Augusta 70.3 RR or How I fell in love with triathlon all over again

I know it has been a while since I have blogged. IM training, family life and work have kept me busy. As my training hours ramped up I tried to spend as much “free” time with my family as possible; putting less essential things in the back burner big time; with blogging being one of those activities. Also; after the last “disaster” race I had back in May I realized I had become too dependant on what blog world thought of me and my training and decided to take a step back. That proved to be a very smart decision.

Last weekend I raced Augusta 70.3. It was my third half ironman but my first “Ironman brand” race. I had never been part of a race of this magnitude. The transition area was HUGE and slightly intimidating.

Molly and I arrived on Friday evening; me by car, Molly by plane. I picked her up from the Augusta airport and we headed to the hotel. We chatted all the way to the hotel and then some; but soon thereafter it was time to get some sleep. Friday was the “most important” night of sleep according to Coach. I slept really well. Woke up without an alarm on Saturday and we headed to the river for some swimming. The current was quite strong and we were swimming upriver… Let’s just say we did not cover a lot of distance. Out of the water, walk back to the hotel, and off on a quick spin. Once the pre-race brick was done; we tried and tried to find some food. Downtown Augusta is not as cute as I thought it would be. Most of the storefronts were closed and there was nobody on the street with the exception of the athletes in town. We finally found some food (and coffee) at the host hotel and headed to the pre-race meeting and athlete check in. All I am going to say is that I expected this to be better organized. We stood in lines for at least 40 minutes; and we all know that the day before a race that is not super smart. We went through the expo and I scored a VERY nice TYR tri top for 50% off (I wore it on race day). After all that mess we went out to drive the bike course. The elevation chart posted on the website makes it look a lot hillier than it actually is. We also saw a LOT of people riding the entire bike course the day before the race. Not us!

The rest of the afternoon went by fast. Lunch, a quick trip to starbucks for some real coffee, and back to the hotel to put my feet up. Around 6 pm we headed to transition to drop off my bike and then we met up with Wes, DeeDee, Kevin and Kathy for dinner at Carrabbas. Again, not the smoothest operation around…. We waited close to 2 hours to be seated and then about another 30 minutes to put our food orders in. At this point; my head had kind of checked out already; but the company was AWESOME. While we were at dinner it started raining, quite hard actually; and for a slight bit I worried about my bike. Minutes later I realized; there was nothing I could do, so I let it go. We said our goodnights and Molly and I headed back to the hotel. I got all my nutrition ready and went to bed.

Race morning started at 5am. Woke up, ate my breakfast; drank the horrendous hotel coffee and started getting ready. I got dressed, body marked myself, Molly helped me with the sunscreen and I left. I walked to the host hotel to catch the shuttle to transition; and once I was on it I started chatting with people. I know most of you already know but the triathlon community is awesome. ‘Nuff said.

When I got to transition I set up pretty quickly. The space between the bikes was awfully small and I did not like that fact one bit. That paired with the fact that all the people from your same wave were set up next to each other made for a pretty tight set up. Coming out of the water to T1 would certainly be interesting. Anyhow; I think I have become really efficient at setting up my transition as I have learnt from past experiences what I tend to do and in what order. After setting up I headed to use the “facilities”. The line was long. Once I made sure I had done everything I needed to do in transition I headed to the swim start. Since it was 1.2 miles away they had shuttle buses; but those lines were long and out of control, so I walked. Molly was going to wait for me at the start and take my morning gear bag so I wore my spare sneakers. At this point, I was getting slightly nervous, your typical butterflies; but at the same time I felt calm. I knew going into this race that this was not a performance about time; but about executing my IM plan and making sure it worked. Upon arrival to the swim start I was delighted to see they had A LOT more porta potties J I picked up my chip and started my search for Molly. I found DeeDee really easily and we made a back up plan for my gear in case I did not see Molly. Shortly thereafter I found my Sherpa Extraordinaire. We hung out, watched the pros go off and too soon it was time for me to get ready. Wetsuit on, body glide applied, swim cap, goggles… Off to stand with the rest of the pink caps. When my wave was called we walked to the pier from where we were to start and since I was towards the end of the line I had to stay on the pier until everybody went off.

