The tale of the rabbit

I was the rabbit today. I like being the rabbit. On just about every run, I like to be a step ahead of Tom (or whoever we're running with). I don't know why... something about feeling like I'm chasing the person I'm running with if they are even the slightest bit in front of me. It's all mental, although then again, most of my demons are mental! :)

So today we ran with Tom's mom who we haven't ran with in probably 10 months. She's a great athlete and quirky as all get up, so it's fun to bring her along for runs. Today it was a 12 miler. It rained all morning. I dreaded it, as I've been doing for the past few weeks. I cried for about 20 minutes (not about the run, but just other stuff) prior to going so I wasn't expecting anything stellar. When Janet said she would come it didn't phase me, although I worried if I'd be able to keep up. She's been running hard miles. She's a sub 4:00 marathon runner on any given day. But, I forgot that when the three of us run, something kicks in and I like to lead. I like to be the rabbit.

I heard them say it a few times today. "Look at the rabbit ahead" or "Bring us home rabbit" and I couldn't help but smile. It might not have been the fastest 12 that I've done, but I felt great, ran a pace that I enjoyed, and just kept one step in front of them. I ran... they chased. Just the way I like it!

Then she pulled a Cavendish on me and ran past me the last 100 feet. Figures. But you know what, I'm still happy being the rabbit for 11 miles 5180 feet!

Thank you

Dear Mother Nature,

It's been rainy and crappy the last few days. I try to not complain, but really yesterday was just unacceptable. I was awake for approximately 15 hours and it didn't once stop raining. I know that the plants and grass and flowers needed it, yada yada yada, but really? No break at all? How am I supposed to become an Ironman when I have to summon the energy to train inside?

But again, I try not to only complain so - I just want to thank you for being kind to me today. The rain stopped and Tom and I were able to get jump on our bikes. Although you were blowing straight in my face for the first 21 miles, as to say "complain some more girlfriend", I really appreciate you not relocating while we enjoyed a pizza and salad. I really like the wind... but mostly when it's at my back and that's where you stayed for the last 21 miles!

Because of your kind gesture today, I'll let yesterday slip. Just try not to let it happen again.

Yours truly,
Colleen

Things that make me happy

It doesn't take much. Here's my most recent list:

1. A girl's trip in September. I've never been on a girl's trip and totally on a whim, my bestie and I booked flights to go to West Palm Beach for a few days in September, sans the hubbies! It's just the two of us as no one else wanted to come :( but we are going to have a blast. We know NOTHING about the place, but booked a hotel for super cheap through Priceline and have a rental car. I know that there's a beach and shopping and food. Really what more can 2 crazy girls want. R - we just have to accidentally on purpose forget to answer our phones if crazy Italian tour guide calls! :) Oh, and did I mention that the trip falls between hell week 1 and hell week 2 of training! It's going to be just what the doctor ordered!


2. Gummy vitamins for grownups. Silly, I know, but I'm the world's most horrible person at taking vitamins. And when I say horrible, I simply mean it doesn't happen. I've tried everything - the Women's ones which help your metabolism, kids ones, the chocolate knock off, etc. I couldn't stand any of them! These things are fab! They are little little gummy bears and I just have to chew 2 a day! They don't offer everything that I need in a vitamin, but come on - it's better than nothing!!!
3. Summer tv - I'm a dork and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Big Brother which I've come to associate it with summer. It's definitely brainless tv, but it so gets me excited on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday nights. It's the little things people! :)
4. The Tour - I try channel my inner biker when I'm out on my long rides while the tours on. HA! I wish I looked so fluid and confident on the bike as these guys. They are truly amazing. Not to mention that they all look awesome in spandex and well, a woman obviously didn't invent bike clothes! And although I've been calling it the Tour de Lance, I have to give that dude some props... he's pretty impressive!
5. Knowing that High Heels and High Hopes is coming along and the prospect of it being an amazing event. Tom made an amazing website for it (www.highheelsandhighhopes.com) and I'm getting excited to see how it all comes together. Just my little good deed for the year!
6. I'm about to start racing a lot in the next few weeks. I have an Olympic next weekend, a half marathon, 2 half ironman distances and lots of long training days coming - and I'm actually getting excited. The dread has started to subside a little and I'm looking forward to being pushed. Now if I can just ward off the crazy monster in my stomach that puts crazy demands on my brain to feed it all day long, I'll be golden! :)
7. I feel good with where I'm at right now in life. Friends, family, marriage, work, health, community involvement, confidence...things are really falling into place! YAY!

