2009 is tomorrow?

Wait a minute... where did 2008 go? I really feel like I'm in a time warp or something and I'm missing days. Maybe the Ironman did something to my sense of time???

In any event, the holidays were great. I was spoiled rotten (like every girl should be!) and I'm starting to get over the holiday blahs of not wanting to do anything but lay on the couch and watch lifetime movies (I should note that my wonderful mother bought be an electric throw blanket for me to use on the couch - OH MY GAWD the things is awesome. Charlie knows that when I turn it on, it's snuggle time. I love it. But it doesn't do good things for my motivation). Besides some stupid sister in law problems over the holiday, all was good!

With my motivation being in the crapper, I've decided to run a May marathon - without the hubby which makes total sense huh? For those who know me, that's a big thing. I'm going to run the Flying Pig in Cincinnati. Tom will be in Cali racing Wildflower and I figured this would be a good goal for me to work for. Plus it should help get me in preseason shape - either that or I'll be spent by May which should be interesting with a November Ironman! :) I'm excited though - haven't decided if I'll have a time goal or not. Should I aim for a 4 hour by myself? That would be a 44 minute PR! :) It'll be a good little get away for me, myself and I.

2009 should be a big year with lots going on:

• Our company is growing and growing which is constantly keeping us moving and I have big plans for 09!
• Tom and I are taking on the roles of Associate Editors of an Energy Encyclopedia with my father in law (I'm going to be a published person in a field I know NOTHING on - but don't worry... I'm not writing any of it!)
• I'm Chairing (alone I may add because my co chair just resigned) the local hospital's annual fund raiser which I'm totally changing from a "gala" type event to a women's only girls night
• I'm racing tri's locally and for the first time on bigger stage, like Chicago, as well as the Ironman in November
• Tom's the travel coordinator of his tri team (which means wifey gets to find all the deals for the team - Chicago, NYC, Wildflower, Austin - so who's really the travel coordinator? kidding dear!)

And that's just the start of it! I'm excited.

Happy New Year to everyone. Be safe tonight if you are out drinking (don't drive) or just out (and the other people on the road are drinking)!!!

It's Christmas Week...

I can hardly believe it. I love Christmas... one of my favorite days of the year and it's impossible to believe that it's already here. Our presents are all wrapped and under the tree which is fun - we usually hold off until Christmas Eve bringing them down, but then we don't get the joy of looking at them (plus this year we "splurged" and got the good shinny paper so it's really cool to look at the gifts when the lights are on at night... I'm a big dork like that though!). Christmas should be pretty quiet - Christmas Eve at home, a run Christmas morning on the quiet streets of Delaware, breakfast and gift opening just the two of us at our house that morning and then Christmas afternoon/evening with my mom and dad, sister and brother in law. We will celebrate with Tom's mom and step dad on Saturday or Sunday, although Tom's sister, her hubby and the twins are in town, but that's another story for another day.

Our Disney trip was awesome, besides the fact that Tom had a horrible cold for 4 of the 5 days. Poor thing never fails to get sick on vacation and this was no exception. I give him all the credit in the world for toughing out some long days when I know he would have much rather been in bed. I was surprised that Disney wasn't AS decorated as I thought - guess the hype that everyone had been feeding us was a bit too much. The crowds were minimal (although I should say that it seemed like there were billions of people there, all with little kids and strollers, but wait times were only 15 minutes or so and we lucked out by not having to get fast passes, although some people gave us theirs for rides we were just getting ready to stand in line for. We must have looked deserving - or desperate!) Anyway, it was a great trip - got to the 4 parks and had a great time. Here's us outside of the train station at the Magic Kingdom - it was really pretty and definitely the most decorated part of the parks.

And looking down Main Street USAI thought that this was a great picture of us and the castleWe loved Epcot which was probably our favorite park (although I knew it would be before we even stepped for in it)And then one of my favorite things that we did was go to the German Pavilion and eat at the Biergarten. It was an awesome buffet of all the German favorites, with a live show and well... a lot of beer!

