Super success!!!

Ironman was just a few days ago, and I gotta say- I have no idea how I pulled it off!!

I finished in 12 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds! I can't believe I went under 13 with as little training as I actually did!

I'll give a full race report soon, once I'm back in Boston and life in general has settled. Things are a little weird right now.

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Wicked headache!

I slammed the corner of the rental car into my forehead yesterday. Luckily I was wearing my bike helmet, dented it though. Still have a crazy headache I haven't been able to shake.

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Sunshine bound

I'm headed to Arizona tomorrow!!! The race is just a few short days away and needless to say... I'm not ready. I'm packed, but I'm not ready.

Last night I had a dream. I was flying down a hill on the course going about 40mph when I crashed. Several broken bones, destroyed bike and a crushed helmet and a lot of missing skin later I was in the hospital going in and out of a coma.

Soo... we're going to pretend that it's a good sign and that it takes away all the bad that could happen and gives me strength to finish strong.

Ironman #3, here I come!

#229

Race numbers have been assigned and we're less than two weeks out. I ran 9 yesterday and 4 this morning. I also finally got a chance to take my bike out - now that I'm only two days from shipping it. Yeesh. The ride was awesome though. I'm super mad at myself for not heading west before!!

Anyway, off to sleepies and to the gym @ 5 tomorrow AM. #229, signing off!

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It's sooooo close!

Well, the big race is only a few weeks away! Am I ready? No. Am I scared to death? Yes.

My life in Boston has settled nicely. Found a great house with some pretty cool roomies. Found a sweet gym with a nice pool. Getting lost only every other day instead of twice daily. Dating an incredible guy (yay! ). But, my training hasn't been enough. I'm still working out frequently, but the volume is down. Way down. Did a 17 mile run last weekend that went super well, but no real time on my bike. Oh, my booty is going to hurt for 112 miles!

Should I even risk it??!!?

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Soooo, this was on my car after work today ...

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homeless :(

Okay, so... I move to Boston in 13 days. At the other end, I don't have a place to live. This might concern a normal person. I am not a normal person. I am a worrier. Therefore, I am stressed. To the Nth power. And then some.  Myself and all of my worldly belongings are being relocated 3100 miles away- with no real destination on the other end. Okay, so my belongings have 30 days in storage. I might wind up in a hotel for 30 days, then what? I'm out of money and homeless. Ironman is just over three months away, and I'm supposed to be learning new job.

I'm a planner of sorts. I like to know what I'll be doing this weekend, where my next check is coming from and where I'll be sleeping, call me crazy- but I don't have the nomad instincts like some people.  Sure, I'm sure I can beg a few people to sleep on their couch if needed, but that will only buy me a couple extra weeks. And a lot of karma debt. 

Sigh. What am I doing? Can someone please explain the rationale to me???

Moving...

Well, it's official. I'm moving to the Boston area. And soon. For a job I'm not sure I know how to do....this could be interesting. New location, new job, new roommates, hopefully new friends, new gym - and training for Ironmman, which is just over three months away. Not gonna lie, I'm not just a little freaked out. I'm a lot freaked out.

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About 6.5 miles into my run today I realized two things:

1. i think i grip my toes in my shoes while running, not allowing a full toe-off and creating tension in my arches and making my big toes fall asleep
2. i think i want to wear a girlie pink tutu to finish IM AZ in November. how cute would that be???

Oh, and I also realized how much I love my Saucony Kinvara's (sp??) that I had three PR's in this year. Yay speedy shoes!!

Might be a bit scared that my dreams are coming true ....

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Ever wonder if the best thing is right in front of you, but you're too stupid to notice til it's too late. What if you never notice??

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double day

Saturday may have been my most glorious day of racing (other than my two Ironman). I watched the Federal Escape Olympic distance early and then participated in the sprint distance.  Age groups were done in 10 year brackets (boooo!) but I still won my age group. Sort of by default. I was third, but the two ahead of me were 2nd and 3rd overal and removed from age group awards. (I took 4th overall!!) I would have straight up won if they had done standard 30-34.  So, 4th woman of 100, 19th of 192 total and won my age group (of 10).

