MK, I AM AN IRONMAN!!!

Eat More

2009-09-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

I just finished my biggest week (16 hours 7 minutes) which consisted of 4.5 miles swimming, 168 miles biking, and 17 miles running and today I feel GREAT!

I worked Monday through Thursday last week since it was my standard Friday off. Perhaps this made it a little easier to get all my training in, but with sunset coming so much earlier, it’s getting more challenging to get time on the bike. This week I rode 1.5 hours on Tuesday, half of which had to be done on the trainer because it was dark. Wednesday I rode 2 hours after work before it got dark but didn’t get the full 2 hours 15 minutes my coach had scheduled for me. Friday morning though made up for that, more in a minute, but first…

I had a long swim on Thursday evening. A 4500 yard easy swim in the pool with 1000 warm-up of free, pulls, kicks, and drills. The main set which consisted of 12x150 pulls with 20s rest and 12x100 as 50 skull, 50 free with 15s rest. A cool down of 10x50 choice. It took me quite a while to do this work out since skulling takes forever! It’s good, don’t get me wrong. It’s helped me tremendously in developing a good feel for the water and keep high elbows. 600 yards of it though takes almost 20 minutes. Anyway, after getting out of the pool at 8:40pm and eating dinner I was off to bed so I could get up early for my long bike ride.

My long ride was up the coast. I had 4 hours 15 minutes scheduled followed by a 30 minute run. I started off feeling really good. I kept a comfortable pace and around 1:30 in, I inserted my first of two 15 minute intervals at the power my coach wanted. It felt a little harder than I had expected, but sometimes it just takes a little to settle in. I finished, and felt ok, but not really strong like I had wanted and am used to. I recovered for about 10 minutes and then set into my second 15 minute interval. It was also ok, but during my recovery from it, I wasn’t feeling recovered. I thought I just needed to add in some extra spin time and I would be fine. It was now about 2 hours 45 minutes in and I just wasn’t recovering. My stomach ached and overall my body just felt off. I was still almost 2 hours away from my start point. I was starting to think about who I could call to come pick me up. I was supposed to do 3 intervals, but skipped the third one for obvious reasons and just took it easy all the way back to my car. My 4 hr 15 min ride turned into 4 hour 30 minutes.

I thought for sure I would just collapse on the grass when I got back to the car, but it was time to run. I had stopped to pee sometime on the way back and was feeling a bit better, thankfully. So I set off for a 30 minute run. It went well! Much better than last week when I had ridden too hard and couldn’t run for even 15 minutes.

I pondered throughout the day on what went wrong. Why had my ride fallen apart so suddenly after 2.5 hours. What I finally realized was I just needed more food. After a long swim like the one the previous night, I need lots of calories to recover from that effort and move on to a long effort like a 4+ hour ride. It was yet another learning experience for me.

Becoming Speedy

2009-09-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday I did the longest bike ride I have done since IMAZ last year. Actually, each week I do the longest ride since then as I am adding more time to my long ride every weekend. This weekend was a little different though.

I have been doing my long rides on Sunday while working on completing long runs since I’ve struggled with running so much this season, but alas the runs are becoming “easy” and now I’m back to the long Saturday rides typical of most triathletes’ training. This change brought about 1 change for me, lots of cyclist on the roads.

Cyclists seemed to be out in masses! But I was out alone on my 4 hour ride having a blast. The weather was perfect and with all the people, there was rarely a stretch of road that I was really alone. It was very similar to a race. You pass a few people, say hello, then keep up that strong steady pace.

The biggest difference for me with all the people on the road was how many of them I was passing and how very few were passing me. This was a GREAT feeling. I’ve been working so hard in my training and the results are clear and very exciting. I’m so used to being passed like a sitting duck over and over, all day long, by young people, old people, boys, girls…everybody! Today though, I was tearing up the road! With all the stop and go from lights and stop signs, etc, I still averaged a full 18.0 mph for 4 hours, covering 72 miles. The total elevation gain was ~2300 according to my Garmin.

I’m feeling really good about my training so far. I still have a ways to go (like 40 more miles), but that’s ok. I still have 10 weeks! Oh…and then I have to run…hummm. I guess I need to work on that part ; )

From the Shores to the Cove

2009-09-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

I was standing there on the shoreline at La Jolla Shores looking out across the choppy water to the Cove. I had swam from the Cove out past the ¼ mile buoy, then to the half mile buoy, stopped and asked around for a buddy to swim longer. I found a willing body and we ventured off toward the Shores, about another half mile.

I stood there remembering the first time I had stood in that spot almost a year and a half ago. I had just moved to San Diego and had IMAZ looming a few weeks away. I knew I needed to be there, but the water was cold, a brisk 56ish degrees, and I really wasn’t excited to be freezing.

The swim leader announced there would be a group heading over to the Cove and I thought to myself, people don’t really swim ALL the way over there. They must just swim in that direction. Either way, I opted for the 500m-ish beginner swim and even that seemed like a lot to me on that day. It wasn’t the distance, it was the cold. Putting my face in the icy water for the first time literally took my breath away. I was so happy to finally have that swim behind me. I came back the next week and did it again and it was only slightly better. And that was it. That was my open water preparation for the April IMAZ race last year.

My how a year changes everything though. Most weeks I get a long open water swim in, usually 1.5-2 miles and this week was no different. I swam from the Cove to the Shores lifeguard shack and back. So now I know when people are standing on the beach at the Shores and say they are going to swim to the Cove, they really do, because now I do it. The added bonus is, it’s still warm enough to go without my wetsuit. How wonderful it is to be free!

Taking it off!

2009-09-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

My wetsuit that is! Last Friday was the first time I had ever done an open water swim in the Pacific Ocean without my wetsuit. And I have to tell you…it was AWESOME! The water was so warm and it was just so nice being out there without neoprene hugging and restricting my every movement. My arms didn’t have to fight to propel myself through the water. It was simply magnificent.

I didn’t plan this by the way. I showed up a little late. People were already coming out of the water and I still have a 2 mile swim ahead of me. I was in a hurry to say the least! I grabbed my cap and goggles and headed down to the edge of the water. I stood there nervous about taking the plunge for the first time. I wondered if I had become too dependent on my floatation device (ie wetsuit).

Alas, a friend came out of the water and told me to go for it. So I waded in, put my head down and off I went. I stopped at the quarter and half mile buoys looking for swim buddies to join me for a longer distance. I found someone debating about going long, so I grabbed him up and off we went.

I had the best time swimming ever! And now, I’m excited to go back tomorrow and do it all over again!

Barb's Race Report

2009-08-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of the year, I knew I wanted to do Barb’s Race. The time was right, the location was “drive-able” and the race reviews were very good. So I signed up, conned a few others to do the same, 3 to be exact and off I went.

GETTING THERE
Fast forward: Wednesday, July 29, I worked a full day, then headed home, threw everything in the car and headed to Burbank to spend the night with my brother. We stayed up way too late and I woke up early, even with no alarm : ( I hit the road for a long drive north and all was well until just north of San Francisco when traffic came to a halt. The last 30ish miles of the drive seemed to take forever and I was ready to get out of the car after 400 miles!

At last I arrive at the hotel, get checked in, unload a few things and relax. This only lasts for a short time though. I needed to head out on the run course and spin out my legs. So after not even an hour, I’m suiting up and heading out the door.

RIDING THE RUN COURSE
More traffic. At last the run course. From some report I had read in the past I heard it was an out and back, 3 miles flat, 3.6 miles of upward rolling hills, back down the hills and onto the flat for the last 3 miles. Then I looked at the map, and read the description: 4.4 miles out on lap 1 and 2.2 miles out on lap 2. This is good, right? I could pull out after 8.8 miles if injuries were bringing me down. It was however, different than what I expected.

I set out on my bike. The first mile is flat. By mile 2 you have gone up a little roller, a steeper roller and rounded a corner on another small one. Just past this one is another hill that I think isn’t too bad and then it’s flat until 3.5 miles. At 3ish miles I turned off of Starr Rd and thought that I might be on the wrong road. There was what seemed like a monsterous hill that curved up so you couldn’t see the top. I knew that one would hurt. After making it to the top I begin searching for the turn-around point and find it less than 1 mile up the road. This course is going to be killer I thought.

I headed back to the car, happy I came out and rode the course. I finished with some stretching and the legs were feeling good. Now time to find dinner. I located my burrito shop where I would eat my pre-race meal tomorrow night, but couldn’t think about eating it tonight too, so I stopped a lady heading out of the burrito shop and inquired about a local Italian eatery.

WRAPPING UP DAY 1
She was so nice! We chatted for a few moments, and I repeated what I thought were the directions back to her to find her recommended eatery, obviously I was wrong so she insisted that I just follow her. She was headed that way anyway : ) Sweet! 5 miles down the road and several turns later, she pulled into the parking lot and gave a few item recommendations and off she went. The people of Windsor were already scoring high with me. After a fine dinner at Mary’s Pizza Shack (I think that was the name) I was off to bed.

STARTING DAY 2
Up and at them as soon as my little eyes opened, just before 6. I wait for breakfast to open in the lobby at 6:30, grab a bite, gather tons of stuff to head out for some swim, bike, run action; I also planned on driving the bike course, attending the pre-race meeting, picking up my packet and dropping off my T2 gear as T1 and T2 are located 15 miles apart : )

LAST WORKOUT BEFORE THE RACE
40ish minutes after heading out from Santa Rosa I arrive in Guerneville, the swim start and location of T1. The beach opens for swimming at 10am and I’m a little early, but not too much. After chattering with the other races, finally I dip into the water with my tri-shorts, sports bra, cap and goggles. The water felt a bit chilly at first, but not too bad. I could do without a wetsuit. Besides, my swim was short, just 10 minutes and who wants to dry out a wetsuit after a 10 minute dip. I hurriedly leave the water, head up and jump on my bike and pedal for 30 minutes; off the bike and onto the run for 10 minutes. Sweet! I’m done and my legs feel AMAZING! I’m ready to race : )

I eat a snack and drive the bike course. I start complaining about my butt hurting while driving the course. I’m not even to 40 miles yet. How’s that going to feel tomorrow while riding the course, ha ha ha. It’s going to hurt!

DRIVING THE BIKE COURSE
The bike course starts out flat after the short jaunt up out of transition. Actually it tends slightly downhill. The course takes a sharp turn at around mile 5 and drops down into this little neighborhood and I’m sure I’m going the wrong way, but the directions say I’m on course. After passing under River Rd, turn right and head up the first hill, which isn’t trivial. I mark this on the map to review later (although I never did).

Nothing too much else happens for quite some time on the course, a few rollers, but nothing substantial. I mentally note the approximate locations of the aid stations based on mileage. Chalk hill which is considered the worst climb on the course finally comes. It’s around mile 44. It starts with 2 small rolls up and then gets a bit steeper. It’s not as long as Torrey Pines, but Torrey repeats are definitely helpful for this one.

Over the hill is a fast descent and just a couple more rollers to the finish line : ) Thankfully the drive is over. I need to get out of the car. I need to eat. I need to get to the expo. So I Eat. Expo. Get bib. Pre-race meeting. Pick up expo freebies : ) Head to store to pick up final supplies. Dinner burrito for later! Getting tired and irritable. One more stop to pick up Ultima to put in my bottles on the bike for the race.

WRAPPING UP DAY 2 – PREPARING FOR THE RACE
I go to REI, because I know REI carries Ultima and it’s right across from my hotel. Apparently not all REIs carry this. I start the internal meltdown. I’m exhausted and have tons to do to prepare and I’ve completely screwed myself by not getting my powder in San Diego like I had planned. Across the parking lot is a Vitamin Shoppe. I go in, find several other electrolyte powders that don’t have sugars. They just have potassium, magnesium, zinc, etc. I buy a couple of varieties and decide one of them will do.

As I pull out of the parking lot to head to the hotel, finally, after a long day, I realize I don’t have anything for breakfast in the morning before the race. Sigh! More driving, hunting for milk to put over my cereal and bagels to snack on before the race. At last, it’s 7:00pm but I am back at the hotel.

Sit and eat dinner. My feet ache since I was running around what seemed like the whole planet trying to tie up all the loose ends. This is NOT good. But, I take a few minutes for a foot massage and I feel 100 times better. Now it’s prep time.

FUEL FOR THE RACE
I sit on the floor and carefully measure out the carbo pro, improvise a funnel from my cereal box to get the powder into my bottles. Open a new electrolyte powder, put a touch in a cup of water, drink it, decide it has to work. Nothing new on race day philosophy out the window. Ooops! I make the first bottle: 24 oz, 2 scoops carbo-pro, 4 small electrolyte packets, spring water. Shake. Taste. OMG it’s SO strong! Oh well. I’ll dilute it in the morning. Make second bottle with different flavor of electrolyte. This sounds like a 5 minute job, but it must have taken me 30 minutes or more. Uggg….everything I do takes me forever. I’m so slow!

More prepping. Put swim gear and T1 gear in bag for the morning. Layout warm up clothes. Put gel in flask to take a “swig” every 15 minutes while on bike. Pack up all other stuff and throw it in car to minimize my morning trips down as I’m checking out of the hotel before the race. Sleep finally around 10ish.

GOOD MORNING
3:21 up for no reason : ( I try to sleep, but it’s no use. I hear other doors closing and I know the hotel is full of Vineman racers heading out. Eventually I get up a little before 5. Start morning routine and put on my zinc sunblock, a task that takes me ~20 minutes I’m sure. I’m still looking for the reason it takes me SO long.

PRE-RACE BREAKFAST
5:58 arrive at bagel shop and wait for them to open at 6:00. Get 2 blueberry bagels, 1 plain, 1 with an egg. Oh and I had a big bowl of cereal before applying all that zinc. I’ve read that for long races, half IM to full, one should aim for 1200-1500 calories. I don’t know how many I ate, but it was a lot and I was tired of eating. I left half a bagel, it was just too much.

ARRIVE AT START
Arriving at the race site there were cars lining the road everywhere. Someone had told me there was a lot past the library that’s always opened for racers. I pay $5 to support the local sports program and park in the grass field. After loading all my bike fluids up: 1 full aero-bottle, 2 24 oz carbo-pro bottles and 1 24 oz water bottle, I’m ready. Air up the tires, grab the swim bag and head to the river. The full racers were in the water already swimming 2 laps of the course. Thank goodness I only had to do 1!

T1
T1 is located in a large gravel lot with astro carpet running the length on both sides. I find my rack, based on bib number and rack my bike along the edge, the best possible spot in transition. I lay out my supplies: bike shoes, socks, helmet, halo, water bottle, very small towel (a kitchen towel actually folded in half), bag to put wetsuit in for transporting to finish line. I wait to leave my glasses as I’m completely blind! I hang out for a while meeting with other cool TRIbal chics from San Diego, but alas it’s time.

SWIM
We pour ourselves into our wetsuits (with sleeves) despite the water temperature of 73. All the leaders coming out of the water had on full suits and I would too! The wave in front of us goes off and suddenly they are yelling 90 seconds until the purple caps start. Crap, that’s me! Hurry, jump in the water, no time to wait. And the siren sounds.

There’s a little bumping, but not too much. I’m swimming against the girl next to me quite a bit. I swim longer than usual before pausing for a quick breast-stroke to catch my breath and site. I continue, and underneath I notice it is quite shallow. I stand up and push off the bottom a few times, I think mainly because I could. I’m passing through the stragglers of the previous wave. I’m not being passed by any purple caps, I’m holding my space and plugging along. Just before I reach the turn-around I finally settle in. After making the turn-around, the current seems to be sweeping me down stream quite quickly! Wow! This is really nice : ) Soon, however that feeling fades and I find myself swimming left, then right. I just want to stay in the middle, but it’s not that easy. Oh well. The swim was uneventful. I pass some more white caps and toward the end, a couple of pink caps (the wave after me) come streaking by.

I jumped up and run up the ramp, hear Bobbie yelling for me (Thanks!) and hear the volunteers yelling there are wetsuit strippers. Sweet! I throw myself down and this guy grabs my suit and like a mad man pulls with one full motion as hard as he can, as long as he can and he hands me my wetsuit. This is the best!

I run along the carpet to the rack with the small red tree air freshener hanging from it. I had noticed it earlier in the morning and knew my bike was down at the end.

I have a slow-ish transition then head out on my bike.

BIKE
As I’m running towards the mount line, the girl in front of me dumps her bike trying to hand off her bag to friends. Just leave it in transition. They will bring your stuff to you at the finish line. Way better than taking the risk and dumping your bike like she did, losing fluids in aero bottles, etc. The guy beside her and directly in front of me was slowing down watching her, so I yell at him to keep going and don’t stop, which he did once he noticed I was behind him : )

I jump on my bike, in the easiest gear. Note, put your bike in an easy gear. I end up pedaling one legged a couple of times until I got clipped in. Then I leap from the saddle, pass those people running their bikes up and I’m off. Well, I should have been anyway.

I got off my bike 3 times in about 0.25 miles trying to keep my magnets from clicking. I’m angry. I rode my bike to transition and they were fine, why were they making noise now?!?! I fix the front. Jump on. Still noisy. I try again. No luck. The 3rd time I realize it’s my back magnet that’s out of line and I fix both of them, jump on. They are still clicking, but my computer and cadence, etc are all working!!!! Yeah. I’ll ignore the sound. I’ve lost enough time.

I settle in, get a sip to drink, hit a bump, loose my water bottle, oh well. I start passing people. Not too many, but very few are passing me. I turn to head up the first hill and watch a lady try and get on her bike, not sure why she was off, but she fell right over. Lesson here: if you are on a hill, don’t try and get back on your bike. Run it to the top. Walk it to the top. Just don’t try and get on the bike on the hill. You WILL FALL again and again.

I make it up the hill and start downhill and into the rollers. I leap frog with a few people for a while. I feel good and am having a wonderful time. I go through the first aid station and decide to get a bottle of Gatorade so I have it when I need it. It doesn’t last long though. I’m putting it in my bottle cage, slip, oops, it’s gone. Oh well.

I make it to the second aid station and get a bottle of water as I was directed from an old race report and squirt myself down, just cool off a little, even though I’m not terribly hot. I place the bottle in my rear cage, but the bottle is too small and doesn’t fit. I round the corner, hit a bump. Oops! It’s gone. This seems to be a common theme and will happen 1 more time.

It’s relatively flat on the latter part of the middle miles, like Mile 30-40ish. So I put my head down and ride. I’m passing people left and right and leave behind one of my leap frogging buddies, he claims he just can’t hold on any longer. Bummer, I was having fun cheering for him when he would pass me.

