Time to Start Eating Like I'm training for an Ironman

So, A couple of weeks ago I decided to pack all my lunches and no longer order take out.  The goal is to save money and calories.  I was given good advice when it comes to making nutritional changes.  Focus on one thing at a time:  don't try to eat in more, reduce processed foods, cut out all sugars, and eat all veggies all in one day.  Take one thing, focus on changing that for a month.  Then take another thing and focus on changing that habit.  So right now I'm focusing on eating out (as stated in my first sentence).

I've started packing lunches.  I realized that this shouldn't be difficult because most of the time when I buy my lunch in the loop I buy a simple sandwich which is either ham or turkey with cheese.  So for that reason I've tried to imitate that lunch at work.  I bring to work bread, cold cuts, Cheese and then small bag of chips and carrots.  As I chose this combo because the fact of the matter is I love Jimmy Johns.  I'm trying to imitate Jimmy John's by making my sandwich on a nice roll that i've bought from the bakery section of the grocery store.  I've been doing this for 3 weeks now and I must say, I've been saving TONS of money.  Most of you are probably saying "Wow, I thought she was a smart girl. How did it take her this long to figure out that she can save money by packing her lunch".  I always knew it, but I just have never actually done it before.

As for dinner this is a challenge that is a little harder.  We tend to eat take out a lot and also eat out a lot.  I've told myself that take out is not an option anymore.  As for actually going and sitting at a restaurant, I'm not really changing that at all.  I generally eat out because it's an organized event for work, I'm traveling or it's an occasion for a friend.  When I eat out, because i'm trying to save money I tend to make sure I have enough to bring home for lunch the next day. It doesn't always work out but i'm trying.  I will keep you updated on how it goes.

Important Announcement, I have decided I will race Ironman Wisconsin. Oh and my High Cliff Half race report.

Before I get into the race report from this weekends half ironman I need to explain something: 

Two weeks ago I had to make some changes.  When I signed up for Ironman again I was a little lost about my goals and eventually said "I must be faster than last year".  I was 4 months into IM training and I was just irritated and annoyed and frustrated and at times I hated training. There was a week when I seriously considered walking away from Ironman Wisconsin and just becoming a normal person and enjoying my summer in Chicago.  I just wasn't having any fun and I was sick of feeling bad about myself after workouts because it wasn't going a certain way.  Everything voice in my head was a criticism of every action I took, either I wasn't running fast enough, or I couldn't climb a hill fast enough, or I didn't go to sleep early enough or I was eating the wrong foods or I should have done one more set in the pool, etc. Every criticism you can imagine I was saying to myself at one point or another before, during and after workouts.  

3 weeks ago I randomly I decided to read Lance Amstrong's book "It’s Not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life”.  I picked it up at the local Lincoln Square book store because there was yet another pro cyclist claiming they had witnessed Lance doping.  I figured I should actually learn something about the guy so I could figure out how I felt about him and the doping accusations.  Well, I had no idea that I would read a book that would bring me to tears (of both joy and sadness).  Lance left no detail out of the memoir that explains his fight against cancer, the in vitro fertilization process he went through with his wife afterward, the sponsors that never gave up on him and his fight to get back on the bike, find joy in the riding, and actually want to get back on the bike and be a pro again.  He eventually took on the goal of the tour de France. We all know that he went on to win 7 Tour de Frances.  Reading about the fight that Lance went through, the period when he quit riding, then the decision to get back on the bike and try and get picked up by a team again was beyond motivating. I’ve been thinking a lot about that book.  I can’t put my finger on exactly why it struck a chord with me.  I guess it’s just pretty motivating to read about a guy trying to ride a bike while recovering from his 2^nd round a chemo.  Or it’s motivating to read that Lance had doubts about himself, that he wasn’t just some pro athlete with the world at his finger tips.  Who knew he would even faster after he came back from cancer.  He actually had a lot of internal struggles before he was able to get back on the bike.  We all know that he went on to win 7 Tour de Frances.  I just find peace knowing that an athlete such as Lance wasn’t always a winner and that at times even he wanted to walk away. He had to fight.  He didn’t always love the bike, he even quit riding for a time and said he didn’t want to be a professional racer.  Understanding someone else’s struggles helps me face my own.  It’s empowering. 