Disney is truly a magical place and even when we got home, Tom said "I didn't even think about all the stuff going on at home when I was there" which is unheard of for him when he's on vacation. There's just something about Disney, I'm telling you.

Hope everyone has a great holiday. Be safe, eat a lot (that's what holidays are for!), enjoy being around family and friends, and remember what the holiday is all about!

Ah, to be a kid again

This time of year is so fun for kids. I remember the holidays as a kid and nothing else mattered from about December 10th on. My mom, sister and I went to see the Rockettes in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular show last night in downtown Columbus. Although I was tremendously entertained by the show, the kids in the crowd stole it for me - to hear their oooh's and aaah's was so funny and definitely made me smile. All I could think about was how I could get my legs to look like the dancers and these kids were excited by the snow inside the building, the streamers, the dancing bears, the 1,000 Santas, the giant bus on stage etc. As I sat, comparing myself to these scantly clad women, these kids were having the time of their lives. Ah, to be a kid again.

I guess I get my chance this weekend. We're heading to Disney World for 5 days and I'm super excited. Tom's never been and when I ask him to picture Disney, he says it's just a blank screen in his head. My mom and dad are coming (they love Disney and go ever two or three years) so it'll be a great time. I'm hoping that we can just leave the hustle and bustle of the holidays, work, training, family etc. behind us and be kids for a few days. That's what Disney's all about right?

Well hello there...

It's been forever since I've posted. The holidays got the best of me I guess. Let me back up a bit...

The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to our friend's house to cheer on the Buckeye's to a good ole butt kicking against Michigan (just the way we like them!) It was fun to sit around and catch up with everyone as it was the first time we had seen them all after the Ironman. Here's a group shot of the girls... we're a pretty hot group if you ask me!

Then, Christmas came a little early last week for me. I got my wheels and wow... that's about all I can say. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can try them out. Tom loved them so much that he cracked and got a set too. He secretly wants to be like me, but that's alright! :)

We had a great Thanksgiving. Thursday morning, we ran a local race called the Flying Feather 4 Miler which was fun. It was a chilly morning so Tom and I ran 2 before the race to warm up and then maintained 8:49's throughout the race which I was happy about. I'm a huge baby and hate running in the cold. Something about my lungs burning that I'm not real keen about. Hum... They gave us all bottles of Riesling after the race and Cheryl's cookies which was awesome (yeah, I know I said that I'd be on weight watchers... I'll get to that in a minute).

My turkey was AWESOME! We're obviously still eating it because there is no way that a bird that big would be gone THAT fast! We had a great dinner with my mom and dad with all the fixings! The dogs were especially fond of the big meal and were spoiled rotten by my mom and dad. Here's Buddy waiting by the oven which is where he sat most of the day.

And just a picture of me and my little girl Charlie. She does not like when I hold her like this, but she's just to freaking cute not too!
As for me since the Ironman... I dunno - I've been in a funk. Maybe it's the Ironman blues that I've read about. I've gained some weight (like 6 pounds - yikes... and yes, Tom and I both started WW today for real but I did eat that Cheryl's cookie on Thanksgiving and it was damn yummie!). I've been down and out about working out although had a great lift today and a good tough 60 minutes of cardio. I think I need something to help motivate me. Tom has training camp for TT1 and I don't have a race until June. I'm contemplating training my tail off and entering Du Nationals in April. They give the top 12 in each AG spots on the national team for worlds in September, but I just don't know. I am signing up for the Chicago Triathlon Triple Challenge and I'm so excited about it. It's late August when the Chicago Triathlon is. You do a super sprint on Saturday, a Sprint on Sunday (you are the first swim wave) and then you head right back to transition and do an Olympic right after the sprint (you are the last wave of the Olympics). So all in all, I'd be swimming 1.63 miles, biking 44.67 miles and running 10.85 miles. It's totally nutty, but only 37 women did it last year and I keep thinking, "why not?". Should be fun.

Butterball Ain't Got Nothing on my Thanksgiving!

So I'm having my mom and dad up for Thanksgiving dinner. My mom has kind of become not interested in cooking and I LOVE to cook a turkey and all the fixin's. So naturally it's a good fit for them to be with us next Thursday. We'll do a 4 miler that morning and then just hang out until dinner is ready later afternoon. My sister and her hubby will be out of town, as will Tom's parents. So just the 4 of us (and our dogs who are completely spoiled and will eat our food that day). I digress...

So I went out today looking for my turkey (Kroger had them for $0.29/lb with a $30 purchase... that's a good deal!) The Butterball.com website has a little calculator that tells me how much turkey I should buy depending on the number of guests, if we want leftovers (do people actually cook Thanksgiving without the thought of leftovers???) and if your a big eater or not (the hubs will eat all the turkey while carving if I don't watch him). I plugged in my numbers, included a child for the sake of covering my dogs and they suggested a 9lb turkey. Riiiiiiight.

Not in our house. We go big or go home.

We're cooking up a 22 pound turkey.

Take that Butterball!

EBates

I don't write TOO often about the deals that I get shopping. But, around the holidays, I want to pass along a website that pays you to shop. How great is that? If you buy ANYTHING on line around the holidays, take a look at ebates.com. It costs nothing to be a member, and as long as you go there and click through to the website that you are looking for (no ads or anything crazy like that), they will pay you a percentage back. My latest check is in the mail now and should be $116. And that's cash back on stuff I was already going to buy. Anyway, if you aren't signed up, again, it costs nothing. And if you use this link http://www.ebates.com/refer-a-friend/amb1114.htm?referrerid=UYJaNbFkmEH0%2B5Zi3x4Cuw%3D%3D , you'll get an extra $10 just for making your first purchase. That's not a bad deal.

Things are busy. I can't walk still from the lunges and squats that I did on Friday. Tomorrow's workout should be interesting to say the least. Saturday night Tom and I went to the "Fur Ball", a fundraiser for the Delaware County Humane Society. I was proud of myself for not walking out with a new little furry friend (I'm a sucker for saving dogs). Until we get a bigger house, and a better vacuum, we're stuck with just 2! :)

Oh, and totally exciting news... I just ordered a set of Flash Point 80's for my bike. They are sweeeeeeet and will definitely make my bike look complete. I will post pictures on Flicka when they come. In the meantime, here's a little teaser...

Where do I go from here???

Everyone keeps asking how long I'll take off and relax after the Ironman - it's been 8 days since I've exercised and I'm starting to go nuts. I wanted to take a week and just have time to myself and I'm so ready to get back in the gym. Tomorrow we'll start our new schedule and I'm super excited. We're going to swim, bike and run, incorporate some speed, some weight training, etc, but it's all going to be at a pace that excites me... slow and steady! On the way home from Florida Tom and I talked about our goals for the next year and tomorrow is when I'll start working toward them. I'm really excited.

My 2009 goals:
1. 135 heavy weight (which means that when I'm feeling fat and bloated, I'm 135. HA! That amounts to 132-135 all the times). I'm starting back on WW tomorrow.
2. Run a sub 1:55 half marathon (My PR is a 1:56:38)
3. Run a sub 24:00 5k (I don't think that I've ever timed a 5k)
4. Run a 4:10 marathon (my PR is a 4:44:48 in Chicago)
5. Run sub 8:40’s at all local tri's (we do at least 3 a year and they are all sprints or Olympics)
6. Swim a sub 30:00 Craig Thompson Olympic (for some reason, I haven't been able to swim under a 32:00 1500k at his races)
7. Do a 6:10:00 half Ironman (my PR is a 6:41:18 - yikes)
8. Podium at least 50% of my races
9. Run a sub 4:50 Ironman Marathon (this year I ran a 5:04:55)
10. Do a real push up (I'm an Ironman but can't do a real push up... sad huh??)

I think they are all VERY achievable and I'll keep revisiting them as the year goes on. Gives me something to work out.

Oh... how do you like the new blog? A little tribute to a cause that I'm very passionate about. I thought it was time for a change!