Race Schedule and Results

Friday, July 30, 2010

L'ville bound

I get sick of typing out Louisville all the time. I just want to throw that out there. :)

Tom and I are heading there later today. This amazing guy Bob on Iamtri.com has set up training rides and swims for Ironman athletes for 5 or 6 Saturdays in the summer. You pay $5 for the swim and they have kayaks out in the Ohio for you so you can get a feel for the water, jumping off the dock, the current, etc. Then you pay $10 for a fully supported ride of the course - either 80 miles or the full 112. That's awesome!

Last weekend I think there were like 90 riders and 30 swimmers. It's catching on. I'm excited to test out the ole' speed suit that I bought and will only ever be able to use once in IM and then they are banned (thankfully the ban goes into effect two days after the Ironman). Then Tom and I will ride the full 112 and try to get a feel for what we can do on the course alone. Sure it'll be a little different with only 90 people out there as opposed to 3,000, but it'll still give me a good gauge.

Because honestly, when people ask how long the bike will take me, I say I don't know... and I don't.

Should be a fun day!

And the hubster is awesome - bought me pink Zensah sleeves. Probably because he's sick of me talking about something and then not just buying it for myself because I'm a cheapskate. Thanks bubs!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Ironman versus Pregnancy

Donna over at CrazyTriMom posted this the other day and I had to put it in my blog (hope you don't mind me sharing it... you are a wise woman!) Although I'm not a mother and may not be one for many years to come, I absolutely loved this. So many times in the last three years of training for an Ironman, my friends have had babies and I'm always left feeling as if I want to explain to everyone around me that Ironman is my baby. Here's proof from a mother and an Ironman how similar the experiences really are, no matter how different they may seem (and the world's biggest kudos to those that are mothers and Ironmen at the same time... geesh, it's hard enough to train and take care of myself, I can't imagine throwing another human being into the mix!)

Happy Thursday everyone!

Ironman is like pregnancy and Childbirth
Okay, so it begins with the planning, 10 months to a year in advance you make the plunge (or you and your spouse take the literal plunge to make a baby).
  • Ironman: Then it happens, the base building phase, the first few months. The foundation of your training is being laid, your excited but overwhelmed, you can be tired because the volume is increasing and your body is changing.
  • Pregnancy:or with regards to the unborn fetus, the growth begins, the foundation is made. You might feel a little overwhelmed with the choice you made to have a baby but your excited. You might experience a bit of nausea and you might be uncomfortable at times but it will get better as the trimester goes on.
  • Ironman: So you finally made it to the build phase, your intensity is starting to increase, your volume is increasing, your starting to notice your body change, your building muscle in the gym, your appetite is increasing, your getting more and more excited and your starting to plan your big day.
  • Pregnancy: Your starting to show, your excited, your starting to feel better, your beginning to think that this is really real and its going to happen, your not sick anymore, your energy is returning. Not too long now, 4-5 months to go.
  • Ironman: Okay, we are in the final stretches now, your kind of getting sick of the training but you do it, the volume is heavy, your body is tired, at times your grumpy and you snap at your loved ones. You've been planning for 9 months and its almost here, when is taper you say, lets get this over with. However, your still excited and think about the event often.
  • Pregnancy: Okay seriously, how can I get any bigger, when is it going to be time now to have this friggin thing. " I want this baby out you say". Not much longer, your getting pissed with your hubby, your grumpy because your huge and things are sweating in places that didn't sweat before, your tired, clothes don't fit but your excited and you can't wait for the big day. your still planning, still eating, still staying in the moment.
  • Week of Ironman: Okay, the nerves are kicking in, all the training is done, your tapering, your questioning everything that you've done, " am I prepared?", " can I go the distance?", your body is tired from the tapering, your mind is racing, the planning is still continuing your wondering why the hell you ever signed up for the friggin thing, " can't it be over right now"
  • Week of due date: Okay, seriously, take the friggin thing out already, I'm huge, I'm tired, I cant roll over in bed without holding on the the backboard of my bed, why the hell did I do this again really, geez.
  • Ironman day: Its hard, you work hard, you get your heart rate up, you sweat, you have all the dark moments and all the good moments on the day, you hurt, you might get sick, you curse yourself and others, you say to yourself that you will never do this again, but in the end when you cross that finish line you cry, you hug everybody, " You are an ironman" is one of the best things you can hear and no matter how long the process took, 8 hrs- 17hrs, its a hard work and you did it.
  • Delivery day: Your hurting, your sick, your in pain, you want it over, the labor may last 1hr or it may last 24hours but your working hard, you curse your husband and everyone around you, you want the easy way out. You say to yourself, I'll never do this again, " Give me an epidural you say", help me. You vomit, you poop, you pee, but in the end this beautiful baby comes out and your cry, you hug your husband, and tell everyone around you that you love them. When you hear, " its a boy or its a girl" its one of the best things you can hear in your life.
  • Post Ironman and Post baby delivery: The pain is gone, you feel better, you are so excited that you did something that you never thought possible, you became an ironman and you became a mom. The funny thing is that you don't remember the pain and suffering of ironman so much after the event as with childbirth, you eventually only remember all the good stuff and what the end result was.