So I was in the middle of reading this book and also was realizing that I wasn’t having fun training.  Like I explained earlier, I was just frusterated.  So I made a decision, my new goal was to HAVE FUN.  Now, part of me feels like I'm giving up on a goal.  I did consider that, but I also say that I don’t want to spend a summer not enjoying racing.  I have enough frustrations in my job and then normal life stresses that I don’t want racing to turn into another stress area.  I don’t want to make drama over something that I should be doing to enjoy myself.  I’m spending every weekend, all my free time training for this thing and by golly if it’s not fun then I don’t want to do it.   There is also a reality of this situation:  I'm never going to be an elite or professional athlete.  That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to be better or improve myself.  It also does mean though that I should have fun.  Shut, I spend EVERY weekend out riding my bike or running and swimming.  If I’m spending time away from other goals and friends and people I love then I need to be enjoying this. 

So I decided I would change my mindset and if I couldn’t change my mind set then I would walk away.  I went out and rode Madison a week and a half before my race and tried to see if the new mindset was in effect.   Long story short, it was the most fun I’ve had riding in a long time.  I was also flying, but that is not the point.  The point is I was smiling and laughing and having fun.  On the way home I decided that High Cliff Half Ironman would be the deciding factor about weather I would keep going or walk away.  I told myself that the finish line was when I would decide. The moment I crossed the finish line I would say if I was doing Ironman Wisconsin or if I would walk away and abandon the race.   If you are an endurance athlete you will understand why that moment had to be the moment of decision. As an endurance athlete we have a tendency to feel one thing during a race and then all of a sudden, two hours afterward we have a completely different feeling and interpretation of what happened. We're not trying to lie to ourselves, it just happens.  We tend to gloss over a lot of things.   I didn’t want to give myself room to negotiate with myself or to think about all the side effects of my decision.  It had to me the finish line.  

Tuesday before the race my coach proactively sent me an email asking me if I was “ready” for my half.  Was I ready to race what could be possibly my last race of the season?  Was I ready to make a decision about the rest of my summer?  She didn’t have any feedback for my plan other than to read it over and over between then and the race.  I hadn’t told my coach that I was thinking about pulling out of IM Wisconsin.  I actually hadn’t told anyone about my plan to decide at the finish line.  I wrote her back and told her I was struggling but that I would write her a race plan soon.  Wednesday rolled around and I decided to finaly write out a plan.  I wrote out EVERY little detail.  I even wrote out what songs I would listen to on the ride up, what time I would call Monkey, How much water I would drink with dinner, adding salt to food, EVERYTHING.  If this was going to be my last race I was going to make the plan iron clad strong.   She didn’t have any feedback for my plan other than to read it over and over between then and the race.  

I left Chicago on Friday at 12:45.  The drive up was lots of fun.  I enjoyed my awesome playlist (lots of Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Perl Jam, Eminem, Rage, that type of stuff).  I talked to my brother for a little while and then also ate my awesome lunch that I had packed (2 turkey sandwiches on wheat sliced bread (Turkey and Havarti cheese w/ light mayo) and pretzels, 1/2 banana and 24 oz water

at 4 pm: ate luna bar).  For this race I had actually made all my meals ahead of time, even my dinner.  I didn’t want to mess with going out to eat, this was all about me and racing.  When I got close to town I actually drove the course.  I found that there were a few hills, some definite LONG falst flats and then most enjoyably a wind farm.  It’s always nice to find a windfarm in the middle of a bike course.  Below is a picture I took (yes Mom, while driving).  

