What am I afraid of?

This picture pretty much sums up Saturday in a nutshell. I am terrified as we drop down the 50 foot plunge on Splash Mountain. But I'm absolutely loving it.

For my 28th birthday, Preston gave in to my ridiculous wishes, and took me to Disneyland. Something I've wanted to do since, well, the last time I was there, around seven years ago. I spent several years as a kid going to Disneyland a lot, we lived only 30 minutes away. And lucky for me, my cousins loved to go just as much as I did, so any time they came to visit we'd D-land it up. I remember the day Splash Mountain opened. I was 8 years old and we'd planned this day for a while. My Dad was almost as excited as me, we had to be the first people in the park. So we sat at the opening gates waiting for them to release us, 30 minutes early! My Dad coached me to sprint straight to the ride so we could be first in line. And no joke, I ran my heart out, as fast as I could straight to the mountain. Only to find they were filming a commercial for it. Ahh, I must have fell in love with advertising then, right?

We also discovered the joy of the Fast Pass that day and returned to ride only an hour later. I loved the ride so much, I had to always ride in front. I rode it so many times over the last 2 decades I could time when the picture was taken, which has resulted in some amazing pics with friends (sunglasses, GIO). My other favorite ride was Space Mountain. I was devastaed in 2003 when they closed the ride, so you can bet we waited the torturous 80 minutes in line to ride that sucker on Saturday. And it was just as amazing as before! I think maybe it even got faster and wilder...or maybe that's just me getting old.

What's crazy to me, is that I remember going on these rides repeatedly as a little kid, loving every second and never being afraid. That drop on Splash Mountain, is no joke. It's a straight up 50 foot plunge! You can see my reaction in the picture.

Now what I find even funnier is that crazier things don't scare me at all. Running 6 days straight for 113 miles in the Rockies, no big deal. Riding my bike for 6 hours on a Saturday, no problem! Running hours on trails in Marin, bring it on. I guess with age, your fears all change. Who knew?

Sunday we headed to Malibu State Park to get our trail run on. And in the 90 degree heat, on new, unfamiliar terrain, I welcomed the experience, no fear.

Run on...

Forging Ahead

I can finally run again pain free! More importantly, I can sit with my knee bent without that weird pinching pain that solidified I shouldn't keep running long hard runs, late in September.

I had a bit of an erratic recovery method, choosing to run trails and track every few days as my knee didn't bother me DURING the run, only later as I was sitting trying to plow through emails during the day.

So after a "12" mile run, where I humbly had to walk back the last mile and a half when running downhill was no longer an option, I came clean at my next physical therapy visit. The Doc laughed at me, as I owned up to my guilt at not really letting my knee recover. I finally accepted that running flat and slow was the way to go.

And guess what? He was right! So after only 3 weeks of some flat slow running, no tempo, no hills, no trail, and lots of sumo stretches and foam rolling, I hit the trails last weekend! Now I'm so inspired it's time to map out 2010.

I'm pretending that the rest of 2009 goes swimmingly and that my first foray into the beyond 26.2 in one day territory is a blast. I've gotta have goals, and they always say the best way to achieve them is to write them down.

Here goes:
Kaiser 1/2 Marathon  Feb.7th -  let's try and PR that 1/2 marathon time of mine and beat 1:46. 
Pirates Cove 30k or 50k (gasp!)  now what's a bit of a bummer here, is that the date was tentatively Mar 7 until today, now it's tentativel March 20. See next line as to why this could be a bummer.
Oceanside 70.3 - March 27th - PR on my 1/2 time, it just gets better every time! beat last year's 6:24
maaaaybe a Wildflower 1/2 in May, but this is dependent on Team Preston doing another race that weekend
The Dipsea!  - June 13th - I better friggin get in, and run fast enough to not worry about this silly lottery business.
Boulder 5430 aka 70.3 - August 8th
Trans Rockies Run again!-  Late August

Dear Monique,

An acquaintance through the tri-community was in a very terrible bike v. car accident last week. I found out about it Wednesday afternoon. I've been thinking about her and a strong recovery every day. If I could visit her, this is what I'd say:

Dear Monique,

I am so very sorry to hear about this accident. Everyone knows you don't deserve this. It's scary how quickly something crazy, like a minivan turning left into the sunlight, can change everything in an instant.

What you do deserve is some serious strength for a healthy, strong and fast recovery. You deserve to know that everyone is pulling for you. Even people who don't know you, or people like me, who don't know you that well. There are over 20 followers on your blog, which started last night. I've been blogging for a year and have 7 followers. For someone who's not on Facebook, you have a lot of fans...253 at last count. This is only a fraction of the testament to how much we are all cheering for you!

I know you are incredibly strong. You are a bad ass and always have been. I've seen you on the bike, I've seen you race. You are determined. You won't accept less than success! In fact, many of my most memorable races, you were there. Miles ahead of me, but pushing strong, and always cheering everyone else on. I would see you heading back towards the finish, as I was out towards the turn around, at Santa Barbara, at Oceanside, at Wildflower, at Coeur D'Alene. You inspired me to push harder!

I rode this weekend in the Headlands, did hill repeats as I attempt to get stronger on the climbs. I thought of you and the advice you gave me once in trying to work on my cycling strength. I sent some good vibes your way. I hope you're getting them.

I ran yesterday. I thought of how lucky we all are to do these incredible things we do, in this beautiful place we live in. I thought of you, recovering, taking away your pain. I sent you some more good vibes from the trail. I hope you got those too.


- Your humble fan, Lara

A Blog for Monique: http://moniquepetrov.blogspot.com/
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Monique-Petrov/163668823942?ref=ts