Patriot Race Report

Well, the "training" Half IM is done and to be quite honest, I'm pretty pleased. Going into this race was very different for me than Eagleman. Prior to Eagleman, I had a countdown going, I was nervous and I obsessed about my plan for each discipline. When it came to race day, I was a nervous wreck, my race plan went out the window, I did everything I shouldn't have done and my extreme GI issues during the run reflected my lack of dedication to my plan.

For Patriot, I was totally calm going into it. I mean, so calm that I kept thinking "what's my training this weekend?" and then I'd remember, "oh yeah, I'm doing that 1/2". I think it had something to do with how busy I've been. I've just been more focused on getting into the swing of things with all 4 kids starting school -- Booger just beginning Kindergarten and my oldest -- we'll call him Mr. Awesome (because that's what he thinks he is!) -- starting his Senior year in High School. In addition to that, coaching our competition cheer squad has started up again and taken up a good deal of my free time and, oh, there's that pesky part-time job that rears its ugly head now and again, too. So, anyway, I've been surviving day-to-day and simply looking at what workout was on the calendar that day and never looking ahead. So, going into Patriot, I was totally relaxed, calm and looking at it as simply another training day.

Another thing about Patriot was that I wasn't "racing". My goal for this race was to finish it feeling like I could do it again. I wanted to pace myself, follow my plan and finish feeling strong. And, suprisingly, I did it! It was difficult at times. For example, during the bike, I usually pedal hard and try to catch whoever is in front of me. My goal is to pass as many people as possible without ever being passed myself. During the run it's a completely different story. I typically go out strong and allow myself no more than 15 seconds at every water stop -- if it's a 10k or shorter, no stops are allowed at all (I adopted this stupid plan because running is my weakest discipline and I'm always getting passed by what seems like thousands of people -- I figured I couldn't afford to lose any time stopping at the water stops). Well, this plan usually means that my legs are very tired when I get off my bike and I usually completely die and need to begin doing A LOT of walking somewhere around mile 8 of the run. I was determined not to let that happen at Patriot. I would let people pass me on the bike and I would run the entire run while allowing myself to fully walk and reassess myself through every water stop.

As far as details,

THE SWIM:

We found out race morning that the race was wetsuit legal. Yay! I got to use my "floatie"! I wasn't particularly worried about the swim. My plan for the swim was simply to imagine that I was swimming in water that could potentially have sharks in it. I know -- kind of dumb since I knew there weren't really sharks but I'm trying to mentally prepare for IMFL! :D Anyway, I was just going to swim from buoy to buoy as comfortably as possible. All was going well until the last turn into the finish. As soon as I turned back toward the shore, I couldn't find the buoys because the sun was shining directly into my eyes. Oh, well, since I was in the last wave, I figured I'd just follow the small cluster of swimmers ahead of me. BIG mistake. A short while later, I stopped and wanted to really get my bearings and locate a buoy to site off of. I took a minute to breaststroke and look around. I spotted the orange buoys about 100 meters to my right. Dammit. I was totally off course. But as I looked around, I realized most everyone else was too! I spotted lots of people cutting a diagnoal path back toward where the swim finish was. I figure it took me about 200 meters off course. I finished in 39:15 so this wasn't bad for a 1.4ish mile swim. After the race, Derek told me almost everyone was off course. The spectators thought it was because of the current until some Elites came out of the water cursing and complaining about how crappy the markers were. I didn't think it was the markings but rather the sunlight but, whatever, I'm not "Elite" so I really didn't care either way.

T1:

Uh, sucky. You have to run about 1/2 a mile before you even get into transition. Over pokey rocks that they tried to mask with 1/8 in think carpeting. Ouch.

BIKE:

The bike was good except for the course. I really didn't enjoy the road conditions on the course. I lost one water bottle before I even made it out of the Jamestown parking lot!! But I anticipated I would lose a bottle (or two!) because of the bumpy course, so I packed 3 bottles and filled my Profile. Good thing because I came back with 1 completely empty water bottle and and empty Profile, too! But, I managed to hold back and pace myself really well on the bike. I wanted to maintain a 19-20 mph pace and I came pretty close. I finished the 58 mile course in 3:01 -- which, if I'm calculating right is about 19.23 mph. The only problem was that I didn't eat as much as I should have on the bike. This usually isn't a problem for me, but for some reason I just couldn't choke down my bagel and fig newtons. I was a little concerned for the run, but I had taken 4 gels during the bike and drank a full bottle of Sustained Energy so I was hoping I could hang on.