Later that day after a quick shower I headed into Seattle with Mom for the Seafair Torchlight 5k/8k and parade. Sorry mom that we got distracted at the finish and missed the parade!!!  My plan was to take it easy and run no faster than a 26 or 27 since I'd already pushed pretty hard that morning and it was blazing hot (for Seattle).  Joram and I lined up together even though he was doing the 8k. When we finally started, I just felt it. I was keeping a low 7 minute pace and feeling strong. My friend Jeff found me about half mile and I quickly introduced the guys and took off through the streets of Seattle that were lined with parade spectators and cheering for the runners. Maybe I had that Ironman finish feel going through my head or something but I kept it up and set a PR, but about 20 second or so, finishing in 23:33, or a 7:36 pace. Holy geez. So, for 1599 finishers I was 123. Of 964 women, I was 32nd!!!! And of my age group (10 year again!) I was 6th of 282!  Yowza.  I'm not going to lie, I was on fire on Saturday!  I think I know why, but I can't share it at this time  :)  

Being the big baby I am, it was all I could do to hold back tears at the finish line. I've been trying to break 24 forever. (outside of a triathlon), so this year, I've  already set two PRs. One at the half marathon distance, and one at the 5k. Who said being 31 sucks?  ;)

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Sometimes it just takes a gorgeous 9miles to get some perspective

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My new mantra

I've decided I need a mantra. I always read in running magazines and books that you sometimes it helps to have something to repeat in your head to keep you going.  Things like "run fast, run strong"  "mind over matter" "faster, better, stronger" etc.  Today while out riding my bike (yay, a temporary summer in Seattle!!) I stopped at a stop sign only to see a ridiculous hill in front of me. The kind that makes you want to turn around and take up chess. Instead, I decided to tackle it.

Fortunately, it started with a short steep downhill before turning back up. I pushed to my hardest gear and took off.  My mistake was shifting down into my small chainring (I only have two on my tri bike) just a second too late. Yup, it stuck on the big ring. And wouldn't budge. At all. So, there I am taking on one of the biggest hills I've seen lately (and never ridden so I'm not totally sure what I'm in for!) and I'm pedaling so slowly and my quads are on fire. I'm at the point where I'm having trouble getting out of the saddle because I'm so shaky I might just tip right over. I'd probably be walkign up faster. Finally, it downshifts and eases the strain. 

That's when I realized something. I've always been so paranoid about my quads/thighs. I mean, they're pretty massive. I've had two random strangers this year call them "power quads" and you can forget about buying super cute girlie jeans or pants- not fitting over these tree trunks. However, tonight I realized that without my massive quads I don't think I would have been able to make it up that hill.  My theory is that while I'm not really that strong-just started lifting weights again a few weeks ago- I have a lot of muscle in my quads in general.  A little bit of strength to be recruited from every fiber. It's like making a rope, each fiber isn't necessarily that strong, but put them together and voila!  Anyway, at this point I learned to love my quads. I was so happy and proud of myself that when I turned around a short time later I didn't hesitate to fly all out down that hill (usually I ride at hill at least once to check for safety). The downhill rush was short lived due to a darn stop sign.  The one I almost turned around at! Still got over 35mph. But the rest of my ride I kept thinking "Learn to love it"   The things we sometimes don't like make us the strongest, help us endure. So, my new motto is:

L2<3I = Learn To Love It.

Whenever I'm tackling a big hill, a technical descent, or rough waters- I just have to learn to love it. It's part of what makes this sport so great. It's about showing myself I can do anything.

I might just get a shirt made.

I headed out for an hour long easy run tonight. Distracted by work stuff I realized about half a mile in that I had been going at a 6:45 pace. Yikes!!! I finished my first mile at 7:50 and was done with two miles in 17 minutes. Yikes! I know I wanted to step up my training and work harder, but that was definitely too fast. I slowed it down but by 40 minutes I was kneeling on the sidewalk trying not to throw up. Okay, that was gross. Sorry. Overall a bad idea since I was trying to leave work early all day because my stomach was hurting so bad... didnt' happen... and in early again tomorrow. ugh.

Two in 8 days!!

Okay, here I was a few weeks ago complaining that I  hadn't done a tri yet this season and now I've done two in 8 days! 

July 2nd I did the sprint tri at Five Mile Lake put on on by Budu Racing. They always have a fun and well run event.  It's a party the entire time.  I did alright. Honestly, I haven't really been training. I've been going to the gym, but most of my workouts have been indoor. At that point, I'd only done one lake swim and my rides had been longer rather than shorter, hard and technical. And don't get me started on running- I never push myself. Well, I came out of the water about where I expected, rode a little slower than I hoped but actually put out a good run time averaging 7:52 per mile. Not too shabby since at the treadmill I warm up at a 10min mile pace and will usually only drop it down to 8:45 or so.  Needless to say, I'm being pretty hard on myself for that.

However, that didn't motivate me enough this week before my second race.  I didn't swim even once, ran twice (only once outside) and only rode once. Man! I'm lazy.  I went 16 minutes and change on the half mile swim, 39 and change on the 12 mile, hilly and actually pretty technical ride and then over the 4.2 miles (probably 15 hills) and average an 8:03pace. Woohoo! And crazily- I was in third place headed on the run!! BRUTAL run. BRU-TAL.  Passed by two girls and they were amazing! I wound up 2nd in my age group and 5th overall. And I will say, the girls that beat me.. Holy crap. They were some fit looking chicks. I should not have been up there with their lean muscles selves.

