81 Years Young

Remember this lady?

Well, as I mentioned below, my mom and I chatted with her and her hubs at the expo.  Last night at the ahtlete dinner they has this short video on and her hubs was on it.  Because he is the oldest athlete racing tomorrow!  Holy crap!  81 years old! 

Ok - off to hop in the chilly gulf for a morning swim. 

#2254 - what an awesome number

I love Ironman check in's - specially when I get there early so there is no line.  And the way they have so many grandpas and grandpas doing the dirty work:

It took him awhile to get my bracelet on

But he was very helpful and was tickled pink when my mother and I asked to have a photo op with him :)

And as mom and I where strolling around the expo (same stuff as every other expo - just another race stamped on it)  we ran into this woman:

She had 13 Ironman charms on that necklace - so she is an old pro at this :)

This is such an exciting time!  Last night part of my cheering crew made it into PCB and the last two are going to be flying in on Friday. 

I'm not going to stress out at all - just enjoy and grasp everything that is around me :) 

Ironman Week in PCB!

The best week of the year!  The beach is starting to fill up with guys wearing spandex :)  But really - I'm getting very excited.  My family is starting to filter in tomorrow, including my sister who I have not seen since Christmas since she's been teaching in South Korea for the past six months.  SO EXCITED! 

So the taper as began and I have all kinds of free time on my hands.  I finally whipped up a new batch of the "Best Damn Sports Bar".  I've been using these for years and for some reason they just work for me.  No tummy issues on the run, I know exactly what are in them, and they are full of good calories that we need to have when we are racing/training long distances.  Personally I don't like gels.  I'll take them on a run - but they really make me want to puke.  Just thinking of them make me want to gag.  SO my plan for Saturday are the bars, shot blocks, and cytomax along with some hammer nutrition products (LOVE HAMMER).  And I'll throw in a few 'emergency' gels.  Taking in about 350-400 Cals/hour. 

Mix Dry Ingredients:

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup of rolled oats (chop coarsely)

1/2 cup of organic vanilla soy powder

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon

Combine Wet Ingredients:

1/4 cup canola oil

4 large organic eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/4t vanilla

Mix wet with dry

And then ADD:

1 cup organic raisins

1 cup organic dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups finely chopped almonds (I put mine in the food processor)

1 cup of mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup coconut

Spread in greased 9X13 dish and bake a 325 for 34-45 minutes - bars should be moist in the middle.  When cool, cut into 24 bars.  Approx 250 cals per bar!  Whoohoo!! 

After they cool and I cut - wrap in foil, stick in a freezer bag, and then put in the freezer.  One batch usually lasts me a good month or so.  You can add/take out ingredients as you like.  Good stuff!

It's like crack

I only go to Wal-Mart for one thing and one thing only (unless it's spring break the it's the best people watching ever) but I came across these:

Best no bake cookies ever.  So if you see them in the store, tempting you - just walk away.  Just walk away.

Seven days from this moment - I will be running the last leg if IMFL.  Hopefully the last 1/2 if the run.  Getting super excited.  Tomorrow I will be making my special home made powerbars for race day - photos and recipe to follow :) 

Mother nature finally listened - the gulf has calmed, the jellys are thinning out, the humidity has gone down and the temp is feeling good.  Thank you little baby Jesus. 



Ohhh...come on mother nature...

Wait.  Is it July or almost November?  I get confused sometimes.    It's been soooo hot and humid here - that if feels like freaking summer time.  Literally.  4am - per the weather robot channel the past thee days - 78 with 98% humidity.  Awesome.  Hopefully it will cool down the next 9 days!  I broke a sweat in the pool this morning! 

Every Thursday night Freedom Sports (our local tri store) puts on a bridge run where we literally run over a bridge and back and then hang out in the parking lot and chat.  It's a great way to meet new people...and drink beer.  Tonight everyone dressed up to celebrate Halloween.  It was awesome:

So the taper is in full force now.  And we're all getting bitchy and sluggish.  But that is what a taper is for right? 

But I'm starting to get super excited about the race...since the athletes are starting to take over our town.  Well, at least the beach.  :)



The good, the bad, and the ugly

I really love my job.  Specially when there are conferences where the view from my room is this:

But with work conferences - I also have to wear my big girls shoes much longer and walk much further then I usually have to. Which leads to a few days of pain.

So I give you:

The good -

The Bad-

And the ugly -

Yesterday was out last long ride/run brick!  Two weeks to go.  TWO FREAKING WEEKS!  So from now on, this blog will be nothing but my nervous ironman rambling.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Chloe...when can we be normal again?

18 days Jason...18 days.  Yep - 18 days until I can rejoin society and be normal again.  At least for awhile. 

Saturday we had a great 90 mile ride followed by a two mile swim.  We kept a great pace and the weather was perfect.  But Carla and I where in a mood.  A bad mood.  The taper bad mood.  Ugh.  I love pulling up to an empty parking lot at 5am - meeting up with Carla and we just bitch:

"How the hell are we suppose to eat so many freaking calories - my tummy can only handle so much"

or

"Why won't this stupid flat fix bag fit on my bike"

or

"What is going on with this wind?  I just needs to freaking stop - and these stupid birds!  Really?  Can they just shut up??"

or the best one

"When Ron gets here - we are going to put our foot down and tell him that we are swimming in the pool after this.  I just don't feel like f*cking with my wet suit and dealing with all of the freaking jelly fish today"

And then Ron pulls up.  Bless Ron and his household that consists of a wife and two daughters.  He knows how to handle ladies when they are on a rampage.  He just smiles and says - lets get this sh*t done. 

Once I got home - I was so beat that I didn't even take a shower.  I just threw on the parka from heaven and laid on the couch.  I figured the parka was a good barrier between the filth and the couch.  Took a killer nap and tried to wake up.  Tried is the key word.  I felt like I was getting sick.  Well, better now then two weeks from now.  Finally took a shower.  Drank a glass of wine.  And slept for 12 hours.  Thankfully I feel much better.  :)

And thank you Starbucks for making my single pump skim pumpkin latte even tastier:

I'd like to through out a huge thank you to everyone who shared a story for my last post.  Specially Big Daddy Diesel and his comment on the blind racers with their guides.  Now that is amazing.  We saw quite a few blind racers in Augusta and they are a huge inspiration - not only the racers themselves, but their guides!  What a fulfilling experience!  And also a huge congrats to Big Daddy for his awesome win in the 2010Wheelie Triathlon Series!!