55 days: 20 miles/100 miles/Head Wind/Egg McMuffin??

So it is now 55 days until I race Ironman Arizona. This weekend was a HUGE Breakthrough for me. Let's start with Saturday. Saturday While everyone else probably was hungover, sleeping or getting ready for all of the college football games, I was preparing to run 20 miles with our Marathoners. We are literally 3 weeks away from the Chicago Marathon. Don't get me wrong, but I am not racing Chicago. I just train aweswome, fabulous athletes for it. It was such a beautiful day and I was loving every moment of it. See, I'm known as the happy runner and I say hello to everyone, smile, thank volunteers, whatever it is that will make a runner feel a little better about running 20 miles. After the 20 miler, I decided to walk from FFC Gold Coast to Osteria Via Stato for a quick lunch (I'm not really good at eating before I run, etc.) before swim practice. I felt really good after the run, not sore-crazy, right? So, what did I eat? The entire bread bowl with olive oil to dip it in, white bean spread with crostini AND a mushroom and fennel pizza. Oh yeah!!!! Swim practice: Oh, just 1800 yards. Felt good. Went home and decided to do: Laundry, carbo load and watch World War Z. That's how you prepare for a century ride. SUNDAY 100 miles of riding on a bike from Evanston to Kenosha and back. THe weather was nice (mid 60s and sunny) so that was promising. My friend Sally picked me and Beeker, my bike up and we headed to Evanston. Ok, now I had a total panic attack. I am REALLY, REALLY nervous about biking and this was to be a total confidence booster for me. Sally gave me so many tips to help me and I almost damn near cried. I don't get a lot of time outside riding due to my work schedule and I need BLOCKS of time (4-5 hours) NOT 1 hour here or there. Getting started, I was shaking so badly. I tried to think of 1 pedal stroke at a time and the one thing that helps is when I start singing (in my head) Prince songs. I decided on the album, "Parade" you know, the one from the "Under the Cherry Moon" soundtrack. Don't hate! You know you liked that album. I started to feel a little more comfortable, however the wind would not let up. It was like Arizona 2012 all over again, but without the pretty Red Rock Mountains. I made it to aid station #1 and I still felt like I was going to have a massive panic attack again. I ate a banana, had some gatorade, refilled my water and went off again. The next aid station was at mile 35 where they had Egg McMuffins, no really. I was starting to feel a little better but I still feel as if I am not a strong rider. I kept up with some others in our big gang of athletes. Ok, I did it. I still had 65+ more miles to go. Aid Station #3 (mile 57) was where we would see Susie and Ollie (a wonderful little puppy). That would be Kenosha, WI. Oh shit!!! The wind would not fucking let up. It was hell. I tried to keep my cadence up and just kept riding. I couldn't stop. The route was very well marked. Somewhere in this stretch, something happened. I started hauling ass and becoming a cyclist. I was attacking hills-is this me??? I know I somehow dropped my riding buddies but ended up riding with this one couple. We took turns pulling and it was A-MAZING!!!!! At one point, I passed my friends who were on the side of the road. I heard one of them say, "Hey, that's Joy!!!!" I don't know but I think I channeled my inner bad ass super hero!!! As soon as I saw Susie and heard the cowbell, I was good. I ate a little more (Peanut butter filled pretzels are the SHIT as well as cream of mushroom soup). Don't ask. We decided to take off since we had to make it #4. That would be 75ish miles. This was the hardest one getting out of due to the traffic. Oh, let me digress some...we were not in a good portion of Kenosha. Potholes for days. Now, back to heading to Aid Station #4, I have no idea where the Hell I was until I saw the Illinois State line. Hell yeah!! I tagged along with a guy named Vern, his friend Juliette and her husband. They were from Lombard and they did Ragbri (look it up). They were good to ride with. We took turns pulling and had a lot of fun just chatting. At one point, Vern looked and me and told me, "Don't let anyone tell you that you are not a good rider." That meant a lot. I'm with all of these amazing athletes and I sometimes feel like the slug of the group. At some point I dropped them and started riding with this guy who did the Seattle to Portland bike ride. We stayed together the whole way taking turns pulling and chit chatting. An awesome dude. Finally Aid Station #4. And who do I run into-my coworker who hauled ass to catch up. He's really that good. And also my friend Carol. Now around this time is when my inner thighs were seizing up but I kept going. I think that I didn't have enough electrolytes-damn gatorade (long story). I refilled my bottles some more and decided to take off with Carol. Trying to keep up with her was HARD but I did my damndest. Now at this point, we had to be careful going into Ft. Sheridan. You had to stop at every intersection, stop sign, stop light or risk getting a $150 ticket. Ain't happening. At this point, I causght up to the original couple and we are pulling again like crazy. The wind just would not stop!!!! I was starting to fatique. I could have taken a sag Vehicle but why the Hell would I. I had to do this for me, not anyone else. I made it to Aid Station #5, where all my buddies were but only to stop and start again, very quickly. This was suppose to be it! At this point, my friends left me and I was by myself for a while until I saw 2 hot guys and I decided to haul ass to catch up with them which I did. The one guy asked, "Why are you breathing so hard?" Me: " To catch y'all" So we stayed together, caught up with my friends and it just became, let's get this done. What should have been just 10 miles, was way more than that. I knew we were home free once I saw Evanston Memorial Hospital (or some name like that), I knew we were around the corner, over the woods and through the river. I just wanted off my bike and to get some food. By time I got off my bike, a smile broke out over my face. I went straight for the peanut butter filled pretzels before I got my finishers certificate. When the guy asked me my name, I told and he looked at my like, wait, your last name really is "Miles"? Yeah!!! After I finally got home, I took a shower but it took me forever to get those damn compression sleeves off my legs. After I changed into non-workout clothes, I went around the corner to my favorite Thai place, Indie Thai and ate the following: Shrimp Shumai, Shrimp Pad Thai, 3 pieces of Unagi and Crab Rangoon. Yeah, I was hungry. Went home to feed my cats and went to sleep. Around 1am, I woke up because I had to ice my hands. Why?? I don't wear cycling gloves and my hands swelled up to little sausages. So now we are to Monday. What did I learn or gain from this? 1. My friends are friggin AWESOME!!! The support was what I really needed. 2. Yeah, I rode 100+ miles in tri shorts! And my taint did not hurt!!! 3. I am much stronger than I thought. I just needed this as a little confidence. 4. This also helped my self esteem a whole HELL of a lot 5. I will CROSS the Finish line of the IMAZ. 6. Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels will be in my special meeds bag for the bike. I think that is it.