Its truly amazing how much ironman and pregnancy/childbirth have in common.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

You go girlfriend!

I raced in the Trek Women's Series Tri this weekend in Columbus. It was the first year that they came to Columbus and although I'm not good at sprint distance races, I thought I'd give it a go. I've heard great things about the series and they certainly didn't disappoint. They really have this thing put together - I was impressed!

But first, let's back up a bit. I'm in hell week 3 now. Last week was brutal. Tons of doubts about my abilities and my fitness. Thursday, Tom had a speech in Bellefontaine Ohio so I tagged along and he built us a hilly 100 miler. I cried in the parking lot before we left. It was that kind of week. I know my training is going well, but the doubts were building and I picked the parking lot of a Tim Hortons to let them all out. 100 miles on the bike isn't anything new to me. I've done it few times. Surely this wouldn't be any different, but I was worried. We started out the two loop ride at 11:30 and it was already in the 90's. That's not bad on the bike, except for when you are climbing and the hills are so steep that you are going like 6mph. Tom wanted to find us hills and boy did he ever. The first 45 miles were definitely the hardest miles I've ever ridden in my entire life. They were slow, they were hot. They did horrible things to my confidence. Tom kept saying that they were harder than anything he was used to and that they were much harder than Louisville. If I could climb these, I'd be fine. And he was right... I know that they were steeper and longer. The first 45 miles we averaged 15mph. We got back to the car, regrouped and headed out for the next 55. It rained. Then it got really windy. Then the sun came back out and the humidity picked up. Talk about perfect training ride. We had a little of everything. We ended up finishing with great spirits and my confidence boosted a little. I survived that - I'm bound to survive IMKY's hills. We were supposed to run long on Friday, but it was the hottest day of the year and I felt the hills from Thursday. We ran 8 miles at 8pm and called it a night.

Saturday we went to the race expo for the Trek race. This is where I realized that they were going to do things right. The expo was great. I got a super cute shirt for $5, Tom got some odds and ends, we walked around the booths. It was awesome. That night we went to my mom and dad's and stayed there since they lived closer to the race site.

Sunday morning we made our way to Buckeye Lake. It's only about an hour from us, but I had never been there so it was fun to be racing somewhere new. The parking for the race was a mile away which was kind of dumb and they charged for parking which was really dumb, but what can you do? I made my way to transition, got things organized and set up, passed out some Marathon Bars to other racers and kind of took it all in.

The Trek Women's Series is such an empowering event. It's all women - every ability. They have an elite division, they have something called Swim Sisters (who will swim with foam noodles next to you to help you through the water), they do cheers and high fives, they ask us all to answer the question "will you help another woman if you see her struggling today", etc. It's one of those feel good events. It's cool to see women of every shape, size, age, ethnicity, ability, etc out there celebrating the courage that they all had to sign up for the race, train and now compete. Okay, enough of the mushy gushy stuff.

