A TRIumphant Race

A TRIumphant race
Racine Half Ironman

5:45:26

Swim 43:58 (1.2 miles)
T1: 5:07
Bike 2:51:01 (56 miles)
T2: 2:52
Run 2:02:28 (13.1 miles)

I think it’s the Aids Marathon Training group that has the tagline of “You Train, You Triumph” Well, I think that would probably be true when training for any endurance sport.

The weekend after the Fargo Marathon was Memorial Day weekend. I had decided to simulate the Madison To Chicago Relay that weekend because, well it has become part of my pre-summer routine: You run many miles, at all hours of the day, it makes you a little sick but you feel so great for finishing it. While simulating, I had friends running with me. Leg 1: Andrea; Leg 2: Sheila; Leg 3: Alison; Leg 4 (Midnight Run): Ultra Jen; Leg 5: Ultra Jen, Tony and introductions to Lou.

Here it is, this introduction, might be what kicked my butt into gear for the bike portion of the triathlon. Prior to Memorial Day weekend, I was getting out and riding, maybe once a week. I otherwise kept resorting to the indoor spin bikes at the gym, mainly because I hate the lakeshore path. When meeting Lou, he said “The path is great at 5:00am, Tara just try it out” And that’s when my Tuesday and Thursday mornings started with the alarm going off at 4:30am. I started logging my weekday bikes between 30 to 40 miles on a regular basis, making that distance feel more natural.

A few weeks into this regime, Alison started joining, and then Alison started getting me out on the longer weekend rides. We went out to Barrington one weekend for a 60ish mile ride and I kind of fell in love with riding in Barrington. I also got a few longer rides in Wisconsin by my parent’s house. I had a loop on Hwy Y that would take me from New Berlin to Waukesha. There are lots of cars on Y at 50mph, but there is almost always a nice size shoulder, and part of the road is new, and it is SUPER hilly.

A few weeks into the T/R bike am bike rides, Lou somehow convinced me that waking up super early was so much fun, that I should get up Wednesday mornings to swim. Lou’s argument was the water is crystal clear, and you get to watch the sunrise as you swim. My thought process was: If you do it in the morning, you get it over with.

There is something to be said about training with friends, vs. alone. It’s a lot more enjoyable to train with friends, so enjoyable that I think Alison and I are going to keep the training going even though I just have the Chicago Tri left for 2010. Thank you to Alison and Lou, for being my Training Buddies!
(Alison: You know I know how to make them stop and stare as I zone out, the club can’t even handle me right now. Watching you watching me I go all out. AND REPEAT).

As usual, I still have marathon training going on in the background of whatever triathlon training I am doing. A notable PR: Lou, Jill and I went to track workouts with Lou’s group one Wednesday. Lou’s group is FAST, so fast that the first mile, I just wanted to keep up with them, so I pushed myself to and I ran a mile in under 6 minutes. That did kill me for the rest of the speeds, and I dropped back to the half mile speed group, but it was a TRIumphant P.R.

Fast forward training to the taper. Alison had to remind me to “Respect the Taper” I also had Maria and Lou both reminding me to take it easy. I don’t do that well, but I knew I should listen to the Ironman friends and for the most part I did.

The week before our race Alison and I were finishing a 26 mile ride out in Barrington and transitioning to a run, I looked at my phone and had a missed call and text from Rachel A. Rachel’s father has been struggling with Pancreatic Cancer for the past year. That morning, he passed away. I never knew Arcadio Alarcon Jr, but his daughter has become a great friend to me. I’ve talked about Rachel in many write-ups before, the influence she has had on my life is only positive. She fills my world with Love and a calmer perspective at life. Arcadio was Rachel’s father, and because of that, I know he was a great man. Alison saw how sad this news made me, and she knew I wanted to do something for Rachel and her family, so we decided I would complete the Racine Half Ironman in Honor of Arcadio and his family.
Rachel chose the American Cancer Society as the Charity for me to honor her father through. ACS has always been my charity of choice mainly because of my close ties: they are my Triathlon Community but Rachel had her own deep meaning to choose it and it makes me smile, how fitting ACS really is to gain the donation in Honor of Arcadio, a DetermiNed Man! I am not officially on Team DetermiNation this year (I’m just a Mentor to 30+ Runners), but if you have any interest in donating to a worthwhile charity you can click on the link below to Alison’s page.

Alejandro got tuned up the week before the race, I picked him up Saturday morning and he was so shiny and clean! He was ready. I made my way up to Wisconsin and stopped by my parent’s house to get my Dad. My Dad loves watching my triathlons. He is probably my best cheerleader and I’m so grateful to have such a wonderful dad, that even at age 28, he wants to be involved in my life. We made a game plan for where and when he should be at certain points of the race. My parents live about 40 minutes from the race start, but the western edge of the bike is about 20 minutes away, so this was great that my mom didn’t have to be out there right away, but it was convenient for her to meet up with my dad and then only had half a day of being on her feet.

Once we were finished at the Expo, we met up with my Mom and Veronica and her training friend, Daryl, for dinner. We had a great time filling in my parents with the wonders of Triathlon training. Veronica, Daryle and I were all first time half ironman participants, so we shared our concerns and worries and fed off each other’s excitement for what was to come.

My biggest concern of the evening was the weather. The weather forecast showed thunderstorms all Sunday. The chance was only 30%, but that Doppler looked pretty grim. I was trying not to be worried about it, and went to bed.

Sunday morning came and making it to the race was free of stress. My dad took me and I set up my transition area. I was nervous, but actually more excited to get started, than nervous for what could go wrong. I wish I would have taken a picture of the moment, I was with my four original Ironman inspirations: Heath, Kristin, Alison and Michelle, and with my Ironman Goal to accomplish together friend, Veronica. Right on schedule of the goal I set out for 2 years ago.

When the swim started, I had a moment of panic with all the kicking and hitting, but I backed off to have a little more of my own space, and attempted to get in a rhythm. When I wasn’t being kicked or hit, I was content, but there was one blow to the face where I bit my lip and wondered if I had a bloody nose. Of course the thought in my mind was, that would make me look tough, getting out of the water with a bloody nose- ha!. There was another kick that pushed in my left goggle right to my eye. I just decided to swim like that unless it became so irritable I would have to stop and fix. I saw lots of people get pulled out, which I’m guessing it was because of the cold 63 degree temperature? I didn’t find it too bad, but then again, the Wednesday morning Jill and I went swimming, I’m sure the temps were in the mid 50s and that made me a little tougher on the cold temps. I felt like I was going extremely slow, so I was pretty content with a 43 minute finish (that includes a nice portion of running in the sand).

My dad was there watching me run the transition. I talked with some people in the transition, and off I went for the bike. The start of the bike was on an uphill. Veronica and I talked about walking our bikes to the top before we mount, but at that moment I decided to mount at the bottom, but couldn’t get my 2nd foot latched while going up hill, and so as I saw my dad again, he just said, many are running it up the hill do that….and so I got off and ran it to the top and got on again. Of course, I got some cheers for Alejandro. Everybody loves my bike J

The first and last 7 miles of the bike were on the annoying streets of Racine that were blotchy and bumpy. But the other 42 miles were pretty great! I had so much fun on the bike. I was cruising along at 20mph, which I didn’t expect but it just felt so good that I let it happen. I loved the rolling part of the hills, because with every down, I would push and then coast on the up. We had some other hills that took some work. I wasn’t afraid to use the easy gears, because I wanted to keep my legs fresh.

My dad made it to the 20 mile mark JUST as I was passing, I mean he crossed the street to get in the place I knew to look for him at, as I was passing.

Around mile 25, I first spotted my leap frog friend, Simon. We managed to pass and repass each other. At first, I do have to say, I was worried this guy was getting annoyed with me, and I wondered if he was an egotistical guy that didn’t like it when girl passed him. But finally at one point he said hello, and we made a game out of it that really made the bike that much more enjoyable. We were each other’s carrots.

Around mile 30, I started to pay for the lack of nutrition I was taking in on the race. D. Lee’s biggest lecture to me was about nutrition. He told me to get the e-gels as they were better than gus and everything else, and to make sure I eat often. Eating while biking means you have to coordinate and a lot of times that means you have to slow down, and I just didn’t want to slow down. But, mile 30 I noticed my vision was a little spotty. I experienced this with the Waukegan Triathlon last year, and knew it was because my electrolytes were down. I could hear the lecture from D. Lee if I had to stop the race because I passed out and I immediately took three electrolyte pills and had an e-gel. This did the trick!

Simon passed me around mile 37 and said “tag, you’re it” Well, he took off so fast, I just let him fly (okay by that I mean, I picked up my pace, but accepted the fact I wasn’t catching up with him). My dad managed to meet with my mom and make it at mile 40 to cheer me. It was great to know every hour, I had spectators!

I turned the corner on H, and knew, it was home free from there. I had a perma grin because I felt so great and was having such a good time, I couldn’t not smile. As I passed people I got many comments about how smiley I was. Around mile 47, I finally caught up to Simon. I told him I thought I lost him forever and it was great to see him. He said he hoped he was making me work for it, which he was. He passed me in the early 50s and that was the last I saw of him.

The last 7 miles were beyond annoyingly bumpy. I didn’t like staying in the aerobar position because of the bumps. They hurt my bottom as well as my arms. But, the bike was over. When I dismounted, I was filled with energy. I felt GREAT!

I went into transition, and changed shoes and everything else for the next event: A Half Marathon! I saw Emily and Jen as I started my run, but I didn’t see my parents. I figured, I was too fast for them, but hope they realized they missed me so they weren’t waiting around or getting worried.

The miles felt long but I was all smiles. Somewhere after the first mile, I saw Heath, he was heading south, finishing his first loop ready to start his second. I thought, lucky man! Around mile 3 I was finally getting into a rhythm and at this time, we heard some thunder and then were misted. I found it odd there was thunder because it looked pretty clear to me, and I didn’t know what cloud was misting us because I really didn’t see any. I made the turn around, and started heading back south. Between miles 4 and 5 I noticed the ground was soaked and that’s when I started to slow down just a bit, as the rain was evaporating and it was so hot. I learned the ground was wet because for 5 minutes, the skies opened up and down poured, I just happened to be too far north to be blessed with a shower mid run, instead I got the steamy roads.

My mom managed to be cheering on the run right near the turn around. You could see the finish as you turned around. The clock read 5hours and 15 minutes. My wave started 35 minutes into the race so that meant I was at 4 hours and 40 minutes. At that point I knew, I could finish the race in under 6 hours I just had to finish the 2nd loop.

