Topeka Tinman

With my first Half Ironman just 4 short weeks away, I had decided it would be a good idea to work in a practice triathlon about a month out.  The Topeka Tinman had perfect timing.  I had done the sprint tri last year and really enjoyed it, but decided the “long” course tri would be a more challenging option and was closer to the kind of distances I need to be getting in during training right now.

The Topeka Tinman long course tri is an odd distance.  It is supposed to be a 1000 meter swim, a 19 mile bike, and a 7 mile run.  So it’s a shorter swim and bike than an Olympic distance race, but a longer run.  I wished the bike and swim were a little longer, but It still seemed like it would be a really good “brick” workout.

 Several of us “Team Racine” racers decided to do it.  Topeka is about an hour and a half West of Kansas City.  When my friend Michelle and I did the race last year we left at 3:45 am to head to the race, which meant getting up at like 2:30 am or something crazy like that.  This year, since there were 4 of us girls doing the tri, we decided to book a room in Topeka so we didn’t have to get up quite as early – although I was still up at 4:30 am, but that’s just a normal day for me anyway.

I am a super light sleeper, so the hotel ended up being a bad idea – for me anyway.  People were crazy loud in the hallways til almost midnight.  Things finally settled down about then, but I was WIDE awake.  I think I finally feel asleep sometime after 1 am, and woke up before my alarm at 4am. I think I would have ended up getting more sleep if I had just stayed at home…oh well….everyone else seemed to sleep just fine.

We headed over to the race and arrived about 5:45am and parked and walked the approx half mile from the parking area to transition.  We got body marked and got our transitions areas all set up and then do all the normal pre-race stuff:  eat, go to the bathroom multiple times, check out the swim course and water temp, etc.  This is a pretty small race – only about 600 total for the short and long course tris, so the environment seems a bit more relaxed which is nice.

The girls pre-race.  Check out my Turtle Jersey!  The cutest thing ever right??  And it's matches my blog.

Before long it was almost time to start the race and the announcer begins letting us all know that there is impending bad weather heading our way.  The forecast for our race was questionable.  It was calling for 15 mph winds, temps in the low 90s with high humidity and 40% chance of scattered thunderstorms.  Apparently there were severe thunderstorms less than an hour away and the storm cell looked like it was heading right toward us.  They told us they would continue to watch the radar, but they may be forced to change the race distances for our safety.  A call would be made at the start of the race.  The weather didn’t really look that bad, but you could see some dark skies moving in and the winds were really beginning to pick up.

Finally about 5 minutes before the race they made the call.  If they kept the distances as scheduled, the storm would likely hit while the majority of racers were on the bike course which was too dangerous.  They would reduce the swim and bike portions of the race to the short course distance, but would keep the 7 mile run.  So, I was now going to be doing a 400 meter swim, a 13 mile bike, and a 7 mile run.  I’m not particularly good at any of the 3 sports in triathlon, but the run is definitely my worst.  This particular tri would be heavily weighted toward my weakest sport – so I was not exactly excited by this announcement. 

With my neck injury I had really only swam about 3 or 4 times during the last month, so I knew my swim wouldn’t be strong.  My goal was to get through the swim, try to “sprint” on the bike, and then keep my run under a 12 min per mile pace.  I knew I would struggle on the run if it was hot, but I wanted to feel “ok” on the run at least.

The  Swim (400 Meters) – 11:06

Our group finally starts (long course goes last in this race).  All women in the long course and relay teams are in the same start group.  So even though it’s a pretty small race there are about 50 people that start together and on only a 400 meter swim….well that means we are on top of each other the entire swim.  I got kicked at least 10 times, probably more.  It seemed like no matter how hard you tried you really couldn’t get out of the cluster of people.  Before my shoulder injury last fall, the swim was actually my strongest event, now it’s one of my weakest.  My swim time was not very good at all.  I think I was one of the bottom 10 overall for the swim, but when I got out of the swim I was happy that I still had some energy and was able to run up the hill into transition.  My T1 transition was 2:16, which wasn’t fast, but it wasn’t too bad either.

