Mental Break and being TAGGED!

So I babysat a four year old this evening. He was an awesome little kid who was FULL of energy. And what to you do with a ball of energy? Go to the park and play NINJAS! It was awesome. We beat out the bad ninjas with our lassos (jump ropes) and saved Cinderella. Then we went home and watched Ninja Turtles. But the funniest part was - was that he kept on farting. Then go (In all seriousness) "excuse me - I have gas" A+ evening in my books!


Ok. I was TAGGED by the super Kristen from "Will Run For Wine" - (LOVE THAT NAME!)

The rules are:
1. Fill it out
2. Change one question with one of your own
3. Add an additional question
4. Tag 3 other people to do the same

1. What are your current obsessions?
Triathlons, fishing, learning how to cook new things. Trying to at least.

2. Which item from your closet are you wearing most often?
Flip-flops - hands down.

3. Last thing you bought for yourself?
My sweet new K-Swiss tri racing shoes

4. What’s for dinner?
Pizza with the 4 year old. And then batman fruit snacks. YUM.

5. Say something to the person who tagged you:
That it is awesome you keep track of your workouts so well! Keep up the awesome work - and I wish I could do Bikram yoga weekly :)

6. What is one item you could not live without?
Contacts. I would run into walls. Seriously.

7. Vacation spots you must visit before you die?
Panama and back to Tuscany. I really want to go to Panama to see Jason surf his butt off!!

8. What is your most immediate short term goal:
To get my ass out of bed a 5 and run 10 miles in the morning

9. What are you reading right now?
Alice, Let's Eat! (shhh...I stole it out of my sisters room)

10. What is the last movie you saw and enjoyed?
Pineapple Express! Thug life.....ha!

11. What’s your guilty pleasure?
Ben and Jerry's. Pizza. Crapes. White wine. Any order.

12. What’s your favorite smell?
The wonderful wild flowers that are blooming right now. LOVE the smell when I run in the morning.

13. What is your fav trashy reality TV show?
USED to be Rock of Love Bus - but then he picked the Penthouse Pet. Boo. And it was Biggest Loser - but then they lied about the marathon. So I'm keeping it real with old faithful - the new New York show on VH1! Don't let me down VH1!!

14. Favorite Quote?..ok. I have 2:
"If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time"
"I used to be snow white...but then I drifted" LOVE IT!!

16. Whats one thing you can't go a day with out doing?
Talking to my mom...I know. Corney. But she is awesome.

17. What do you have an addiction to?
Ahh...Cuban coffee in my french press. I can not function with out it!!

18. Whats your favorite holiday?
St. Pats Day!! You don't have to get anyone anything or go to a family function. Just wear green and go to a bar!!

19. How many pairs of shoes (not just running) do you have??
Maybe 20? I've down sized since I moved to the beach :)

20. Tell us one random thing about you.
I have not dyed my hair in 5 years. Some french guy dyed my hair Jessica Simpson blond (which looked AWFUL on me) and I literally cried in the chair. CRIED. So I've lost all trust in colorists. But to be honest - I kind of like my natural color :)

OK - tagging three people:

Charisa Wernick
Tri*Tawn
Melissa from Melissa's Ironman Journey!

NINJAS!! ATTACK!!!

Weddings and Triathlons

What a weekend!

First off - my friend Preston got married on Friday. FRIDAY! At 5! In my mind - that sounds like happy hour! Just kidding. Kind of. Anyway - Preston and Lauren where married at Eden State Park which was beauitful. They got married under HUGE trees that had Spanish Moss hanging from them...the scene was breath taking. We could not ask for better weather for such a fun occasion. And everyone was there. And so was the wine. Jason kept on filling up my glass and the next thing I knew...it was 9. So big J and I took off - and made it back to my house.





Dishman (my awesome friend from Missouri who was in town) was hanging out at the house waiting for us to get home. I threw everything that I needed for Saturday (hopefully) into a bag - he threw our bikes onto the car and we headed to Jason's. Jason lives about 45 min away from Mexico Beach - we stayed there so we would not have to get up as early. Needless to say - we did not get to bed until around midnight. WAY WAY past my normal 9:30 bedtime! The 4:30 alarm came pretty quickly.