At last it’s chalk hill time, mile 44. Roller 1. Roller 2. Gaining on the 2 peeps ahead of me. Pass them. Hear some people cheering. I ask them to cheer for me too. I tell them my name and off I go as they shout, “Go Mary!”. I wonder where the top is and the spectator says it’s near. So I jumped off the saddle and hit it hard over the top. No sweat. Ok, my heart rate is up, but now I’m screaming down the backside, 25, 28, 35, 38mph. Whoosh! I’m flying and I have no intention of slowing down.

As the miles passed I was picking up speed, feeling stronger than ever. It seemed like the rest of the cyclist had quit pedaling. Really?!?! Maybe I was just going that fast. There was a turn approaching mile 50 and the volunteers were yelling to slow down, I did, but not until the last second, then turned fast, jumped out of the saddle yet again to attack the small hill right in front of me. I’m having so much fun, just flying, 22, 25, 26 mph. Life is good and I’m finally up and over the last small hill. Dropping more and more people. A guy tells me to “go gettem’ you look great!” and so I do.

I approach transition, pull my feet out on top of my shoes and bounce off the bike at the dismount line thrilled with such an awesome ride.

T2
It’s so short, there’s not much to say. Spot my rack by the tree, rack my bike, slide on my shoes (no adjustments needed), grab my belt and visor that were carefully linked together thanks to Bobbie’s great transition clinic back in May and start running.

RUN
I have suffered from shin splints for about 6 weeks prior to the race. My running has been limited…very limited. My longest run before this race was a single 1.5 hour very slow where I may have covered 8.25 miles. That’s a long way from 13.1! This was my longest run in more than 1 year. I had already decided I was most likely going to pull out from the run. I would run maybe 3-8 miles and call it a day. I wasn’t ready and my shins weren’t going to let me ride hard then run hard. So I left everything I could out on the bike, because I wasn’t going to run.

But here I was, starting the run. The plan: run until I couldn’t, but walk EVERY aid station. Take on liquid per my stomach tolerances and a gel every 3 miles if possible. As I leave transition and look at my watch, I’m running 8:35, 8:45, 8:25, a pace I surely cannot sustain. My first mile comes and goes at an average of 9:17, then I hit the rollers and have a 9:08, more rollers, 9:24. I’m thrilled and feeling pretty good.

I’m alone on the road except the occasional lady running me down and quickly leaving me in the dust. I know I’m having a good race when there’s no one around. It’s solitary, but I’m happy. The “monsterous” hill really wasn’t too bad. Around mile 4.4 where the turn-around is Kiley, a girl I met at the pre-race meeting says hello and off she goes. She will be one of the last people to pass to me. As I started the run back to end the first lap, the run was getting busy. Tons of people were heading out on the run and my legs were feeling the fatigue. At 5.5 miles I’m starting to think that I can’t keep up the pace and will not finish the run. By 6.5 miles, I’m convinced I’m in over my head. Kiley is starting on her second lap and passes me. I tell her I’m dying and can’t keep this up. As she sprints past me in the opposite direction she yells back, “Run! Don’t Think!” And so I try. By 8 miles Kim, a wonderful friend, is heading out on her first lap, says I look great and I tell her I feel dreadful. As I hit town, I want to cry. I want to stop. My knees are screaming. My body wants to shut down. I’m losing it. Mentally, physically. The pain. Oh the pain. But I keep running.

A friend is there. He tells me I’m doing amazing. I tell him I want to stop. He yells to keep going. I round near the finish line and see the clock, it reads 5:00:24 seconds. REALLY!!!!! I have 4.4 miles left, although I think I have 5 because I can’t think. I “calculate” that I can run 11 minute miles and still finish under my 6 hour time goal. I realize later, that I had 4.4 miles, could run over 12 minute miles, but who cares. I’m doing it! I’m realizing my goals one step at a time.

I head back out on my second lap. I’m suffering. I’ve pulled out all the positive self talk I could find. I keep it up. My pace has been steady 9:31, 9:36, 9:31, 9:31. Can you believe it! I’m not a runner. I’m a swimmer, a biker, but not a runner and I’m setting new PRs with every mile. I ran the fastest 7 miles, 8, 10 miles I had ever run, in any race, in any practice. I’m stoked, but dying.
At mile 9 it’s time to have another gel. I don’t want it, but I know this is where the choice comes. This is where you are either smart and disciplined or you start to head downhill. I force it down, making the decision to stay on the plan unless there’s a good reason not to, like I’m bent over on the side of the road. But no, I’m not. I’m running fine and my gut is in check. I slug some water down and keep running. Every mile is getting harder to keep going. I’m falling off. I want it! I want it to end! Now! Run! Run $#%#^ &%$#%$# run! Dig deep. Dig deeper. Don’t slack off because you can still make your goal if you do. That’s not your best. Keep running like you want it! So I run. Walking through the aid station around mile 11 my legs didn’t want to run anymore. It gets harder every mile. After a good mental lashing they got going. My pace had slowed to 9:56. So I picked it up and brought it back down. 1 more aid station. I’m home. Heading into town for the final stretch bells are ringing, people are cheering. I see nothing but the bright orange cones ahead indicating the turn ahead into the finish chute. I pick it up with what little I have left. I round the corner and see 5:44:01 I can do this! I am doing this! The announcer calls my name and I throw up my hands crossing the finish line in 5:44:24.

Elated! In pain! Proud! Happy! OMG I did it! I’m done!

I can’t say enough great things about this race. It was well organized. The volunteers amazing. They got everything for me that I needed on the run, every time I asked. I wanted cold water, it would appear. I wanted ice, there it was. I would yell my request as I was coming up to the station. They offered fruit, pretzels, shot blocks and bars. Everything was spectacular. The course was challenging, but not over whelming. I really hope to be able to go back next year. It was truly amazing! And the cause is great too! Half of every entry goes towards helping women fight cancer. How cool is that?!?!

Times:
Swim 1.2 miles: 33:26
T1: 2:54
Bike 56 miles: 3:00:44
T2: 1:23
Run 13.1 miles: 2:05:56

Overall 26/342
Age group 7/35

What an amazing day, an amazing journey! You learn so much about yourself in a race like this. Where you can go and what you are capable of…

Am I Crazy? -- don't answer that

2009-07-01T15:40:00.001-07:00

Ironman 2.4 mile swim 112 mile bike 26.2 mile run. What am I or the rest of the crazy triathletes thinking? Have I gone mad?!? It’s like the magnitude of this race has been reverberating in my head for the last few weeks. It’s crazy and it’s different now.

When I signed up for my first ironman race I must have been living in a world of rainbows. And I think I was; there’s no other possible explanation. People would ask me, “Are you really going to do an ironman?!” “Yes, I am!” and now I have, but that’s beside the point right now. I was living in a rainbow world with flowers and fairies and beautiful sunshine every day. Nothing fazed me, not even the thought of 140.6 miles in one day! Most people will never swim 2.4 miles in a day. Many people will never ride 100+ miles on a bike in one day, but quite a few people will do a marathon run in one day. But what sane person would do all this together, in 1 day, in 1 race, in 1 fierce attempt to gain the highly coveted title “Ironman”…only a crazy person.

I now live among crazy people. In San Diego, it seems everyone has done an ironman or 10 and if they haven’t done one, their brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, mom, dad, best friend, co-worker…you name it. Everyone knows someone that has completed an ironman and many know people who have qualified for the world championship in Kona. Everywhere, there are crazy people.

So last time, in my rainbow world, I don’t think I fully grasped or understood the magnitude of my undertaking to complete my first Ironman. I just did it! I didn’t think too much about it. What was the big deal? It’s a long way, but you have ALL day to do it; the required times are very manageable for the everyday athlete who has done some minimum training. You can average almost 1 minute to swim the length of a pool and still finish in the cut-off time for the swim. You can hold 14.4 mph (I think that’s right) for the bike. And get off and walk at a 17-17.5 min pace for the “run”. These paces are not the least bit daunting to me. One stroke then another. One rotation, then another. One step, then another…and wahoo! 17 hours later, you’re done. No big deal. Right? …not in the rainbow world.

And so it was. My first race came and went. People told me I was crazy before the race, they were in ahh after the race, but it’s like I didn’t really get it.

This time, it will be Ironman race #2. And this year, it’s still almost 5 months away and I’m freaking out! “Oh my!!!! What was I thinking?!? Can I really do this?” It’s like there’s all this pressure this time. There shouldn’t be any. It wouldn’t take much for me to just improve my time and that would be enough to say the race is a success. That should be enough anyway, but for some reason, the second time around is harder. I want revenge for all my shortcomings last time. I’m on a mission to not just improve, but to make a showing.

I now understand the magnitude of training I “should” be doing. The time, the hours, the distances, the goal pace…and the more you know, the harder the race becomes. I’m now not so sure about this race. I have my up and down days. Sometimes I think I’m going to pull out; I’m not up for the challenge. Other days I’m ready to take up the challenge and storm the race. When a ride is going well, I have no doubts, but on those hard days when I gaze at the side of the road and long for rest or I look ahead at the hill and the tears start to roll it’s hard to convince yourself you’re not crazy, that you haven’t bitten off more than you can chew.

Conquering the Mountain

2009-06-01T15:24:00.002-07:00

Since moving to San Diego, I’ve heard about the illustrious Palomar Mountain. I wanted to see what the mountain was all about. So, last December I took a drive up it. The drive was long and windy as all mountain roads are. There were cyclists off and on along the road. I would check them out as I passed and take note of the number of female riders. There were some, but most were not. I remember thinking how strong those ladies must be to be able to ride all the way up that mountain.

For those of you not familiar with Palomar, it’s a long 12 mile hill that seems never ending. The average grade is 7% and it has been dubbed the American equivalent of L’Alpe d'Huez, one of the hardest climbs in the Tour de France. The elevation gain is around 4300 feet!

After driving up the mountain, I didn’t think of it for quite some time. I knew the Tour of California was going to ascend along the South Grade Road, the same route I had driven that seemed so steep. I knew the Tour would also climb up Lake Wohlford Road a relatively steep initial climb that seemed to last for far too long. These were pro-boy climbs, not the weekend warrior type…until this weekend!

I joined a local group of riders in Escondido for an attempt at the mountain. We first rode up and over Lake Wohlford. This climb wasn’t nearly as bad as I had remembered from the previous drive. Yes, it was steep in a couple of spots, but those were short lasted. After screaming down the other side, the group made our way over to a store near the base of Palomar. We re-fueled and headed out on what would be a journey for each of us who were doing this for the first time.

I had 12 miles of climbing ahead of me. I started in the easiest gear, just spinning my way up, slowly, very slowly. After 40 minutes I had climbed only 3 miles! There were 9 more to go! I was having a gel when I realized that it had spilled and was all over my bento box, my water bottle, my leg…it was everywhere! I stopped and cleaned up a little and continued riding, alone, up the mountain. The group had dispersed with everyone ascending at their own pace.

On every switchback I would look up and saw the next one towering above and wondered how I was going to make that climb in such a short span of road, but every time, I found myself thinking how “easy” the grade really was. It was going slowly, but much easier that I would have ever dreamed. More than an hour and fifteen minutes into the ascent I began to think that the top was near. It had to be just a few more switchbacks, maybe 5-10. Around every corner however, the mountain seemed to grow! The views were incredible. The weather was perfect. All was well, until I realized this mountain was never ending!

I had just cycled up a hill 10 miles long. How much farther could it be? I knew the road was 12 miles, but I was ready for the top. I had enjoyed the ride thus far, but I longed to be done. The pain of climbing was taking its toll on me mentally and physically. Earlier in the ride I had thought about all the people who always believe in me when I attempted something as crazy as a marathon, a half ironman and finally a full ironman. I knew there were no limits on me and my abilities to climb this mountain. I could do it! I began to say to myself, “I am an Ironman!” Over and over, remembering the day that landed me in the hospital. This was not nearly as bad, but I was rapidly wearing down. I realized though, that today was my day. It was my day to conquer the illustrious Mt. Palomar. It was my decision to give up or to go on and so I went…one slow pedal stroke after another all the way to the top! It took me 2 hours and 12 minutes. I’m not a pro-boy and I’m ok with my slow pace, because today I did it! I climbed that mountain that just 6 months ago I thought would be impossible for me. I joined the league of “strong” ladies I had seen climbing the mountain last December. It was such a joyous occasion to see my whole group waiting and cheering for me at the top. What an amazing group of people to be with!

Today I am proud that I had the courage to try, the fortitude to stick with it and the strength to rise to the occasion. Now it’s your turn to conquer your own mountain!

I AM AN IRONMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-16T18:17:00.003-07:00

Yes!!!! At last, I am an Ironman!!! It's hard to describe the feeling and emotions that come after such a long, hot day, but I'm going to try.

I signed my brother up a couple of months ago to come with me to Arizona to primarily be my post race support and driver on the way home. He gladly accepted and I was very excited to not be going to this event alone. After some discussion my mom wanted to come, my sister and also my dad and step-mother (although they had some conflicts). Finally my mom and sister both had plane tickets; my dad and step-mother couldn't rearrange appointments and thus would be unable to attend.

Race week came, my mom, although injured from a recent fall, still boarded the plane and flew to San Diego. My sister, too sick to get out of bed for more than a week, was unable to join us. At a great surprise to me, Saturday evening I got a call from my dad, "...we're in the lobby!" Screaming, I leaped from the bed and brought Dad and Joanne to our room. Visiting, dinner, race-prep, bed. The time had come...

Today, I would become an Ironman. I was up at 3:20 (about 4 hours of sleep). I stretched, ate, put body glide on almost from head to toe, nope, that includes my toes. I also covered the inside on my tri-suit (clothes I would wear all day) and wetsuit collar with body glide too. Finally, I coated my face with zinc and we were out the door around 5 am.

I was worried I didn't have everything. I had a couple of bags, but it didn't seem like enough.

(perhaps I'll add more here later, but for now, I'm on a time crunch)

We plunge into the water like penguins lining the sea, one at a time over the edge and swim away into the water. The swim was a mass start, all 2035 athletes in the water together when the gun goes off. Tired of waiting behind the slow penguins, I moved to the front and plunge over the edge. The water was chilly, but thankfully after 2 practice swims, one Friday and another Saturday, I was ready for this. I had my wetsuit on and lubed and hoped it would be enough to get me through the 2.4 mile swim without significant chaffing.

I float in the water, freezing now and ready to swim. I talk with those around me a little, taking in the magnificence of this amazing day. I locate my mom and brother looking down from atop the bridge under which we start; I wave and then wait. Finally The water becomes alive at the sound of the gun. 2000 bodies begin pushing forward and we are moving. I crawl with my head above water, but soon, settle into a stroke. I find my own space and swim towards the turnaround. The mass start was not the nightmare that I hear about over and over. I wasn't crawled over. I wasn't kicked too many times. I just put my head down and swam a really long ways breaking stroke occasionally to look up and see how far was left and how little I had already swam. The meters passed by and before long, I was turning around heading back.

At last, the swim was ending and I was happy to have that completed and ready for the next event. I crawl out of the water, make it to the "strippers", laid down while they pulled my wetsuit off and then headed to transition.

I found space on the ground, dumped out my bag and began sifting through its contents. I needed bike shorts, socks, shoes, halo (sweat guard), glasses, helmet, a shot of gu, sunblock, gloves, race number and I was on my way. I made a quick stop by the sunblock slathers before making my way to my bike. As I made my way down the chute, my bike was rolled out to greet me and off we went for a very long ride.

I was almost immediately sick, within the first 5 miles my stomach already felt unsettled. I struggled keeping my 'food' (Sustained Energy) down along with my electrolytes, but managed to stay on track with my planning for almost 2.5 hours.

The bike course was a 3 loop course with totaled 112 miles. The first half of the loop was slightly uphill with a major head-wind. I was feeling pretty upbeat and just pushed along slowly into the wind. The miles came and went and before long, tired as I was, the turn around was here. Now I had a great tailwind and picked up tons of speed. I was having a blast! The slow trek up to the turn around was completely worth it for this much fun. I topped out at 33 mph but held over 25 for most of the trip back downhill. I was awesome.

Lap 2 came and I was starting to feel the sun beating down on me. The course was hot...very hot. The temperature was measured at 97 on the course. I slurped water from my cup between my aerobars and spit it on my arms and legs in an attempt to stay cool. There was no cold water on the course. In fact, the water felt like it came off the stove. There was no relief. With nothing cold and the intense heat, I was starting to suffer. It became almost impossible to get anything down at all. I kept a positive attitude, but I swear they moved the turn around a few more miles up the road.

As I turned around this time, I again picked it up, but not as much. The special needs station was coming up. I had placed 2 food bottles and 1 frozen water bottle in my bad. I slowed up, traded bottles, and was excited to have cold water for a change, even if only briefly. It seemed to breathe new life into me while it lasted. The water still even had a small piece of ice. My only regret is that I didn't put 2-3 of them in there or freeze my food bottles too. That would have been perfect!

The miles were now passing much more slowly, yet there were still 40 more to go! How was I going to make it? Slowly I kept telling myself. Slowly I will finish my race. Who cares about any one elses race. Slow and steady, I'll make it. By mile 80 I was hurting, but nothing like what was to come.

I made the final turn around, headed back to transition thrilled to think that after 7.5 hours I would dismount the bike. I slowed up as I approached the dismount line, yelled to the volunteers to catch my bike. As I stopped, they took hold and my spaghetti legs took hold. I wobbled a bit as I made my way to my running bag and into the transition tent once again.

This time a volunteer brought me water, with ice!!! Another nice lady took off my shoes and socks, changed my socks and shoved my feet into my running shoes. She also opened my pills I had to calm my stomach and fed those to me as well. She was great! I picked up my fuel belt, changed into my visor, slathered on some biofreeze, had more water and walked out into the light. I stopped a medical guy to use his shirt to clean my glasses. He looked oddly at me, but let me barrow his sleeve anyway. He told me that was the strangest request he had all day.

I walked out to start the marathon. Yes, after 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, I still had a full 26.2 miles to cover on foot...somehow. I walked for a bit, taking in fluid, a gel, and just regaining my self. I started to shuffle along, but stopped for frequent brakes. I started with shuffle for 1 min, walk 1 min. As I settled in, I shuffled for 2 min, then 5 min, then walked.

I continued on, talking with fellow athletes along the way. I was ok, just tired, but hanging in feeling strong enough. By lap 2, again a 3 lap course, my spirits were dropping. The pain was setting in. My hips hurt, my legs ached and I began to wonder how many miles I could endure.