T2:

T2 is typically my "vacation" transition. I have no idea why, but I just seem to take FOREVER!! And this time was no exception. I took 3+ minutes and ranked 11th out of 13 finishers in my T2 time. What the hell do I do that takes so long??? I don't know. Maybe it's the massage, nap and mani & pedi that I get while I'm in there. ;D

RUN:

The run was damn HOT! I would guess it was in the low 90's but being on the asphalt with the cars seemed like the radiated heat temp was closer to 100. And for all but 2 miles there was virtually no shade whatsoever. But, despite all of this, my legs felt good -- really, really, good. So good that wanted to pick up the pace quite a bit. But, I reminded myself of my goal: finish this race like you could do it again. This was my one opportunity to really "practice" for IMFL so I took advantage of it. My goal was to run a 6mph pace and then walk through every water stop while I assessed how my body was feeling. The water stops were my time to give myself a "tune up" to prepare for the next mile. This worked really well for me. I managed to keep my pace while running and I spent about a minute walking through each water stop. While I was there I would drink water, drink some of my concentrated Sustained Energy, pack my sports bra full of ice, douse my head with cold water and take an Endurolyte if I felt I needed it. My final run time of 2:23 reflected a perfect balance of 6mph pacing and 45sec-1 min. water stops. I was happy that I felt strong enough to run the entire time between each water stop and when I came into the finish, I honestly felt like I could keep going.

Final race time was 6:14 which was 5th in my age group and only 21 seconds off of of 4th -- but a whole 45 minutes off of Speedy TG Liz's time of 5:32!! Damn, that girl can kick some ass!!! But, I felt GREAT when I was done!! And, I really am starting to believe I might be able to pull off this whole IMFL thing!

Highlights of the race:

**All the TriGirls. I just love being a TriGirl and racing with everyone. We are THE BEST team out there at every, single race!

**GRANDISON being out on the course again! God, it was nice to have her back out there giving encouragement!!!

**Carmen -- she just inspires me in so many ways!

**Liz taking first in our age group. So proud of her! I swear I'm calling sponsors to pick her up. She's amazing!!

********And, Derek, of course, being there as my number one supporter!! I cannot stress enough how much he does for me. There's no way I could do this without him! Love that guy so much!
!!!
All in all, a great race!! Up next, IMFL - AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

There's no place like home . . .

Sometimes, I have to admit, this adventure seems like I'm caught in this whirlwind. I'm just twisting and turning, going along for the ride with my eyes squeezed tightly shut. Before I even have time to process each step I'm taking toward IMFL, I'm taking another giant leap. So why do I still feel like I'm going to come up short???

For example, last weekend my 30 mile ride/15 mile run was the longest I've gone thus far. The almost 90 miles in 110 degree weather while getting "special" 1-on-1 attention from Coach B the week before was the farthest (and hardest!) ride I've ever done. And now, here I am, staring another 1/2 Ironman in the face and I'm thinking "Whatever. It's just another training day." WHAT?!?! That is proof that I've gone mental. IT. IS. A. HALF. FLIPPIN' IRONMAN!! But that's my point. I'm just here for the ride. I go when they say go and I stop when they say stop. It feels almost overwhelming sometimes.

Don't get me wrong. I love this adventure. But, some days, when I'm thinking "am I really doing enough", "will I be ready?", or the worst "what if I can't finish", I think of my former life with lazy Saturdays, no Ironman worries or self doubt and I find myself clicking my heels and saying "there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home . . ."

But, here I am. Still on this ride. And while I love so many parts of it, I feel the need to finally make it down that IM finisher's chute so that I can take a moment -- a minute to breathe and simply think and not "do".

Luckily, one thing this IM training has taught me, is that there are times that you will be in pain, that you will feel like sitting down and giving up, but those times will pass and you will get your second wind. All you need to do is hang in there and believe in yourself.

Let's hope that happens before Saturday's Half-IM.

Interesting Race in Loo-Ray . . .

