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?

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!!!

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...

Colleen's Photo

Ahhh...

I feel like I'm finally getting to a place where I can breath again. Things have just been so busy in the Kingery house. Race Across America is over. Team Type 1 did amazing! They were first overall again this year with a finish time of 5 days 10 hours and 48 minutes. It was definitely an experience for Tom that hopefully he can put in his memory bank and just support from now on versus participate in! :) While I know he enjoys the challenge, he's not a bike racer and it really takes a toll on him. I know he played an important role in this year's team and that he kind of enjoyed himself (it's hard when you are throwing up for the first full day), but it's done! :) Here are some of the pictures from the finish line... it was 4:30am when they got in and we did get to see an amazing sunrise over the marina! :)

Then we got to have an amazing vacation in Annapolis. If you haven't been, it's the greatest little town. We got to see a little of Baltimore too on Sunday before our flights. Tom was navigating as I was driving and brought me to Charm City Cakes. :) I love Ace of Cakes so it was cool. I'm sure they get a gazillion tourists out there taking the same picture that I took, but whatever! :) I wish I could have met Duff...

So we're home now, but only for a few days. Tom leaves on Friday for Orlando. He has back to back conferences there for TT1. I'm going to go on Saturday and just hang out for a few days. The hotel has a lazy river (woohoo) and we're hoping to hit up a theme park on Tuesday. And we signed up for a 5k on Sunday through the conference so that should be fun!!!

I feel like I've been totally slacking in the training department. My motivation has been zilch with everything going on. That's typical this time of year I guess... it's the busiest time with the most miles due. Prioritizing and balancing life (friends, family, work, training, cleaning) starts to get difficult and I find myself struggling with it a lot. I feel like some of the people who should be the most important in my life show their true colors this time of year - and by that I mean not being 100% supportive and understanding. If there's ever a time I feel selfish (which I do and probably am), now is that time. Do you ever feel this way with your training??? It's hard to do what you love and get slack for it. I guess I have to make myself happy before I can make others happy...

Ohhh... good exciting news. I received my 288 Marathon Bar samples the other day in the mail. They are AWESOME! I'm going to do a give away with some of them in the coming days so stay tuned. If you haven't had them, they are awesome. I was given 144 of the crunchy honey & toasted almond energy bars and 144 of the chocolatey nut burst protein bars. YUMMO! I'll let you know the chances to win some of them... you'll be hooked!

First update... and 1 down, 1 to go! :)

First, an update on the guys... They kick off at 2pm PST so they are getting ready. The teams have been chosen (Shake and Bake) and Tom's on the second shift this time around so he'll probably see the 1/2 of the course that he didn't get to see last year! His first shift will start at 9pm PST this evening. He has some sort of stomach bug though which really has him down. Feels miserable. He just told me that he was going to try to sleep (since he was sick all night) and should be ready to hammer when it's time (keeping my fingers crossed!!!) Here's a picture of this year's guys...GET IT DONE BOYS!!!

So I'm not going to write a full race report of this morning's Women's Only Tri because race weekend isn't done yet (I'm racing again tomorrow morning), but I had an amazing morning. It was such a cool feeling being surrounded by women who can all call themselves triathletes after today's race. It was really inspiring to watch many of these girls participate in their first race with such big smiles. I loved seeing all the running skirts (and of course am slightly jealous that I can't run in one - don't ask...) but it was cool. And... I got to experience what a sheriff's escort on the bike feels like and a bike escort on the run feels like! :) Yep, after the swim and catching a girl or two on the bike, I was the lead athlete the rest of the day and let me just tell you, I felt like a superstar. So that will totally never happen again, but I loved every minute of it. I felt really strong out there (besides my swim which always sucks) and I was really happy with the performance! I wore my Team Marathon gear, got tons of great compliments and just had a blast! My dear friend Tracy (who is probably the most kick ass triathlete I know in person) was at the race cheering for a friend and was able to get some pictures.

Jeff Sheard and the Ultrafit-USA crew did an AMAZING job with the inaugural event! I'll be back! And I'll post stats and whatnot once they are posted and I'm done with my next tri tomorrow morning. For now, I'm off to lay on the couch, eat some ice cream and get ready to hammer it again tomorrow! Wish me luck.

And if any of you questioned how wonderful my husband is (which I'm sure none of you would do), the proof is in what showed up at my door today!

The good, the bad and the ugly...

