cycling

Weekend in DC

| cheriarmour

So guess what I’m doing right now?

I texted Chelsie (the woman who not only convinced me to take a pregnancy test back in December cause she knows what’s up, but who has been an absolute guru throughout this process), and I asked her if she knew of a way to make something more loafy, and less cakey.  She gave me an answer before she was like, “wait…what are you doing…” and I confessed that I really wanted to eat Funfetti.  She encouraged me to just make funfetti, but we did find a recipe for fufetti banana bread, which is either going to be really disgusting or awesome.  I will let you know.

I spent last weekend (kinda a gross weekend, weather-wise) in DC.  I’m still working on convincing Austin that we need to move there.  Lately, I’ve been thinking that it may be a cool place to raise an interracial child.  Not that Raleigh is a bad place, Raleigh is actually pretty progressive, but I think a big move one of these years may be in the cards for us.

On Friday, I drove up and went straight to the Rent the Runway storefront, which they have in DC, and New York City.  I had to pick something up for a gala I was attending since all of my stuff fits pretty snug.  The girl was very sweet – I told her that I just needed something in my size.  She brought out a few choices and I think I went with something I found already in the dressing room from the shopper before.

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The store was cool – you pick something, and they run back and grab it in your size for you to rent, similarly to the website.  It was a godsend for me.

After that, I drove to my friend Jeff’s, and we Uber-ed over to the gala.  I met Katie Couric, and I really wanted to stick around and chat with her longer, but suffice it to say that she was a lovely, lovely woman with a really sharp sense of humor.  I hope our paths cross again, because she was just that fantastic.  And little!  Everyone is so much shorter in person than you think!

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I hate hate hate flats on fancy occasions, but felt good in them since my feet were kind of exhausted.  If I could live in workout clothes, I totally would!

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Leading up to the weekend, Jeff and I had planned to go to Soul Cycle on Saturday morning with friends. The first time I’d gone, I was a little mehhh on it. The class itself was really good, but I’d gone in Georgetown, and it was a very homogeneous crowd, which made me really uncomfortable, almost as if there was some purposeful reason that there were no people of color there.  This time, I went to the Mt. Vernon location, technically Chinatown, and it was FULL of people of color.  We actually went to a Beyonce vs. Rihanna class on Sunday, and it was probably about half black people, Asians, and Indians.  It was so, SO cool to be in a place where black women are working out, and I was right in the thick of it!

By the way, check out the way that Soul tricks you into leaving your phone in your locker.

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We need this at the Y. There was a woman sipping a coffee and checking her phone the entire class again this morning until I really turned the heat up. The rest of the class can thank that woman for how much I beat up on them today.

Saturday evening, I met up with Scott (who’s been mentioned a few times here), and he took me to the coolest little party, a bourbon tasting party.  I sipped on water with the other pregnant girl, and we actually had a blast.  And Sunday, we met up with even more friends for brunch at some amazing bread and cheese place.  DC has zero shortage of good places to eat.

Sunday evening, after another Soul class (the Beyonce vs Rihanna class), my check engine light came on, despite the fact I had just taken the car in for maintenance on Tuesday.  After a few calls to my poor husband (who probably was panicking with his pregnant wife wandering around the city with a broken car), we decided to get the car towed to the dealership in Alexandria.

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The tow truck driver was really kind, and I rode down with him to the dealership, and then caught an Uber to a nearby hotel. Long long story short, the car had some sort of valve issues that made it not super drive-able, and on Monday, instead of working from work, I worked from Centerline Digital, where I’d met a friend for lunch.

Side note about that – the people from Centerline were ridiculously nice to me, and they had no reason to be.  In addition to my friend, Andrew, multiple people, after hearing what had happened with my car, offered for me to sit in a conference room or an office to work there, instead of finding my way to another coffee shop with all of my bags.  I am so thankful for that.  That’s kinda southern hospitality, right?

So how was your weekend?  

Athletes foot. ON MY HANDS.

| cheriarmour

It’s been a really long time since I’ve talked about gross things that can befall you when you go to the gym.  Mainly because that stuff doesn’t faze me as much as it should, and because I want to encourage you guys to work out, not scare you off.

With working out, you are, for the most part doing something awesome for yourself.  But the nature of doing things that involve sweat and being in close quarters with someone else means that sometimes, really gross things happen to you.  You catch a cold, pinkeye, you rub the skin out from under your bra, you start to be able to smell yourself when you wait just a smidge too long after your workout to take a shower…you get it. [Side note: every. single. one. of the above. has happened to me.]

So, a few weeks ago, my palms began to itch.  First off, in Haiti, that’s a good thing.  It means you’re coming into money, which I’m totally fine with.  And one time, my palms starting itching really badly before I got a new job, so I knew something good was going to happen.