Me with a sleepy kind of hung over feeling and Dishman not to far behind made it to Mexico Beach, got everything set up (thankfully I didn't forget anything) and headed down to the beach. The gulf was nice and flat and the sun was just starting to come out. What a perfect day for a triathlon.



They had several distances - oly, sprint, du, du sprint...but it was two group starts. We didn't hear anything - just the gun going off. Ran into the water and took off. We had to swim out and around two bouys - which is always cluster (you know what). But I got into my grove and just faught my way through. No joke, it's like a 1/4 of a mile trek to transition.

After the long ass run - I made found my bike and took off. This is the best bike course ever. Out and back. No traffic. Once nice hill. Ahhh...perfect. So I just cruised along and focused on my speed. Thinking to myself - 15 miles! That's nothing compaired to my last race! I spotted Dishman heading back and he was going mock 10 down the hill. Super proud of him because he was in 2nd place. No females passed me until about the last mile on the bike - but knew I would catch them on the run.

Made it back to transition - threw on my garmin, hat, and my new sweet K Swiss racing flats and ran. Ran my heart out. It felt great. I can't believe how good my legs felt. I spotted my two targets and took them out. Spotted some guy with sweet tatoos and took him out as well. Saw Dishman and gave him a high five..and he was still rocking 2nd. I could not spot the 1st or 2nd place female - so I just kept the same pace and hoped for the best - with a smile on my face. Saw the rest of the awesome guys I train with who where starting the run for the Oly distance and cheered them on. Crossed the finish line with a time of 1:28.26. :) 3rd female over all. Dishman ROCKED out 2nd maile overall!

Dishman and I hung out and cheered everyone else crossing the finish line - and then did the normal thing after a race. Drank beer and ate grilled shrip with everyone! I LOVE going to races and knowing so many people there. It's a great feeling - everyone is on an awesome high and just loving life.


Jeff and I. Jeff is a super stud and raced Pensacola on Sunday!!









All and all it was wonderful race. Everyone did awesome and had a great time. A keg and grilled shrimp at the post party - and I some how one the jackpot of the huge container of Cytomax. Whoohoo!

Random Thoughts:
Rock of Love Bus? Thumbs down. Boo Brett.
Daisy of Love? Not sure if I will get into that.
I think I have found the perfect shower cap for the Snoop concert!
My brother sent us a universal remote for our big tv. Not sure what happend to the old one. BUT there was no instructions. Nothing. How the heck to you program it to your tv? Thanks for the sweet remote Andrew - but I'll be googling this one for awhile!
THIS GUY:

WAS AWESOME! Finished the race with style! Hahahah!!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

Beach Blast....

Wedding last night - 4:30AM wakeup call to get to Mexico Beach this morning. Needless to say - I was a bit hung over :) 1st in Age group and 3rd overall female. Whoopwhoop! Race report to come soon.

At the wedding:

8 hours later:

Dave Sharon and I (the guy who danced when he finished Kona last year! He's so awesome)

Thank GOD tomorrow is Friday

Ok. I try to be as positive as possible all of the time. But sometimes - I need to let it out. Here is a small list of things that drove me up the FREAKING wall today:

1. It was freaking perfect outside and I was stuck in the office all day
2. I have work up to my ears. Over my head. I'm drowning. Please! Throw me a life ring!! Or at least a bottle of wine!
3. Getting my oil changed in my car today - it took an hour. AN HOUR! And all they had was motorcycle magazines. Come on now. But I did get a nice nap in the waiting area.
4. Customers asking me to go above and beyond my job requirments. Which I don't mind unless I'm (please read number 2). Come on now people. I'm not your personal assistant. You can call your mortgage company to check escrow.
5. Thunder beach starts this weekend. Ugh. 20 billion bikers roaring up and down on their huge motorcycles keeping me up.

