IRONMAN CANADA - AUGUST 29.2010 - PENTICTON, BC

With your help (and my craziness) we raised $1,836.00 for Snowdrop Foundation!!!! Thank you soooooooo much!!!

Below is my race story:

IF I say I was excited about doing Ironman Canada, I would be lying. I completed my first ironman back in November 2009 and doing that was AMAZING. I was excited for that race for 2 years...count them...2....one leading up to signing up in 2008, after going there in 2007 to cheer on my friends....two the year leading up to the race. Excited....for two years about November 7, 2009.

My friends, did IM Couer d'Alene in June 2009....and then in August, well....IM Canada was open online....and one.by.one...registration.after.registration....I succumbed to peer pressure and signed up for Ironman Canada...BEFORE I ever did Ironman Florida. Something, I told myself I would not do....but everyone was signing up...so how could I possibly not? ...and hence began my double Ironman pursuit. One at a time....but two nonetheless.

I won't make this about Ironman Florida...but let's just say that the Ironman Canada course is "less flat" than the Ironman Florida course.

Josh and I flew into Vancouver on Thursday evening...thinking that we were arriving at 845PM we thought, no prob...about 5 hours later we should be arriving in Penticton and sleeping in our condo....what we didn't take into consideration were the following:

1) Continental's welcoming into Canada by making us wait for at least 1 hour for our luggage.
2) rain...rain...and more rain...
3) unlit highways, mountain passes, and unreflected roads
4) CONSTRUCTION!

So....somewhere between "Chilliwack" and Hope...we stopped for Tim Horton's dinner of wraps and sandwiches and Tim Bits - - - we proceeded along the unlit, unreflected, dark, cold, un receptioned Canadian highway to the little town of Merritt....where we pretended to be truckers and pulled off the road at circa 2am Canada Pacific time (that's 4am Houston time folks)....for a four hour nap, before we headed the rest of the way to Penticton...coming in through, Kelowna, Peachland, and Summerland...

We met our friends at the condos and headed to Ironman Village for a little registration and shopping...bad juju.
****I purchased a sleeveless IM Canada jersey (longish so I don't get a lower back tan) - an Ironman Canada hat and a Visor :) woooo....(refer to this section later)*****

We then had lunch at the recommended Dream Cafe and followed that with a trip to Tri Bike Transport (TBT) to give our bikes a little test ride. or so I thought. I get my bike...and yes...yes...that is definitely a flat...a tubular flat...curse curse!. I have a flat. I immediately go into panic mode. the boys at TBT direct me to "The Bike Barn"(TBB) where I continue my hyperventilation exercise and panic mode....once there...I don't know why...I thought that I would give them my wheel with a flat, and minutes later they would return it with a new tire and I would be ready to go...WRONG.....I forgot that the wonderful tubulars have to a) be stretched, and b) be glued!!!!!!!! OVERNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FREAK OUT MODE TIMES 9 BIZZILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bruce and Evan (my new best friends at TBB) assured me that all was going to be fine, that the tire would be ready by the time I got there in the morning .... no bike ride that afternoon for me...instead...I proceeded to worry about my wheel and tire for all night....

Shellie and I hit up the town in search of a grocery store...which we finally found :) and shopped for our dinner ingredients...Lisa had similar Continental problems....
We had a delish Hali-BUTT dinner and yummy cobbler for dessert. (ps. this area of BC is like fruit heaven)

The next morning, we headed to get my tire and a swim...CRISIS AVERTED FOLKS>...my tire was great!! woooooooo! We turned in our bikes, swam in Okanagan Lake (what a beaut) and then headed to get lunch. YUM! OH and we saw Sister Madonna! She is the 80 year old nun who was doing her 19th ironman CANADA...she has finished way more than that (she unfortunately did not finish the race, but she put on her volunteer attire and did that instead...wow. I would be sulking and in bed). We then prepared our transition bags and headed back to IM village to turn in our stuff followed by a Drive of the run/bike course. we needed to know what we were in for....gulp.

the bike course looked...well...ridiculously challenging...I was really nervous about the downhills after that drive. We headed back to the condo for our pre-race dinner. And then we were in bed by 9. goodnight.

