Perspective

Life throws you some major curve balls sometimes doesn't it?  I have gone through what I can only describe as the most mind blowing transition of all time.  And yet, I know that I am not alone.  I went through a divorce.  I moved.  I started my children off at a new school and I started a new job.  My kids go to daycare(what?!?!?!?).  Yes, I have had my entire world tossed upside down....but I have survived and so have my children.  Have there been bumps and bruises along the way?  Most certainly.  But, here I am...alive and kicking.  Making my way and my mark on this world in my own way.  Thinking of how to forge a path and get myself to where I want to be.  Self sufficient.  Confident.  Content.  Happy. A wonderful mother.  Partner.  Friend.  I know I will get there...I know it.

I sometimes find myself battling with where I am versus where I want to be.  What life has handed me versus what I know I can handle.  Choices, they are tough.  I try not to wallow in the negative as that is not my personality and has never been.  But, some days are tougher than others and I find myself wondering what if??? Wondering what the heck I think I am doing?  Wondering if what I am doing is going to be enough.  Deep?  Yea, I know.

This evening after working until 6pm I arrived home.  I poured myself a glass of wine and enjoyed the silence of my own home.  A short while later my doorbell rang.  I went to answer it knowing as it rang that it would be the 6 year old neighbor boy asking if my kids could come and play with him.  As I turned off of the bottom step, his cherub face appeared in the glass panes of my front door.  I opened the door and he asked for my kids.  I told him that they were with their dad tonight and they would be back tomorrow.  He smiled and said OK. 

As he turned away, I noticed steri strips covering stitches on his chest.  I asked him why he has stitches.  He smiled slyly and pulled down his shirt which revealed a bruised raised lump underneath his skin.  He asked me to guess what it is.  I said, "A pacemaker?" He said, "Nope, its my report!"  I realized that he meant it was a port.  So I asked why did you get a port?  He shook his head and said, "never mind" and took off running.  Of course, curiosity won out and I chased after him.  I asked him again what his port was for and he bowed his head and said, "Because I have a brain tumor."  Oh my God!!!! 

I was numb.  My son's 6 year old friend has a brain tumor.  I recovered the best I could and put a gigantic smile on my face and said, "You know what buddy?  You are a tough guy.  I just know that you are going to kick that cancer in the butt!"  He got a little grin on his face and said, "Yea, I know!"  I told him to have a good night and retreated to my entryway where as the door closed I completely lost my composure and bawled.  I cried for this child who has a brain tumor.  I cried because I am so thankful that I have three healthy children.  I cried because I have no idea how to talk to my kids about their friend who is sick. I cried for a million reasons that I simply cannot express in words.

Perspective.  It is a funny little thing that can smack you upside the head when you least expect it and speak directly to your heart.  It can make your rainy day sunshiny and bright.  It can take that black cloud and turn it into a grey one...or even a fluffy white one depending on who you are.  Today, I choose to be thankful that all of my clouds are grey at the worst.  I have ups and downs.  I have trials and tribulations.  But, I have SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR!!!! 

I will pray for this little guy every day and hope that there is a happy ending for this family.  I will recognize that my whiny little "woe is me" moments have very little relevance when you put all things into perspective.  I will be thankful.  I will be happy.  I will recognize all of the blessing that are right in front of me.  I hope you do too....

My 70.3 Experience

This past Sunday I competed in my first ever Half Ironman race.  It was an experience that I will never forget.  Through all 70.3 miles I learned about myself, my abilities, my will power and my strength.  It has been a long road to get me to the sandy beach where I waited nervously to enter the water, but I made it there and I was bound and determined to finish this distance.

 

This crazy dream of mine to compete in a half ironman race began four years ago.  I started small in triathlon by doing a sprint distance race.  I remember thinking how tough it was going to be and being scared to death to attempt to swim, bike, run in succession no matter what the distance.  I finished that race and signed up for the same race the next year.  After learning a little more and training with a new partner my time got so much better in the same race that it sparked the idea inside of me to attempt a longer distance.  My training partner and I then picked a sprint tri and an Olympic distance tri for our following season.  Last year I raced both a sprint and an Olympic race and I managed to place in my age group for both races.  Because I had done so well I decided that 70.3 was next on my list.  I was definitely on track to complete a half and maybe, just maybe one day a full IM.

 

I began going through my divorce last May.  As my personal life was unraveling around me I knew that I needed to do something for myself that would keep me focused on moving forward.  Triathlon has been the thing for me that has kept me focused and happy for the previous three years so I decided to set my sights on Chisago Lakes Half Ironman in spite of the turmoil that I was going through.  I jokingly asked my girlfriend Sarina if she wanted to do it with me and I was shocked when she said yes!  I was also extremely stoked to have someone walk through this with me because lets face it people, running for 2 hours, biking for 3, or swimming for an hour by yourself is never as fun as doing it with someone else.