I'm back...

I just had an awesome 12 mile run. I negative split the second 6 miles by about 2 minutes and saw my overall pace go from 8:44's to 8:36's. I felt like I had my mojo back. It was awesome!!! I really owe this to my friends and family, which I know, sounds like I'm accepting an Academy award or something, but it's so true and here's why.

So last night Tom and I had dinner plans with our friends Rhiannon and Gabe. We were going to their house for a BBQ and Rhiannon had called me like a month ago and said, "I know you're busy, what day works best for you?". Sadly, this the was the first night that worked. So Tom and I were super excited for some R&R with our friends. As we're pulling up to their house, we see a few cars along the way that remind us of some of our other friend's cars (yep, you know where this is going). Tom said to me "what's going on and why are our other friends here?" I was a little confused because I thought it was just going to be the 4 of us and I wasn't 100% sure that these two random cars parked along streets leading up to the street we needed to be on were actually our friends. No one else was parked in Rhiannon's court so I didn't think anything of it. Tom was still a little suspicious. He thought I was in on something. Me, well I'm oblivious to most things so I told him he was nuts. Besides, we didn't have birthday's or anything that warranted a surprise party so why would they be doing something to surprise us. I rang the doorbell and was greeted with a big:

"SURPRISE" (and the toot of party horns which I must add were a great little touch).

Standing there 14 of our friends, my mom and dad, and my sister and brother-in-law. I was totally shocked had this weird smile on my face and just said "what's going on". I have to admit, I was confused. Tom didn't hide that - he flat out said, "I'm so confused". TMy best friend's answer was priceless -

"We threw you a surprise party because you're awesome."

What could possibly be so awesome about me and Tom??? We're just two crazy people who work out 2.5-3 hours a day on average, bike across the country, sign up and pay hundreds of hard earned dollars to race for multiple hours in one day, beat ourselves to a pulp each and every weekend, miss parties and get togethers because of long bikes and runs, etc. etc. To me, that just my life.

To them, that's awesome.

It was so cool! We ended up having a great time catching up with everyone that we haven't seen lately because of our crazy busy schedules. We laughed. We ate. We smiled. We forgot about the craptasticly long bike ride that we had that morning or the looming long run the following morning. It was amazing! Tom and I can truly say that we have the best friends and family in the world. And I couldn't stop thinking about them today on my run.

Quite honestly - THEY ARE AWESOME!

It must be summer

I keep telling myself that it must be summer. Between the sun burn, the kids screaming in the neighborhood, the ice cream man, the long workouts, the overall exhaustion, the lack of blogging, etc. I can tell it's summer! :)

I get this way every year. All of a sudden I look at my calendar and have an "Oh Shit!" moment. I had that this weekend. Where did the first 7 months of the year go and why is November coming so quickly???

And I wonder why I am freaking out!!!

We're finally in the groove of long training. Well, "in the groove" is kind of a loose translation of getting through the workouts for the time being. :) I know that it'll take some time to get adjusted to the long hours and overall pounding on my body, but I hate the self doubt that comes with that adjustment. Yesterday, during a 10 mile hot boring run, I broke down, cried to my wonderful training partner that I don't know why I do this and seriously wondered how I'll ever get to the start line in November. I know I can do it and I know why I do it, but at that exact minute, I questioned everything. I know this is all part of the journey, or at least I keep telling myself that it is and that I'll be alright, but it still makes things difficult.