Race morning + swim:

we were kindly dropped off by our chef and her sherpa at transition...we got body marked and then we lost everyone, josh and I headed to the swim start together. good luck good luck...Oh Canada, and then we were starting right next to each other! Josh took off and I tried to stay calm for my swim. stroke after stroke...I got "caressed" by other swimmers. I followed the buoys one by one...around one house boat...got kicked in the left eye....water in the google...stopped to fix it....around the next house boat and now I am on the home stretch (which is longer than the first stretch) I was swimming in a cluster of yellow caps (mine was red) and then some %%^)(*YIUHAG%#%$ dude in a yellow cap decides that kicking hard is the best way to get to the shore...while doing so, he kicked my right goggle, knocked it off and water came flooding in, I stopped, fixed it, cursed at him, let him go...and proceeded on my merry way. away from stupid men that waste their legs on the swim. oh and I have the eye bruises to prove all this. I arrived at the shore....thinking that I swam like a 1:20 swim...nope....59.27 yeyay!!!!

into t1 I go to see Lisa and Ingrid, who help me get ready for the bike.

off I go....

bike:

leaving penticton...there were a few hills that were challenging. we rode though orchards and vineyards...and as we approached Osoyoos I knew Richter pass was near...Josh passed me between Penticton and OK falls...and here this whole time I was thinking that he was ahead of me....yes...I beat him out of the water. I was the first girl from texas to be out of the water :) go meat! anyway....I decided that I would stop at the aid station before richter pass to take off my arm warmers and use the ladies (port-o-potty) - - - as I arrive to aid station...I noticed something....a FLAT...on my front wheel...(not the one that had gone flat before...the other one) ENTER FREAK out #2 simultaneous with CROCODILE tears. Enter jerk official who proceeded to tell me that the bike SAG was not near, they were held up in traffic, and who told me that if anyone helped me I would be disqualified. CRY CRY CRY CRY = energy wasted energy wasted energy wasted. I kept trying to change my tire and thinking about all the (refer to above) ironman gear I had purchased that I would a) have to return or b) give as xmas presents and never be able to wear. I was so scared that because of something that was out of mycontrol I would not be able to complete this race. And that is when I realized that I really did care about doing this ironman and that I was happy to be there...and that I wanted more than anything to be able to complete it.

A nice competitor helped me (this is allowed) put the tire on my wheel and finally I was able to keep going ... forever later...but I was able to keep going...so I charged on up Richter pass ... followed by the 7 w(read b)itches....which seemed more like 20...these were some tough shorter climbs one after the other....until you finally descended into the town of Keremeos....where you would think that it would be nice, flat, and calm....no....it was freezing (enter arm warmers again) and windy...I passed by some signs that said "windy valley" man were they right when they named that...there was then an out and back where I saw Nicki and Shellie...and where I started to get light headed....I briefly stopped for a half banana and some gatorade...I was not about to become a statistic...only a ride to/from Belin left (with an nasty climb) at mile 90 .... I was there...in the spitting rain...I climbed the 3 miles to yellow lake...crowds all around...cheering me up the hill....it was amazing....I charged up the mountain as if there was gold on top of it...I climbed well and got to the top ... no guts no glory...and my new tire was holding up...all I had left was the descent (eek) and the ride into Penticton. The descent (where Tessy clocked at 45mph....was scary...but I took it calmly and went down at a slow 34.5 mph....I even passed a person :) The rest of the ride into Penticton was smooth but windy....apparently a hurricane was coming through just as I was finishing the bike...but hey key point here is "I was finishing the bike" and from now on....if I didn't complete this IM it would be for things I could control...but that was not my mental game at this point, I was excited to be off the bike and on track to a 4x10K + 2K run.

run:

lisa warmed my feet before the running shoes came on...I had frozen toecicles. I headed out for my run...I ran the entire 10K...the first one...then started getting light headed again...took my gu....started eating some oranges at aid stations....run walked...through mile 8 or 9....then Nicki came along :) what a blessing!!!!!!!!! she and I stuck together the rest of the way into Okanagan falls... helping each other up the hills, down the hills and thorugh the aid stations....we just ran, walked, and talked :) we made the turn around and decided that we were on pace for a great run...we just had to keep it up. so we did...we walked up the hills and down them (if they were steep) and then before we knew it....we had a 10K left...that's 2 loops of Memorial park!! off we went...cheered on by spectators....we ran the rest of the way into town...the last mile was forever long...but we knew we were there...and we were about to finish....and Finish we did...in 14:40 hours....Nicki and I crossed the finish line. a 2 time and first time ironman :)

things I learned:
sometimes you don't know how much you value something until you realize that it can quickly be taken away
my flat before richter ended up being a blessing in disguise...because Nicki and I would not have been running together if I had not had that flat.
this stuff is much funner to do with friends
I am ready to do another.....after I get married
I am crazy
I love BC wine
I feed off this stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ironman Two Timer :)


Thanks for your support!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS....after the race...we toured all the wineries on the bike course....haha!!

My China Chronicles Vol I

This is totally old, but I wanted to put it in here. Its from my trip to China back in June...