Then I figured it was just my acne medication.  After years of battling with problem skin, I’m still using Proactiv even though I’m no longer 16 and it’s sort of expensive.

After a few days of the itchy palms, I looked down, and saw this.

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It appeared that my skin was peeling.  And it got much worse than this.  Like way worse. I backed off, tried to apply the Proactiv with my fingertips, and even tried to crowdsource the info.  Which is disgusting and TMI, but I couldn’t get an appointment with Ginger, my dermatologist forEVER.

It wasn’t until one of the trainers wandered into my office a few mornings ago that it started to click. She pointed out that it seemed to stem from an area around my wrists, which meant that it might be related to something I’d touched with both hands.

Something I’d touched with both hands….what do I touch with both hands? A SPIN BIKE FOR MY WEDNESDAY MORNING CLASSES?!

I’d picked up a fungus from a spin bike.

After I figured that out, it was pretty much an easy fix – I bought a few tubes of lotramin and some spa gloves and it was cleared up within a week. But talk about gross/embarrassing?

What the heck gym? I thought we were cool! And then you betray me?

So in addition to strep-pinkeye-chafing-bacne…you can count Athlete’s Foot not on your feet as one of the perks of your gym membership.

I really don’t want to hear about what you’ve picked up from the gym if I’m being completely honest.  Instead, please share with me what you ate for breakfast this morning!

I think I “ate” a smoothie made with old frozen berries, Trop 50, some Whole Foods protein powder, and a handful of spinach!

Flywheel

| cheriarmour

I tried something new today.  Raleigh recently has exploded with apartment buildings, new exercise crazes, and everything that comes when your semi-small town becomes legitimate as a city.

It’s sort of cool – we had our first Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon last year, which solidified the city’s place in my mind as a real thing.  But I feel for some of the older folks, who really don’t care for or understand why the city is taking on this monstrous new life.

But I digress.

A friend of mine who lives in Brooklyn had been telling me about this thing called Soul Cycle, and how I had to try it.  Unfortunately, Raleigh has not quite caught onto that, but caught onto something called FlyWheel, a class-phenomenon that seems to be some type of relative of Soul Cycle.

Now that I blog, I feel like it’s my duty and obligation to try everything, whereas before, I was kind of in a workout lane – I liked my Zumba and my running, my cycling sometimes, mixed in with a little hot yoga, so this was a new frontier for me.

Flywheel

So, I walk into the studio, and first, I was set up by a really friendly guy, George, on the computer to check in.  Because I had already picked out a bike (the bikes were set up in a sort of stadium seating thing – think concert seating), my complimentary shoes were already pulled in my size, and George chatted with me for a few minutes, showing me showers, lockers, clean towels, and a fancy water machine.

A few minutes later, the door to this dark, almost move theatre-type room opened, and I was ushered in by George himself.  George adjusted my bike to my height, helped me clip into my bike, and I started pedaling away in prep for the class.

The teeniest little girl from Atlanta hopped into the instructor bike, introduced herself, explained what the numbers on the bike meant – torque, power, and RPMs, and off we went.

The experience was a number of things.  It was scary competitive – where you stood amongst your peers was projected on a screen at the front of the room, and I consistently toggled between the first and second places in the class, something that I killed myself to do.  The room was set up like a stadium, a little different from the rooms I’m used to at the Y, and the room was very dark.  It made for a different experience.  In a sense because it was dark, you felt like you were doing your own ride, and it felt a little like a party, similar to when your Zumba instructor flips off the lights and cranks the music so that you feel like you’re at the club.  The class felt very New York, and this was a very different experience than you’ll get at a lot of places down here in the south.

A few things I wasn’t too keen on?  For one, the price of the class was steep – at $21 a class, this stacks up as the most expensive group fitness class I’ve ever taken in Raleigh thus far.  Granted, the facility is gorgeous and you get free towels and access to a beautiful shower facility, but I have a hard time paying that much for something.  That is the equivalent of about 5 really pricy coffees at Starbucks, and nearly 3 bottles of Essie at Target.  I also feel a little bit funny about workouts that are that priced that steeply.  It makes working out really inaccessible and creates this elitist mentality about the workout.  If only rich women who wear fancy workout clothing can do the workout, are you creating a barrier to non-rich women to ever try the sport?  And lastly, the class was so fast-paced, that there was not a huge focus on safety and form.

So – my verdict?

Definitely mixed.  I will have to try this again, but I would definitely suggest that if you have one of these FlyWheel facilities near your home, you try it and let me know what you think.  Do you love it?  Think it’s weird?  Would you do it more than once?  Let me know!

Garmin 610 Surprise

| cheriarmour

Do you guys ever find out your technology can do something you didn’t know it could do?