So, the race was a SheRox triathlon, all women.  Similar to the Danskin which  is for breast cancer research, this one is for ovarian cancer research. My Mom's oldest sister died of this about eight years ago so I everytime I've done this race I've found myself tearing up. However, I was surprised to see how small the race was this year. Only 109 individual finishers. A couple years ago when Subaru was the title sponsor there were two distances (I REALLY wanted to do the super-sprint today if they had it!) and each distance had near 300 women.  It's heartbreaking, this is one of the only events I know that support OCRF and no one knows about it. The money that is raised is just a drop in the bucket compared to breast cancer- and today I learned something. This is an undetectable disease. Mammograms for breast cancer, paps for cervical. There is no real way to check for this. Many of the symptoms mimic a gastro-intestinal issue so women wind up at the wrong doctor and are told they're imagining it and they're fine. That is crazy to me!

The event is phenomenal and I really hope that it grows. I would recommend it to anyone I know who does tri's or wants to try one. Although, this is probably the toughest sprint course I've ever done, it's well worth it.  The half mile swim is in a flat and relatively clean lake. The run-to-transition is insanely long and kills your feet.  The bike has some rollers and fabulous sweeping turns along with beautiful scenery.  Also, some quite technical turns. The run. Oh, the run. It has so many hills.  You leave transition only to climb a crazy unpaved trail out of the park, and then a slow gradual climb to drop down a good sized hill, turn the corner and there's another four hills or so (the last a steep uphill), turn another corner and a very short distance of flat- probably not a quarter mile, turn the final corner and a couple more rollers which drops you back into the park. Which you run through and do it all again. Ouch.  But seriously. It's a doable course that really challenges what your made of. I have no idea where I pulled 8 minute miles from.

She swims. She bikes. She runs. She ROX.  And I definitely recommend it!

That's me on the far right. My butt actually looks good today!

Ewww...pretty.....

Yeah, almost to the finish! Gritting my teeth and trying not to trip!

Already July???

July is only a few days away and I have yet to do a triathlon!!! The first year I raced was 2005 and my first race ever was July 4th. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I only knew one person that had done this anomaly of a sport and no one that ran or biked really.  Yet, I allowed myself to be talked into in. And I did horribly. My time was something like 1 hour, 32 minutes- on a course I can now go about 1 hour, 9 minutes on.  I thought it was complete torture and ridiculous. WHY would someone do this to themselves? And then it was over. And I felt better. And I felt an addiction starting. Even though I was sooo terrible. Who ever wants to repeat something that they were not only NOT good at but were petrified and in pain the entire time too? I might need to get my head looked at.

So, here it is 6 years later (gah!)- I've done two full Ironman, two Half-Ironman, one Olympic and something like two dozen sprints of varying distances- and am currently training for my third Ironman- now less than five months away!  I love it and hate it all at the same time. I've had some crappy races and some pretty awesome ones. I've been in terrible pain, and brought home some trophies.  So, it's weird to me that I'm so unprepared for a race in one week, especially because it's on a course I've done a half dozen times.  How did I allow myself to slack off so much? I ran 10 miles this morning and my knees were killing me! When did I get so old in the last six years.  I was looking at pics from Ironman 2010 the other day. Just one year ago. I was thin, and ripped. Possibly the best shape I've been in my life.  And today, I sit here with a diet coke and a fudgesicle (how is that spelled??) and I just can't figure out how I'm going to get through a  third time.

A.MAY.ZING

Ok, so that's not how you spell "amazing" but I needed to emphasize my point. I just spent about 30 hours in a minivan with five incredible runners- and some of the coolest (and funniest) ladies I might have ever met. It takes a great group to be able to do something like Ragnar and deal with all the uncertainties, unexpected occurances, pain, fatigue, and navigational irregularities and come out the other side laughing your behind off! This was truly a motivational and supportive and completely insane and goofy Van2.

These gals are incredible runners and fabulous moms. Although all their stories and comparisons may not have only talked me out of ever being pregnant, but also ever wanting to be around a young one again. Just kidding. Maybe. Although I was out if the loop and couldn't connect with that on any level, it was heart warming to see them connect on their own experiences.

Yet, as I age, I continue to further be an outsider of my 'peers' as I have not conformed to societal expectations and remain ever single and free. I really must spend more time at the gym.

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frick!!