  

Then I went over to a friend of a friends to get a quick swim in.  High Cliff State Park charges $7 a car to get into the park and thie friend lived really close to the park on the lake.  I swam for 15 minutes, the water was the perfect water temp.  Not to cold but not warm enough where I would be sweating in my suit.  Then I left, checked in and got number and then went to hotel.  At this time it was 6:00.  I dropped bike off in car and then went and grabbed two water jugs from gas station store.  Then I came back to hotel room and had dinner (I made it and brought it with me in case I didn't have time to go out to dinner, I'm glad I did) Wheat spaghetti (Butter, salt and pepper and garlic seasoning) with Grilled Chicken on it with a homemade brownie for dessert. Then I finished packing my bags and got in bed, lights were out by 9 and I was asleep by 10.  

4 AM came quickly.  I got to the race site at 5:45, PERFECT timing.  I got everything set up, and then headed down to the start to get a warm up swim in.  I was hanging out with another woman.  She had raced this course many times and she gave me some pointers.  She warned me about the wind, she said it’s relentless and even though it’s 10 miles off the lake out on the course it will be more like 20.  She expecially warned me not to get frusterated on the way back on the bike course when I looked down and I was only going 15 mph and that it was simply the 3 mile false flat that has you going up hill and into the wind.  To quote her “It comes at a shi$#y time on the course when you want to be off the bike anyway, but just suck it up and forget about it ‘cause once you get off the bike you still have to climb that high cliff”.  Talking to her was fun.  She actually went on to win her age group so I was happy I was taking advice from her.   

My wave started and I felt good. The swim course was a triangle.  I did what I had planned to do, just counted strokes.  I ended up doing 10 on each side and then switching to breath on the other side.  I felt good I was out of the water in 34 minutes, a nice solid 1.2 mile swim.  I ran up the hill and hit t1 and then got on my bike.  The bike starts with an immediate climb up to the top of the cliff (big hill, hence why it's called High Cliff Half), then it's one loop that takes you down Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin.  My HR was high for the first 10 minutes of the bike, it started going down, I just focused on getting in a zone.  The majority of the course we were in a cross wind.  The woman at the race start had been right.  There were times when I was flying, but other times when I was working really hard and simply going really really slow.  That’s the fun thing about wind.  It will do that to you.  Instead of focusing on the time or my speed I focused on my cadence (above 85 rpms) and my nutrition plan.  I was keeping on my nutrition to the minute.   Each bottle had 2 scoops gatorade and 4 scoops carbo pro so 600 calories and 400 mg sodium.  I drank 1/2 water bottle per hour and 3 salt tabs an hour.  Then I had to drink my speedfill within  2 1/2 hours.  I stopped to pee in the woods around mile 40.  I just couldn't get pee on the bike (i'm trying but there weren't any of the downhills that I had on madison to get it out).  I hit t2 and said, ok, this is when you will keep it together, this is when you start to have some fun. 