The Bike (13 miles) – 47:41 (16.4 mph)

The bike course is really not too bad.  It’s relatively flat with a few rolling hills.  You do have a pretty good slow incline for the first few miles and of course and these first few miles were directly into the wind.  The good thing was it was an out and back course, so that meant that you would have a gradual decline with a tail wind at the end of the bike!  I had already decided I needed to “sprint” the bike as much as possible due to the shortened course.  Once again I am not strong on any of the 3 sports, so sprinting is a relative term.  I will say I passed a lot of people!  At the KC Tri in May all I heard was on your left – today it was me saying that – don’t get me wrong plenty of people passed me, but I passed a lot too.  The roads are in pretty terrible condition and there were a few giant potholes to navigate, but it seemed like it wasn’t too long and I was off the bike.  I quickly transitioned (1:09) and I was happy with my fast transition from the bike to the run.

I ended up averaging 16.4 mph on the bike.  Last year, since I did the short course we did the same course and I averaged 15.1 mph so I was really happy with the improvement.

The Run (7.75 miles) – 1:28:10 (11:23 min pace)

 I happened to head out of transition at the exact same time as my friend Kristi.  So we started the run together.  I started WAY too fast.  By a quarter of a mile in I was huffing and puffing and my breathing was totally out of control.  I told her to go on so I could catch my breath. I knew if I didn’t get my breathing under control early, my entire run would be awful.  I still can’t seem to figure out this bike to run transition.  My legs are ready to move faster, but my lungs are not.  I try to “slow” down at the beginning, but I always end up too fast and having to walk in the 1^st mile.  It drives me crazy.  I walked for a few minutes until my breathing was under control and then I started running at a steady pace. 

It was starting to get really HOT out and the clouds had gone away.  There was no weather coming our way afterall.  I would have loved a little rain.  There was some shade as you ran along the lake, but there were some other spots with zero shade.  I felt pretty crappy the first couple of miles, but felt like I finally kind of got in a groove around mile 3.  Miles 3-5 kind of zoomed.  I finally reached mile 6 and was ready to kind of “sprint” to the finish, but as we’d been passing the mile markers my Garmin was farther and farther off.  I knew I was going to come in over 7 miles, but I still decided to push it that last mile (which pushing it at this point was an 11:14 min pace).  When my Garmin beeped mile 7, I couldn’t even see the finish line and I was still inside the park.  I knew I had at least a half mile to go.  How could the course be off this much.  By mile 7.5, I still couldn’t even see the finish line.  I was dying at this point.  I had sprinted and not left myself much at mile 7 and now I didn’t know where the heck the finish line was.   I finally see my friend Michelle and she was like the finish is just around the corner, not too far….well it still is pretty darn far. She yells “sprint to the finish” and I jus t shake my head and say “I can’t”.  I was dead….that extra mileage had done me in.  When I crossed the finish line I was at 7.75 – NOT 7 miles.  The run was almost 8 miles, not 7………not cool!!!  When you mentally prepare for 7, they can’t just throw 8 miles at you. 

Total Time:  2:30:20

Anyway, I finished and I was actually very happy with my bike and run pace in this race. My swim wasn’t great, but that’s ok.  I can’t say that it’s something I’ve worked on at all, so I shouldn’t expect much.

I met up with my friends after the race and everyone was feeling pretty good about how they did.  3 of us all finished within 5 minutes of each other, but my friend Michelle finished 30+ minutes faster than all of us, so we knew she had done really well.  She ended up placing first in her age group and 5^th woman overall!!  She is an amazing athlete!  We were all so proud of her.  So we stayed around for the awards ceremony to let Michelle get her medal.

Post race - Michelle with her AG bling!

I had a little rest and recovery on Saturday evening after the race, but come Sunday morning it was time to train again.  And train I did.  I met my friend Kristi and a couple of our other Racine friends who didn’t do the race for a 50 mile bike ride (well 47.5 technically…but close enough to 50).  It was another HOT and HUMID day and I was exhausted, but somehow I made it through it.  There is truly no rest for the weary when training for a half ironman that’s for sure.  The awesome thing is I can do it.  No way would I have been able to ride 50 miles after a triathlon last summer…no way at all.  It’s great to see how far I’ve come!

Race shirt

Finisher glass

A Real Pain in the Neck

The day after my last triathlon I noticed that my neck was a little stiff, nothing too painful, just a little tight.  I figured I had just strained the muscle during my swim.  On that day I had already scheduled a Chiropractor/ART appt and a massage.  I told both of them I had a little pain in my neck and they worked on it some.