Ok - lets talk about the positive in my day:
1. An amazing ride this morning with great company and seeing a perfect sunrise.
2. Seeing TWO girl friends that I have not seen for awhile.
3. Sweet new racing flats. (I'll talk about those at a later post!!)
4. Catching up with my brother who is in college right now
5. ANOTHER friend is coming into town tonight and is going to race with me this weekend. And he's an amazing triathlete and all around a great guy.
6. Jason caught TWO Cobia today - YUMMM! We are going to have fish tacos forever!
7. Oatmeal cookie Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
8. Reading a freinds race report from her first marathon ever! (way to go Heather!)

So as I sit back and look at my day - I'm realizing that my day was not that bad. The small things that really piss me off do not come even close out weighting the great people or things in my life :)

This is a great place to live - they even have it on a shirt!




Oh yeah - I do have a race this weekend! Beach Blast Sprint in Mexico Beach! We have a pretty big group of people heading over to race. And it's my first sprint of the season! Whoohoo!

ALSO - is anyone racing Florida 70.3? Anyone?!?! Or at least know anyone who is racing it?!?!

BIG NEWS!

For those of you who are heading down here for Gulf Coast 70.3 in May - get excited! The same day/night SNOOP DOG will be preforming at Club LaVela! And - in case you didn't know - that is about a 5 min walk (if that) from the Boardwalk Resort where Gulf Coast is held! whoop whoop! Snoop doggie dogggg....yeah!! Now that is going to be a fun day! And I really hope he wears a sweet outfit like that!

Here are some random pictures from this weekends ride/run brick. Kim, Jeff, and I did a ride/run and then their kids met up with us alittle later. The ride was pretty awesome but I did get a pretty sweet flat. And thanks to Jeff (Little Chloe's Dad) saved the day by fixing it. I'm pretty sure I ran over razor blades on Front Beach road (thanks spring breakers!!) But with Jeff just going though a tire changing class - and myself never having one - we where a pretty sweet pair. Close to the blind leading the blind - but it really only took about 20 min! whoohoo!


Ha! Kim riding on her son's bike

Me and "Little Chloe"

Little Chloe just cruising along!



I know I've been behind on reading every one's blogs - but work has been beating me down pretty freaking hard. And then training on top of that has been keeping me sane - but wearing me out. Poor Jason had to deal with one of my mental pity party/crying break downs the other night. Sometimes everything gets caught up to me at once - and then I start getting really stressed out. And the next thing I know, I need a freaking box of tissue and someone to give me a hug and says everything will be fine. Which it will be :) But hey - it happens!!

So I'll get caught up soon! I promise...but until then...Snoop Doggie Dog...(in a sing song voice - you know the song!!)

You know you're a triathlete when...

Haha..I found this on facebook and just had to share....happy tuesday!

Twenty five ways to tell if you’re a triathlete:

25. One of your goals this year is to be faster at getting out of a wetsuit.

24. You talk about a “hammer” and “brick”, but you’re not referring to construction

23. You spend seven days going to eight stores in four malls before buying a pair of running shoes. But you take one afternoon to go to one car dealership and walk out with a new car four hours later.

22. That charming cologne (or perfume if you’re a girl) you wear to work is chlorine.

21. You have more water bottles than glasses in your cupboard.

20. You have enough pairs of old running shoes sitting in your closet to open your own shoe store.

19. You immediately bow down before someone with the Ironman “m dot” tattoo. (Is it really tragic I’ve got one of those?)

18. You have NO idea what to do with yourself on your off day. You mowed the lawn, cleaned the house, washed the car, and there’s STILL four hours of daylight left! Aarrgghh!

17. You often show up to work in the morning with goggle imprints around your eyes

16. You have so many tan lines you look like a zebra Running socks, bathing suit, jersey, biking shorts, tri shorts, sunglasses, gloves, watch, etc. (This is really nice at the beach.)

15. The first three items on your grocery list are Gatorade, power bars, and gels. (Make that Horley’s Replace, gels and pasta - power bars do not have a good effect on my body.)