Our departure for the Luray Int'l Tri on Friday was pretty dreary. I was EXHAUSTED from getting a total of about 3 hours sleep on Thursday night -- which is when we had one of the worst thunderstorm in history and Booger was throwing up all night. Luckily by Friday morning, she seemed to have kicked whatever it was that was ailing her so we were off by Friday afternoon.

We rented this cute little cabin in Luray that was about 5 minutes from the race site. I was really looking forward to spending some quiet time with the kids and the cabin was the perfect place for that. Unfortunately, though, it only had a small a/c wall unit and the bedroom we were sleeping in didn't receive much of the air that it eeked out. So. the night before the tri I, again, got about 4 hours of sleep. By the time I woke up Saturday morning, to be honest, I didn't give a crap about the triathlon. I simply wanted to get it over with so I could go back home and get some sleep!!!

I sludged out of bed and into my tri-suit and sat there trying to get a coffee high while Derek loaded my bike. By the time we got to the race site, I was still feeling like I was sleep-walking. To make matters worse, it was also the first day of my "Cybil week" (you know the one? we all have it once a month? Yeah, TMI, sorry.) Anyway, at that point I resigned myself to treating the day like a regular training day. I was going to clock the miles, but not "race" so to speak. I was just so damn tired!!

During the swim, I managed to shake off a little of my uber-negative mojo but I was still not in the race groove. When I got out, I didn't even need to look at my watch to tell my swim time wasn't very good. And, when I looked at Derek he confirmed it. Without me having to say a word, he simply shouted out "Don't worry! It wasn't your best time. You'll get 'em on the bike!" As it turned out my swim time was 33:07 -- which is not horrible but was pretty disappointing considering I swam a 1500 in 26:13 at the Charlottesville Tri 3 weeks ago.

In transition I added to my usual clumsy attempts at getting myself together by messing with my helmet. For some reason it was completely cinching my head!! I kept trying to jam it onto my head and it just didn't fit right. I pulled my hair down to make sure it wasn't stuck inside the helmet. I tried to loosen the grip thing in the back. I checked to make sure I wasn't putting it on backwards (thank GOD that wasn't the problem!!) In the end I couldn't figure it out so after almost 3 minutes I just jammed my big ol' head into it and took off. I have a bruise on my forehead now.

The bike was nice and had some quick downhills. We were on what I call a "lollipop course". You go up the stem, make a loop and then ride back down the stem. The only difference here is that you make two loops around the top of the lollipop. I was so NOT in race mode that somewhere around mile 8-10 I pulled over to see if a rider who had a flat needed help. He yelled at me. What is it with guys yelling at girls who ask if they need help?? Anyway, I'm glad he yelled at me 'cause it pissed me off. And being pissed woke me up and got my adreneline going. And that's is apparently what I need to find my race mojo. From that point on, I was in race mode (don't worry -- I know that there's no real noticible difference in my kicking into "race mode" -- but it does mean that I stopped thinking I was going to spend the whole ride chatting with the cows and enjoying the scenery!!)

By the end of the race, I was pretty happy with the overall results. My swim wasn't great, my bike time was hurt by my lack of dedication during the first 8 miles or so but my run time was the best it's ever been in an Olympic tri. And the run is where I hurt the most so that in itself was a happy little accomplishment for me!! Overall, I placed 6th in my age group and got my ass thoroughly kicked by the first 2 in my age group!! They finished 30 minutes ahead of me and one had a crazy 10k time of 43 or something like that!! They were some kick-ass athletes and I didn't mind one bit that they stomped on me!!

I really loved watching some of the other TriGirls race. That was the one thing that I liked about the double loop. I managed to see everyone on the run and/or bike and it was fun to check in with eachother. Megan came through like a rock star and Zona was amazing on her bike -- especially since she was riding a mtn. bike!!

At the end of the race, I lazed under a tree with Derek and the girls and then went back to the cabin to take a really WONDERFUL nap!! Next up . . . Patriot's 1/2. Gulp.

Virginia is now my home . . .

After six+ years of living in Virginia, I have now come to fully accept -- and appreciate -- Virginia as my home. I am orginally from Southern California and have always thought I'd always miss being a So. Cal girl. But, after my recent trip to California, I have to admit, I really missed "home". I missed the ability to hydrate on the humidity during runs. And the squishy softness of the air. I know that sounds crazy, but the dry Cali air actually bugged me. When I got off the plane in Virginia, I actually felt like Virginia was giving me a big ol' humidity hug. Go figure!

