I am married to a cyclist. I've been corrected a few times when I misused the term "biker" (apparently, the difference is a motor). This has never been so apparent as today. But that is only a small portion of the so far both boring and eventful vacation we have had thus far in Omaha.
It all started Wednesday during lunch when Jim tried to pick up David (yes, that's the 80 pound one). Setting him back down, he simply said "ow". By Thursday morning, I was frantically calling every chiropractor in a 50 mile radius trying to get an appointment for my husband who seems to be attracting injuries for this race. We found one in Grant and he went to his 10AM appointment... we had planned on leaving in the "early" morning.
At noon we finally left Ogallala in a white vehicle that is much bigger than our own, borrowing from our friends Nikki and Nate for the race. This wasn't uncomfortable at all until we pulled up to a gas station and the reflection made me do a double take.
We drove through hours of endless construction, making us even later than anticipated.
When we finally made it to town, we had Jim's favorite (Hardee's... great place, but really hard to find something "healthy" on the menu). Ate quickly at the Helzer's apartment than went to the metro college to hear our own Danielle read from her essay that was published in What Teaching Means. I felt kind of artsy, being at a book reading, but of course, I don't often find myself as a friend of an author, so I felt a little extra privileged, too.
I slept in, having woken up to the air mattress being completely empty (I vaguely remember Jim waking up and saying he was going to deflate it. I remember standing next to the bed and wondering why. He actually ended up leaving me on the floor and slept on the couch after that... I remember telling him that was ok).
Went for a nice 2 miler, sticking close to the apartment, just to get a feel for the air around here. I discovered that my "rolling hills" leg of tomorrow's race might suck. I should have done more hill workouts.
Back to being married to a cyclist.
We started out the day as boring as possible. Wal*Mart. Isn't that an exciting place to shop in a bigger city? We thought so.
I can't remember the order, even though we just got back, but we went to lunch somewhere in there and I had a blast at Old Navy. The rest of the stores, if you can catch the theme, were Scheels, Bike Way, Bike Rack and Dicks Sporting Goods. I have this feeling I missed at least one of them. I can't remember at this point. I also called a couple other bike shops, including a Trek shop, to confirm that they didn't sell Peal Izumi... which apparently is THE brand to have as a cyclist. Dear Jim would not be swayed to try anything other than the items he wanted. I saw more pants with padded butts and helmets than I ever want to see again.
And now I sit in the apartment by myself, sometimes saying a word or two to Sampson (the cutest dog in Omaha), as my husband is BACK at the Bike Rack, deciding that he could really buy something not quite what he wanted.
Tonight, if I understand correctly, we are possibly eating at the Blue Planet, and hopefully stopping by Trader Joe's for some race day snacks and such with the Helzer's. I'm hoping to get some get-the-sweat-off-of-my-face wipes whil we are there, as well as some more Burt's Bees facewash. I'll have to tell you the story on that later.
I am having fun with the Helzer's and feel like our time here is already flying by. I was kind of excited to experience the zoo today... but that didn't happen.
Next post will hopefully be tomorrow night, sharing the details of our Market to Market experience!
The zoo is amazing! Have fun with everything!
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