14. You get funny looks when putting on Body Glide on your neck because people think it’s deodorant.

13. About half the shirts you own have at least a dozen logos on the back of them.

12. You wait a couple of days to take your car in when the check engine light goes on, but when your bike needs a tune up you take it right away.

11. You refer to the front hall of your house as the “transition area”.

10. The one “suit” you own has ORCA on the chest. (Or Ironman. Though I really, really want one of the new Orca suits.)

09. When you get home from a training session, the newspaper is just being delivered to your house.

08. You consider work regeneration time between training sessions.

07. Your bicycle is in your living room. (Or bedroom.)

06. Your car smells like a locker room - and you are the only one who doesn’t smell it.

05. There’s a separate load of laundry every week that is just your workout clothes. (One load? I should be so lucky. Try three or four.)

04. When asked how old you are you answer 35-39.

03. Your first thought when you wake up is how high your rest HR is.

02. Your spouse cried during Terms of Endearment; you cried during the television coverage of the Hawaii Ironman. (Every time. And inspiring triathlon videos.)

01. Most of this list doesn’t seem like a joke to you.

Laying on the grass...

Who knew that laying on the grass could make a normal sunny day with your family - awesome? :)









A masters program finally started up at the Panama City Beach Pool. So this morning at 6am I felt like a kid again - going to swim practice. I love it. Crawling into the pool area, still in your PJ's. Half awake. Hoping that you remembered to pull your suit all the way up when you peel off your shirt to jump in the pool. Ahh..the memories of summer Warrensburg Piranhas swim practice. Gina and I would swim from 6:30 to 9:30 - and then ride our bikes to McDonalds for biscuits & gravy, frozen yogurt, cookies (to dip in the yogurt) and a coke. The things we could eat when we where 13!! Now, instead of going home after practice for a day of summertime fun - I had to get ready for work. I love smelling like pool when I go to work.

Anyway, the coach was awesome and I think this program will totally benefit everyone in their tri season this year. Today was long course - so we did a ton of drills and just basic 100's, 200's etc so he could see every ones stroke level and technique. I am so excited that I can't wait to go back tomorrow for the afternoon practice! But...I say this now. I might want to push coach in the pool in a month :) But I told coach my goal for the Florida 70.3 swim - and he's willing to work with me. SWEET.

Creepy Bunny

Happy Easter from the creepy easter bunny!!



Thanks everyone for the positive comments on New Orleans! I'm back on the training bandwagon and feeling better then ever (besides the massive amount of humidity we've been having here).

Hope everyone enjoys their day - I'll be out on the boat hopefully catching some fish!

First 70.3? Check!

Mom and I at check in
**In mom's volunteer packet - one of the first things it said was "If athletes are irritable, don't take it personally! Ha! We thought that was kind of random!**
What a great race! I know it stunk that there where 10 port-a-potties for 3000+ people in transition and that we had to drive or take a bus everywhere. But the race was awesome. Simply put.

Saturday - taking the bikes to the bike party

Woke up around 4:30am - Helen, Steve, Mom and I got everything ready and hauled our bags down stairs. Total OCD to make sure that we had everything. We walked outside and it was 70 or so outside already! Waiting for the valets to bring us the vehicles (we had 9 or so people staying in this hotel)we saw clubbers still wondering around the French Quarter still drinking from the night before. Kind of reminded me of the last time I was in New Orleans....hmmm... Anyway - we followed Kent from our hotel to hopefully transition. But as we where following him he decided to cross through Jackson Square! Who knew you could drive through freaking Jackson square at 5am? Iffy about Kent's decision, we decided to take the most round about way - but eventually got to the University to the 3 billion bike party called transition.

After finally finding my bike - started chatting with the girls around me. For a few of them - this was their first tri EVER! Congrats for having balls of steel! But I got everything set up - chews and jelly beans in my bike bag, bite size lara bars in my biking jersey, and waterbottles mixed with NUUN and ready to go.