With my Garmin, I learn something new like every day with that thing.

Garmin 610

So when I first got it two birthdays ago, I used to primarily to run, and nothing else.  Because I got it as a gift for my birthday, and I didn’t pay the $300 some-odd for it, it never occurred to me to use the crap out of it and get my money’s worth.  It wasn’t until I started training for my 789 half marathons I’m doing that I figured out I could use it for intervals, and a bunch of other cool stuff.

P1160237So over the weekend on Fripp, I got it in my head to get some beach cruisers so we could ride around, see the island some more, and get our exercise in for the day.

For some reason, it popped into my head that the Garmin 610 could be used for cycling as well.  I’m not sure where I’d heard that, because I never read instructions, but after literally like 30 seconds of playing with the watch, I figured out how to put it into cycling mode, and was able to use it while we cruised.  Now it was only a 5 mile ride, but it was awesome to be able to see what other amazing things the watch could do!

Ever found out that your technology can do something incredible?

Cycling Carrie Bradshaw.

| cheriarmour

So, if you’ve been following, we lost my grandmother last week.  It’s been hard, even logistically speaking, to get my runs and my workouts in, especially when we we had to make flights and travel plans last minute.  I’m desperately trying to balance working out with real life, and as of last week, it’s become tricky.

Despite the fact that it’s gotten a little hard to squeeze in the physical activity (especially considering that I have a marathon in less than 6 weeks,) let alone some of my shorter runs.  I’m trying.  I’m desperately trying to make all of this work.

So Saturday, after the funeral, I took a little bit of time to decompress and to figure out what I could do after spending some of the day on a plane, and the rest in a heightened emotional state.

The Z Hotel Opening Night 6/21/11 Long Island City, NY www.naskaras.com

I was really sort of surprised when I saw what hotel my dad had picked for us to stay in. Not that my dad is, by any means, a lame or anything, but it was so cool, and so hip that I was pleasantly surprised.  My parents are more the Charleston crowd, so this was a little different for them.

Queensboro

Like this was our view. This photo was taken, no filter, with my iPhone, of the Queensboro bridge into Long Island City. Not bad, right?

Anyhoo, so following the service, and the fact that I felt worn down from that, and from sitting around all day, I decided to figure out something I could do to get the blood pumping.  I pulled out that little hotel binder of info, and found out the hotel had some hipster bikes they loaned to guests.  So I google mapsed the nearest Starbucks, and got in the bike lane.

I felt, like absolutely overjoyed for 2 seconds.  I pulled my locs out of their little like hair tie thingie, and let the breeze blow them around.  I even smiled a bit.  Woo-hoo!  I’m Carrie Bradshaw, but with a bike!  And in Queens!  And then the terror set in.  It’s not my city, and I have never, never ridden in a bike lane with traffic before.  So yeah, I was a little terrified.  But black Carrie made it alllll the way to Manhattan for some snacks for us and my brother, and I came back, alive and well to tell the tale, and dang glad I did it.

Will I ever be a cyclist? Probably not, because I’m an absolute weenie, but it sure was fun to play one for a while.

OMG I JUST HATE RUNNERS/CYCLISTS WHY WON’T THEY JUST GO AWAY!

| cheriarmour

Okay real life first.  I attended a very lovely wedding today of some close friends of ours.  It was unique in that, 1, they did it at a neighborhood bar/cafe, and 2, they did it on a Sunday.  It was a lovely time, and it’s wonderful to get some ideas for our upcoming nuptials.

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The favors were super cute, personalized pint glasses, and the company was divine. Congrats to the happy couple!

Moving right along. 

The issue with cyclists/runners came up last week when a good friend asked a legitimate questions about whether cyclists had to abide by the same rules that cars did.  (Absolutely yes).  Another friend, (this took place on Facebook,) sort of jokingly commented that all cyclists were idiots and that they should get off the road.

All jokes aside, this sentiment is not a rare one.  The following was a huge deal in Raleigh, after a local morning DJ made some nasty comments about local cyclists.

“On September 22 and 23 of 2003, Dumas encouraged listeners to call in and relate stories about how they terrorized bicyclists. In the course of that show, he said that he kept empty bottles in his vehicle so that he could throw them at cyclists. [2] These statements caused protests from the local community,[3] who successfully lobbied for an official resolution that the capital of the state was friendly to bicyclists[4] and convinced some local businesses to pull their advertising. Bob was suspended for two days and station management aired an apology.[5] Eventually a compromise was reached between the community and station management.[6]” 

And folks wonder why I literally hate morning radio with such a passion.