 

We signed up for the race and our 20 week training program started on March 11th.  We started our training strong.  Checking off each workout like you would a grocery list.  40 min swim? Check. 90 minute bike? Check. 60 min run? Check.  Training is like having a job.  Things line up on your calendar and somehow you figure out how to fit it all in. As the spring came to an end training was inevitably bound to become more difficult as the hours needed to prepare for the race became longer and both Sarina and I would have kids at home all day every day.  We got creative and hired babysitters or exchanged children so that we could train.  I'd stay at her house with all 5 kids while she rode 90 minutes.  She would get home and I would bolt out the door on my bike to do my training.  Our kids got VERY comfortable with one another! 

 

As the summer wore on, there were vacations, camping trips, stress inducing events and general exhaustion that made training a bit more difficult than it has been for me in previous years.  At some point my mind changed from "racing" the 70.3 to "finishing" the 70.3.  I will admit that this revelation to myself was a tough pill to swallow.  But, I know my body and myself well enough to know that I was simply not training at the level I needed to be in order to truly race the event.  But you know what?  I was okay with that.  I had spent the last 14 months going through a divorce, working two part time jobs, taking care of and having fun with my children, traveling with my family, moving to a new house(the week before the race) and training for this event.  Stressful? YEP!

 

Four days before the event I recognized that I was in the "it is what it is" frame of mind.  I had trained as well as I could have for this(all things considered)and I was going to show up on Sunday and try to enjoy every moment of this race that I had finally made it to.  It was a quiet calm that I have never experienced prior to a race and it felt a little surreal. 

 

4:30am Sunday morning came and I popped out of bed.  Calmly, I gathered all of my things which I had laid out the night before, ate a banana with almond butter and had a cup of coffee.  I felt the energy start building inside of me....today is the day.  Sarina picked me up and we loaded my bike.  Seeing her made what was about to happen as real as it could be.  I was so excited to do this race.

Oh, you see those sweatshirts on us?  Did I forget to mention that our race was on July 28th but the temperature that morning was 50 degree's?  Gosh how I love Minnesota weather.  We  were freezing!  I suppose it could have been the opposite, like 98 degrees with 100% humidity which would suck as well.  In hindsight,  I much prefer the weather we had that day.

Our race venue was about 45 minutes away so we had a lot of time to chit chat about the race, our goals, our feelings and our excitement.  We talked about all of the training that we have done, all of the stress that we have both been under, and the fact that we were about to become Half Iron Mothers!!! 

We arrived to pure chaos!  The bike racks were so close together that we looked like a bunch of sardines packed together while trying to set up our own little space.  Not only were we all jammed in there, there were gigantic oak trees in between racks so pulling out our bikes and getting to the "bike out" zone was going to be difficult for a lot of people.

We got all set up and we were ready to go.  We both had to use the bathrooms and man were the lines LONG!  It was crazy!  It was ten minutes to 7am...race start.  Nerves began to pick up and I looked around at all of the amazing athletes who were trudging toward the beach and I felt like I was amongst friends.  There is a certain type of camaraderie between triathletes that is tough to describe but it is ever present.  You feel like you are supported, encouraged and cheered on by every single person around you even though you do not know them.  Everyone there understands the blood, sweat and tears that you have shed to get to this starting gate and the energy is palpable.  It is simply amazing.

The Swim 1.2 miles: 

We stood on the sand while the 3 waves of 100 people ahead of us went out about 3 minutes a part.  It was a shallow water start as the beach was filled with rocks that were quite sharp.  Standing in line to get into the water I started my jumping that I do to get my heart rate up.  I hugged Sarina and wished her luck.  Our plan was to stay to the outside as much as possible.  This was the first triathlon where I was grouped with both men and women of all ages.  I was also one of 2 other people in my group of 100 NOT wearing a wetsuit. Yay me.  The starting horn was blasted and off we went.  I ran into people, people ran into me, I got swum over by a guy so I veered left as much as possible.  About 3/4 of the way down the first length of the swim, the wind picked up and we were faced with some rather large swells.  It was tough to get into a rhythm because you were constantly swallowing water and being pushed off course by the waves.  I had to sight an abnormal amount of times because of the waves and I quit bilateral breathing in an effort to swallow less water.  To say the swim portion of this race sucked for me is an understatement.  I did plenty of recovery stroking, side stroking and coughing up water just to make it through.  Towards the end of the swim I got kicked in the face by a guy.  It seemed to come out of no where and it startled me so badly that my whole body tensed up and I got an intense cramp in my right calf.  I immediately went under water because of the pain.  I remember thinking, oh my God, you are going to drown 200 yards from the finish of this stupid swim...great.  How does this crap happen to me?  I tread water for a minute while flexing my foot to relieve the cramp and then told myself, "Get the eff out of the water now."  So, I swam like a little fishy as fast as I could to do just that.  There will be no picture of me coming out of the water because in all honesty, no one looks okay coming out of the water :)  My little cheering section was there snapping photo's(that I later made them delete) so I got an extra burst of energy to begin the next leg of this journey.

Things I saw during my swim: A guy ran into a kayak, ouch!  A guy panicked in the water and was rushed to by a lifeguard, bummer dude.  A guy zig zagging back and forth in front of me, frustrating!

