Um, I'm Doing Ironman Lake Placid In Less Than Six Months...sh#$!!!

Really, this time, I'm going to try to get back to blogging on regular basis!!! I swear!!! I will start out slowly and, hopefully, ease my way back into saying anything even remotely interesting or entertaining.

So, last month -- or perhaps the month before that -- we began our journey into Lake Placid training. So far, everything is relatively painless and oddly provides a sense of familiarity that I find comforting. Clearly that is a sign that I'm a lunatic.

Tonight is the first night that I've really thought about Placid and the fact that I will be there in less than 6 months participating in an Ironman that I once thought was WAAAAAAY out of my league (and, truth be told, I still have doubts about my ability there). I had a momentary panic attack and the butterflies took flight in my stomach but then I calmed. Life has been too busy for me to worry about it. I'm just moving along like an unthinking lemming, following the schedule in front of me with no thought to the ultimate consequence: wake up, eat, work, eat, take care of kids, eat, train, eat, sleep, eat, repeat. Did you notice all the "eating" in there? Yeah, that explains the ten extra pounds on my ass. I blame it on post-holiday binging. It will come off once the training picks up. Right? No? Okay, whatever. It'll help me gain speed on the downhills at Placid then.

So, the journey begins yet again. I'm still nervous. Madly excited. Totally overwhelmed. And, a teeny bit proud of taking this plunge. I guess, I'm ready for the challenge. Bring it on, IMUSA!!! Okay, just kidding ... I'm not really stupid enough to taunt the Ironman Gods. Let's not "bring it on" so to speak. How about Placid remains it's calm, rain-free, beautiful self and I just wander on up north with some awesome friends in a few months and we take a little swim in a gorgeous lake, toodle around the mountains on our bikes and take in 26.2 miles of scenery on a wee little walk-about? Deal? Excellent!

Who says kids don't like to go to Ironman Florida on Halloween??

October 31st is a tricky time for us IMFL lovers. We, of course, want to be at IMFL and either race or cheer on our teammates but, unfortunately, for the past two years, IMFL has seriously disrupted Halloween and trick-or-treating for our little kiddos. So this year, I developed a plan. I talked my Booger into the BEST Halloween costume EVER: an M-Dot. I told her that she'd get tons of attention and people would love it. She was totally into it so Derek and I made her a costume fit for a an Ironman Princess.

Little did I know exactly how much attention she would get!! I'm talking cars honking, people leaning out of their car windows to take a picture, at least 30 people stopping and asking to get their picture taken with her and even more asking simply to take her picture!!!! It was absolutely hilarious!! She was in heaven and kept saying she was a "pop star". At the end of the night she said this was her best Halloween ever. So, what's the lesson here? I suppose it's that Ironman and kiddies DO mix -- given some creativity and an easy-going kid!



So, as far as the race so far? I got in late this afternoon and only managed to touch base with the crew of T-girl sherpas and volunteers. Derek and I are reporting tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. to work as bike handlers and I'm hoping to get lots and lots of pictures!!! I'll try to give some updates and post some pics of our gals (and guys) kicking the crap out of the IMFL course!

Best of luck to Shawn, Kate G, Kate O., Sharon, Patty, Charlotte, Fred and, of course, the super-awesome Som!! More to report tomorrow . . .

So much to look forward to . . .

First of all, thanks so much for all of your well-wishes for Kelsey! She did an awesome job and I know it meant so much to her that you all were sending her some good mojo! :)

These next few weeks are going to be filled with so much excitement!! Honestly, I can hardly wait!

Okay, so, next weekend I get to go on my triathlon coaching certification weekend and when I return all that will be left is the exam. Gulp! Coach G and Coach B keep telling me that it will be no problem -- but, you know, when multi-Ironman athletes/ultra-marathoners tell you something will be "no problem" you tend to believe that maybe their idea of "no problem" may be a little different than your own! Either way, the butterflies and anxiety remind me of pre-race jitters which I miss so much this year!!!

Then what's next? A little thing called IRONMAN FLORIDA, baby!! I. CAN. NOT. WAIT. to get down to Panama City to be there with all the TRIgirls and cheer them on as they go after that Ironman prize . . . Sharon, Shawn, Kate O, Kate G, Patty, Charlotte . . . They have been training so hard and are going to kick some major IM-ass down there! I'll be working as a bike handler -- which I'm sure will be A LOT more fun than Lake Placid (aka Hurricane Ironman). And, after the Ironman, I cannot even imagine the party after the crew of teammates and others sign up for IMFL '09 (including this one handsome, tall guy named Derek something or other - go Big D!!)

With all the IM mojo going around right now, I pulled up some of my previous posts so I could re-read how I felt at this time last year. For those who are toeing that line in Florida, I'm passing this quote along. It meant so much to me as the time was ticking down and I hope it brings some peace to you, too:

"It is a comforting moment when we suddenly realize that our commitment to race, to participate in something so important to us - our dream - will be actualized. We have made it to the starting line. In this moment, the probability that we will do the event reaches 100 percent. The hundreds of things that can go wrong leading up to an Ironman have been cleverly averted, and the thousands of things required to get to the start are all now officially history."