I was walking through the water stops because I was grabbing about 3 cups at each one (it was near 90 degrees at the point of me starting the run, so it was all about staying hydrated). Luckily the water stops were plentiful and they were also offering coke. I would take 2 waters and 1 coke or 2 waters and 1 powerade at every stop on the way back. I also grabbed ice, if anything to hold in my hand and focus on that pretending my whole body was that refreshed.

I saw Alison and Kristin both twice as they were on their 1st loop. Seeing them gave me little burst of energy. For awhile, I did resort to counting my steps. And I imagined jumping back into the lake and cooling down.

I was in the last mile, focused on the finish. I saw Ed cheering which I wanted that to give me extra energy, but at that point I had a cramp brewing that I was focused on not letting take over me. I listened to Anne’s advice and just said “not now legs, just get me to the finish, you can cramp up later” I don’ know if that worked, but I carried myself to the finish all smiles crossing the finish line. My Mom, Dad and Uncle were at the finish line waiting for me. Hugs were in order, as I looked at the clock my dad said “You finished in 5 hours and 45 minutes!” I was so happy, the tears were flowing and the feeling remains with me as I write this.

I didn’t doubt I would finish (okay well, I did worry I would get a flat and somehow not be able to change it and then get DQed). I knew I could swim 1.2 miles in 40 to 45 minutes, I figured I could pull off a 2 hour half marathon after the swim and the bike, but I never imagined I could ride 56 miles in just under 20mph. I was thinking more along 3 hours and 20 minutes, closer to 17mph. I also figured I would definitely slow down and thought I was going to finish between 6 ½ hours and 7 hours. To finish the Half Ironman and be that much closer to the Ironman Dream is such a big win in its own. But to finish in 5hours in 45 minutes, that’s just a Triumphant Race!

Everything's Gonna Be Alright

Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
Fargo, ND
May 22, 2010
State # 17

3:49:29

I am starting off this write-up with a post on my facebook wall from Rachel A. because I first thought I would try to write this in ‘Fargo talk’ but I think that would get too difficult. So here is my way of giving you the Fargo feel (which no, they don’t just talk like this in the movie. But also not everyone in Fargo talks like this):“ND language lessons: Start conversations talking about the weather; end all sentences with ‘ya know’, ‘you betchya’ or ‘okiedokie’; refer to hair as hairs; never confuse ‘yah’, ‘yep’, and ‘yah you betchya’; you bake with soda and drink pop; you mail a paggitch; refer to a snack as bunny lunch. And universally, run like the wind.”So how did Fargo, ND get in the marathon mix for 2010? Fargo is advertised in all the running magazines and is well known for getting your money’s worth. I knew when it came to North Dakota, I would run Fargo but like Ultra Jen, I thought it would be one of the last 50. However, in April 2009, I was visiting my Grandfather in California when I met one of his friends, John. John and Bess, are from Fargo, ND but also have a winter home in California. I would call John, my Grandfather’s best friend in California. Bess was already back in Fargo when I was visiting my Grandfather, but word got around that I run marathons and she started contacting me with information on the Fargo Marathon. She told me if I came out for it, I was welcome to stay with them. Well, with 50 marathons, it gets expensive (I once estimated this to put me at $35,000 over the course of 50 marathons, including hotel, flight/gas, registration, running gear, shoes, etc. Not including triathlons). I digress (shocker), how could I turn down an offer to have a place to stay? In my time in Fargo, John and Bess have been such gracious hosts and I would call them adopted grandparents (and they are Greek and it’s a Greek thing to be family with every other Greek in the world).My last race was in St. Petersburg for the triathlon, which was two weeks after the St. Louis Marathon. Since St. Petersburg, there was Alexis’ Bachelorette party at the Kentucky Derby where Alexis and I ran; I managed 15 miles in the heat. The following weekend I was actually in Chicago. I got sick just before this weekend, and my planned 22 mile run got cut to 20 miles. Anne ran with me for the first 8? miles. She just ran Boston for the first time this past year, and so she was extremely inspiring to talk with. The final weekend before the Fargo Marathon, I was in Milwaukee for Mandy’s Bachelorette party. Come Sunday morning, I realized I fell the night before, and my shin hurt pretty bad walking, not so much running, but this made me a little nervous.As I got to the airport Friday morning before the race, I quickly learned that just about everyone on my plane were on their way to Fargo for the marathon. Listening in on all their conversations, it was apparent, that if you were a runner and you were traveling to Fargo for a marathon, you were a serious runner. Meaning, you have some great goal, like the 50 states. For you runners, I haven’t had a chance to check it out that much yet, but go to www.marathontours.com this one girl who is averaging 2.5 marathons a month for the next 2 years was talking about it.The expo was a decent size. It was in the Fargo dome (a sports arena). I got in and out pretty quickly, the shirts were long sleeved with a zipper and I now have another runner’s bag. The evening before the race, I met Stephanie, John and Bess’ daughter and we got along well. She went over the marathon map with me and offered to take me around the course, but I didn’t want to see the course until I was on it.Something interesting to note about this marathon, there was a 5K which started at 6:30am, a 10K at 7:00 the half marathon at 7:30 and the marathon and relay teams at 8:00 and they were all pretty different courses. Usually I would think since the marathon is the furthest distance, it would start first. Who knows the method to the madness here.John took me to the dome at about 6:30am (which is about 2 miles away from their house and easy traffic!). It started to rain and when I looked at the Doppler, it looked as if we would have rain the whole time, though the weather man said overcast, humid and in the 70s with strong winds around noon.At the dome, I found the ‘secret’ bathrooms where there was no line. Now, if you have done a big race, you know this is a HUGE jackpot! I texted with Rachel A some, as I was trying to figure out if I should change my running wear since the Doppler showed rain for the entire run. I ended up not changing, and gear checked my bag about 20 minutes before the start. I lined up by the 3:40 sign, which I quickly confirmed what I was noticing at the airport: The runners at this race were the non-chatty competitive type, so I wasn’t lucking out with finding someone to run many miles with. The pace leader for 3:40 was extremely organized and you could tell she was set on keeping her pace consistent. BUT she had no personality whatsoever. And anytime I spoke, I felt like I got this look from her trying to tell me that this is her show (I’m sorry but I’m a natural born pace leader, I can’t help but be vocal in the running scene). Before the start, not only was the national anthem sang, but Oh Canada was too. There was also a prayer, which though the one-on-one vibe with people seemed so cold and not fun, the prayer just seemed to make the race feel more like a community. That was Fargo standing out. My conclusion here is Fargo is filled with wonderful people, but the marathon attracts all those competitive people who aren’t so wonderful or at least not really caring to enjoy everything around them but are just focused on the start and finish.When we started, I decided I didn’t want to run by the pace leader with no personality, and I decided to take the crash and burn gamble: Run at what feels comfortable even if it might be too fast. My splits started at 8:15, and went down to 8:00 around mile 3. It felt good so I figure I would stick with it which meant I could go slower later…or I could possibly rock it and finish at something even more amazing than 3:40.Around mile 1, there was a tree that fell on an electrical wire that came crashing down on the course (just to the front and left of me). Luckily nobody was hurt, but just kind of a freak thing that happened. Around mile 2, I realized maybe I didn’t need my hat, as the rain stopped and my head was hot. So I ended up taking it off and held onto it. We crossed over to Minnesota for a few miles, and crossed back over. I was noticing that the water stops weren’t all that great. The first was around mile 3, which they weren’t set up so it was either stop and wait for water, or keep going. I kept going. As my uncle says “drink fluids early and often” that wasn’t an option at Fargo, unless you carried your own. The next water stop was around mile 5 and it was warming up. I could feel the heat radiating out of my body. Miles 9-15 was when I started to already get a little tired. I managed to keep an 8-8:15 mile until the half where my energy level was slipping. I just thought how tired I was, and how I would like to just take a nap. Ummm, something is wrong with that picture, who wants to NAP mid marathon? I mean stopping and walking is one thing, but I just wanted to sleep. We ran through a lot of neighborhoods, twisting and turning through, I never really knew where I was and where was going, as the houses all looked the same. I just knew around mile 15 we were out of that neighborhood then it was some straight back and forth with the final turn heading back north around mile 20. Just before mile 15 we had some water, and then, shockingly, the next water wasn’t until sometime after mile 18! Luckily some of the people in the community were giving out water, so I had water from one of them. I significantly slowed down and knew what I was feeling was dehydration. When I finally got to the long waited for water, I walked and downed 2 cups of PowerAde and 2 cups of water.This is where my mind surrendered from a Boston Qualifying race, to just getting state #17 done as close to 3:40 as possible. Just after mile 19 we were turning a corner, and this relay girl was to the left of me, and it was the curb to the right of me and approaching a puddle. The girl kind of locked me in, so I had to leap over the puddle. Mid air both legs got the bubbly lactic acid cramps. I luckily landed that jump without falling, but had to stop until the limping went back to walking. Seriously? We weren’t even at mile 20 yet. I decided this race was going to go into the category of bad marathon. This doesn’t just mean bad time, but it means a struggle to keep going as strong as possible- whatever that may be. The goal now was to keep a positive attitude, remind myself everything would be alright because I would finish.Around mile 20 the 3:40 pace group passed me. Luckily also at mile 20 the water stops picked up to every mile, though, umm I’m pretty sure this far into the race, you can’t reverse your dehydration, you can just prevent it from getting worse. The sun was shining and with the humidity, I was beyond hot, where I was no longer caring whether or not I get tan.Then, another turn; My Garmin was reading greater distances than the mile marker (again), I was trying to be as efficient on the course as possible. The roads are also definitely ‘up north’ roads that are damaged by the cold, snow and salt, so they aren’t smooth. I twisted my ankle and went down but caught myself quickly. My ankle wasn’t really hurting and I somehow didn’t cramp up through this, but my breathing was off. I don’t know if I was just worked up or hyperventilating, but I felt like I had asthma and I couldn’t get enough air through my passage way. You could tell the spectators were a little nervous, I mean, yes it sucks as bad as it looked, but, marathoners manage to figure their way back to ‘normal’ enough to finish the race. I brought in some yoga breathing and tried to cough until it felt like the air passageway was better. (Around now that’s when the Shawn Mullin’s song played on my ipod and I decided that would be a good race write-up name) I decided I didn’t care if I was above 4 hours at this point but it didn’t mean I could fully give up. If my legs could run, they were going to run…so I ran until I got a cramp or hit a hill (yes there were actually a few hills in Fargo). The walking was short, maybe no more than 10 steps when I would do it, but still, I felt like it made a world of a difference. The wind also picked up which dirt and dust was then blowing all around and in my eyes, just another obstacle, but minimal compared to the cramps (the wind was so strong it was blowing down the “road closed” signs)I was walking around mile 25 when I saw Stephanie. She didn’t have to say much of anything, but seeing her, handing off my hat and having her walk a few steps with me, somehow let all the negative energy evaporate and take me to the finish. I did stop two more times, but I realized I could at least get a sub 3:50 marathon, so I gave it my all on the last .5 miles, somehow (don’t ask me how), kicking it to a 7:45. The last .05 miles was INTO the Dome, which was probably one of the coolest finishes you could have. Spectators not just on the sidelines but the seats were filled.So, everything was alright, and I did finish within 10 minutes of the Boston Qualifying time, so it’s just another marathon to make me stronger. Out of my sub 4 hour marathons, this one was the toughest one I pushed through. In Philly, I succumbed to my negative attitude, so I guess it’s just a great feat I didn’t let my negative attitude take over me on this race, because I knew, everything would be alright.***Note post writing this. My flight back from Fargo: I finally met some nice runners on the flight back. There were some guys that were with the female winner. She was on my flight back to Chicago and I realized she was also on my flight to Fargo. I find it interesting that she was over by the lady talking all about her 2.5 marathons averaged a month, but she never once said anything about how much of a rock star she is. Very modest, I’m a fan. I also made friends with another 50 stater, Jeff. Fargo was his 28th state, and we learned we have been at some of the same races at the same time. Jeff is speedy, he said he thought about re-doing all the states and try to have them all sub 3 hours, but he has started to plateau so they have been just above the 3 hour mark lately….we all have our own goals to push for as we complete the 50 states.

