Tag, I'm it...

Liz tagged me....here is how it goes: go to your 4th folder (where your pictures are stored - On the Dashboard page of Blogger, at the bottom, click on Picasa Web Album - this is where all of your uploaded blog photos are stored) and find the 4th picture….and post it. Then explain it. And tag 4 people.


This is from the Wendy's International Triathlon 2007. I was just getting into tri's (this might have been my 3rd race ever) and obviously I was so happy that I finished! Little did I know that a year later I would be training for an Ironman and 2 years later, would BE an Ironman! :) I also thought this was a cool race because I was number 549 - my lucky number is 5 and Tom's is 49. We always hope to get numbers with some combination of those 3 numbers but this is the only race so far that I've been that lucky!

I tag - Kristen, Carolyn, Borsch and Kathleen :)

Wow -

So I thought I'd get back into blogging and I've totally slacked. I just read one of my girlfriend's blogs and she said that she is slacking too so I don't feel as horrible. Guess life hasn't been all that interesting to write stuff - either that or I'm knee deep in dung and don't have time to post much (in hind sight... it's probably a mixture of both!).

Training sucks. There, I said it. I haven't done squat and I feel like a lard for it! My marathon training officially starts Monday and I'm actually really excited. I guess it's because I know I can't slack once I have a plan that needs to be followed. When I don't have anything planned and on paper, I don't do anything. ;) That's not 100% true - I've been biking and running sporadically but I'm NO WHERE NEAR race shape. I'd probably come in dead last if I raced anything today. Did you notice that I haven't done any swimming? Yeah... that's tough. Tom got me a bathing suit for Christmas and of course I had to return it because it was WAY small (God bless him for that). I ended up exchanging it for the same one in a different size, and then ordering another one in just a different color. Sadly I've used the fact that I haven't gotten the exchange back yet as my reasoning for not getting in the water since... well let's just say that it's been a long time! They will come this week so I won't have that as an excuse anymore.

It's so funny how after doing an Ironman, my 45 minute workouts 4 days a week are so hard and I feel like such a slug. People laugh and say that it's healthy for me to be like this, although I'm so hard on myself. I feel like I should be working out 7 days a week, but that's just not happening. I do November Ironman races for a reason! :)

Life is good though - I'm busy with work. We took our house off the market. It's just not time (although the thought of moving to the Southeast side of Columbus still lingers... don't worry!) Maybe next year... I've take over the chair position at the local hospital fund raiser. It's going to be a little more work than I probably anticipated, but it's event planning and that's my secret love so it works. I went last night to a belated Christmas gift exchange with 6 fabulous ladies and had a ball. We did a secret Santa and I loved it. Being out with the girls is such a nice change of pace after a busy week - so much so that I found myself still gabbing away at 11:30 at night and we were an hour away from home. It's so worth it! And one of those dear friends is going to be coming with me to WW meetings starting Thursday so I'm excited for that - company at a meeting where I don't feel 100% comfortable is always a good thing... I'm still the "skinny" girl at most meetings, even with 17 pounds to lose! Wowzas...

I have seen this in a couple of blogs and really liked it. Hope you enjoy it as well.

• What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Learn to accept me for me. I still struggle with it a little, but I can look at myself and be proud of what I see and who I am a little more because of last year.
• Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I honestly can't tell you what mine were - I guess I didn't keep them. I didn't really make resolutions, but goals for myself, my company, etc.
• Did anyone close to you give birth? I think Liz is the only person
• Did anyone close to you die? no - thankfully!
• What countries did you spend time in this year? The FP - Tahiti, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Ta'haa
• What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? I wish I had hit 50 in my dealer count with work. I really had a bad year in getting new customers and that's a goal for 09.
• What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 11/01/08 - I became and Ironman!
• What was your biggest achievement of the year? Finishing the Ironman with a smile on my face
• What was your biggest failure? My lack of "go-get-em" with regard to work.
• Did you suffer any serious injury or illness? No - I'm very blessed for that
• Whose behaviour merited celebration? My hubby always should get kudos for his love and patience with me - I know I'm not easy on him sometimes.
• Whose behaviour made you appalled and/or depressed? There are a couple of people on Tom's side of the family that surprised me. Biggest was probably my sister in law's. She's a very little person and it took a rough year to realize that. I think some of the situations with her really opened my eyes to how other people in his family really feel. It's a sad and hard situation.
• Where did most of your money go? Bills, stuff I didn't need like tri gear and clothes! :)
• What did you get really, really, really excited about? Racing - for once it was fun to really push myself and the results of my efforts were definitely in my favor!
• Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? happier

b) thinner or fatter? hum... maybe a little fatter, but that will change now that the holidays are gone!

c) richer or poorer? um... I dunno. I guess the same.

• What do you wish you'd done more of? worked
• What do you wish you'd done less of? played
• Did you fall in love in 2008? I fall in love all over every day - sappy but true
• Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Hate's a tough word. I dislike VERY much my sister in law. I think she's doing a lot of stupid things which will only hurt her and her children down the road. It's a lonely road without family and just because kids are involved doesn't mean that what she's doing is acceptable.
• What was the best book you read? The Last Lecture
• What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 28. We were in Vegas for my b-day last year. :)
• What political issue stirred you the most? The whole campaign was pretty interesting. It's the first time that I really took time to get involved. I think I was finally mature enough to know that the results either way would affect me.
• Who did you miss? I have lost contact with a few friends from Huntington and high school that I wish I was in better contact with. It's never too late though right?
• Who was the best new person you met? One person? That's not possible. I met 6 great new girls and their hubbies/boyfriends. They have become unbelievable friends in a very short time. Steph, Liz, Rhiannon, Trisha, Em and Christina - I love you girls! Tracy and Jim are two triathletes that I'm honored to know - they are ranked in the world, yet as down to earth as they come. Someday I hope to keep up with them!
• Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. You really only get one life. Tom says this all the time and I really took that to heart this year. It saddens me when people do things that they aren't happy about because they think that they have to. Surround yourself with people you like, do things you enjoy, and remember that you only get one lifetime to do what you want.

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.