You are ready, ladies. Now, let the fun begin!!

PS - to Frances: yes I'm a SQ mom! Our group is the BEST and I would love to talk to you about tri training anytime! I couldn't get your contact info from the comment you made on my blog so just track me down through SQ or leave me your contact info.

What a FANTASTIC weekend!!!

Okay, so the nitty-gritty of this fantastic weekend? Let's skip ahead to everything except the training details shall we? Unless you are all dying to find out how I reorganized my linen closet. So, on Saturday, I didn't wake up until 8 am (woohoo!) and finally made my way out to run at about 10am. It was absolutely beautiful!!! While Derek (who was joining me after already running a 6 miler earlier that morning)and I ran, we chatted and laughed and just enjoyed our nice lazy 5 mile run together. When we got home, I spent about 30 minutes stretching and doing my PT exercises. This was the longest pavement run I've done since the femoral stress fx and, thankfully, everything felt GREAT!

On Sunday, Derek and I joined the RABA group for a 54 mile route that started about 5minutes from my house. Even better than that? It started at 9am!! Two days of sleeping in!! Hallelujah for that!!! You know, I was really nervous going on my first ride with this cycling group! Isn't that funny? I felt like I was starting my first day of school and had to try to make new friends or something! "Does my outfit look okay?" "Will they like me?" "Hope they don't think I suck!" Silly isn't it? I really believe branching out to different groups helps you be a more well-rounded person. And by stepping out of my comfort zone and introducing myself to different situations and groups of people, I always remember that "new girl" feeling. And, that helps makes sure I'm never one of those awful, intimidating clique-ey people! You know the ones? Where you approach a group and they all look at you but no one says hello. Yeah, they suck. Anyway, my aversion to "cliquiness" is a whole blog in itself so back to the ride . . . As it turns out, everyone was really welcoming and friendly and the ride was absolutely gorgeous!! I had no idea I had such a great ride route so close to my house! In the next few weeks, my plan is to make french toast, fresh fruit and mimosas and try to lure the TRIgirls out here for a nice ride followed by brunch at my place!!!

So my plan for this week? Continue plugging away at my run while helping to calm Kelsey's nerves about her first "real" swim meet this weekend. She's swam in casual summer league meets but she's now part of a year-round swim team and she is swimming some crazy stuff. Here's her event list for this weekend:

200 Freestyle
50 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
50 Butterfly
100 IM (25 each of Fly, Back, Breast, Free)
100 Freestyle
50 Breaststroke
100 Butterfly
50 Freestyle
100 Backstroke

I would die!! Seriously. 100 of Buttefly?!? Good God. Shoot me now. She's very, very nervous so send her some of that great TRIgirl mojo!!

Officially back . . .

Okay, this is my official re-entry into the world of blogging. So much has happened over the last few months -- both mentally and physically, that I felt I just couldn't keep up with life and blogging at the same time. But, now I feel a bit more settled and hope to check in a bit more often!

With my hiatus from racing this year, I have to admit, I have felt separated from my teammates. They are all gearing up for their respective races and I feel I'm just piddling around with no direction. I'll admit it. I'm jealous. Insanely jealous, actually. And, honestly, I'm sad. I miss them. I miss being part of "the team". I mean, I know I am still (and will always be) a TRIgirl but I miss the day-to-day fun that comes along with training with your teammates. I suppose I just feel a bit disconnected -- I can't wait for IMUSA . . .

Have I told anyone that I'm getting my USAT Coaching Certification in October? No?? That's probably because I wasn't sure I wanted to let people know. The plan is that I'll start "officially" coaching for TRIgirl next year (YAY!) but, you know, that little negative voice I thought I had squashed when I did IMFL?? Well, it's back. I haven't really told anyone because I imagine people thinking "Her? A coach? HA! What does she know??" Despite the really fantastic enouragement and confidence I have been getting from my own coaches, I still have that whole self-confidence issue eating away at me.

I am finally up to running 5 miles now (I know, big whoop!) But, it has been a long, slow road and I think (*hope*!) that I am doing everything right so that I'll be fit and ready to go when IMUSA training begins. Until then, I'm just going to keep plugging along like a turtle.

Okay, well. Hmmmm. Wow, I'm going to have to get used to this blogging thing again. I forgot how difficult it is to write down random thoughts!! I have a ride planned this weekend with the Richmond Area Bike Association so I guess I'll have more stuff to say after that (let's hope!!)

Soooooo tired . . .

Is the non stop action of the Olympics making anyone else completely and utterly exhausted? I stay up all night and am wiped out all day. In fact, during my MRI today, I fell asleep in the tube! And for those of you who have had an MRI, you know how darn loud those things are!

Please, Olypmics, I love you but I beg you to cut me loose. You must end soon. I clearly can't handle the temptation of watching you anymore.

On another note, GOOD LUCK Timberman crew!! I can't wait to see how well you guys do! I'm wishing you a slippery swim, wicked fast bike and smoking dope run! xo

The crazy train has left the station . . .

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!