TRIps with Friends

TRIps with Friends
St. Anthony’s Olympic Distance Triathlon
St. Petersburg, FL
2:54:41 Swim (.9 miles): 39:53
TI: 2:26 Bike (24.9 miles): 1:17:48
T2: 2:22 Run (6.2 miles): 51:57

And so my 2010 Triathlon season has been kicked off. I only have three planned this year but it’s two Olympic and one half ironman, so in total mileage, it’s more than the 3 sprint and 1 Olympic last year. Since the Chicago Tri last August, I biked some outside in September and just kept up the swimming with half mile swims once or twice a week through December. In January, I started to bring the training back. In the Midwest, the triathlon season is only 3 months long, in June, July and August. Last year I kicked the year off early in April with a sprint in California. This year, I took it to Florida. I figured since FL is the state I’m 99% sure my Ironman will be in; I should get some practice in there. I have given shout outs to my running friends who race and train with me, but I don’t think I have for the wonderful friends I have all over the states that support my crazy goals even if they have no desires or interests to do the same. If you knew anything about me in middle and high school, you probably thought I was overly shy. In middle school I was the outcast, I started off with some friends but was too ‘goody two shoes” for them and so I really had no friends outside of my dance classes. I prayed for good friend which, I think God kind of took my request to an extreme, as Jen Addison put it “I have an unnatural amount of true close friends” …and the list just keeps growing. Listing off some of them I have been able to visit on my marathon and triathlon trips: Becky in NY, Lucy and Chelsey in AZ, Jen in DC, Amanda in Charlotte, the Devine Family- wherever I go and where they are and the list could go on but you should just read my previous write ups :) This trip, Alyssa invited me to stay with her. Alyssa and I met when I worked on a special project for the Bank a little over 2 years ago, we then both switched groups (from HBD to SAG) and had a re-encounter with our office needing Alyssa’s help with one of our Borrowers (system issues). We have kept in touch, and we had more of a cyber friendship than anything. I’m so glad we met because well, with this trip, our friendship has grown and she’s another friend I couldn’t imagine my life without. Back to training. I’m a bit of a spreadsheet nerd, which I think with what I do, you kind of have to be. My new favorite spreadsheet to stare at and analyze, is my weekly training log. David sent me over a spreadsheet he uses (maybe made?) and it tracks your weekly mileage in all three categories Swim, Bike and Run. He told me being an endurance athlete, I should total 4 weeks of training and only let the next 4 weeks of training go up 10%. I still have to figure out more consistency, with marathon training and tapering, I more or less have been fluctuating on my 4 weeks of mileage. BUT, I’ve become obsessed with making every effort to exceed 100 miles a week across all three and like staring at the sheet. Biking gives you the most mileage in a short period of time, but the run for me is almost half my mileage. Because of this spreadsheet, I have become more honest and consistent with my bike workouts. If you read my last marathon write up, I said I really hate biking. Well, with this triathlon that changed, but we will get to that soon enough. I planned on meeting up with David and his 3 friends in St. Petersburg for the triathlon. While training, I was getting nervous for this, because, well, David has kicked his 2010 triathlon season in high gear. Being in Charlotte, he can start the season early, and he has kicked some major butt placing in his division time- with every single race he has done thus far. Then Andy, who is a novice, placed in his second triathlon. Of course, I want to try to amount to some level of greatness to keep up. When I got to Tampa, Friday night Alyssa and I went out. Luckily I wasn’t too hungover Saturday, because I’m still in Marathon training mode (Marathon mileage never stops – not even for a triathlon). I got up at 7am Saturday morning and nailed out 12 miles. Alyssa (being the wonderful host/friend) and I then went to downtown St. Petersburg to take care of expo stuff. I jumped in the water to confirm I was correct in assuming I didn’t need to bring my wetsuit. I didn’t swim much, but I got reminded of what it’s like to be in open water- I got the taste of larger waves and salt water. After swimming, Alyssa and I met up with David and Dave W. at the expo. Prior to this trip, I have been thinking about getting a new bike. I know I just got my bike last year, but I’m not in love with it. It was an entry level bike and I knew I’d upgrade at one point. I was on the mindset, go big or go home, and since I don’t want to be taken advantage of, and I want a good deal, I volunteered David to help me out. He figured I could strike a deal at the expo, and I am SO appreciative to have him there to talk to the people for me. The idea is, since I have the road bike, I would mix it up and get a time trial bike, since they are for longer. I got on an Orbea and instantly fell in love. David did the talking, and on a bike that already was an expo deal, I got an additional 10% off, PLUS being out of state, there was no sales tax (think if I bought it in Chicago that would be an additional 10%!). The day ended up becoming a long day with getting fitted to my bike. But let me tell you, I couldn’t have been more lucky, as this guy saw me getting fitted and decided to come over and watch some. He started chiming in and changing things, and the next thing I know, he’s fitting me instead of one of the Outspoken Reps. He told me he wasn’t there to sell me anything, he just thinks if I’m going to be getting this bike, he wants to see me have everything on it right. He mentioned he travels to fit the professionals, but he was pretty modest in this. Turns out, he fits Lance Armstrong in his bikes, and I believe it’s Craig Alexander (a pro who happened to be at this triathlon place third), who ONLY lets this guy fit him. He also kind of taught me how I want to be riding on the time trial bike, how it differs from the road bike, and went over the best form with me. So here I am, Saturday afternoon, with a new bike and fitted on it by probably one of the best. With my first bike (which was 1/4th the price), I had buyer’s remorse. With this bike, I didn’t, and especially race day confirmed this was a great purchase. One thing I don’t recommend and knew I was entering an extra challenge, is I haven’t had the clip in shoes up til this point, so I had a crash course on using them and got to work with my bike very little to figure it out. Meaning, the triathlon would be interesting with a new feel I’m not used to. This triathlon was different than those in the Midwest, as the transition area was more organized. You had to put your bike in transition the night before. They have security guards watching over them all night, and you don’t pick your spot but are arranged by your bib number, and have to set them up on the stand alternating the front wheel down. So David, Dave W. and I went to set up our bikes. I enjoyed watching David in action as he takes in his surroundings and bike attempting to figure out the best ins and outs to shorten transition time….I tried to do the same. Sunday morning, Alyssa woke up and drove me to the start. She was nervous for me in the water as it was supposed to be a windy day, and Jarret’s mom was telling her stories of people who aren’t used to open water having to get pulled out. I know I’m not the strongest swimmer, but I also know I wouldn’t have to be pulled out- worse case, as Laura Bice had to do in one Chicago Triathlon, you float on your back. I set up my spot and was pretty happy with the spacing. There were a few bikes that didn’t make it to the triathlon that were supposed to be by me, so the girls around me and I decided to share the space with some of our extra stuff. The water temp was above 70 but below the temps where they don’t allow you to wear wetsuits. You don’t really need one in 70 degree water, but as one girl by me said, it will help her trim some time off her swim. I made it clear I wasn’t that crazy of a triathlete so of course, when she looked at my bike she assumed it was owned by the girl next to me as she was like “the girl next to you has a sick bike, that thing is amazing’ (yeah I’m sure it wasn’t the one next to me..Mine was the only real great one in the area.) I just chuckled. I don’t feel like letting a super competitive girl judge me. Around 6:15am I started walking to the start. I chatted with a few nice ladies. I went into the water to watch the Elites start, and found David. We watched the elite’s technique swimming against the waves. I knew the hourly weather forecast said the wind would pick up as I started and only get worse. I was really hoping the water would stay exactly how it was when the first group went off at 6:50am. My start was 8:09am (and it was only half way through all the starts). David’s group went off about a half an hour before mine, so I was able to watch him take off. Like the amazing triathlete he is, he was up near the front and looked strong. Once he took off, I chatted with a few others, and then got in line to start. I like being in the middle of the group. I don’t like the back because if I want to pass people, I don’t want to have to be kicked or expend extra energy going around them, and I am not fast enough to be in the front. Well, I happened to get trapped behind some bigger girls, and that made things a little difficult. As we made it out to the first turn, the waves started to get real choppy. On the long turn heading north, sitting was getting real difficult because the waves continued to pick up. I’m sure partway on that turn, the Clydesdale men started catching up and passing. I felt like I was getting to the back side of my group and that was discouraging me but I kept telling myself to stay positive. By the final turn, there were moments I didn’t feel like I was moving at all. I swallowed lots of salt water, and I tried to make my way through the waves but sometimes would get pushed back. My most annoying moment was when two girls needed to be rescued. They were to the right of me and the rescue boat was to the left and decided to cut right in front of me to get to them. As I quickly tried to make my way around (in big waves), I got a cramp which was not fun. I know the girls needed to get out- but couldn’t they float on their backs and let me pass instead of cutting me off? It felt like a lifetime when I finally got out of the water. The first few steps were woozy. When I got to the bikes I was shocked to see my area only about half gone (maybe a little more). A girl and I exchanged words about how the water kicked our butts (I later learned the waves were getting so bad, they ended up cutting the swim short for the end waves). Time to break in my bike! Being worn out from the swim, getting in my clips felt different than my few practices the day before. It took me a few tries but I got one in and off I went, working my foot in the other one. We got off the bumpy road and I started to soar. I passed one biker, two, three, four, I was working for it, but at the same time, I wasn’t in great pain. It felt so great, though the wind was strong. I probably only got passed by a dozen bikers, but I passed a countless number and I knew I have the bike, and my great fitting to thank for that. I took it easy on turns and curves because the new bike isn’t as great for those. As I rode I kept thinking “I love this and I love my new bike” The bike went fast, it was getting hot and I knew my back had to be getting a good tan. I made it to the end, and now came the dismount. The last 5 miles I kept thinking “twist your foot and plant one foot then get the other foot out, don’t fall” I thought I nailed it as I got the one foot out, planted it and then I couldn’t get the second foot out. As I twisted my foot, my body twisted with it and went down- yup that’s right, embarrassing! It wasn’t a real fall as I wasn’t moving and I was almost there but it was an idiot fall nonetheless. I ran my bike in and realized the clip in shoes made my feet feel different than the other way…a new feeling for the run. It was pretty hot at this point, and I wasn’t sure if my shirt and shorts were still wet from the swim or if this was now my sweat. After a bike, your run feels slow, when in reality it’s not THAT slow, it’s just slow relative to the bike. I couldn’t manage to get my breath in a comfortable place, but I just kept moving forward. There were lots of water stops and unlike the bike, I really enjoyed the wind cooling me down. We turned around about halfway and headed to the finish. I got stronger on the last 3 miles, though I was thinking I should average an 8, and averaged an 8:23. Once I crossed the finish, I knew I should be happy for the PR, but I’m finding myself just always wanting more, so of course I wasn’t 100% satisfied. Overall the race was great, it had its challenges but like I said in another write up, there are many variables in each tri, and you can’t compare them like they are all the same. You can’t even really compare the same triathlon on the same day with different start times. Chicago, the water and weather warmed up by the time I started, the Olympic distant people had it easier while the Sprint people froze. This one, the elites had it made, while the waves got progressively worse and sometime after my wave they cut the swim short to keep people out of danger (1000 meters so not that much shorter). The great news is, I have a new bike, I have another Olympic distance under my belt, and I got to spend another TRIp with great friends.