"Don't try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough." ~Arthur Freed

So, this post will have nothing to do with training. I really must tell you about an amazing and uplifting little event that happened on our trip. Well, actually it was on the trip home. The area where my in-laws live is on the eastern side of northern California. There are no airports within 2 hours of their house so getting there is always a VERY long travel day. When we left, we had to drive 2 hours to get to the train station and then take an hour and a half ride on the San Franciso metro train to get to the San Francisco Airport.

We were travelling with the 2 younger ones, 2 large suitcases, 2 small suitcases, a car seat and a computer bag. The computer bag was acting as my "purse" and contained 2 laptops, both cell phones and our check book. So, after our long ride, we pull into the San Francisco station, get off the train and make our way up to the airport check-in area. The train continues on to its next destination --- with our computer bag which we happened to forget. Dammit.

We have to check in and board our plane so we are completely unable to try to track down the bag. Derek locates a security guy who states he will ride his bike down to the next train stop to see if he can find it (nice guy!!!) but he also said that many "shady" people take the train system so we should not hold out hope in recovering our belongings.

So, we were bummed -- really, really bummed. And then, the zipper on one of our suitcases busts a big six inch hole. When I asked the Delta agent if they had tape, her response was "I've got to get your luggage down there. Wish it luck." I was a wee bit emotion but I didn't cry. Derek and I refocus ourselves by reminding eachother to count our blessings instead of focusing on any materialistic losses or grumpy airline agents. We get on the plane and land in Atlanta ahead of time. Yay! Things are looking up. Well, almost. We proceed to sit on the runway for over an hour because they cannot navigate the ten planes on the ground to open gates. Things are looking a little bleak again. Running through the airport with kids is NOT fun. But, no worries. The flight attendants make an announcement that there are many planes having the same difficulty and that we will not miss our connections since all other flights are aware of the problem and will hold the gates open. Whew!

As trusting as I try to be, we still high-tail it off the plane and literally run the entire way to our next plane. Cute little Booger kicked butt scurrying through the airport!! We almost get to our gate when a Delta agent calls out and says that all flights have left. Uh, what? She repeats that all planes have departed. Um, no, it's 10:30 p.m., we've been travelling for 12 hours, we lost our friggin' computers and the lady on the plane said they'd still be here!!! Through gritten teeth, I try to politely ask the nice lady what she suggests we do. She said they have booked us on a flight the following morning and to get comfortable. I'm starting to get emotional again -- but, again, I don't cry.

Derek and I visit the Delta counter with all of the other people to see what to do. Delta, realizing their error, simply begins passing out vouchers for hotels and meals. Okay, we can do this. We'll just get some food, go to our hotel, have a pigout on the hotel bed and have a little sleepover. The only thing we need is food and Booger's car seat.

Food is first since the vouchers are only good in the airport. Hmmmm. Everything is dark. Oh, that would be because the vouchers are only good until 11pm -- which is when the food area closes. Wish we would have known that when they gave us our vouchers at 10:50. But wait, there is a nice Chinese gentleman waiving us toward his restaurant. He asks what we want and says he will stay open a little late to make sure we have food to eat. I love him.

We go down to the luggage center and ask what we can do to get to our luggage. We are told that all luggage will be automatically directed to our morning flight. Um, okay, but what if we need something? Well, that's easy. Simply fill out the form, turn it in and they can bring out our luggage in approximately 2-3 hours. Deep breath. That's okay, I'm still riding the high from the nice Chinese man (and Booger's almost out of her car seat), so I simply tell Booger that she'll have to ride in the shuttle like a big girl. So we're off to the shuttle that takes us to our hotel.

We get outside and, oooh, look, there are only about 80 other people waiting for the same shuttle. When the shuttle pulls in people literally climb all over eachother like they're trying to get the last two seats on Noah's flippin' Arc!!! I pull the girls back and explain that it's not okay to behave like that and we will be rewarded for our patience. They look at me like I've lost my mind. I'm getting emotional again and fight not to cry.