Saturday or is it Sunday June 5th or 6th - not really sure what day it is...or more like...what day am I in? I think its Sunday morning for me mentally, but Sunday night for me physically...since its dark out. 8:24AM Houston Time - 9:24PM Beijing Time

For starters...flying coach should be PROHIBITED. I flew out of Houston very early on Saturday (Houston Time) at 6:45AM to head west to San Francisco. I've never flown first class before, so it was pretty cool, to board first and get the all star treatment (water and OJ) while everyone else was boarding. Let's see...what did I do...I started reading my book "The Same Kind of Different As Me" and then they were playing "Valentine's Day" so I watched that for the second time ever, it was pretty entertaining. What was not entertaining, was the United Airlines Flight Attendant that kept refilling my GLASS glass with water....needless to say I was hydrated and I missed a few minutes of "Valentine's Day" due to this fact.

In San Fran, we visited the presidents lounge or whatever they call it, where we waited for hours (3), fortunately there were drink coupons and I enjoyed a bloody mary and a very yummy beer which I will have to seek out it Houston called Anchor Summer Ale. We boarded the plane and ... this is the reason why people should not fly for longer than 5 hours on coach. I had my own "Pod" if you will. It was a seat/recliner that extended out to a bed when it was fully reclined. I had a +24 inch screen in front of me where I had my choice of movies to watch, along with music and tv shows and games a three course meal, any type of drink you could think of, and just comfort for the next 11+ hours of flight from San Fran to Beijing.

My meal on board consisted of nuts (pre-meal) with spicy tomato juice, a salad, a cold cuts platter (salami and prosciutto),and braised beef with peppercorn sauce (that came with some spinach and au gratin potatoes that went uneaten), followed by a not so good tiramisu, and quite a few mini glasses of cabernet (how dare they not offer a MALBEC?!). I watched "Dear John" TEAR JERKER!! and "Edge of Darkeness" with Mel Gibson. I read before going to "bed" (they even had a little book light for when you reclined your seat into a bed) and then it was lights out at 7:30PM Houston time. I was awakened at around 1AM for a choice of chicken kabobs or fruit and yogurt...guess which one I chose...and then we landed.

The airport here is MASSIVE and the ceiling looks like the outside of the birds nest that was built for the Olympics, according to Bi, our driver, it was fixed up for the Olympics and man did they do a good job....but they forgot a KEY part...AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Imagine an April post run...yea. it was hot in there. BUT I was lucky, they let me in the country!!! Wooooooo!!!

We got driven to the airport and here are a few things I notes:
1) if I were to drive myself around here...I'd still be wondering where to go 10 hours later...some signs are written in English, but otherwise it is all in Mandarin, so unless you know it, or have a really photographic memory,...you'd be lost!
2) there are Argentine soccer fans in Beijing, I spotted the first Argentine soccer jersey here today, not 1 hour after arrival. Go Argentina!
3) MOTORIZED bikes! Those certainly would come in handy in Leakey!
4) A lot of the taller buildings here have Chinese characters kind of perched up on top of them. But I have no idea what they say! I keep imagining that they say Luxury condo's for sale or Rent here, or some company's name...but it has no logo. It really is very strange to look at places and not know what they are or what their purpose is. Is this what it is like to be illiterate? it is frustrating!
5) just when you think that you are the most secluded from anything you know or are accustomed to...you turn the tv on and you see someone you know...not the typical movie star, but actually someone you know, in the flesh, is on TV. REALLY! So I am flipping the channels to see what the heck I am going to watch when I am here...and there right on my flat screen, is Jane Figuereido, UH Diving and Russian National Team coach, coaching her girls at the Fina Diving World Cup, on my Marriott Philips Flat Screen. Welcome to Beijing. Hello Jane!

The hotel is BEAUTIFUL....See pictures attached. They have some beautiful art and decorations and my room is by far the nicest room I have ever stayed in. the wall between the bathroom and the rest of the room is made of glass and it has a screen you can put down, but I can literally take a bath and watch a movie and see out my window :) Nice!

Last but not least on this Sunday evening/morning...dinner....so they say that Pizza was a Chinese invention...so why not kick it off right....there was no strange Chinese delicacies for dinner tonight, instead, Pizza Margherita and wine....aaah!

I am signing off for today and hope that my friends have had a great weekend and a great run - I have been thinking of ya'll a lot!!!

More to come as my time here expands....