Looking ahead, we have a lot going on. Tom's racing NYC and Chicago, we're both racing an OLY here in Ohio, 2 half IM's, 2 half marathons. We're heading to DC with the fam for a long weekend. Tom's speaking in Orlando and at a conference in Atlanta. We have century's planned, 20 milers scheduled, hell weekends already on the calendar. I talked to my mom the other day about a small one day trip that we're taking with my parents and I honestly said that one day would work better than the next because it's a rest day and that yes, my life does revolve around training now. Oye ve!

I'm seriously considering what the future holds for me in terms of racing and training. I don't think that another Ironman is in the cards for a while. Maybe it's short racing. Maybe it's not racing at all. I don't know. According to my hubby, I have to figure out where my heart is. Luckily I'm too busy right now to have time to make any decisions! :)

2 line update

All is well. Tom's recovered. Raced yesterday. Olympic - 2:46:43, 3rd in AG. Happy, although struggled during run :(. Looking forward to starting IM training full time. It's only 123 days away. Yikes! Will post more late!

To my husband

4 years ago today, my childhood dream of marrying my best friend was no longer a dream, but instead a reality. And although it seems like just yesterday that we were getting ready to walk down the aisle and say "I Do", so much has happened. Not only have I fallen even more in love with you every time I set eyes on you, we've done so many things together that I never would have done had I not met you. We've traveled to some of our favorite places - Jamaica, Mexico, Vegas, Chicago, and PCB to name a few. We've started racing triathlons together - from our very first sprint to our first Ironman together. We've started a company, grown that company and made a name for ourselves. We've made new friends, and been there for each other when some "old" friends became just memories. I've watched you race across the US on a bike, take your diabetes and turn it into a blessing in disguise, and pursue dreams that you probably wouldn't have attempted prior to meeting me. Heck, you laugh at public speaking now... and I sometimes wonder what you did with the guy who was nervous to thank everyone at our rehearsal dinner.

You've stood by me as I took on charity work, help me challenge myself physically and mentally and are always there when I think that I'll never get through the day.

You continue to make me laugh, remind me that we're only given one lifetime to live and reassure me that I'll never be alone in the game of life. I have the best friend in the world standing next to me each and every day and I thank you for the love you've shown me. I love you so much and look forward to what lies ahead! :)

Some RAAM Pictures

I'm hoping to get pictures from others to add here (hint hint mom, dad and Kristen). I didn't take a ton the night that TT1 came in. I was a little preoccupied with other things and knew that everyone had camera's out and would catch things. But, here are a few of the ones that I took that I think turned out good. Tom getting doused with silly string (we're still finding this stuff!)The winners after getting their medals! Way to go guys!

Tom signing an autograph for a young fan (this is the coolest yet funniest thing for me to see!!!)

We had gift bags for the guys and my friend Rhiannon helped me make the most awesome beer mugs for all the guys that said RAAM 2009 CHAMPS (that's my sign too which I don't even think anyone saw, but that's alright)Tom's finally starting to recover... well kind of. His swelling has gone down a bunch and his blood sugars are getting there. If he can just fight off the impending cold and overall worn down feeling, he'll be all set. I look over at him throughout the day and he just looks beat. Guess you can't blame him... they ran on no sleep and lots of HARD miles last week. He's run twice since the race ended which is amazing to me... and is planning on racing this weekend. He's a stud (or crazy, but since tomorrow's our anniversary, I'll stick with stud!)

This weekend we're both racing again - Caesar Creek Olympic Tri. I'm excited, although I totally feel unprepared. It's weird, I've just not gotten bit by the bug this year. I have, in that I love racing, but the training has been less than desirable. I don't know if it was because of my decision to do a spring marathon and then just being a little burnt out or what by May. The Ironman is only 18 weeks away and I'm slightly freaked out. I know that I'll get the mojo, I just hope that it comes sooner than later... like tonight or tomorrow! :) I took 4 days off in Annapolis and it was awesome. I ran slowly with Tom on Monday and did a 40 minute OWS yesterday and felt great. Looking back at my workout log from last year, I'm logging about 1/2 of the overall miles and hours that I did at this time last year. That's a bit scary, but I know that I'll get there. :)