petting Zoo."  Okay it wasn't really a zoo, but there were a ton of animals out, much more than I normally see.  

This Ox was super cute 

Across the road were the mom and babies

The pretty horse, that was "neighing" at this lady because her perfume smelled bad 

(at least that's what the lady thought)

What's Williamsburg without some Colonial sheep

We found this cool tree that we took turns hiding behind

Okay I guess I'm not really hiding but we had fun on our little adventure.

We walked around for over 2 hours and than decided to head back to the house and watch trashing TV.  It's relaxing and we could talk some more without really having to watch the TV.

Sean finally got home, he had taken a trip up to Richmond after his golf game to get his new tri toy.....a new Triathlon bike.

We decided to go out for dinner, and went to one of our favorite restaurants, Bonefish.  Maria had never been, and we introduced her to Bang, Bang, Shrimp...which is the best, especially since I had a coupon for a free appetizer!

After dinner, we came home relaxed and but on our Mona glasses for a fun photo together.

Cheese!

And can't forget to take a photo for the "pick-up" album

And just so Sean didn't feel left out I took a photo of him with his new toy...

Someone's a little extra happy!

Monday morning Maria left me for an "exciting" conference in D.C.  I'll miss her, but hope she visits us when we're up in Cape May this summer and we can't wait to visit her at her new place.

Until next time, thanks for visiting Maria, and I'll see you soon!

Maria comes Today!!

I've been busy and haven't posted in a while, but I'm excited that Maria is coming to visit today. Maria is a college friend and was also in my wedding last May.

I haven't seen her since October. She lives up in Northern New Jersey, so every time Sean and I visit his parents we make a trip into NYC and meet up with Maria.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day started a day early with a 4 am wake-up on Valentine's Eve. Sean and I were running the Virginia is for Lovers 14K in Virginia Beach. I ran the race last year with Jami and this year we got Sean, JoJo and our friend Laura to join us.

The race started at 8 but we had to get to Virginia Beach and also to packet pick-up so we left around 5 am. Luckily Jami volunteered to drive and we had a carload that made the race extra fun!

It was a cold morning in the high 20's/low 30's and they were calling for light snow.

We got to the race with plenty of time to get our race packet, break in the port-a-potties (we all got to unwrap the toilet paper, which may not seem exciting to most, but it was so nice to have a clean place to pee!)

Jami gets ready putting her timing chip on her shoe

Putting Valentine's Day stickers on!

Sean's not excited to run in the cold

Okay, now he's excited!

The race started about 15 minutes late due to traffic. I always love hearing the national anthem before the start of a race. We also had a moment of silence for the Olympic athlete that had died on Friday, this was a nice touch and made us remember that we are all athletes.

My race was awful. Right from the beginning I didn't feel great. I had a side cramp and it didn't seem to go away. I didn't push it and the race went by fast, even though I wasn't running fast. With about 3 miles left in the race I thought maybe I could pick the pace up a bit, but than I got a pain in my shin and found myself walking through water stops and just begging for the finish line to come.

I crossed the finish line over 10 minutes slower than last year, but I finished and I was still proud of myself. Sean wasn't far behind me. He did great!

JoJo and Sean all smiles since the race is done

Yay we're done!

JoJo smiles with JoJo. She was the Shamrock face last year and is still on a bunch of their marketing pieces. So cool!

I love that there are Valentine balloons behind us!

We stuck around for the awards and prizes. Sean pretended to be Jami's husband and they each won a prize.

We all desperately wanted hot chocolate so we stopped at the first 7-11 we came across. Of course the machine was broken. They had at least 3 people trying to fix it, but after about 10 minutes of waiting we all wanted to get on the road, so we left with no hot chocolate.

We got home around 1:30 and our new furniture had arrived, (blog is below). After the furniture guys left I took an hour and a half nap and than got ready for my Valentine's evening with the girls.

We went to Kyoto. They cook in front of you and although it took FOREVER for them to get to us it was worth the wait.

The food was delicious, and I had enough leftovers for both Sean and I. After dinner we went and saw Valentine's Day. Such a great movie! It kind of reminded me of Love Actually with all of the sub plots. The movie got out at around 12:30, which was WAY past my bedtime, especially when I had woken up at 4 am. I was so excited to get to my bed, that I think I fell asleep immediately.

Valentine's Day was wonderful. I slept in until about 9, and than spent the majority of the day on our new couch! It was great. I caught up on my blogs, visited with Sean, and watched tidbits of the Olympic coverage.

I thought about cleaning, but that didn't happen. We thought about going out to dinner, but than decided take-out Red Lobster was a better option.

Sean's yummy dinner

My yummy dinner

We even have enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow, which I'm excited about.

After dinner we watched Sharkwater. We had seen part of this movie on the last day of our honeymoon while visiting an aquarium. We didn't realize it was a full length movie when we first sat down to watch it while in Ireland. It was really good, but we didn't want to spend an hour and a half on our last day watching a movie.

I bought the movie for us for Christmas, and we decided tonight would be a good night to watch it. It was really good, and gives a completely different perspective of how the media portrays sharks.

So I spent the entire Valentine's Day in my PJ's, it was amazing. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our new couch!

We have been waiting what seems like forever for our new couch. Back in September Sean and I took a road trip to High Point, NC to go Furniture Shopping. We went to Furnitureland South and found something we both love!

Now fast forward 5 months later and we are finally getting our couch. We had a false alarm a few weeks ago when we had a scheduled delivery and were not home to accept delivery. In all fairness we assumed delivery would be postponed do to the snowy weather.

We had delivery re-scheduled for this weekend and we were so excited. We started clearing out the area and moving the old couches out of the way.

Love seat on the side moved to the front of the house

It looks so empty in here now

We had our VIFL 14K race Saturday morning, will blog about that separately, and didn't worry about being home for delivery since delivery was between 2-6 pm. I made sure the furniture company had my cell phone number this time, since I always have my phone with me. Well always except this day.

When leaving the house before the race I slipped on the icy front steps (we never go out the front door, but since our friends that picked us up came through the front, we left through the front) and my cell phone fell out of my pocket into a snow pile. I didn't realize this until we were on the road and I noticed I didn't have my phone. I assumed I had left it on the counter though.

After the race we got home around 1:30, and what do we see when we get home, but the delivery truck next to our house...agh! I ran out of the car and was thinking they were going to be upset. I pulled out my defensiveness right away. "You're early!" They said they were ahead of schedule. They asked if I lost my phone. I again thought because I didn't answer when they called they were being smart with me. I told them I left it at home because I wasn't expecting them until 2. The guy than hands me my phone and asks if it was mine. He found it in a pile of snow by my front steps. Oops they were being nice, and were super friendly.

We took them inside and showed them where everything was going.

The first piece

This would be funny if it was the only piece we got (our old couch is in the back)

More pieces brought in!

I'm excited. I love how the color looks with our green walls.

The final product (prior to taking the plastic off the recliner)

The delivery guys were really fast putting everything together and even helped load one of the old couches into Sean's truck (the heavy pull out bed one). We are giving our friends Jami and Ryan the old couches since they have space in their house. We brought it to Jami's after the guys left and will bring the other couch sometime soon.

Sean and I have been loving the new couch and we each have our assigned spots. I have my chaise lounge, which I love, and Sean has his recliner with a table right next to it for the remote and some snacks.

We're ready to have some friends over soon to break in the new couch! I guess you're officially a grown-up when you get excited about furniture.