Motivated

It has been a while since I wrote anything...so lets see....first and foremost...
I have finally gotten excited about tri season. Let me tell you, it is about freakin time. I have been draggin myself to workouts for the past 3 months and it may be a combination of

1) how awesome my running is coming along
2) jt's awesome performance @ IMNO 70.3
3) a tri gone du @ lonestar this weekend

it's probably a combo of all of them.
1) Running - i dont know how but all of a sudden, I am a fast runner. how/when/where was I when this happened?! NOT CARING! that's how it happened. It seems like the less I care the better I do. I've been running with the group for over a year now and last summer I struggled to keep up ---- between crazy stomach issues and the intensive heat, i was always straggling behind....but as the weather got colder, somehow, I got faster...and now here I am...I PRd in the Houston half marathon (i know athlinks says otherwise, but the Austin time was messed up (1:45) and the Houston half (the october one) wasnt a half, it was a 20K. So my true 1/2 marathon PR was this year 1:47:53 ---- that was broken just two Saturdays ago when I went for a long run with JR and RP that came out to be 13.2 miles in a time of 1:47:53...which means it was longer than 13.1 miles ---- hence a PR. Go Meat! Also, i ran the Rodeo Run 10K earlier in Feb....2 minutes and 11 seconds faster than my previous 10K PR...new PR = 45.53. THEN...see section 3 below.

2) JT's 70.3 --- this girl is tough as nails. She has come so far and gotten so much faster! She has been so dedicated to her goals and it has been so amazing watching her achieve them. It is trully inspiring. She has defintely had a part in motivating me. see june's excellent adventures.

3) Lonestar Olympic Tri? - no...Du. The wind was so strong in Galveston that it resulted in the tri transformation into a du. i never saw the whitecaps in Offat's bayou, because I was making sure my stuff didnt blow away, but i heard they were bad. Good for the officials for calling the swim...although they did kill my chances in my best event and who knows...perhaps i would have placed higher in my age group!? i did the 40K bike in 1:18 @ 19 mph pretty good for this slow cyclist. and here refer to 1) above.... my 10K was exactly my PR 45.53....but I did 25 miles before it....so wow! I totally impressed myself. 100% shocked at my ability to run at the end of a tri. I was not haunted by stomach issues and i think that i had a lot of subconcious confidence that led me to just keep going and have an amazing run...that resulted in 5th place in my age group. I am so happy with that!

So anyways, it is time to get my act in gear...summer is here and as busy as it is going to be, I need to get in hills and long rides if I expect the end of the season to be as great as the beginning. Oh. one more thing. I committed (verbally and writtenly -- haha that is not a word) to doing California International marathon....fun stuff.

Welcome Home

After the holidays, i took down my Christmas wreath and wanted to do something new. Didn't quite know what to do, so my branchy wreath sat on its hook naked. Lately I have been reading http://www.centsationalgirl.com/ and have been inspired to do stuff to my house, and well also i got sick of getting home to my naked wreath door. I was looking to do something simple, but classic that totally says ...this is my home... I think i accomplished it. Some may think its really plain, but let some think whatever they want, because i love it. I went to Michaels and searched and searched...first for ribbon, then for satin flowers...is ribbon to little? do satin flowers look tacky? i searched and searched...i found this little bundles of lilac and violet hydrangeas for $1! so i got those and also some great sage green wired ribbon. Did i use those to creat my look? no. But i got them anyway for when I want a change. I bought two sets of these little apples with a wirey stem that worked great with the branches of my wreath. I also purchased some golden wired ribbon...didnt know how i would use it...to wrap around parts of the wreath perhaps? anyways... got home and started playing around. I got the apples placed just how i wanted them...now for the ribbon, i knew i wanted to incorporate the golden color, so .... it looked like crap wrapped on the wreath, so i looked elsewhere...can i hang the wreath from the ribbon?! yes! great idea, but wasnt looking how i wanted it to. so ...i wrapped my brass hook with the golden ribbon and guess what...it looks fantastic, at least i think so, and since i am the one that lives here....then the client is pleased. take a look for yourself!!

A Thousand Splendid Suns...in review

I picked up this book because I so much enjoyed reading The Kite Runner (TKR) by Khaled Hosseini. Same author different book, both New York Times bestsellers. I wrote briefly about the Kite Runner in a previous post, I took a breather from the Afghan culture and read The Time Traveler's Wife, and I am so glad I did. A Thousand Spendid Suns (TSS) and TKR are both set in Afghanistan. In TKR they move to the US and the story is told from a young boy's perspective ---he becomes a man throughout the book --- I absolutely loved the book although it did have some really brutal scenes.

TKR's brutal scenes are an afternoon tea compared to the scenes described in TSS. TSS is the story of two women in Afghanistan and the way they come into each other's lives. These books are marvelously written. So much so, that I had flashbacks of TKR during some occasions of TSS and i had such vivid pictures that I had to stop and think if I had really seen it on tv or a movie .... but no certainly it was from earlier scenes depicted by Hosseini. The book is engulfing in so many ways. You fall in love with these women, so young, so vulnerable, yet so brave. The book goes into much of the Afghan history, culture, and way of life and it is absolutely intriguing, in sad ways more than anything, but definitely intriguing. How can these people survive all these hardships? They have suffered for so many years, they dont know what life without war is like.

This book really made me appreciate what I have and the way I was brought up, and most of all the culture into which I was born. Being a woman, and reading this book is heart breaking. I literally wanted to jump into the book and knock the life out of this man for doing what he did to them. How can men have so much disrespect for a woman. a wife. a daughter. how can a father not want "his" daughter because she is not a boy?

Anyway, just wanted to spill some of my thoughts about the book without giving too much away - I highly recommend this book, but be prepared to as Joey from Friends would put it "put the book in the freezer" ---- if you have read the book or if you read it, give me a shout when you are done, I would love to hear your thoughts regarding it.

Bookin' It!

How dorky is the title of my post!!
So I have been really consumed by reading. I really have this list of books that i have read and I think they are ALL good. The list includes:

The Twilight Series ---- everyone else was doing it, but I really enjoyed the books.

Marley and Me ----- A total teer jerker, but so well written, and really just as much a good laugh as a sobber.

The Posionwood Bible ----- LOVED IT. HArd to get into, but kept turning pages based on CB's recommendation. There was a point, where i literally couldnt stop reading. I really enjoyed this book.

The Glass Castle ---- RIDICULOUSLY GOOD --- Thanks JB

The Emperor's Children ---- EXCELLENT ---- Thanks CB

The Lovely Bones --- page turner. Thanks LW.

Eat, Pray, Love ---- I absolutely related to her story!

The Kite Runner ---- absolutely amazing book, it really touched me. Such a great story, really well written, and opened my eyes about the Afghan culture and the country. It is hard to swallow some of the scences that the book paints, but I think they add so much to the story and are a key part in making the book as impactful (is that a word?!) as it is.

The Time Traveler's Wife --- picked this up because my new manager told me it was one of her favorite books. It was tough to follow at the beginning, but once you get the hang of how the book works, it is amazing. It caused me to reflect on JR and my relationship. And really i felt a lot of connections between the character's relationship and my relationship. Needless to say, i really enjoyed the book and would highly recommended it.

I have now started reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is written by the author or The Kite Runner. I must say that is my favorite book of 2009. I REALLY loved it, and have heard great things about A Thousand Splendid Suns. I am on Chapter 4, but will hopefully be writing about it on the blog. Or not about the book, but what I think as the pages turn.

Where have I been?!

...that's a question you might be asking yourself. So I am here to tell you. Last you heard from me, unless you see me regularly, I had finished my first ironman. Since then, quite a bit has happened....i.e. the new job, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, the big chill. What else?! Probably forgetting quite a few things, but those really are the bigs.

Thangsgiving was wonderful. I went with JR to South Carolina and had a great time. I met the rest of his family and I must say that I absolutely love them. They were very welcoming, and I really felt "at home" with everyone. I can't wait to go back.

On a Christmas note, I am so excited that I did all my Christmas shopping, well, I shouldn't say all, but most of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. I hardly dealt with crowds, but I probably did spend more money than originally intended. Oh well, the best part is seeing my loved ones open their presents, which they appear to have really loved. In particular my mom. I just love giving presents!!! My sister was in town for Christmas, and I realized that I had not seen her since LAST Christmas. That is just way too long. I guess that Ironman training really did take away the opportunities to go off to New York on any random weekend. Runs and Bikes were number one priorities over trips. This year, I definitely need to take some time to head up there to see her. When, i have no idea, since i have reduced vacation at the new j-o-b. I miss my 5 weeks of vacay. Not the only thing i miss btw.

The day after Christmas i ran with my friend @ http://www.stridesacrosstexas.org/. That was so amazing. AND on January 1st, KK finished 482 miles running across Texas in effort to raise funds for pediatric cancer. You can see his website at http://www.snowdropfoundation.org/ ---- I raised money for his organization through my Ironman, and was able to raise over $2K --- so thanks to everyone who donated!!

Now I am getting ready for the Houston Half marathon. That is coming up on Sunday. It should be great! JR is running the full and looking to BQ (Boston Qualify) --- so i will be in full support mode once i cross the finish line.

I am hoping to be a little more frequent with my posts. Especially ramping up with training for Ironman Canada.