Monday, December 17, 2007

The Opry and Other Stuff

I ran 8 miles Saturday and listened to Steve Runner's account of the Philadelphia Marathon. WOW is all I've got to say about that. This guy is a soldier. The Philly 'thon was his 17th marathon and his 17th try at a sub 4. I won't ruin the story for you - if you haven't listened to it...you have GOT to go download his podcast and listen. It almost made me tear up...and I'm not a crier.

So that afternoon, post-Briar's guitar lessons...that are, by the way, about the only minutes he spends practicing, J.T. and I set out down I-24. We stopped Dick's Sporting Goods, I picked out an outfit for him to give me for Christmas, and that was about all the shopping I could handle. We headed on to NashVegas, parked in the parking garage behind the Ryman Auditorium, and walked across Broadway to eat at the Merchants Restaurant & Grille. We had the Jack Daniel's Fillet with asparagus and it was melt in your mouth good. Oh - and we didn't even have to wait here. That was the first sign that it was going to be a good night. So after the meal we walked over to Legend's Corner and listened to some live country music played by a young band who looked like they should have been playing some Dave Matthews Band...but they even pulled off some Charlie Daniel's and did pretty dang good job of it. This is a pic of the guitar player - I thought he was a cutey!

We had to stand in line to get into the Ryman for the Grand Ole Opry - but it was worth it. The Possum alone was worth it! We saw Marty Stuart, Connie Smith, George Jones of course, Trace Adkins, Little Jimmy Dickens, Derks Bentley, Jeanie Seeley, John Conlee, some blue grass band that played Rocky Top, and Lance Miller. I had never heard of Lance Miller because I never watch Nashville Star, but evidently he won Nashville Star or something like that. He was the one in the video I posted previously singing "George Jones and Jesus". I have a couple of videos of George, but they didn't turn out too well. Bless his heart...he couldn't exactly remember the words to "Yesterday's Wine". But anytime you get to hear that voice, you gotta love it.

Here's John Conlee, another one of my favorites(watch it, now, okay? It's only a few seconds!):


My country music weekend aside, as of today I am officially back. on. the. bike!!! I got up at 4:30 and pedaled along with Chris Carmichael for almost an hour. My plan was to then go swim, but 45 more minutes of sleep just sounded way too good. I tried to guilt myself into it...I even already had the swimsuit on...but then a little voice spoke up and said "excuse me, ms. lana, but wasn't this supposed to be your break, anyways. like your ONLY good break until like next November or something? Go back to bed!!" And that was all it took. Off with the swimsuit, on with the PJ's and who says you can't get 40 good minutes of sleep between an hour-long spin and the mad rush to get the kids to school and then off to work?!?! I slept like a log.

Did I happen to mention how wonderful it felt to pedal? I started getting all kinds of crazy ideas. Ideas that include my sweet little Gary Fisher mtb and trails, and Chickasaw Traces, even visions of cyclocross danced in my head! With 2 wheels, the possibilities are endless. You see when it's below 40 degrees, I can't get on a road bike outside. I've tried it, and I just can't enjoy that. But give me a mtn bike and some woods and big climbs to get the heart pumping and the temperature is no object. So...I think I'm going to incorporate some mtb'ing into my schedule pretty soon. The trainer will work for now...and it's Tennessee, so there'll be some lunch breaks here and there when it's warm enough hit the pavement, but I'm going to throw in some trails too...if for nothing else, but to mix it up and have some fun.

Oh yeah...and I'm still thinking about that other marathon. Still. I'll make a decision soon.

8 comments:

David said...

Sounds like a fun evening. Enjoy your time off because like you said, it is going to be solid training to November.

Wes said...

It's a brave new world, 2008 :-) I'm jealous you have an Mtb! I, too, am taking it easy. I'll run three times a week, swim once, and bike once, up till Disney. Then, it'll be time to ramp up to the Half Iron in May. It doth just keep geeting better...

Steve Stenzel said...

What a line-up at the Opry!! What a trip!!!

Tri-Dummy said...

That sounded like a lot of fun!

DV said...

sweet show! gotta love nashville...

weekly trips out on the mtb is ALL the riding for me these days... the best part to me is the requisite focus - you can't think of ANYthing else but what is 10 feet in front of you... i love it!!

Iron Girl Nyhus said...

I love the Opry! Only been there once, but it was great :)

Laura

tri-mama said...

R-N-R Arizona! We have extra room in our hotel.... Do I hear the sounds of rematch?!!!!!

Rae said...

Sounds like fun! We've been to a few shows at the Ryman and the Grand Old Opry house and just love it!!