My First Race Report - Better Late Than Never, Right?

I am a bad bad blogger! In fact, I should probably be shamed from the blogger community - I am sure Shell would agree. She's even given up on nagging me to post something to my blog - she hasn't done that in MONTHS... is that like when you keep turning down invitations to freinds' activities and then they just stop inviting you? Oh well... even if my blogger friends give up on me, I'm going to try to keep blogging stuff cause I am going to make a scrapbook of all of it one of these days and I guarantee I won't remember all the juicey details without having it documented somewhere. :)

Anyway, after all the months of training and working so hard, race day finally came and I was up and at 'em EARLY in the am. After packing and repacking my bag a bazillion times the night before to make sure i had everything, we headed out to Chester Frost.

This is me and Kurt after picking up my timing chip and hitting the body marking station. After all those years as a kid of being told not to write on yourself, who knew it would become cool to let people use Sharpies on you?!

And here is all my stuff set up in transition. I didn't have hardly anything on my towel, lol, cause I didn't have much to change since I am not into all the fancy schmancy gear at this point. Most of the other athletes have way more stuff out there, and it's set up in specific order that you're planning to use it so it'll be that much faster to just grab and go each time you're in transition.

Once all my stuff was set up, I sat around wondering what the heck to do next. Some people didn't put their wetsuits on until the last minute, but with at least 30 minutes before my wave start, I decided to go ahead and slide into mine just so that I'd have something to focus on besides my nerves! That took all of about 3 minutes, so then I just stared off at the water, LOL, and finally decided to go down and get acclimated in the water a bit before the horn went off. I was SO NERVOUS, but amazingly enough, as soon as I heard the sound and started swimming, I felt calm and focused and just put my head down and went.

These are not the most flattering pictures, I know, LOL, but what can I say! It's like saying "Dang she looks rough" about a picture of a woman who just gave birth, lol. It is what it is, folks - there I am in all that black neoprene chubby glory :) Anyway, I came out of the swim with several people still behind me - and I was so freaking excited! It was shortlived however, because there was quite a hike up a big hill to get back to transition, and since I was in no shape to run it, they all quickly overtook me. My wetsuit is a littel too big, since I have to go with a man's suit, so it was easy to peel off and toss on the ground by my bag. I put on my socks and shoes, quickly grabbed my hemet & sunglasses and took off with my bike. My husband and oldest daughter Andria were there right outside transition shearing me on and taking some pictures and it was so awesome to see them there!

The bike was a little scary for me, as right out of transition is a big hill, and man you can really pick up some speed going down it! I get all paranoid of going to fast and wrecking, considering I'm still fairly new at cycling. But I just decided to ride the best I could, including if that meant riding the brakes, LOL! As I crossed out over the main road, I look up and see a silver Honda CRV, and I thought - haha wouldn't that be funny if that was my bff Rena - and then I looked up and it WAS HER! She was headed into the park to cheer for me for a little while. I was so excited I took one hand off the handlebars to wave to her and almost wrecked! LOL! I rode over the rolling hills ok, but the course has a couple of mean wicked hills... and I had to walk those. The comforting thing was that I wasn't the only one. There was a chick in front of me, my rabbit if you will, that I could almost pass on the rolling hills and flat parts, but when we'd both have to walk up the hills, she'd be off again on the downhill... I bet she didn't ride her brakes! Everytime I'd get real close enough to catch her, BAM there's another hill, lol... Just wasn't meant to be. Anyway, I was really excited because I did manage to ride the hill back up to T2, and not everyone did that. I reracked by trusty steed, grabbed my visor, and off I went for the run, feeling on top of the world, because I managed to actually jog out of transition like a rock star! Only to realize that I went out the wrong way, dang it! So I had to go back in, which turned out to be a good thing cause I forgot to grab my race number belt. Got my head screwed back on right and headed out on the run. I jogged for a little while until I was out of sight of most of the onlookers, and had to walk. There were no delusions about being able to run that 5K, and actually there was alot of walking involved. I tried to save the running for when there was a crowd of people, LOL!!!! Ya ain't got nothin' if ya ain't got pride, LOL!!! I was doing ok until a little over half' way through, and I was hurting so bad! I've never been so exhausted and just 100% completely physically and emotionally spent! My 16 year old Bailey was manning the last water stop, and she was ready to run the last mile in with me and keep me going... "Get it moving Mom, C'Mon Mom you can do it, Let's GO Mom!" etc... and I was just in tears from the exhaustion - back was hurting and I just had nothing left. But the sound of her voice convinced me I couldn't stop... had to keep going to get to the finish line just so I could shut her up, LOL!!!! Just Kidding... sort of.... she really saved

me!