I met up with Rick, I had seen him on the bike and we would now join together to finish the final 2/3 of the marathon. We shuffled occasionally and walked alot. We were constantly re-calculating how much time we had to finish and if our current pace would get us there...it's debatable, we better shuffle more. By the half way point, I was approaching misery. By the 3rd lap, I was hurting, badly. I had already began sniffling my way through the miles trying to hold myself together and not loose it. I saw my family, they asked if I was ok, I nodded, but knew it was a lie. I was not holding up well at all. After I passed them, I lost it. The tears rolled down, but Rick kept me moving.

Rick and I didn't talk much, only occasionally. We were both hurting. I was doubting my ability to finish, but knew I had it in me. He would ask about our pace. Tell me we were going to make it and we would walk in silence, me sniffling and trying to focus on my breathing. The sun had long set before we started out 3rd lap. We had been counting down the hours when we still had over 4 hours left of walking.

Rick's wife Katie joined us with about 10k left. They walked a few steps ahead. I would stop every now and then and bend over and rest on my arms on my knees, tears rolling down, I wanted to quit. I hoped Rick and Katie would leave me, but at the same time, I didn't. And they wouldn't. I told them to go on, they wouldn't. They pulled me through over and over again. I hurt so bad. I was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. I didn't want to continue. Every step seemed virtually impossible. I felt like the muscle on the outside of my shins was going to come off the bone. How was I going to make it for another 2 hours walking?!?!

I have never wanted to quit something so badly. I have never been in so much pain for so long. I have never walked for 10+ miles in the darkness with tears slowly trickling down my cheeks.

Looking at my watch, I told Rick he could still make it in under 16 hours, he should go. He told me he didn't care and besides, he had nothing left to run with either. At last our time was coming. We rounded the bend up towards the finish line. He was ready to shuffle again. I let him go to get his picture. After a few steps, I too started to shuffle along.

I rounded the final bend, my dad came out and ran a few steps with me, smiling from ear to ear, "I'm so proud of you! You did it!" I began my shuffle down the final chute, I saw the clock, 15:59:47, I could still make it. I sprinted, with what, I'll never know...my heart and ran through the exploding crowd who cheered me on as the announcer counted down 10-9-8...3-2...I was over the finish line!!! I had done it! I AM AN IRONMAN!!!

I did not cry like I thought I would. Instead I ran to Rick, "We made it! We made it! We finished in under 16 hours!"

My ironman experience was so much more than I ever thought it would be. I am almost thankful for hell I experienced. It has changed me. I had friends who came along and encouraged me. I had volunteers and spectators cheering me on to the end, late into the night. I had so many people who did so much for me that day, that night, I am so grateful!

The night got longer. Following the race, we headed out for a bite to eat. I made it about 5 steps from the car before almost collapsing to the ground in front on Denny's...

To be continue...

80 and Beyond

2008-03-16T08:02:00.002-07:00

Today was a first. I biked 76 miles and then ran 4.5. It was a great day and I felt amazing!

I was up at 5:40 so I could hit the road by my standard 7am. This allows me to make it to Del Mar by 8am to meet the San Diego Triathlon Club. They have a group ride that starts at the local Starbucks. You can choose several distances. I usually just stay the coast and do my own thing, but I like to start with the club because every week I meet someone new.

Last week I was fortunate enough to meet a nice couple, Kebby and Reggie. They also just moved to San Diego a little over a month ago. They're from the Atlanta area and are training for Ironman Arizona. How much better could things get? I gabbed with Kebby for about an hour which is where my turn-around point was last week. She and Reggie continued on making their way up the coast. We had a wonderful time when we were together and talked about getting training together some too.

This week, I was hoping to see them again, but no such luck. Oh well. Instead I biked with 4 others up into Carlsbad (about 15 ish miles N. of Del Mar). There, I bid them farewell and continued my trek north and into Camp Pendelton. At last, I hit the halfway point and I turned around flying down the final hill I just climbed. I love the downhills and am learning to embrace the ups too. They build character and make you stronger; I guess that's what it's all about.

As I was nearing the halfway point, the winds started to pick up. This made the ride back challenging at times. Along the coast there are cars parked. These cars provide a little bit of a wind break, but between every car, the wind pushes you. So as you are whizzing along, the cross wind comes and goes and adds an interesting element to cycling. I was happy to finish my coastal miles and head back inland without kissing the pavement as I thought I might.

The final miles from the coast are uphill as I mentioned in my previous post. Each time I ride though the hills get a little easier and I am less frustrated. This in itself is an accomplishment. This week was the first week that I have been well fueled. The other day I stopped in and bought a container of Sustained Energy. It rocks! I use about 5 scoops per water bottle. I sip on the bottle every 15 minutes, and one bottle lasts about 2.5 hours. For Ironman, I'll take 3 bottles. Today, I took only 2. I also consumed almost 3 other bottles of just water.

By the end of my ride, I still felt really good. I could feel my legs were tired, but there was no time to stop. I got off my bike, put it in the garage, changed shoes, took off one layer and was off and running. I ran about 4.5 miles and felt great. I could have kept running, but I wanted to save some energy for Sunday's scheduled 10 mile run. Now that today is Sunday, 10 miles seems like a long way on the hills around here when I'm feeling as tired as I am, but hopefully by the afternoon I'll be feeling a little better and will pound a few out.

So all in all, I'm feeling pretty good about my race. Should I? Most people think I'm crazy to even consider doing this race with my lack of preparation, but I feel strong and fit and have a few more weeks to iron out any kinks for race day. I wasn't ready for my half-iron either and I thought the race went very well. We'll hope things go really well for this one too. Then, I'm going to take a little time off and not worry about training. I'll probably do a couple of races this summer and call it done for the season; we'll see. I would like to get to the track and do some track work-outs with the tri-club. I need lots of work on my running. I still think that's my biggest weakness and this year, I'm going to change that!

Today I went farther than I have ever gone before on the bike. When you add my running, it's still the farthest I've gone in a single day by 10 miles. Next week I will go farther...farther on the bike, and a few extra on the run.

On my lucky day, race day, I will swim farther than I've ever swam, I will bike farther than I've ever biked and run as far as I've ever run. It promises to be a day to remember and I can't wait!

Why?!?! Not again!!!!

2008-03-02T20:22:00.003-08:00

I'm behind...that's the story of my life.........

I'm sick...that seems to be the other story of my life, at least in the last several months. I was sick in October, November, December and now February. I've been sicker in these last four months than I have been in the last 4 years combined. I'm sick of being sick!!! Too many changes, too many new germs...from students to co-workers, these people are always bringing stuff my way.

Life in San Diego isn't bad. My job is ok, not fantastic, but not terrible either. I love the people I work with. Several of us go out on Thursday nights. It gives me something to look forward to in my week other than training, although training...what training, it's not like I have an ironman in 6 weeks. Yes! 42 days from this moment, I'll still be racing, hopefully nearing the end, but not quite finished.

I'm really bummed that I haven't been able to train for this event. I think I could do well. This means I'll just have to do another one ;) I guess I shouldn't speak too soon, I haven't done the first one yet. I'll be less prepared for this than anything I've ever done. It will be close to my preparation for the Disney Marathon which was kind of show up and say, well, I paid and I'm here, let's do it! I feel much the same way about the ironman. I'll finish. Yes, I have no doubt I can do it, but it's unlikely I'll post my best time. If I would have prepared and trained as planned, things would be different, but they're not so I won't pretend they are.

This first weekend I got here Mark and I cycled about 30 miles. I got off and have never been so sore in my life. I took baby steps around town as we hunted for breakfast and then the beach. I stopped many times, almost in tears the pain was so bad. I needed a new saddle! So that week, we got one. I bought Blackwell's Adamo Road Saddle (http://www.ismseat.com/products.htm). It's an innovative saddle that people either love or hate.

Up until this point my friends that cycle, like Mark and Big John, love it and I have never really understood why. I cycled because of the social aspect and the fitness, but I would never feel like I just couldn't wait to get out and ride and ride and ride. I just didn't get it...until I sat on the Adamo Road Saddle. It has changed the my thoughts, feelings and ideas about cycling in a matter of only a few miles. I am in love. It's so comfortable and I can ride forever!!!

Mark and I went out again and did about 30 more including the Torrey Pines hill which is 1.5 miles long. We did it towards the end of the ride which I guess made it even a better workout. I was already good and tired from all the hills here. It's amazing, for all of you who think San Diego might be flat, you're wrong! It's nearly impossible to find a flat stretch anywhere at all. There are great hills to climb on every street. It's tough cycling here, but great for my training.

Sadly, Mark left and I'm here now cycling on my own. I live in Carmel Mountain, which as the name suggest is on a 'mountain'. I left out last weekend and headed down the 56 trail. It's this awesome bike path that parallels I-56 and goes to the beach. Once at the beach, I bike the coast. The ride to the beach is pretty easy. It's almost ALL downhill. I go fast and peddle occasionally until I get near the beach, then I have to climb a little; however if it's all downhill one way, it's all uphill the other way. Yes, so at the end of my ride, I climb and climb and climb. It's good for me.

Last time I was out I went 53 miles and everything was great except I didn't bring enough fuel with me. I could have used either a really good drink like Perpetum or Sustained Energy or even a few more gels. Oh well, now I know a lot more about what my body needs when I cycle here. To help me work on cadence and get some good long rides in that aren't broken with tons of stop signs and lights, I bought an indoor trainer last week. It's awesome!!! It's quite and easy to set up. I went with the Cycleops Fluid Trainer. I went in to by their magnet trainer, but 1) they didn't have any in stock and 2) the fluid trainer was less than what I anticipated and had looked up for the magnetic trainer. Sweet!

My hope is that I can cycle before work and run after. I need to be able to do one of them in the dark, and neither are very safe outside in the dark, so now I can cycle inside anytime! Yeah! I just need to get well. I tried out the trainer on Saturday morning, my usual cycling time, but a few minutes in I was coughing my head off. The fit passed and I continued, but then it came again and this time, I thought my insides were going to come up and so I gave it up. No more cardio until I'm better. I can't take the coughing. Besides a few years ago when I was sick I coughed so much I tore my chest wall open and was in bed for 3 days unable to move.

I feel like I just sit and wait to get better. I have done some strength training and will continue to do that, but it's not helping me build endurance. Until next time...thanks for stopping by :)

Moving on...Disney World Marathon

2008-01-25T22:06:00.000-08:00

Yes, I still want to finish my race report, but we'll see. I know I have at least a few more comments about it, but first...I had several life changes come about during November and December and I'm currently moving across the country to San Diego. I quit my job teaching at Embry-Riddle and have accepted a position with General Atomics working as a Test Engineer on the Predator.

Among other changes, Irfan and I decided to just be friends. Now on to other updates.

Training has been week, but I still ran the Disney World Marathon on Jan 13 even after taking most of November and December off from training. I was happy with the result: 4 hr 40 min 58 sec. That's still faster than San Francisco and I know I will do much better on the 3rd one...like they say, the 3rd time's a charm :) Let's hope so.

How was the race? Very good all things considered. I spent the night before the marathon in Orlando so I wouldn't have to get up so early. That helped, but I was still up by 3:30. I stretched, ate and was out the door and headed to the starting line. I was lucky to have been joined by Mark, a cycling friend who has recently been running more. He ran for a friend who was not able to run the race. Here's a picture of us before the race.

We started in separate corrals and so I ran the race alone. Well, maybe not alone. When there's 15,000+ runners, you're never alone on the course. I started off feeling pretty good and so I went with it, perhaps because I'm stupid, because a smart runner would really hold back and know they have a whole 20+ miles to speed up. That was my goal for this race, work towards negative splits (running each mile a little faster than the previous) and for the most part, I did that all the way until the last 2 miles.

For the first 5-7 miles the people were so think it was difficult to spread out and claim your own space and set your own pace. The mass was running together. I drafted a few guys off and on to start with. I was given this advice at a local running store and decided to give it a go.

The weather for day couldn't have been any better. It was in the low 60s at the starting line and it stayed mostly cloudy the entire time I ran. There were times when the wind would pick up, but I was drafting, therefore it didn't matter too much.

I met a nice guy around mile 7 and we ran until almost mile 18 together. He was a fellow triathlete and this was his first marathon. Finally at mile 18 he told me to go ahead. I ran to catch up with another couple I had leaped-frogged with for many many miles. I drafted the husband closely. When running we held a 9:20-9:40 pace. For the last several miles we would run 6 and walk 1, but before that we were walking the hills. They were awesome for me. They pushed me and demanded that I give it my all. By mile 24 I couldn't go it anymore. That pesky mile 24, it's the same one that got me in San Francisco. I'm going to work on that.

Up until this time I had felt really good. I had consumed 5 packets of CarbBoom, but probably should have taken 1 more. With 1 extra gel, I think I could have held on. The only other issue I had during the race were my knees. Almost from the first step the outside of my right knee hurt. In the beginning I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to even finish the race the pain was so bad, but at one of the aid tents along the way I decided to try Biofreeze. That stuff is AWESOME!!! I stopped at every aid tent thereafter and would get 2 handfuls and slather up. It feels a lot like icyhot or other sports creams. I highly recommend it!

So at mile 24, I would run 1-2 minutes, walk, run, walk, run....I ran a 12+ and 11+ pace for my last 2 miles, not too bad I thought since I really felt like dying. In the end, I didn't die, I crossed the finish line completing my second marathon 90 days before my next marathon that I will run as the final leg of my Ironman.

The following day was nothing like post-SF. I felt really good. Sure I was a little sore, but all-in-all, I could walk, lift my legs and smile. It felt good for my muscles to be sore. The soreness went away though in only a couple of days. There was no time for rest, I loaded my car up the following day to depart Florida early Tuesday to begin my 21 day adventure across the country covering almost 5,000 miles...and we're off!

Great Florida Challenge Race Report

2007-10-20T17:02:00.001-07:00

Where to begin...I'll start just briefly by saying Thursday night I ate almost half of a large, deep dish, Domino's Pizza and then on Friday, for both lunch and Dinner I had my usual, a Moe's burrito. After teaching most of the day on Friday, Irfan and I jumped into the far and drove to Clermont. We completed the usual: race meeting, bike check-in, etc. Then as the sun was setting we left out on what would tomorrow's bike course. We had a difficult time early on trying to find the route in the dark. After losing and finding the route a few times, I gave it up. I was exhausted, ready to eat and had seen all I needed to see. The course was hilly! As we were driving along we would say, "Surely they won't have us biking up this hill". Um, yeah, I wish. We biked up hills WAY worse than we saw on Friday night.

Anyway, we drove 20 minutes south to our cheap hotel that was one of the sponsoring hotels ($40/night!). We settle into the room; I choke down my burrito that I didn't really want, went through all my gear, which I seem to have a lot of these days and then jumped into bed, only to find a sharp pain in my shoulder blade. It hurt to lay on my back and on my right side. How was I going to race? I laid on my left side and was asleep before I even realized it.

The alarm sounded, and eventually I was up and moving. The breakfast I had brought from home sent me pucking to the bathroom. I had one taste, the food had spoiled. I was now forced to go check out the continental breakfast. Irfan and I headed down to find a lovely treat awaiting. Well, as lovely as a good continental breakfast can be. I had a bagel with cream cheese, a little bit of instant oatmeal and 1 small microwaved pancake that was not good at all. I chased it with some gatorade when I got back to the room.

After lubing up in all the right places and covering myself in sunblock, except for my forgotten arms, which are now slightly burned, I packed all my gear up and hit the road at 6:25. By 6:45 I was out of the car headed to transition in drizzling rain. I struggled with all my stuff, perhaps I have too much. I had to carry it about 3 blocks. Finally as I laid my gear out, the drizzle turned to a steady rain. They announced the water would be wetsuit legal. Damn it! I still don't have a wetsuit. Oh well! There was nothing I could do now. I finished laying out my gear not only in the rain, but in the dark too. I didn't even bother to check my tire pressure, I was freezing and ready for everything to be over.

I got weighed in and headed for cover under the pavilion. I stood close to people just trying to get some heat. Irfan finally found me and we waited together as the start of the Great Floridian (full iron distance race) approached. We stood overlooking the beach as the gun sounded and they were off, moving slowly into the water; then, the relays started. Finally it was my turn. I walked slowly down to the beach, waded into the water for the first time and went back to the beach to stand with my fellow athletes. The countdown started and we were off, wading into the water and finally swimming.

The water was choppy, making it nearly impossible to stay on course. I got several mouthfuls of water when I went to breathe. I continued trying to site, but found my blue-tinted goggles were quite a hindrance to seeing the buoys. I occasionally lifted off my goggles to be sure I was swimming in the right direction. The swim was slow. I tried to do freestyle, but every time I did a few strokes and then would site, I found that I had turned a couple of strokes off to one side and would then have to swim back. I opted then for breaststroke a good portion of the time. It sucked overall. It was nice though being in fresh water.

(more later)

Training Update

2007-10-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

I should start with a big Thank You to my friend Peter, so THANKS! He sent me an email giving me a good verbal lashing and I needed it :)

Last week was tough as many of the previous weeks have been. Part of it has been dealing with pain. When I run and also when I biked the other day, my side hurts. It's not the normal side stitches. I run for a while, then it hurts and walking doesn't seem to help. It hurts to breathe. I want to double over and die, but that doesn't help either. It feels like I'm having a muscle spasm in my abs only it's higher. I suspected my gallbladder. Finally it wasn't intermittent anymore, it was constant and then it also happened on the bike. I was ready to go to the doctor, but decided to look at my diet first.

I opted to avoid all greens and the result was amazing. After not having any at all for several days, all the pain went away and has not returned. No more salads or spinach for me, at least not any time soon. I have had awesome runs and rides ever since.

That brings me to last weekend. I met my Plan B group and went for the usual Saturday ride only at the end of it, 3 of us got off and ran 4 miles. The run was slow and painful as the sun was beating down on us with no wind or shade. I drank a full 16 oz and went back to the shop and drank quite a bit more. Sunday I needed to run. My miles haven't been building the way I would like, but I've been getting a little more consistent in the number of days I'm running.

I got up early and left for 8 miles. It was still dark and rather cool for us. I decided not to look at my watch until 4 miles and just focus on running my best. When I looked down at 4 miles, I realized I was only 1 minute 17 seconds over an average 10 minute pace. I felt good and so I ran strong for another 2 miles and noticed that I had not lost any on my pace. Now it was time to make a move if I was going to. It started to drizzle. I picked it up. I ran a sub 10 and then a sub 9 and finished in 1:19:47, a new best. Afterwards, my biking buddy Mark wanted me to bike with him. So I hit the road for an easy 20 mile ride until we both got flats. That was a good ending point for the day.