The swim

The horn went off and as people started moving away from the pier I lowered myself into the water, found some space and started swimming. I was unusually calm. There really wasn’t anything to sight off so I followed the other pink caps. I did my best to swim as straight as possible and I think I managed. There was one thing that surprised me about this swim (other than my swim time); I never freaked out, I never thought “what am I doing?” which is a common occurrence for me. I think knowing that this was NOT my BIG race helped me stay calm and focused on having a good swim and having fun rather than worrying about time. I never looked at my watch; but the swim still seemed long. You all know the water and I are not exactly friends; but I am learning to embrace our relationship J At one point I did think that I was going to have another sub par minute swim because I felt like I was not really going “faster” (there was all this hype about how much faster you’d go because of the current; and we did indeed swim faster -a lot faster- but when swimming I really couldn’t feel the current’s assistance). I just swam, and swam and swam. Eventually the swim exit came into view and I picked up my pace. As we were getting closer to the exit someone tried to grab my legs and swim over me. NOT COOL. I kicked hard so that whomever was trying to swim over me would at least get a kick in the face J You don’t mess with me on swim exit!

T1

The run to T1 was long; but I had my legs with me. I am not sure how fast I ran, but I felt calm and able to push it. They had wetsuit peelers and that was awesome. Only bad thing is that my feet were full of grass and I had no way of cleaning them. Like I said before, transition was packed tightly; and when I got to my area; both the ladies to my left and right were there as well. Not much space to move around. I got my gear and headed out.

The bike

Molly and I had driven the course the day before and it did not look as hilly as the elevation chart showed it. I left transition; clipped in and off I went. I took it extremely easy for the first .25 mile because there were A LOT of bikes on a very small space. Once we hit the open road I got aero and started pedaling at the cadence I would hold the entire bike leg… Above 85 (this was my strategy and my goal). The first part of the course seemed really fast; I was going at about 20.5 mph and I did not feel like I was working hard at all. I really tried to bring my HR down; but my watch kept showing me zone 4 (I had set my watch to show me the zones that I had pre-programmed and not the actual HR number). The funny thing is that I did NOT feel like I was riding Z4. My breathing was easy, my legs were not burning and it felt relatively “easy” to go. I decided to go by feel rather than worry about HR. I followed my nutrition plan as I am going to do for IM (goal #2 for this race) and luckily I never got tired of my “food”. I found the bike course extremely enjoyable, and honestly just had a FUN time out there. People passed me, I passed people. I was not concerned about placement at all. As coach instructed me, I spun up the hills and made sure my HR did not go too much out of control (the key to letting my stomach digest my food to ensure a good run). I felt strong the entire time. On previous races I normally hit a “low” point at around mile 48 where I want to be done and my legs are toast; my cadence drops significantly and I slug my way back to transition. During this race, that never happened. I kept getting myself mentally ready to fight through it; but the low never came. I think the nutrition plan might have been responsible for it; I think I was more consistently fueled and my energy levels remained more constant than in previous races. I was just having a lot of fun; and I think that was key. I had my best bike split on a ½ IM.

T2

Rolling into T2 I could not believe my bike split ☺ I was HAPPY. I jogged/walked my way to my rack being very careful not to step on the potholes on the way or lose footing. I put my bike back on the rack, changed shoes, grabbed my nutrition and left.