The swim was at Buckeye Lake. All I know about Buckeye Lake is that whenever the water is tested in Ohio, Buckeye Lake is always the first to be shut down due to e-coli or some other disease. It didn't disappoint. The water was warm (no wetsuits) and DIRTY! It was disgusting. I was in the 4th of 5 waves. We were the "sexy" wave. Every wave had a descriptive word and Sally Edwards worked everyone up before the swim went off. I was happy to have Rebecca with me at the start of the race. Made me smile. The swim was somewhat slow. I kept getting trapped behind people who I just couldn't pass. I didn't want to be the bitch that swam over them so I just remained patient. I probably wouldn't have swam that much faster, but it was noticeable. :) By the time I got to T1, a lot of people were out on the course. There were 3 waves of about 50 people each in front of me, as well as all of the people that are faster than me. I knew I was ready to fly on the bike though. Until I hit the hills. They were dumb too... not really steep or long, but I kept finding myself going like 13mph up them. And the course was technical. In only 12 miles, we twisted and turned a lot, climbed way more than I thought. But it went fast. I knew I had passed a lot of people. I felt like I was in my element. 12 miles goes fast, although I didn't hit the 35 minute bike like I had hoped. I later found out that I was the 4th fastest bike out of 249 people. Even with my 19.8mph. Guess the course was a little harder than we all thought! The sky was getting dark and I was hoping that I could beat the rain. One of my goals for the run was to go sub 8's. I know I have it in me, but I haven't been able to put it together. Tom got a picture of me heading out of T2 and you can see the sky darkening. I felt good. I hit mile one at 8:00 exactly. What? I know I'm faster than that. The wind had picked up and it started sprinkling around mile 1.5. I was comfortable in the run though and picked up the pace. I hit mile two at 16:04. Huh? But I was running faster. Oh well. I just ran. Two girls in my AG passed me within the final .5 mile which totally bummed me out, but I crossed the finish line, in the pouring rain and gusty winds in 1:18:03. My goal was a 1:18. And best part - I ran 7:48's so either the mile markers were off or I hauled ass the last 1.1 miles! My poor family was standing in the rain, waiting for me. We found some shelter, gathered my gear and left as soon as we could. By the time we got home, it was beautifully sunny. Go figure!

Overall Stats:
Swim 750 meters - 14:08
T1 - 1:59 (This was really slow for me... I must have been having a party in there!)
Bike 12 miles - 36:26 19.8 mph 4th fastest overall!
T2 - 1:16
Run 3.1 miles - 24:12 (7:48's)
Overall Time - 1:18:03
4th in AG (we were all within 1 minute of each other!)
11th of 249 OA

I was happy with things. I was kind of bummed that I got passed in the run and realize that I'm definitely the slowest swimmer (the three girls that placed above me in my age group all swam at least 2 minutes faster than me). But, what can you do?
And since I didn't get my long run in last week, we decided to bust out an 18 miler yesterday. We averaged 9:32's which at this point, makes me super happy. I'm feeling more confident with the Ironman being a month away. We're heading to Louisville this weekend to swim the course and bike the whole course. I think that will be the icing on the confidence cake. It's hard to believe that I start tapering in 2 weeks.

Oh, one last thing (if you've read this far, thanks!). Do you have compression socks or calf sleeves? What's your preference? I have compression socks and I like them a lot. I really want pink ones (because, well, I'm a girly girl at heart). I found a pair that I'd like to try (Vitalsox), but I'm debating between a full sock or maybe a Zensah Leg Sleeve (is there a difference between leg sleeves and compression RX sleeves?) Thoughts? Anyone?

Monday, July 19, 2010

A little of this, a little of that

I don't like posting random sh*t on my blog. I feel like my life has to be more important than that, but sometimes it's the best way to wrap up my very busy life! So, here's a little of this and a little of that.
  • Training has taken over - my brain, my body, my life. That's what happens when there are 41 days left until the Ironman. Have had some great workouts though... a 16 mile run, a 2.4 mile swim, a strong bike month so far, Saturday's pieced together workout...

  • Saturday was supposed to be a century. After two flats (one on Tom's bike and one on mine which shredded my tire), we called it a bike day and opted for a 1+ mile swim and an 8 mile run. It's good to be flexible or else I would have lost it! Having a flat that shreds your tire 12 miles from home sucks. But, sitting in the yard of a great random family who brings you cold bottles of water and tells you what tree is the coolest to sit under until your hubby gets there with the car makes me think that there are very good people in the world.

  • We're going to try to get the century in on Thursday and an 18 mile run on Friday. :)

  • Sunday I'm doing another women's only race - the Trek Women's Series of Columbus. I'm excited. New race venue for me!

  • Hoping for speedy legs on Sunday - and maybe being able to put together a run for once after my swim and bike.

  • I got new tri shoes the other day. It's amazing how the little things in life make me so happy. My old shoes were amazingly good to me and if they still made them, I would have bought them in a heartbeat, but you could smell them in another state, no matter how many times I cleaned them. YUCK! These are my new beauties!


  • I just got a bondi band in the mail the other day from Julie. It's awesome! Thanks so much Julie! The saying is super cute...

  • Can you believe how much of a badass Chrissie Wellington is? A 8:19 Ironman? That girl is AMAZING! I think she'll be top 10 overall at Kona...

