Back in Orlando

Whew, since when is 12 hours of traveling considered a rest day?

I got back home from Kona on a redeye Friday morning with a 40-mile bike ride and a 2100-yard swim to do later that day. On Saturday was a hard effort 20-mile bike ride followed by 3 mile brick run, and in the evening a Kids House charity fundraiser event. Sunday, a 60-mile bike ride, then later a 2000-yard swim.

But you know which was the toughest for me?

Yep, getting dressed up and wearing high heeled shoes for 5 hours at the charity event. Man, am I out of shape for that!

The fun thing, though, was that it was a creative black tie event with a sports theme. Namely, people wore sports-related things in addition to or in lieu of the usual black tie stuff. Lots of guys wearing sports jerseys with their suits & tuxes; women with ball caps and nice dresses. I accessorized with a race belt, race number and my 2003 Boston Marathon medal :-) Dave wore sneakers and his Duke Blue Devils tie.

This year's live band was World Classic Rockers, comprised of former members of Journey, Steppenwolf, Santana, Toto, Boston and Lynyrd Skynyrd. They played a bunch of rock songs that everyone knew and really got the place hopping. It was all for a great cause -- to help abused children -- so worth sore feet and some lost sleep, right?

Besides, I still managed to get all my workouts done (week 7 of Base Building):

Swim - 4 (6300 yds, incl. a swim lesson)
Bike - 4 (156.95 mi, 2 speed workouts & 2 endurance rides)
Run - 3 (21.97, one 12-miler and two brick runs off the bike)
Strength - 0 (none this week to allow for more swimming)

Today, thank goodness, is a rest day ...

I'll be catching up on my blog reading after my nap. Good luck to everyone running the Boston Marathon today!

Kids House Fundraiser

Last night MarathonChris and I swapped out our running shoes for dress shoes to attend a fundraiser for Kids House of Seminole, a local charity that provides services to help abused children. It was a triathlon of sorts: a formal dinner, an auction and then a concert. During the transitions, there was socializing.

I wore a dress, which I rarely do, and had the opportunity to experience a few new things:

1. Eat beets (what the heck, they were on the plate)
2. Find out how a silent auction worked
3. Hear people bid nearly $10K for a weekend getaway to the Bahamas (note to self: do NOT lift arm to itch head or give toasts during live auctions!)
4. See folks wearing tuxes, suits and nice dresses along with sneakers, ball caps, ballgame jerseys, and other things usually seen at sports games.

Yes, the invitation had said "creative black tie" and folks were encouraged to show team spirit, but Dave and I had no idea what that meant.

Team Spirit? You mean company team? We were to be sitting at a table bought by his company, after all.

So we went traditional, just to be safe. And thanks to a friend, I didn't have to go out and buy another dress that I'd only wear once, maybe twice. She knows I don't like shopping and kindly offered to loan it to me. Thanks Kelly!

Funny thing, though, it's actually a black dress with a red liner. But since the black fabric is really sheer, the camera flash made the black nearly disappear. Good thing the dress was fully lined!

After dinner and the auction, we were entertained by Three Dog Night. Whoa, what a blast from the past ...

We decided to finish strong and took to the dance floor. I wasn't a big fan of the band when I was younger but recognized many of their songs. They were the ones who sang this?

The band came back for one encore song, Joy to the World, and then the pain set in. Four and a half hours in high heels had not bothered the cut on my heel much but the balls of my feet now felt the size of melons. I walked back to our car as slow as after running a marathon. No medal earned but the event looked to have been a huge success.

Hooray for the kids!!