The run

I started the run feeling really good. My legs were there for the most part; definitely better than on previous races. The run for me is usually a mental challenge. I get overwhelmed by the distance I have yet to cover and I start slipping slowly. Knowing this, I started working on that right away. I kept repeating my mantras and just focusing on myself and my own race. I ran the first 2 miles non stop (maybe slightly faster than I should have.. but I can’t really judge my pace off the bike as it always feels like I am running slow and it turns out I am not) then my stomach got a little bothersome. Some burps, a little bit of reflux. I took water at the aid stations, mixed a couple of walk breaks here and there and little by little my stomach started to settle. Here is when I started seeing Molly at regular intervals on the race. She was AWESOME! Giving me encouraging words, taking pictures, relaying messages from coach. THE WORKS. Totally rocked the spectathlete, Sherpa duties during this race. I hit the 7 mile marker a little slower than I wanted; but after that my stomach finally felt better and I was able to run more. I could still not tell how fast I was running; but I kept running as long as I felt good. I would run about 8/9 minutes and then take a 30 second walk break to “relax” my stomach (harder efforts make my stomach tense up… weird, I know). I was so unattached to a time goal that I was just focused on feeling good and nailing my IM strategy. I had a smile on my face the entire time. Yes I was sore, I had a huge blister on one of my toes on the left foot but I felt AWESOME. Never ONCE did I question what I was doing on the race course. On the contrary; I was inundated with the feeling of loving this sport and being SO lucky to be able to do this. The spectators were awesome and hearing people cheer for you made you want to go harder/faster. With about one mile to go I allowed myself to look at the total elapsed time and could not believe my eyes! I was on pace to break 6 hours!

Crossing that finish line was awesome. For the first time I allowed myself to “celebrate” as I was crossing the line. I had finished the race and I felt like I could have kept going. I glanced at my watch; did a double take and started laughing. I had not set out to beat the clock; or even set a PR. Coach and I took a look at how my training has been going; what bumps in the road I have encountered and we agreed that a sub 6 was probably not achievable this time around. Especially because I was not racing at my HIM pace; but more like practicing my IM pace. And there I was; sub 6 and feeling awesome. Completely speechless.

I walked out of the finish chute; found Molly and headed towards the food/drinks. I had asked her to bring my recovery drink so I could take it right away; and I think that helped my recovery tremendously. We hung out to see Wes finish and then it was time for me to get my stuff and get on the road.

I learnt a lot of lessons during this race. The biggest ones: when I “let go” I can achieve big things; and it is definitely all in my head. Here it is to hoping I will be able to remember these lessons on November 7th.

Training camp: coach ELF style!

Yesterday was day one of Camp ELF. Andrea, Cat and I made it to Chicago after lunch and after getting acquainted we headed out to do our first training session. We are not talking smal potatoes here... It was a 2 mile open water swim; where we got to meet Jen H. as well.

The lake was a good size and with the exception of Cat who was doing a combination of swim/run/swim, we swam around it. Each loop was about a mile, so we headed for 2 loops. Immediately after we started I lost sight of everybody. Jen and Liz are very fast swimmers and there was no way in the world I would be able to keep up with them. So, truth be told I didn't even bother.

Sighting was a bit difficult mostly because the landmarks were unfamiliar and the lake was new to me; so I did my best to try to follow other swimming caps. The first loop was uneventful; I swam and swam and swam and eventually made it back to the beach. The second loop felt much longer than the first one but I made it around. I had a few moments where my left calf/foot cramped up and I managed to push through. I was happy to finish up though. This was mostly a confidence builder for me. I set out just to swim the 2 miles; without concern about times, to gain peace of mind that I could finish the Ironman swim. And you know what? I can. I totally can swim the 2.4 miles; and I think I might be able to pull in a pretty decent time as well. Only time will tell.

After swimming we all headed to Noodles for dinner. It was delicious; and it really hit the spot. Conversation was awesome too; but we were all pretty shot. Long day of travel and workouts; we were ready to hit the sack.
I slept pretty well; and the morning came all too quickly. I was greeted by the one and only BOSS; and I do have to say he is the cutest Chihuahua I have ever seen. Not your typical loud, obnoxious Chihuahua; but this sweet little thing!