T1:

When I got to my bike, there were still a lot of bikes all around me which meant that my swim time was fairly decent.  Because the weather was so cold I had to put on a  long sleeved dri fit shirt.  Well, as everyone knows trying to put a shirt on while wet can prove to be difficult.  I overheard a gal talking to the guy behind me and she used his name(wish I could remember it now)so I turned to him and asked him if he would pull it down for me!  He did of course and I thanked him for helping a sister out.  Seriously, camaraderie people!  I love it.  I grabbed my gear, my shot blocks, my bike and I was outta there.

The Bike 56 miles:

Biking is my favorite out of all three sports.  Each time I get on my bike to ride a grin spreads across my face.  This is your thing Amber.  I begin talking to myself almost from the get go.  It is so calm and relaxing to be riding in aero position for me that I find I do my best thinking while on the bike. This ride was no different.  I had a plan to consume a gel or shot blocks every 30 minutes throughout my ride and to consume 3 bottles of water plus whatever else I grabbed along the way.  I knew there would be two bottle exchanges on the course so I was prepared to grab things then.  What I was not prepared for was the temperature, the wind, the crappy road conditions or the hills that this course had on it.  I thank God that I had such awesome cheerleaders because they literally saved me from quitting the race.  Yes, I said "quitting" the race.  The thought went through my mind numerous times on the ride and I talked myself down each time.  Jon and Sara drove the course and I was able to throw my gloves to them one time, see their smiles another time, get updates on Sarina, and  simply know that they were there all of the other times.  It was amazing and I could never thank them enough for being there for me.  At the first bottle exchange I grabbed a Gatorade.  I was feeling fine but thought that a little extra sugar and electrolytes couldn't hurt.  It was orange flavored and it tasted yummy!  Unfortunately, I only had two water bottle holders and no place to put my Gatorade.  So, I laid it between my aero bars and mentally gave myself a pat on the back for being so savvy.  Less than a mile later we turned onto the most horrible road I think that I have ever ridden on.  It was like 5 miles of pure bumps where the asphalt was not patched properly.  What made it worse was the fact that my Gatorade was spraying me in my face with every bump.  I was literally cursing out loud at how awful the road was.  I talked to three people that I passed about it and they all agreed.  By the end of the bumpy road you turn onto a road with a gigantic up hill climb....awesome.  I was nearing mile 32 where the second bottle exchange was and I was feeling kind of icky.  My stomach was really off.  I needed to use the bathroom and I had a headache now from that awful road.  I got off my bike, ditched the Gatorade, grabbed a water and filled up one of my own bottles with it and waited in line for the port-a-potty.  While standing there, a girl was hunched over her bike.  I asked if she was okay and she said that she was feeling awful.  I told her to drink water and rest for a bit.  She said she had such a bad headache and she felt like puking.  I wondered if she was bonking.  Anything can happen out on the course and I was thankful that I had made it to mile 32 without anything awful happening.  I wished her luck and hopped back onto my bike.  The rest of the bike leg was terrible for me.  My stomach was still off, I seemed to have lost all energy and by mile 44 I had to pee so badly that I could not ride in my aero bars without crying from pain.  With each passing mile I kept scoping for a place to go pee but there were riders all around me and we were in a more populated area.  I would have had to turn down a dirt road(where I would inevitable bite it)and run into a ditch so I could hide to pee.  Sucksville.  I pushed through the rest of the bike and was elated to see Paradise Park come into view.

Things I saw on the bike: A guy bit it into the weeds before we were even 3 miles out.  A girl was wearing such thin biking shorts that I could see the entire shadow of her butt crack.  A ton of people on the side of the road fixing their tires.

T2:

I had to pee.  I had to pee worse than I have ever had to in my entire life.  I got off my bike and had Jon and Sara cheering for me but I couldn't even enjoy it because I hurt.  I hobbled my bike over to the rack and slowly took my stuff off.  Helmet off, shoes off, shirt off.  Jon and Sara were standing directly in front of me yelling out encouraging things.  Sara was really making me laugh with choice of words.  She is the best.  They talked to me about the bike.  I asked about Sarina(since they drove around and found her too).  I told them I was suffering.  I got all of my running gear on and told them that I would see them in about 2 hours!  I then went to the port-a-potty and waited in line before my run out.

The Run 13.1 miles:

I normally loathe the run.  I find myself saying just get through this and you never have to do this again each time I race.  This time, I was surprised to be hearing myself say, "You are doing this!  You are going to complete this race and become a 70.3 finisher.  You are so awesome.  You trained for this and you are going to accomplish it! GO AMBER!"  I was running out of the park and the winner of the race was running in.  That guy had managed to swim, bike and run the entire 70.3 in the amount of time it took me to swim & bike!!!  Amazeballs!  The run is great.  You get to talk with people, run with people, thumbs up people and cheer people on.  I saw a lot of familiar faces from the transition area and from the bike.  I passed the zig zagger from the swim which made me giggle.  I walked through every single water station grabbing what I needed at the moment...a gel, some water, some Gatorade, a 1/4 of a banana, more water.  I enjoyed each and every step of the 13.1.  On my way back I saw the girl from the bike who I thought may have been bonking, I thumbs upped her and yelled way to go sweetie!  When I was at mile 10 I finally saw Sarina.  We were wearing the exact same outfit so I kept looking for her on my run back.  It was amazing to see her.  We ran to each other, hugged and I told her how proud of her I am.  Then, as we ran away from each other, there was a guy near me so I shouted, "Yea, we planned that."  He laughed and said that he also planned to come out of the water with his best friend but it didn't happen :)  Almost immediately after I saw her my watch died.  I knew that I had three miles to go.  I would be unaware of my pace and I would no longer have music.  It was actually a good thing.  I got to experience the rest of the race inside of my own head.  Just keep pushing forward Amber, you are almost there....I got tears in my eyes thinking that I was almost finished.  I was about to actually finish this 70.3 and I was damn proud of myself.
I ran into the park and sped up.  I heard Jon and Sara cheering my name.  I gave them a high five and I made my way up the hill to the finish line.  I ran through to their lovely faces smiling at me at the end and I was ever so grateful.  I had finished the 70.3 with a huge grin on my face and two of my favorite people in the whole world standing there at the end.  What a success!

Things I saw on the run: A girl running with a camel back that made her look like the hunchback of Notre Dame.  A guy peeing down his legs.  A dead animal on the side of the road that smelled so horrible that I gagged.

Race Stats:

Swim: 47:12
Bike: 3:14
Run: 1:58
Finish: 6:10

My goal was 6 hours.  I missed it by 10 minutes.  And I am perfectly okay with that.  Things happened to me on this course that were unexpected and I talked down my competitive self and listened to my reasonable self who said take it easy little lady!  I had an overall decent race and an even better experience that I will be able to share in years to come.  I learned that I need to practice my nutrition better.  I learned that I definitely should NOT try anything new on race day(even though I know this I still grabbed things on the course that I had not practiced with)I learned that being prepared for a course by having rode on it or run on it makes a big difference, I learned that you can have fun and enjoy a race without pushing yourself to the max, I learned that having a caravan of supporters makes a gloomy day seem so much brighter, I learned that I am one tough half iron mother who put myself through the toughest physical thing I have ever done for 6 hours and lived to tell my story.  I came across a quote from the movie "A League of Their Own" this morning that totally spoke to me. "It's supposed to be hard.  If it wasn't hard everyone would do it.  The hard...is what makes it great."  And let me tell you, man was it great!

Thank you to all of my friends and family who support me in doing my favorite thing.  Thank you to my training partner and friend Sarina for walking with me on this journey.  Thank you to Jon and Sara who came to the race venue and cheered me on for 6 hours, you two are ROCKSTARS and I couldn't have done it without you.  Looking forward, I can say that I will do another 70.3.  One where I can train and race at the level that I really want to.  I am still thinking that a full IM is in my future...I am just no longer sure when.  Until then, I will keep on keeping on because it is what I love to do.

 

 

 

Life sometimes gets in the way

There are a lot of things changing in my life personally so I have taken a sabbatical from posting.  I have an entire backlog of posts, thoughts, pictures and adventures that I have chronicled...yet I cannot seem to find the time nor do I have the energy to post them.  As all things, I know that this too shall pass and when I land on my feet I will have time to post again.  I will be eventually closing down this account and starting an entirely new blog.  Keep checking back to hear about all of the exciting changes after I have weathered this storm.

"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known."

-Garrison Keillor

I survived!

 

I finished!  I almost drowned, I almost quit, I almost threw up....multiple times, I peed my pants sweat profusely, but I did it and I loved every minute of it.  I was told by two doctors the night before the race that I should not be doing it.  Seriously? Who trains for 18 weeks to throw in the towel the night before the race???  Not this girl.  Oh yea, and did I mention that somehow, some way I ended up placing 3rd in my age group in spite of all of the above?  Bonkers!  I know!  I was completely taken by surprise when I saw the results posted.  Crazy I tell you, just crazy!

So, let me rewind a bit and tell you about the day before the race.  I woke up still feeling completely crappy.  Dizziness, nausea, my sinus' and my ears still felt full and to top it all off my throat was feeling thick.  I was pretty much down and out most of the day.  I felt zapped of energy and pretty lethargic.  We went out on the boat for a while but I needed to get off early so that I could make it to the Minute Clinic before it closed.  At the minute clinic, the doctor listened to me complain and go through my list of symptoms and she simply said that she feels like I have something more than a sinus infection going on and she cannot clear me to race in the morning.  She said if I wanted more answers that I needed to go to the urgent care immediately.  Sigh.  So, off I went but not before I bought some saline nasal spray and some cough drops.  I went to the urgent care where I was seen by a doctor that I have met before.  He comes across as pretty thorough and leans more towards a holistic approach rather than a here are your 7 prescriptions now be off with you(which I simultaneously adored and loathed at the moment).  He ran blood tests for mono, elevated white blood counts, strep, diabetes and a few other things.  We came up with nada.  Nothing looked wrong.  Ugh!  He told me that based upon how I look and feel that he doesn't think I should race(he said he knows I will probably ignore him).  He referred me to an ENT doctor and said "Good Luck tomorrow...if you race :)" 

So, I headed home with full intentions to pack my race gear, down some NyQuil and get some rest.  At about 11pm I finally went to bed knowing that I would race in the morning to finish this distance...nothing more, nothing less and that I was going to be A-OK with it.

I woke up at 5am and started to get ready.  I was still feeling off but oh well, I had committed.  I ate my standard pre-race breakfast, brewed some coffee and grabbed all of my stuff.  Kristi, my training partner and neighbor, came to get me at 5:30.  She should have been doing this race with me, but unfortunately she injured herself pretty badly five weeks ago and is in no condition to race.  I was racing for the both of us.  We made it to the transition zone at 6:15 and the energy was palpable.  I just love the experience.  Everyone is pumped up and ready to go.  I found my spot immediately and started to set up.  I soon realized that I had forgotten my chest strap for my heart rate monitor and also my GPS watch...major bummer.  Oh yea, I also realized that I had left my spare tube for my tire at home as well.  Things were just not going right.  I told Kristi and she laughed and I just shrugged my shoulders.  What will be will be!  I was unusually calm considering all of the circumstances and I believe it is because I prepared myself to not race and just finish.

The Swim:  My swim wave consisted of a lot of women.  All female racers age 15-34 started together.  We were the third group to go which means that we followed all of the elite athletes.  I did my usual jumping up and down while waiting for the horn to blow to get my heart rate up(and so Kristi could see where I was).  I had planned on trying to freestyle to at least the first big short course buoy even though I was still having vertigo pretty badly and my sinus' were all messed up.  Upon my first stroke, I knew that there was no way I would be able to freestyle.  I couldn't effectively breath out when my face was underwater and I started spinning immediately...ugh!  This was going to be a long one mile swim.  I started breast stroking and sidestroking but continued to experience serious dizziness.  I couldn't figure out if my heart rate was exceedingly high, if it was the water in my nose & ears or if it was the fact that my body was just worn out that was causing me to panic.  I started swimming toward a kayak with every intention to quit the race.  They announced that if you are in trouble in the water you need to take off your swim cap and wave it in the air so a kayak will come to your aid.  I grabbed my swim cap, twice.  I was almost to the first large Olympic turn buoy and I had managed to calm myself down enough to make a clear decision.  I chose to continue with the swim, not give up and take my time.  By the time I had turned right past the second large buoy I was calm and began to freestyle again without issue.  I decided to breathe every stroke instead of every three and managed to negative split my swim.  When I stood up out of the water, my world tilted again and I was thinking how in the hell am I going to manage the rest of this race feeling like this.  My best friend Sara and Kristi both said that I did not look good coming out of the water and they both knew that I was in trouble.  I normally sprint up the beach all the way to the transition zone but this time I walked.  I didn't start running until I was almost into the transition area.  I kept thinking that this race has already been completely different than every other race I have done thus far.

T1:  I got to my bike and slowly put on my bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses.  I was very very dizzy so I had to take my time.  I took some GU because my energy was so zapped before I even got into the water that I was completely spent by this point.  I grabbed my bike and ran out to the mount zone.

The Bike:  I love biking.  It is my favorite part of doing triathlon.  There was an initial climb to get out of the park onto the main roads.  I got into aero position and settled in rather quickly.  I did feel like throwing up almost immediately.  I am not sure why this happens to me(it happened last time as well).  I think I either need to not eat before my race or just know that I am going to feel nauseous.  Since I did not have my heart rate monitor, I had to guess where I was based upon training and feel.  When I train I usually stay between 18-20 mph on the bike.  I had my bike computer setting showing my mph so that I could be sure I was at least spinning at a normal speed.  You can imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw between 20-24mph for most of the race.  I realized that during a race I rarely take in my surroundings like I do during training.  I was betting that this course really was as "beautiful" as they claimed it to be but I was simply going through the motions.  There were quite a few rolling hills and since I had never checked out the course, I was surprised every time.  I spent most of my time watching my speed, drinking water, picking out a person ahead of me and determining when I could pass them and hang on to my lead(which I did several times).  What cracks me up is the super serious racers who you can hear coming because they always have disc wheels and they sound like a freight train as they approach.  I always say something to these races and they never, ever reply back.  It really cracks me up.  I was thinking about saying something completely off the wall just to see if one of them would respond, but I didn't :)  As I was nearing the end of the bike portion I started mentally preparing myself for what I consider to be the toughest part of the race, the run.  I tried to conserve my energy, stretch my legs and drink a lot of water in the last few miles.  When I was coming down the hill into the park I could hear my family and friends cheering for me before I even saw them.  It is so awesome to have people there to support you...it makes a big difference.   I ran to the dismount line and managed to half run to my bike rack.

 

T2:  I took off my helmet, sunglasses and shoes.  Threw on my socks and tennis shoes while chatting with Igor(guy who's bike was racked next to mine whom I spoke to before the race started).  I grabbed my visor and my race belt and started running out of the transition zone.  I saw my cheering section immediately and I got to high five my kids as I ran by!

Avery took this photo and it cracks me up because I am pretty sure I was crossing my eyes at the time!

The Run:  The course went through the park and out along the main road.  It then would wind through some neighborhoods and back out onto the main road.  I felt like I was keeping up a good pace for most of the run.  The people doing the long course had to do this loop twice, so as I passed the turn that puts you back into the park to finish I was feeling wonderful.  I thought, wow!  You just did 3.1 miles and you are doing awesome.  Then, I had to climb a hill to start the second loop.  I felt all of my energy start to go away and I was thinking oh crap...here is where I bonk.  I was getting goosebumps all over my body continuously.  My mouth was so dry that it hurt to swallow.  I made a point to stop at every water station and walk while drinking to try to rehydrate.  My calves were extremely sore and I felt at one point that my legs were just going to give out.  Somehow, I managed to keep going and when I ran back into the park I was so glad to almost be finished.  I got into the gauntlet toward the finish and started sprinting.  I ran using everything I had left.  I crossed the finish line and almost threw up.  This to me means success.  I laid it all out there, pushed myself right to the edge of puking and I survived.  Yahoo!  You think I'm nuts right?

 

It was a fabulous race.  I was very glad that I still did it even though I was not feeling 100%.  Kristi, Sara, Chadd, my kids, my sister and my nephew were all there to hug and congratulate me after my finish.  My nephew was the most impressed...can't you tell?

I got my post race food and gave most of it to the kids and Sara.  Banana's and water are all I can handle post race.  I got to talk to a lot of people who I recognized from Lifetime, from other TRI's and also from out on the course.  It is so fun to connect with people who obviously love this as much as I do.  Sara and I stood in line for the race results.  When they printed, they were all funky.  I knew my swim, bike, transition time and final time but my run time said 2:11 (I can tell you it did not take me two hours to run 6.2 miles :)  So, I was confused as to what that time was.  The results also did not have rankings or any stats like that.  We hung around for a while and I wanted to watch the awards.  When I saw people swarming where the results were posted I went over to take a look.  You can imagine my surprise when I saw that I placed 3rd for my age group and that I would be receiving an award!  I walked back to Brooke and Sara and said, "You guys?  I got 3rd place!"  They both started cheering! 

 The award is this handmade bowl with a maple leaf and the date of the race on it.  It is very neat.

The girl next to me is Heather Huseth.  She won 1st place both this year and last year for our age group.  She is also doing Ironman Madison next weekend which is so impressive!

 

They had a special service to get your medal engraved which of course I had to do!  I think that it is an awesome idea and I wish that more races offered things like this. 

 

I was so impressed with this Triathlon from the course, to the way it was run, to the racers and the sponsors.  I would recommend this race to anyone and I will certainly do this course again in the future.  I am proud to say that I have finished an Olympic distance triathlon and I cannot wait until next year when I will step up my distance once again.  It is amazing what you are capable of if you put your mind to it.

Dizzy

Okay, I have to admit that I am kind of freaking out here.  My Olympic distance triathlon is this Saturday...yes, 5 measly days away.  I think the ticker on the Maple Grove website actually says, "4 days 9 hours 23 minutes and some odd seconds that are counting down continuously as I type..." and I feel like crap. 

Last Tuesday, like usual, I showed up to do my open water swim with my masters swimming group at Lake Ann.  I have done it consistently all summer long and have pretty much loved every second of it.  Until last Tuesday.  The water was perfect.  It was calm and cool out.  All of the regulars plus a few new faces showed up to swim together.  I had absolutely no idea what was about to happen to me.  We all walked into the water which has typically been around 81(yes bathwater)degrees.  It.was.cold!  We have had a couple of really cool days this August and I was a bit surprised at how quickly the water had cooled down.  Everyone was commenting on how chilly the water was.  The only person in a wetsuit was our coach who had been teaching all day in the brisk air and frankly she knew better than us. 

We began the swim and almost immediately I felt sluggish.  My right shoulder was smarting every time I stroked and my whole body just felt off.  I was about half way across the lake when I started having vertigo in the water while I was swimming!  It scared me half to death.  I immediately started doing the breaststroke.  I would try to freestyle every now and again but my ears would ring and I would lose all sense of direction.  I struggled this way the entire 500 yards across to the beach.  When I got there, I stood up and the whole world was spinning.  I told Barb(the coach)that I think I should walk back.  She checked my pulse, which was perfectly fine and told me to swim next to her the entire way back.  I tried this for about 50 yards and started to struggle again.  She grabbed me and told me to put her flippers on and to either breast stroke or back stroke the rest of the way.  Gosh, how embarrassing. 

I made it back across the lake but was still feeling so off and dizzy that I knew my 30 minute run was just out of the question.  I headed home feeling completely down and out both mentally and physically. 

On Wednesday, I went to the doctor and found out that I have a double ear infection along with a sinus infection.  Ah ha!  The light bulb goes on and the dizziness is explained.  I got my antihistamines and my antibiotics and was sent off on my merry way.  This was almost a week ago now and I am still having dizzy spells and feeling off.  Perfect....just perfect.

Yesterday, I took the kids to Weaver Lake park to check out the race venue since I am completely unfamiliar with it.  It looks like a great race venue and the water is nice and clear and COLD!!!  Panic, freak out, OMG #2.  I don't own a wetsuit.  I have never trained in a wetsuit.  Now, I wish I had!!!  Two weeks ago the lake was at 79 degrees.  These past weeks have been un-seasonably cool in MN so I am sure the lake is now much cooler than 79 and it scares me.  Will I be okay in the water without a wetsuit?  Will I expend too much energy trying to keep my body warm that my stroke will become labored or inefficient?  Will the coolness of the water affect my ears negatively?  So many things are running through my mind right now. 

This is what doing a TRI is all about.  We train ourselves for speed, for distance and for endurance.  We train in all types of weather.  Anything can happen and we need to roll with it.  So much of a race is how well you are mentally prepared for it.  Right now I am doing my best to focus on completing this race.  It is my goal to finish the race and hopefully do it in under 3 hours.  This is my first Olympic distance triathlon and I know that physically I am prepared and ready for the race.  Mentally, well...clearly that is another thing. 

I am trying to get rid of this ear/nose/throat thing that I have going on by getting as much rest as I can.  Tomorrow is my last day of activity until race day(besides walking or normal day to day routines).  My body is tired.  I ran for 45 minutes this morning and got to watch the sunrise all the while wincing as each step seemed to pinch my hips, my knees, my lower back or my ankles.  Yes, I am exhausted.  Yes, I will be so glad when Saturday comes and goes.  Yes, I will be so proud of the amount of time and effort I spent getting myself ready to tackle this distance.  But, most importantly...even though I feel completely spent and burned out with my training: Yes, I will continue to do TRI's and move on to a bigger distance next year.

We TRI

To say that life has been busy this summer would be an understatement.  I cannot believe that it has been over three weeks since our triathlon weekend.  I am just now looking through the 400 some photo's that we took that weekend.  We had so much fun and we all did our absolute best.  I am so glad to be able to say that my kids and I are triathletes and we enjoy every second of it.

My triathlon was on Saturday morning and I woke up to extremely grey skies and knew it was going to rain.  Kristi and I got down to the transition zone at 6:30 and set ourselves up.  We could pick anywhere to hang our bikes so we chose a rack closest to the bike in so that we would have less distance to wobble/run our bikes back to rack to prepare for the run.  I am so glad that we did that because almost immediately it started to downpour.  We covered our gear as much as possible, put on our swim caps and made our way to the swim start.

I had never been in the clay hole to swim before so I was a bit apprehensive about how it would go.  My swim coach gave me a few pre race tips so I kept those in mind while waiting in the pouring rain to take my turn running across the start and jumping into the water.  They had the waves broken down to men and women groups alternating by age group.  The wave before me consisted of men age 25-29 wearing orange swim caps.  My group were women 30-34 in green caps and the group behind me were men 40-45 in maroon caps.  I hit the water and started swimming.  I was doing my best to not get kicked or kick anyone else.  About 100 yards into the swim, the girl in front of me breast stroked and kicked me hard in the stomach...yowza!  I moved quickly to her left and swam around her.  This is a hazard of the swim...you just never know what is going to happen.  Each time I looked up to sight where I was I would pay attention to the colored caps around me.  I was encouraged by the fact that fairly quickly I was pulling ahead of the orange caps.  Occasionally, I would see a green cap in my periphery and so I would swim harder to try and maintain a lead on my age group.  I came out of the water and my best friend was standing right there yelling my name.  Swim done!

As I got to my bike I saw how absolutely SOAKED everything was.  I threw on my helmet, watch and my shoes and started running out with my bike.  I hopped on the bike and made my way to the first turn towards the upward climb.  At about mile 2 I saw Kristi up ahead.  I was so glad to see her and get to chat with her for a second.  Our goals for this race were completely different so I knew that passing her meant that I was on track timing wise as her swim wave started 4 groups ahead of me.  I rode hard and fast in the rain and was thankful that I had trained on a day that was identical to this.  The only difference was that  I was getting sprayed in the face by other people's bikes who were in front of me.  It just made me push harder to be the one in front.  I played cat and mouse with two guys most of the ride.  A 17 year old and a 47 year old.  They would catch me and pass me on the downhills and straight aways but I would pass them every time there was a hill.  Eventually, I passed both of them and stayed ahead of them for the remainder of the race.  At mile 14 I saw the first female who was in my age group and apparently the only person ahead of me in that group as well.  I quickly learned that her name was Lindsay and she is an Ironman.  In my mind I knew that staying with her or ahead of her was what I had to do so I kept on pushing.  By the end of the bike I had a fairly healthy lead on her and I was mentally preparing myself through intense self coaching for the hardest part of my race. 

My brand new tennis shoes were a soaked and soggy mess along with my socks.  I decided to not put on my socks.  I threw on my shoes and took off running through the park.  The entire first mile of the run is straight up hill.  It is tough as hell so I was trying to pay attention to my pace.  Unfortunately, I was having trouble with my watch starting its run program so I decided to not waste time trying to start it and just concentrated on my breathing to guide me.  About halfway up the hill I saw many of the elite athletes running down past me towards the finish.  It was a bit disheartening because I knew I still had that much further to go but I kept on pushing.  I ran my little heart out and crossed the finish line feeling on top of the world.  Sara(my BFF), Chadd and the kids were there to greet me. 

When they printed off my race results, I saw that I came in First place for my age group!  I had made my goal of wanting to be on the podium and even exceeded my expectations of being in the top three.  I was the second female overall and the 6th overall female finisher(this includes the elite athletes).  It was an amazing day.

We woke up bright and early on Sunday morning in an effort to make it to Highland Park in St. Paul by 8:30am.  The kids got their stuff together and we loaded up the car with three bikes, all of their gear and my little triathletes and we were on our way.

Our first stop was the highland park pool where the kids would do the swim portion of the race. Avery's age group went first. All of the kids can decide whether or not to wear a life jacket and the distances are determined by age. Avery had to swim 50 meters continuous. She was geared up and ready to go. I was so impressed watching her swim freestyle almost the entire way. She has never been taught to swim that way so I thought it was spectacular that she did it.

Breezy and Bennett also had to swim 50 meters, but they both wore their life jackets.  It is so cute to watch them swim swim little fishy's across the pool with huge grins on their faces.

We hopped back into the car and drove to Highland Park High School where the kids were able to do the bike/run portion of the race.  Again they went by age group and each kid had a different distance.  Avery went a mile on her bike and the twins went 1/2 mile.  All three of them are very strong bikers and they finished close to first for this portion.

Last but not least was the run portion of the race.  Avery had to run a half mile and the twins had to run a quarter mile.  My kids love to sprint but do not like long distances.  It is hilarious to watch them run and stop, run and stop, run and stop over and over again.  The twins did a fabulous job and came in somewhere in the middle of the pack.  Avery had a bit of a struggle but she didn't mind being last one bit because it meant that I got to run with her for most of the race and across the finish line. 

It was a great day and the kids did so well.  They had so much fun and we couldn't be more proud of them.

Way to go my little triathletes!  You guys rock!

TRI Weekend!

My first triathlon and the kids Triathlon are officially upon us.  Tomorrow, I will compete in the Chaska River city Day's sprint Triathlon.  I am pumped.  My goal is to get onto the podium for my age group(30-34)so I am mentally trying to prepare myself to keep on pushing it tomorrow.  If I don't make it up there, you can guarantee that I will have tried my hardest and pushed myself to my limits while having the time of my life. 

The kids will be participating in their second triathlon on Sunday.  It is the Miracle Treats for Miracle Feet Kids Triathlon.  My friend Barb's son was born with bilateral club foot.  Each year, DQ and Gillette Children's hospital do Miracle Treat day.  If you buy a blizzard on July 26th from DQ, they will donate a portion to Gillette's Children's hospital.  The triathlon has been organized by my friend Barb to raise more money and awareness for this cause.  My kids have a blast doing it every year.  If your kids would like to do a triathlon, this is the perfect venue as a starter course.  It is done for fun and for a good cause.  Win/Win in my opinion.

Good luck to all of my fellow triathletes who are racing this weekend.  A special shout out to my kiddos Avery, Bennett & Bria who I am so super proud of!  You guys rock! 

7 years ago....

Seven years ago I gave birth to the most precious little girl that I had ever seen.  My chunky little Eskimo baby.  She stole my heart and she holds it still all these years later.  Time has simply gotten away from me.  I can remember every moment of her entrance into this world as if it were yesterday.  I remember her first sounds, her first smile, her first word and all of those other firsts.  She is my first born and perhaps it is why I hold those memories so dear. 

Today, she is Seven years old and full of life.  She is an independent, strong willed, spirited little girl who is loving, talented, caring and kind.  She loves to tell jokes and read books about Science.  She is full of questions and wants to know the way that the world works.  She loves her friends more than most things and asks for multiple play dates or sleep overs each and every day.  She loves to sing and dance and perform for adults.  She is really into iCarly, Justin Bieber, Ke$ha and music in general.  Her BFF's are Ashley, Madi, Paige and Sophia.  She is recently into her American Girl doll and loves all things American Girl.  She loves to shop at the store Justice.  She loves writing in a journal and reading chapter books.  Her favorite thing to do is accessorize her outfits and coordinate her funky style into each look(they mostly crack me up but hey, she is asserting her individuality).  I think she is absolutely wonderful and I am so proud of the person that she is.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!  We love you to pieces! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO