One more post for the day...

Things that make me smile....

View after my run this morning

Sunrise before my ride yesterday morning

This is too funny...

I just had to share!

Happy Friday!

I love my family

St. Louis last weekend was an absolute blast. The whole family was there ( except for my sister..she had to work and stay here :( ). My aunt, uncle and cousin from Oregon. My cousin from Miami. Family from Texas. Everyone. We just enjoyed the company and drank a ton of wine. Who would have thought?

Here are some random shots from the weekend:











We also went to a baseball game - Royals vs. Cardinals. All 16 of us went - and my Cousin Erik snagged us the best tickets out of the group! whoohoo Eric!




So it was a fun, fast, and great weekend. Now I'm back at the beach detoxing :)

On the training front - I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. With out having a long race in the near future, I'm just kind of running, biking, and swimming for fun. And to keep sane. Work has been nuts - so training has been my bitchiness outlet!!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend!!

Hot guys in my Kitchen

So, I have three smoking hot guys in my kitchen.

And a random Homer Chia Pet



But I'm leaving for St. Louis tomorrow and I could not be more excited. I get to see family what I have not seen in a few years. And spend some quality time with my mom, dad, and brother. Corney as it sounds, I love my family to death!

Training related - we had our normal weds run this morning. But we had THREE guest stars! My friend Dishman is in town (who did the mexico beach tri with me) as well as one of my training partners step daughter and her boyfriend. We pretty much looked like a road race at 6am - but with no numbers. :)

Hope everyone has a safe and fun LONG weekend!!!

Dear Disney,

I love racing in your corner of Florida. Do you know why? Because you have nice, clean bathrooms. And not only that, they are NEVER out of TP. Ahhh...what every racer dreams of.

Love,
Chloe


Random thoughts - I'm very tired and my brain is fried from driving, racing, driving, and then a hard long workday. So here is a super short race report - more detail later:

Florida 70.3 was awesome. Had a blast with my friends. Jason was an AMAZING cheerleader. And I cut some time off of New Orleans with a 6:11!! Whoot whoot! I know it was shy of the under 6 hours I was hoping, but I cut time off of my bike which really made me happy. Karen and Jim where under 6 hours and Lisa had some issues with the heat - but she still finished with superwoman strength. No doubt. What has she done since April? New Orleans 70.2, BOSTON MARATHON, then the relay last weekend, and now this?!?!? She is a machine!!

The swim was flat, the bike was flat, and the run was hot as hell. (how do you like that race report?) I seriously think that we where running in hell - on grass, around swamps. But the volunteers where AMAZING. Every mile (it was a 3 loop run) there was pretty much a buffet of anything that you needed. Water? Yes please. Ice? Down my top. Grapes? Oh yeah. So a big cheer for the girl scouts, boy scouts, and who ever else from the Orlando area for keeping us cool!! You guys where amazing!

All in all the race was great. The set up was amazing (who would have thought that there would be a horse right next to my transition?) the support can't be beat, and the organization was awesome. It was hot - but hey, we're in Florida :) I'll be looking forward to doing this race next year!

Here are my shoes before the race:

And after:

2700+ people running on grass + aid stations = nice dirty mess :)

In other news....
Little Chloe Swam in 3 mile bridge swim in P-cola over the weekend and did awesome! I'm always kind of creeped out by that race - a swim in the bay? Right next to a huge bridge? Ugh. I don't even want to know what is swimming around me! Congrats to Little Chloe!!

Ok. Random and short. Congrats to everyone else who raced over the weekend - specially Little Chloe, Melissa and Jim (flatout buddy) !!!

Going to the OC..

Orange County Florida..that is. Ironman Florida 70.3 is this weekend. And I'm actually getting pretty freaking excited about it. Hopefully, if I don't pass out from heat stroke on the run, I'll be able to get under 6 hours. If I race smart I think I might be able to make it. The swim should be nice a flat (umm..since it's in a lake) - but I'm really going to focus cutting 15 min off of the bike and 5 min off of the run working to hopefully come out with a 5:XX finish time! That would be awesome.