Okay, so we make it to the hotel. We open all of our Chinese food and realize we've forgotten forks. Now, we have no clothes, no toothbrushes and no soap but for some reason the lack of forks seems to put us over the edge. We simply stand there staring into the styrofoam containers. Hmmm. Okay, girls, if we were on Survivor how would we solve this problem? All of the sudden we were cracking up and devising new ingenious ways to eat our food! The next thing you know, we hit the vending machines and pigged out on Chinese food, sodas and candy while watching Shrek 3.

Before bed, we decide we will use the hotel phone to call home and check the answering machine. Maybe the nice police officer in San Francisco has found our bags. We have one message. It is a man. He was on the train with us in San Francisco. He says he is calling from our cell phone and has found our belongings. He says he realizes many people would not do the right thing upon finding items like ours. But he feels like Santa Claus and is returning our belongings to the Lost & Found at the San Francisco Station. He leaves all of the details on how we can retrieve our things. Before he hangs up, he says he hopes he has made our day and that he wishes us the very best for the rest of our trip. I finally begin to cry.

As I lay falling asleep that night, I tell Derek: the men in the Utah mine had a bad day. The people on the bridge that collapsed had a bad day. The day we had? It was full of memories, adventure and was spent with the people I love. My day was simply fantastic!

So now I am home and tomorrow I ride the Patriot course with the Tri Girls. Which is good, because I'm sure there is some repressed frustration in me right now!!

AHHHHHHHHH!!!! I just realized that in 2 days and it will be less than 3 months til Ironman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's only 12 long workouts. Holy Flippn' Crap!!! Breathe in. . . breathe out. . . breathe in. . .

Charlottesville . . .

Before the C'ville recap, I have to say that I think I'm back to blogging again! Woohoo, because I really need to purge my training thoughts and I've missed doing so over the last two months!! Yesterday was the official end to the swim season for me -- well, sort of. I am President of a swim team that has over 175 kids. Managing the team, coaches, parents, etc. over the past few months has just about killed me -- and my "tri-desire". It's not that I don't still love training, it's just that running the swim team has taken so much out of me that I've just been clocking the training hours instead of enjoying my training time. And, my kids are finally willing to take me off the "Worst Mommy of the Year" list since I actually made them dinner the other night!! So, yesterday's triathlon success was really great for me -- both mentally and physically!


















So now to the race report:

Total time: 2:51.57 (4th in age group; 22nd overall/females)
Swim: 26:13 (4th in age group; 17 overall females)
Bike: 1:17.15 (1st in age group; 11 overall/females)
Run: 1:04.20 (6th in age group; 41 overall/females)

First, let me say there were only 9 girls signed up in my age group so I was TOTALLY scared that I'd end up last! Derek kept trying to tell me that at least I'd know I'd be top ten in my age group, but that didn't ease my nerves too much!! :D

Anyway, first off,

Swim: The swim was a double loop in a glassy, calm lake. There could have been a few more buoys since many people seemed to get confused but, all in all, it was a great swim. I managed to stay more on course than I usually do (except for the minor detour into the lily pads and reeds!) Also, apparently, with the double loop, there were quite a few people who decided to cut their swim short!! Derek and Melissa were watching the race and saw a few people come in after only one loop!!! Can you imagine?!? One guy even got out, hung on the beach for a minute (I guess trying to make his time look a bit more realistic) and then crossed the timing mat when he saw others in his age group coming out of the water. Honestly, how on earth can you call yourself a triathlete if you choose to cheat? I mean, really, if you're already choosing to lie, why don't you just not show up at all and then tell everyone you won. Losers. Anyway, I had a much better swim time than I anticipated since I've only spent 1 day in the pool since Eagleman. And, to be honest, I only spent a handful of days in the pool before Eagleman. My swim training is severely lacking but I'm re-energized and hope to be more dedicated in my efforts.