Monday came and went. I swam a little, nothing too much. Tuesday I had planned a 10 mile run. Irfan and I started at 6 am. I was just out to cover the miles, but 1 mile in I was feeling really good. I stayed patient, but by 2 miles, I felt great and was running well. Irafn was ahead, but not too far. At 3 miles I had a pack of CarbBoom and as I neared 4 miles, I was closing in on him. At 6 miles, I again found that I was only about 1 minute over a 10 minute average pace. I took my second CarbBoom and was on the final stretch. At 7.5 miles I passed Irfan and took off. My finish time, 1:37:40. A full 12+ minutes off my previous best 10 mile time. I didn't mean for this to be a PR, I started off just wanting to cover the miles.

Thursday I did an easy 45 mile ride and then ran 3 at an easy pace. Today, I did my longest workout. I met my riding buddies and rode most of the way with them, but finished the last 10 of 57 miles by myself. Then, Irfan and I headed out on an 8 mile run just covering the miles. I was slow and walked some, but that was fine. All I needed was to finish and I did.

Why the long day? I registered for a half-ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) for next weekend. I was going to go to Tempe, AZ, in 2 weeks for a half iron race, but opted for the local race a week early and since I know I can go the distance, I need the race experience. This will be my last big triathlon this season. If I can get in another Olympic in early November, I might do that, but I want to wait and see how I feel.

So, for this week, everything will be slow and easy. I want to sleep a lot and exercise enough to keep me loose and feeling good, but that's it. No PRs, no long days, just rest and mental prep for this weekend.

The race is the 23rd Annual Florida Challenge in Clermont, Florida (about 20 minutes west of Orlando). The race is done concurrently with The Great Floridian, a full iron distance race.

I'm excited and know I can do this. Yes, it would be better if I could wait 1 more month, but there's not a local race next month that still has openings. So I'll do this one and then really focus on running and get ready for the OUC half marathon on December 1 in Orlando and of course, the Disney marathon on January 13. I'm also looking at a 30k in mid-November here in town. It will be a good/long training run (18.6 miles).

Thanks again Peter. Just so you know, I'm eating the world about every other day so I'm always prepared for training :)

Oh and I almost forgot, I got an awesome Tri-suit. The material is amazing and it's one of the most comfortable things I have ever worn. The suit doesn't creep move, at all, when I ride or when I run and it's amazing at wicking away all the sweat. If you're interested, it's the Descente Race Tri-Suit. The suit was also the #1 choice by Darren Cox, our local Kona qualifier. He's racing right now as I type this. Go Darren!

Escape 2 Miami -- Olympic Distance Triathlon

2007-09-28T14:18:00.001-07:00

I'm sick! Thanks to my great students who have given me this rotten cold. Ugg. I dare say the 15k race I was going to run in the morning will not come to be, sadly. Nor will I train much at all. I am taking this weekend off to rest apparently and I guess it comes at a good time. I just gave my first exam today in my classes and now have almost 160 to grade.

Ok, now for the real stuff. My race went ok. It wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't bad either. I know that I have tons of room for improvement, so that's good. I would hate to go out and win everything the first time :) (Yeah right!)

Anyway, the distance wasn't an issue. I felt good about that, but the course was challenging. It started early. The alarm went off and I sprang into action around 4:30. By 5:15, Irfan and I were walking to transition in the dark. I laid everything out in the exact order I had mentally prepared the night before. Everything would be ready for me when I came out of the water.

Having things just as I wanted, it was time to trek down to the ferry boats where I would be kidnapped and dropped off on Escape Island in the middle of Biscayne Bay. It was dark as we pushed off the dock aboard a local pirate ship and into the bay. As we neared the island I noticed the song they were playing went something like this, "Jump! Go ahead and jump!" Coincidence, I think not. We were preparing to jump off the boat and swim to the island. A song or two later was "I'll send an S.O.S. to the world I hope that someone gets my...". Yes, they were clever and most around me were oblivious to the irony.

It was time and so I donned my bright pink swim cap with my blue goggles and plunged into the water. It was warm, almost roasty. I swam the 100 or so yards to the island and there I sat waiting and waiting to begin my escape. The swim was suppose to start at 7:30, but 7:30 came and went. It wasn't until somewhere between 8:15 and 8:30 before we finally headed out into the open water.

The swim was a mass start and there were approximately 1000 athletes registered. We had room though to spread out and it wasn't nearly as bad as I had heard or imagined. I had read to breath every stroke in the beginning of an open water swim until your breathing slows and you are comfortable. That was good advice. I occasionally switched sides, but found that breathing on my right wasn't working too well. The chop was right in my face, the sun was beating down on me and my goggles seemed to constantly leak after breathing to the right, so I stayed mostly with the left. I lifted my head every now and again to look ahead and to see my route through the other swimmers. During this time we were swimming mostly against the current and it was hard with the choppiness and so forth. In general I'm a pretty good swimmer, but I was thinking about how easy it would have been for anyone to drown out there, including myself.

At last I rounded the buoy and it was time to head back towards shore. After making the turn I was almost alone for the remaining 700+ yards of the swim. I took the side route out of the main stream of the people and got comfortable and took more strokes between my breaths until finally I was in so much pain. My top had rubbed against my neck to the point of removing the top layer or 2 of skin and it sucked. I began trying to breathe on my right more and only occasionally switched back to my painful left side. The swim seemed long, but I had finally found my rhythm and was feeling good, aside from the chaffing on my neck.

I headed out of the water and into transition. I stopped for a cup of water to rinse that saltiness out of my mouth. Ukk! I hate the taste of salt water! I had left a gu packet open standing in my shoe ready for me to slurp down. It was great. I have discovered my favorite energy gel is CarbBoom apple cinnamon or strawberry kiwi. They both are almost as good as candy! I attempted to be quick in the transition, but I'm slow. This is one of the areas I need to work really hard on.

At last I was off onto my bike :) The road was bumpy and the wind intense which was sometimes good (ie when it was a tail wind) and other times hell. I started off though feeling really good. I felt strong and knew I could have a good day. When I rounded the corner and headed for the first bridge the wind seemed to stop me dead in my tracks. Ok, I didn't stop, but the ride suddenly got really hard. I approached the bridge which is a little smaller than the one I bike over regularly. I got off my seat and peddled to the top passing many others (my local bridge climbing had paid off). As I rounded the top, I got low and cursed the wind for being so strong. There was another bridge a little smaller and then we were beach side with a crosswind. It wasn't bad. For the most part I was holding 18+mph. The turn around came and soon a long uphill entrance to climb back onto I-195W. Now the wind was at my back. I was loving it. After heading down the first bridge I was holding 25+ and then as I passed a few more people going up the second bridge I was flying. With the wind at my back and heading down the bridge, I hit 37 mph! I held tight and enjoyed the speed. Finally it was time to peddle again. I made the turn onto the last road, went about 1-2 miles, turned around, continued past the water stop and headed out for my second lap.

Heading into the wind sucked just as bad, wait it was worse, the second time around. It drizzled off and on which was nice to keep us cool, but made you keenly aware that a few more drops would make the roads slick and that would be nasty. There was already a wreck. I didn't see it happen, but I noticed the two guys not moving off the pavement afterwards. I also saw a few people walking their bikes back, probably problems with their chain. There were also the usual flats. Luckily I escaped with no harm.

I jumped off my bike and took way too long in transition again. I was right on time though. If I had a good run then I could beat the 3 hour mark. I had another gu (I also had taken one on the bike), changed shoes, put on my visor and eventually was off and running, but with much pain. I tried to regulate my breathing, but it didn't seem to help. I thought something was going to fall out of me. At least it felt like someone was going to pull it out of me, whatever "it" was. I kept a steady pace for the first 2 miles, but finally I couldn't hold it. I began walking off and on. I tried to do 5-1 (run 5 minutes, walk 1). After a couple of reps I decided to do 4-1. I felt horrible and was SO hot.

The aid stations made me mad. Either the water OR the gatorade was cold, never both! I always took a cup of each, but by the end I wished I had taken 2 of each. In addition to my pain, the run course wasn't all that easy either. After heading out of transition and down the street a couple of blocks, we headed up over another very long bridge. We were running directly into the wind. On the way back I was so tired, it didn't matter where the wind was, I was walking a lot. After climbing the bridge again, I made the commitment to run the rest of the way. I picked it up and finished strong in 3 hours 12 minutes and 41 seconds, but the run pace was slower than my slow marathon pace.

It wasn't a great race, but it was a good experience and overall, I'm happy with my time. On my next race, I'll try for a flat fast course and push to break that 3 hour mark I so desperately want.

Down but hopefully not out

2007-09-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

Life is hard, but I knew that. It just seems increasingly difficult these days. Work is very demanding and my training is suffering as well as my mental well being. I'm busy working until near or past midnight many nights and then trying to get up and go for another day only to do it all over again and I'm not dealing well with it. I'm exhausted constantly and depressed that my training is so poor.

I've had a few days where I just wanted to say to hell with it all and quit and find a new something. I don't mind the teaching, but the prep work is what I hate. It takes me forever. Just like with running, I'm slow at it and it's miserable. I'm not sure if I'm eating enough and I know that I could improve what I am eating but everything takes so much time and effort that I would almost rather not eat than have to deal with it.

I feel weak these days, some physical, but I think that's just from lack of sleep, but mentally as well. I'm sure that's also from lack of sleep, but it's harder for me to deal with. Physically, I just cut back on my training. Mentally, I get depressed for not training hard enough, long enough, fast enough, often enough...

I've always set goals, but perhaps mine for now are too high and I'm putting too much pressure on myself to achieve them too quickly. And when I'm not having a good training session I find it difficult to keep going and often times, like today, I cut it short. This leads to me feeling weak and I hate it. Most of the time I stick it out, but increasingly I've not. I have debated on getting a coach. I know I could really use one right now and I've got a really good reference. I've been told that the benefits are well worth it, but for some reason I hesitate. I feel like it's a big step and right now I'm not sure that I'm ready for that step, although maybe that's what I need.

I'm getting tired of the exact same training routines. I could change things up, but I'm not sure how much is enough and what is too much. I want to improve and I know I have some limitations, but I know there's an efficient way to train to push out those limitations. I just don't know if a getting a coach would help with that right now or if I need to get a better training routine first.

On the other hand, there are a few bright spots. I met a really great person at the bike shop who has participated in triahtlons since the early 80s. We had dinner with the bike shop crew last Friday and talked about triathlons and training. He's out of town right now, unfortunately, but he's going to be a great resource. He seemed excited about being able to pass on his wealth of knowledge to me. He began laying out some running drills and said he would write me up some swim workouts that incorporate intervals. I know these things will be extremely helpful and I'm excited about getting started on them, but I'm not sure when he'll be able to get them worked out for me.

To help me set new/reasonable running goals, I think I'm going to go run a road race this weekend in Orlando. I'm looking at a 15k. It's been quite a while since I've done a road race and I think that it will help me see where I stand. I just hope I have a good race. Even though I want to use this race to set goals, I also have goals for this race and I hope I'm not disappointed if I fall short. I know it's not suppose to work this way, but this is fortunately/unfortunately how I work and who I am.

I set goals and worked like hell to achieve them and then am disappointed when I fall short.

I'll have a race report from Escape 2 Miami soon. I'll say this though, the course was tough.

Take Two!

2007-09-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

TWO whole minutes off my previous best 5 mile time! I ran 5 miles at a 9:04 pace the other day. It was hot and so I figure that when the weather cools off a little I'll be running sub 9 pace (that's my hope anyway). The long bikes are paying off too by increasing my lactic threshold.

Also recently I did a quick time trial of 1000 yard swim. The goal was to finish in less than 19 minutes. I SMASHED it finishing in 16:30. This time trial was to 1) set a benchmark early in my training for me to measure my progress against and 2) to determine if speed and endurance should be my primary focus or technique. The result: technique. Now that I can swim 1000 yards in under 19 minutes, I should focus on my efficiency more according to Joe Friel's book "Going Long".

Coming up this weekend is my first Olympic Triathlon. It will be in Miami and is modeled after Escape from Alcatraz. Instead, it's Escape back to Miami. There's a ferry that takes you out to an island where you wait for your swim to start. Then you swim back to shore 0.7 miles, jump on your bike for 24.9 miles and run 6.2 miles. I'm really excited about the race, but not looking forward to trying to be ready to teach first thing Monday morning since the race is on Sunday 4 hours away. I'll have to stay really focused all week to get my work done so I can play hard this weekend.

A Passion to Go Long!

2007-09-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

The workouts I enjoy most are not the short runs or quick swims; I enjoy the ones that push me to get stronger, mentally and physically. I am driven to go long and I love it! This past week I biked for almost 3 hours and then ran 3 miles. It felt great!

Last week I learned a very important lesson. Ok, I learned many important lessons. The first, being fit to your bike is not a luxury but rather a necessity! Nutrition is not optional; workouts are 10x better if you eat right before, during and after. Mental endurance is key for improvement. You must be able to stay focused and push yourself even when you are tired and want to stop. I know there will be times during the Ironman when I will want to stop, but I will never question why I am there or what I am doing. Mentally my will is strong and not finishing a race never crosses my mind. The real question is how long will it take if I keep walking. So I will have a plan to run again. During the swim there's not much option about stopping and the same is true on the bike. Besides, if you put the time in on the bike, you will finish the bike. It's the marathon at the end of 114.4 miles that you have to worry about. I can always walk, but that's one heck of a walk :) I plan on running most of it to finish it faster.

The bike fit that Steve at Plan B did for me on Friday night was awesome! He's fantastic! He moved my seat forward and down and lowered my handle bars to make me more comfortable and more efficient and it all paid off. There's quite a science to it and he was busy measuring angles, pointing lasers to check alignment and so forth. Anyway, on my usual Saturday ride everyone noticed the difference. I received several compliments on how much better I looked on the bike and how much more power I now have. And, on the sprint back from the lighthouse, I wasn't even huffing and puffing like last week. It was great!

Teaching and Training

2007-09-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

These 2 things (teaching and training) are difficult to manage at the same time. Teaching is taking more out of me than I could have ever imagined. It takes me forever to make lectures, therefore, training time is much harder to come by than I would like. Overall though, my classes are off to a good start. I have 4 sections of Physics I for Engineers with a total of around 160 students. I'm on my feet for 5 hours Monday, Wednesday and Friday teaching, but my schedule is good.

I've been told that after the first 2-3 weeks my body will adjust to the new demands and I'll be much less tired. During this time though, I'm also increasing my training time. I did manage to squeeze in between 8 & 9 hours this week, but I also had Monday off. My goal was 10 hours. Next week I think it's 11 hours. I'm going to have a better plan this week though to work in the training.

This week I've just been exhausted, but I've pushed on and am seeing great things. On Friday night I finally went for a 5 mile run. I finished in 47:23, a new best for me in training. It was especially good because I was so tired and didn't really want to run. Then on Saturday morning, I met my group at Plan B and set out for a nice ride.

The ride was good, and I chatted with a few people I had met previously. Anyway, on the way back from the lighthouse (our turn-around point) the group usually picks up the pace and everyone more-or-less gets divided. Not this week. Mark, a young guy, told me to get up there on someone's wheel and draft. He knew from last week that this was not my strongest area, but I did as he said and found a wheel and rode it. We were hauling and I managed to stay with the lead pack ALL the way. We managed between 25 & 28 mph! It was crazy and I was exhausted, but it was really good for me to get that push to hang in there and see what I could do.

Then at the bridge, I usually go straight while the others head back to the shop. On Saturday as I headed straight I had 2 others come to get in some extra miles with me. Then finally it was just John and me. We had biked an additional hour and 10 minutes. At last I had my time in. We parted ways and I came home, 44.5 miles after I started. This is so far the farthest and longest (2 hours 23 min) that I have biked.

It was a fantastic training day for several reasons. I climbed the bridge well (not dropping under 15 mph) and it was noticed by Steve, our fearless leader :) I also am making friends with very experienced bikers who are taking the time to help me improve. I'm hoping to train with them through the winter months and come out really strong in the spring. These guys easily bike 25+ mph and most cover about 250 miles per week! They live on their bike, so there should be plenty of opportunities for me to find a training buddy that can really push me.

Now if I can just find some people that will help improve my running, I'd be set. For now though, I have elected Pinal as my personal running coach. She sets my goals with me and then I try my best to execute them. And since she wants to improve her times as well, she's done quite a bit of research on how to do that. Now she's passing it on to me since I'm really strapped for time these days.

Speaking of which, it's time to hit the bed. Sleep is such a precious commodity these days. I need all I can get! Good Night!

My First Group Ride

2007-08-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

I've been really hesitant about participating in group rides because I've always felt I wouldn't be fast enough. The 2 local rides I've been suppose to go on average 17-19 mph. When I'm out on my own I usually don't average 18 mph. How could I possibly hang with the group?

This week I was in the bike shop, Plan B and Steve, the owner, told me again I should come out and ride with them. Well, finally I didn't have any more excuses. I'm in town and finished with the marathon. It was time to give in and go.

I showed up too late for the Tuesday night ride. It started at 6pm, but for some reason, I thought it started at 6:30. I was very sad that I missed the group. I went about on my own and vowed to show up on Saturday.

Saturday came and although I was tired, I was up at 6:45 and out the door by 7:00 am. I jumped on my bike, pedaling hard to ensure I wasn't late again. The ride began at 7:30 and I made it there with plenty of time to spare. There was a small group of 8 as we set out. The pace was easy. I stayed to the back, unsure of how well I could ride in the group. A few miles into it, the lady behind me came up beside me, and we chatted for a while.

As we headed down Nova Road and then up along the river, I was surprised at how effortless it was to keep up. We were cruising around 19mph. However, having the group ahead makes a huge difference. I even coasted a bit to avoid hitting the rider in front of me.

Finally we rounded the corner and began the trek up the bridge. It wasn't bad, but we were behind the group now. Steve had slowed down and waited for us and then began to "pull us up". This really means that he lets us draft off him, then when we were ready, we broke around him, sped up and re-joined the group. Next week, I won't need Steve to pull me up. I'll be ready.

There were several things I learned about riding in a group this week, and I also realized that I'm not that slow :)

Our turn around was Ponce Inlet Lighthouse Park. We stopped and some riders refilled water bottles, etc. As we headed back, the pace picked up, a lot, and everyone began to spread out. I made the choice to go as hard as I could for as long as possible. I managed to maintain 20+ for most of the way back to the bridge and then I split from the group and headed back towards home. I still needed 30 more minutes, and so I rode. I still maintained 19+ until near my turn around when I saw a group of cyclist headed the opposite direction. I immediately slowed down and turned around to catch them. They slowed long enough to talk to me. The nice guy I chatted with thought I had been cycling for quite a while and seemed shocked that I had only been cycling for a few weeks.