Everybody got up and after a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee (of course) we headed to the track to get our running videotaped and critiqued. One by one; we ran, got taped and then carefully listened to what Liz had to say about our form. It was very interenting to see the different running forms and to watch Liz run. Oh my gosh! Her body is able to move in ways that I am not sure I will ever be able to. There is no "bounce" to her running. It is pure forward motion. I am hoping someday I'll get there. We did a couple of timed sets; before and after run critique. It will take some getting used to the new way; but it should be more efficient.

We headed back to the house for some lunch; and since Cat and I were borrowing Liz's bikes we got fitted to them. Man she has some nice machinery! We chilled for a while and then it was time to head out to swim. Again. This time it was about form and stroke efficiency. We all got some excellent pointers and I was able to discover my lats. That is a whole new source for swimming power right there. Truth be told, it is harder to swim with my lats and it will take a while to build endurance. Anything to get better and faster, right?

Next on the list was a spin through the Arboretum. I loved that we were able to just ride there. I am always having to get in my car, drive somewhere and THEN ride. But here, we just got on the bikes and started pedaling. Awesome. The place was gorgeous. Mostly shaded (a nice break from all the sun we were exposed to), with a lot of turns and some little climbs thrown in for good fun. We rode for an hour and then left Liz to finish up her 2 hour ride.

After everyone showered and cleaned up, Andrea and Liz made this awesome chicken dinner with curry and coconut milk. VERY YUMMY. Add some veggies and brown rice and you have the perfect athlete's meal.

Right now we are just chillin'. Boss is by my side murdering Squeaky Carrot, Andrea is watching The Office, Cat is Facebooking and Liz is writing schedules. Pretty soon I think I will be crashing hard and hitting the bed and it's onle 8:15. The day has been long but super fun. The company is great and that makes training that much more fun. We have been bad about taking pictures, but I am taking the camera during our ride tomorrow. Hopefully something good will turn out.

Coping & Inspiration

It has been a couple of hard weeks around these parts. Weeks with some accomplishments and some setbacks.

I finished the first training block for IM; and I managed to get in every training session with the exception of a recovery bike after my long run last sunday. That long run was the hardest one I've had in a long time; mostly because I have been battling some really nasty leg pain on my left leg. I have been coping with it as best as I can; but sunday I'd had enough. My run was so painful that it made me incredibly angry/upset. I had to hobble/walk the majority of it and I felt cheated out of my session.

The pain basically boils down to having really tight muscles on my butt and that is putting pressure on my sciatic nerve and making my leg hurt/tingle. I have started massage therapy and it is better; but still not 100%. I will continue to go as often as I can afford it and I am doing a lot of stretching/rolling at home as well. Hopefully if I work at it diligently I will be able to solve the problem. I'll give it all I have.

Last weekend I was also asked to participate on the swim portion of a relay team on a small sprint tri. One of the coaches from my old tri program asked me if I would relay for one of the women she is coaching now; who was not so comfortable in the water. I did not hesitate to accept. I remember when I was in that same position; being afraid of the OW. The race went well; the woman had an awesome race and so did I. I had my best 1/2 mile OW time... almost 3 minutes faster than last year.

Of course while watching everybody riding and running I wanted to race pretty badly; and I had to keep reminding myself of "the big picture"; what I am trying to accomplish this year and how a short sprint is not exactly the most "beneficial" for me at this point. Next year.

The week was good; I had a nice recovery week and I mostly enjoyed my workouts. And then there was yesterday.

S (the woman I relayed the swim for) asked me if I was still planning on attending the OW practice they held at the local lake. I had told her that even though I was planning on swimming a mile (2 loops) I would swim the first loop with her. You see; she had attempted to swim the one loop by herself and found that when she got to the second buoy panic had set in and her head convinced her she could not do it.

Upon arrival yesterday morning I found S and was very specific about the goals for the day: "I will NOT let you quit. You will swim the entire loop. Doesn't matter how or how fast you go; you will move forward and you will finish." With that statement right there I also assured her that I would stick by her side the entire way and offer reassurance; I would not exactly "help" her swim, but I would be there to comfort and calm any nerves that might arise. From my own experience I knew that once you finish one of these OWS, your self confidence takes a huge boost; and that is what I was after for her.

When the horn went off we waited until everyone had left the beach to start swimming. S set off swimming and I was right behind her. A couple of strokes later she lifted her head and looked for me. I was able to notice the little "scared" feeling and I assured her I was right behind her. She sighed with relief. I moved up to her "breathing side" so that she could see me there each time she took a breath. Slowly but surely we made our way around the loop. At the final buoy; with a mere 150 yds to the finish I told S she would swim to shore by herself so that I could go on to the second loop. She agreed no problem; after all she had come that far and there was no way she was quitting now! I was SO proud of her; still am. Sometimes all that it takes is for someone to show you they believe in you.

Right now I am fresh from watching the coverage of the Irongirl Atlanta. Man! I want to race so much! I was watching the women and got flooded with this feeling of happiness and fun. I love this sport so much! Can't wait for my next race!

Mid week check!

Well, it is not exacly mid week; but it's as close as it's going to get.

Training has been going well; not superb, not bad; I am getting the work done. Week one of IM build found me with the lovely company of "Aunt Flo" and that ALWAYS makes me drag and feel out of sorts. I am a bit tired but nothing a few more hours of sleep this coming weekend won't fix.

I have also been paying close attention to my nutrition and logging in my food intake on an online tool. I think I have been doing well in that regard too. With the exception of yesterday.

Yesterday was a "special" day since I went to lunch with a woman I met at my last OWS. It turns out she is training for IMFL too and lives close to my house! I have not trained with people for a very long time and this is a much welcome change. Anywho, we got together to talk about training, triathlon, injuries and all that goes along with being an athlete. Even though we met at a healthy place, you never know exactly what is IN the food they make. So all I could do is guess amounts and nutritional values based on what I saw my food contained. I did not go crazy and ate like a mad woman; but I did not act all concerend about it. I tried to keep it as natural as possible. And I think I did well.

Today I am working from home and the best thing about it (besides being able to wear my pjs all day) is that I get to watch "le tour" as it is happening. Yay Versus!!!!

Tonight I have a bike ride with some hill repeats thrown in there for some flavor. I think I have pictured what hills I will be riding, but it will all depend on how traffic is behaving. The ONE thing I need to work on as far as bike handling skills go; is making U turns. I am SO scared of them that each time I have to do one I end up unclipping and turning my bike around. Silly, I know, but the last time I attempted a U turn fully clipped in I ended up falling off my bike and having a bruise/ bump the size of a watermelon on my left butt cheek. Thanks, but no thanks.

And that is how my week is going so far. A couple of more days and then the weekend is here; which will bring me an OWS and a 4 hour bike ride. It is time to start building my endurance back up. I am armed with a new nutrition plan (thanks Cat!) and I am ready to give it a go.

Let's get this show on the road!

RENT!!!!

Wow, wow, wow. That is how I left the theatre after watching my all time favorite musical: RENT. I have seen this musical once before when we lived in Minnesota, and I have watched the movie countless times; but what made this show extra special is that the 2 main characters: Mark & Roger, were portrayed by the actors from the original Broadway cast.

What a rush! It was a perfect night, a bit chilly, but perfect.

We started the evening with dinner reservations at about 5:15. I know, I know; a bit early, but if you have ever been to the Melting Pot, you know it takes at least 2 hours to eat all 3 courses. Just in case you didn't know, the Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant. I love fondue! We never eat it because it is kind of an expensive treat when you eat out; and a bit of a mess to make at home; not to mention that I do not have any of the necesary utensils (pots and skewers). This time we lucked out, and were able to go during Charlotte's restaurant week. Charlotte restaurant week is an event that comes around once a year, where the participating restaurants offer a 3 course meal for a fixed price. It is quite a deal if you ask me!