The next day the pain was worse, but manageable.  I got up and did my morning run, and then went to the gym after work and swam 2000 meters.  When I came home my neck was really sore.  I iced it and went to bed.  Wednesday morning I couldn’t move it.  It was so sore.  It was spasming and just unbelievably painful.  I was miserable all day at work.  It’s all I could focus on; I had a headache and was even a little dizzy.  I did self massage all day and started downing ibuprofen.  Thursday, it was pretty much just the same.  I went and had a short head and neck massage, which helped alleviate the spasms, but only for about 10 minutes.  I also made yet another appt with my ART guy.  He said it was extremely tight and would take a few weeks to heal. 

I have a feeling that I was babying my left shoulder (do to an injury from last fall in that shoulder) during my swim and putting more strain on the right side.  The pain is in the right side of the neck, but radiated all the way into the top of my shoulder and around my shoulder blade.  During the day the pain across the top of my shoulder would actually end up being worse than the neck pain.  I’m sure from being on the computer all day.

I have pretty much been in constant pain for the last 2 ½ weeks, trying to let this “heal” itself.  I’m sure I should have taken some time off to let it heal, but I just didn’t feel like I could do that during my last few weeks of 70.3 training.  So I have been doing all of my workouts.  I have shortened a few swims, but have still been swimming.  Swimming is by far the worst!!!  I have been icing and massaging using a home massager, and have had a couple more shoulder and neck massages.  I have had way too much ibuprofen over the past 2 weeks.  Nothing was helping.  After 16 days I had finally had enough.



This is pretty much what I've looked like the last 2 weeks.



I went to the Dr. last night.  She said based on my symptoms it was very likely a pinched nerve.  She prescribed me a 5 day dose of steroids.  I also went out and bought one of those neck pillows to help keep my neck stable during the night.  And – the hardest part, I decided to take 3 full days off from training to give the steroids time to do their job.

I am very happy to say that after just one steroid pill, and one night’s sleep on the neck pillow it’s amazing how much better it feels today.  Not totally healed or anything, but definitely better than it’s felt in the past 2 ½ weeks!!  So I’m super hopeful this will do the trick and that a little rest and recovery will have me back as good as new for my long workouts on Saturday and Sunday.  I only have 5 weeks left til Racine – and I will be in Washington, DC for 3 days next week…..so I really need my training to go perfectly in the short amount of time I have left.

The KC Tri - The culprit????

I Conquered The Hospital Hill(s)!!!

The race is called Hospital Hill....so you pretty much know what to expect.  It doesn't matter if you run the 5K, the 10K or the Half Marathon, it's hilly, but if you do the half - what they mean by "The Hill" is a forever climb up Broadway in downtown, KC.  The hill goes on forever and it's at the very end of the race, which doesn't help.  The race slogan on all the shirts is "I conquered the hill".....everyone thinks they need to change that slogan to hills - maybe someday.

Jim was in Wyoming for a marathon and I was at home, but we did our best to still come up with at least one pre-race dance pic.  Jim's race wasn't until Sunday.  What do you think?  Pretty nifty huh???

Anyway, I did the 10K last summer, and thought I was literally going to die.  It was close to 80 degrees at race start with insane humidity.  By the time the race was over it was climbing into the 90s.  It was seriously awful.  Between the heat and the hills, I vowed that I would never, ever do the race again.  But somehow, I found myself signing up for the race again...but this time I would attempt to conquer the half.  I had honestly been dreading it.  With the extreme heat we'd already experienced in early Spring, I figured Hospital Hill would be brutal.  But by some stroke of luck the weather forecast had called for a cool front to move through just in time for the race.  I watched the forecast like a hawk all week....just waiting for it to change but it never did.  Come race morning it was 50 degrees at the start, and temps would only reach about 65 by the end of the race.  It was sunny and no wind.  It was nearly perfect!!

4 Memers of "Team Racine" before the Half

I got up at 4am on race morning and left my house about 4:45, to pick up my friend Michelle and meet up with a couple of other friends Kristi and Nikki to head down to the race.  The race started at 7am, but we wanted to be there by 6am.  We arrived probably a little early, as we were some of the first to arrive.  But it made for easy parking, bathrooms, etc.  This race is held near Crown Center in downtown, KC.  And the mall is very gracious to open their doors to the runners and friends and family.  It's a great place to hang out, stretch, etc before the race starts......or take some fun pics with a guy made of legos.

