Cool Picture

Thanks to my swim buddy, Dealio, for this great shot of IronGreg coming in to T2 at IMUSA

Ironman USA

What a weekend! Everyone did so well. I am in awe and inspired (and a little scared).

The morning started out nice.

Everyone was ready for the day to begin.

BAM!

And they're off.

And the rain begins.

We were broken up into 3 groups of sherpas. Although some of us missed some poeple, we saw others and together we were able to see everyone get out of the water.

Everyone except Tyler.

After a phone call to Richmond to check the website, he had a split so we knew he ws safe and on his way to the bike.

by now the rain has let up, but the sun has not come out fully...yet.

As sherpas we thought the weather seemed pretty good for a bike ride. Me, Emmie, and Jenn staked out our cheering location at the beginning of the 2nd loop as they climbed a hill - this way they had to slow down and we could take pictures! although we saw pretty much everyone, not everyoen realized it was us cheering them on - too funny. they are too fast =)

As it was time to run, the sun decided to come on and shine hard. It was a hot marathon. And afer the rain just sticky. Not ideal conditions, but everyone made it look so easy. How did they do that?!

IronGreg had an amazing race finishing in 10:23:31

101st overall and 21st in his AG.

I'm so proud of him. He has worked so hard and it showed.

We stayed the entire race and I msut say the last hour was my favorite (next to watching my friends finish). the crowd was amazing. Watching the Ford Everyday Hero who had completed the course a few years ago in 11 hours who was then hit by a bus as a NYC fireman came across the line with about 50 spectators running him in at 16:57. Followed by another finisher finishing in 16:59:59. The support and cheering cannot be put into words. And that is why I love this sport.

Some moments to highlight:

- the male winner had the lea by 30 minutes at the beginning of the run, and still finsihed with 20 minutes ahead of #2. hello speedy.

- the female 2nd place winner started the run in 4th. she looked liek she was running a 5k or out for a daily jog. she had the biggest smile on her face and was flying having so much fun. i'll have what she's having!

- TG40 finsihed her 2nd Ironman. After someone hitting her 100 meters into the swim and breaking her toe.

- TG Lynnie finished her 3rd Ironman. After getting her goggles broken half way into the first loop and then having a crash on the bike (not her fault either!). She rode the 2nd loop of 56 miles with only 1 aerobar.

- TG KB finished her 500th Ironman (4th in 2 years) - after breaking a spoke on the bike. she was able to sister it to another spoke and continue forward.

- TG Cyndi and TG Shelley get the award for an Ironman hero. There was aguy in front of themon the bike that fell so hard his helmet shattered. They both stopped and waited 20 mintues until the EMS showed up - hope he doing alright, he wasn't doing so hot.

- Bethany, Bart, and Ed - you are Ironmen!

- Shout out to all my other friends who succeeded the Ironman - Tyler, Cook, Adam, Amy, Shawn, Kate, Coach Blakey Blake, Coach "Maro Diablo", Amy, Michael, Rick, and Rick. High Five to all of you.

IMUSA

Tomorrow I am heading out to cheer on IronGreg and lots of my friends who are all participating in Ironman USA in Lake Placid, NY.

This weekend will make so many memories and I look forward to sharing them with everyone.

I have my handy-dandy (and maybe a bit OCD) excel charts showing everyone's *estimated* split times in one and another one with the times I will be standing at specific posts and who I am looking out for.

I have my sister's nice camera (thank you sister) so I can be sure to capture those action shots!

I have packed half my wardrobe and then some, so hopefully I will be prepared for the freakish weather of Lake Placid. And I can fend off any alligators, too.

And yes, the wetsuit is already in Lake Placid with IronGreg so I can take a few dips around the course and follow the cable like one of the pros. Too bad the bike isn't coming. Darn. (Sarcasm? From me?)

I will have my phone on me, so I will try to touch base with some of you throughout the day. And if you are away from the computer and need some IM updates, feel free to give me a call. (if you don't have my number I guess you are SOL huh).
Remember to go to www.ironman.com to track our FAVulous athletes.

Kick butt, my friends.

The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. ~Author Unknown

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~Newt Gingrich

The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running. ~Author unknown, in reference to Ecclesiastes 9:11

One may go a long way after one is tired. ~French Proverb

I get my Kicks...from Asics

Last night was my first run in my new shoes.

And I totally love them.

Viognier and Peaches

Friday:
all I can say is...Chik-Fil-A Appreciation Month.
I give my deepest symathies to all those who live without the goodness of "the chik." I may not eat fast food often, and I also am actually nto a fan of chicken.
But the something about the mouth watering goodness when you take a bit of the orginal (or grilled) sandwich and the buttery bun with pickles and it all jsut melts in your mouth.
(great - I just made myself hungry!)
PK, Lynnie, and I had a wonderful date with with chicken sanwiches, waffle fries, diet lemonades, and milkshakes.
Immediately followed by food coma.

Saturday:
TG40 is fast. and don't let her tell you otherwise.
TG40, ESJ, and I headed out for a 3 hour tour (a 3 hour tour).
we made it back to home base in 2.5 hours, 45 miles later. And well, I had a massage appt, so we called it a day. Well ESJ went back out to finish what we started.
Headed out for a nice 10 minute run/walk with TG40.
I really need new sneakers.
So then I got my massage. The first really bad massage. I had a feelign when she introduced herself with a limp noodle handshake. Immediately I thought to myself "these hands are supposed to give me a deep tissure massage?"
I walked out of there with kots still up in my back.
So I visited Tom over at 3sports running. he's pretty much awesome. hooked me up with new kicks. similar to what I have, since I have noproblems with them, but much lighter weight. try them out tomorrow!
then i got a mani/pedi.
sigh - what a day. massage. shoe shopping. mani/pedi.
all that's left to do it nap.
and follow that up with an ironman party. high five!