THE GOOD:

I ran my 10k today. I was totally nervous which is funny since it was only 6.2 miles, but I get like that. I had a good transition run this week of 3 miles at a 7:36 pace. I was hoping to be under 8's for this race (or as close to being under 50 minutes as I could). It rained on the way to the race. There was a tornado watch. The winds were supposed to be 20mph. Nothing like adding to my nerves. We got there plenty early, took some pictures of me in my new kit (well part of it at least) said hi to my friends Stevi and Lori who were both running today (and did great) and then coach Tom had me run and do some sprints. My HR skyrocketed. Again, nothing like adding to my nerves. I lined up pretty close to the front because although it was chip timed, there wasn't a start mat (I know, weird, but that's the way they like to do it in Ohio). The rain had stopped, but it was HUMID! I took off at a comfortably hard pace. The first mile was a 7:30. Yikes. The second mile was a 7:32. Yikes. There was no way that I could maintain that. The sun popped out on the third mile and I entered the oven. I got hot. Really hot. I lost track of my splits (and I didn't wear a garmin), but I crossed the line in 48:14! WOO HOO. We grabbed some pancakes and sat on the stairs waiting for awards. Seeing the ladies that I was running with, I had a snowballs chance in hell of getting top 5 (which is what they awarded). My AG was called, Tom was talking to my dad who walked over from his office, and I hear "in 4th place, Colleen Kingery". What? I was giddy like a little school girl. NEVER have I placed in a running race. Now that I'm in the big girls group (that would be F30-34), I know the competition is good. I ended up 4th out of 71. Made my freaking day! :) I got a really cool cup that says "Age Group Hero" on it.
THE BAD:

My uncle was riding in the MS150 this weekend - he does the event every year. Yesterday he called and said that it was super hot. No biggie. Today he collapsed 5 miles from the finish and had no pulse. They revived him, rushed him to the hospital and he is in critical condition. They said that it was a heart attack, but were worried about his kidneys, liver and swelling of the brain. My aunt is not home (in NC), as she's visiting my grandparents in PA. She's flying home as soon as she can, but even that has been delayed. We then got word that he was in Cardiac Arrest and were doing emergency surgery. It doesn't look good. PLEASE say a prayer or at least keep our family in your thoughts. He's a healthy guy, a great husband, dad and uncle.

THE UGLY:

I got bit by a dog yesterday. It was a totally freak thing. I'm a dog person. I was standing in my bff's in her driveway and this pit looking dog (the lady claimed that it was a lab mix... um, no it wasn't) got loose. These little girls were chasing it with a stick and calling for it, but it ran the opposite direction from them. Until it grabbed my dress, ripped the bottom of it and sunk it's teeth into my calf. He didn't break skin, but I have a huge bruise on my leg and three good size teeth marks. Damn dog. The lady needs to be careful - while I won't call the pound, I'm sure my friend's mom will. Being the typical girl that I am, I got more mad that the dog ruined my new dress. :( She paid me for it, but I got it at TJMaxx and if you know that store, they never have 2 of the same thing! Oh well.

Marathon Bar

I received super exciting news this week and I've been itching to write about it on my blog, but it seems like, as always, the days get away from me before I have a chance to sit and write.

I got a letter this week that I was selected to be on the 2010 Team Marathon Bar. For those of you that don't know, Marathon Bars are sinful energy bars by Mars. Pretty much they are training candy for athletes. I love them... and now I get to race for them! I'm super excited!!! I'm not really sure what all will be required of me (we have a conference call this week), but I get some gear to train and race in, get some product to eat and share and I just have to tell everyone how awesome they are which won't be hard. Seriously people... if you like candy, you have to give these babies a shot. They have 5 flavors of energy bars and 2 protein bars. Yummo!

Training has been going well. Tom is doing the Race Across America again this year and the race starts a week from Saturday (I'll start my blog updates once they start if you are interested). He's been busy biking an ungodly amount of miles which equates to me riding more than running and swimming. :) It's alright. I don't mind too much! I just looked at my numbers for May and I was pretty happy:

• I biked 438 miles outside. I also took 3 spin classes.
• I ran 80.5 miles which isn't a lot, but I was happy that I averaged 8:35's for the month. I feel like my runs are getting easier at that pace.
• I swam 11,500 meters. I wish that was more, but I didn't do a good job with swimming. I haven't braved the cold OW yet (I'm planning on it this week) so it's been hard to drag myself to the pool. I did swim 1.2 miles today (just a straight pool swim) and did it in 34:09. I was super excited about that!

We rode the Ironman course in Louisville on Thursday ... well most of it. Alright, some of it. We did the out and back twice which was a lot of climbing. We did the loop of the "P" 1.5 times. I think we got 80 miles in. I liked the course - it was hot that day and the course didn't disappoint in terms of hills. I cried once, around 70 miles, but if you know me, that's not bad! :) No, I'm kidding. I think I was just overheating a little and definitely started to doubt my abilities. I turned around and hammered 10 more miles out so I'll be alright! I want to ride the course again in July sometime. We just can't find hills like that here in Columbus!

This week is my 10k. Tom will be home for it so he's going to cheer me on. I'm excited, but it's funny that I'm slightly nervous. I have no clue what I can run it in. I'd like to go around 48 minutes, but who knows...

Oh, and remember how I said that race company went out of business? Well I still haven't heard from them about the race being canceled, but their website is back up but registration for all races this summer are closed. And the courses have been updated. I honestly don't have a clue if I'm racing or not on June 27th. I think a phone call to the race director is in order. If the race is still on, I'll be racing 3 weeks in a row! Yikes!