I have no idea

With my first 70.3 just 6 weeks away, this race was meant as nothing more than a training run.  I wasn't out to set a PR or kill myself, but I wanted to have a good solid run.  My PR is 2:23, so I decided my goal would be to run the race under 2:30.  My friends Kristi and Kortney decided that would be a comfortable pace for them too, so we all decided to start with the 2:30 pace group to keep us from going out too fast.  The race starts with a pretty decent uphill, which I remembered walking during the 10K the year before, but I felt like I breezed up it quite nicely this year. 

I felt really good throughout the entire race which was great.  I knew I could have pushed it a bit harder, but the pace felt hard, while still being somewhat comfortable.  I will say that the last hill got me...just a little and I had to stop to walk a couple of times for just a few seconds - the only time I walked during the race (besides through the aid stations).  But once you finally crest one last super steep but short hill, the last half mile of the race finish is completely downhill.  I took off here and left the pace group to finish in 2:28:56!  Just under my goal time.  I finished strong and I felt great.  I couldn't have been happier with my results.

I met up with my friends after the race and as it turned out everyone had a great race.  Apparently the great weather had really made all the difference.  The hills didn't seem nearly as challenging when it wasn't 100 degrees. 

When I woke up Sunday morning I was super surprised to find out that while my legs felt tired, I wasn't really sore at all. I think that was a first after a race.  It was good though because I had a 40 mile bike ride planned.  The bike didn't exactly go as planned (long story) but I still managed to get in my 40 miles.  I was tired, and those last 10 were super tough, but I got it done!  I know one thing for sure, I could have NEVER ran a half marathon and then rode 40 miles the next day a year ago...heck probably not even a few months ago.  I am definitely getting stronger.  Only 6 weeks til RACINE!

Finisher Medal

The HH unique finisher item - Flip flops??  Cool or corny??  I'm not sure :)

Not What I Expected - KC Triathlon Race Report

Well, my day started off with a bang – literally.  I backed into my neighbor’s car.  Not the way you want to start your race day.

The race didn’t start until 7:30 am, but transition opened at 5am.  I like to get to the race early and be there as soon as transition opens, so I was leaving the house at 4:30 am to have time to pick  up Michelle and get to the race at 5am.  It was pitch black and my car was full, with my bike and Michelle’s bike, my tri bag, my wetsuit, etc.  My neighbor’s car was parked in the street right behind my driveway.  So as I’m backing out of the garage….bang.  I got out and looked at the damage.  I broke my tail light and had some scratches, nothing major.  Unfortunately I hit his car in the quarter panel, and it was completely dented in.  Crap.  Not wanting to disturb my neighbors at 4:30 am, I called Jim and asked him to let them know later in the day.  Definitely didn’t do anything to help calm the nerves.

I try to shake it off and head over to pick up Michelle.  My stomach is already in knots.  This is a big race.  It’s a 5150 Qualifier race and brings out a slew of competitive athletes including 10 pros.  These people mean business.  I am Slowly Tri-ing – I am not in the same league as these people.  I am so nervous.  It’s a 1 mile swim.  I have never swam that far in a race before.  Seeing the buoys the day before I panicked.  It is soooo long.  I was afraid my shoulder would not hold out.  I had told myself over and over, just go slow and get the swim done, but I wasn’t sure if it could be done.

As we pull up to the race my stomach is flipping and flopping.  I haven’t been this nervous before a race since my first triathlon.  I want these nerves to go away.  I set up my transition area and try to focus.  Talking to myself.  Remember this is not a race.  It’s a training event.  Just get through it and finish.    Slowly my friends start showing  up.  It helps calm the nerves to hang out and chat some.

My transition area all set up

We get our timing chips and head to the bathroom.  While in the porta potty I hear someone yelling beside me in the next toilet over “F..k, F, F, You’ve Got this, You’ve Got this, You’ve Got this!!”  Apparently someone was giving themselves a little pep talk in the john.  It was hilarious and makes me realize I’m certainly not the only one who is nervous.

Before I know it the announcer is saying, “Transition closes in 10 minutes!”  Holy!!  It’s almost time.  Well sort of.  Transition closes at 7:00 and my swim wave doesn’t start until 8:01, but it’s almost time to get out of transition anyway.  I had waited til the last minute to put on my wetsuit, not wanting to stand around in it too long since it’s so hot.  So I hastily go to put it on.  I bend over to pull up the legs and ouch…..there goes my back.  I knew it the instant it happened.  I threw out my back.  I have struggled with my back for the last 6 years, but have been relatively healthy for quite some time now.  CRAP.  It’s not my day.  First the car, then my back.  I had already taken an aleve to help combat the inflammation in my shoulder.  Now it would have to do double duty.