Frick! I'll be 31 on Saturday. Frick, frick, frick!!!

gah

OMG!! Ragnar is getting so close. I'm screwed. Yup. Might actually die. I ran this killer hill near work today. The one I drive twice everyday. It makes my car go "rrrrRRRRRRRRaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggggg" Or something like that. Seriously. End to end, it's 1.75ish miles. And painful, and I did it end to end twice, and then kept running. Yay me!  But I felt like an idiot slowing trudging up the hill with a look of sheer torture plastered on my face, commuters driving by and smiling while silently thinking I was crazy.   :)

We've been having some decent weather around here lately. Nice enough to ride one weekend day for the last few weeks, and even the other day after work. Last weekend I just rode this paved trail that goes around the north end of the lake (27 miles end to end) on my road bike. I'm having some problems with the computer on my tri bike, either the battery is dead or something is wrong with the sensor- i can't get speed or cadence off it. BOOO. Anyway, I was just turned around at my halfway point when I passed a little family on their bikes. Dad has little girl in tow on his and Mom was leading the way with two boys between them. As I passed by, one of the boys- probably about 10 or so says loudly "WHOA! Super fit biker chick!" It was adorable! And strangely the encouragement I needed to buck up into the headwinds I was facing. Kids are cute. It was much nicer than the "Keep running b*tch" I got on the hills today from some smart mouthed teenage boys. Seriously. Who says that??? At least I can revel in the idea that they will amount to nothing and their poor parents much be oh so proud.

updates to Ragnar

So, our Ragnar legs got rearranged a little bit, I have a downhill instead of an insane uphill and my longest leg is only 7 instead of 9.6.  I think it's a toss up with the downhill and the altitude... but instead of doing this, I'll be doing this:

I can't believe it's just over 5 weeks away!!!

On another note, I'm worried about this whole getting enough food issue. I tend to get sidetracked on the weekends. Saturday, I had a bowl of oatmeal and then half a protein shake (put the rest in the fridge while I was getting ready and forgot about it) then went for a 2 hr, or 35 mile ride.... let's count some calories here... yup, definitely in the negative. Burned around 1400 on the ride.  I headed down to mom's that afternoon, forgetting to eat before I left. No, I have no idea how. Had some cookies when I got go her place then I cooked a bomb diggity  Scallops Mascarpone dinner. Veggies. Angel food cake and strawberries. Yum.

Sunday, I had two Eggos and some coffee before we went to a movie. When we got back to Mom's I nearly passed out in the driveway. Everything went a little foggy and unstable, so I ate a granola bar and headed home.  To run 7.5 miles.  Soooo... .got back from my run and took off my shoes, patted the cat on the head and headed to the kitchen. Only to go black in the dining room, but only for a split second. Everything came clear again just before I hit the floor and smashed my elbow into a bookcase. Yup, that hurt. And my cat would definitely eat me if I died.  Or maybe he was trying to revive me by headbutting my feet and biting my toes.  Anyway, it took a couple minutes before I could get up- and yes, I ate immediately after while I iced my knees.  But ugh, it sucked. I just didn't feel right, like I couldn't breathe properly and my heart was hurting. WTH??? I've been through this already this year and it came back fine. So what's wrong with me???

the great bike rack incident of 2011

Now that this whole debacle is behind me I can laugh freely: Haaahhhaahahaaa. Ahhhhaahahahhaaa. And a tee hee, even.

So, I moved one month ago today.  A week earlier than planned due to the apartment coming available early and just some things I needed to do.  I started early that rainy, crappy Saturday morning. And it was horrible, the whole day was awful. My last planned trip was to bring one of my bikes over and pick up the other the next day.  So, I picked my road bike to go first. My passenger and I pulled into the new parking lot and saw my mom walking towards us with a 6-pack of refreshments. Yay!

"Sweet, she didn't take my spot!" and I promptly swung the car into it.... only to hear a horrific sound that can only be described as pain immediately followed by knowing and fear. All in the deep pit of my stomach.  My passenger, confused, "What WAS that?"  As I stood frozen in terror, gasping.... and finally... "my..... bike....."  I finally manged to get out of the car and see that I no longer had a seat.... or a rack that was actually fully attached to the car. But rather rattled around. F*CK!!!  So, we took the bike down, removed the rest of the rack and carried the sad little pieces inside. By some amazing feat, I didn't cry. However in working on the rack, I took my frustration out used my hand as a hammer.  A large bruise, much swelling and pain and two doctor appointments later, I'm good to go. 

I finally took my bike to Performance Bicycles near my place on Friday expecting to need to replace the carbon fiber seat post and possibly the carbon fiber fork. But wouldnt' you know, the guy said they were peach keen. Okay, those are my words. What's that? No damage- could this be??? So, I left it there for a tune up, new chain and new brakes. And as it turns out, new brake cables since mine were fraying out. Brakes= good. No brakes= ouch.  I just picker her up and she's as good as new! Except she's got a crap seat for now. 