I came into t2 and it just seemed slow.  The run course started with a huge hill and then you did two loops of a train run.  The train run had some false flats and a couple of small hills but for the most part it was flat.  I came out of t2 and jogged and started running up the hill.  My heart rate was really high (zone 4) so I walked for 2/3rd of the hill up the cliff.  .  I timed it, 6:30 to get myself up the huge hill.   Yeh, that’s why the race is called High Cliff Half ironman.   While I was walking up the hill I told myself it was worth it and that the goal was to run the entire two loops.  I got up to the top and started jogging.  My legs didnt feel great but I just repeated, "you will loosen up, Liz loosened up in her race,  you will too, you know this".  Low and behold, I hit mile 3 and I felt great.  I started running with a guy.  We ran together and kept each other going till the end of the first loop where he told me to go ahead.  As for  nutrition, I took a gu around mile 1 and also took a water cup with it at the aid station.  At mile 4 I took two salt tabs.  I also had with me a 8 oz fuel belt water with the carbo pro/gatorade mix.  I refilled it at loop 2 with water so I had something for when I wanted it.  I also took another gu at mile 7.  Around mile 8 I got a side stitch.  I ran and messaged it for a little while, then I walked and took 2 salt tabs.  As soon as I swallowed them I made myself start running.  I was slow but it eventually went away.  At mile 9 I asked a guy if he wanted to run together.  We started talking, it made the next miles go by, I was cruising till mile 10 hit and then it got hard.  I had been taking water at every aid station, walking through em.  At the last one I put some of there gatorade in it to give me some salt.  My legs were sore but I wouldn't stop.  I was repeating all sorts of random stuff, lyrics to songs, quotes from movies, things from Lance’s book.  I thought about Lance and his chemo. I also told myself  that the fight is beautiful and I was going to show the world that I was beautiful.  I also said that I will decide how I walk away from this race and only me.  That’s what we do, we have to talk to ourselves out there to get us through.  I'm coaching myself to keep going.  I told myself that I do NOT negotiate with pain.  As much as it hurt, I couldn’t help but smile.  I had been running the entire time, I had met two new people and cheered on other people on the course.  Random people had cheered me on, telling me I looked great.  A little girl even yelled “go runner” as I passed.  How awesome is that.  It hurt, but I wasn’t letting that manage me, I was in control of MY race, the pain did not control me.  Plus, I was in a really beautiful part of Wisconsin.  

Mile 11 came and all of a sudden I just picked it up.  I looked down and I was running 9:30's (fast for me).  I told myself I would be out of the the woods before I knew it and that I just needed to keep myself going till I got out of the woods.  We came up to the mile 12 sign and I said, ok, you will be out of the woods and running down the hill to the finish line before you know it.  I was also attempting to pull away from the guy.  He was right behind me, I could hear him.    I told myself that I would go across the finish line before him and that he couldn't beat me.  I came out of the woods and started running down the long hill.  It hurt at first, I resisted the downhill.  Then I just said, lean forward and embrace it and I did.  On the downhill I looked at my garmin and my pace was 8:30's.  I hit the bottom of the hill and realized I had another 250 yards to run to the finish line (well that's what the volunteer told me).  At that point I had pulled away from the guy and was at least 25 yards ahead of him. I told myself to keep up a fast pace through the finish line and I think I was pacing 9:30.  I crossed the finish line and just yells “YAHHHHHHHH”  In my head I said “there is no way in hell I’m not racing Ironman Wisconsing”.  I just continued to smile at the finish line.  It was awesome.  I can’t describe it.   There is something about knowing that I went out on the course and just did it, I pushed myself.  I had given everything and left nothing in my reserve and it felt great.  I stayed in control.  Even at times when I would have collapsed before ( ie, when I got the side stitch) I firced myself to work through it and overcome it.  That’s why racing is so fun.  Yeh, it’s fun to have PRs and it’s awesome to be really really fast, but it’s also awesome to do a race and just know that you did your best.  

In terms of my time, I had a 6:17.  I managed to get 3^rd in the Athena division.  My PR for a half is 5:54.  I got that at the Sprit of Racine in 2009.  Comparing it to my racine course time it's slow, but this course is very different than racine.  I'm very very very happy the results. Other than the side stitch I had no nutritional issues.  My bike was not super fast, but we were either into the wind or with a cross wind for pretty much the entire course.   Plus it's hillier than the racine course. I’m not going to dissect every part of the course to figure out if I’m in better shape or not.  I don’t really care. I had an awesome day. 

So yes, I will be racing Ironman Wisconsin and I can’t wait.  I get that training for an ironman brings a roller coaster of emotions and there will be hard days to come.  I’m ready for them.  I also get that life is about perspective and my perspective has changed! 

Hey Chicago, summer is officially here!

Yesterday I did it!  I got in Lake Michigan for the first time this season.  I had not been in since September 8th, 2010.  