During the next hour while waiting to start our swim wave (wave 10 of 13), I stretch, and stretch and stretch out my back.  It hurts, but I feel ok.  I am hopeful the swim will actually stretch it out and the adrenaline will keep the pain out of my head and back.  It does help focus my energy on that and not on my nerves.  By the time I started the swim, I feel calm.  I’m really not too nervous at all.

The Swim
Finally it’s our turn to go.  I jump in the water and start swimming.  I settle into a decently slow pace pretty quickly and feel pretty good.  I focus on sighting and keeping an eye on the farthest buoy.  I reach the far buoy which is approximately 1/3 of the way.  I feel ok.  My shoulder feels ok.  I continue swimming for what seems forever.  Somewhere past the halfway point I swallow a large amount of lake water.  This turns out to be an issue for most of the race as I apparently managed to get it down in my lungs.  I'm trying to cough it up while in the water which seems almost impossible to do.  I just stay focused and keep swimming, swimming, swimming.  Finally, my hand touches the sand and I stand up to start the very long run to transition.  For weeks, all I had focused on was getting through the swim no matter how long it took and then just biking and running like that was going to be the easy part.

I did NOT anticipate how exhausted I would be when I got out of the swim.  I had been in the water 43 minutes.  When I reached the beach my legs were quivering.  Had I kicked too hard??  Too much??  I tried to run, my calves started cramping.  I decided to take it easy.  I walked up the hill from the beach and once I finally reached pavement I tried a slow jog through transition.  I was exhausted.  How and the heck was I going to bike 25 miles and run 6.2?  I finally reached my bike - which was .2 miles from the beach.  It was a LONG transition.  I was still shaking.  I ate part of a cliff bar and drank some gatorade.  I had to sit down to take off my wetsuit.  I wasn't going to risk hurting my back even more.  I finally head out to bike - 5 minutes and 22 seconds later.  Due to the distance of the beach to transition most people had long transition times - around 2-3 minutes...but I had taken a really long time.

The Bike
Because I was in such a late swim wave, and because I'm such a slow swimmer, almost all of the bikes were gone from the racks when I started.  This was a bummer, as I already knew I was very behind most people.  I didn't have alot for the bike.  It's a pretty hilly course and my legs just felt dead.  I think I heard "On Your Left" about 300 times.  I was seriously beginning to think it was my name or something.  Yes, yes I know you are on my left.  You are passing me.  So is everyone else.  Congratulations.  By the time I started loop number 2 there was almost no one left on the bike course.  At least I wasn't hearing on your left anymore, but it was a weird feeling.  Even though I'm used to be in the bottom 25% at most races, I've not really experienced racing when no one is around.  I was starting to panic a little bit.  There was pretty much no one behind or in front of me.  I knew I was going to be running alone too and this was a very deflating feeling.  I finally finished the bike.  I wouldn't know my mph until later, but I knew I had been pretty slow.  When I got my results I averaged 15.1 mph, which was much slower than any of my training rides had been.  I was on the bike 1 hour and 38 minutes.

My second transition was a bit faster at only 2 minutes and 25 seconds, but it still could have been quicker, but I was really feeling tired by this point.  I threw on my running shoes, race belt, and visor and headed off.