As for the bike rack, I'm sticking to to the truck rack for now. Don't think I can be trusted to not to do it again. And you know next time it would be with the Cervelo. There would be tears. Rivers.

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I finally get internet at my place! I will once again be able to stream Netflix endlessly and post real updates to my blog. Like how the removal of the bike rack came to be, and how that story ended with me seeing a hand specialist.....ah, good times!!

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Avoiding it all.....

It's Saturday night and I'm avoiding everything and being quite the hermit. It's really an accomplishment since I don't have cable or internet to entertain me. Yay for Netflix and borrowed movies.

I'm trying to get my head in the game for Ironman training, but with an injured wrist I haven't wanted to hit the pool and have only been on the stationery bike. I've been rocking it though. Today was 2 hours 15 minutes on the bike, followed immediately by 30 minutes of running. I wimped out and did the treadmill, and damn that hurt!!!! I hate brick workouts. But I love the eating that comes after!!

I finally see the hand specialist on Monday. I'm really nervous. What if I have to have surgery? Ironman is still pretty far out, but all the other events I was planning on.... didn't wear my brace today after my workout since it was a sweaty nasty mess. Most I've used my hand in near two weeks. I didn't like it. And because I'm freaking out, I keep poking at my wrist where I hit it. Definitely have a tender sore spot that I can feel the tingling into my elbow when I touch it. Creepy, and gross.

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ugh ugh ugh

My infamous mistake of the bike rack and covered parking keeps getting worse. I think I may have done some damage to the door seals when removing the part that bolts onto the car.  Seriously. Seriously??!?!?!?

Still waiting for a call from the "hand specialist" to see what my wrist ligament injury means. Here's how the call from the receptionist went last week

R: Hi Bri. The radiologist has looked at your xrays and there's nothing broken.
Me: Oh great!
R: But, you do have a wrist ligament injury.
Me: Okay.... so, what does that mean?
R: Um, that means you have an injury to a ligament in your wrist....
>NO SHIT!<
Me: I meant, what are the next steps.....
R: Oh. She's referring you to a hand specialist.
Me: Okay, great  >F! F! F!<

And more, F#$%^&*(*_)(*()**(*^&%^)++_@__++!!!!!!!!!!

....short story

So, short story. I don't have internet yet at the new apartment (moved last weekend). It did not go as planned. In short, no longer have a roof rack on my car and in my frustration I used my hand as a hammer and have injured a ligament in my wrist. More to follow....

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Try-athlete

This week I'm not a triathlete.... I'm a try-athlete. I try to remember socks, I try to find motivation to workout, I try not to get caught up in life, I try ..... And I fail. For some reason this has been one of the most trying weeks of recent and I can't seem to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Yesterday was gorgeous weather and I forgot a sports bra. Instead of coming home and running from the house, I came home and ate- and watched the rest of season 2 of "Dirty Sexy Money" on Netflix (my new best friend, I waste countless hours streaming online instead of waiting for the discs by mail).

I leave Sunday for Andover for three days. Just enough time to not catch up to the time change and come home and struggle again. And, I move in like 8 days. Yikes!!! Busy ten days ahead. Hopefully I can find myself returned to triathlete status by then. Or at least human being.

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week one done!

Finished off my first week of IM training yesterday. Out of 10 workouts, I made 9. And I only missed the one because I was at work way too late, went running and then stopped by my desk and wound up talking to another coworker and helping her with some things.

So... here's how week one went

Monday
approx 30 min in the pool. mixed set of warm up, swim and cooldown

Tuesday
3.6 mile run
50 min on the stationery bike-mixed set/drills

Wednesday
45 min swim- mixed set
40 min  stationery bike, variable gears & drills

Thursday
5.15 mile run outdoors. yay!!
(swim skipped)

Friday
optional swim (skipped) and instead ran 3.5 on the treadmill with the last mile at 12% incline and decreasing to cool down

Saturday
1:20 mixed set, VG, ILT, etc

Sunday
5.25 mile run, followed immediately by....
30 minutes on the stationery- easy spin

And that's week ONE!!!

include me on the memo please!