Diana (tridad's Boss) picked me up from my office and I was secretly hoping that she would tell me it was to cold out.  It wasn't freezing, but it wasn't the kind of day where you are dying to get your feet wet in Lake Michigan.  Cloudy, overcast, windy and 65-70 degrees out.  To give people some background, I'm from the Mid Atlantic, specifically the DC area.  I grew up swimming on the swim team (in pools) and spent many early mornings swimming in a cold pool.  Regarding open water, I was an Outer Banks (OBX) girl!  every year my family went to our house in Avon, NC on Hatteras Island and spent anywhere from a week to two weeks just hanging out.  I was a water girl and spent all day boogie boarding, surfing, etc.  The average water temperature in July and August there is between 76-79 degrees. the currents in OBX are pretty tough at times, by the age of 6 I knew how to swim out of a rip tide. I was also a life guard as a teenage at a public pool that was a routine field trip for inner city children, most of whom did not know how to swim but had no fear of a diving board.  Needless to say, I have no problems jumping into save a 6th grade boy who's flailing his arms.    I'm sharing all of this to give you some background on why swimming in lake Michigan has taken some adjusting to over the last two tri seasons.  

So needless to say, when I showed up to my first triathlon (Big Foot Triathlon in Lake Geneva) I had never swam in fresh water before or in a wet suit.  I simply thought, shoot, I grew up swimming in OBX, I can handle some fresh water lake in Wisconsin.  Well, I was wrong.  It was a windy day (30 mphs) and I started swimming and I thought I was going to drown.  The suit practically strangles you and then the waves were crashing right into my mouth.  Plus the water is FREEZING.  I mean REALLY REALLY cold (coming from a girl who is used to 76-79 degree water temps, 69 degrees is pretty cold.) It's so cold that when you put your face in it feels like you are having an asthma attack because it's just so cold.  Another thing, there is a world of a difference between swimming in salt water and fresh water.  With salt water the buoyancy allows you to sit on top of the water.  It can be really rough but you are so buoyant that you don't end up swallowing the water.  Big difference.  To get through the race I swam back stroke for the rest of it.  As soon as I got on my bike I made a commitment to myself, open water swimming in Lake Michigan   

So last night marked me first day swimming in Lake Michigan.  It wasn't my first time open water swimming (St. Croix on Vacation and Triple-T).  Ohio Street Beach is pretty awesome.  It's actually set up for people to go swim in it with buoys enabling up to a 1 mile swim.   Every time I've been down there there are at least 2 other triathletes down there in wet suits getting a workout in.  

I went out thinking and expecting it to be REALLY REALLY cold and that me and Diana would only last for 20 minutes.  I was so afraid of the cold water that I refused to look up the water temp.   Surprisingly I got in and it wasn't that bad.  The first time you go under is always painful but once we got going it was actually pretty awesome out there.  We ended up swimming longer than we thought we would (a half hour or so).  I guess it's time to do the weekly swims down there! 

Summer is here ladies and gents! The lake is ready.  

 

Mental Prepping

I have a half ironman distance race coming up this weekend (High-cliff) and I'm trying to get myself mentally prepped.  At this point I'm beyond the training distances of a half ironman but this race will be a mental challange for me.  I'm going up by myself (Monkey has to work on Sunday).  I won't be going with a big crew so there is no one to cheer me on or pass and give a high five to on the course.  I'm my biggest (and only) cheer leader out there.  I know this doesn't sound like a big deal but it is.  I'm starting to get excited for this race.  Races are so much fun.  For a day, it's all about going out and testing yourself.  It's about pushing yourself harder than you think you can go, it's about reaching the point where you don't think you can give anymore, and then pushing yourself to do more.  To get myself mentally prepped for this race I've been watching some great you tube videos.  Here's one that I wanted to share.  It's the 20101 Versus commercial and it's just AWESOME.    