The Run
I always struggle with the first mile of the run after the bike, and today was certainly no exception.  My calves were cramping almost immediately and I was just exhausted.  I was coughing like crazy.  That water I had swallowed during the swim was still in my lungs.  I couldn't seem to get it out and it felt like a weight on my chest.  I dealt with that until about mile 4 when it finally seemed to clear out of my lungs.  Mile 1 (and Mile 4) have a pretty steep hill to climb.  I stopped to walk several times and when I finally hit mile 1, I had an amazing 12:42 pace.  Yes, after months of improvement on the run and times in the 10s and 11s, I had just ran an almost 13 minute pace. I was feeling pretty discouraged.  I felt a little better during mile 2 and actually managed an 11:30 pace.  I ended up walk/running most of the 6.2 miles - much more running than walking, but still walking a little in each mile.  The run course is 2 loops.  Several times I would pass people during the first loop and they would say "you are almost there, stay strong"....they didn't realize I still had one more lap to go.  They saw how far behind I was from everyone else and assumed I must be almost done right??  Wrong.  I finally reached the 5K point and 3 of my friends come running out to tell me I'm doing a great job.  2 of them had done the sprint so they were already finished, and one was actually working for the race.  It was a nice little boost to help me get through those next 3 miles.  Those last 3 miles were tough.  So many people were heading home.  Part of the run course was the path to people's cars.  So at this point in the race I had to dodge in and out of pedestrians, which was very frustrating.  There was some of this during the first lap, but it was awful during lap 2.  At about mile 5, there is a girl dancing all by herself with a sign that just say Hooray.  When I run by I said "I need some of your energy".  She said well here you go and gives me a high five, and then proceeds to smack me on the butt!  It was hilarious.  I just had a totally stranger smack my ass.  This gives me a little jolt of injury - at least for a few minutes.  I finally see the finish line in sight.  And I see my friend Michelle cheering for me.  Then I look over and see my husband Jim!!  I hadn't expected to see him and that was so awesome.  He had decided to incorporate the race into his morning run and "swing" by and see me finish.  The run took me an 1 hour and 14 minutes.  It was a 12:01 pace.  It was my slowest run in months.  But..........I had FINISHED my first Olympic Distance Tri.  The race took me 3 hours, 43 minutes and 52 seconds!!

Post Race
It was a weird feeling.  I was "Happy" because I had just finished my first Olympic Distance Triathlon.  I had also come in right around my predicted time.  But I was also extremely disappointed.  I know I shouldn't have been, but I was.  I had not expected to feel so exhausted on the bike and run.  I had expected a much stronger race.  I thought I would be an hour on the swim, and I was only 43 minutes, so I thought I would end up finishing a little faster than anticipated, but it just didn't turn out that way.  I had my slowest bike and run times I've had during any of my training.  And, to top it all off I finished dead last in my age group - 41/41.  I have never finished last.  Towards the bottom - yes.  Last, no.  I was also 638 out of 650 overall.  My results were so disheartening.  I have learned to accept my slowness and realize it's just where I'm at, but for some reason this particular race was really difficult.  I have just never been that low on the totem pole.

I thought about things, and tried to shift my perspective. Yes there were 650 people in this race, but only 205 females.  Only 205 females even attempted to do this and I was one of them.  This was a major race bringing in some major talent.  I just did something so many people could never do, or ever even be brave enough to try.  There are 5 of us training for Racine and all 5 of us had planned to do the Olympic Distance.  Of those 5, only myself and Michelle finished the Olympic Distance for various reasons.  I had met my goal time, and I had finished the race.  End of story.  It was meant to be a training race.  I now know what I have to work on.  I could keep beating myself up or I could be proud of myself for what I had accomplished. 

After the race, I met up with my friends.  They were all super encouraging and telling me what a great job I did.  I began asking people how they did and several people I know did well enough to qualify for the 5150 Championship race in September, including my friend Michelle who was awesome and came in 10th in her age group!!!  Michelle is an amazing athlete!

I think I learned alot about myself during this race.  I was disappointed with the race, but I finished.  I never gave up.  I won't lie - when I came by the finish line and knew I had one more 3 mile lap to go on the run, I considered turning in and being done....but I could never do that.  I may be a slow triathlete.  But, I am  TRIATHLETE!!

Bound for the Olympics

Ahhh….fooled you right?  You thought I had somehow catapulted my slow self to Olympic competitor, but alas no.  What I meant to say is that I am bound for the Olympic Distance Triathlon this weekend.

For those of you who have been following my blog for awhile, you know I was supposed to do my first Olympic Distance Tri last Sept, and just a few days before the event I severely injured my shoulder and was unable to compete.  It devastated me, and I kind of promised myself I would never be quite that “vested” in a race again. 

So, maybe that’s why I haven’t made a big deal about this race.  It’s just kind of quietly snuck up on me.  It will still be my first Olympic tri, and it will also be my first ever wetsuit race so it should kind of be a big deal, but I’m really looking at it as more of a training race for my 70.3 in July than anything.  It’s my check point to see where I’m at – it’s my deciding point to see if I officially sign up for the Racine 70.3.