We got to the restaurant a bit early and were seated immediately. The booth we got was cozy and romantic. It was a small corner booth perfect for 2 people to snuggle up, but at the same time with enought space to eat comfortably. It must not be forgotten that this was a date night between the hubby and I.

The food was delicious, and after stuffing ourselves with 3 kinds of fondue, a salad, some wine and of course, water; we were ready to bolt and head to the theatre for the night's main event. I had sort of dressed myself up in a cute black jumper that I got for Christmas, but I had no luck with the shoes I put on. See, I do not wear skirts much, not to mention dresses; so all of my winter shoes are short boots that get hidden under pants; hence I had no cute winter shoes that go with a dress. Following me so far?? So I had to resort to my most wintery looking summer shoes. I know, confusing. Long story short, it was chilly, I was wearing a dress, with no stalkings (the broke during the day at work), and summer shoes. That spells: COLD.

We got to the venue and it was a full house. Every seat was taken, and there was a wide array of people. Young, old, dressed up, in jeans; you get the idea. We had pretty good seats, row O, towards the right of the stage. I would have loved to be closer, but can't complain of the view we had. We could see the entire stage.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, Roger (main guy #1) comes on stage, and the place just BURSTS into applause. Enter chills #1. Mark (main guy # 2) comes on stage shortly after and the applause gets more deafening. I was LOVING every minute of it. I could go on with extreme detail about this play; but I do not want to get you all bored with it.

Let's just say, it did not disappoint. I loved it. The performers poured their heart into each of the songs; and they threw in little "off script" bits to make it even more entertainment. I cried, yes, at the same exact spots that I ALWAYS cry; but it is one of those cries that does not make me embarrased. It is odd, because this play fills me. I know it sounds corny, but it speaks to my soul and makes me whole. It made me want to stay until the performers left the theatre to go and hug them and thank them personally for the wonderful play (as much as I wanted to be a groupie that night, I didn't).

I guess what gets to me is the message. People trying to accomplish their dream, following their hearts and being faced with some of life's thoughest times. Death of a loved one, the knowledge that you have an incurable disease, the realization that even though your ideals might not be the easiest ones to accomplish; they ARE there and not listening to them will not do you any good; fighting addiction; surviving. Friendships and relationships are the things that will get you through anything and everything. You get to chose HOW you want to live your life. Face the reality with a positive attitude, live each day to the fullest; or stay within yourself, angry and passive.

Each time I see this play, or the movie at home (which by the way, it does NOT come even close to watching it on stage) I am left speechless. I feel full of love, and much more appeciative of what I have and the relationships I have buit throughout the years.

The night was great. The best date (my husband), good food, a great show. Everything I could have asked for.

If you have the opportunity to go see RENT live, I say: GO. Do not think about it twice. You will leave the place feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. I know I did. And even today, a couple of days later, I am still feeling that way.

"There's only us. There's only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss. No other road. No other way. NO DAY BUT TODAY"

The first week of '09

Wow, I can't believe I am already done with my first training week for this year. Granted,  I did start early (monday the 29th), so for the finicky people it might not be the entire week; but I will count it as the first training week of '09.

I thought this week was going to kick my butt and leave me seriously sore; but it didn't happen that way. Besides a minor lack of sleep I think I am doing pretty good. I am actually more tired from working than working out. Ha!

Work has been another issue altogether. My co-worker's job was terminated on wednesday due to the merger, so I am now flying solo. We had known her job was coming to an end for a while now, but it was really sad to see it actually happening. It was about a little over a year ago that she first started and I remember not being able to connect with her very well. She was very shy and quiet. A couple of months passed and all of the sudden she told me there was something she needed to tell me: "I am 5 months pregnant".  She had found out about 2 weeks into the new job and she was afraid the boss would get angry. I did suspect it; after all there were some signs like going to the doctor every 4 weeks. But as I said she was very reserved, and I respected it.

After the cat was let out of the box, she opened up immensely, and we had some good times. We made a great team. She would help me out when needed and vice versa. I am going to miss her. Not just because I will have to do the work that 2 people did; but because our office (now only mine) will seem too quiet and not even the loudest music will be able to replace the conversations we had. Talking about our daughters, our significant others, our families. She even let me talk her ear out with all things triathlon! She knew when my big race was in '08 and even sent me a text message (I had told her how long I thought it would take me to finish the race) after I finished to congratulate me for it. I mean, it doesn't get better than that, does it?

So this year has already started with some challenges. Even though I have the same job and the same pay; I am learning the ropes of the "new world" post merger; and trying to make a name for myself. I hate sounding like this; but in times like these times, you can't count on people "having your back"; it seems as if it is the survival of the fittest, so I am left with no other option than to play the game. 

Don't worry, there are good things coming my way too. Some new "toys" that I have ordered that will make my training time much more enjoyable and efficient. Once they arrive and I set them up I will let you all know, and maybe I will even venture into posting a review, a la Wes.

For now, I am going to go and enjoy family time. This weekend it is for sleeping in, relaxing and re-charging batteries for when the staring bell goes off on monday at 5am.

Later dudes!

Here comes 2009... oh no, wait... it's already here!

Wow, 2008 is over. Done. Finished. Left behind.

I'd be lying if I said I did not enjoy it. It was quite the roller coaster ride. Lots of changes, good news, bad news, new friendships, rekindling old friendships, connecting with people, feeling disconnected from the world.

I saw a big change happen within myself. I saw my true colors. Did I like all of them? Not necessarily. But I am embracing this discovery. Accepting it. 

2008 saw me make a big commitment to the sport of triathlon. It was the year I realized I am truly passionate about it, the year I discovered I want to be GOOD at it, the year when I realized that the training is more than half the fun, the year when I signed up for my first Ironman.

2008 helped me realize that people are not indestructible, even the ones we always thought were made of steel. It helped me figure out that all it takes is determination and a strong will to get rid of a bad habit (Dad, I am so PROUD of you for quitting smoking). It helped me make peace with myself; with who I am.

2008 was a great year; full of growth & self discovery. I could not have asked for more.

2009 is here now, and I have a feeling it is going to be even BETTER than 2008. There is much more to be discovered, more adventures to be had, more love to be given.

I hope 2009 finds all of you in good health and excellent spirits. I am expecting another roller coaster ride; after all, that is life. 

Wanna come along?

The week that was

There has been so much going on this past week.

- I was out of commission for about 4 days.
- Managed to sort of work out 3 days
- My daughter has a case of the “I want to go somewhere mommy”; so we have been out and about everyday after school/work
- My friend from Virginia came to visit for the weekened and it was great to catch up and see her and her family.
- Todd has been working crazy hours and sometimes that makes me mad.
- I had a monster ride on Eleanor on Saturday. It was hard and I almost coughed out a lung.
- I discovered that the casssette on my bike is NOT meant for climbing, so I took the bike to the shop and changed it.
- I got the seat water bottle racks installed. So now I can hydrate properly.
- I discovered my stomach can handle powerbars and Cliff Blocks, and oddly enough I like them both.
- This was supposed to be a rest week, but since I was forced to rest last week, I think it will be hard training instead.
- I am still exhausted and on medication for my ear infection/strep.
- The medicine tastes HORRIBLE and kills my stomach.
- My eating habits have been sucking big time and I am having a hard time getting back on track.
- My body CAN tell when I am not eating healthy.
- One glass of whine will make me open up about personal stuff, especially when I share it with a friend.
- I wish my mom had been with me while I was sick, so she could have given me some TLC (yes, I miss my momma)
- Even though I try to ignore/brush off the people that make me mad.. they still manage to make me mad. I need to find a way to channel that energy towards something else.

So, as you can see this past week has been one full of ralizations, good times and not so good ones too. I am looking forward to this week; spending some time playing with my daughter and working out as hard as I can. Bring it!