Dear Class of '98,
  The next time a memo goes out that dictates that by the age of 30 we all need to be married, divorced, have children, purchased our second home or moved to Europe- can you please include me on this? I've done none of the above! Heck, I haven't even purchased my first home. Here I am, wasting time doing this crazy running/triathlon thing instead of sitting at bars, grocery stores, coffee shops waiting for Prince Charming. Silly me.  I guess I also missed the memo in college that we're either supposed to marry our college love, or reconnect with someone from elementary school and fall in love with them. Well, crap. I lived in Germany back then, so my odds are slim! All I'm saying is that a forewarning of the big things I'm supposed to accomplish by such milestone bdays would be nice. 40 is next-- is that enough time??
Sincerely,
 Single/childless Bri


Hahaha. It seems like facebook is only used to announce engagements, pregnancies and births. I've been totally using it for the wrong messages! Oh well.

Ironman training is here!

Alright, today marked day #2 of training for Ironman #3.  And today sucked. I got to work at 4:30 for a call from 5-9. Then one from 10-11. One again from 1-2 (luckily got moved to tomorrow) and then a meeting from 2-4. Yes, that is a very long day.  Fortunately I only live 15 minutes from work so I was able to sleep in until 3:45. And then at 11:15 I ran 3.6 miles on the treadmill in the gym at work, and at 4:30 I went back to the gym to do 50 minutes on the LeMond stationery. 

So, some people have wondered what I tend to do for IM training. And rather than post my every movement on facebook (even though I do that anyway), I thought I'd try to keep up here to be stalked at your liking. This way you don't miss something crucial on that silly newsfeed  :)

Yesterday was day one. Of  36 weeks. It amounted to a 30 minute swim.  I followed the warm up correctly and started the main set, but wasn't feeling it so just swam through. And then I followed the cool down mostly.

Today was 35 minute run just to warm up the legs. I took it really easy, didn't want to have to do a long cool down before going back to work.  And then the 50 minutes on the bike, 20 min spin high cadence, 20 min time trial (sweat dripping- HOT!) and 10 min spin down.

I'm not tracking meters in the pool or miles on the bike, unless it's a road workout, but I'm trying really hard to keep all my indoor and outdoor miles for the year, so I'll update that from  time to time too.

Happy training, and still a happy Bri!!

How good is this????

I can't even begin to say just how yummy this pineapple Greek yogurt is. I'd been a little leery on trying Greek, but I do love me some pineapple!!! And 13 grams of protein! Snikey!!! Add and english muffin with a bit of pb and nutella and my breakfast sweet tooth is jumping for joy!

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Love is a Marathon

Yup, I kind of like this song by Teddy Geiger:

You love to run


Into the arms of anyone
Take off your shoes and socks and stay awhile




You like the adrenaline rush
Just a little too much
You go from day to day, hand to mouth
And wonder why you're unsatisfied
CAUSE LOVE IS A MARATHON
THAT'S WHY YOU GET TIRED SO FAST OF EVERYONE
SLOW DOWN AND PACE YOURSELF
'CAUSE WHEN IT'S GOOD
IT'S A LONG OPEN ROAD


You think still
You'll find a soul behind a thrill
You're just a cat chasing your tail round and round
But if you relax
Something might last


CAUSE LOVE IS A MARATHON
THAT'S WHY YOU GET TIRED SO FAST OF EVERYONE
SLOW DOWN AND PACE YOURSELF
'CAUSE WHEN IT'S GOOD
IT'S A LONG OPEN ROAD


You're exhausted
Always coming down
While trying to come up for air
Trying to act like you just don't care


CAUSE LOVE IS A MARATHON
THAT'S WHY YOU GET TIRED SO FAST OF EVERYONE
SLOW DOWN AND PACE YOURSELF
'CAUSE WHEN IT'S GOOD
IT'S A LONG OPEN ROAD
IT'S A LONG OPEN ROAD

St Pat's Dash!

I'm back baby! And ready to run for fun for St Pat's day! I missed this run last year due to a trip to Vegas (blocking from my memory!!!). 

However, a girl I know asked if I was running it as she is doing it with some friends, so I hopped on the bandwagon quickly.

On a personal note: Must remember not to get excited over dates and potential interests too quickly! Sad face.

Cookies!!!!

My mom is fab! Went to visit her last Monday on my day off and she had these waiting for me! Inspiration :)

Resolutions....

I made 4 New Year’s Resolutions this year.


1. Run a sub-2hr half marathon.
2. Take more risks
3. Lose weight, down to 135lb
4. Ironman Arizona

Well, here we are only about six weeks into the New Year and things are going well for me in resolution land. I ran sub 2 hours on February 6. (1:57:41). Nothing stellar by any means, but under two and I’m pretty happy about it. I’m getting better at realizing how much I can exert before it hurts and even my day to day training is better. Still having chest pains, but my heart won’t explode.