I won’t lie.  I don’t feel ready for the swim – AT ALL.  I am terribly nervous about that part.  My shoulder has still not healed (and I’m not sure it ever will without surgery).  I have had to baby it a lot during my training.  If I swim one day, and it hurts I may go 5 or 6 or 7 days before I swim again.  I have only been swimming 2 days a week max, and many times only 1, when my plan calls for 3xs per week and starting last week I’m supposed to be swimming 4xs per week.  My longest swim in the pool has been 1800 yards and that includes drills and breaks.  My swim Sunday is 1700 yards or 1 mile.  It is not going to be easy.  I am terribly afraid my shoulder will give out during the swim or hurt so bad afterward that I’m not able to swim for weeks.  All I know is that if I manage to make it through this on Sunday, my swim needs to be my focus for the remainder of my 70.3 training.

I feel ready for the bike and run.  I’ve have been putting in 100+ miles a week on the bike and I’ve completed 3 half marathons in the past 3 months.  But, I’ve never put this kind of bike/run distance together before so who knows what might really happen.  I’m hoping once I get out of that water though, that I’m feeling ready to go.

I expect the race to take me just under 4 hours (assuming that I make it out of the swim in around 45-50 minutes – which who knows).  I am excited, but also nervous.  I’m just not 100% sure what to expect.  Going into Hyvee last September, I felt pretty confident.  I knew I had trained exactly how I should for the distance, but I can’t say the same for this race.  The weather is going to be a little on the hot side approaching the mid 80s by the time I’m done. 

But at the end of the day, I love to do tris and I am excited about my first race of the season.  All of my Racine training buddies are racing either the Sprint or the Olympic Distance, so it will fun for all of us to be at a race together. 

It’s going to be a busy weekend though, as my step-daughter gets married on Friday and the race is on Sunday.  I really do like to overbook myself.

Stay tuned for results……………………………………………

7 Years of Bliss

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband Jim! It has seriously been nothing but bliss!!  Ha, we all know that's not true, marriage is hard, but it can be wonderful. I am truly married to my best friend.

So here's to 7 great years baby!!  I look forward to the many memories we still have to make.

I'll leave you with a few of the great memories we've already made.

Our Wedding Day 5-14-2005

Our Honeymoon - Maui, HI

Riveria Maya, Mexico

Big Cedar Lodge, Ridgedale, MO

Boston Red Sox Game - Boston Marathon

Walt Disney World Marathon - My first!

Turks and Caicos

When Pigs Fly!

What a great weekend!  Sunday was the Flying Pig Marathon (Half Marathon for me)in Cincinnati, OH.  As I've posted lately, work has just been insane crazy and I haven't had a full day off in close to a month, so I couldn't have been more excited to get away for a weekend and have 3 1/2 days off work!!  

I worked half a day Friday, and then Jim and I took off toward Cincinnati on Friday afternoon.  Since we didn't get going until about 2pm, we only drove to Indianapolis Friday night (about an 8 hour drive) and then drove into Cincy on Sat.  We took our time Sat, not having a set schedule.  We got up and had some breakfast, then drove into downtown Indy just to have a look around.  Then we finally headed in to Cincinnati and headed straight to the Flying Pig Expo. 

The expo was great!  Very similar to other expos at larger races, but still fun.  There were plenty of pigs everywhere and of course Jim and I couldn't resist the opportunity to "ham" it up for the camera.  Proctor and Gamble is the major sponsor for the race and had lots of free samples to hand out.  There was quite the line for some dish soap and tooth brushes.  And of course, the chance to photograph yourself on a giant toilet.



Grossest picture ever?????  Yes, probably.

After we walked around the expo for awhile, I called my friend Coy of First in Philly to see how close she was to the expo.  She was only about 30 minutes away, so we decided to wait for her at the expo instead of meeting up later.  I was sooooo excited to see Coy!  We've become great friends since we met up last October at the MO' Cowbell half marathon, literally texting, e-mailing or calling each other pretty much every day.  Coy finally made it, so we ending up going through the expo again for round #2.  As we were about to leave the expo, we also got a call from Jeff at Detroit Runner who had just gotten to the expo.  So we got a chance to meet him and chat for awhile and snap a pic.  It's always pretty cool to finally meet bloggers in person. 

We finally headed out of the expo and went to find some dinner.  I think Jim and I were at the expo for 4 hours!!  We went to a cool little river front area with shopping, dining and a movie theatre.  We ate at Brio, which is a great Italian restaurant.  We have one in Kansas City, so it wasn't anything new, but it was still good.  After dinner we headed over to the movies to see The Avengers.  Which was AWESOME by the way!!  The movie was long though around 2 1/2 hours so we didn't end up getting to the hotel to check in until around 10:30.  This was kind of a bad idea.  We were tired, and we would be getting up very, very early.

