A great weekend for me!!!

I had a fabulous weekend. First, my Gramaryllis bloomed. Yeah, you know, the one that my grandma started and that we took when she passed away. The same one that people tell me all the time shouldn't be blooming after about December! We're enjoying looking at the flowers every day!

Then, Tom decided to surprise me and give my bike a little face lift. He had done the same with his bike when I was gone and didn't want Mrs. Felt Good to have any bike envy. She went from looking like an entry level handlebar set up to a very cool, tri setup. I now have S-Curve Aerobars and a wing handlebar (which means nothing to anyone who doesn't bike, but that's alright). Here's the before and after pictures. She's a beaut!

And finally, yesterday Tom and I ran a half marathon in Xenia Ohio. I didn't know how it was going to go as I've been having some knee issues since coming home from Tahiti and some confidence issues since our last 12 mile run. I thought I had lost a lot of the speed I worked hard to build between the first of the year and now. A few days before the race I looked up the course and the first 1/2 was up. Another strike against me as a runner. Oh well...So I went into this race with the thought that I would just run it and enjoy myself, nothing more. So we got there, signed in and waited on the potty line. We literally walked up to the start as the gun went off so we had no time to think about the race. And it definitely was up hill! But we just ran... and ran... and ran. My previous PR for a half marathon was 2:04:53. According to our Garmin, I finished yesterday's 13.1 miles in ... are you ready for this??? 1:59:52!!! I had a running goal for myself this year that by the Ironman I wanted to run a sub-2:00 half! I'm so excited! According to the race website, I finished in 2:00:53, but we never went over a mat to activate our chips so everyone had the same start time which isn't right. I'm taking my PR and keeping it! ;) I mean, the Garmin is GPS so it must be right! Also, I think I won the "Chunky Chicks" category. There were only three of us entered and I was the fastest so I'll be anxious to see if I get an award - last year I came in 2nd and they mailed me one. For those that are interested, here are my miles splits:

• Mile 1: 9:02
• Mile 2: 9:17
• Mile 3: 9:28
• Mile 4: 9:28
• Mile 5: 9:37
• Mile 6: 9:13
• Mile 7: 9:07
• Mile 8: 9:10
• Mile 9: 9:11
• Mile 10: 8:57
• Mile 11: 9:00
• Mile 12: 8:42
• Mile 13: 8:43

Ah... it was a good weekend!

So this is how Ironwomen start huh?

I didn't know what I had coming when I got home from Tahiti. Tom told me that we'd jump right into training, but I guess I thought jump would translate a little like the word ease. :) Oh well... makes things fun! Plus no one said this would be easy!

So already this week I've really pushed myself but I feel great. Our workouts went a little like this:

• Monday - 30 minutes swim (just working on form to get back into it)
• Tuesday - 1:20:00 bike and a 30:00 run
• Wednesday - 45:00 swim (did a 100m test for the first time - 2:06:00 so I have some work do to there) and a 1:05:00 bike
• Thursday - 4.7 mile run (averaged a 9:08 pace!!!)
• Friday - 1:00:00 swim (did a workout from my "Swim Workouts in a Binder for Triathletes and it kicked my arse!)

We're supposed to have a 2:15:00 bike and a 30:00 run tomorrow, although my bike is getting a face lift (I'll show pictures of her when she's done!) so we're going to do some workout switching (not to mention we have a half marathon on Sunday and it's supposed to be in the 60's next week which is totally outside bike weather in Ohio!). Funny thing is I'm pooped already this week and know that it's only half of what I'll be doing come the summer. At least I know it's coming and have time to brace myself! What did I get myself into??? HA!

Oh yeah, I'm going to be an Iron-diva, even if I nearly die trying to get there!

5 Years

March 26th is a special day for Tom and I. It's the date of our first date. It's also the day we got engaged, but the first date thing sticks with us more! Since we met on the Internet, I think it was probably the most nerve wracking first date that I've ever been on (also because so many of my previous first dates the years leading up to meeting him were total flops and ended up being first and last dates all in one). We did the normal dinner and a movie thing, but there was something kind of magical about it. I dunno - guess it was the whole love at first sight thing that I had always heard about and thought was a load of crap. :) I'm so romantic aren't I? So anyway, that's how the story started and here we are 5 years later, still happy as can be! So what better way to celebrate it than to relive it - we're going to TGI Friday's for dinner (although probably no movie this time around)! After the long workout yesterday (1:20 bike and 30 minutes on the treadmill) followed by today's long workout (45 minute swim, 1:05 bike), I'm ready to kick back with a good meal out! :) If you're reading this Brady, I love you!!!

Swimming in March

I wish I could swim outside, but seeing how we woke to things lightly dusted with snow this morning, I don't think it's going to happen any time soon here in Delaware. We had to resort to the Y which we joined back in January to take advantage of the New Year's sign up special. What good that did us! :) Oh well... we have plenty of time to get back into things! We only swam 30 minutes and it was nice to just get back into it. I have a long way to go a) swim 2.4 miles and b) swim in water with fish and a current. But it's a starting point. I'm the "swim coach" for Team Kingery so I have a few workouts up my sleeve which will hopefully help us. I've gotta work on my speed because quite frankly, I'm the SLOWEST swimmer out there - from above it probably looks like I'm doing the dead man's float on my stomach with sudden arm twitches every so often.

Yeah, and I'm the swim coach! ;)

Training has begun

I have a countdown on my computer that tells me how many days I have left to get myself ready for the Ironman. Today is read 223 days. Although I know that sounds like a lot, it kind of freaked me out. Of course I have thoughts every day of "will I be ready" and "am I crazy", but I trust that Tom will get me where I need to be in time. And he wasted no time cracking the whip once I got home. Training has officially began! :)

Over the last three days, we've run 22 miles, with another 10 coming tomorrow. On our 12 miler the other day, I felt sluggish and thought for sure that I lost everything on my trip (which was funny because the first week I ran 4 times with my speed demon mother-in-law and swam twice). Yesterday's run was a little better, and today I felt like I had it again. We did our normal 4.7 mile loop in 42 minutes and some seconds - a PR for our course. It ended up being a 8:58 min./mile. I was pleased (and I think my coach was as well, knowing that I haven't completely lost it!) Monday we are finally getting into the pool and I'm hoping that with Easter tomorrow, warm weather is to follow. I can only hope!

We have a bunch of races coming up which is always fun. A half marathon next weekend, one 3 weeks later. Tri's start 6/15 and I think it's going to be a busy but VERY fun season. I placed twice last year (so what if there were 3 or less in my group), but I'm going to do it again this year if I have any control over it! I've added a list of my race dates on the side of my blog. There are a lot!!!

My Trip To Tahiti

Wow! That's really all that needs to be said about my trip! It was UNBELIEVABLE! Seriously a trip of a lifetime. I was gone for 15 days. We left Sunday, 3/2 We stayed three nights in Papeete, Tahiti at the Intercontinental. It was so nice to relax at the resort for a few days and get used to things. We also met up with 5 people that were going to be on our boat which made for a fun couple of days. Of course we started the trip with rain and I thought that would be a bad sign, but it ended up pretty nice by about 3/7. Here is a picture of the resort and a sunset that we saw one night from the resort restaurant.

We left Papeete on 3/5 and flew to Raiatea. This is where we got to meet all of the women and get on our boats. My group (11 of us total) were on a 43 foot catamaran named Cascade. We got settled on our boat, were immediately labeled the "party boat" (which incidentally just translated to the best boat to us) and set out the next day. This is the largest boat in our group (a 46 foot cat):

Ours looked like this:

The rooms were down below - 4 cabins with double beds, 2 singles, 4 heads (toilets) and yeah, with 11 people that meant someone slept upstairs or outside.

The women on my boat were fantastic. I fell in love with all of them immediately. They were so inspiring, so welcoming and above all else SO FUN!

So where did we go and what did we see? In a nutshell our 10 days looked like this

1. Day 1 - got on the boat in Raiatea and just stayed docked (the weather was bad)
2. Day 2 - Sailed to Ta'haa after the storms cleared
3. Day 3 - spend the day at Ta'haa, anchored and exploring Jillville (and island that Jill our Captain adopted)
4. Day 4 - Sailed to Huahine
5. Day 5 - Anchored in Huahine
6. Day 6 - Sailed up the coast of Huahine to a different town, Fare
7. Day 7 - Sailed back to Ta'haa and anchored at the Ta'haa yacht club
8. Day 8 - Sailed to Bora Bora
9. Day 9 - Anchored at Bora Bora
10. Day 10- Sailed back to Ta'haa and Jillville
11. Day 11 - Sailed back to Raiatea and got off the boats.

We saw so many great things, had lots of laughs, a few scares, learned more than we thought we would and really bonded. The islands were gorgeous, the sunsets and sunrises were breathtaking. There's really no way that I can put into words what this trip did for me. I came back refreshed, inspired, and renewed. I've now seen and experienced part of the world that many won't see and let me just tell you one thing - anyone who doesn't get to see French Polynesian from a sail boat is missing out! Here are a few random pictures that I took.

There's so much more to tell, but I'll have to wait until I get to see you. If you want to see all 200+ pictures that I took, let me know and I will give you the link in Snapfish. If you want information about future trips, let me know that as well. And to those of you that were on the trip with me, THANK YOU! I love you all so much and just have one things to say:

"MAN, I FEEL LIKE A WOMAN!"

I'm back...

I got home Monday night pretty late. After being up 38+ hours, I slept like a baby, although I still feel like I might be on Tahiti time. I'm getting adjusted to being back in cold dreary Ohio. I think by this weekend I'll be back to my normal self. I'm heading out now for a 12 mile run, but will post a recap of the most unbelieveable trip I've every been on, as well as more pictures than you could ever want to see once I get a chance.