Sweet Dream (or a Beautiful Nightmare)

Sweet Dream (or a Beautiful Nightmare?)
GO! St. Louis Marathon, MO
April 11, 2010State #16
3hrs 43min 08sec
I had a long car ride to think of what to write about this marathon and where to start. I decided to cover it all (and might need to put chapters in this). It has been about 4 months since my last marathon (one day shy of 4 months to be exact). In those 4 months, a lot has happened/changed in my life, but the one thing that is always a constant is my running. With some hardships and anxiety, I dropped about 10lbs pretty quickly at the end of December. This affected my runs. I was in low mileage then, partly because I temporarily lost my motivation and partly because I had just finished up a busy 4 weeks of travel and 2 marathons. Next thing I knew, it was 2010 and I was ready to start the year right. Ultra Jen and I went for a 10 mile run in the snow, January 3rd. We ran a slower pace, but off the beaten path and more work in the snow. I struggled with those 10 miles, feeling weak and I knew I needed to eat more to give me the energy I needed. As much as I loved being 10lbs lighter (contrary to my Mom and Friends worries…I’m a girl, I can’t help but like shedding weight), I wanted to keep running and I knew I’d have to force the food in me. Though now I’m loving food as much as I did before (maybe more?), I think the realization of that 10 mile run being so weak is what helped me get back on track.I was really wishing it were the summer and I could run outside with my friends every day, but we were stuck in January Chicago cold weather, so I was only going to subject myself to the outdoor running on the weekends. Joe and I managed to get our schedules in sync so we would run on treadmills next to one another at the gym once a week. These were always our 8 mile runs, and it was fun as Joe would let me set our pace just like I were pace leading outside. We would say we wanted to do 7 miles in under 60 minutes, and I’d start us off slow and have negative splits where he never thought we would make it in under the 60 minutes (as we started at a 9:30) BUT, I’d get us there with strong ‘kick its’ at the end (though we never did our 8 in 60). Thanks Joe for the treadmill runs. Chicago is going to miss you…and you are going to miss my crazy stories! Also thanks to Rachel A, Rachel J, Alexis (and Ross), Sheila, Chanthana and already mentioned, Ultra Jen - for our winter runs. I look back at our winter and think- wow, we really had a mild one. I don’t know where it went, the weather is warming up and it makes me so happy, but I can’t believe I don’t have any blizzard training stories to share. I had a 16 mile run that was extremely windy. I think I ran a loop 3 times to get the 16 in just so I didn’t have to go in one direction for two long (and well, we meet at the totem pole). If anything, we just had big problems with ice this year. I blame city budget cuts for not clearing the paths. I fell 3 times (once in Denver) on ice.The last 4 months of training has some PR highlights, not just in the marathon (which I will get to). Though I continue to improve my marathon times (over 2 minutes per mile since my first marathon!), I never really focus on increasing my speed on shorter distances, that is, until this winter. I remember Nick telling me that I would get to an angry stage and when I get there, I would probably see it in my runs and he was right. I have never broken a 40 minute 5 mile run. I guess since I always am going longer distances and if I am running 5 miles it’s an easy run, I never have tried. But I was on the treadmill one day and I just had a series of “angry songs” that I kept increasing the speed. Though my first mile was a 9 minute, I ended up finishing in under 39 minutes and it felt great. I haven’t just been running, but now I’m more focused on my Triathlons as this year I’m completing a half Ironman. I don’t like to bike, especially on a stationary bike, but I know I need to do it to get the Half Ironman completed. With motivation from David, I’ve picked up my bike workouts. I really like biking and then running, though your legs feel a little wobbly at first on the run it’s like the bike activates your fast twitch fibers and once you work through the awkward transition, you can go faster …Or maybe it’s because I hate the bike so much that I’m just so happy to be on my feet and the freedom takes me away. As I digress, there was a day I biked for 2 hours, then got on the treadmill and decided to see what I could do with a 1 mile run. I managed to run it in 6:50 which started off on the slower end, I am pretty sure I can get that to a 6:30. I have taken a full page to get us through the highlights of the past 4 months (more to come on biking and swimming in a Tri write up…in two weeks), now what about State Number 16?After completing the New Orleans Marathon last year, Rachel J continued to run, with the thoughts and hopes that she would start working on the 50 states goal (4 down). Then, she was hit with a series of little injuries that kept slowing her down. Now I say this with the utmost respect for any of my friends who are doctors or working their way to be doctors: the majority of doctors just plain suck. With my mother’s health history and current health conditions, I think I have every right to make that statement. I fear Rachel J has the same luck as my mom does with doctors, and I hope the bad luck is over. She went back and forth between two doctors which who knows which one to trust but they kept on coming up with 'fixes’ to current injuries but causing other injuries until one of those injuries was a stress fracture in her hip joint (this sounds like I‘m just whining about doctors and not thinking it could have happened to anyone but that‘s because I‘m trying to not get too technical). What this meant? No running for what seemed like a lifetime. She also wasn’t even able to walk without crutches for a long time and her body had to start from scratch with the running. We had plans to run a marathon in Alabama in February 2010, which is postponed for 2011. Instead, Rachel asked me if I would go to St Louis with her and she would run the half while I ran the full. This was her comeback half marathon. Over the summer Alexis and I wanted to make sure Rachel got back on track, and stayed positive, so we managed to get Baby Jesus strategically placed in Rachel’s birthday cupcake.St Louis is about a 4 ½ hour drive from Chicago, we decided we would leave Saturday and come back Sunday. We left around 10am on Saturday, it was a beautiful day and as we drove south it got warmer. Matt is pretty good at chiming in on the girl talk (filling the car with laughter). About halfway we stopped and spent an hour at a Wal-mart. I was in sticker shock and loaded up on throw away shirts. We didn’t get into St Louis until about 3:30. Rachel and I made it to the expo to pick up our race packets. St Louis is filled with weird people, but is actually quite beautiful. The one thing we learned as we were driving to the expo, was it was helly. I was told that St. Louis is pretty flat. LIES all LIES! I think this got me a little nervous, but at least I have been doing hill workouts on the treadmill, and got my share of hill training in on a trip to Charlotte and then back in Wisconsin. Poor Rachel was just trying to retrain herself on the mileage, not thinking about hills.We went to the hotel to get Matt, and we all took a walk to the starting line to check that out, then we walked to a real cute part of St. Louis where the Old Spaghetti Factory is located for dinner. I was thinking we would have an hour wait given the fact the marathon is in town. The wait was going to be 2 hours (other marathoners, bachelorette parties, high school dances, and random large parties of obese people). There was no other decent place to eat around, it was pretty much just bar food joints. We decided to get our food ordered to go, and took it back to the hotel.I was exhausted, so once we finished eating I passed out and the next thing I knew it was 5:00am. We headed to the start around 6:00. It was 50 degrees at this time, which is much warmer than the last few marathons. As we started at 7:00am, the sun was bright and I knew it was going to hit the 70s soon enough. Rachel and I started together, though she didn’t want me to hold myself back for her, and I didn’t want to push her where she burned out too fast. I originally didn’t think this would be a PR state. When I started tapering I felt weak in my runs and got worried I wouldn’t have it in me to PR. However, I got the itch to go fast. Rachel and I ran until about mile 3 where we said “see you later.”I took off and though I had my watch, I wasn’t focusing on the times. I would look at it to see how fast I was going, and I was pleased with the speed, but I figured all the hills would get to me at one point and I’d slow down. I kind of took a new approach to the hills, I decided to charge them rather than slow down. The first 6 miles was beautiful through the downtown, then we managed to make our way towards the campus and through a park. The sun was shining bright and I knew I was working on a great tan. At the halfway mark, I was dead even to get a 3:40 marathon. BUT I wasn’t focusing on Boston, or a PR for that matter, the last 3 marathons were all in the 1:40s for the first half but the 2nd halves were slower. My “charge the hills” approach worked until mile 14. From mile 14 to 15 we had what started off as a steady and long incline followed by a steeper incline. Rachel can back me when I say the first half was pretty helly but it didn’t stop there. The fun continued almost nonstop for the whole time. I talked to some nice people, a lot of first timers. Every time I mentioned I was on marathon number 17 (or state number 16), I felt like I had a duty to show them how to do it right (and not burn out). So after chatting for awhile and me feeling like I was reenergized from our chats, I would tell them “have a nice run!” and take off. The goal here, or motivation, was, don’t let them pass you (meaning don’t slow down). I talked to these two guys, who lived in St Louis, they told me the final hill would be at this under pass, and we would have 4 miles of straight away to the finish. I was skeptical since I knew where we came from had a lot of ups and down, but I wanted to believe them. From mile 20.5 to 22.5 we had flat roads. In this time I met a Team DetermiNation runner (ACS), this was his 2nd marathon. When we hit the hill (that I was told was the final), I parted with him and charged the hill. At about mile 24.5 (on ANOTHER up), the ACS guy was behind me saying “come on 17th Marathon Girl, I’m doing this in 3:40 do it with me! I am doing my best to enjoy my marathons and NOT focus on time, but always in the back of my mind I want Boston. I figure Fargo is Flat, I would stress it there, but I wasn’t stressing it here. When he said those magic words, I thought, I COULD DO IT! He then told me he had 12 minutes to make it and though he passed, I kept him in eye shot- we had to finish at under an 8 minute mile, and though it seemed crazy- I thought, why not push and see how close I could get. As we got to the top of the final hill we were just past mile 25, someone shouted it was down hill from here, and I turned to give them a thumbs up when I tripped over my foot- and of course got a shooting cramp. Up until this moment I never stopped, but I had to take 2 steps to shake it out, and I was back on my way. With .1 mile left, I saw Rachel and Matt. I got another one of those bad cramps…Kathleen demonstrates how this looks in a video at Philly, I fought through the cramp and my last 30 seconds finished the marathon with a kick. Finishing in 3:43 gives me a new PR by 4 minutes, but knowing I just need 3:40:59 for Boston, well, it’s Bittersweet. It was a hot run, a helly run but a beautiful run, a strong run. When I finished, I kept my shades on as I started to cry. I can’t explain why I was crying- it was a stream of emotions, I don’t know if I was happy for the PR or disappointed for those 2 minutes (Was the finish a sweet dream? Or a beautiful nightmare?). My watch read 26.45 miles. I know I weaved through people and the satellites can be off, but the average minute per mile was 8:26 on my watch- Boston Qualifying time. Being so close is nerve wracking. I could get it in Fargo, but what if I’m not having an on day - I don’t want another Philly marathon where I’m beating myself up on the run so much I forget about my Love for running. Boston- my battle to win you over is to be continued - you are currently a beautiful nightmare.

