Not Ready and a Little embarassed!

My totally awesome teammates are Goddesses! They have both signed up for their 2nd 1/2 ironman. And though I trained so well that I wasn't even that sore (ran on Monday and lifted today) I mentally am not ready for another 1/2. The training consumed me. I fought with my husband for time, got frustrated with my kids when I was exhausted from the long training hours and just never felt relaxed thinking about the race. And the truth is...it was the unknown. And I now Know what it will be like which is why it "should" make it easier. And I am already in shape fr the race all I have to do is maintain. And since I know the training worked it would be easier. So why????? I am a wimp. hence the embarassment. I don't want to take the time and energy. I love my kids and I want to be a training mommy, but an unstressed training mommy. So the international will be a good compermise for me. I need to train and do long rides and runs, just not as long as if training for a 1/2. There may be another 1/2 in my future as long as my teammates will do another. We all leave VA next summer and I hope we will make it a tradition to do 1 long race together every year or every other year. I think they were right about our bond. We have shared something so intense and made it. I will never forget them or the day. By the way, I would like to add that we all would never have done as well with out Adrienne's encouragement, motivation and help. She was amazing. I can't speak for the other 2 but coming out of the water after the longest swim I ever done in my life, I saw her. And she yelled at me to run and catch up and without her I don't think I would have made it to the transition. I couldn't believe I finished the swim. She reminded me I had more to go and kept me moving. And coming off the bike her smiling face and words of encouragement helped me put "one foot in front of the other". She Rocks! I will never be able to explain or tell how much it meant to me to have her there. So Thank you Adrienne! And thank you teammates for being the most amazing women I have ever had the honor to be friends with. I love you guys and look forward to Williamsburg. Are we talking about tenessee, yet?

Anyone ready for round 2?

With our first 1/2 Ironman behind us and no aches and pains other than the sunburn to report I am happy to say I have registered for my second 1/2! I plan on doing the Patriots half in Williamsburg on Sept 6. I hope to have at least one of my team mates join me and both would be the greatest!

This past race was a harder course than any of us had planned on and all of our bike and run times reflected this. I have lots of training to do to improve on my time but it's well worth it. I really enjoyed the distance. All three disciplines were a challenge and putting it all together was amazing.

However, the most amazing thing was doing it with my team mates. We have only know each other for a little over a year or two, but at times it feels as if we has been put here for a reason so beyond us. This is something that ranks up there with getting married and having my child. I will always remember this trip and retell it to all that want to hear it. The memories will stay with me when I am 85 and unable to run 10 feet let alone 13.1 miles. We have a common bond that no one can take from us! I love them both and am so proud that I really can't express it in words. If this proves to be the last 1/2 we do as a threesome I don't care, we will keep racing others together. It will probably always be my favorite regardless of have many better courses or times I get in the future. Thanks for a great time girls! Keep on singing...I want to ride my bicycle....

We're Alive!

In case anyone out there in blog land even cares...We all three survived and finished!!!!!!

More later, for now it's simple-BED!

Oh Crap!

So, I am sitting in front of the computer with less than 11 hours before our half ironman. My two team mates are tucked snug in bed and I am on my way. We have trained and we are ready, however it is soooooo scary. The swim is the most trouble for two of us and seeing the buoys out in the water made me want to pee my pants. They seemed like a mile away. Oh wait, they are 1.2 miles away. The bike looked like a nice rolling course. We will have 90+ temps to deal with and hope and pray for two tires that behave. I am looking forward to the run since that is my favorite. I know if I have made it that far I will finish. I can't control a bike melt down but I can control my feet.

I am just going to leave this entry with that. Nothing witty to say at this point.

See ya 70.3 later!

7 Days....

So, this time next week we shall be half-Iron women...

We'll all be sitting around a table with glasses of vino sharing our war stories from the race.....





Oh, who am I kidding, we'll all be in bed this time too pooped to lift the glasses to our lips. ;-)


"It's good training!" - Just Tri

Scared To Death

While my teammates SEEM to do little training for these races, they both end up finishing and with really fast times. I, on the other hand, have been training my butt off (not literally-but I wish it was coming off) and finishing with less than impressive times. Though I am finishing and that should be enough, but like my teammates I have a competative spirit which is how I got roped into this completely crazy 1/2 ironman race. Anyway, I am scared to death! As race day approaches, less than 2 weeks, my stress level rises and I am breaking out in zits (isn't that only suppose to happen to young people???????????), eating tons of junk food (I am a stress eater), and finding myself daydreaming about how I need to swim, bike and run an obnoxious amount of miles in less than 2weeks (there are so many other things to day dream about like david what's his name from Bones). Ok, so I got all cocky in one of my earlier blogs thinking I could actually place or do fairly well. i take all that back. Surviving is my ONLY goal. And if I get roped into this 2nd 1/2 ironman I will certify myself as crazy!!!! On another note....Just tri me talked about tattoos. I am one of those persons who has 8 of them and one of them is a triathlon tattoo. Though, it is not anything affiliated with ironman. I am also looking to get my 9th this summer. I think a tattoo with the maiden mother crone symbol over my belly and my kids birthdays over the mother symbol is appropriate for my last (I am running out of room in the areas that no one can see them) tattoo. Did I tell you all I am scared to death?????

Rain, Running & Randomness

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman in possession of a race registration must be in want of a good training session....

Alright, so Jane Austen I'm not. She'd probably balk at the image of us running around in spandex. Or maybe enlightened by the thought of us taking part in a typically male arena.

Well, the universe seems to be conspiring against me as of late. I had not run since the Potomac Half last Sunday and while I don't really miss it, I know I need to do it. (My overgrowing muffin top and ill-fitting pants second the motion).

Friday, I had a brillant idea that I would pack the jogging stroller in the car and when I dropped off my car for an oil change, I would go for a run around the nearby neighborhood. But it rained all day and I never got it in. I was going to run more this weekend, but it rained. Enter brillant idea number 3, to run after work Monday. Re-enter rain scenario. I was forced to run on the treadmill, which I hate. I convinced myself to do an hour, at whatever pace, just to get it in. I did discover my motivation on the treadmill - to watch the Food Network. It made time fly and kept me on the treadmill knowing I need the treadmill to get rid of muffin top and be able to eat actual muffins.

I tried cycling with TriToddler last weekend but she was quite the backseat rider. I had to stop every 1/2 mile to deal with the angst/complaint/issue of the moment. Then today TriMe and I were going to ride. I don't usually air up my tires before each ride but thought I'd be a good little cyclist today and do it. Instead I let all the air out of the tire and couldn't get the air pump to lock into the nozzle. So I drove over to TriMe's house instead of the planned bike ride there and couldn't get her air pump to work. Then we drove to the bike store where they filled it up and essentially said it was "user error". Finally got out on the road at the time I planned to be home. At least I did get an hour in - yea. I missed swimming for all that.

Speaking of swimming, haven't done that since before the Kinetic Tri. Haven't been running. Haven't been swimming. Haven't been cycling. What have I been doing???

Am ready to do this half-iron and get it over with. I really hope it doesn't rain that day. Just don't think I could mentally handle it...

Oh, and TriMe is pushing for another half-iron in Sept. I really thought I was going to get the summer off. I don't really want to do it, but I'll be darned if I let them do it without me and then gloat about having one more half-iron under their belt than me.

Not really into tattos because I was never really passionate about anything to get one and couldn't figure out where to hide it yet show it. Then thought that if I did an ironman, I'd get the iron-man insignia. Last week decided I could put it at the nape of my neck where my hair covers it unless I put it up in a pony tail (which I rarely wear at work so my students would never know). But here's the big issue - I really don't feel like doing an iron-man. I thought I could put something related to half-iron, but that's not really worth it. The girls and I joked about doing half the ironman symbol. While funny, not funny enough to scar my body for. I guess some people get tattos while drunk, we'd end up with one while on a runner's high...

I'm going to go eat some Cool Whip...


"It's good training." - Just Tri Me