Bike: The bike was flipping AWESOME!!!! I was a bit apprehensive prior to the race because I know the C'ville Tri Club has some kick-ass athletes who really know how to ride the hills. I tend to be a pretty good hill rider so I do better on a hilly course but as I told my friend Jenn, "the C'ville Tri Club laughs in the face of my measly hill climbing ability!" I mean, c'mon, they train in the Blue Ridge all the time!! And, let's face it, I'm an okay swimmer but not a great runner -- so, really, the bike is the only area where I feel I can even try to be somewhat competitive. If it was a hilly course in Richmond, then maybe I'd have some kind of advantage, but in C'ville, I was definitely at a disadvantage!! Especially since I didn't know the course at all! In trasition I spoke to one girl who had raced the course last year and she told me that there were some decent hills but that there were no sharp turns or bad road conditions and that the race crew was really good about pointing out turns/hazards on the course. I figured I would just trust this girl's information and let it fly on the bike. As it turned out, there were a few tight turns where I feathered the brakes and got a bit skittish since I didn't know what was ahead but I felt pretty good when I was coming into the final stretch of the bike. When I entered transition I saw Derek and he looked awfully excited. I thought, "Aww, how sweet!! He knows how nervous I am about coming in last so he's really putting all he has into cheering me on!" Then as I came out of transition he yelled, "Hey, you're second!!! There's only one girl ahead of you in your age group!!" I just nodded as I thought, "What the heck is that crazy man talking about??" Then when I realized what he said, I thought "Oh crap! I'm not a good runner!! How am I supposed to hold anyone off in the run?"

Run: This was a hilly, rooty, rocky course and it was definitely challenging. I think I left it all on the bike so I had very little to give the hills of this run. At about mile 1, I saw one woman in my age group pass me. Alright, that's okay. Third's good. Really good. Then mile 2.5 came on and so did a big-ass hill! I walked. And up ran another girl in my age group. Damn. I watched her go and as I picked it up to a run again, I decided I was going to try to really push it from that point but it was too late. Holding off someone is one thing. Catching them is entirely different. As it turns out, I came in 4th and less than 4 minutes behind the 3rd place finisher. Bummer.

You know, I'm not so upset about coming in 4th -- I'm upset that I never believed I could come in above 9th. And then after I was told I was 2nd, I didn't think I could ever actually come in 2nd -- or 3rd. And since I didn't think I could do it, I didn't really try for it. I've always said that one time I want to finish a triathlon feeling really spent. You know, one of those people who pukes because they left everything out on the course. But, there's always some excuse that keeps me from really pushing it. Maybe because I'm scared of the disappointment of trying and then failing anyway. Or maybe it's because I was never an athelete in school and I still don't really think of myself as an "athlete". A couple weeks ago someone saw my license plate and asked me if I was a triathlete and do you know what my answer was? "Well no. I do triathlons but I wouldn't call myself a triathlete." I don't know what the hell is wrong with me but I really need to work on crushing those negative thoughts. Logically I know it does me no good but it's still difficult to ignore. ARGH!

Anyway, the course was beautiful, the weather held out and the best part? I LOVE racing with the TriGirls (and Ed!). It's just so nice to run through the finish line to your "family". Or to be the "family" waiting there for your teammates to arrive. I love sharing in other people's accomplishments. Like Carmen. Thinking about her accomplishment in the swim yesterday still brings tears to my eyes today. She's a rock star. And Mary. She didn't tell anyone she was coming to the tri yesterday because she wasn't sure she'd show up! Not only did she show up, but she did a fantastic job!!! Derek was absolutely blown away by her performance and dedication. And, Lynn. Really, does anyone look happier when they cross a finish line? She really looks like she just had the time of her life!! And Susie. You know, being passed feels so much better when she passes you and yells out "Hey! You're hot!"

It was a great day!!

Yes, I'm still alive . . .

I was reminded today by my fave "Fave" that it has been exactly one month since my last post. What the heck?? Clearly I haven't been that busy have I???? Well, yes. Unfortunately, life has been so busy that I'm struggling with keeping all of my workouts on track. The best thing I ever did was to shout loud and clear at the beginning of this year that this was the "Year of ME". My volunteer obligations, part-time job and everything else was going to take second chair to one year of me following my dreams. But, that is so much easier said than done. I need to learn the art of saying "no"!

On a training note, I've gotten most of it in. But I miss the Tri Girls!!!! I am SOOOOO looking forward to riding with them on Saturday. It is amazing how much your teammates mean to you in your life. I mean, most of my close friends support me, but they really don't understand what I'm doing. To them the idea of 112 miles on a bike is simply a long car ride. Maybe a trip to King's Dominion and back. And the idea of foregoing social gatherings in order to fit in a training session or becauase you have to wake up early to train is downright NUTS!! Thank God for the gals who have bonded on this journey!!! I honestly couldn't do it without you all!!!!

Hope to see so many TG gals on Saturday!!!!! I need a fix!