I was tiring and there was no hope of me hanging at 25+ mph when I wasn't close enough to draft off them. I fell back and decided to call it a day. I had cycled for 2 hours and traversed almost 35 miles. It was a great day! and Tuesday I'll be there for the group ride, this time at 6pm.

A New Spirit

2007-08-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

I've been too many places in the last month to really do any kind of training. After the marathon we were all over Northern California. Then the next week I was in Alabama and just late Tuesday night I finally came home to stay, for a while at least. Wednesday morning came early, so I was a little late heading out but still managed to get 3 miles in and discovered the perfect loop. I realized on this run, I'm still in the final stages of recovery from the marathon.

Thursday morning was orientation for new faculty at the university. I had to be there around 8:00. I had hoped to get up and ride in the morning. I was good; I got up at 6 and had everything laid out to go. The only problem was, I haven't been getting up this early and didn't realize that dawn doesn't occur until around 6:35 and sunrise is at 6:50 or so. The problem, I don't have a reflective vest. I do have a flashing light on the back and a reflective seat, but I wasn't sure this was enough. I sat here sadly watching the time tick by and realized there was not enough time to get my ride in and make it to orientation on time. Instead, I opted for an evening ride to the lighthouse and back.

When I woke up this morning with the alarm blaring, I was not awake at all. It was 5:40 and I thought I had just laid down to sleep. Exhausted, I skipped the morning workout again today. I went out this evening instead. It was a mere 86 degrees :) The wind was blowing so hard it actually slowed me down quite a bit, but I welcomed it. It's odd though. I was delaying coming home because I knew I had to run and it's Friday. On Fridays I usually relax and hit the bed early: 1. because I'm tired and 2. because I should get up before the sun to set out for a long workout. Tonight though, I needed to run. As I walked through the front door I saw my running clothes hanging up and somehow, as if it were magic, a few minutes later I had them on. I looked down and thought, well, I guess I am going running. It was really weird. I don't remember making the decision to put them on. They just appeared on me.

Tonight when I left I was unsure of how far I could/should run. According to my training schedule, I should run for 1 hour. I was debating between 3 and 5 miles. Once I got out there though, I was feeling really good. Yeah, I was slow and my legs are still recovering, but my body and spirit felt good, so I passed where I would turn to finish 3 miles and kept running. I knew I could go for 5 and I did.

Doing this tonight has put me back where I need to be. I'm ready to ride, I'm ready to run and next week, I'll be ready to swim! I'm back to Iron Training and it feels great!

In other news. I'm bringing more people to the active lifestyle. In addition to the 6 people we have running Disney, a fellow grad student, Luis has signed up. I've also enlisted quite a few more to run 5k's locally. It's going to be a great fall!

Mountain Lakes 20th Annual Triathlon

2007-08-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah! Another triathlon completed and a whole lot learned!

Sunday evening a week ago one of my cousins called and asked me if I wanted to come home and do a triathlon. I inquired about the distances. It sounded like it was going to be an olympic distance race (approx. 1.5k swim, 50k bike, 10k run). No way! I had just finished the marathon a week ago and this was only 1 week away.

I thought about it that evening and decided to look up the distances. What I found was surprising. It wasn't an olympic distance. Instead it was a sprint with 600 yard swim, 16.2 mile bike and 3 mile run. This I could do, maybe. It had already been 2 weeks since I swam or biked and I had yet to run after the marathon.

I did what anyone would do before signing up. I went and made sure I could run 3 miles. For the details on that, see the post "My First Run". Since I completed the 3 miles, I began thinking really hard about registering. I had been watching the registration numbers steadily increase all day. There were 825 of 897 particpants registered. Then it was 833, 842...876. Wow, less than 20 spaces left. I registered and hit the road driving.

The racers were lined up according to estimated swim times. Eeeks! I've never really swam open water, especially not 600 yards; so I look at other peoples times and decide to just make a stab in the dark. I chose 11 minutes as my estimated time. On race day, I began to think I was WAY off on my estimate. None-the-less, I was to start as #420. The wait seemed like forever since they started 1 swimmer at a time with 3-5 seconds between us. The sun was rising and it was getting hot. Finally though, I step up, they motion me into the water and I was off and swimming.

Even growing up in Guntersville, I never "swam" in the lake. Yeah, I got in it to tube, ski, whatever, but never just to swim. Now I was having to finally do something I had avoided my whole life. I did the "dolphin dive" for the first few strokes, until it got too deep, and then I decided I had to swim. I started with free, emptied my goggles and then changed between free and breast stroke. I had to swim free mostly to quickly pass someone (which I am proud to say I did a lot) and then I would cruise with some breast stroke. This is the first place I could save some time, do freestyle the entire way!

I couldn't believe it was so short. It seemed like just as I was getting started, I was finished! And, it took me 11:08; I didn't do too bad with my stab in the dark :)

I ran up the chute with my sister racing beside me to take my picture. I headed into the transition area where I wasted way too much time (a second place to improve and shed time). I have a couple of things in mind for reducing this transition.

I headed out nicely on the bike and didn't have any problems getting clipped into the peddles. I was surprised to see my sister here taking another picture. She had sprinted all around the course trying to be a good photographer, and she was GREAT!

I finally settled in on the bike. It seemed much shorter as I biked it than the previous night when we drove the course. That was good. At one point, I had a guy pass me (there were lots of these men flying on the bike) only to see him eating the pavement 2 seconds later. It was sad, but he was fine thankfully. Shortly down the road, there was another guy on the side of the road changing a flat.

I cruised along on the rolling hills thinking about all the guys who passed me. I am very much a beginner biker, which leaves ton of room for improvement. I am happy to say though that only 3-5 women passed me on the bike during the 16 miles. I passed a few men, but not many.

I unclipped as I was rounding the last corner, rested my feet back on the peddles and hit my breaks to launch myself forward to dismount, only instead of dismounting, I too bit the pavement. My left shoe had apparently reclipped. I quickly got up with cheers of "good recovery" and walked (not ran) most of the way through the transition area (another area where I can shed some time). I'm toying with leaving my shoes clipped to the peddles and just taking my feet out for the dismount. I had previously dismissed this thinking it wouldn't save much time, but oh what I have realized.

By leaving your shoes on the peddles, 1) I won't risk falling on the dismount (this has also happened in training) and 2) I can actually run with my bike to my shoes. If you've never worn clips, you may not realize how hard they are to run in. So I'm going to practice this and see how it goes. Then I would also save time on taking off my shoes once I racked my bike.

Finally I started the run. I was so full of water from the bike that I was sick. I kept thinking I was going to have to step off the course. I still ran for almost half a mile and then decided my stomach hurt so badly that I needed to walk. I did but put a time limit on it. I tried running before my time was up, it didn't last long. I walked another few seconds and then took off. Yet, another area I have identified where I could take off some time. Don't drink too much on the bike. The run will go much better and therefore, I'll be able to run faster, sooner.

It was getting hot, but the aid stations helped. I poured some water on me. It was very refreshing. I picked up the pace and was excited the race was coming to an end. Nearing the finishing stretch I saw my youngest cousin and as I approached I told him to run with me. He was outrunning me, but that was ok. We ran together until the chute.

I crossed the finish line 1 hr 40 min and 3 sec after I plunged into the water. It was a great day with an overall successful race. To think, I had just done a marathon less than 2 weeks prior to this race, I hadn't swam, biked or ran and...I finished. I am eagerly awaiting my next race which will be sooner than later!

Buidling a Team

2007-08-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few other random things that have come up lately.

Pinal has decided that she really would like to join me in pursuit of the Iron Dream. I am very excited about this! We have so much fun together and love to sit and talk about our training more than anyone else wants to hear about it. So now we'll continue to have each other to share with over the course of the next 9 months.

Also, we have rallied troops here at school to run the Disney Marathon. Thus far we have 6 people and we're still trying to increase that number (Peter, you and Patty should join us). It will be the first for everyone except Irfan and I. It's already very exciting having these other newbies around to talk about training. We're also planning on running a few local races before the marathon. The more people you know running in a race, the better I think it is. We'll see as things progress.

Pictures of me from the marathon can be seen at:
http://www.marathonfoto.com/order_my_photos.cfm?OID=27892007M1&CustomerNumber=D95801&BFI=192jjvc81w&Currency=USD&Language=EN

I also have a web gallery that I haven't posted the link to from my blog yet, but pictures from recent travels as well as a couple other marathon pics can be viewed at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/MaryKate12

I still have a couple more albums to add from our latest national park trek, but hopefully over time I'll keep adding to it more regularly than I have in the past.

Thanks for your continued support in my crazy endeavours!

My First Run

2007-08-07T12:21:00.001-07:00

After spending a week hiking in Redwood, Crater Lake and Lassen Volcanic National Parks Irfan and I felt pretty optimistic about our first run when we got back to Florida. According to the plan, we would get up first thing Monday morning and go for a short 3 mile run. 6am came and went, as did 6:30 and then 7. It was getting late and we were both still exhausted. We opted to just head to work and try running tomorrow.

Just the day before though, my cousin had called and asked me to come home and do a triathlon next weekend. "Are you kidding?" I thought to myself. I just ran a marathon last weekend and haven't run yet and have heard about the horrors of post marathon running. Before registering for the triathlon I would need to know if I could run the distance or not. Therefore it became imperative that I run, today! The triathlon had only 25 of 895 spots left, there's no time to wait.

Finally last night it happened. We got home around 6 and were out the door around 7. I'm not an evening runner at all, but there was no time to dally. It was hot, but mainly the humidity was the real killer. I kept thinking that maybe I could cut through the heat, pull back the curtain and step to the other side where it would be cooler. I was dreaming.

We started off slow to be sure we could run. Our IT band ached where it's reinserted just below the knee. It was only a dull pain, nothing too bad. We continued. Then, the lower half of the outside of our shins hurt. What is this? I've never felt pain there before in my life! Odd. We pushed on, legs tired, pouring sweat. By mile 1.25 my calves were tight and tired. Overall, I came to the conclusion that I was still tired, everywhere. On the other hand, we both finished the 3 miles we set out to do. We didn't finish with record pace, but we weren't that slow either. It was good.

We followed with a nice dip in the ocean. It was so warm it almost felt like a bath. It was a great night. And I signed up for the triathlon this weekend: 600 yard swim, 16.2 mile bike and 3 mile run. It will be challenging since I'm not really ready for it, but I'll give it a go anyway.

Finally, the San Francisco Marathon!!!

2007-08-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I am officially a marathoner (although Pinal and I have been declaring this from day 1 of training per instruction from our training guide). There are a few things that I would like to share with you about my marathoning experience.

Marathoning: Life Changing?

Everyone says that finishing a marathon is a life changing event. I will definitely agree that my life has changed, but was it finishing the marathon that changed me? For me personally, I would have to say no. It’s not the running and finishing of the actual marathon, it’s the commitment to yourself to train for the marathon. It is 5 months of 4 days per week running when you don’t really like to run. THAT changes you. You may ask, “Why run when you don’t enjoy running?” It sounds crazy! I was motivated by the long term goal of actually finishing a marathon. As Peter (my blogging buddy who also ran this marathon as his first) put it, “You’re approaching this as a life list. Marathon. Check.” While he was correct, this is no longer my approach.

These months of running have changed who I am and how I view everything. The empowerment one gains from this experience is definitely life changing. It’s odd though, I still don’t love running. I begin each morning with a positive attitude about getting out there and getting my mileage in, but once I get to the start, I stall and temporarily dread the distance ahead of me. On the other hand, not running makes me almost feel agitated. I have all this energy bottled up waiting to be released and internally I tremble when there’s no outlet. I enjoy my days off, but I find myself looking for something else active to do. This is perhaps why I think I will enjoy my ironman training even more than marathon training, there’s simply more of it. There’s little down time with at least one workout 6 days a week and many days have 2.

This newly found life has rekindled my spirit and excitement for live. I have always loved competing. Growing up, I competed to win, but if that was my goal now, I would have a hard time training each day. I now enjoy participating and only compete against myself. I strive to better my own times and my own health. In the end, I just love being outside, being active and surrounding myself with other people who are doing the same thing. We're all winners now for challenging our self to get off the couch, out of the office and out there moving.

About the actual marathon (a little long, like always)

The day started early like with most long runs. We were up around 3:15am and out the door shortly after 4:30. It was really great. Jared, my brother who had come up the night before, rode his motorcycle down to the starting line. Irfan and I, bundled in sweats, took a nice easy 1 mile jog to meet him. When Irfan and I started out it was just us and 1 other man in front of us. As we got closer and closer, more and more people started appearing from no where. It was as if we were silently taking over the city.

At last it was time for us to begin our trek around San Francisco. The darkness had just given way to the rising sun, but the air was still chilly. Pinal, Irfan and I joined our group and headed off on what would be a very long day. Irfan took off immediately leaving us in his dust. Pinal and I started off slowly and wound our way through Fisherman’s Wharf and up to the first hill. No problem. We were smoking! Approaching the bridge we were excited, but that excitement soon ended. The bridge was so crowded, there was very little room to run, and thus we spent way too much energy maneuvering around slow runners. The bridge was windy and it had begun to drizzle. By mile 7, Irfan was already a mile ahead. I yelled as he passed us headed back over the bridge, but he was in his own world. Pinal and I ran to the turnaround, waved as we passed Jared and headed back over Golden Gate.

The wind was so strong by now that it was almost blowing us sideways. Oosh! We cheered on the other racers stilled headed over the bridge and finally got relief from the cold as we ran along a tree lined road.

As we were running up the next hill, I heard a man call out, “Go! MK! Go!” I had the words written on my tummy so people could cheer me on personally and it had worked! It was awesome! I needed this energy boost. My run wasn’t going so well. From the beginning of the run, my calves were tight like a rubber band and my pre-race meal had been a disaster. Anyway, I thanked the guy with some cheers and picked up my speed. Pinal made a pit stop and I ran on.

She didn’t take long to catch back up to me. We exchanged a few words of encouragement and off she went. It was awesome to run with her though for almost 2 hours! Now the rest was up to me.

I trudged along, moving slowly and feeling sluggish. The weather was nice for running, not much else, but wreaked havoc on my fueling. With the temperature being so much cooler than I was used to, I didn’t drink as much and my gu (energy gel) from my bottle didn’t flow as easily either. This lead to me not getting what I was used to during my training runs. By the half marathon point, I was already tired. My legs were heavy and remained so for the rest of the day.

The crowds along the route were awesome. Time and time again, people where cheering for me who had never seen me and will probably never see me again, but they were there, “Go Mary! Go MK! Looking good! You’re over half way!” They were always so positive and supportive and it was great. The other runners were great too.

There was a young couple walking together and I happen to be passing them when he had said to her, “Yeah! It’s going to hurt.” I ran by and told her to ignore her body and run. Later she passed me and said “Ignore the pain! Come on and run.” So I ran. We ran together for a while and then I had to walk. My legs were giving out. We ended up continually passing each other for the last 10 miles and would always offer up words of encouragement. In the end, we resorted to “Tag! You’re it!”. They were a lot of fun to have along the way.

Also in Golden Gate Park I had a bystander come and run with me to ask me my pace. I told him, he ran a few more steps and then stepped off the course. I tried to always encourage those around me when they looked like they were struggling because I know just how far someone’s words can carry me.

Towards the end, around mile 23, there was a girl who was upset about how slow she was going and wasn’t sure if she was going to finish. This was also her first marathon. Others around her were telling her about their first marathons and she was feeling better. Then I turned to her and said, “We’ve all come this far, we’re all going to finish.” She yelled back, “I like your positive attitude; I’m going to run with that”.

By mile 24 my left foot had such tremendous pain with each step that I felt like every step was going to shatter all the bones in my foot. I decided it was time to walk. Once I started walking, my calves got even tighter. I decided and tried to accept the fact that I may not run for the rest of the race. It would be ok, I would still finish. I walked and walked for what seemed like forever. During this time, I met up with another racer also walking. We walked silently together. Finally I told him to come run with me. He said he couldn’t, he was in too much pain. “Where?” I asked. He proceeded to tell me he was dizzy and needed to sit down. I gave him a bottle of my Gatorade; he drank it and still wasn’t ready to go.

I was nearing 25 miles and decided I should give running a try. I took a few steps. It was painful, going from walking to running when you are that far into a run is always painful. I trudged on and finally settled in for my last 1.2 miles. I crossed the finish line in 4 hours 58 minutes. Not the greatest of times, but I finished and I left tons of room for improvement for my next marathon.

I crossed the finish line and almost started to cry. I was so overwhelmed, mentally and physically exhausted. I was happy to be finished. I was touched at everyone cheering for me now and along the way. I was so happy Jared was there to see me finish and at so many other stops along my 26.2 mile route. I was just barely keeping it together.

I received my medal and my thermal blanket and found Irfan. We had a nice exchange, had some pictures taken and then headed to meet with Jared.

I was the last in of the bunch. Pinal was having a message which I desperately wanted too. I headed for the message tent while Irfan hit up the food line. We met up and had a nice post race gathering with Pinal’s friends at a local pub. It was wonderful!

Finally things were winding down and we headed out. Irfan and I walked together avoiding any changes in elevation. I’m talking about curbs, stairs, any up and down.

After a good night’s rest we were ready for a big breakfast. Irfan and I headed out, arm-in-arm in search of food. We would see a curb we needed to step down from, cringe and then look for the dip you would use to roll a cart or wheelchair over. That small step seemed so big and was very painful. For the day, if I needed to raise my left leg for anything, tying my shoe, curbs, to get into the shower, I had to physically reach down and lift it with my arms. For the first time in my life, I felt truly disabled. Obviously I wasn’t, I had just completed a wonderful journey and needed to recover. By Wednesday, Irfan and I were out hitting the trail of Redwood National Park; we had recovered!

I am very grateful for all the volunteers that provided much needed support. Without them, there could be no race. So to them, Thank you!

Our next marathon we’re planning is on January 13 at Walt Disney World! We’re very excited! We would love your continued support as we set out in our newly changed lives.

Celebrating my 1st week of Training with my 1st Triathlon

2007-07-14T11:59:00.001-07:00

Ok. Now at least I can say I have done a triathlon, even if it was a very short one (1/4 mile swim, 7 mile bike and 1.5 mile run). It was nice and short :) There were no places or t-shirts, just lots of fun.