So here we are rounding the last curve before the finish line, and there I am jogging across the mat. WOOT WOOOT I finished! I did it I did it!!! My official time was 2:18:02 and I was SO THRILLED! I even won the Athena division... although I have to confess that it's because I had no competition, LOL! But that's ok - it sure was great for the ego boost! Here is my moment of podium pride!

Anyway, I can't even describe to you what an impact this race had on me... I did something I never ever thought I could do, and I learned that I could push through anything with God leading me!

Stay tuned, cause I've done two more races since then, although I'll give your eyeballs a rest before posting aout those, LOL!

Duathlon = Near Death Experience

Ok, I know it's been awhile since I've made a blog entry, but really, honestly, I do have a good excuse. I mean, once I catch you up on the last few weeks, you'll wonder how I even manage to stay vertical!

So I think I've mentioned before that I joined the Chattanooga Triathlon Club to learn about the sport and to be able to train with experienced triathletes in preparation for my first race, which, incidentally is only two weeks from tomorrow. They do alot of mock races, which is great because it helps to ease some of the fears of the unknown. And a few weeks ago, one of the training events was a bike/run/bike duathlon. The course was 10 mile bike loop, 3.7 mile run loop, and then the 10 mile bike loop again, and I have to say it was a beautiful day! Nice, sunny, and greenery starting to bloom everywhere... Perfect day to be inaugurated into the world of multisport. And let me just say that Ken, the president of the CTriC, stayed back and ran the entire race course with me to help put me at ease... I was really impressed by that! So anyway, we start out on the first bike loop, and Ken stopped to talk to someone but told me to go on ahead that he would catch up. So I do. And I must admit, I was feeling pretty proud of myself, because even though I was riding a less-than-ideal mountain bike, I was RIDING it, and the breeze was blowing across my face, and I was really pedaling at a steady decent pace. It was so freaking peaceful and awesome! Right up... until... I hear "Hey - Shelleyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!" Apparently I made a wrong turn, and Ken had to chase me down to get me back on track. LOL! Yeah, it was great. So we get back on course, and we ride up and down the little baby hills, and I'm feeling pretty good, even though all of the experienced athletes were leaving us in the dust, but that was ok, because at least I wasn't alone. And I was learning about how to shift the gears on my bike, which is a must here in TN - there isn't a flat spot in this entire state. Here a hill, there a hill, everywhere a hill hill... Anyway, we get about a half a mile from the turn around point on the first bike loop, which is up this rotten big old hill, and my head started spinning, mouth started watering, guts started wrenching, and I had to stop for a minute before I dropped. Sat down on the ground, drank some water, and slowly I started coming back to reality. Apparently I got too hot and heart rate too high too fast, but quickly recovered. So we decided to turn around instead of trying to push me the last 1/2 mile up the steepest part of the hill, which made it a 9 mile loop for me instead of 10. But that's ok. So we get back to the transition point, and rack our bikes (yeah like I know what I'm doing at this point, LOL) and we take off on the "run". Just can't tell you how absolutely GORGEOUS it was - there I was feeling all accomplished with just having completed my very first road ride, and now I'm headed out on a run with real athletes! Woo Hoo I am just livin' large for sure, because it was even ok to walk run walk run as needed, and Ken was totally encouraging the whole time... right up until the reality of having children comes crashing down on me... or should I say leaking out of me. UG can you imagine how embarassing it is to see a little dark wet spot growing in the front of my grey shorts, expanding each time my foot pounds down on the pavement? Then I suddenly realized that it would have been better to be raining, LOL... at least there would be camoflauge! Instead, I'd run a few seconds to get a short-but-decent distance ahead of Ken, with the evidence ever expanding, and then walk to stave off the all-out flood until Ken got close, end then off I'd go again. This was the vicious cycle for at least half the run. Finally, the hot sun started proving beneficial after all, as the heat helped to evaporate all the moisture, sweat or otherwise LOL! And while I walked at least half the total distance, we pulled back into transition, mounted the bikes, and headed back out for the second installment of the cycling loop. All in all, I did 18 miles on the bike, and 3.7 miles on foot, and even though I came in nearly an hour behind of everyone else, I felt pretty dang accomplished! In the picture below, Ken is the big guy second from the left, standing in between the little short blonde lady and me.