Life is Highway

Life is a Highway
Thunder Road Marathon, NC
Dec. 12, 2009State #15
3hrs 48min 05sec

I have made many trips to Charlotte, so this wasn’t new territory. What did I know about Charlotte? Every time I visit, I run; from 2005 when I just started marathoning, weeks of analyst training, 2007 running with Nico while we had offsite “CAP” work, 2008 with Amanda before heading to Charleston for Jen’s wedding, 2009 in August as Charlotte was the end of a busy 5 day travel for work (and quick stop in Jacksonville to see Irisa). Every time I run in Charlotte, the hills get the best of me and my runs turn into run/walks. Philadelphia was 3 weeks earlier. After Philly I decided I needed to get the passion of running back. So, no time goals in Charlotte, rather I let it be a run/walk/no watch and just enjoy it Marathon …Even if that meant a 5 hour marathon. For the first time, in all of my training since probably 2008, I let myself slack on my mileage. I ran at max, an 8 mile run, a few 6s and mostly 4s and 3s and lots of days off. Part of the reason for cutting the mileage down was because of my schedule, part of it was because I have an acute injury: my inserts for the Philly marathon were cut short and my big left toe (the one with the blister) was hanging over a little. When I started running again after Philly sharp pains would run through my foot on mileage as low as 3 miles. Also, after laying down, when I would first step on my foot there is a tingling sensation like the toes are asleep. It was getting better so I figured I could still struggle through a marathon without further damage since I got new inserts.After Philly, I had 2 days in Chicago, 5 days in Connecticut/New York, 3 days in Chicago, 3 days in Miami, then 4 days in Chicago before heading to Charlotte for the marathon. Yes, I have bags under my eyes, yes, I’m tired. While I love every single one of my travels and wouldn’t want to cancel a single one of them to get rest…I really could use the rest.So, this trip I was able to manage to make it a 4 day trip with some work intertwined. Friday I got in early, and my Credit Manager, Alice, got me access to her building and let me use her office since she was out. I had a great lunch with an attorney I work with, and Monday is saved for site visits. When I was here in August, I met my new favorite Receivership company (if you don’t know what a receiver is…don’t worry about it, just know I work with them). We hit it off right away- Chip and David are both crazy triathletes and they like schmoozing the Bank They told me that when I came into town for the Marathon they’d take me out…which they did more than just take me out (read further).The morning of the marathon, when I woke up, the foot pain was there, which I thought I was at least over the waking up and having pain and this scared me a bit. It was 27 degrees which was similar to Indiana, but it was only going to warm up to 37ish degrees through the run. At the last minute, I decided to wear Capri length pants and my long sleeved shirt under my black jacket. I was real nervous about this, I ALWAYS wear shorts when I run marathons. Amanda drove me to the start which was great because we could wait IN the convention center. I waited for the start alone and in silence. I was real nervous for some reason, which this was supposed to be the fun marathon, I think it was because I wanted so much to enjoy the run and just didn’t know what would happen with my foot.I lined up by the 4:30s, but as we took off, my pace took me faster, and of course I decided to let this be a feel-good run so I just let my legs take me. Water was a little difficult to get at first but got better as time passed. There was a guy wearing a shirt that he was getting married “TODAY” So, of course I wanted to talk with him. His wife was supportive, but she was getting ready for the wedding. He didn’t admit it but his friend did when I asked him if he was addicted much (But I wasn’t judging, I liked this idea). Around mile 5 a car was actually trying to push its way to cross the street, the people cheering yelled at them and stopped them. Thank you cheer people! I was cruising along. Now here is where our Receiver’s schmoozing (David you know I’m joking but I can’t help but call it that ) is taken to a new level. David said he’d jump in and join me for a few miles since we passed near his house. We texted some and we missed each other the first try, but he quickly got over to about mile 13. His few miles turned into a half marathon run for him, but I got the verbal tour of where we were and things to see and really enjoyed the company. We talked a little bit about work, and more about any crazy running and triathlon type stories. We kept passing people he had been out with the night before, so he got to make them think he went out, drank AND ran the full marathon. I just realized I have not once talked about the hills yet. Yes, the hills were bad. A few statistics reported were something like this: Mile 1 was 90 feet decline, mile 2 90 feet incline, total climb of 1168 feet and total elevation change of 2349 feet. I don’t know if this was worse than Cincinnati, I would need to really compare the elevation maps. I think in Cincinnati, the hills had more of a ‘no end’ but Charlotte you just had to make yourself tough it out for a few minutes before you could go down again. Since the hills started early on, I think they felt a little more natural too, though sometimes like around mile 11 I was real tired and wanting to walk. I don’t think we first walked until after mile 20 – and I did allow walks, but only 100 feet or so before starting back up to run. Since I had David with me, I didn’t curse at myself for little moments of walking or for anything else, I just kept running and the miles kept passing. (If you are a Bank and looking for a Receiver, pre and post foreclosure in the Carolinas…I’ll give you their contact information) they aren’t just good at schmoozing, they are good at their jobs too).As I approached the finish, David jumped out, and I crossed the finish, to see Amanda cheering at the finish. 4 weeks of travel, 2 marathons, good times with friends and family – Life is a Highway, I want to ride it all night long!

(So many times it happens too fast) You change your Passion for Glory
Philadelphia Marathon - State 14
Nov 21, 2009
Time: To Be Finalized- 3hours and 51ish minutes.