I found this event on Thursday and talked to Irfan about doing it on Saturday. On Friday, I still wasn't sure, but as the day grew to an end, I knew I wanted to try it, even if I came in last. So on Friday evening when we got home, I began packing up all the gear I would need: goggles, swim cap, bike shoes, socks, running shoes, my garmin watch, visor, helmet, towels, gatorade... there seemed to be so much stuff to remember. Finally by 8 pm, I was finished packing and headed to bed. After a while I finally fell asleep even though the sun hadn't fully set. By 2 am I was hungry, something you should never be before a race. I got up, had some cereal and attempted to sleep some more, but didn't until 3. My alarms went off at 3:47 and 3:51. I turned them both off, said something to Irfan and then promptly feel peacefully back to sleep where I began to dream about getting ready for the race and then I realized I wouldn't be able to make it because I had forgotten my racing shorts and by this time, there wasn't enough time to go back and get them. I woke right up! It was 4:23 and I thought that maybe it was going to be too late. Irfan asked me if I thought we could make it, and I said, "Maybe, but it might be tight." The race was to start at 7am near Clermont, FL (about 90 miles from Daytona). By 4:37, my bike was mounted on the back of the car and we were pulling out.

Thankfully we made it to the site around 6:20, not much time to register, rack the bike, lay out gear and determine how a triathlon operates. I didn't know where the even water was (you can't see if from the parking lot), which way the bike or run course started. I felt a little lost. Irfan and I found a place for K2 (my beautiful bike) and I headed over to registration. I made it through the line and was marked with #225. I proceeded then to lay out my gear like the pros next to me did. I was already taking notes on how to do this. I asked a gentleman about the bike course, he explained how the transition worked, and I started to feel a little better.

We decided to trek down to the water and see where that was, but it was already 6:40. I asked several people about the swim course, but no one really knew, until maybe the 6th person. They proceeded to tell me it was probably faster to just run the swim course because the water was so shallow.

We set up in waves and watched the men go out first and then finally it was my turn. I stepped up to the end of the water, the horn sounded and we were off and running, literally! Later I saw people doing a "dolphin dive" and decided to join in. Then I ran, swam, ran, swam, swam, swam, ran, dolphin dived, ran, ran. I was back at the beach and headed to my first transition. Prior to the race, I had done exactly one, today I would do 2, more than doubling my experience :)

I ran barefoot up the beach, on the boardwalk and finally through the parking lot to K2. I geared up, had a sip of gatorade and took off. This transition was slow: 1) because I have never done it before and 2) I decided since this wasn't for anything other than fun and experience I would take the time to put on my GPS/heart rate monitor watch and gear. I fumbled with this, but finally managed to get out and onto the bike course. I still haven't mastered my clips for my bike shoes either, so I struggled with the left foot for a while and finally decided I would just have to ride unclipped; it was taking too much time.

The course was hilly, but with K2 I was flying. I passed 1 person then another, then another and then, well, I just kept passing people all the way to the end. I topped 25mph and shifted seamlessly even though I had never gone over a single hill on K2. Besides I had only taken her out twice, this would make the third time. For me, the third time was a charm. Everything felt so natural. Before I knew it, the bike leg was over. My time was looking really good. I thought I had a chance at breaking 1 hour. I settled into my run, trying to get a rhythm with my breathing. Since I had put on my heart rate monitor, my heart rate hadn't dropped below 180 bpm and running sure didn't help. In fact, I maxed out at 193 bpm.

I ran what I think was a pretty steady pace for the first half and continued passing people, then came the turn around. I headed back, having a great time. Then I decided to cheer on the others still working their way to the half-way point. I would yell out all kinds of crazy things like, "Let me see those smiles!" or "We're having fun!". To my fellow female athletes I might say, "You go girl!" or "You ladies rock!". It was a lot of fun and a lot of people smiled as a result. During this time my pace picked up. The winding road seemed like it was never going to end. At last though I saw my cheering section and I knew the end was near. I picked up the pace to go around the final bend and then I sprinted as hard as I could, almost falling over because I couldn't keep up with my legs; over the finish line I went, 1 sec ahead of the guy I overcame with my mad dash. I felt fantastic, but winded :)

I looked at the clock, 53:17. I was thrilled, but even more so when I remembered that my wave started 6 minutes after the clock started. Therefore, my actual time was 47:17, WAY above my expectations! It was awesome! K2 and I are a match made in heaven and my little cheering section was there for me when I left the water, headed out on the bike, returned from the bike and then for the start and finish of my run. Irfan is great!

What a wonderful day this has been! I'll sleep well tonight with a big smile on my face. Ironman, here I come! (Thank goodness I have months to train!)

"Ironstruck"

2007-07-09T09:48:00.001-07:00

It's official. I needed a new goal and a new challenge, and I have found it! As you may have noticed, the title of my blog has changed to reflect my next adventure which officially starts today and unofficially a month ago. I have registered for the 2008 Ironman Arizona to take place on Sunday, April 13, 2008; mark your calendars and if you are able, come and cheer me on in Tempe, Arizona!

The Ironman is a grueling 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run in one very long day. The course has a time limit of 17 hours so my goal is to complete the race in less than 16 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds. I know I can do it if I dedicate myself to training as I have shown I can do with marathon training. The training plan I have is 30 weeks and I have almost 40, plenty of time (if there is such a thing in Ironman training) to prepare for my big race.

I'm sure many of you wonder if I've lost my mind. Nope! I've been "Ironstruck" as they say. Over the past month I've missed many hours of sleep lying in bed dreaming about this adventure. I've spent hours researching online for books and other triathlon information and finally decided it was time. If not now, when? Live life to the fullest and don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Life's too short to fulfill all my dreams so I must lay out a path to reach these dreams one at a time.

Most of you who know me are probably wondering, "Has she ever even done a triathlon?". Nope! I haven't, but I had never run a road race or even more than 3.3 miles prior to training for the San Francisco Marathon and yesterday, I ran 23 miles! I've got several races penciled in beginning in August and running through November. These races will be great practice and give me a chance to gain some confidence in my triathlon ability. I'm not here to win (that should be obvious), I'm here to have fun, participate and enjoy the spirit of the competition.

In addition to researching books (which I've bought several but still need several more) I've spent a lot of time looking at bikes. Over the weekend I finally ended that search with K2, my new baby. She's amazing! I don't have a picture of us together yet, but it's on the way. For now, I'll just post a picture from online. I scored a great deal on the ALL CARBON triathlon bike! K2 is actually the K-Factor made by Kuota. It's not a brand any of you have probably ever heard of, but they're one of the best. In fact, the winner of the 2004 and 2006 Ironman Hawaii (Normann Stadler) rode the higher end version (Kalibur) of the bike I bought. See how sweet she is in the picture below.

Sure, it doesn't look all that exciting if all you see is a bike, but K2 is amazing to ride, very smooth, very fast and shifts effortlessly. I can't wait to start training on her, so I think I'll start tomorrow, maybe tonight if it's not too dark when I get home.

If there's something you've always wanted to do, I encourage you to make it a priority today. Lay out that plan and make your dream a reality!

23 Miles of Pure...

2007-07-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

JOY!!! Today was an awesome run. We started early, up at 3:45 and running at 4:30; we ran for almost 4.5 hours including 2 water stops to refill our bottles. The weather was much nicer than we've been having. It was in the mid to high 70s and overcast until around 8:30 which means that the last 2 miles maybe weren't quite as joyous as the first 21.

I decided today was about finishing and having fun on the last of the long runs before the marathon. I feel that I accomplished both of those goals. I took it much slower than I have been, but I was able to run 22 miles before stopping to walk for 0.2 miles followed by a slow jog to the finish.

At the finish I still had about 1/4 mile or so to walk to meet up with Irfan who had finished several minutes ahead of me. We stripped off our shoes and all unnecessary extras and headed into the ocean for a quick dip. It was soothing. Finally we picked up our stuff and headed up to stretch and begin the ice baths. After a short bit we then trekked back downstairs and enjoyed some aquatic stretching in the indoor pool.

Now, several hours after our run, we still move like the oldest of the residents here in our building, but with youth on our side, tomorrow we will be back to normal, well mostly anyway.

I did it!

2007-07-04T05:59:00.000-07:00

Whew! 20 miles is a long way to run, but Irfan and I did it!

After the failed attempt on Friday, Sunday turned out to be a winner. That's a relative statement. Maybe winner isn't quite the right word. Yes I finished, but it was a struggle from the beginning.

The alarm sounded at 4am for the 3rd day in a row. I think my mental preparation for this long run was already exhausted. I've learned that when you mentally prepare for these long runs, running them on schedule helps, a lot. Everyday it's postponed means you are that much less likely to actually complete the original mileage.

We had a little bit of a late start, 5:20am, and so the sun was up just a little over 1 hour into the run. I lost/dropped a gu within the first 3 miles so was going to be one short, but thankfully, the guy at the runnning store told me to always take an extra, so I was fine. It was hot and humid, but it seems to always be that way. By mile 3 I was already drenched. It was bound to be a long day and it was every bit of that.

Part way into my run when a car would pass from the opposite direction I would raise my arms up to cheer and the drivers were nice, they did the same. So there for a small stretch I found a few strangers to cheer me on. It was nice. I need all the help and motivation I can find on a run like this.

When crossing the 4th and final bridge of the day I was at mile 16.5 and a nice fisherman said good morning and told me he runs in the evenings. I told him what mile we were on and that we were going for 20 and he yelled to me as I passed "16.5 Miles! You must be crazy!". "Yep!" I replied, I am crazy.

I plug along, one foot in front of the other, just trying to pass the time and more importantly, the miles. As I neared the end I came across a couple that was walking and taking up the sidewalk. I ran up behind them and walked for only a few seconds. They let me pass and I told them I was at mile 19.5, only 0.5 more to go. The man replied, "You're running 20 miles!". "Yep!". He responded "God bless you" with a very bewildered look on his face and I ran on finishing the last of my 20 miles.

I'm greatful to have finished with very little pain. My knees were in good shape and overall I felt great. My legs from the knee down though did ache, but what would one expect who just spent 3 hr 40+ min running. Just go and walk for that long and let me know how your feet feel. Everything was a little sore, but no injuries.

After streching for a bit it was time for an ice bath. I had bagged 2 bags of ice each for Irfan and I. I ran the water in the tub on as cold as it would go and sat down in it as it filled. Once filled to my knees, I dumped by 2 bags of ice in and sat for 10 minutes. I'm sure this sounds horrible to you, but it felt great! I was almost sad my time was up. I wished I'd had more ice to make it colder. The purpose of the ice bath is to reduce swelling from the trauma of the really long runs which helps speed recovery. I do think it helped.

Around the corner is my last long run, 23 miles. I'm not sure how I'm going to finish, but I will, and in 25 more days I'll run the big race, 26.2 miles. I'm almost there and it's very very exciting!

A New Magic

2007-06-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

This week has been a roller coaster. Last week I didn't do a long run because I was out of town and everything there seemed to make it hard. My sleep was off, my food, the weather, things just weren't going too great. There weren't great/safe places for me to run long distances and I refuse to run laps; it's just not for me. I turn miserable in a hurry. Perhaps that's an area I need to work on improving.

Sunday I drove 8+ hours back to Florida to start my week. Monday morning I was suppose to run but thankfully (I shouldn't say that) I woke up to a small thunderstorm and opted out. Later in the morning I headed to Orlando and bought myself a new pair of shoes. Yeah! My feet were very thankful.

Tuesday I went out and decided that I had enough energy, somehow, to run a tempo run which I haven't done in a really long time. I ran 5 miles in 48:45, not too bad. I was happy since like every other day here it was 80+ and humid at just past 6am.

Wednesday I set out to run 8 miles. At mile 2.5 I thought about turning around and cutting it to 5, but my head told me I was being lazy and I needed to push on. I continued, counting the tenths of a mile as they past because I was feelong so badly. At the 4 mile mark, I turned around, walked for a minute, drank my water and decided I should run again. By mile 5 I had had it. I just couldn't go on. I was hot, hungry, bored, tired... everything I didn't need. I decided it was ok to walk home from here, 3 miles :( I walked and walked, occassionally running a few feet and then walking. Near the 7 mile mark there's a cold water fountain. I stopped for a drink and decided I would run the last mile, mainly because I would be passing one of my cheerleaders and I didn't want them to see me walking. So, I ran the last mile and was so thankful to be done. I had completed what I think is possibly the worst run of all my training.

Thursday was an off day! Yeah. Because of events in town I wanted to run my long run on Friday and possibly a 10k on Sunday. Thursday I ate tons :) I wasn't over stuffed, just happy.

All week my sleep has been off after recovering from my trip last week and so I knew getting up early on Friday would be a challenge, but that was still the plan. So here goes: 4 am, alarm sounds, 4:09 am, alarm sounds again, but I'm already up. I bodyglide from head to toe, seemingly, put on my clothes, stretch, and put the final touches on it all. By 4:45 Irfan and I are heading out the door. We are set to go.

50 ft into the run, yes only 50 ft! My belt falls off and my garmin goes flying. It's happened before. I reach down to pick it up and see the pin popped out that holds the strap. Great! Now what?! Irfan fixes that. In the mean time I realize that one of my gu packets also fell off. I work trying to get that fixed and finally settle on a different arrangement. Fine. I'm now flustered, tired, my stomach ached today, but I was still willing to give this another shot.

I run about 0.1 miles and my belt is so heavy it's bouncing like crazy. I feel like it's going to fall any minute and so I stop. I can't have this belt bouncing for 20 miles. I'll have no skin left or sanity. I stop, sit on a bench and yell to Irfan I'm not running. He's a great guy and comes back to find out what the problem is. He tells me to tighen my belt and try again. I already know how this works, but to humor him, I comply.

We start running again, now we're really ready. I hit the road, because at 5am there are very few cars. Something in the back of my mind just kept telling me this wasn't a good idea. Everything seemed to be going wrong and I felt like today could be my last. I just some how couldn't get the picture of someone running over me, most likely a drunk driver, out of my head, but I kept running anyway, focusing on getting started.

At 0.8 miles my belt flew off for the last time today. I had had it! I couldn't take it. I wanted to cry. I had gotten up so early and was suppose to be having this great run, but nothing was working. This was a sign. I turned around and walked home. Irfan decided to join me. Today I will have to trouble shoot what to do about my belt coming apart repeatedly. I have a couple of ideas. I hope one works.

Irfan wanted to jog back, I did not. Instead I suggested we ditch our belts after walking home and run a magic mile (1 mile sprint to gain an estimated finish time for the marathon). We are always commenting on how much we would like to run one, but it's too hot; we really need to do it while it's still dark. Today would be perfect. We settled on that plan.

We set off running north. Irfan takes off, but I stay a few feet behind. As the seconds pass, he moves farther ahead but never really leaving me. I wanted to stop at around 0.25 miles then at 0.33 and so on. I kept telling myself to focus. There's a lot of information that comes out of this one mile sprint. I need to do it. I want to do it. Run! Run! Run! The chase is still on.

It's nice because around 0.33 miles, we round a slight bend and then can see the finish line, a well lit glass enclosed bridge over the road. I tell myself it's just a little farther. I need to stay focused. Focus! Focus! Run! Run! I start guessing what I think my time will be, but resist the urge to look at my watch. At last I see Irfan stopped, leaning on a fire hydrant. One would have thought he had been there for minutes instead of less than the 40 sec ahead of me that he finished.

I finished in a mere 7 min 21 sec, my best mile time since the 6th grade! That far exceeded my goal of 7:30 (a lofty dream I thought) or a more realistic 7:45-55 mile pace. It was magic! That invisible string that pulled me though my half marathon, pulled me though this mile and hopefully I'll find a lead for the marathon too. According to the calculators, I should be able to run the marathon in 4:08-4:10. There's so much that it depends on though, but it's nice to think of what the possibilities are.

So what started as a bad running day, ended up with a really great finish and tomorrow we'll try again for 20 miles!

300 Miles!

2007-06-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

Today I reached 300+ training miles! I find it so hard to believe that I've run 300 miles in less than 4 months! My training is going wonderfully well!

I want to take a minute and say thank you again to all my friends and family that have been so supportive and have endured hours of endless rambling about running.

Yesterday, I finally bought a new pair of shoes to finish my last 2 long runs in and of course my marathon. The big day is just over 5 weeks away. I'm getting really excited. Pinal and I laughed as we both talked about how much we're ready to start packing our bags for S.F. We don't want to forget anything and there are so many things we should take. It's difficult to think of everything you "might" need. It's much more than just your shoes and running clothes. Thankfully we both have found several lists of "must haves" for the big day. We'll compile our lists and take way too many things, but it will be fun.

Overall, I'm in really good shape, but recently my heals have started to hurt a little. At the running store, they told me I can have no more bare feet until after the marathon. I was very sadden by this, but I know that it is best. So today, I retired my first pair of training shoes to daily wear. I wore them all day except when I was sleeping. I do think they help, especially when I'm cooking. They even help my back, so perhaps after the marathon, I'll keep wearing them around the house.

To many of you it won't be a surprise when I announce my next big athletic/life challenge as I have hinted about it to a few of you. For those of you who don't know, hopefully I'll be able to wait a little longer and get my plans finalized. Look for the announcement in the next few weeks. I'm already getting really really excited.

My Most Amazing Run Ever!

2007-06-14T18:20:00.001-07:00

The alarm sounds, it's 4am. I hit snooze, just a few minutes more. 4:09, snooze. 4:17, it's time to get rolling, many miles lie ahead just waiting to be covered.

Irfan and I begin our rituals. The first stop, scale. It's important to have an idea of how much weight is lost on the long runs so you can be sure to refuel enough at the end. I weigh in and am happy to see that I've put on about 1.5 pounds. It seems necessary to have a really good long run. Your body needs fuel for 3+ hours of running. Next, it's time to put on my running skirt and top, no shirt. It's too hot. I like to be as naked as possible. If I could run completely naked, I would. I take my time stretching for about 15 minutes. If I skimp on this, the run starts off badly and getting started is one of the hardest parts of it all. I can't afford to skimp. Trip to the bathroom. Fill-up on liquids, not me, but the bottles. I fill my four 8-oz. bottles, 3 with gatorade, 1 with water. I pack my pouch on my fuel belt, contents: student ID, condo keys, $3.75, 1 paper towel, 1 raspberry cliff shot, 1 vanilla cliff shot. The pouch barely closes. Another trip to the bathroom. Put on my shoes, then my belt. Humm, maybe one last trip to the bathroom. You may wonder how many times one can make use of such facilities in 1 hour. If you're running long distance, a lot. Finally, I put my belt back on, I think I'm ready, finally. Oh, grab my gps watch a Garmin 305 Forerunner. Now it's out the door and to the start.

5:05am on the sidewalk in front of our condo; the tide is too high on the beach. The sun won't rise for another hour and a half, by then, I'll be almost 9 miles into my run. I learned a valuable lesson last week on my 16 mile run. I started at 5:50am, and by mile 14, the sun was so hot and the air so still, it was almost too hard to run. I had to start earlier.