I must say, for several days after the duathlon, I really felt like I'd been hit by a train! Physically exhausted and hurt in places I didn't even know I had, LOL! And as the clock counts down till raceday, I ponder all the things I'm thankful for. Like a great group of people to train with and learn from, the physical ability to be able to even attempt this stuff, and for my race suit to have black bottoms to camoflauge any leakage that may sneak up on me during the race :)

It pays to Blog!

It's good to blog, to share your stories and have a place to archive your moments.... and whoever said blogging was "wasting time" on the internet just doesn't know what the heck they're talking about! It definitely pays to spend a little time on the net visiting your friends' blogs! THis is what I won by visiting and commenting on my friend Shell's blog, and I was randomly picked to win stuff she got from Plaid paints!

Here's a list of the stuff I got:

7 acrylic paints
2 balsa wood shapes and boxes
14 fabric paints
1 screen print paint
1 screen print stencil
4 glass paints
1 glass bottle
1 glass bowl
1 pack foam tape
2 iron on transfers
1 green card kit
1 journal square notebook
1 spiral notebook with pen and post-it notes
1 journal
1 craft magazine
2 idea books
beads and rhinestones
1 "Slice" Making Memories apron
1 "Plaid" drawstring tote

I don't know how she got it all in that box, LOL!!!! But Shell, thank you so much for the goodies!!! I'm going to have the most fun EVER playing with these new toys!

I've Been Derailed!

Ug - I think I am drowning in mucus! Yeah that's right, I just jumped right out front with the TMI, didn't I? Well, there is just no nice way to describe what I've been through this last week. Training was going so well - I was up to running 27 out of 35 minutes, and I got the bike tuned up, and I was just feeling fantastic! Well, naturally, as it always does just when you think you are about to crank it up and get ahead, I got punched right in the face by the Snot Monster. I've had a sinus infection for the last week, which finally landed me at the urgent care clinic on Sunday, because my lymph nodes went haywire and my neck looked like that of a very beefy Olympic wrestler. Soooo not pretty! So I got a steroid shot in the bootay, some antibiotics, Mucinex D, and cough syrup with Codeine, and am hoping to high heaven that some part of that cocktail will be able to slay the Snot Monster! I have missed a week of training, which is bad news since there is only just over 6 weeks before Race Day!

Fear the She-Beest!

So I went today to the bike shop to take Bailey's bike to get a tune-up and cleaned up to make it work for the race, cause I just want to be sure I live through this first triathlon before I plunk downa bunch of money for a new road bike. And I thought - well, I better buy my helmet, cause I'm going to need one of those, LOL! First, let me just back up a second and say that the guys down at Owen Cyclery in Hixson, TN, are just top notch! They didn't try to talk me into the $190 helmet - they were very straight forward and honest, and came right out and told me that the $49 helmet passes the same safety ratings as those high-dollar ones, and the differences come in just that tad bit improved aerodynamics and teensy bit lighter weight. So since, at this point I am more concerned with avoiding a skull fracture than I am with shaving 1/2 an ounce off the weight of my head (which according to the little blonde kid in Jerry Macguire weighs 8 pounds), I got this way cool pink one! AND... Kurt thought I should get some bike gloves, and the guy did say that the padding in the gloves would make it easier to grip the handle bars and be more comfy on the paws... so we were looking at different ones, and there were foam pads and gel pads and no pads nad all these different things... and I looked and tried on and just couldn't decide... until I saw these puppies... I just KNEW I had to have them because they had "SHE-BEEST" on them, LOL!!! They weren't the cheapest pair, but I absolutely was not leaving the store with out my BEEST gear :) Cause I am SHE-BEEST hear me ROAR!!! :)

And the even most bodaciously exciting news of all is that I think I am actually going to be able to afford a real bike in the very near future! Thought for sure I'd have to spend thousands of dollars, but I can really get one for under $700!!!! I am so freaking excited I can't hardly stand myself, cause... guess what?! They even have LAYAWAY!!!!

WOOOOP WOOOOOP!

Letting It All Hang Out

Well, hello my blog readers... all three of you, LOL! It's been a couple of weeks since I've updated you guys about my training, and it's really too bad too, cause I really had some hilariously witty posts mulling around in my mind, but unfortunately those moments will be forever lost in the cobwebs of my memory, LOL! So instead, you get to enjoy a post full of the nitty gritty, unglamorous, low down reality of my journey.

