4th of July FUN

I spent a lot of time on my own training this weekend so I blogged in my mind a lot. Now it's just a matter of sitting down and typing it out. First things first, a fun picturesque post about the 4th of July with wonder friends in Flagstaff.

My girl Amanda rented a place for the month of July right in the heart of downtown Flagstaff. Of course I told her I was moving in with her.... The weekend was packed with plans of training & playing. A perfect balance. We had several friends in town doing their last big training block before Ironman Switzerland so we had a big group. Fortunately for us, Shane & I had a "recovery week." Much needed after his big training block and myself rebuilding my strength after being so sick!

We got into town Friday evening and had a great dinner & cocktail hour with Jen & Nils who also rented a place in Flag. They had a 6hr ride in the am so it was an early night for all. Shane & I just had a 3hr ride so we rode for a bit with the group then headed home.... The elevation was a shock to the system, but besides thirst I think my body handled it pretty well!

And that's where the fun began! Our own personal bartender at our service....

Afternoon happy hour outside.... Did you read that - I said OUTSIDE. Cool nice fresh breeze. Salty Bloody Mary (recovery drink, of course).

After the Switz group finished with there 90mile ride and rested up, Amanda hosted a big carb loading dinner for everyone. It was casual, yummy and perfect.

Amanda's BFF was in town from Atlanta. I love these 2. I can't believe it took me so long to have them in my life! I think Amanda may have been just a little shocked when she saw the amount of food us athletes could put down.....

The night cooled down, and we even got to put on SWEATSHIRTS and jeans. I almost forgot what they were like.

Sunday morning Shane & met up with 2 others in the Switz group to run some trails. We had 2:30 on our schedule. We started out doing a 1:40 loop with plans on coming back to the beginning of the trail to refill on water. The temp was perfect, but the packed trail we were on was pretty tough. At about 1:20 I started to feel tired and extremely thirsty. As we headed back to get more water I was really bonking. Shane & I decided to head out onto the road vs the trail & hills to give the legs and knees a rest. I made it about a mile longer, 1:50 and realized it was in my best interested to stop. I'd come a long way on the road to recovery in the last few days, but my fuel tank was still pretty low. I got in 1:50 & 12 miles at 7000ft. I'll take that!

After a recovery swim in a icky very short indoor pool (no need to go any further with that) we were ready to celebrate the 4th of July. Robert, one of the IM Switz group invited us all over to his beautiful home in Flag for a BBQ. It was fantastic & another example of wonderful hosts....

Again an early night for the crazy athletes. We play as hard as we can, but the training creeps up and pretty much we all crash shortly after dark :-)

Monday we moved around pretty slowly, then loaded up the car to head out to breakfast with my college bff Erin & her family who just happened to drive up from Oklahoma to be with family in Flag. After a quick breakfast with the group & meeting her new baby boy, we were on the highway heading home. Briefly.

With in 5mins we saw a sign saying the highway was closed due to an accident 40miles ahead. We chanced it assuming it would be cleared by the time we got there, but just 10mins later we got a call from Erin saying that her sister in law was stuck in the traffic, going no where. We didn't know what else to do so we turned around and headed back to Amanda's to check the online traffic status.

It didn't take long for Amanda & Brandi to convince us just to stay.... After checking the status of the highway it was either head out and turn a 2hr drive into 4+ or stay and enjoy the town and company one more night. We secured the dog sitter and off we were into town.

Amanda wanted to show us some of the fun hangouts she had found starting with the local bike hangout, Pay n Take. One beer later our day had been designated the local pup crawl....and off we were.

Every place we went - we asked our bartender where we should go next....

Stop 2, The Weatherford Hotel...

Of course walking from place to place we followed all the rules....

The Lumberyard - we had to have some snacks to soak it all up a bit :-)

Pool and cocktails at the Monte Vista! I honestly don't think I hit one ball in.... It was still fun though :-)

The green room was up next.... This stop was pretty brief. The hunger kicked in and we were on a mission for food...

Only a couple playful stops along the way.

The pub crawl ended at the Beaver Street Brewery. Unfortunately we waited too long for our food and had a crazy sugar crash making it our last stop on the tour.

Turns out the last impromptu day was the most fun. Carefree, random and an absolute blast! Thanks to Amanda & Brandi for such an amazing final Holiday weekend adventure.