I found Lisa W and we headed to the buses for the swim start. As we where waiting, who did I notice in front of me? No one other then then Steve in a Speedo?!? Gross!, his lovely wife Sarah, and Tri-Saratops! Small world! Well, as we where chatting someone announced that if we where waiting for a bus, we would not make it to the swim for the 7am pro start. We really wanted to see Helen swim, so we hoofed it down the lovely lake Pointrain. Thankfully we had great company with Steve as we made the stroll.

SWIM:

My wave took off at 7:52 (or something like that). Wet suit on, I was ready to get this thing going. Hopped into to lake - and to every one's surprise, the water felt great. Kind of cool, but not freezing. The announcer sent us off - and our race began! Swimming was a normal swim - just cruised along between the buoys and the wall at a good pace. The one bad thing about an A-B swim, is that this one I could not really judge how far I've gone. So I just kept the same pace with some STUPID ASS song off of Mamma Mia that I really don't know the words to stuck in my head. And laugh at me if you want, but I don't like seeing what's below me when I swim in the lake or the bay. So when I was not breathing, my eyes where closed. But to be honest, in this lake, you could not even see your hand in front of your face.

BIKE:

With a smile one my face - cruised over to my bike, threw on my gear and took off after the mile run through transition. Oh the bike. How I love the bike (kept on telling myself this). We cruised through town a bit - and then ended up on a ton of random streets and highways. All I really know is that we passed the house that looks like a castle (if you've driven in to New Orleans on I10 you know what I'm talking about!) But I have to give it up for the NOPD for blocking off every road to stop traffic. It was so nice not to have to worry about traffic.



Anyway - with nutrition plan going as planned, the ride felt awesome. Very few hills - except for the very end. And no alligator sightings to my disappointment. BUT I did see some old men in red dresses passing otu water which was great. My mom was working the penalty tent right by them. She said they are apart of the Hasher group NOLA. (hashers = drinkers with a running problem!) Instead of yelling "Shut the (you know what) up" They would yell "shut the front door!". Mom got a KICK out if that. Rocking the pink compression socks - I got quite a few compliments from the 40+ year old men who where flying past me!

With 10 miles left - a levy to the right and some houses to the left of me I was so over it. The head wind was KILLING me!! And then we hit those darn bridges! I could not tell you how freaking happy I was to see transition.

But saying that this time last year, I had not even been on a road bike, I was pretty excited about my bike and how I felt!

RUN:

The run was great. I felt awesome. Three hammer gu's in my bra (tropical flav with caffeine whoot whoot) I cruised. Stopped at every water stop took a swig and threw the rest on me. Ice? Well, yes! Down my bra! I'm telling you, by the end of the run, boobs where numb. I ran most of the run with an older gentleman from Colorado who was great company.


With all of the loops in the run - I saw Missy, Al, Lisa W, Jeff, Kim (the biker and runner of the 'mommy and me' relay team) Kathrine - pretty much everyone from my neck of the woods. Yelling across the road cheering everyone one is such a great feeling.

But the end was by far the best. I still get goose bumps thinking about it. Once I turned the corner onto Dacatur - the sight was amazing. Thousands of people lined the streets cheering everyone on right down until the finishline at Jackson Square. Loved it. What a great way to finish the race.


And to add icing to the cake - after I got my metal, my mom, Reice and Little Chloe where right there.









All in all - I felt and still feel awesome. No major pains. No issues at all.

Swim: 38:05 Bike: 3:20:34 Run: 2:11:51 Total: 6:20:58 Division Place: 51

Going into this with no clue - now I know what I can do. So guess what? Look to the right of your screen. I freaking signed up for 70.3 FLORIDA! Whoohoo! I'm hoping that I can shave off the 20 min and possibly be under 6 hours :) We'll see!

For this being the first 70.3 in New Orleans - it had it's issues. Running out of water on the bike, port-a-potties, busing, etc. But I'm sure those will get resolved and next year will be even better.

So New Orleans - until next time my friend. Next time when I don't have a race and I can shut down a bar and cause some real trouble!