In honor of my birthday, I took my measurements so I could at least start tracking some progress since the dangblasted scale hasn't budged! I swear that ridiculous hunk of digital technology has it out for me... otherwise, with all this running, swimming, and biking I've been doing, you'd think the numbers would be going down. But I digress... Anyway, whilest these may not be 100% accurate since I did it myself, here are my measurements such as they are... Oh, I was in my swimsuit, for the record, LOL!

Bust - 40", Waist - 41" at the belly button, Hips - 46 3/4", Thighs - 25 3/4", Calves - 14 1/8", and Biceps - 11 3/4".

In all honestly, I don't care so much about the number on the scale, as I do about changing my shape a little. Weight loss was not a part of my decision to take on this triathlon, but I'd sure like to go from looking so much like a cylindrical baby rhino on it's hind legs and a little more like a shapely gazelle, LOL. I would really honestly just like to midsection to diminish some -you know, for my waist measurement to be LESS than my boob measurement. I mean cmon, folks! The front on view isn't so bad, but the profile is a killer, LOL!

The disappointing part is I didn't have the presence of mind to take measurements when I started. But the good news is, I think something is happening! Not sure quite what it is, but some of the blubbery junk is nomadically moving out of the trunk and settling somewhere else, leaving no return address I hope! To test it out, I went to Old Navy yesterday to spend a Christmas gift card. Convinced I was just going to go in and get another pair of the size 16 Sweetheart jeans, I was surprized to find my hands grabbing differend pairs to try one. I went into the dressing room, and much to my shock, both pairs fit! I tried on size 14 Sweethearts and size 14 Dreamers, and they fit!!! And I didn't even have to pack & cram the chubby glory into the jeans - I just pulled them up and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzipped them up! YEEEHAAAAAAAW! Even took the following picture to commemorate the moment:

Doesn't this just scream "KISS MY BADONKADONK?"

Anyway, now my sights are set on those elusive size 12's... really I'd settle for for some muscular definition, cause right now the only definition I seem to have is the lumpy cottage cheesey fatness :)

Oh, I did have to decrease my training just a little. Going so hard-core 6 days a week was really a bit much... I mean, I was doing it, but it was all I could do to get through the training. Since I've scaled back to 4-5 days a week, I have noticed a big difference. I am actually making more progress and feeling stronger than when I was killing myself and barely able to get through. Maybe there is something to the old notion that rest time is necessary. Can't help wanting to go full bore though, because time is running out. Race Day is fast approaching - only 62 days, 15 hours, 25 minutes and 5 seconds to go... I just hope I'm ready!

Orca LIVES!

Ok ladies 'n' gents, I know you have been following some of my training ups and downs and crazy adventures, but I'm about to give you a visual treat to go right along with all the mental pictures. The triathlon I'm doing is wetsuit legal, and all of the reasearch I've done has told me that wetsuits are definitely beneficial to give you extra bouyancy (sp??) and warmth. And I need all the help I can get - my back end sinks like a freaking ANCHOR in the pool, LOL! So I searched and searched online for a wetsuit, since there is no place in Chattanooga that has them in person that I could find. I went to a bunch of manufacturer websites, and apparently, we are right in between seasons. All of the 2009 suits are sold out, and the 2010 haven't come out yet, so all that's available is a stray clearance suit here and there. Oh did I mention that I have turned into a cross dresser? Yeah - get this! They only make womens suits to fit up to about 170lbs - that's the largest I could find. So I had to go with a men's suit. But the good news is, I got a FANTASTIC deal online at Ebay, from the seller "ediscountbikes", and they have STELLAR customer service! I highly recommend shopping with them if, after seeing the photos below, you get the sudden urge to follow in my smokin' hot trend-setting style footsteps!

Anyway.... without further ado, I would like to introduce you to Orca :)

Now, mind you, I was not going commando under that wetsuit... you can probably see the lines from my underpants :) On race day, I'll have my race suit on under this - I ordered that one online too, and it should be here this week too. Don't worry - I'll post pics of that too, LOL! And really, I am hoping that, by posting these pics online, I get all the shame and embarassment out of the way, so that I could give a RIP what people think of my smokin' hot blubber butt on Race Day, LOL!

Anyway, that's the latest, folks! Now I'm off to watch Biggest Loser! How appropriate, huh?!