Take more risks. Okay, just life in general. But particularly right now I was referring to dating. I’ve been on two ‘dates’ this week. Last Thursday was with a guy from match.com (don’t judge!) and that was not good. Nice enough guy, just nothing there and I felt like I was interrogating him trying to get him to talk. I’m a talker, I like there to be a lot of conversation flow- especially at first when you just meet someone. TONS to talk about. Friday night I went out with a girlfriend for a drink in Ballard, for some reason I wanted to stay longer. And a little while later this random guy starts talking to me. And he’s really funny, and really charming, and his friends are nice. So we decided to stay for a bit and when the bar shut down he got my number. He’d had a few drinks so I didn’t think he’d remember me, or he’d think he looked like an ass and I wouldn’t hear from him. But lo, the next day- a text. And then another. And all weekend we texted. Last night we went out and it was one of the easiest most comfortable and exciting dates ever. Very casual but fun. I can’t wait to see him again on Friday!

Lose weight. Well, that will happen naturally during Ironman training. But, I will admit that it hit me hard to go to the doc and find I was at my heaviest EVER. 147lb. And I know I intentionally did some gaining but I didn’t think I was over 145, I know, I mere 2 lbs, but you know….. Once you hit 30 that damn metabolism slows! So, I know that will be taken care of shortly.

Ironman Arizona. I have some specific time and personal goals for this. However, I’m not willing to share them just yet. I’d like to see how my training goes before I put anything up and risk disappointment. But they are very specific goals, and faster than 2010.

Happy S.A.D.

To all my single friends, Happy S.A.D.  Think of it this way, we get the evening free to spend working out instead of eating ridiculous amounts of calories of overpriced romantic dinners.  No worrying about if the gift is perfect, if the flowers will arrive on time and actually be alive...etc.  Just time for me and my boyfriends Gym and Gym.  Tonight will three-course extravaganza.  An appetizer of running, followed by the main course of weights, topped off with a nice slow easy swim to cool it all down.  After which, I will most likely  go home, throw in some laundry and settle in for some Netflix online.  I love dating me.

Oh, and I'm moving. Not until April. But I'm going back to living alone. I found a cute little place on Saturday that has a grocery store, Starbucks, dry cleaner, pub, Papa John's all within walking distance.  And if I want to walk just a wee bit further a liquor and wine store.  I've heard those are good places ;)

HB Half and a PR!!

Super Bowl weekend I spent a sunny few days in Huntington Beach, CA with my friend (and past roomie) Joram (aka, Major).  We went down on Friday night and went straight to the hotel in Anaheim. Sweet suite! Two bedroom, two bathroom- with laundry. I was ready to move in.  Went looking for some food and found ourselves at Red Robin because it was close and we were starving.  Picked up some snack from Target after and headed back to chill. 

Saturday morning we got up pretty early and went for a run to Disneyland. Yes, we were that close.  Just a quick two miles and got ready to sit in traffic on our way to the expo.  I had a mini freak out when I didn't see my name on the list of numbers outside the expo tent. The expo was crowded as expected so we bailed pretty quick and went to find more food. 

The rest of the day was pretty low key, made some spaghetti at the hotel, watched part of the Disneyland fireworks from the roof and tried to head to bed early.    Sunday we were up 4:45am and off to find parking. We decided to park at the high school and take the shuttle, and luckily it worked out really well.  Once at the race start we were able to find my Aunt Linda pretty quickly and she graciously held our bags for us while we ran.

And oh, what a run it was!! I finally broke two hours with a 1:57:41, and kept a pretty consistent pace the entire time. Woohoo!! Joram also had a PR, of about 8 and a half minutes. Sweet day for us.  Until after the race we spent about an hour trying to find each other. And once we did, we went for more food :)

After the race we hit the pool and the hot tub at the hotel for a bit and then headed to Bar Louie for some more food (I swear we at the entire weekend!!!) and some drinks.  Delish!!! And the Steelers didnt' win. Woohoo!! 

Monday we headed to Newport Beach for some sun.  And naturally, I got a bit burned.  We hung out at the beach for a couple hours, tried driving down to Laguna Beach, but since we hadn't researched beforehand we had no idea what we were going for or where. Oops.. Oh, and did I mention that Joram revoked my navigator status Saturday morning? I wasn't allowed to give directions without using the google maps app on his phone. Which, I of  course promptly downloaded. And now I will never be lost again. Riiiiightt.

Monday night we went up to Koreatown in LA to meet Joram's best friend Adam for his birthday dinner. OMG. Korean BBQ... so yum. I don't eat a lot of meat, but I think from now on when I do it will be at an all you can eat Korean bbq.  And then on to Yogurtland (yes, YogurtLAND, not ville, place, town, or city as Joram kept referring to it as.

Tuesday before we headed to the airport we had to go for Inn-n-Out burger. It wouldn't be a trip to Cali without it!  Mmmmm.