Until maybe 2 months ago I was thinking: Babysteps. I have 50 states to run, progression to improvement can be slow; Break 4 hours, that was my goal that I didn't even think about pursuing with the hilly marathons I chose for 2009 (post New Orrleans and pre adding Philly to the line up). THEN I get it in my head to push time in Indy and I blew away my expectations, but what that did, was create new expectations for Philly. Your level of satisfaction is directly coorelated to your expectations and when you aren't satisfied, your attitude gets bad(at least in this case mine does). You can see maybe you shouldn't expect too much from marathons because in marathoning, attitude is more than half of getting through it. Running is a passion of mine. Some people get it, others don't. Before my sophomore year in college I didn't run much. Maybe a mile here or there. Then my roommate, Marisa was running 3 to 5 miles and she inspired me to get out and do some running. I remember my first 'long' 3mile run. It was up Regent St to Madison West Highschool and back. That accomplishment felt so great. Then I would talk about running with Tammy and Sarah Harnden. They soon became my running buddies junior year. It was just so nice to get out and run and we would socialize at the same time. Summer nights, Sarah and I would go out running down state street after work while others were at the bars. We would make babcock hill a fun hill workout. Tammy talked me into my first race...crazy legs. I thought it was crazy to pay to run, but I did it anyway. Then Harnden mentioned a half marathon. I went to California to visit Ashleigh. She knew I was running a lot so she introduced me to her neighbor, Elvia, who bacame my California running buddy; From there on out, if I visited Ashleigh, Elvia and I would run. She told me about her passion for Marathons and I should think about a full. So, Baby steps, I returned to Madison from my visit in California, January 2005, telling Harnden she had to sign up with me. We were doing the half. I looked forward to running 7 to 9 miles on Sundays. I would go every which direction from the Capital (or our house near there), covering new ground all the time. I loved my running for credit class even if it was early in the morning. Then, I met Melissa, we just happened to be in the same group for real estate development. She was training for the full and invited me on a 13 mile run with her friends. I had so much fun! When we finished that 13 miles, Melissa mentioned the Nike Woman's marathon where you get a Tiffany's necklace for finishing. And from there, well that's where my marathon write-ups begin. The thing is, running is not just a way to lose weight and be healthy. Running has connected me to so many friends. Running has made me ...well, me. I love it and I am not about to push for times (the glory) and lose the love (the passion). Who knew the Rocky song was that deep :) That little background was just to bring me back to my passion- I was remeniscing on this run as Harnden is from Pennsylvania. Now time to write about Philly. Philly wasn't even on my 'program' for 2009 until I talked Rachel A into pace leading with me again this year. As we started training she said she was interested in Running Philly and asked if I would consider it. We weren't set in stone with details until Connie said she would do it and got the ball rolling for us. A group of 5: myself, Rachel A, Connie, Kathleen and Dana (Sheila didn't get a race bib). This was Connie, Kathleen and Dana's first non Chicago marathon, and first (maybe last) 2 marathons within 2 months. Rachel A also had a year off of marathoning. So, off to Philly. What a wonderful city. The City layout was great, its clean, lots of historical sites, its walkable (a must for me to really like a city), and well, real pretty all lit up at night. Lots to do (which i think we covered lots on the run and after the run). We got in Saturday afternoon, went to the expo and went to a real nice restaurant for dinner, though, we disappointed the waiter ordering simple pastas. Fast forward to race day. Perfect weather, starting in the 40s ending in the 50s. The start (and finish) was about a mile from the hotel so we walked it. Since I was nervous about my time I was pushing to get into the race corals quickly. They made a big deal about starting in the rigt coral...but then there was no enforcement so I took us right up to the 3:40 pacers. We all had different time goals in mind so thanks girls for being accomodating starting in the 3:40 spot. As we started, I was on my own within seconds. The pace felt comfortable. The first half of the marathon was more of a city run. As I said the city was wonderful, lots of big buildings, neighborhoods comparable to bucktown, shops, restaurants, part of it even kind of reminded me of parts of the New Orleans marathon, but maybe what made me think of new orleans were the narrow streets. As I am trying to have a good run, the frustation sank in with not being able to pass people, expending energy trying to not step on people's feet and then the occasional slowdown bc a car never cleared the streets and we would all have to work our way around it. Around mile 3 I fell as someone lost a shoe and pushed through to get back to it creating a bit of a domino affect. I luckily had made short time friends with a girl and she quickly helped me up before I got trampled over and we kept moving. I didn't get water the first 3 stops which also frustrated me because I am big on 'early and often' to replenish what you lose while running. The reason why I didn't get water was because it was to crowded and people would slowdown too much and they were short stops. Then there was the 3:40 pace group....as it was so crowded right behind them I figured I would work my way in front of them (esp after the fall). It took until mile 7 to accomplish this but it was a good move. It was nice to be able to just run. While we had many gradual hills throughout and some bigger ones, more than noted, mile 9 was the killer. I tried to compare it to mile 11ish of Indiana, saying it was ok...but this was a little rougher I think. With water at the top of the hill, I gu-ed up. Then we had some nice gradual down and out and back. On my way back I saw Connie and Kathleen, they weren't far behind me. Around this time I had met a man who was completing his 50th state with Philly. He said it took him 35 years to finish all 50. I told him I'm on the fast track right now, but that's so I have room to slow down later in life. I had thought I gained a good amount of distance on the 3:40 pace group but around mile 12 they were right behind me. Which again real focused and worried on time this frustrated me as they started to pass me. I was thinking I wasn't slowing down my pace but couldn't tell for sure as mile 13 was not well marked. I felt defeat the moment they passed me which did not help the attitude part. And as I did my calculations, I got more angry to realize the leaders had them at least 2 minutes ahead of pace (I was 2 minutes ahead then and they were in front of me). Where I come from...pace leading is a consistent pace..maybe not how I run my marathons but I wasn't pacing. They were paicng and seeing a time pass you when it's not yet game over, well that's annoying. I don't think I really lost Boston until mile 16ish or so. There was another big up at 14 followed by a big down that really hurt the legs. The second half was more scenic in a green sense. Gradual ups and downs under bridges past a cemetery far up a hill. This was an out and back where the turn around was just before mile 20. This time I thought I would see all the girls, but got tired looking so only saw Kathleen. On the way out I saw beer, and decided, I need to wash down the loss of Boston, with a beer, so on the way back, I had a beer as I said "I lost Boston so I might as well drink." The last 4 miles I walked a little- a few steps here and there, but I could feel the blister on my left foot and decided walking hurt that more. With about a half a mile left, the crowds were AMAZING. Somehow they were the right amount of energy, where they carried you to the finish. Though, the finish felt like forever away, we kept seeing signs saying turn to the finish- and we'd turn, and then there was another turn. I actually picked up my pace at the end, and a cramp hit right near the end, so I limped the last few steps to the finish (which is actually similar to Kathleen but she more or less, dragged one of her legs to the finish). Currently, our official race times are unknown. They keep changing them and they aren't matching what watches said. So we are wondering if (hoping) the course was overshot so they are working on fixing times to accomodate (this has happened in races before). But, most likely it sounds like it's a computer chip timing glitch. With 20,000 runners this is a mess, and the City runs the marathon, so they probably dont have much staff around to help deal with this. After the marathon is where we really had fun. The 5 of us met up, and moving slowly (a good hour or two after I finished), we were at the Philly Museum of Art, AKA, Rocky's steps. After 26.2 miles, we ran those steps! It was fun, it was also a beautiful day so we sat up there for a bit, took pictures and slowly made our way back to the hotel, only to quickly turn around and wait in a long line (30 mnute wait maybe?) for a Philly Cheesesteak. Mmmm good. That's the thing- the running is what has brought us together, allowed us to have the experiences in Philadelphia and whereever else with all of my other friends. It's not about time, it's about the experiences. Boston is so close, I'm sure I'll get it soon enough. I have been stressing out about time so much, as both Rachel A. and my Mom have said in their own ways- don't forget to have fun. So Charlotte: I have 3 weekends, all filled with travel- exhausting travel, and only 9.5 work days. This means I'll be busy and exhausted until then, so I don't plan on wearing a watch, and I don't plan on starting in any sub 4 hour groups. I just plan on enjoying it- run/walking it maybe even. I want the Glory*, but I don't want to sacrifice my Passion for it so I'll just take my time. *Boston Qualifier = Glory BTW these lyrics are from Eye of the Tiger...

I got to keep on Moving

I got to keep on Moving
Indianapolis Marathon
10/17/09State # 13
3hrs 47min 0 sec

This marathon was by far the hardest I’ve pushed it on a marathon, but it actually felt good for the most part. Why did I push it this hard? I still trained with the 9:30 pace group. This year we had a new name, the “Dirty Flirty Thirties” I think we had the most guys training this year than usual, and they wanted to be dirty and the girls needed something more feminine so they were flirty. Kathleen’s “Kick It” group this year grew and is now known as the kids that are “kicking it dirty style.” For those that don’t know what kicking it is: The last 1.5 miles of our long runs, they pick up the pace. Because I’m the pace leader, I have to stick at the constant 9:30 pace, and I never get to partake in the kicks. On the week days, I mixed slower runs for when I was tired with some tempos, ‘hills’ and the like, but didn’t focus on any of that in a nature like I was going to run 8:30s in a marathon. My dear friend “Ultra Jen” has been blowing me away this year with her running skills. She broke an 8 or 6 yr or some long time record at a 100 mile ultra marathon on a track. She just kept running in circles and in 19 hours and 21 minutes she finished. Now if you do the math, that’s four sub 5hour marathons put together. THEN she went out to St. George Utah- her state #24 (my lucky number, which I think it might be a universal lucky number) and PRed by 30 minutes, qualifying for Boston. I am so happy for her on all of this! And while she might not brag about it, I will brag for her.In the meantime, Rachel A. got me a HUGE map to mark my completed states on. I was staring at it one day thinking what Marathons/Ultras Jen and I could do together when I thought, maybe I just need to qualify for Boston and we could experience that together. So, I took her “balls out” approach with me to Indiana.State # 13, should this be an unlucky state? The drive was unlucky but I guess it could have been worse. As we were driving out, heading southbound on I-65, we saw a car heading northbound getting into the median. All I thought was, are they making an illegal U-turn and they think because they are so big they can tough the median? I started to slow down because it made me nervous. The next thing I know, I realize the driver didn’t have control of the car, it hit the center of the median, which had a bunch of rocks, and it crashed into the rocks, which then flew up and I was now dodging rocks. There was only one other big truck in the near area going southbound and luckily no cars crashed. Maria said the car at fault went air born at one point. I was more worried about what was in front of me to see that. We pulled over to check the damage. I got hit by 2 rocks, one is just cosmetic damage. The other rock went under the car, and managed to puncture a hole in the windshield wiper fluid tank which I saw leak out of my car (and some cosmetic damage to the front of the car). As we waited to fill out the police report, I guess I left my lights on and flashers. It was probably an hour in sitting there. The police officer said he’d help get us back on the expressway safely, I get back in the car, and the car won’t start. Battery dead. So I get back out and go to the police officer and told him my battery is dead. We check under the hood to make sure it’s not due to the accident, which it looked fine. So he makes his way around in the grass and gets the police car stuck in some mud. I can’t help but to just stare and LAUGH which when he got unstuck I was hysterically laughing and apologized, but he got it; what else do you do in a situation like this? Maria and I thought we were going to have to push him out, but, he made it and plugged into my car and we got it started on the first turn of the key (though you better believe I closed my eyes wondering if I was going to blow up and open my eyes next in heaven…yes a bit dramatic).So, we were back on the road. We kept on moving. We got to the expo, which was about 1/26.2th the size of the Chicago Marathon expo. We were in and out within 30 minutes. Time to find dinner. Rachel A. was nice enough to give us a list of good Italian places in Indianapolis, but as it was now 7:30pm instead of 5:30pm and I just didn’t want to drive much, we just found the nearest Italian restaurant on my gps. We walk in, and it’s this old man running the whole show himself; from taking our order to firing up the stoves in the kitchen. I made up a story that his restaurant used to be a thriving (it was totally authentic, he had Italian maps all around and books in Italian on the counter), but then maybe his wife got ill or passed away and now as he runs it on his own, it lost it’s reputation and people don’t want to wait to get food as long as we did so it’s now dying. His heat was even broken and he had a little heater sitting out by the tables. It was kind of sad but we felt the need to help this man make some money. It took him too long to get the bill for us so we estimated from the prices on the menu, and gave him a generous tip, the smile on his face when we gave him the money and said we didn’t need change, well that was priceless. (There were about a total of 3 other families there in the time we were there).Backing up a minute, I’m forgetting part of the story. Maria, when she runs a marathon, she is usually eating tons all day. But on this trip, as we were stuck in traffic in Chicago, she started to get car sick. She feared getting physically sick in the car, so she didn’t eat or drink anything on the ride, thinking 3 hours was okay- but it was more like 6 hours with traffic and the accident. So now we have me, who is shaken from my car being damaged and women issues with massive cramps, and Maria who is hungry dehydrated and has a minor hamstring injury.Back on track, we wake up, and get ready for our marathon. Luckily, Maria and I both like a good hour before leaving for the race to wake up and do our rituals. For me it’s always ‘warming the core’ with some sit ups and well…just wake up. For Maria, it’s making sure she gets her cup of coffee and food in her.There was traffic getting to parking, but we managed to time it perfectly, park, walk to the start area, use the port-a-potties check our gear and in within 10 minutes, the race starts. As we walked in the starting line, I saw the sign for 4 hours and was walking back to it, and Maria stopped me and said, “aren’t you going for under 4? Stay here. “ So, Maria (speedy) and I started together, though within 5 steps she was off and running faster. I wanted to make sure I didn’t start too fast, as the weather was same as Chicago a week earlier- in the lower 30s and cold wind so my legs were a little cold and I figured my muscles were too. About a half mile into the run, I made a friend: Ben from Grand Rapids Michigan. Ben and I became fast friends and without him, I don’t know how well I would have done. We traded marathon stories, training methods (he talked here more than me, because I really don’t have much rhyme and reason), talked about our significant others, what we do for a living, I shared Ultra Jen’s stories, and told him how I came with Maria and she’s modest but always seems to place in a race. We talked about my accident on the way, and well, for the first 12 miles, we cruised at an 8:15 average with barely any notice of the distance. Then we hit a hill. It was the 3rd massive hill (but there were many rolling and graduals throughout). It took a lot out of me, for an 8:15 pace and we said goodbye, but I kept him in eye shot until about mile 15 where I caught up to him again but the chatting was cut down drastically and we were just running next to one another.Backing up, I put music on at mile 12 and as I crossed the half marathon checkpoint, my time was 1 hour and 48 minutes. With this time, if you calculate what I need for Boston, I only had 4 minutes to slow down in the second half. And how perfect, Justin Timberlake and Madonna’s 4 minutes song started playing on my ipod. I thought about using that as my race title, but the good ‘ole song of “Aint no one gonna break my stride aint nobody gonna hold me down, oh no I got to keep on moving” seemed to win out.4 minutes, all that I could think was Boston, Boston, Boston, Boston. A 1:47 was a PR for my half marathons (I’ve only officially run 2 so my marathon half times count as well). I could taste Boston, but I knew if I didn’t get it I still had to be happy for my time. Ben and I still ran near each other until about mile 20 but we were no longer talking. The course would go from road to bike path, and the path parts with the falling leaves was real beautiful, my favorite parts. Those were the parts I’d get little bursts of energy. Around mile 17 I saw Maria, as she was on the way back (about mile 19) heading to the finish. I know I was slowing down, I was having 8:40 miles which was still fine to qualify for Boston, if I could keep that up and maybe have at least one more 8:30 mile in me. But I just didn’t know how my body would react with the wall. There was a checkpoint at mile 19, where I had crossed it in 2 hours and 38 minutes, which meant I just had to pull an 8:45ish the rest of the way to qualify for Boston. That next mile was an 8:40. Then came the leg cramps. They were the kind that you think, maybe you should stretch them out and if you stepped wrong you probably would have BIG issues. So I figured, I just needed to keep moving, in a running manner, and take it easy to work the cramps out. At the same time, Ben stopped and started walking, and that’s the last I saw of Ben. With 4 miles left, I was obsessing over my time, I was running 9:45s now, and Boston was lost in sight. So, I put my watch on a different mode so I couldn’t see my time or splits. I tuned into my music and just kept on moving. Of course with one mile left, we had to go up our 4th and final larger hill. I don’t know if walking would have been faster, but I refused to do that. I just kept moving. The last .2 miles, I think took me 3 minutes, but I didn’t care. I crossed the finish in 3 hours and 47 minutes. I broke 4 hours by 13 minutes, state #13, and I PRed by 17 minutes. I didn’t get Boston, but how could I not be happy about that time. Boston is within reach now. And my watch read 26.55 miles…so technically, if the course was overshot (and I have heard complaints about it being longer), then I only have 3 more minutes to cut out before Boston. I still could get there with Jen (and Valerie).After I finished, Maria and I met up. She didn’t say anything about how she did, she was just excited for me. Then I notice, she is holding a Plaque. I said “Maria what’s that?” and she said “oh yeah I placed 3rd for women in the race.” WHAT!? Modest Maria was letting me go on about my finish and here herself, is my superstar! She also PRed, with a hamstring injury, at 3 hours and 12 minutes and took 3rd in the Women’s Division. Maria told me I should check out my statistics, it was a smaller race so she thought I might have placed well. These race results aren’t the cool kind that give you all the statistics, so I don’t know where I finished overall with the females, but I finished 10th for my age division and 224 out of 1005 runners overall.I kept moving, and as Ultra Jen told me to do (after the car accident) “Go kick 13s ass up and down that crap town” …I did just that.

Making Great sTRIdes

Making great sTRIdes

Chicago Tri 2009

Time: 3:01:11

Swim (0.9 miles): 34:25

T1: 5:34

Bike (24.9 miles): 1:25:49

T2: 2:59

Run (6.2miles): 52:22

I’m starting to learn I have an obsession with my times. I’m thinking as I work my way to an Ironman this will change, but I just love looking at the statistics. My avg mph on the bike was 17.7mph, the average pace on the run was 8:26/mile, however my watch said 8:21, and I want those 5 faster seconds per mile. When I started the run, I didn’t have a goal set, but as my story below unfolds as being wonderful, I started wanting under 3 hours, and when I started my run, by looking at the time, I thought I had a chance, and with 2 miles left, I thought I had to run slower than a 10minute/mile to not get under 3hours so I thought I was good to go. I finished thinking I finished at 2:57, only to look up my time and learn I finished 3:01. Now why in the world would I be upset about that time? It blows my original expectations, but the final expectations were different and I can think of a handful of things I could have done to give back 1 minute and 11 seconds.While I am going to try not to dwell on the list, of course, just a little, I will. Top three ‘time back‘ opportunities:1) The Swim: bumping into people and having to float to go at their pace, or go my pace then wait for them to get ahead a little bit.2) Transition 2: Really? Did I really have to take off wearing my helmet? Maybe 30seconds-1minute could have been gained if I didn’t do that and have to turn around and run back to my bike to put that back.3) The run: If I would have been clear on my exact time, I could have picked it up on those last 3 miles - I had the energy.So with that, I will next say, my math error was because I kept thinking I started at 9:40am, that’s what I saw when I looked at the sheet, but I must have moved my finger down to wave 52, because wave 51 (my wave) started at 9:36. There it is, with all the hype getting in the water, I didn’t pay attention to my actual start time.Now with a half page of my write up being my complaining about time and getting it out of my system, I do have to say, I had so much fun, and the conditions, by the time I started, were great. I wouldn’t trade my experience for different conditions and the 3 things above giving me time back. In worse conditions, I might just have gone well over 3hrs 1 minute.So now lets back up some, I am still real bad at getting out on my bike. I only got two 25 mile rides in, a 50 mile leisure ride and then a few 20s. It’s difficult getting out around here; I don’t like how crowded the path gets and don’t really have the time to make a full day out of a ride (eventually for the iron man I will, but for these distances, I don’t see making it work). On Friday, Maria taught me how to change my tire, though I didn’t actually do it, so I need to work on my bike repair expertise. Thank God I didn’t get a flat, otherwise I might have been out.The swim is the part I fear most. I don’t know why, I think because 2 of the 3 sprints, I always thought during the swim “why am I doing this?” Because of this fear, I have been pretty consistent all since Rachel J. and Alexis got in the pool with me in February, to swim 2 times a week. I’ve picked up my distances so since Waukeegan, I have been swimming .75 miles in the pool, and 1 mile in Lake Michigan. I had a real bad swim after a crazy week of travel for work and just before I was leaving for Eric and Lisa’s wedding. I was out at the half mile turn around in the lake when I had water in my goggles. I wanted to get the water out, so I tried to tread legs only, and use both hands to get the water out and unfog the goggles. With playing catch up of 5 workouts within 2 days, my legs were tired and cramped. At that point, I was swimming then with only my arms and trying to get to a point where I could touch bottom. The waves were a little choppy, and more boats than usual were in the area, so when I usually could touch with my head above water, I couldn’t. I think a lifeguard was keeping an eye on me which then really gets me worked up, I’m not an idiot out in the water (usually), I don’t need to be watched. The half mile back to shore was long, but I made it through. I guess I should have known if I could fight off those cramps, that’s probably as bad as it will get (unless waves are winter waves*).The weekend of the race, Laura Bice, Maria and Myself had a wonderful Pasta Dinner at Rose Angelis after the expo on Friday. We were hoping for it to start and end earlier than it did and I might have been yawning already at 10pm, but that’s because I wasn’t giving up my Saturday morning run. Why, you ask? Well, 1) Our group is real fun and it was a cutback week so I figured what’s 13 miles. 2) Pace leaders unofficially only get 4 misses in the 18 week program, I take that kind of seriously and I have 3 planned misses, so I like to have that extra 4th as a spare. I do have to say, that 13 mile run was probably one of our funnest runs, I was laughing so hard my legs were getting weak from all the laughter. If you were there, you know what I’m talking about (Joe…you missed it and you will never get it back, you will always be an outsider to our Dirty Flirty 30 product line, you just wait until our next ‘Can I get a whoo whoo‘).Saturday, after the 13 mile run, I took it easy. It was cold anyway so it was easy to not overdo it, and was asleep by 8pm(thanks to Greg, worlds best boyfriend, and Tylenol PM). My alarm went off at 4am, I finished up packing up my gear, and was downstairs waiting for Laura Bice by 4:40. Then there was the ride to the start. This is when I seriously started to get REAL nervous. Riding to the start, the path was being hit by winter waves. It’s August people! They came up and hit us, my socks were soaked. At this time with a 9:40am start…or actually 9:36...I was hoping 4 hours would allow it all to calm over. When we got to transition, I set up my bike, got my number written on me and met up with Veronica. (Where the swim was didn’t look so bad- no winter waves) Veronica and I decided, with over 3 hours before we started, we’d go home for a bit and try to sleep. So, we ended up back at my place and laid down for about an hour. I didn’t ever fall asleep but at least I was warm in my bed. I turned on the TV before we left to go back at 7:45am- and it was 55 degrees outside, and from my place, I could see the winter waves still crashing. Off we went. We stopped by the ACS tent, and as we walked there, we already saw people who were finished. Are you serious? Not Fair! We hung with the Emilys for awhile, and then we were on our way to the start. Veronica started 2 waves before me. She actually was great to be with because though this was also her first Olympic distance and she had her own fears, she was well contained and made my fears feel normal and alright. Veronica also had the determination I feared I lacked, to finish no matter what. Say: Tire pops, she said she’d run it home if she had to. I think if I couldn’t change my tire, I would have called it a day. Luckily, no tires popped for either of us.As I finally made it to the start of the swim, we jumped in the water and I got myself to the far left as I was told was a good area. A minute later the gun went off and we started. I made my way on the first quarter of amile, no problem. I didn’t have many feet in my face, it was great. Then we made the turn, and I couldn’t get out to the far right as suggested, and I thought, oh it hasn’t been bad at all so it should be fine. That’s when I started swimming, then waiting for people in front of me to move forward then swim to them again and wait. I tried my way around but that wasn’t working either. Then it opened with the last half mile to go. As I was going, I thought I heard someone calling my name. I thought, could that be Andrea? But I wasn’t sure and I just wanted to keep swimming because it felt good. If I had to get on my back then I’d look and see if it was her, otherwise I’d just pretend it was. I then started getting hit by the Green Cap guys- and they were upsetting me so I stopped for a minute and looked up, and there she was! We said hello and I went on my way. Overall, I never felt tired or thought “why am I doing this” on the swim.The time for the swim end was actually .9miles swim and then a quarter mile run to the transition area. I ran strong and saw Jen and Steve. In the transition area, I took my time getting my wet suit off, I was a little tired and wasn’t getting it off in a graceful manner. Also, putting on my dry clothes on my wet body was also a bit of a challenge, but soon enough I was off on the bike. As I went north on LSD, the wind felt harsh. But I felt good so I just pushed through it and was looking forward to the turn. Once we turned and headed south, I got my bike up to 26mph and my average south was probably about 21mph, and it felt good. One thing different from the bike path and LSD is there are many mini hills over the off ramps/roads. Going back north again, I slowed my pace. Some hills came at 11mph and I was just taking my time. I laughed with some people about the wind and the hills. We all were excited for the 2nd turn around. As I neared the finish, a girl caught up to me and said she was using me as her pacer and complimented my pace. That’s always nice! As I dismounted my bike, to older biker-men actually crashed. Hmmm… So the next transition, I left my helmet on as mentioned earlier. Before I left my bike area I thought “what am I missing?” It wasn’t until running I realized it wasn’t something I was missing but something I didn’t need to be wearing. But I wasn’t far from my bike so I went back and took it off. At the Transition area, Kathleen, Connie and Rachel (and Clarissa and anyone else?) were cheering me on. Just as I started to run, I saw Steve, Jen and Andrea. Then I saw Greg, and then I saw JP who ran with me for a minute. My first mile was under 8 minutes. I didn’t feel as if it were that fast it just felt natural, and I let the rest of the miles all feel natural. Laura was nearing her last .2 miles as I saw her and we said hello. I just kept my legs moving and had moments of feeling tired, but not too bad. As I hit mile 4 and turned around, I saw Amanda running. I didn’t think I’d see her, but we said hello and I continued. With 2 miles to go, there was a that I noticed we were keeping together so I figured I’d make sure I just kept with her and I did. However, I did want to stop as my shoelace was extremely lose and I was waiting for it to come completely undone. But, I just tried to ignore it The last .2 miles is a slight up hill to the finish. Of course that’s the time you just can’t stop. I saw Rachel A. and Clarissa first, then Kathleen and Connie, and then Steve, Jen and Andrea and then Greg (I think that’s all I saw if I missed you please let me know, it all happens so fast I don’t mean to leave you out!) . As I said, when I crossed the finish, I thought I had finished in under 3 hours, and I was ecstatic. I’ll learn to live with that 1minute and 11 seconds. I did feel like I could keep going, and am 100% ready for the half-iron man. Now you ask about the iron man timeline, here is what I’ve decided. Since I’m still so scared ish-less about these things (compared to running), I will take it by chance. Nov 1st is the Ironman Florida date. I’m going to try to get in without making an appearance down in Florida that weekend because it’s really only one of 3 that I have nothing going on in 3 months. If I can get in from an online entry, then I’ll be doing Ironman 2010, if not, I will rethink Madison for 2011.And what’s with the title? I feel like this spring/summer I’ve accomplished a lot with my triathlons. Though only a fraction of the iron man distance, I was not a biker or swimmer before this year. My sprints have improved and really, if you take half the time of my Olympic time, it’s 1hr 30min and some odd seconds, which is better than any of my other 3 sprint times, so I’ve come a long way, making great sTRIdes.*Winter Waves: All unconditional Chicago Runners know what I’m talking about. You know in the winter when you go for a run, and the lake is frigid and wild and the waves crash into the shore and splash up on the running path? You run faster or slower in hopes not to get hit, usually just happens around Oak Street and Fullerton, but this past winter they were so bad they happened just south of North Ave and then froze over and the path was 100% closed: As in blocked off and guarded by a person who stopped anyone who tried to pass the blockades.