Today, the air is cooler at 74 degrees. Shortly after the sun rises, it will be 80. I press start on my watch and I'm off moving at a rather brisk pace. Irfan takes off and I chase after him, knowing he'll be out of sight in only a few moments. The sidewalks line the street rising and falling with the shops. I venture to the road, there are no cars. I pass a family walking, where could they possibly be headed at 5am?

I complete the first mile in just over 9 minutes, not too far behind Irfan. I reach the top of the bridge and pass a tall scruffy looking man walking up, I continue. Ahead I see Irfan who waits to be sure I pass the man uninterrupted. We continue in the dark with only an occasional car.

I'm keeping good pace and only slow around mile 4 to take my first gu shot (vanilla). What's gu? It's a high concentration carbohydrate sodium mixture to help keep energy high over long duration exercise. Previously I had tried gu only 2 other times. The nice people at the running store who have provided good general guidance on a few things informed me that taking gu was not so easy in the beginning. I had been told it was hard on your stomach and didn't taste very good, so to try to adapt to it, mix it with water. On my first 8 mile run, I did that. And immediately after, my gag reflex set in. I stopped running, doubled over and hoped the feeling would pass. I didn't have any more gu that day. On a later run, I took the rest of the gu-water mixture and drank it just fine. Don't get me wrong, it tasted horrible, they weren't joking, but I managed to get it down.

This was my first time taking the gu straight. I struggled with the packaging and eventually managed to rip a small hole where I could squeeze it out. I squeezed more than half into my mouth. I was so thick and gooey. I don't even know that I've had anything to equate it to. It's a very unique texture. I hold it in my mouth and finally swallow. My mouth is still gooey. I take a nice big gulp of water to wash it down, then I finish off the packet followed by some more water. It really wasn't that bad. I kept wondering why everyone made such a big deal about it. Oh well. I find a trash can at taco bell and discard the packet.

I'm still within eye shot of Irfan, barely. I'm running on the road (actually the parking lane) and he's on the sidewalk. Every once in a while, he ventures to the road to get a clear look back at me. Yep, I'm still here, still plugging away. We are passed by a few cars and motorcycles. On a park bench was a homeless man slumped over sleeping.

After the gu, I begin to feel amazing. I think I finally reached 'flow'. As described in my training book, it's like feeling almost weightless and running seems near effortless. I sit back and just enjoy how easy the running is. I see sprinklers watering a parking lot. I don't think they are going to get more parking spaces by watering it, but none-the-less, they continue watering. I think it's a great opportunity. One of the sprinklers looks broken and it appears more like isolated rain. I venture off the road for a brief shower and laugh as I feel so child-like running though the water. My glasses are covered and seeing is difficult. Oh well, it will dry.

Finally our route turns and I think I saw Irfan round the corner, then another as I continue the chase. I see he's 100-200 yards ahead. I'm relaxed and feeling well. The cooler morning has really helped although the sun is starting to rise. I see I'm closing in on Irfan. I pick up the pace since I'm feeling so great. I'm very focused on my breathing and my stride, always keeping my arms low and loose. At last around mile 8 I'm only a few yards behind and I yell for Irfan to change his route. He was nearing the turn off and I was going to be going on alone. He was shocked to see me. He asked if I had sprinted to catch up. No! I'm just moving so well. He usually runs 1-2 minutes faster than me per mile! For me to have caught him, he must have been having a bad day and/or I was having a good day. It doesn't matter though. For the first time in our training we ran together, each at a comfortable pace.

He changed his route to run with me; we ran side-by-side for the next 4 miles. It was really nice to have his company, but now it was time for me to turn back. He was running 15 miles while I was running 18. I finished the first 12 miles at an average pace of 10:26 min/mile. I was at my scheduled water stop. My belt holds 32 oz. not enough to finish all 18 miles. I stop at a park that has a restroom and soda machines. I put in $1.25 and get 20 oz of cold water. It feels GREAT! I refill 2 of my bottles and drink the rest. I take a third gu. Luckily for me, Irfan brought one that he wasn't going to use, so he gave me his. What a nice guy :)

I start running again and am not feeling so well. Too much water and probably too much gu. I push on, but finally I have to walk for a minute to try and let my stomach settle. I make it over my 3rd bridge and I'm back on the street where I caught up with Irfan. I smile and push ahead. My overall energy level is waning. I cross over the last bridge, it's more like a small bump in the road at this point. I approach the intersection where I parted ways with Irfan and prayed that the light would turn red so I could cross without stopping, and it did. I celebrated to myself and headed down the ramp to the beach.

Once I reach the beach, I know I'm on the final stretch. By now the sun is high in the sky and I'm rapidly approaching 15 miles. I flash back to last week at this time. It was around mile 14 when I learned that I too suffer, like most female distance runners, from extreme bloating and cramps on long runs. The pain became so intense I thought my intestines were going to fall out. I could no longer run. I would double over in pain occasionally and look frantically for a bathroom, but there are none on the beach. I would hobble a few minutes and then walk, hobble and walk. Finally I got home and laid on the floor curled up, in too much pain to move. Somehow, I eventually pulled myself from the floor and went to the restroom. I did feel better. The solution, as given repeatedly online is a quick does of imodium before a long run.

Today, it had done the trick. By mile 15 the only thing that hurt was my right knee which has never fully healed since before my half marathon more than 1 month ago. The pain came on slowly and I pushed on until it was screaming. When the pain shot through, I finally walked then hobbled, but quickly walked again. My pace was really good, why did this have to happen now I wondered to myself. I obsessively watched my time. I wanted to finish with a sub-11 pace. I wanted it badly. So after a little more than a mile of hobbling, with 1 mile to go, I ran. By this time in my training I know there are going to be times of discomfort, but I also know that running is no longer a matter of physical endurance, it's mental endurance. This was not about the physical pain, it was mental now and I had to get past it. I started slow for the mile and tried to maintain a constant pace. I set visual targets to get me through, but after 0.35 miles, I needed a break. I walked. I took one last glance at my watch and new if I wanted to make my time goal, I had to run. I ran.

Not only did I run, I ran the last quarter a mile at just over a 9-minute mile. So after 18 miles, I still had it in me to run hard and to finish and oddly enough, my knee quit hurting. I will take this lesson with me on my last 2 long runs and eventually to the finish line in San Francisco.

Despite the pain, this was an amazing run. At the finish, like I do each week, I throw my hands into the air and celebrate. Today, a lady and her husband were walking by watching me when I finished and as I celebrated they smiled. It was almost 8:30am and they had no idea I had come so far. I finished in 3 hours 17 min 45 sec, a pace of 10:58 (including my 5 min water stop). I met my goal!

The Slump

2007-06-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

After completing the half-marathon trail run, I knew I was in for it. I could barely walk my knee was hurting so badly. The race was on Saturday and I spent ALL Sunday on the couch. My fiance was out of town and it was miserable being in so much pain all alone.

It was on this day that I more or less cancelled my "big" wedding. It really wasn't ever going to be "big". We were inviting about 80 people, but on this day, everything seemed over whelming and on Monday I sent out the notice, that only family was invited to the wedding. A few people didn't take this so well. Without Irfan around (he had already been gone for 2+ weeks and there was still another week left) I was falling apart, at least I felt like it. Knowing that I couldn't run for some time (unsure of how long that would be) was a bit unnerving and upset me a great deal. Put that together with me missing him; and I had fallen apart.

The following week, day-by-day my knee pain eased and then I allowed a few extra days of rest to be sure I wasn't going to re-injure myself. After 9 days off running, I'm not sure I felt like I was missing much. I had so much free time and was less tired. I think I was getting lazy. Luckily for me everyone knows I'm training for the marathon and a few ask about my running from time to time. A nice guy at work happen to stop by on Tuesday to ask me how my running was going. I had to tell him that I wasn't running...not for the past 9 days :( This didn't feel very good.

That night I went home and decided it was time to quit making excuses and being lazy. In the morning, I went for a short 2 mile run just to check things out (I was trying to get over my laziness more than anything). Oh my goodness!!! I never imagined taking off for a little more than a week could be so devastating! My upper back hurt, I was winded, etc but my knee didn't hurt, not much anyway.

The next day I went for 5 miles and my knee was a little sore, but nothing a little ice wouldn't fix. At last the weekend arrived and it was time for the real test. I was suppose to be running 16 miles, daunting having not run much for a couple of weeks. I went out for a ran 12 mile run instead. It was pretty good overall, but my knees were very sore afterwards, as were my muscles on the outer portion of my hip. I iced my knees and hoped for the best.

At least now I was running and the slump was over! :)

ASC Greenway Trail Half Marathon

2007-06-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

The week following my 14 mile run from hell was not so great either. On Monday, I went for my 5 mile run and just past 2.5 miles the pain came with a vengeance. My right knee had stabbing pain. I stopped and stretched my quads hoping that my muscles were just tight. I hobbled along and tried to ignore the pain. Luckily Tuesday is an off day.

On Wednesday, I was visiting a friend in Maryland and ate yummy waffles before my run, probably not the best idea, but I did. The run was uneventful though, my knee ached, but there was no stabbing pain. Thursday rolled around and my knee was rather tender on the inside, so I opted out of my run to give it some extra rest. Tuesday off seemed to help, so I'll take 2 days off this time and hopefully everything will be ok.

At last it was Friday and my knee was mostly better by noon. So I jumped in my car and headed N 475 miles to Rock Hill, SC for the half marathon I had been eyeing for the previous month or more. It was a long drive, but the weather was peaceful and NPR was great company. Just after dark I located the park where the race would start in the morning and then checked into my hotel. It was 9:00 pm and I still needed dinner.

Cracker Barrel would do the trick. I had French toast and for dessert (which I never order) I had an apple strudel. Everything was yummy and I was sufficiently full. It was bedtime :)

I slept very well, just like any other night and woke up in time to complete my rituals: stretching, eating, etc. I gathered up all my belongings not knowing if I would complete the race fast enough to make it back for a shower and I was unsure whether I would be staying a second night at this point. It would greatly depend on how I felt after the race.

I had the misfortune of waking up and realizing that I needing female supplies prior to the race. No problem, I'll just get something from my emergency stash in my car. I get to the car and find there's nothing there. Eeeks! This is not what I need. No problem I thought, I'll just stop someplace after I pick my packet. I don't want to be too late getting it.

I hurried out the door running about 15 minutes behind my desired schedule but still with plenty of time. I entered the Greenway and the attendant pointed me towards a field that had a few cars in it. I parked and got out of my car; it was freezing! I walked over to the pavilion where things were just getting set up. I was the first person to show up to register on the race day (and probably the first one to get a packet at all). I would be sporting # 124.

I headed back to the car and left in search of supplies. I was a little paniced after stopping at a couple of places. Would I be able to find what I needed before the race? Finally I found someplace that was open and had what I needed :) Now I was ready to run!

I show back up at the race pavilion and sat in my car. I was by myself and most people were with 1-4 other people or their dog. I felt very alone and these people all looked so serious and fit and .... I was a little worried and began wondering what I was doing here. What was I thinking?

At last it was 10 minutes before the posted start time; people were headed to the starting line (I didn't even know where that was). I stoped short of the start in a group with others warming in the only small patch of sun. There was less than a minute from the start and no one was lined up. Finally we mosied over and in 3-2-1, we were off.

Everyone started moving pretty much together. I knew there was a creek crossing just 0.25 miles in. I also knew there was a bridge that had been roped off that no runners were suppose to cross. I trotted along talking with a nice lady. As we neared the creek there appeared to be confusion. Many people were crossing under the rope and using the bridge. The lady beside me told me it was better/safer and much faster to run through the creek, so I did.

Upon crossing the creek, which came up to the middle of my calves I felt accomplished and ready to tackle the challenge that lay ahead. I continued on passing some goats, then cows with bells hanging from their necks. We rounded the bend, crossed a road and headed down into the woods to never see the light of day again. Ok, that's not really true, but at times I felt that way.

The path was well packed dirt, occasionally sandy, always rocky, rooty, hilly and very narrow. Most places were barely wide enough for 1 person and passing initially was very difficult. You had to plan at what place to make your move. I passed a few people early on and then I was alone.

My feet were sliding in my shoes as I was "flying" uphill, downhill and around the curves. I felt great and was having a blast! .... Until I rolled my left ankle. I got up, hobbled a few steps, cursed for having this happen so soon and wondered if I would be able to go on. I was fine, just a little shaken. I pushed on. It was still early in the race.

It wasn't long after this, I was running down a hill that ended with a sharp curve lined with a large stone and a tree. As I started falling, I reached and latched onto the tree and slid down it finally stopping with my knee on the rock and dirt/sand everywhere! I was now being passed by a runner who would take me with some invisible thread through the race. She's yelled to me I was ok, just get up. She told me she too had fallen already. I looked back at her as she approached and saw nothing but blood from the knee down. She didn't stop, but kept going and so would I.

I got up, more shaken than before, but managed to chase after her. I began to count how many times I had almost twisted my ankle. I lost count. The rocks, roots, twists and turns were almost too much for me, but I was hanging on.

Prior to falling, I was all alone for what felt like quite a while. There was no one in front of me and I wasn't going to look behind to see if anyone was there. I couldn't hear anyone. After the fall it was just the nice runner, Anna, and I. We ran and ran. Up the hills, down the hills, over one bridge and then the next. There were few water stations. Thankfully I wore my fuel belt full of gatorade. I spent most of the race feeling exhausted. My legs weren't used to the elevation change. According to my gps there was a whopping 9800 ascent total in the race and it recorded only 10 of the 13 miles. The other 3 miles were spent gaining satellite locations after crossing though tunnels.

As the race progressed, I would occasionally pass people and sometimes, someone would pass me too. To ease the pain, because there's no doubt about it this race was painful, I walked...a lot. A whole lot. I would run fast to catch Anna and then I would slow down and walk up the hills. She ran a nice even pace the whole time. My goal became to always keep her in sight, which meant I could never let her get more than about 30 or so feet ahead or else I would lose her. This is what kept me going mile after mile. It was the "invisible thread" that I felt was pulling me and pushing me to keep going.

At the second creek crossing, Anna took the bridge, I chose the creek. Besides, my feet were hot and it was refreshing. I passed her as we climbed up the bank. I told her to go ahead. She told me it was my turn to lead, but I waited for her. She was what motivated me to run and without her in front of me, I would have slowed down a long time ago.

At the last water station, Anna ran though it. I did not. She was gone. I, by this time, was ok with that. I was just too tired to keep up any longer and I needed to pee, but there was no time, nor place. Yes, of course I could have gone into the woods, but I didn't want to waste the time.

I pushed on, walking quite a bit from this point on. The final stretch of the course was uphill. What were these guys thinking!?!? Oh well, I finished in 2:20:03. I have nothing to be ashamed of and all to be proud of. I finished my first half marathon and it was a trail run and according to others who run "lots of trails", this one ranks up with the best of them: rugged and very tough.

Incidentally, I spoke with Anna following the race and she runs lots of these. She couldn't believe this was my first. Since I trailed her for almost the entire race, she predicted my time for a road race half marathon would be much closer to 2 hours. Wouldn't that be thrilling to try!

I hung around, ate some bagels, had some water and a glance at my watch told me I wasn't too late. I headed to the car and sped off for a shower before my long drive back to Florida. What a day!

My 14 Mile Killer Run

2007-06-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

So yes, I'm finally back. I should back up though and recap some of the past month. I'll pick up where I last wrote, almost a month ago. I'm very sad it's been so long, but I just haven't felt up to it.

The week after my 12 mile run went well. My Dad and step-mother, whom I was visiting in CO, and I went for a "float" trip down the Colorado River. We put in the water around 8am and took out around 7pm. Of that time, we figured we paddled for almost 9 hours!!!! So much for floating! I have to say though, the trip was beautiful and when it ended, we were thankful that it was over, but we are all very happy that we went, even if it turned out to be a terribly long day. The views from the river up at all the canyon walls was ah inspiring! You just don't get those views and the wilderness anywhere else; not to mention we were alone on the river for almost the entire trip. It was simply spectacular. As the hours wore on and the sun was dropping, we weren't sure if we were going to make it off the river and so we started discussing what we would do if we had to spend the night somewhere along the way. We didn't, but it sure crossed our minds.

I'm writing about my amazing paddle trip to take into account all the activity of the week leading up to my 14 mile run. My week began with 6 miles on Monday and 4 on Tuesday morning before packing up for our trip. Wednesday we paddled ALL day. Thursday we headed back to Lake City on a scenic drive. It was beautiful. We were looking for a good place to run, but after such a long day paddling, I wanted to run only on something flat and we could never find a stretch of road that was flat. So I didn't run until we returned to Lake City at almost 9 pm. We had picnicked along the way and had eaten a few snacks on the drive home, but I was still hungry. However, I went and completed my 4 miles that night around 10 pm.

It was actually the best run I had the entire time I was in CO. It was chilly, but not freezing and there are NO lights in Lake City and thankfully very few cars. So that night, I set out, in the dark. Before walking out the door however, I was asked 2 things: 1) Where's your flashlight? and 2) Where's your bear spray? Neither of which I had or intended to carry. So I left. I ran on the only paved road in town and because it was so dark, I couldn't even see my feet; to avoid tripping, I ran in the middle of the road. Yep, right in the center of oncoming traffic. Traffic is such a relative term. I think maybe 2-3 cars moved the entire time I was on the road. I made 2 laps through town and was finished. I spotted lots of deer and enjoyed my quiet run under the stars. My time wasn't great compared to that of FL, but none the less, I ran a 10:30 pace (quite a bit faster than most of my runs at almost 9000 ft).

Following the run, we had a nice pasta dinner and then hit the bed. I was up early, knowing I had a long run ahead of me. I walked to their house from my cosy cabin and had a quick snack before setting out to my starting point. That morning we decided the best route for me was not the one we had mapped out previously and so we set out, driving south of town clocking the miles.

At last we were 12 miles past the lake and this was a good starting point; besides, the road became more of a steep trail past this point. I got out and started running. The miles seemed to pass very slowly on this day. I'm not sure why. The scenery was great and I was quite relaxed. The sun was out, so it was warm for a change. Luckily I had put on tons of sunblock because I knew this was going to be a long run. Then, like I had begun in recent times, applied my body glide. I think it was around mile 6 that I realized sunblock and body glide don't mix! My arms began chafing and I was not happy. I continued running, feeling great except for my arms :(

I was nearing the lake with the mountains surrounding and all was well. I had just passed 9 miles and was feeling great. As the next few miles came and went, I grew more and more tired and by mile 12, my legs hurt, my knees hurt and I was no longer "feeling good". I pushed on, but by 12.5, I had to walk. No big deal (although this was the first time I walked). I walked for another 0.15 miles and then gathered myself up and ran to mile 13.

Then it hit with a force I have never felt before. As I passed mile 13, I felt like I had been stone walled. I walked, but was in so much pain, walking seemed impossible. I kept moving, but very slowly. I rounded the corner where my step mother wast waiting for me. She thought surely I must be finished, but I told her I stilled has almost a mile to walk. She had already walked several miles while I was running so she was relaxing in the shade, just waiting for me finish.

I walked around the bend in the lake and turned back. How does this happen. I just ran 13 miles and now I can barely walk 10 feet! I pushed on, inching back towards the car. I couldn't go on. I couldn't even walk the last mile. I was finished. Joanne, being the strong supporter, leapt eagerly from the car and helped motivate me by walking with me. At last, there was just 0.1 miles to go. We walked in a large circle in front of the car. As my gps turned to 14.00, I was finished! I fell into the car having taken not 1 step more than 14 miles, but now I could say, "I finished!"

Dedication

2007-05-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

It has snowed almost every day that I’ve been here, some days more than others. Saturday there was around 2 inches of snow! The forecast, not that I really believe in them, said the highs would be in the upper 40s-50s the whole week I’m here in Lake City. Saturday’s high though was only in the 30s. It didn’t matter, because I didn’t have my long run until Sunday.

Unfortunately it was all of 32 deg as I set out on my run Sunday too. I started at the “far” end of town and headed out towards Lake San Cristobal. It’s really beautiful out there. I had selected this route yesterday because of all the hills. I thought that finally running some hills would be good for me. As I started out of town I had a small uphill climb, but it quickly turned into a nice long downhill; as I enjoyed the descent I was cursing to myself thinking about having to run up it at the end of my 12 miles. But for now I thought things were going to go really well.

At around 1.5 miles or so, I started my first real uphill climb. It lasted for what seemed like forever, but I was in high spirits. It got steeper as I trekked up. It’s like most mountain roads, curvy. I would round a bend only to find the crest of the hill was not yet in site. I trudged along finally reaching the top where I could enjoy a half mile downhill to recover from the 1 mile up.

Finally I reached the lake. The snow was still covering the mountains, and the air was crisp. I made the turn onto the dirt road that traces the lake and trudged along. I had just passed the 3 mile mark. 9 more miles I said to myself and I ran, or at least attempted to.

The first 3 miles weren’t easy, but the next 3 were even worse. The snow came down, sometimes heavy. Fortunately I wore my hat today and put an extra layer on both my top and bottom. I even left my hair down to help keep me warm. As I would ascend a hill, I would heat up and could feel my inner most layer collecting moisture; then as I started the descent, I would be cold. The cycle was endless. As long as there were hills, I was wet, then cold, never warm.

The scenery was amazing as you can see below! But who could enjoy it.

I have never been challenged so much at one time (except maybe when I was sleep deprived in undergrad just trying to survive). I’ve never wanted to quit something so much in my life. I was in pain. I thought I was going to break down, but I ran. I focused on breathing from my stomach and not from my chest. Oddly it seemed to be much easier to run that way. I cheered for my self and tried to count down the miles, but they were passing so slowly. I had to constantly fight myself to keep going because I felt so badly. It wasn’t even the miles that had me feeling this way, it was the cold, the snow and those wicked hills, which I must learn to embrace.

I had 3 miles to go and I pushed forward knowing it was less than a 5k to the end. I chanted in my head and it was amazing. My pace quickened slightly and I knew that all my mental training from my book I faithfully read from each week was really paying off. The 2 climbs I was dreading most in the last 3 miles seem to be “easy”. They weren’t those wicked hills I encountered between miles 3 and 6. They were long, slow, steady climbs and those I could do.

At last the run was over, 2 hours and 40 minutes later my 12 miles were complete. I kept walking, only I couldn’t feel my legs. I knew my feet were there, but my legs were cold and exhausted. I’ve never felt worse after a run, but so proud to have finished.

I caught a ride back to the house and stretched and refueled only to laze around and enjoy the rest of the day.

You may wonder why I continued on when I wanted to stop so badly. There was nothing, no one, making me run, but I never stopped. Running is now life. I run because I can. I run because I want to be strong, mentally and physically. I run for fitness, I run for life. I run to enjoy my surroundings. I run to remember how lucky I am that I can run. I run to celebrate all things great that we can achieve if we just set a goal. I run because I am a marathoner!

A special note of thanks for those who have supported me this far. Especially to Joanne who follows me on my runs here in Lake City to be sure no animal tries to snag me, whether it be a grizzly bear or a grizzly man. She gives up her time to help me train for what will be the greatest race of my life and for her, I am very greatful.

Running High

2007-05-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

I'm sure most people think I fell off the Earth in the last week or so. I've been VERY busy with final exams and projects as I just finished the semester officially Thursday around 12:15 am. Then I slept for 4 hours, a typical nights sleep this past week (when I'm lucky) and headed to catch a plane to Lake City, Colorado. Needless to say, I've been exhausted and haven't had any time to post lately, so I'll give some of the highlights.

Last week's runs were really great. Despite being very very tired, I still got up and ran and was very happy I did so. On my runs I started off with the thought of just finish. It doesn't matter about the time, it just matters that I finish my miles for the day. On one day, as I was approaching the halfway point, I passed a runner I had met the previous week or so. I was a bit behind, so I picked up the pace and tried to catch him on my return leg. After about a mile I passed him going up the bridge. He was cheering me on and gave me a nice little push to help me climb the hill. As I neared the top of the bridge, there were 2 ladies who I've since decided they are official cheerleaders. They are always cheering for me when I pass them. They are complete strangers who don't know I'm training, but are there many days cheering me on. These few people along my trek make it a delight to run and I look forward to seeing them and enjoy that quick boost of energy that seems to come with it.

Now for a more literal "running high". I stated that I flew to Lake City, Colorado; if you google it you'll quickly find that it sits at an altitude of 8658 ft. Yes, quite a bit higher than the mile high city. Usually I plan to take it easy the first few days I'm here as I live at a mere 6 ft above sea level. But on this trip, there was no time to sit and wait. I missed my Wednesday run because I had an early final exam and I have been sleeping so little I couldn't give any up that night having gotten under 4 hours . Then I didn't run Thursday morning because I got up at 4am after sleeping less than 4 hours again, and I barely had time to catch my flight.

So after spending all day running necessary errands here, I got to Lake City and continued the fight to stay awake. As the afternoon was winding up and sun was winding down, a couple of us were going to go for a 1 mile walk, but I just couldn't stand to think that I'm going to be walking only 1-mile so instead, I got into my new cool weather running clothes and slipped out for my 4-mile run at 8658 ft. I ran up in the canyon with it's walls towering above me and the swift moving creek running beside me. I took it nice and easy, but was surprised at how easy the run was, even in my exhausted state, when surrounded by the beauty of nature. It was truly a running high, however you want to view it :)

Wahoo! 10 Miles Behind Me!

2007-04-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

TODAY, in an effort to burn more fat, I slowed up a bit and ran an 11:07 pace for 10 miles. Yes! Today, I ran (no walking) 10 miles!!!! I am very excited and can't wait for 11 next week!

Also this week I started a running folder. I took time and printed out all the information I will need about the San Francisco Marathon that's July 29 (in case you have forgotten). Yes, I still have months, but that means I have months to collect all kinds of great running information and put it in one place so that night before when I can't sleep, I'll have plenty of reading material to make me laugh and perhaps give me some tips too. So if you have some great information that you have come across, feel free to post a link in the comments.

If you didn't take the time to read a little from the link I posted earlier this week, I'll highlight a few of my favorites:

22: If you take your cell phone with you on the race, people like me will be laughing at you. If you actually answer it, expect more of those sharp and heavy but weakly thrown object to come flying in your direction. (One exception: if you happen to be the race director of the race in which you’re currently running. Otherwise, you’re just an uber-dork who needs to have a cellphoneectomy).

30: Even if you walked and jogged the whole way, sprint the last 100 yards. Why? Cuz it’s fun. And your race picture (assuming somebody takes one) will be much cooler. Then it can become a nice avatar to impress your online friends.

31: If the event is big enough for spectators, wear something with your name on your shirt, in very big letters. It gets you personalized cheers. No kidding. Remember this for your first marathon. Hearing “Go, Jake, you sexy stud!” is way, way better than “you can do it, unknown dude …” (I plan on doing this one!)

and my very favorite one:

the coolest of all possible things, at the start of the race, is to line up at the very start, and then when you hear the gun – sprint forward as fast as you can, and scream “I’m winning!” at the top of your lungs. It’s a classic. People love that.

If you enjoyed these, there are plenty of good and funny tips in the post. Maybe I'll post another of my favorites in the next week or so, but I need to go eat now :)

Understanding the Long Run

2007-04-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

It's taken me a while but I finally understand the long runs a little more. One would think that the longs runs are for building mileage slowly and you should just get out and run them and do the best that you can. If you are slow on one, no big deal, you can always try and go a little faster next time. But, now I know there's actually a lot of science involved in these long runs and proper execution can really make a difference in the end.

The science and advice varies depending on who you listen to, but that's the same with everything in life. The weather men who are standing at the same spot at the same moment tell you two different predictions every day. It's all in what/who you believe will prepare you the best. So the philosophy I will be following comes from McMillian Running University.

McMillian proposes 2 types of long runs. One trains your body to burn more fat, leaving more carbohydrates stored for longer, therefore pushing back "The Wall". It should be run slow and easy. Also, because you are training your body to use more fat instead of carbs, then you should not supply additional carbs during this run. This means, no breakfast in the morning if you're a morning runner and no Gatorade (or other fuel replacement drinks) during your run. You may even want to limit the amount of carbs you have for dinner the night before.

The second type of long run prepares you for marathon day (if there is such a thing as being "prepared"). The long run should start off slower than race pace, but near the half-way point, you should increase to your race pace and continue for the remainder of your run; however, with about 400 meters remaining you should sprint for the finish line! To prepare for this run, you should prepare exactly the way you will prepare for the actual marathon. You should wear the same clothes and shoes. You should eat the way you will eat on race day and the night before. You should drink the same things you will drink during the run. This should be a trial run of your big day.

You should alternate between these two types of runs each of the 8-10 weeks prior to the marathon, but not before as you don't want to overtire your body and the second type of run is definitely going to wear you out, at least it will me :)

Now I have shared with you a little more about these longs runs. I was so confused because all the pace calculators, like the one shown in my links list, show a "marathon training pace" of 11-12.5 min/mile;. I was thinking, if I run that slow every week, how will I ever be able to run the 10:15 pace they predict I can run on race day. But now, I understand.

Laughter & Improvement

2007-04-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

Before I get started, if you're looking for a good laugh and a few helpful hints to prepare for your next race, visit http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/a51615f7545c4b64bc6a284ab539dc7b#focus and scroll down a short way to the first post by JakeKnight. I laughed and laughed. So even if you are looking for helpful hints on running a race, you should read through a few of his "tips".

Ok, now for the update. Over the weekend I ran 8 miles and maintained a 10:15 pace! Go Me! I was very happy with this and the run overall was very good. The night before, I had a streaker from Moe's Southwestern Grill. It was GREAT fuel and will probably become a staple for Friday nights.

Today was my second magic mile and the weather was far from optimal. It was a chilly 50 degrees with a strong wind, but none the less, I dropped 45sec off my time!!! I ran an 8:06. Pinal ran a 7:30 while Irfan managed a 6:49! Everyone cut their times by quite a bit. All these long runs are paying off and we're thrilled.

Time to get some rest so I can keep running...good night!

Easter Beach Run

2007-04-13T05:25:00.000-07:00

Satuday, we participated in the 40th Annual Easter Beach Run. For Pinal and I, it was our first race! Leading up to the race, we were unsure if we should actually do it because we have so much school work to be done, especially since the semester is winding down. None the less, we signed up for the 4 mile race.

A man came over the speaker and told all runners to report to the starting line. Everyone wandered over and began staking out their space at the starting line. We stood around and at last the count started 10-9-8....1 and the crowd was off. It was one of the strangest feelings in the world.

The 3 of us were near the front of the line-up, but at soon as we started moving, we were lost in the sea of people and were being dragged behind the mobs of runners who seemed to be effortlessly flying by. I was running! These people were passing me like I was stopped, tying my shoe. I was a little overwhelmed by the situation.

Even at 0.5 miles, people were still passing me and I was wondering if there was anyone left behind me, there was thankfully. You see, I didn't set out to win, I'm not that ridiculous, but I set out to not be last! As I approached the 1 mile clock, I saw a sub-9 and thought that the clock must be wrong. I surely wasn't running all out, which I would almost have to be to get a sub-9 according to my last magic mile. I continued on, plugging away at my 4 miles. I was unsure of how hard to run, afraid that I would die out like most of the people in front of me surely would (but didn't).

The miles passed and I took water when it was available, mostly to try running and drinking out of a cup like I'll be doing for the marathon. I think half of the water went on me :) I guess I need a little more practice.

At last the race ended and I accomplished both of my goals:
1. I didn't come in last
2. I completed the race in under 38 minutes, well under my 40 min goal.
Pinal and Irfan both ran impressive times that right now, I couldn't touch, but maybe by the end of training I will have improved :)

My new picture was taken near the finish line.

Tired

2007-04-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

I've been ssssooooo tired this week. I've been sleeping the same as usual, but I'm exceptually tired, probably the long runs are starting to wear me down, not to mention I went for a bike ride and met some people for beach volleyball on Sunday.

Oh well, I guess Monday morning I wasn't too tired. I usually run at a nice easy pace so that I'm very comfortable during the run; that way, I know I can finish without walking. On Monday, I decided to try and run at a faster pace for my 3 mile run. It worked! I cut 30+ seconds/mile off my time. I had to focus on finishing, but I did and it was great to know that I can run 3 miles in under 29 minutes! Hopefully tomorrow I can do it again!

This week my running schedule is slightly different because the 3 of us (Irfan, Pinal and myself) are all running in the 40th Annual Easter Beach Run here in Daytona. It's 4 miles out and back on the beach. It will take place on Saturday afternoon. It's going to be hot and I never run in the afternoons, so that will be an extra challenge. Because of this, I've shifted my runs around.

I'm looking into running a half marathon in South Carolina the weekend of May 17. I'll keep you posted on that one. For now, I'm going to get some rest.

No Turning Back

2007-03-31T06:47:00.001-07:00

It's official. My bib number is 3349!!! Pinal is 3350! We're ecstatic about solidifying our commitment! The registration is non-refundable so we're going to be there.

Today was 6 fantastic miles! It was a really great run. Irfan and I started out a little later than we would have liked, but the weather was perfect. I took my fuel belt for a test this morning too and it worked out wonderfully. It was very comfortable and I really liked having some water along the way.

What's a fuel belt? A Fuel Belt is actually a name brand, so maybe hydration belt would have been a better description. Either way, mine has four 8oz bottles on it and a nice pouch to carry my keys and snacks. I took only 1 bottle today, but I drank every bit by mile 5. Next time, I'll carry two bottles.

Next week, 7 miles! I can't wait until it's 10 or maybe 20 :)

The Most Common Question

2007-03-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

It's interesting. Throughout the week I have told several other students that I'm running a marathon. Most are very encouraging, but it's always followed with one question. What's the farthest you have ever run before? 3.3 Miles! That's right, before last week that's the farthest I had ran. However, last Wednesday I ran 4 miles, as I did today, and on Saturday I completed 5 miles. This weekend it will be 6! So every week I'll be running farther than I ever have before. So keep that in mind while you are reading if you are saying to yourself that you could never run that far. Your mindset is what is standing in the way! Start with walking a few minutes every day and then build-up, lots of other people have.

On my run today, I was thinking about all the miles ahead of me, and I'm excited to think about the different places I will be during my training: Florida (obviously), Colorado, Alabama and probably Maryland too! I'll be traversing miles I've only breezed by in a car. By running these miles, I'll be able to see the beauty in the trees, the reflections in the water and all of nature's beauty I may have only glanced at before. This makes me very excited and I'm looking forward to each new run. And at the end is a beautiful reward, the ultimate experience, running the Golden Gate Bridge and accomplishing a personal goal.

May good fortune be with each of you as you pursue your own dreams and goals.

Magic Mile

2007-03-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

If you've checked out the training schedule on the right hand side, then you'll notice Monday I was suppose to run 3*. The * denotes a Magic Mile. I learned about magic miles from Jeff Galloway's training site. You start with a 1 mile warm up jog and then you run as hard as you can for 1 mile where you time yourself. By the end of the mile you should be so tired you couldn't possibly run another 100 yards at that pace. That mile is considered the magic mile. After completing this you run the remaining of your mileage for the day.

Why run magic miles? There is a formula used that predicts your marathon time based on your magic mile time.

Monday was my first one and it's the first time I've ran like that since maybe high school. My time was 8:54. Not the best, but I've left lots of room for improvement. I would like to think that over the course of training I can get that down to around 8:00. For now, my predicted finish time is 5hr 3min! That in itself is exciting for me.

If you want to look at other times, you can see the link "Magic Mile".

Marathon Training

2007-03-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

MK out for a run...really sums of my life right now. I'm running 4 days a week to train for the San Francisco Marathon. I have just completed my first official week of training. Yeah! Go Me!

For those of you who know me well, you know I have never been a runner. I've always wanted to be though, so I'm taking time to become one and hopefully a decent one over the next several months. If I'm not any good, that's fine; my goal is just to finish the race and if you are familiar with S.F. then you know I have chosen a challenging course.

Why S.F.? Well, I was going to wait and start training in the summer with Jeff Galloway's "Team in Training" but I couldn't wait. I wanted to get started now. S.F. worked out as the only big marathon that fit my training schedule.

How did I determine my schedule? A few weeks ago I went to Barnes & Noble and bought a book; it's the #1 recommened marathon training book on both Amazon and B&N. The book, The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer, by David Whitsett. It contains a 16 week schedule. So far I think it was a great choice; the content seems to be all encompassing and I think I can prepare myself well to complete my first marathon. I say first, because hopefully my experience will be so fantastic that I'll want to do a second and third and....

To join me on my personal adventure to achieve a goal I've always wanted is Irfan and Pinal. Most of you know Irfan is my fiance and some of you know Pinal, my fantastic homework buddy! She's much more than that, but grad school is where we met. She's now one of my marathoning buddies. The 3 of us provide lots of support for each other.

Hopefully you too will join me and support me on my journey to the finish line on July 29 in San Francisco!