  • Things are changing in my life. I'm not good with change, but I'm riding the wave and I'm happy with the ride...

  • Tom's been in contact with his sister (yay!!!). She's coming in to Columbus in August. We haven't seen the kids (I have a twin niece and nephew that are 3.5) since February 2008. We're excited to see the little munchkins and hopefully spoil them the way that aunts and uncles should only be allowed!

  • I had dinner with a friend tonight who used to mean the world to me. We had a big fallout last year that ended really bad. We hadn't talked since last February. It's amazing how you can just pick up where you left off with some people. We'll probably never talk about what happened between the two of us because who really wants to relive something stupid? I'm optimistic that she'll be in my future...

  • I love my hubby. Have I said that lately? Ew, gross right? He's just an amazing man! He spent the day today in West Virginia at a kids diabetes camp. I know the impact that he's having on these kids lives. He never ceases to amaze me...

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Did I just read that right???

***I don't know why my paragraph breaks aren't showing up... sorry that it makes this kind of hard to read!***

My Ironman countdown on my homepage is at 47 days. That can't be right...

Ugh... but it is...


We've entered into our first of 4 Hell Weeks in training. To give you an idea of how the week will shape up, here's the plan:
Yesterday - 5 mile faster run
Tuesday - 4 hour bike (2 hours together, 2 hours alone)
Wednesday - 3 lap swim at the lake (a little more than a mile), 3 mile run
Thursday - 100 mile bike
Friday - 17 mile run
Saturday - 5 lap swim (around 1.75 miles)
Sunday - 5 mile run, short swim
What doesn't kill me can only make me stronger right???
This past weekend we were supposed to do Rhode Island 70.3 and from what I've heard, we lucked out by not doing it - I guess conditions were pretty brutal. Since we decided to stay home, we had what Tom called an A.S.S. (Asphalt Suck Session) run of 10 miles on Friday. Seriously, I now know what it feels like to run in a sauna on a treadmill. HORRIBLE. But we managed through it. Saturday we both took it easy, hoping that we'd be a little more fresh for the Olympic we were racing on Sunday than we were last weekend for the sprint. The alarm sounded at 4am on Sunday for our 2+ hour drive. Remind me why I love this so much?
Got to the race site earlier than usual because we had to pick up race packets and because the race director had sent out an email saying that over 700 people were registered and that they didn't have enough parking for everyone. Lovely. We had no problems finding a spot, got our packets, set up transition, pottied and looked at the bike show. It's not usually like that in Ohio so it was fun!
They told us that the water was 73 so we grabbed out wetsuits and headed down to the water. Now, I'm a huge fan of my wetsuit... it's kind of like my crutch when I swim. Lately I've been swimming without it because a) IMKY isn't wetsuit legal and b) because the water at the local lake is like a bathtub. Thinking that Caesar Creek was going to be cool was a nice thing... it was already getting hot near 8:00. And donning my wetsuit made me feel like a triathlete again.
They were wrong...
My wave didn't go off until around 8:40. I was in the women 39 and under wave. I got in and was super comfortable right off the bat. But I was starting to get hot very quickly. Like panic hot. I kept with a pack for most of the swim. By about 1/4 of the way through the first lap of the two lap swim, I thought about taking my wetsuit off. I've never been hot in a swim and I was on fire. I tried to think cool thoughts. The water hitting my face was warm, and the water in my wetsuit was even warmer. The water was DEFINITELY not 73 degrees. I managed through 2 laps and was greeted by a cool breeze when I got out of the water and took my wetsuit off. Yikes. My swim time (which included a run to T1) was 28:22. Oh and I'm super sorry to the girl who I got to 2nd base with on at least two occasions. I really didn't mean anything by it! :)
My rack was alllllll the way at the end of transition. Lots of running barefoot. I was in and out in 1:30 though - guess I didn't mess around.
The bike course was new this year. As we drove into the park, we were on the course and in the car, it looked challenging. The announcer in the morning said that they brought back an old course which was technical and hilly, in case we missed the hills. It worried me a little, but I already was in the mindset that it wouldn't be a PR kind of day. The first 5 miles or so I had a horrible cramp in my butt. It happened to me last year at 2 or 3 races. It's a stabbing pain in my leg cheek (TMI???) and I get it only right on the bike. I'm not sure if it's related to be horizontal in the swim or what, but it's very painful. I tried to push through it knowing that it would eventually work it's way out and it did. Luckily the first couple of miles were very fast. Overall, I loved the course. It was hilly, but definitely rolling. I saw a lot of the people from the sprint tri who were struggling at the end of their ride so I made a mental note of what was to come. I passed a bunch of girls, a handful of guys and was passed by maybe one or two people max. I felt super comfortable, pushing the pace when I could and recovering when I needed to. I was happy. 24.8 miles in 1:12. It wasn't a PR for me, but I was happy with a 20.7 average. Plus I think I was 7th fastest woman on the bike out of 61, bum butt at the beginning and all!
T2 was a little bit of a cluster. As I was coming in off the bike, I had to again, run my bike all the way to the end. Of course all of the racks before mine were sprint people and they were lallygagging about transition, packing up their stuff. The announcer finally yelled that there were bikes coming in and some of the moved. Again, I was happy with my time though - 1:15 in and out.
I had looked at my watch and saw that I had a chance to PR. My previous best Olympic was a 2:42:15. I had a goal of going under 2:40 this year. I felt great going out on the run. My mind was in a good place. I hit the first mile marker at 7:20. What? Better pull back (I later learned that the mile marker was very short... thank God!). The run is a two loop, over a dam, in the sun run. The first lap I felt comfortable, but I could tell I was getting hot, and hadn't eaten anything yet. When my second lap started, I slowed waaaaay down. I took my visor off because it felt like it was going to make my head pop off. I stopped for water at every aid station, drinking some and pouring the rest on my head. I ate something. I was passing people, but was sluggish. I knew that I once again wasn't going to pull together a great run in a tri. It's super frustrating because I know that I'm capable of running low 8:00's for a 10k (heck, I ran a 48 flat this year). I just kept pushing to the finish, trying not to look at the time.
I ended up crossing the line in 2:38:33! Not only had I broke the 2:40 mark, I PR'ed by 3:45! I was super excited! Tom was there at the finish line and our friends Tracy, Jim and Zach all stuck around after kicking major butt in the sprint (Tracy was the overall female, Jim won his AG and Zach placed 5th in his AG in his second tri) to cheer us on. It was great!
Tom had a kick ass race too - finishing in 2:28:27. He beat a guy who he's been after for years (the guy doesn't know that Tom tries to beat him every race which is super funny, but it motivated Tom and that's all that matters). We grabbed a drink, some food and waited around to see that we had both placed 2nd in our divisions! I was thrilled with 2nd out of 11, and was only a minute back from first. If I can put together a decent run, I'll be all set!
After we got our stuff put away in the car, we did the only thing people with an Ironman in 47 days would do - we went for a 4 mile run. It was so blasted hot, and we shuffled along, but it was nice to talk to Tom about our races and know that we had left everything at Caesar Creek. I think this picture says it all!!!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

And this my friends is Ironman training...

I'm exhausted. It's been a long weekend.



Saturday we decided to ride the course of our race on Sunday morning. But of course we rode to the course, then the course and then home. 40 miles later we were wondering if that was a dumb idea and if it would affect us in the morning. And it was hot... like 90's.



Sunday was race day. We both signed up for the JCC Independence Tri. It was a first time race and they got things right! :) It was fun to get to the race and have people there that I recognized. I knew the aquatics director of the pool from college so got to catch up with him, saw our fabulous friends Tracy and Jim, as well as their son Zach who was doing his first tri (and did amazing... must be the genes). Before the swim, I found Dave and Meredith, as well as Rebecca - blogger friends, turned into tri friends! I even got to meet one of my Marathon Bar teammates Daniel! All day I had familiar faces and it was super fun. My parents came too and watched Charlie (my dog). God bless them... she had some issues, but they did amazing with her and although we teased them that it was a test for grandchildren and that they failed, we really appreciate having them there to cheer for us and to watch our girl! The swim was a serpentine swim which was kind of difficult for me. I had Tom start behind me (since he's only swam once since Ironman Florida), but of course he needed to pass me right away. I had two other guys pass me, but then get right in front of me so they probably weren't that much faster than me. I was slow and lethargic and hoped that wasn't a sign of the day to come. It was only a 300 yard swim, but then we had about a 1/4 mile run to transition. My time was 7:55 for the swim and the run. Here's a funny picture of me getting ready to jump into the pool. Look at the crowd waiting to get in...
Transition was super speedy. Had it not been for getting my ear stuck on the new TT helmet, I would have been fine (I have to practice that!) 0:56


The bike was super short (12 miles) and besides the out and back on a gravel path (in which the people in front of me were going 10mph), it was smooth sailing. I had a guy sucking my wheel for most of the race which was pretty annoying, and did get yelled out for passing on the gravel (I made up for it by telling the guy that he needed to learn to bike faster instead of bitching at me for passing), but it was fine. Such drama! 12 miles in 34:27. I think that was a 20.9 average.


T2 was super fast again - 0:37.


Then the run came. I just felt sluggish. Tom said that on his race it felt like he was in marathon mode. We just couldn't get the legs going. I only saw a few women in front of me, but with it being a time trial sort of swim, who knows what place they were in. I finished in 26:56 which is disappointing, but still sub 9:00's. One of these days I'll get to put it all together! ;)
My mom and dad were so cute and made signs for us from the dog! :) And here are Tom and I with Tracy, Jim and Zach Aust. They are our amazing tri family!!!
And then I said that I got to meet one of my Marathon Bar teammates, Daniel.
I ended up finishing in 1:10:54. I wanted to finish in under 1:10. I ended up second in my AG and 3rd overall woman out of 93! I was excited about that! Tom did amazing as always! He's definitely showing signs that he's recovered from RAAM quickly and finished in 1:05:14 which was good for 17th overall out of 241 and 3rd in his AG!

Then yesterday, we decided to fight the heat and biked 85 miles. Holy heat! If it weren't for stopping out our friend Tracy's who totally took care of us for a little while, I probably could have died on the bike! :) Today was supposed to be a 8 mile run, but I literally was so dizzy that I couldn't see straight and I ended up running about 6 and walking 2, talking to Tom and telling him my plans for the future. Interesting, but very good conversation! We've decided not to do Ironman Rhode Island 70.3 this weekend. :( I'm kind of bummed, but a lot went into our decision and I know that it's best. It's not for lack of being prepared and we're actually going to do a local Olympic distance this weekend instead. Just some team stuff on his side that influenced out decision.

I feel like I can't get caught up with life, but that's Ironman training. I'm hot, and tried, and hungry - all.the.time! But that's expected, I guess! :) What doesn't kill me makes me stronger right?
Oh... one more thing - and it's a favor. If you are on Facebook, will you become a fan of Marathon Bars and then comment on my photo? We are having a team competition and the one with the most comments wins some $$. That would make me happy! :) here's the link...

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Busy - Yeah, that explains it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

I'm busy.

Like REALLY busy.

Race Across America has ended and I was hoping that meant Tom and I could just enjoy the rest of the summer (er... year) together. Right... nothing ever goes as planned.

Wait, I'm enjoying time with him, but it seems to be constantly on the go. We got home from Baltimore on the 20th. I dropped him back off at the airport on the 25th for Orlando (back to back diabetes conferences). I left on the 26th to meet him there for a few days and came back yesterday. He comes back tomorrow. (you following all of this?). Tomorrow's our 5th anniversary, Saturday we have a BBQ to go to, Sunday we're racing and celebrating my sister's b-day, Monday is a 100 mile ride, Tuesday is a 15 mile run, and then I head to Rhode Island on Friday for the 70.3.

Breath...

Throw in a little housework, a shitton of business (woo hoo - record sales in June!), some housesitting and it leaves just about enough time to sleep. :)

Oh well.

I ran my first 5k this past weekend - 5k@ADA. The American Diabetes Association was hosting their conference in Orlando and Tom worked it for Team Type 1. They have a race every year that's free to enter. There were nearly 800 runners and walkers that came out for this. It started at 6:30am and we were all bitching and moaning about how early that way.

Holy freaking sauna!

I now know why. I was soaked just walking to the start. BLAH! I had a good run though - 23:15 which was good enough for 3rd in my AG and 10th woman. Tom's teammates kicked some major butt. Adam came in second OVERALL with a 17:38 (he just finished RAAM with Tom last week). The other three guys all ran under 22:25's. That's impressive in my standards! :) I'm looking forward to a new sprint tri this weekend. Toms' racing, but the best news is we are bringing my dog and my parents are puppy sitting. She's going to love it! :)

One last thing... I still haven't done my blog about the Marathon Bar giveaways. Did I mention that I've been a little busy? :) Anyway, some other people are doing some great giveaways and I just want to give them a quick shoutout. First, DC Rainmaker is giving away a Garmin 101 to a lucky reader. Awesome prize! Also, Steve in a Speedo is giving away some Ryder glasses to a male follower and a Sugoi Moxie Skirt to a female. Awesome!