Tri Times

Tri Times

Time: 1:36:06
Swim (½ mile): 11:31
T1: 4:51
Bike (13.2 miles): 44:05
T2: 1:54
Run (4 miles): 33:47

I’m hoping practice makes perfect or at least improvement because I added in a 3rd Sprint Triathlon last minute to give myself a little more experience before the Accenture Triathlon* where I am doing the international/Olympic distance which is about twice the distance of the sprint triathlons.

When I run Marathons, there are times a course might be more difficult than another because of hills or the terrain or the weather might affect your energy levels. All this affects your time. What I’m learning with triathlons is there are many more variables that can affect the race. Also, it’s difficult to compare one from another because sprints vary in distances. This race had multiple variables, and the distances were a mile less on the bike than the last, and a mile more on the run. But, because I was actually happy with my time, I’m not too upset about the obstacles, instead I feel more confident that I am improving.

When reading the Harbor Lights triathlon description online, I thought the only obstacle would be that it’s in lake Michigan which when ranking between Newport Beach and Naperville, I quickly learned I am much better when I am in a smaller body of water, say more pool like, and have the freedom of movement without a wetsuit.

As I was getting nervous and still waking up at 4:45am on Saturday to run, I didn’t pack my stuff Saturday night, instead as I got tired I went right to bed (9pm). My alarm went off at 3:45am to pack, and by 4:45am I met Laura and Orren. Off we went .5am down Belmont is pretty interesting when you are sober and driving. People really don’t care about cars on the street, they just like to walk in front of them and not even look at the car, and there was one bar that was pretty active, with a line (so who can help me with the name of the bar, on Belmont and still open at 5am).

We got to the race, and road our bikes to the transition area. For as nervous I was, it was pretty fun with a sunrise, hanging out with two real fun people (that would be you Laura and Orren). When we got to the transition area I saw Anne, her husband was doing the race so she was a spectator. I set up my transition spot then met Laura and Maria for the porta potties. And surprise! JP was there! That’s right he’s a trainer for Triathlons! So there were 4 of my Madison to Chicago Relay friends there.

When we got out by the water, it was cold; 56 degrees in the water (Thanks again Alexis!). Laura didn’t have a wetsuit and got nervous she might cramp, I told her that’s one thing I learned in yoga- that when you get a cramp just to breath and relax and you can overcome it. As we were waiting to start, I looked over, and I saw Lindsey, only Chicago’s greatest Yoga instructor (I only say that Laura because I haven’t been to you and you go to her- so she must be great right?). Apparently it was her first tri, with no Training, she just decided this would be a good practice for the Accenture Triathlon as she signed up for that one too. She was joking, that she doesn’t have a good bike, that she actually had a baby seat on it, but she took it off for the race. I think Lindsey is great, she can tell us to go in a difficult position but talk our way to breathing through it and it somehow be calming. So to have her here, it was my constant reminder to stay calmed.

Just as my wave (which was the last) started, my dad made it! So I said Hi, and he was able to watch the whole thing from getting into the water, out, bike, run and finish! My wave started at 7:36am. This time, because I was sick of having to weave my way around people, I was up more to the front of my wave. As we got into the water, I started to realize I was having a hard time breathing. I couldn’t put my head in the water at all for a bit because I couldn’t get the breathing right. I started to blame the wetsuit, like it was cutting off my circulation or something. So I got on my back, and unzipped it some, then I turned back over and continued moving, after awhile I realized I was breathing to the point I could put my head in the water. As I was going, I also noticed a lot of people were hanging onto the buoys and lifeguards, stopping early on. I told myself, it’s okay to be going slow, as long as I finish. I kept pushing through and finally made it to the end, and waved to my Dad and slowly continued on the transition. I was a bit shocked to learn my ½ mile swim was a little over 11 minutes.

Transition was slow, I just kind of needed to breath. I don’t think I focused on drying, just really taking a moment to myself. Then I was off to the bike. As we were waiting for the swim the MC continued to tell us to be careful on the Bike as the course was a bit dangerous. He said if it weren’t a challenge, then it wouldn’t be a good race (challenging and outright dangerous are two different things buddy). We got on the path, and the first 1 ½ miles, which was also the last 1 ½ miles, was single file, no real passing, and the road was completely ripped up and bumpy, pothole city. Great- I still have to learn how to fix a flat, if you are going to get a flat, this would be the course. So at first it was slow and steady. Then, we finally got to the ’on ramp’ to the real race. I was able to keep an average pace at 18 to 20 miles per hour on the course, which included ups and downs for 10 miles. I passed Lindsey on the first lap and exchanged words. When waiting for the start, she commented on the physics of what makes a road bike better, and with the wind, she was trying to make her body position on her bike more aerodynamic. I do have to say, she was the fastest cross bike I saw!

As I came in, I first saw JP, then saw my Dad, and quickly transitioned to the run. Now time to soar, the run is my baby! I waved again to my dad, then JP, then went on my way. I saw Orren on the course first, as he was about a half mile to the finish. Then I saw Maria. And my legs were feeling great and my breathing was too, though, I got spooked as my vision started to blur. My first Half Marathon mishap was all I could think of, so I just kept listening to my body and told myself as long as it was just my vision and all else was okay, then I’d be fine. I made sure I continued to take the waters at the water stops and though I felt like I could push it faster in my breathing and legs, I just kept it comfortable. I spotted Laura in her Pink wear. Even with my sight getting weird, her Pink stuck out. I lost most peripheral vision and then looking at signs was getting difficult. With a half mile left, I started getting small flashes of light too but I said, F it I’ll find my friends as soon as I finish and hang onto them- so if I fall, they’ll catch me. So I finished strong, and right away Maria and Laura were waiting for me. I told them about the vision thing, and Maria’s friend told me I’ll be okay if I feel okay, just drink some electrolytes.

It took about 30 minutes to get my sight back to normal, but that’s when the rest set in, wonderful Migraine! So, usually if I have a migraine, light working out will help get the blood flowing and it goes away, but those were my 2005 migraines, 2009, these are different. Sure, you can affect my ability to go to work, I get enough sick days to manage a few migraines, but mess with my Triathlons/Marathons, I will bring you down migraines!

Despite the obstacles and the lazy rest of a Sunday I have had, I’m real happy my Tri time improved.






***I’m a part of 2009 Team DetermiNation - American Cancer Society’s Charity Athlete Fundraising Program. To learn more about my involvement and to donate, go to http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=212664105243&h=4dryC&u=N9VS0&ref=mf