Winnie-the-Pooh…and Tigger too!

On Saturday, Brian and I made an impromptu trip to the Magic Kingdom. Really can you think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon in July? My niece Emily’s softball team had qualified to play in a national tournament that was hosted by Disney. My brother, Chris, my sister-law, Vicky, and Emily had been in Orlando for over a week. Since Emily was so busy playing softball, we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to get together. Everything worked out and we met them Saturday afternoon at the Magic Kingdom.

Emily had certain rides she wanted to go on so we just let her lead the way. The Magic Kingdom is primarily focused on younger children, and Emily at age 12 is probably close to the age when some children lose interest, but she has been to Disney two other times so there are certain rides that she remembers and likes. The adults had no problem letting her run the show. Disney is all about the children after all. Besides so many of the Disney characters have been imprinted on our cultural psyche that, unless you are a total grouch with a bug up your butt, you can’t help but enjoy yourself. Most of the rides are fairly benign – Space Mountain was probably the most intense. Of course we had to do “It’s a Small World”. Brian hates that song so I made sure to sing along with the music during the ride. “Pirates of the Caribbean” was another must do. The Buzz Lightyear ride was hilarious! Brian, Emmy, and I were in one car. They were manning the laser guns and I was responsible for spinning the car so they could shoot the bad guys. Yes, they let me be in charge of spinning the car. Yes, I abused the privilege – what else would you expect?

When it came time for dinner, we ate at The Crystal Palace, which is a lovely buffet-style restaurant that has the Pooh characters walking around while you eat. A love of Winnie-the-Pooh is one thing Emily and I have in common. Of course I had my picture taken with all the characters. If you are going to spend the day at Disney, you might as well make the most of the experience. I even got a kiss from Pooh!

After dinner, we rode more rides. There was a lovely parade with floats of Disney characters all lit up. It was really pretty! There was also the nightly fireworks show, which was really nice, too. The park closed at 11:00 pm. Brian and I said goodbye and we headed home to Gainesville. It was a fun day, and it was so great to see Chris, Vicky, and Emily.

15 and Counting

Today marks 15 weeks until the New York Marathon. I have been officially training for 1 week. Since it’s still triathlon season and I have 2 races to go, there hasn’t been much difference in my training yet, but it’s about time to start increasing the run mileage. On Friday, my “In training” shirt arrived in the mail. It’s a nice technical shirt and fits well. Brian says it looks cute. The picture is of the logo on the shirt.

I’m really excited for this race for a few reasons.

• The course – running over the Verrazano and Queensboro Bridges is going to be so cool! Running through the rest of the city is going to be pretty awesome as well.
• The spectators – New Yorkers are a really vocal and surprisingly friendly group of people, and apparently have no problems spending several hours on a Sunday hanging out on the sidewalks in front of their apartment buildings - or favorite bar, restaurant, or coffee shop – cheering on thousands of runners.
• The family – I have a lot of family in the area and a lot of the race goes through neighborhoods I am familiar with. My family is already planning where they will cheer for me. It looks like mile 17 is going to be the best spot, which is awesome because anyone who has run a marathon knows that you really need the spectator support later in the race. Brian will actually be there to cheer for me. This will be the first time he’s seen me run a marathon. He’s excited because he doesn’t have to get up early to see me race, and he will have lots of company.
• My birthday – the race is on November 4^th which is two days before my 37^th birthday. If I can find a comfortable tiara, I may have to wear it for the race.
• Ironman Florida 2008 – The marathon will mark the beginning of my Ironman year. It seems like an appropriate way to get started. Joey and Maggie are repeating their Ironman journey and I'm really excited to be sharing it with them.
  
• My health – it’s been a year of rebuilding the base and I am finally starting to feel really good. The plantar fasciitis also seems to be starting to resolve itself (keep your fingers crossed). Overall, I feel better than I did at the start of training for my other two marathons.

That’s all for now – I’ll keep you posted on how the training goes.

Crab Feast!

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent the past week at the beach with my family. I think I need to spend a little more time describing the crab feast we had on Wednesday night. Steamed crabs is a Maryland tradition. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest blue crab fishery in the world, at least it was until overfishing and pollution pretty much destroyed it, but that is a rant for another day. Anyway, crabs and beer is a standard summer time activity in Maryland, but crabs have gotten super expensive, and are nonexistent here in Florida, but are both plentiful and affordable in North Carolina, so the crab feast has become an annual part of our summer family vacation.

I feel like I should mention that Brian, Greg and Diane, as native New Yorkers, are relatively new to cracking crabs, but have taken to it like they’ve been doing it their whole lives. How Brian made it through college at the University of Maryland without going to a single crab feast is beyond me. He did not crack his first crab until we attended a crab feast held by Joey’s Uncle Mike in Rockport, TX. I have to digress for a moment and mention that Joey’s family puts on a crab feast that rivals any I’ve had in Maryland, and it is always a treat when a crab feast is part of our visit. If it weren’t for Joey’s family, we might not have discovered that Shiner Boch is a great beer to have with crabs.

The crabs were ordered, shrimp for the few non-crab eaters, the newspaper was spread out on the table, the Shiner was passed out, and we all started in. Now my family is really social at the dinner table as it is, but cracking crabs is a social occasion at a whole other level because it takes a while to fill up when you are pulling apart a crab to get the meat. We had lots of fun, made a big mess, and the crabs were super yummy!

On Vacation

I thought I’d take a break from all the fun in the sun to write a quick post. This week I’ve been in the Outer Banks, NC with my family. This vacation has become an annual family gathering in recent years and is always loads of fun. The weather has been perfect! There has been lots of biking, running, swimming, playing in the ocean, kayaking, and eating and drinking, of course. Here are some pics of the week so far.

Release the Kraken!

The 4^th of July was fairly uneventful. I got up early to help out with the Melon Run – the Florida Track Club’s annual 4^th of July 5k race – so dubbed because we serve watermelon at the race finish, and the age group winners get a watermelon to take home. I had decided not to run the race. A 5k didn’t really fit in my training for the week. I really needed to ride. Also, I had stayed up way too late the night before and was just plain tired. I ended up taking care of the post-race food table. The event was a success. We had 400 participants, which is a great turnout for a town the size of Gainesville, and a course record of 15:02. Everyone had a good time, lots of watermelon was consumed, and the rain held off until we were all cleaned up.

Back at home, I decided that I probably needed to take a nap at some point. It was a steady rain outside and showed no signs of clearing up. I ate some breakfast, did some laundry, and settled on the sofa to watch some Wimbledon. After getting the important details from Joey about Jordan’s first triathlon, I crashed out. I was awakened around 2:00 pm by a text message photo of some crazy person in disguise. I wonder who it could be?

Let’s hear it for friends who go above and beyond to make you laugh. I had a bad headache and felt truly horrible so I went back to sleep. It was still raining and Brian was working so I really lacked any motivation to move. I woke back up around 5:00 pm and still felt yucky. I grabbed the remote and started looking for something to watch. I found a Godzilla movie marathon on Encore. No kidding – they were showing all 29 Godzilla movies to celebrate the 4th, and since it’s Encore – no commercials. So I settled in to watch some cheesy Japanese scifi. I do wonder if the Japanese people are fixated with seeing their cities destroyed on the big screen, but that is a discussion for another day.

The Godzilla movies reminded me of the St. Augustine Triathlon turned duathlon. I had done this race last year and Brian and I had such a good time, I decided to do the race again. When we arrived at the race hotel Friday night, the wind was absolutely horrendous. It was so bad that it actually lifted my bike as I was walking across the parking lot. Insane! Of course there was concern that the swim would be cancelled. While we were eating dinner, I checked the weather on my cellphone. At the top of the page in big red letters was a coastal flooding and wind advisory. I showed it to Brian and he remarked that the locusts would be arriving at 6 am and there was a Godzilla alert until 8 am. I laughed pretty hard, and decided to share with Joey. I knew he would find it amusing so I sent him a text message. He replied that the Godzilla alert was nothing, at 7:45 am they are releasing the Kraken. Now I should know better than to be eating or drinking anything when I read one of Joey’s texts. I almost choked and then had a good laugh, as did Brian. If you don’t get why this is funny, you need to watch more cheesy scifi.

The swim was cancelled the next morning. The ocean was one giant froth and you could actually see the riptides. A sea monster rearing up out of the ocean wouldn’t have surprised me. The tri became a du. My first one ever. Everyone had a good time even though the wind was crazy. Brian and I spent the afternoon in St. Augustine before heading home.

Here's to lazy, rainy days spent on the sofa, friends that make you laugh from 1000 miles away, and cheesy scifi.

My Race T-shirt Quilt

It’s been awhile since my last post. Last week was one of those uneventful weeks that didn’t really inspire any posts. I do have some past events that I could have shared but I honestly wasn’t much in the mood to write anything. Camp was so-so, my training has been off, and Brian has a bunch of grant deadlines so he is working like crazy. I am basically in the post-halfiron doldrums. Same thing happened last year after Gulf Coast. Fortunately, Brian and I are heading to the Outer Banks on Saturday for a week of fun in the sun with our family. I am so ready!

On to the reason for this post. Joey’s mom, Carol, has started making quilts out of t-shirts. She made one for Joey a while back using some of his race t-shirts and I loved it. I told Carol that I wanted her to make one for me. I have so many race t-shirts and I rarely wear t-shirts so they are piling up. Brian and I spent last Thanksgiving in Rockport with Joey’s parents so I figured it would be a good opportunity to give Carol my shirts. I picked shirts that I didn’t wear and I thought would look good in a quilt. We decided on the placement of the shirts, the color of the fabric, and even picked a shirt for a pillow. The quilt was finished in March and Joey presented it to me when I was in Austin in April. I absolutely loved it! It looked great! I couldn’t take it home with me because I didn’t have any room in my luggage. I forgot to ask Joey to bring it when he came to Orlando so Carol shipped it to me. It arrived on Monday and I’m very happy to have it. My only regret is that I didn’t have it made bigger. It would look really great on our bed. I have lots of race shirts so I guess I’ll have to have another one made.Thanks Carol!

Click on the pictures to zoom in.

The VIP Treatment

Saturday I was planning on going swimming at the Florida Pool on the UF Campus. Brian and I had no plans for the day. Brian had work to do and I was feeling pretty unmotivated. I had spent four hours Friday afternoon cleaning the gutters, trimming the shrubbery, and mowing the lawn so I wasn’t inclined to do any housework. I still haven’t gotten my laptop fixed so I didn’t have a computer. Brian was using his laptop, which he has been nice enough to share with me, and was working in the office so I couldn’t use the desktop either. I couldn’t work on my lesson plans for summer camp and I was getting antsy. My workouts the past week have been sporadic and uninspired – a bit of an off week – so I figured I should do something. It was already too hot for any kind of decent run or bike and I really didn’t want to do either at the gym – it was just too sunny outside. The pool it is!

I really love the Florida Pool! It is a beautiful 50 yard pool tucked away behind the stadium on campus. There are palm trees around the pool deck and it is always very quiet. Even when the pool is crowded, I don’t have any problems finding room to swim. Since it is a university pool, there is the added bonus of eye candy. I got my things together for an afternoon in the sun and got ready to head out. I decided to check the pool’s website before I left just in case. The pool has regular hours but there are times when it is closed for various reasons. It turns out this was one of those times. It was closed Friday thru Wednesday for Summer session break. How annoying! I can understand being closed during Spring Break, but Summer session? Are all the lifeguards going somewhere? How about limited hours? Seriously! Okay, time to reexamine my plan. I had a few options. I could bail on my swim and do something else entirely, I could swim inside, or I could pay the $3.50 and go to the city pool. The pool is a really nice facility in Westside Park about a mile from my house. I run on the trail through the park and I’ve checked it out. It has lap lanes, diving platforms, a free swim area, a water slide and a kiddie pool. I’ve never swam there, though, because I can use the campus pool for free, and I have a pool at my health club that I already pay for so I’m reluctant to pay to use another pool. I really wanted some sun time so I decided to cough up the bucks and take my chances that there would be some lap lanes available. Plus I had already put on sunscreen. The decision was made.

When I got to the pool, I asked at the admissions desk about lap lane availability. As I walked by the pool to get to the entrance, I noticed that there was a swim team having practice. I figured my chances of a lap lane were slim to none. One of the lifeguards explained that there are always two lap lanes open at all times – nice! – and that if the swim team was using them that I should have the lifeguard on duty make them clear out. Is this for real? I’ve never been to a pool where they actually enforced the lane limitations on the swim teams. I went in, found a deck chair to put my stuff on and headed to the lanes. The lifeguard I had talked to at the entrance met me there, showed me the lanes, and proceeded to clear out all the kids that were playing around in it. I told her I didn’t mind sharing the other lane, but she seemed intent on exercising her authority so I let her go at it. I must say the high school students take their lifeguarding duties much more seriously than the guards on campus. I’m sure the sheer number of people and the presence of children is part of it. Also, the fact that it is probably one of the few occasions when people actually listen to them might have something to do with it. Anyway, I was feeling like a VIP. I thanked her and started my swim. I ended up having the entire lane to myself. I can’t even remember the last time that happened. I don’t mind sharing lanes, but sometimes it’s nice to swim alone. I did an easy 1000 yards and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in the sun. I decided to forego a trip down the waterslide because of the masses of children. Next time! Overall, it was a lovely afternoon and I definitely feel like my $3.50 was well spent.

Orlando Ironman 70.3 -Finally!

Warning - This is way too long!

Here it is - the long anticipated and long overdue Florida Ironman 70.3 report. Sorry it’s taken me so long. Summer camp is in full swing and I am getting behind on everything. I know everyone has been going out of their minds with anticipation. I wrote a good bit of this before Brian and I headed off to New York and I’m not feeling inclined to edit it much so it’s pretty long. I figure it should keep everyone busy for a while and let me off the hook for not posting in a while.

Sunday, May 20, was the much anticipated - and dreaded - Florida Ironman 70.3. I left for Orlando on Thursday and returned on Monday. It was a really awesome trip if a bit stressful. Joey was working the race expo for Trigger Point so I had invited him to stay with me. I had reserved a truly awesome condo at the Blue Heron Beach Resort right on Lake Bryan just outside of Disney so there was plenty of room. I decided on a condo because I wanted a kitchen. Also, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be alone so I wanted to be in a place that would be comfy to hang out in. The condo complex is pretty new – they are still building the second tower – and the unit was perfect! I arrived in Orlando around 3:00 pm on Thursday – just a short 1.5 hour drive from Gainesville, checked into the condo, went to the grocery store, unpacked and got settled. By that time Joey was done working so I went over to his hotel and picked him up. It turns out that the hotel he was booked in with his co-worker, Thomas, was right around the corner from the condo – very convenient. He needed to spend some time dealing with Austin Triathletes Open Water Swim logistics with Maggie, who was covering for him, but eventually we made it out for a quick dinner at Carraba’s. We spent a little time catching up but it was pretty much off to bed after dinner.

Friday was the first day of the race expo. Joey went off to work and I did an easy 30 minute run on the treadmill, then picked up some lunch for him and Thomas and headed off to the expo. The race was hosted by Disney so the expo and transition area were located in Disney’s Wilderness Park near the Magic Kingdom. If you weren’t staying in the park, you had to take a shuttle from a designated parking lot. It wasn’t too bad but just inconvenient enough. I got to the expo and went to the Trigger Point booth to give the guys their food and use the tools since I hadn’t done so after my run. I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Denise at the booth. Denise and I went to grad school at Duke together and she and Joey both did their first half-iron distance race, the Duke Half Iron, and their first Ironman, at the same time. I had thought about emailing her to see if she was doing this race but then had totally forgotten. Denise is an exceptional triathlete and has a great support group that travels with her – truly an entourage. For this race, her mother, Christine, and her friend, Naomi, had come up from Barbados to compete also. Very cool! We hung out for a bit and then they headed off for some food and I sat down to do some Trigger Point work. The booth was super busy so I kept having to move so Joey and Thomas could work on customers. It was fun hanging out with them but eventually I went to get my race packet and do some shopping. The pickings were slim. It looked liked they had rolled out whatever was leftover from last year. I managed to find a cute shirt in my size and a pint glass but not too much else jumped out at me. I made one more stop at the TP booth to say goodbye to the guys and headed back to the condo. Now if you’ve never been to Disney, here is something important to note – Disney is designed to make it exceptionally easy to get into, get around, and stay, but leaving the park is a whole other adventure. I finally got back to the condo, did some more TP work, stretching, and yoga. I was contemplating either a trip to the hot tub or a nap when Joey arrived. We chilled for a bit and then headed out for dinner. We had a nice little adventure in downtown Orlando complete with a ride in a pedicab. I watched some of the Spurs – Suns game before heading to bed. I also made the mistake of checking the weather. Half the state of Florida was on fire and Friday was pretty smoky so I wanted to see what Sunday looked like. The forecast was for lots of wind. Every tri I have done this season has been in ridiculous wind conditions so I was less than thrilled. I was nervous about the bike and I knew wind was just going to make it worse. Oh well! Since there wasn’t anything I could do about it, I went to bed. Saturday was bike check-in and after Friday, I had a pretty good idea of how long it was going to take to get in and out of Disney.

Saturday was indeed windy – crazy windy – but no smoke. The expo opened at 10 am so Joey headed out around nine. I kind of putzed around – I’m not really sure what took me so long to get going – I think I was feeling a little avoidance. Anyway, I ate breakfast and loaded my bike on the car. My original plan was to ride my bike from the parking lot to the race site so I wouldn’t have to deal with the shuttle bus. I had told the guys I would bring them food again and decided it would be more of a hassle to ride my bike since the only backpack I had was my transition pack which had all my race gear in it. I got to the shuttle site and was informed that we would be laying our bikes down inside the luggage compartments of the charter buses and that bikes would be piled on top of each other. Seriously WTF! If I had known this ahead of time I would have emptied my backpack and made plans to ride. There were several reasons why this situation was irritating. First of all, the transport buses that Disney uses throughout the park are the type similar to city buses – there is plenty of room on these buses for the bikes – but we had been provided with charter style buses. Second, there was plenty of room in the luggage bays for the bikes to be upright. All that was needed was a few straps. I was really not feeling the Disney love at this point, and frankly rather disappointed in Ironman also. As athletes realized how the bikes were to be transported, more and more of them opted to ride. I didn’t have my helmet or I would have put my bag and all the food in the bus and ridden also. I put my bike on the bus, covered it with a packing blanket and got on the bus so I wouldn’t freak out when someone put their bike on top of mine. It was small consolation that the other athletes on the bus with me were also unhappy. Of course everything was fine but that is hardly the point. I got to the expo and cruised by the TP booth to drop of the food. The booth was in chaos! They were slammed and it looked likely that they would sell out of their product. Way to go guys! Joey was surrounded by Ironman officials. He had called me earlier to see if he could use my car during the race to provide race support. Of course I said yes – I wasn’t going to be using it, and I thought it would be more fun for Joey than sitting around waiting to catch glimpses of me coming in and out of the transition area. Spectating for a half-iron can be a tedious thing especially if you are by yourself. I had a moment where I was feeling a little abandoned – I’m pretty used to doing races by myself but I was looking forward to having someone there to cheer for me – but I really did want Joey to have some fun especially since he had been working so hard. Later when things had calmed down at the booth, Joey told me that he would be spotting the male pros on the bike and run and would be back in time to see me on my run. By this time, I had checked in my bike, cruised the expo again in hopes of improved shopping – no joy there - chatted with Denise and company, and was generally feeling better about everything. Joey handed me my Ironman VIP bracelet and told me that as a race support vehicle, we would be able to drive right to the race site in the morning. Wohoo! The VIP bracelet would get me into the VIP tent at the race finish. By this time, I was definitely ready to leave the expo. My feet were hurting a bit and Joey recommended I get in the pool. I went back to the condo and did just that. After paddling around in the pool, I took a bath in the whirlpool bath tub, and started cooking dinner. I made a simple but yummy pasta dinner and had a spinach salad to go with it. I did another check of my race gear and it was pretty much lights out around 10 pm. Overall, I was feeling less anxious than I had been, but I was still pretty stressed out.

The alarm went off at 4 am – no that’s not a typo – and I thought about crying. The race start was at 6:20 am which I am pretty sure is the earliest race I’ve ever done. I got dressed and had my usual breakfast of eggs, oatmeal, oj, and coffee. Joey and I headed out around 5 am. We got to the race site easily, parked right behind the transition area, and headed to transition. Getting set up was a little difficult because it was so dark. I realized I had forgotten to get a throwaway water bottle for the run. I like to carry a bottle of Nuun to start the run. Oh well! I could always sacrifice one of my bike bottles if necessary. I got set up, chatted with the women around me, sunscreened, and headed off to the race start. Joey had to leave before the race started to get in position for his race duties but he walked with me down to the race start so I was able to keep my shoes on – very important for a plantar fasciitis sufferer. I had to leave my shoes in transition at the Lonestar tri and it sucked! Anyway, the race start was on nice soft sand so my feet were comfy. The race site and beach are surrounded by trees so it was hard to get a sense of what the wind was like but it didn’t seem too bad. I ran into Christine as she was lining up for her wave and we chatted for a bit as I ate my pre-race banana. Then Denise and Naomi showed up and I hung out with them until it was time for my wave at 6:47 am. The swim was a walk in beach start. The course was pretty much a 3 sided rectangle. With the rising sun, the buoys were often hard to see, but I managed to stay pretty tight on the course. I was surprised when I started swimming to feel crud in my quads – not a good sign and not something I’ve ever felt at the start of a tri. I could also feel that my swim was slower than I wanted but I was having a hard time finding a rhythm at a faster pace so I just went with it. Heading back to the beach, there was definitely some chop but overall it was good conditions. My transition was long, mostly because running back to the transition area in bare feet is hard for me. Before the race, I had heard some garbled announcements about putting your bike shoes on your pedals before leaving transition but hadn’t paid much attention because I need even the small amount of cushion you get from bike shoes. I soon found out why the recommendation had been made. Before the bike mount there was about 100 ft stretch of sand. Yes, we had to get our bikes through very powdery sand. I have tri bike shoes which are ventilated so they totally filled up with sand and of course I wasn’t wearing socks. That sucked! At least the sand was powdery enough that it didn’t stick in the cleats. I didn’t worry about the sand in my shoes because part of my bike plan included getting off the bike to alleviate crotch pain which has been an ever increasing issue with me for about the past year. I figured I could empty the sand at that time if I needed to. Well, I never needed to get off the bike so the sand stayed. At least I know that I can bike 56 miles with sand in my shoes. Once out on the course, I realized it was pretty windy but not brutally so. I settled in for my ride. My goal for the bike was to keep my average mph above 16. My target was 18 mph but I realized about 15 miles in when I hit the first real headwind and the hills started that averaging 18 mph was going to be too hard. Yes, I said hills. There was a significant stretch of the course that had rolling hills worthy of Austin. Well, there are no hills like that in Gainesville so it was a bit much for me. My cruddy quads seemed like they had cleared up after 10 miles on the bike until I tried to get out of the saddle for some of the larger hills – owww! Oh well. The worst was a nasty uphill ala the Pace Bend Park Road loop that was directly into the headwind. I don’t think I’ve ever heard so much swearing during a triathlon. Yes, I was swearing too. There were police officers at the top cheering us on, but I didn’t see an intersection. I think they were there in case anyone keeled over. There was one extremely frustrating stretch of the course where we were biking through a town and there were no shoulders. We were intermingled with the cars. When the race information said it was an open bike course, they weren’t kidding! What was frustrating was that it was a straight, flat stretch out of the wind but you couldn’t go that fast – mostly because the cars were freaked out and driving really slow. I won’t complain about that. At least they were being careful. I didn’t start having serious crotch discomfort until the last 10 miles which got pretty uncomfortable. I just kept looking at the avg mph on my computer. As long as it stayed above 16 mph, I didn’t mind coasting and standing as needed. Back at the race site, there was the pesky sand again. I almost face planted into it, it was so churned up. I took some extra time in transition to wash off my feet and reapply sunscreen. The spray-on sunscreen has got to be the best invention ever! I stopped at the port-a-potties on the way out of transition and was off on the run. The run was a 3 loop course which has its pros and cons. Pros – you are never alone on the course, spectators get to see you three times, you know what to expect after the first loop. Cons – gets a little boring, you have to run any difficult section 2 more times. The run was flat but about half the loop was on grass which normally I don’t mind, but the soil in Florida is very silty/sandy so you sink a lot in the grass. It was hard for me to get good traction and I had very little rebound so it was very hard on my feet. It was such a relief to get on the paved part of the run. I wasn’t sure what to expect from myself on the run but I got out there and I realized I was really hot. My heat conditioning has been minimal since I’ve been running on the treadmill so much. When I realized how hot I was I started worrying about overheating and stressing my kidneys. I decided to walk until I felt a little cooler and hopefully that would get me close to an aid station. I had brought my remaining bike bottle with me so I had fluid to tide me over. I walked for about 10 minutes and felt good enough to run again. The wind we had been cursing on the bike was absolute heaven on the run! At the first aid station, I ditched my bottle, grabbed Gatorade, a cup of ice, a cup of grapes and pretzels – yummy! - and doused myself repeatedly with cold sponges. Once I was wet I felt infinitely better. I basically stayed wet the whole race and carried a cup of ice with me between aid stations. I was a little disappointed in the aid stations – several ran out of sponges and none of them had sunscreen or Vaseline. I’m so glad I put on sunscreen before leaving transition or I would have been crispy. I’ve also started carrying a packet of Chammois Butt'r on the run which is great for chafe prevention so I was good to go despite the lack at the aid stations. Christine, Denise’s mom, went blowing by me on my first lap. I assumed it was her last lap by the way she was cruising. She cheered me on and I shouted that she looked great. The guy next to me agreed that she looked awesome and yelled out “You’re lying about your age!” We could see her laughing. I told him that she was indeed 54 and we both agreed that it would be nice to look that good when we are that age. Heck, we agreed it would be nice to look that good now! I didn’t see Joey on my first loop, but I figured I’d see him the next time around and I did. It was really good to have someone to cheer me on heading into the last lap – I was definitely fading. I settled into something between a run and a walk – a trot would be the best description and finished it out. Joey met me at the finish and walked me through the shoot to pick up my finisher’s goodies and then took me to the VIP tent. The tent was pretty empty by then but I didn’t really care. What was super excellent was that it was right at the finish line and there were chairs. It was so nice to sit, take my shoes off, and put my feet up. They were throbbing by then. Joey brought me some water and munchies, and I rested for a bit while he told me about his day. Then we headed to transition, got my gear together and headed out. I was so glad to have the car parked close by. I really can’t thank Joey enough for being there at the finish to take care of me, for getting me the Ironman VIP treatment, and staying an extra day in Orlando to be at the race with me. It was so nice having a sherpa. I haven't had one in years and Joey was awesome! We had to swing by the airport to return Joey’s rental car, and then back to the condo. We had decided that we had enough food at the condo so we didn’t need to go back out. We ate, I showered, and then we headed to the hot tub for a nice soak. Love the hot tub! I wasn’t feeling too bad by this point. There was a little tv time and then off to bed. Joey had a 6 am flight so we were going to be up at 4 am again. So wrong! I dropped him at the airport, went back to bed for a bit, and then packed up and was headed back to Gainesville around noon. The drive home was uneventful and involved a nap when I got home.

Overall, I am pleased with my race. I improved my time from the Gulf Coast half-iron last year by 11 minutes – my swim was a little slower, my run was a little faster, and my bike time was 15 minutes faster. I averaged 15 mph at Gulf Coast and was at 16.2 mph for Orlando. I’m really happy about that because Orlando was a much harder course. I’m not sure I would repeat this race. There were enough logistical issues to make it annoying, and the cost of the race as well as the cost of staying in Orlando are definite drawbacks. The expo was so-so and there was no swag if you didn’t finish the race. The post race swag was okay – a knapsack, a finisher’s hat, and a finisher’s shirt. Of course, they didn’t have any mediums so I will likely never wear mine as it is ginormous. The main reason that I will not be likely to repeat this race is that the Gulf Coast Tri is the weekend before and that is a much better race so if I am looking for a half-iron in May, Gulf Coast is it. I only chose Orlando because I had a scheduling conflict. Next year is Gulf Coast for sure! Come on out and join me.

Back to Work

This week marked the beginning of me teaching summer camp at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus. I taught there last summer also. I joked with one of my workout pals that I've got my work schedule backwards - working in the summer and taking the rest of the year off. He remarked that given how gross it is in Florida during the summer that I've actually got it right. Good point! Of course, I'm only working half days so it's not that big a deal. Also, we have a 2 week break in July so I really only work for seven weeks. How will I ever make it? So far everything is going well. I'm behind on my lesson plans because of the unexpected length of our New York trip but I'll get caught up. I don't have any funny stories to share yet since it's only the second day but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

On a separate note, I'm starting to get back into a training groove. I did the stadium stairs again today. I was able to go all the way around the stadium running the whole way. I even went all the way to the nosebleed seats one time - I had to walk towards the end of that, but I got there. My legs felt much better than they did last week. Of course, it had rained earlier today and was cloudy and cooler than it was last week which I'm sure helped. I'm really good at training on my own and sometimes even prefer it, but for this type of workout it's nice to have a group to keep you motivated. I may even convince one or two of the group to join me on the track for my speedwork - now that I'm off the treadmill and back on the track. I'm considering having Brandon Marsh put together a training program for me for the Hammerhead Olympic Tri (HOT) in August. I did this race last year with Joey and we both had fun, but my training kind of fizzled during the summer after the Gulf Coast Tri so I didn't have as good a race as I could have. This year I would like to do better. Plus my tri season so far has been all about rebuilding my base. I still have a lot of work to do but I am feeling pretty good, and it would be nice to focus on improving my times for the HOT. It will also be my last tri of the season so I'd like to have a good race and finish on a positive note. Actually, I've made up my mind about Brandon, I just have to contact him and get the ball rolling. That's all I've got for now!

The New Tuesday Workout

Tuesday at 5 pm found me meeting a group of people from the Florida Track Club that are trying to get a new training group started. They want to run the stairs at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at UF aka “The Swamp” every Tuesday at 5pm. A couple of guys invited/coerced me into meeting them during the FTC monthly meeting Monday night. I figured what the heck – I’m not officially training for anything just yet, I’ve enjoyed doing stadium stairs in the past, and I figure it will help with the lack of hills in the area. Besides I joined the FTC to meet people. The workout was a blast! Of course it was hard and I walked as much as I ran, but considering I did a half iron 2 weeks ago and haven’t run since last Tuesday, I’m okay with that. We warmed up by running up and down the spiral ramps to the stadium upper levels. We did 4 sets. I was concerned about running on concrete with my feet but it was fine. Then we went down the stairs across the section and up the next set. I do the bleachers instead of the stairs – it’s a more comfortable stride for me. We went around most of the stadium but I had to take some breaks and just jog around. My quads are still pretty goopy from Orlando and I felt every hill that I went up on the bike course as I was doing the stairs. I will definitely make this a regular workout. I want to be able to run the whole stadium including the side that goes way up. I’ll let you know how it goes. Here’s a photo of the “short” side of the stadium.

Taking a breather

I know I promised everyone an Orlando race report but Brian and I are still in New York. It's been a rough trip and we are ready to be home. Here is a picture of me after my run around Rockland Lake. It's a nice 3 mile loop paved trail. I did an easy ten minute mile pace and Brian walked. When things are rough, it's often the simple pleasures that offer a bit of happiness and this was definitely one of those times. The weather was perfect and exercise felt so good. Plus running in a skort wearing my Ironman 70.3 finishers hat was fun! We are home tomorrow evening so hopefully life will be back to normal soon.

Orlando in brief

It has been a little while since my last post. The Florida 70.3 was last weekend and I know some of you are eagerly awaiting my race report. I am actually working on it, I promise, but you will have to be patient just a little longer. Brian and I are heading up to New York for a last minute family visit and it looks like I won't have time to finish it up before I go. I still have to pack and I need to get to bed. Joey has posted a nice entry about his adventures in Orlando if you haven't already read it. In brief, the race went fine. I felt pretty solid the whole way and had a good experience. Here is a pic of me finishing. More details to come. Good luck to everyone racing CapTex this weekend.

That’s Ouzo not Orzo

This past weekend was my youngest brother Danny’s wedding. He married Heather, a wonderful woman that he has been cohabitating with for a few years and dating even longer. Brian and I traveled to Baltimore for the festivities. It was a quick trip but lots of fun as all things involving my family tend to be – chaotic yes, but definitely fun.

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner at La Tavola, a fab restaurant in Little Italy. Danny had reserved the private dining room so we had lots of opportunity to mingle and catch up with the family. My Aunt Sophia and cousin Michael had made the trip and it was so good to see them. It’s been a very long time. I hadn’t seen the rest of my family since Christmas so there was plenty to catch up on. My niece Emily is getting so grown up it’s frightening. As with all my family’s gatherings, there was much silliness. First, there was the “where do I sit?” fiasco that really became musical chairs. Brian and I ended up sitting at different tables because he must sit next to Emily – he is her favorite uncle – and I wanted to sit with my aunt and cousin. There was much joking that we haven’t been married long enough to not want to sit together. This arrangement put me sitting with my sister Sarah, my aunt, my mother, my cousin and my sister’s husband, Chalmers. Now in case you lost track that is four Greek women – all related – at one table. We had a blast and it definitely got out of control. At one point, Danny, who was being quite the host, wanted my mother and Sophia to give a toast in Greek. We were all yelling out “Opa” and “Ouzo” at what seemed like the appropriate times, but who really knows. Then Sarah yells out “Orzo” at a quiet moment and I look at her and say “That’s Ouzo honey” at which point I just start laughing and so does everyone else. My sister, who is quite the actress, looks accusingly at her husband and asks, “What did you put in my Shirley Temple?” We are all laughing like crazy, Sarah included. Now just in case you are feeling sorry for my sister, don’t. It could have just as easily been me. I’m sure some of you are thinking that it sounds just like something I would do. Besides my family often laughs at and with each other. Life is too short to take it all that seriously after all.

I would like to take a moment to say that my brother Danny was so sweet the whole weekend and so concerned that everyone have a good time and that everything went as planned. My mother and I kept saying how grown up he has become but the truth is that he is 27 and has been grown up for quite awhile. I think it’s hard for me to accept that because he is the baby of the family and I took care of him. Everyone calls him Dan not Danny except for me and Mom. I tried but it just feels wrong. Sorry Danny!

Saturday, Brian and I walked from our hotel to the Inner Harbor with my sister, her husband, her four children (no that’s not a typo) and the nanny. It was such gorgeous weather and there are many nice things about Baltimore as long as you are aware of the dangerous things also. We spent the morning walking around the water; there was some shopping and eating, and a paddleboat ride. It was a fun day!

That’s all I have time for right now – I am off to Orlando in the morning for my half-ironman this weekend. Joey is already there and I can’t wait to see him and get settled in before the race.

Hello from Baltimore!

Friday afternoon Brian and I flew to Baltimore for my youngest brother Danny's wedding. We are flying home tonight. Right now we are spending the afternoon with my brother David and his girlfriend Liz so this will be a short entry to tide everyone over until I get home.

It has been so nice being in Baltimore. The weather has been gorgeous! We spent Saturday walking around the Inner Harbor with my sister Sarah, her husband, and their four children. I remarked to Brian that it was sad that the air quality in Baltimore is better than it is in Gainesville right now. Since half the state of Florida is on fire, it has been a nice break for us to walk around outside. Plus it's been nice to be back in a big city with lots to do.

So what have we been up to? Here is a brief synopsis with details and pictures to follow. Friday evening, we had the wedding rehearsal dinner at La Tavola in Little Italy - very yummy! My cousin Michael, whom I have not seen in ages was able to make it so we had a good time catching up. I haven't seen the rest of my family since Christmas so it was an evening of talking and catching up and meeting Heather, the bride's, family. A lovely evening! Saturday was the Inner Harbor - a lovely day, and then the wedding Saturday evening at the Maryland Zoo, which is in a beautiful park. Also, very lovely. This morning, most of my siblings managed to get together to take my mother out for Mother's Day and now we are relaxing before our flight. That's about it. I have some funny stories to share involving ouzo and orzo, dancing, hotel bars, my family, and old friends but you will just have to be patient.

The Countdown Begins!

In 12 days, 6 hours and 19 minutes from the time of this post, on May 20 at 6:20 a.m. I will be racing in the Florida Ironman 70.3 in Orlando. Not that I’m obsessing or anything – it’s Ironman’s fault for putting countdown clocks on their websites. For those of you that aren’t familiar with triathlon the 70.3 is half the distance of the Ironman that you hear about all the time and is also referred to as a half-ironman. It is a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run adding up to 70.3 miles. Right now I am beginning my taper and also starting to freak out. Actually, I started freaking out last week when I got the email that our bib numbers had been assigned – I’m #1221. Brian is not looking forward to the time leading up to the race and was relieved when I changed my departure day from Friday to Thursday. Fortunately, we have my brother Danny’s wedding this weekend to help provide a little stress relief.

Some of you may be wondering why I am freaking out – that’s an excellent question considering I am not usually this nervous this far out from a race, I did a race of this distance a year ago, and I have been doing triathlons for about 8 years. This race will be the first real test of endurance since my kidney infection and I’m just uncertain as to how my body will respond. I felt similar anxiety before the Lonestar Tri I did a month ago and that was half the distance of this race. This is my fourth tri since March, I ran a half-marathon (13.1 miles) in February, I’ve been training, and my doctor says I’m healthy but for me there is still a lot of uncertainty. Then why do it, you might ask. Mostly the spring tri season has been about rebuilding my base – trying to get back to where I was before I got sick so that I can start moving forward in preparation for the New York Marathon in November 2007 and Ironman Florida in November 2008. I feel like I’m making good progress but you never know. Honestly, it wouldn’t matter if I had more time to train, the first race I do of this distance is going to freak me out so I might as well get it over with.

Now before you think I am dreading this event – I’m not. I am looking forward to it for lots of reasons. At the top of the list is a visit by my very best friend, Joey. First Brian was going with me and possibly Joey too. Then Brian was out – grant deadline, but Joey was definitely in. Then Joey was out too – Austin Triathletes Open Water Swim (everyone in Austin better register) and I was going by myself, and Brian and Joey both felt really bad. Then Joey got a new job with Trigger Point Technologies – the official performance therapy tools of Ironman – and he has to be in Orlando to work the race. Wohoo! Hopefully, I still have some good karma left for the race. Other good things about this race, and these are in no particular order. It’s hosted by Disney AND it’s an official Ironman event so it should be really well organized. I will get a good baseline for where I am at physically and be able to plan my training accordingly. I am staying at a really nice condo just outside the park for the same price I would pay for a decent hotel room.

That’s all for now. I’m really excited and really nervous and sometimes feel sick to my stomach.

Fifteen Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has Or Will

Just in case you weren’t paying attention, Kurt Vonnegut passed away on April 11. Since I didn’t have my blog up yet, this post is a bit late. I found this article on the avclub.com (sister site to The Onion) and thought I’d share. The full article can be read here. The NY Times also published a good article about him that you can read here.

1. "I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'"
2. "Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."
3. "Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, 'Why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand."
4. "There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind."
5. "She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is doing."
6. "Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'"
7. "There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too."
8. "Since Alice had never received any religious instruction, and since she had led a blameless life, she never thought of her awful luck as being anything but accidents in a very busy place. Good for her."
9. "That is my principal objection to life, I think: It's too easy, when alive, to make perfectly horrible mistakes."
10. "Literature should not disappear up its own asshole, so to speak."
11. "All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental."
12. "Why don't you take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut? Why don't you take a flying fuck at the mooooooooooooon?"
13. "So it goes."
14. "I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'science fiction' ever since, and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal."
15. "We must be careful about what we pretend to be."

A Clean Bill of Health

Yesterday was yet another in a long line of doctor’s appointments since my kidney infection last September. This appointment was to follow-up on the tests I had done following my last appointment in February and to check how my blood pressure was doing since I stopped taking the calcium channel blocker my doctor had put me on to control my elevated heart rate and the heart palpitations that I had been experiencing since the infection. My doctor wasn’t happy with my decision to stop taking the medication but I didn’t like the way it was making me feel. I also felt that I needed to be completely drug free and allow my body to find some equilibrium. Because of the heart symptoms I had been having, my doctor wanted me to wear a Holter monitor for 48 hours to make sure everything was fine with my heart. This was a completely nerve wracking experience. I also had more blood work done to recheck my kidneys and thyroid. All the tests came back normal and about 2 weeks after I stopped taking the heart medication, my blood pressure dropped below 130/80. For the past 2 months the highest it’s gotten to is 122/74 and mostly it’s 110/70 and lower so that’s good news. I went over everything with my doctor and she is happy with my progress. I don’t need to go back until it’s time for my regular check up in November – Wohoo!!! My doctor did suggest I go see a Sports Medicine Doctor about my plantar fasciitis since it hasn’t cleared up yet. I have actually been considering doing just that. Anyway, I’m healthy and feeling pretty good. I’m still not back to where I was before I got sick but every month is better than the last and that’s just fine by me.

Hello North Carolina!

Nancy, Beth, Katie, Diane, and Michelle, and Leiana and Darcy, too – I wanted to write an entry just for y’all. I’m really sorry for falling off the face of the earth. I was really sick last fall – in September I contracted an extremely severe kidney infection that took over a month and 4 different antibiotics to get rid of. Nothing like your own bacteria trying to kill you. The recovery process has been long but it looks like I am finally done with tests. Today is what I hope is my final doctor’s appointment for a long time. I know I was doing a poor job of keeping in touch before then but I promise to do better. Two extra special shoutouts - Beth, congratulations on the latest addition to your family - I read the email during one of my moments of lucidity while I was sick and it really cheered me up. I hope everything is going well. Diane, congratulations on the new addition to your family – I loved the website. I hope everything is going well with you also. Hello also to my yoga group – I really miss all of you and everyone at the Museum.

So what has been going on here in Gainesville? Not too much really – other than two consecutive basketball national championships and a football national championship. Go Gators! You know I had to put that in somewhere. Don’t worry the Gators still rank below the Terps, Longhorns, and Blue Devils, but it’s been fun being here for all the celebrations. Brian has settled into work. The first year was rough – it took forever for his lab space to be ready so that has made it difficult, but everything is up and running now and he is very busy with teaching, students, writing grants, and papers – all the stuff a professor does. Check out his website if you want to see what he’s up to. As for me, I still haven’t found a job that motivates me enough to get me back to work fulltime. I taught summer camp at the Florida Museum of Natural History and will do so again this summer. Other than that I have been concentrating on my triathlon training- more on that later. I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing from you.

New Year’s Resolution Fulfilled (sort of)

Hi everyone! I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for quite a while now and have finally decided to do it. Mostly I’ve gotten so bad about keeping in touch with everyone that I thought this would be a good way to communicate - which brings us to my New Year’s resolution. I have been so out of touch with everyone in North Carolina that I actually made a New Year’s resolution to send everyone an email to let them know I am still alive and thinking of them. I started that email three times now so needless to say I am failing miserably. (North Carolinians - stay tuned - the next post is just for you.) I also try to send regular email updates to my family and have been remiss about that as well. So I am joining blogland in an attempt to keep everyone up to speed about the goings on here in Florida. I hope some of you actually read it. This goes out to my family - I can track what towns the hits on my blog come from so I will know if you are not reading it. So read – I will quiz you later.

For the four of you that actually know what is going on in my life, there will be posts about events that have already happened and are not new to you. Bear with me as I bring everyone else up to speed. Other than keeping everyone informed, it’s hard to say what else I might write about. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. By the way, if anyone has events, photos, or websites they want me to post, just send me an email. I look forward to your comments. (Yes, that’s a hint.)