Anyway - Karen and her husband Jim are heading down from Atlanta to stay/race with us and Lisa W (one of the three buff bitches from last weekend)will be racing as well. And Jason will be on the sidelines cheering us on. This will be his first triathlon experience - and I think it's going to be a good one.

Other then triathlon business - next weekend I'm heading to St. Louis to see a TON of family and friends. One of my best friends from Kansas City is heading over to hang out as well. Here is an old school picture of us...drunk...and one of our fav college bars. Ohhh..the trouble we used to get into.


Good luck to everyone else who is racing this weekend!!!

Miami 2 Nola - Save our Seas

Margo Pellegrino is on a mission to educate people on what exactly is going on to our oceans. She is doing this by kayaking from Miami to New Orleans - spreading the word and educating people along the way. This is her third time major outrigger trip for Save Our Seas (SOS). I love the ocean - and the nothing gets me going (well, bad parkers are close) then seeing the destruction of it. Check out her her website and her mission. This is such an important issue - to please take the time to check it out!! :)

And it all started here...

This time last year it all started. The crack habit called triathlon entered my life. I've tried my best to limit myself and to not OD - but it's too late for that. I'm a goner. :) Call intervention - I need one!!

This past weekend was Gulf Coast 70.3 in good old Panama City Beach. It was so much fun - and about a million degrees! We ended up relaying since two of us are doing Florida 70.3 next weekend. But it was so much fun to cheer everyone on - Cow bell in hand, you could hear me a mile away. And the freaking cow bell gave me blisters!!! No joke!

Anyway - short race report - the swim was challenging. That is the best way to explain it. Rolling waves that blocked you from getting into any pace. I'm not sure how many people they pulled out of the gulf, but I know it was quite a few. But 37 min later I was running out like a bat out of hell to trade off with Lisa. Lisa took off on the bike and totally rocked out the ride. For the first time EVER on that course - the wind actually agreed :) Amanda took off with the final leg and had the worst of the the heat. And she ran in all in black! The best quote of the day from Amanda "Once I figured out to pour water and ice down my bra - it felt awesome!" She is so funny.

Lisa and I ran around the whole race with those cow bells just chatting with everyone and cheering everyone on. It's always hard for me to relay - but again - it's so great to be a cheer leader. So - here are a few races from the race:

That night we all went over to the after party at Scooners to eat wonderful BBQ and drink beer. We ended up sitting at a table with this awesome lady named Susan Ford who ended up getting 2nd in her age group! Anyway - she had on temp tattoos on her arms that said 'Ivan - Husband. Sponsor' We all got a kick out those. She said when they ordered them, they had to get 1000. So she wears a few of them every race! Love it! And it's always awesome to see the hot triathlon men in normal clothes. whoohoo! Eye candy left and right!

So - sitting there drinking and chatting away as they are announcing the age group winners - we hear them say "Buff Bitches"! What?!?! Our relay one 3rd! Ha! Who would have thought? So Lisa and I make our way through to collect our winnings :)

All of the triathletes started to clear out and the 20 somethings starting to file in. Jason and I hung out for awhile with one of our friends who's a bartender in that sweet bar. We go up to the crows nest to check out the gulf. And we hear it. SNOOP DOG. With excitement we run down the stairs and out to the beach (with a small caravan of people behind us who where freaking out about having drinks on the beach. Come no now) Anyway - we ended up just hanging out on the beach jamming out to snoop dog. We could hear him. See him. AND we had sweet beach seats. Perfect.


After having a few more 'cups' of wine - Jason and I decided to head out and act like total tourists. The sling shot was calling us. We've been talking about doing it forever. And it was a freaking BLAST!!! And somehow Jason sweet talked the girl working to give us the DVD. Don't worry - I'll post it soon :)

I would like to though out a HUGE congrats to 'Little Chloe'. She came in 1st in the kids triathlon on sunday! Her and her family are just awesome. Check out her blog and her sweet race report!

Overall it was an amazing weekend! Congrats to everyone who raced over the weekend!!

We're going to have a Mamma Mia!

I'm not sure about anyone else - but weeks are just flying by. Just a few days ago I was waking up Monday morning wishing it was Friday. And tomorrow it's Friday. Who would have thought?!? I guess it's because I'm so freaking busy at work. Any way - this is going to be a really random post. Just to warn you.

Some friends of mine who are expecting their first child got the 'A+' from the doctor this week. Everything is going just fine. He has five fingers, five toes, his manly bits and everything else. Pretty soon we'll be toting a baby to the beach!

The next three weekends are freaking busy - this weekend, GC Triathlon. Next weekend is Florida 70.3 and the following weekend I'm heading home to St. Louis. Whoohoo! A weekend of wine, seeing a ton of family and going to a Cardinals game.

GC Triathlon is going to be awesome for several reasons. #1 - we have a really sweet realy team!! #2 - there are a ton of people who I train with who are doing the full race. Can't wait to cheer everyone on! #3 - SNOOP DOG that night! Whootwhoot! Lisa and I are actually going to get our moneys worth from this race. Friday night dinner? You bet. Saturday night banquet? Count us in. I've never gone to all of the 'events' for a race. I will be kind of weird to see everyone in normal clothes.

We had a ROCKING swim practice today - AFTER I FOUND A FREAKING PARKING SPOT. Seriously. I understand you drive a huge SUV. You are running late to get your kids to the swim meet because you had to stop by McDonalds and get a milk shake. But learn how to park it. In one spot. I was so frustrated today - that I had do document it:



Anyway, back to swim practice. We did intervals. I love intervals. They make me work hard and focus. None of this swim a few 100's then chat or float around. It's swim, check the clock, and take off again. 10 100's on the 1:30 and then 5 200's on the 3:00. I think that was the fastest 2000 yards I've gotten in in awhile!

The wind finally died down a bit - so Jason and I where able to practice with the fly rods for an hour or so the other night! One of these days - hopefully I'll be able to catch a fish!




Final random thought. I had a hot pocket for dinner tonight. I over dosed on hot pockets back in high school - and I think I can control my addiction :) AND 30 Rock. Anyone watch that show? Love it. Specially the way Tina Faye said "We're going ot have a Mamma Mia!" If you watched it tonight - you know what I'm talking about!!

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend and HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Big Daddy's

YOLO races have started! Whoohoo! Yolo (you only live once) are stand up paddle boards. So much fun. One of the guys I run with started marketing this a few years ago in our neck of the woods - and it's taken off. Anyway - once a month they have YOLO board races with teams of four in random places around the SOWAL area. It's so much fun....and the eye candy! Love it!

So myself and three other lovely ladies that I train with are team Big Daddy's Buns in the Sun (sponsored by Big Daddy's bike and surf shop) We rocked out 4th for the 1st race last Thursday. So many people show up to cheer everyone on - it's a great way to spend a Thursday night!






Anyway - here is how my weekend went:

Saturday AM - Gulf Swim/Run. The water was not very clear due to all of the rain what we've had - but it was a good swim. Minus my arm getting grazed by a pretty pissed of jelly fish which left a pretty sweet mark. And then we ran part of the Gulf Coast/IMFL run course. Hot as hell. But it was a good run.

Saturday Afternoon - fishing/working on getting rid of my sweet biker tan lines. THEN Big J and I chowed down on some crawfish and wine. Can you think of a better way to end the day?




Sunday Morning - 50 mile ride. Ugh. I had a good fight with the wind. But I ended up winning. Team testosterone took off and left me hanging to fight the wind alone for the last 15 or so miles of the ride. Oh well. It was still a good ride.

Sunday Rest of the Day - QUALITY TV time with Big J on the couch. As anyone seen Nitro Circus? Awesome show! Those guys are crazy!!

Random thoughts:
Thunder beach was this past weekend. I HATE thunder beach. 60K bikers come into PCB and do nothing but make a ton of noise with their huge souped up 'I have a small penis so look at me' motorcycles, drink beer, and keep me up all freaking night. So glad it's over with. It's like spring break on crack. College kids have nothing on these guys. (PLEASE NOTE that I don't hate bikers by any means - just when there are 60K of them in a
pack!)


Is ANYONE doing Florida 70.3? Anyone?

Gulf Coast Anyone?

SNOOP DOG on Saturday!

This guy is awesome:


This guy kind of looks like Matthew McConaughey: