Sunday, July 12, 2020 – Second Endurance Ride!

Hi Babe!
Well, I finally ran my second endurance ride! Twenty-five miles (though my GPS said it was really only 22.4 but who am I to argue?), and I came in 5th, though there were lot less riders today than yesterday or my previous race. Tried a couple of different strategies, got a lot of advice from the organizers and other participants, and let Flash run his little heart out! The first 15 miles we ran with several other women, and Flash not only kept the pace, he was setting the pace for some entire sections! The gravel bothered him a bit, but most of the ride he was fine, and we averaged about 6 mph the whole way. The second 10 miles we were one our own, and he didn’t see the need to keep running as fast, but he still kept going well for the most part. My pit stop was a bit better, though I came in hot and it took awhile to cool him down and get his 112 heartbeat down to 60, and on my final 10 miles I walked him about the last quarter mile, and he heartbeat was at 60 when we arrived in camp, so I guess that worked. The time was a bit longer than the Florida race, though, but it’s hilly and wooded and the footing wasn’t as nice as the flat sand in Florida, so I wasn’t too surprise. Had a good time, though! I wasn’t thrille about getting up at 5:00 in the morning, but at least it was getting light by the time I saddled him, unlike in Florida where I rode a mile in the dark to the starting point. On another topic, I had an epiphany last night, I got one of those, “Why the heck didn’t I think of that sooner?” moments. There were some fireworks nearby late into the night last night (just what everyone here in the camp needed considering the time everyone had to get up!), which of course made Lola antsy and scratching at the bedroom door to get in. That’s been such a problem, and I’ve been trying to figure out a way to solve it for awhile. I put the garbage can at the bottom of the stairs a few times, but then she knocks it over and get garbage everywhere, so that didn’t work. Then last night I suddenly realized that if I open the pantry door and pull the panty slider out, she won’t be able to climb past it! Duh!!! There’s nothing she can really hurt in there even if she tried, and as afar as I know, she didn’t try, because she didn’t bother me all night and there was no mess in the morning, so maybe I’ve actually licked the problem, fingers crossed! I’ll keep doing that to see how it works, but at the moment it seems like it is. Anyway, I was so tired when I got back from the ride, once I put Flash away I crashed in my chair and mostly just watched TV all day. I was hoping it would rain to cool things off, and cool air has come in, but we only had a few minutes of rain. So now it’s late and I’m ready for shower and bed. Love you, darlin’! Good night!