Feb 2011 Goal Update, $47 Soakfest, etc.

WOW Okay, here it is, March 18th and I have still not reported my stats for the month of February.  So, here we go.  My goal for the month was to cycle 225 miles, run 35 miles and swim 5 km.  This was a pretty lean month.  I ended up riding 180.1 miles, running 22.15 miles, and I only swam 1 km.  Now that all of THAT unpleasantness is out of the way, on to other things.  Remember here in my race schedule I wrote about the Zion Early Spring?  Well, WAY back on February 26th, K Jo and I made our way down to St George.  She was planning on running the Dog Town Half Marathon, I was to ride.  I called a buddy of mine a few days earlier to talk about our upcoming ride and he informed me that he would probably not make it down, scared off by the weather forecast... temps in the 40s, rain and snow... c.r.a.p... I already paid $47 for the ride and I already paid for the hotel... Well, at least we can get away to St George for the weekend.  We arrived in St George and the weather was not too bad.  We knew it was supposed to rain AND  be cold, so just after dinner the night before our events, we hit the Big 5 in town for some cold weather tights.  We got back to our room, and, just before bed, I looked out the window to see puddles on the asphalt and raindrops in the puddles.  I thought to myself, "I'll be okay".  I had packed plenty of warm cycling gear.  I did, however, REFUSE to pack my warm weather tights, as if to will the weather to be warmer.  Good thing I bought those tights.  I woke up, ate a small breakfast and roused K Jo so she could get ready for her race.  She opted to sleep in and avoid the nasty weather, so I drove to Hurricane, windshield wipers wiping away as the rain pelted my car.  "I'll be okay" I thought.  I arrived at the designated start, stepped out of my car, into the windy, rainy weather and thought, "This is a bad idea."  I then took my bike off the car, and rode to fill my bottles.  "Hey it's not so bad once you're on the bike" I thought.  As I walked back to my bike after filling my bottles I could hear the MC say something about starting the ride and a mental institution down the road, so I hopped on my bike and followed the cyclists ahead of me.  To make a long story short, I was soaking wet after 5 miles, so wet in fact that the water soaked right through my body and into my bladder, because I had to pee the ENTIRE time I was riding.  At mile 20, I could squeeze my gloves and watch the water stream out.  At this point, we hit an aid station and I finally got a potty break.  Walking to the bathroom was painful.  My feet were so cold I couldn't move my toes and it literally felt like I was walking on pins and needles.  I decided to get on with it, and pedaled away from the aid station.  This ride took us from Hurricane to the entrance of Zion National Park, then back to Hurricane.  I turned around at the park, rode past the aid station and about a mile later, more rain water leaked into my bladder.  Here I was at mile 30.  Cold, soaking wet and I had to pee again.  I was still 20 miles from my car... I gave up... I ducked under a bridge to relieve myself, got on my bike and joined with several others in finishing only 50 miles of a 100 mile ride.  I am not ashamed.  I can't say that I was happy with this ride, but I'm glad I did it.  This was not a good day.