Here's the Lyrics:

Whether or not you win this thing, you got to decide how your gonna walk out of here when its all said and done. Because the game is going to go on, and theirs only one rule your going to need to know about. 

There are no second chances. 

There is only this moment, and the next one. 

Every one of those moments is a test that you get to take one time, and only one time. 

So if you see an opening tear into it. If you get a shot at victory make damn sure you take it. 

Seize that moment! 

That moment is a cross roads, where everything you want will collide with everything standing in your way. 

You got momentum at your back fear and doubt are thundering like a freight train straight at you. 

And all you got, the only difference between making history and being history. 

The only thing, the only thing your can count on at any given moment is YOU. 

Its you versus them. 

You versus no. 

You versus can't. 

You versus next year, last year, statistics, excuses. 

You versus history. 

You versus the odds. 

Its you versus second place.

Clock is ticking, lets see what you got.

The "my legs feel like Jello" look

I am trying to recover at the office so put my recovery socks on with my work dress.  I'm lucky because I sit in this one corner and I don't have any meetings this morning.  The guy who sits next to me asked if I was going for the school girl look.  I replied "No, I'm going for the "My legs feel like Jello" look.

Uddererly a Temper Tantrum

Yesterday I did the Udder Century ride (75 mile route).  I love this ride.  It starts at the Donely's Wild West Town in Union, IL with a route that leads you through the cow pastures and farms of north east Illinois.  I always enjoy this ride, the race organizers do a great job stocking the rest stops, the riders are cool and then there is an awesome pasta dinner afterward.  Cindy met at my place at 5:15, we loaded the car up and then hit

When we started the ride it was nice and cloudy.  Shortly after starting I saw two VQ girls (Lynn and Ann) who I met while racing Triple-T. Lynn was actually the person that got me to start running during the half marathon on Sunday.  She's very encouraging and very positive. Cindy and I decided to latch onto there back wheel and ride with them.  It was good for me because they pushed me to hold a pretty fast pace (for me).  We were riding just above 20 mph which is nice and fast for me.  It was pretty fun to ride in a group of 4 ladies and fly by some of the men out there. After 46 miles I couldn't keep up with the rest of the group so I fell off by myself.  I wish I was fast enough to keep up with Lynn and Ann. They are both fun and keep me on my feet.  By this point it had gotten warm out there and I realized that I had only finished a bottle and a half of water.  Not good.  I get to the next rest stop at mile 56 and I try to drink a lot of water but it's hard at that point.  I was struggling with some balance but I thought my legs were just tired.

When I got back on my bike I was with a different group of friends and I quickly fell behind.  The wind had really picked up and I knew I had 22 miles back to my car which had my running shoes waiting for me for a 30 minute run that was on the schedule for after this ride.  I had dug myself into a hole with my nutrition and I was struggling to get out of it.  I felt like i was drinking as much as I physically could to keep riding.  It also felt like every turn I took I was going straight into the wind or it was coming at a diagonal into me.  Then it happened, some point around mile 67-66.  I made a turn and the wind hit me and I was done.  I stopped and got off my bike and just stood there.  Then I screamed.  For a minute I decided I was just done riding and I would just sit there.  I knew (from experience) that my friend Jeff was ahead of me and he would eventually come looking for me if I didn't show up. He's the dad of the group. I figured it would take him about an hour for him to realize I hadn't arrived at the finish and come pick me up.  Was it worth it?  Waiting on the side of the road for an hour?  The answer was no,  I had 10 miles to go (she ride advertised 75 miles but the cue sheet had 78) and I could get that done in an hour even if I just peddled really slowly.  I picked up maryK (she forgives me pretty easily) and started peddling.  Then I hit mile 79 and everything was ok again.   Something about mentally knowing I had less than 10 miles just helped change attitude.  I was actually smiling at some points and cheered on some of the other cyclists in the last few miles.