Sunday:
damn 4am comes early. why did I sign up to volunteer the early shift? oh right - good race karma. it was 50 degrees outside. in july! greg and I shivered as we pointed people where to park.
private barrel tasting and polo match at King Family Vineyard? Oh alright if I must.
Detour by the peach orchard afterwards for peach milkshakes. mmm tasty.
Followed by dinner with my "other mom", Mother Rucker? well if you insist.

monday:
for serious? it's 5am already?
I sit on the side of the pool - not even putting my feet int he cold water.
Staring blankly into the water.
Thank you IMUSA people for this wonderful taper day.
After some good drills, and timed sprints - but only one 50 this week!
what's up next? RELAYS
guess who's lane won all the relays? that's right - mine. why? b/c we are pretty much awesome. High Five to BL and Blakey Blake, my FAVulous relay members. (we had AS for one of the relays). I ended up swimming the anchor leg every time. Talk about pressure! And these required flip turning at the shallow end! and then for the raly finale...I was the chosen membe to do the 50 fly leg. i wasn't sure if my right arm was even making it out of the water by the end.
but we won, so who cares! haha.

all in a weekend's work.

Good Luck to my IronGreg and all my friends taking on IMUSA this weekend. I CANnOt wait to watch you all succeed. HIGH FIVE!

Catching Up.

I have had many intentions of blogging over the past week or so, but time just hasn't been on my side. well in the blogging sense at least.

1. Yellow Jersey Metric+

I rode the Yellow Jersey Metric+ on July 5th for the Livestrong Foundation. hmm I don't have a yellow jersey - well I do now. I got a fabulous one from http://www.teamestrogen.com/ and I love it. It's now my #1 weekend long ride jersey. Not only it is bright yellow - visible to drivers, but it also has cute little bike cogs all over it.

The ride was...well it was wet! As soon as we pull out of the parking lot, it started sprinkling. thenit start flat out raining! Me, KO, and B-Hott hooked up with a group of riders and we took turns drafting and pulling and jsut got to know more great people!

George. George saw I was on a TT bike so he started inquiring about my race season. I of course returned the line of questioning. And well, George is now my hero. George is a cancer survivor. He ha survived some major cancer which he lsot some organs - that's right - ORGANS. (I was like man my surgery is awful wimpy compared to that!). and he's out here. riding the longest distance in a few years. He still has to go to the cancer hospital every months for some testing - the same cancer hospital my dad was in at one point during his illness. He is my inspritation for my IMAZ training. Every time I don't know how I can go forward, I am going to think of George. George - it was FAVulous meeting you.

So there we were riding along and somehow our great little group got split up right at the end. So the girls and one guy rode it on in. We hit a few red lights, which allowed me to squeeze the 5lbs of water out of the chamois - talk abotu a diaper! I figured I had no excuse for not running afterwards - I was clearly already wet. then the last 3 miles were brutal. It ended up being just me a B-Hott and we were shiiiivvvveeeerrrrrring. It was plain miserable. I hopped in my car turned the heat on high, the seat warmers and the steering wheel warmers on high. Then took about a 30 minute shower and drank hot chocolate. ahh. thawed out.

2. Addiction

I have 2 new addictions: Bakery on Main Extreme Fruit and Nut Granola and Real Simple Magazine.

I have read the magazine before, but until the last ssue I have decided it's plain crack. Such good crack that I helped the recession out by getting a subscription. I think I might get the shakes waiting for my first issue to show up in the mail! Good thing their website has just as good crack on it!

3. Sunflowers

This weekend I rode with a couple girls. A nice casual social ride. I took "Lynn with an E" for her first 35 mile ride a few months back, so I was happy to take her on her first 50 mile ride. As we toodled down the country roades, kicking it up at times, and stayign together in traffic at others. One thing we noticed are the sunflower fields. We passed a handful of them and they jsut make you smile. We are so furtunate to have such great roads for riding so close to home. (although I could do with out the one farm who's cows clearly ate some bad mexican the night before)

Oh - and I saw George and my new bike buds out in the country riding along.

and that's brings us back to today. as I eat my stonyfield farm organic french vanilla yogurt with bakery on main extreme fuit and nut granola. yummy in my tummy.

Hoo-yah

I know - you can imagine me saying that sounding oh-so-marine-like!
This morning I went to "Bring a Friend Day" with my friend's fiancee to Seal Team Physical Training. She has been doing it for about 2 months now and is looking totally fit.

I get there and we start with a warm-up run. Hmm I can't run quite yet, oh well.

Push-ups. Push-ups. did I mention we did some push-ups.

Okay the instructor wants to talk now. We'll jog in place with our arms up.

Bear Crawl.

Crab Walk.

Push-ups.

Sit-ups.

Let's go for another run.
I try to mention that I am not supposed to be running this much, but I'm not going to hang behind.

Time for 2:00 of sit-ups. Oh - I don't mind sit-ups. First my "buddy" (an instructor I am paired with) goes. Good gracious she did 112. And it wasn't even the most she's ever done. I get in a whopping 52. then they ask those with PR's to stand up and Tyler stood up - she got in her first 100 - you go on with your bad self.

Okay let's go run some more. Ohand this time we can carry people twice our size.

and somehow...it was fun?
Unfortunately, I can't do this AND train for IMAZ, so hoepfully in the wainter when it's nice and cold and dark outside in the mornings, I will be able to join. But I think I will be taking December OFF. that's right. I am goign to spend the month of December being FAT and LAZY. It's going to be nice.

So I did my first STPT and so far so good. Only pains are the palms of my hands. They were rubbed completely raw. Owie.