The Flying Pig starts at 6:30 am, so we were planning to leave the hotel at 5:15 am to get there plenty early.  That meant getting up at 4:15 - which is pretty normal for me, but since we didn't get in bed until after 11pm - it made for a very early morning.  Going into a race with limited sleep is probably never a very good idea.

I got up and dragged my lifeless body out of bed and got ready.  We of course, couldn't do a race without the pre-race dance party however.  Our friend Coy was invited to join in the party, which she gladly accepted.  I think she might be crazier than we are.  Coy added a whole new dimension to the pre-race dance.  We got a few weird stares from other runners trying to get in the elevator.

I have no idea what is going on here.  Is she rubbing my ear and picking her nose?

Finally, it was race time.  I knew going into this race this one going to be one to do just for "fun".  I had recently set my half marathon PR, and I knew I had no chance for a PR on this course and that was ok.  The course is super hilly.  It pretty much goes up hill for the first 9 miles.  It was also going to be hot and humid.  It was about 65 degrees at race start and close to about 75 by the time we finished, which isn't that bad, but the humidity was near 90%. 

Coy and I both had to go to the potty shortly before the race, so we got in line thinking that if the race started people would clear out.....they didn't.  We ended up still being in line well after the race started.  When we got out of the porta potty, there was pretty much no one around.  It was really weird to start a race at the very end like that.  We ran for awhile without really seeing many other runners, but then we caught up to the back of the pack.  The first several miles were tough trying to work ourselves around the walkers and finally catch up to the other runners.  The first mile I was really struggling.  I felt like I was working so hard.  I looked down at my Garmin expecting to realize that we were doing like a 9:30 pace or something, only to see an 11:25 average pace.....man I was working really hard for that kind of pace.  The humidity gets me every time.  Our first 2 miles were pretty slow as I tried to acclimate to the heat and humidity, but then we got moving in miles 3 and 4, but then came the BIG HILLS. There was a pretty good size hill at 5, with a nice downhill, but they from 6-10 it's climbing, climbing and more climbing.  I had to stop and walk a few times during some of those super climbs.  I am not a good hill runner at all.  We have alot of hills in Kansas City, but I struggle on them here too and end up walking them more than I'd like.

Finally, at around mile 10 you start the decline.  But after climbing so much, it's a pretty significant downhill.  Aerobically that's great, but it was absolutely burning up my quads, which had already been worked pretty hard.  We gained some momentum in miles 11 and 12, but I paid for it in the last mile. I was hurting - bad in mile 13.  My quads were dead, and I felt like I had nothing left and even had to stop and walk a couple of times in that last mile.  I like to finish strong at the end of the race, but I had nothing left.  The heat, humidity and hills, had got me.  We crossed the finish line and I have to admit I was glad to be done. 

It was a "long" race too, registering 13.44 on my Garmin.  I knew I was in trouble when at mile 1 my Garmin was already at 1.06.  An extra .33 miles is alot, but there was a ton of weaving in and out of people during those first several miles.  But in the end I finished in 2:31 so I was good with that considering the hills and weather and considering I hadn't broken 2:30 for a half marathon prior to February of this year.  So it ended up being my 3rd fastest half and I did have 4 miles in the 10:30s.

Check out that elevation and climb.

We got our medal, which is awesome with the Pig face on the front and the Pig butt on the back.  Then I grabbed some food - yummy stuff too - swiss cake rolls and potato chips...just what the doctor ordered after a tough race.  After the race we had about a mile walk back to the car.  My legs were just dead.  I knew I was going to be sore the next day - especially after a 10 hour drive home.  And I am.....my quads are still sore!

 Overall, it was a wonderful race.  The expo, shirt, medal are awesome!  You also get a poster and a duffel bag.  The volunteers were some of the best I have ever experienced at a race.  They were so encouraging and supportive.  Everyone was so friendly and excited to have you there.  Even our hotel staff clapped for us as we walked back in the door after the race.  It was a great added touch.   The crowd support was also wonderful.  There were people pretty much every step of the race.  The route itself isn't super exciting, and it is a hilly course, but I would still highly recommend this race to anyone.