When I got back to the car I was still nauseous.  Cindy was waiting to run with me.  I told her to go ahead and that I was done for the day.  A minute later she was still standing there (almost like a dog with droopy eyes waiting to be walked) so I told her I would do 15 minutes.  I filled up a water bottle, got my running shoes on and hit the road.  On the way out we ran into two other Wellfit team members going out for their run so 2 more were added on  We ended up running in the KOA camp grounds which was awesome because it was shaded and gravel roads.  After about 10 minutes of running I decided I would do the whole 30 minutes.  No point in stopping early when everyone else was running the whole thing.  I was also feeling better and the run actually felt good.   I guess this is one of the reasons why I think group training is so important.  Without the others in the group I would have never done that run.

This sounds weird but I think it's good to have training days like this.  I think it teaches you that you can fight through pain and that you will not get up.  It builds confidence and a lot of race day will be KNOWING and BELIEVING that I can get myself to the finish line.

To all the bikers in the city: I'm not the one breaking the law so stop giving me the dirty looks

I'm writing this blog in response to a bunch of dirty looks I got last night while on my run in the city and also because my friend Tridad posted about a biker being hit in the city near our neighborhood because they blew through a stop sign.  Now as a cyclist, I get pissed at cars all the time.  They either honk at me for no reason, drive to fast, or try to run me over (at least it feels like this).  And a lot of times I think that cars don't watch out for bikes.  I'm sure you would expect me to write a post complaining about cars but I'm not.  No, instead I'm complaining about bikers.  


Now, I know that since it's nice out, everyone is biking a whole lot more and I applaud this.  For the non-Chicago readers, Chicago is a major bike city.  9 years ago Mayor Dailey announced started his initiative "to make the City of Chicago the most bicycle-friendly city in the United States."  He did a bunch of stuff like painting bike lanes and adding bike racks to make the city a bike friendly place.  I personally don't do a ton of commuting on my bike mostly because I get pretty sweaty when I ride and I hate showing up to a place dripping in sweat.  I also have been hit by a car on my bike when I was coming home one night (and for the record I had actually stopped at a sign but the cabie that hit me had not).  I walked away from the accident with some minor road rash but was physically fine.  It more just freaked my out.  Knowing how people drive in this city I just get a little freaked out being on a bike near them. I do most of my riding in the burbs or in the middle of no where Wisconsin.  


Now that I've established that I'm not completely against bikers, I am going to vent a little.  Yesterday was a bad day for me and bikers in the city.  First, I was driving home from a meeting and I turned down a one way street only to find a biker smack in the middle (riding against traffic).  I slammed on my breaks and the cyclists flicked me off as he swerved around me.  So I ask myself, why am I being flicked off when he's the one riding in the wrong direction down a one way street.  Then last night I went for a run and on numerous occasions I would come to a cross walk and start crossing only to notice a biker about to blow through me.  They always swerved as to not catch me and then added a dirty look as they passed me.  Wait, why am I the one receiving a dirty look?  You're the one that just ran a stop sign.  Another time last night a cyclists gave me a dirty look as he passed me on a sidewalk, I was most likely not moving over enough or something (I'm not sure I had my headphones on so he could have been yelling at me the entire time for all I know).  Again, why am I receiving a dirty look when it's against the law for bikers to ride on the sidewalk in Chicago in the first place.    Sigh.  This stuff pisses me off.  I see cyclists do a lot of stupid stuff in this city.  Most of them are lucky they haven't been hit and killed.  I'm at the point where I say it's fine if you want to do stupid stuff on your bike but don't give me a dirty look in the process.  Ride through red lights, go on the sidewalk, but don't pull your brattitude on me when I get in the way when your not supposed to be doing in the the first place.  


In all seriousness,  I really wish cyclists would follow the rules.  Riding a bike can be dangerous.  Accidents happen and we can't always prevent all of them and I get that.  But it would be nice to hot hear about a car killing someone because a cyclists ran a stop sign or drove against traffic.