Ragnar

It's got some language, but "you ride a bike, you better be doin' drugs"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cmu1CZEN6Yk

On a more better note... here's my Ragnar legs!

Yeah.... that last one looks pretty steep!! Must go run Mt Rainier a few times!

When did I became that runner???

So, I started having some strange chest pains in December and some difficulty breathing. I finally gave in an went to the doctor a few weeks ago. The EKG came back perfect. My lungs sounded great. Blood tests were good, only a slightly elevated potassium level but nothing to worry about. I left with an albuterol inhaler and the instructions to take it a little easier, and do a lot of sinus cleansing.

My breathing has gotten better, which has been positive. But the pains in the left side of my chest... otherwise known as the area of the heart.... has not subsided. It's pretty much just made me more aware of it. All. The. Time.  There seems to always be just something going on there, and then every so often it gets bad.

So, I went back to the doctor today. And now I get to see a cardiologist. Oh joy. Fun times with a stress test.

But the question is.... when did I become that kind of runner.  The kind that when she's told she's being sent to a cardiologist asks the doctor... "Do I need to stop running for now?? Because I'm doing a half marathon in a week and a half"  The doc gave me an incredulous look. "Well, these things can be scheduled pretty quickly, so why don't we see how that goes first?"  And I left, sad and downtrodden. And tonight in the gym I felt guilty and didn't run. Hello stationary bike.   :(

So, tomorrow I will call and make an appointment to run on a treadmill all hooked up to a machine and hope for the best. 

IMAZ....IMAZ...IMAZ..... wheee!!!!

Oh heck. I'm in trouble. Here it is only the end of January and I'm already counting down!

Triple loop bike course... doesn't look too bad!

Triple loop run course... pretty minimal hills!

counting to Cali!!

Ok, I need to not be in a funk. It's so hard with the minimal daylight we have here during the winter. Cali bound in 10 short days! I can do this!!!

Trail love!

Today I did my first trail race! I AM IN LOVE!!! I've done quite a bit of trail running over the last few years but have never done a race. Until today.  It's been raining all week in Seattle so I knew the trails would be muddy lovin'. And they for sure were. 

We were having a Seahawks playoff party at our house today, but since I'm not a big football fan, I knew I wouldn't be missing much. I got there around 2 and promptly ran into Patti K and Paul G just after picking up my bib. Perfect!! I had no idea what to expect from this course since I've never run there. They let me know it would be pretty muddy and had some good hills.

So... I finished the 5.2 miles in 47 minutes and a few seconds. So proud of myself. It was super duper hard work and I was breathing hard from start to finish and covered in mud. 

However, earlier this week I finally went to the doctor for the chest pains and difficulty breathing I've been having. And now I have an inhaler.  Soon, I will add suspenders and thick framed glasses. snort.

Eight days into 2011 and I've already done two events. Good start!

Brrrrr!

I'm going to come right out and say it. It's cold and sucky in the greater Puget Sound area.  We had some snow just before Thanksgiving. Then some more crappy snow a few days before the new year. After which the temperature dropped and stayed down there, only to finally get to the 40's and RAIN. Luckily a week later the snow is gone (hooray!!)  

I will admit that the even with the other than spectacular weather I have not quit running. New Year's day, on only about 3.5 hours of sleep, I met up with a friend and one of her friends for the Resolution Run and Polar Bear dip. Yes. Dip. As in water. As in Lake Washington (a really really big lake by Seattle).  The air temp was still below freezing at the 10:30 start, and the water temp was all of 42. Yes. 42.  At Ironman two years ago they let us wear neoprene booties at 59 degrees and even contemplated not having the swim. Okay, so the major difference is that 42 felt almost warm after running a 5k in the freezing air.  Seriously, cold. So cold in fact that the water dripping off us as we exited quickly froze on the path creating an ice rink to the finish line. Sweet!!!!! It was incredible. I can't wait for next year. The plan is to get a bunch of people to do it, or at least come watch, then celebrate the insanity afterwards with some majorly good grub.

So, the 2nd of January was Sunday- my typical long run day. I did a relatively easy, but cold, 10.4 miles running into my old roommate about a half a mile from my car at the end and wound up with sushi plans for that night. Mmmmmm. Sushi.

However, the pain in my chest that I've been feeling more on than off since the Seattle half marathon has hit a high this week and breathing is getting difficult. I've made a doctor appointment for tomorrow morning so hopefully it's something easy like bronchitis. And by easy, I mean treatable.  And not "we have no idea what's wrong with you. Drink some water and rest"  because I don't really know how to rest.  

Big things this year.

BIG.

HUGE.

FUN!!!!