The point is, cyclists and runners alike aren’t looked upon favorably by non-runners and cyclists.  I get it, there are some folks who act like a-holes when they get on bikes and go for a run.  Don’t follow the rules.  But the majority of us follow the rules, and generally just don’t want to be killed by a driver who’s texting their friends on the way to work.

The Accident

About a year ago, I was coming home from a party around 1 am, and I happened upon a cyclist who’d been hit by a car.  The car had clearly left the scene, and he lay in shock while a few of us tried to figure out what to do.  He was doing what he was supposed to.  He was wearing a helmet, had a blinky on his bike, and was riding in a well-lit, well-populated area.  As it turns out, the driver was driving without a license, and was impaired when she hit him and left the scene.  Poor guy was in shock, and I believe he survived, but broke his leg and got 70+ stitches out of the deal.

Cyclists + Runners

All this said, most of us cyclists, walkers, and runners are doing what we can.  We wear our bright clothing, follow the rules of the road, turn down our iPods, and pay attention,  And at least once a run, I’m forced to give folks the “what the hell!” hands because they’re flying out of a right turn so quickly that had not jumped out of the way, I’d be a goner.  The few of us that act like a bunch of wieners don’t represent us as a whole.

So please, please, if we follow our rules, 

  • Put down the cell phones.  Usually when I almost get run over, it’s because someone is texting, or dialing a call out of their phone.  It’s illegal in most of the Northeast, but we know that the South doesn’t always catch onto these things quickly.  So be proactive, and put it down.  ESPECIALLY those of you with kids in the backseat.  Seriously, what the heck are you teaching your kids?  And how is that safe?
  • Be careful pulling out of your driveway. 
  • Likewise with the right turns.  Please resist the urge to slam out of the neighborhood, doing 50.
  • Be aware, especially if you’re driving a newer car or a hybrid, that we can’t hear you coming.  They manufacture those cars to be quiet, which is fancy and great, but we can’t hear you, so be cool coming around curves and coming out of your driveway.
  • Obeying the speed limit is crucial, especially in pedestrian heavy areas.  That way, if you do hit someone, death isn’t eminent.

 

I don’t want to die during a run. That’s not how I pictured it going down. So I don’t care if you saw a cyclist being a jerk in Cary once. I don’t care if you don’t get why they can’t just ride their 30 miles in a cul-de-sac somewhere. I don’t care if you don’t understand why runners don’t always opt to find a greenway. It doesn’t matter. It literally does not matter. Share the road, and avoid a situation where we’re reading an avoidable obit in local news.

The story behind my thinking glasses. (The Tifosi Vogel Chronicles)

| cheriarmour

Right by our desks at work is a Tifosi sunglass display.  And I’ve been known to, when I’m having a little trouble focusing on things at work, pluck one particular lens off the display, the Vogel, and continue my work.  The glasses have been known to improve my focus, help my dance moves, and least important of all of these, shield my eyes from the sun when it starts to blind us from reflecting off the cars.  So imagine my shock and horror, when, after the lenses hadn’t sold for a few months, the Tifosi representative came to take them and ship them back to Tifosi.  I nearly cried, until he gave me the glasses as long as I promised to hustle some Tifosi.

So today was the latest in the morning I’ve run in about a month, and look at what sort of weather we’re having!

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Purrfect! Meow, I like it!  Except, about 5 miles in, I had to hang a loop back to my apartment to fetch the thinking glasses because I was squinting so hard in the gorgeous weather.

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Is that Jennifer Lopez?

Nope. It’s me!  (And I look completely naked from this angle, but I promise I’m not).  So the important stuff.  What is the difference between an expensive pair of running/cycling sunglasses like these ones and a big cool pair from Target?  Something from Target may look super cool, but a lens from the twirly thing in Target is missing some key elements that you need from a running/cycling pair, like this Tifosi one.  First, it’s not going to hug your face.  If you’re going to be active, you need a lens that sort of wraps around, the way a race car driver’s would.  Second, this lens has hydrophillic rubber at the temple and at the nose that prevents the lens from slipping and sliding all over the place.  I’m pretty sure those parts are adjustable too, but I’m not that handy, and I don’t feel like breaking a tool out.  It feels fine to me!  But when you run in a regular lens, they generally won’t have that piece, and they’ll slide down your nose and flop all over your ears.  Third, this lens will block the wind, which is pretty important for you lucky ducks with regular eyes. For those of you with contacts and allergies like me, wind blockage is key to prevent dry contact syndrome in the middle of your run.  And finally, these lenses are vented. In regular people terms, that means that they won’t fog up, which is a biggie, especially when you’re sweating and breathing all heavy.

The best part about all of this?  You can find a pair that doesn’t look dumb.  So save the cute Ray-Bans and the cheap Target glasses for the beach, and hit your runs (or cycles) with one of these sturdy pairs!