Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday, I turned 39, and I have to say that it was up there in the top 5 birthdays I've had in my whole adult life! The entire day was full of loving friends and family, warm sentiments, thoughtful gifts, and more delicious food than I should have eaten in an entire week. Kurt gave me his gift a couple of weeks ago so I could take it on my trip to San Jose, so really, I've been celebrating for weeks now *big cheesy grin*! The fun hasn't stopped yet, cause as soon as I'm done playing around in Bloggy Land, Kurt's going to take me out to lunch at Famous Dave's (never been there) and then on to shopping for a new couch & loveseat! But wait! There's more! If we get back from shopping in time, we'll be headed over to my sister's house for a good old fashioned weinie roast... I'm going to need a vacation from all the celebrating :)

Anyway, I just thought I'd share a few of my favorite birthday things with you!

This is a dry erase board eraser shaped like a paw print (like you couldn't tell, LOL) that I got from one of my employees - and it's magnetic too so it sticks to my cubicle wall :)

This is my dinner from Red Lobster last night - that's right folks... you're looking at a pound and a half of snow crab legs WOOO HOOOO! Funny thing is, that was the second time I went to Red Lobster... yesterday :) My fabulous boss took me there for lunch and then we went again last night for dinner... MMMMMMMMM

This is the aftermath, LOL! Little bits of crab & lobster everywhere :)

This, my friends, is the latest edition to my windchime collection - this was a gift from my favorite Kiwi fruit, Shell. She's the one I went to visit in San Jose, and this windchime came from New Zealand where a really uber talented craftsman hammered and pounded and twisted ordinary kitchen forks, spoons, knivees and fishing line into such a sweet sounding work of art... it's the coolest thing I've ever seen, and it has now assumed its rightful place of honor hanging above my back porch. Big huge sloppy wet hugs and kisses, Shell! Can't tell you how much I love it!

I received so many wonderful blessings on my birthday, way more than I could blog about, so please know that I loved every bit of it from every single one of you... God really gave me so many gifts and made it clear that I have infinitely more things to be thankful for than I have fingers and toes to count on. Thank you all for helping to make the last 39 years more than a girl could ask for!

Single Digits, Baby!

The countdown to madness is down to single digits now! In just 9 more days, I leave the Scenic City of Chattanooga for sunny San Jose, CA where I'm going to spend 5 whole days with my soul sister, my favorite Kiwi (ok, so she's the only Kiwi I know, LOL), my dear friend Shell Mackay!!! WOOOO HOOOOO I cannot wait!

We haven't seen each other since October of 2007, when Shell came to one of my scrapbook retreats back when I ran them in Colorado. It was so much fun, because we got a "surprise" blizzard the weekend of the retreat. And Shell still insisted on wearing her freaking flip flops with her green toenails hanging out in the snow, LOL!











I'm so excited, because now I finally get to attend one of her world famous Scrapgrlz retreats. Been trying to get there for years, but life has just gotten in the way! It has gotten so much in the way that I haven't scrapped more than 2 layouts in the whole 2 1/2 years I've lived here in Chattanooga. Isn't that just a crying SHAME?!!! I am barely going to be able to hold my head up and look my fellow retreaters in the eyes from all the shame! But, scrapbookers are generally a forgiving lot, so I should be okay :)

I've already warned my coach that I'm going to be spending 5 days... count 'em ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR-FIVE DAYS.... of sitting on my rump eating absolutely NOTHING good for me and doing NOT ONE squat, NOT ONE single stroke in the pool, NOT ONE single step in the running shoes, NOT ONE single rotation of a bike tire... there will be NO FITNESS involved whatsoever, LOL!!! I'm going to be in culture shock, but it will be a fabulous change of scenery and hopefully will be just what I need to refuel. Of course I'll probably be begging Coach Andy for mercy when I see the workouts he's planned for me when I get back, LOL.... but it'll totally be worth it :)

San Jose better hold onto it's shorts, cause the Shellbillies, along with a Flat friend or two, will be tearin' it up... WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!

Widgets, Countdowns, & Tickers... Oh MY!

Ok - I'm just going to come right out and say up front that this has absolutely nothin' to do with nothin' LOL, except for some whining and griping! I have been working on my webbin' and bloggin', and just trying to get back into the technological groove lately by redoing my blog site, working on some new graphics, and actually making a point to post more. However, I have forgotten most everything I know about PSE, so the graphics are coming along VERY slowly.

SO I decided to work on posting instead, and actually have quite a bit to blog about... New race schedule starting to fill in for this year, some neat family things, and just general who-knows-if-it's-blogworthy stuff. I logged into Blogger to start drafting a new post, and I was really bummed to see that my countdown widget has stopped working - you know, the one for the Ironman Augusta 70.3?! I was proud of that one and one I really want to keep right at the top of my blog for inspiration and accountability, but the stupid thing stopped working... kicked the bucket... bought the farm... bit the big one! The website where I created it isn't working either! I've tried looking for other websites or ways to learn how to create my own, and I'm still coming up empty *sniff*.

I just don't understand in this day and age how I can be so technologically challenged! I want my widget!!!!

My Favorite Christmas Carol

I was reading over some friends' blogs and posts and have been enjoying some Christmas songs that they've shared, and I thought I'd share my favorite! Martina McBride's version of "O Holy Night" is so soulful and has me in tears and covered in goosey bumps every time I hear it.




What's your favorite song of the holidays?

I've Come A Long Way, Baby!

Since I finally have a Saturday where I'm not being pulled in a 1,000 different directions, I decided to take this opportunity to be completely selfish and work on some "me" things that I've really been putting off for lack of time. Planning my 2011 race schedule, printing out some pictures and actually getting them in the frames, working on Christmas gifts, etc.... all stuff that makes me feel good and like I have accomplished something! And as I'm sitting here in the total quiet except for the snoring sounds from the dog curled up next to me on the couch, and Kurt curled up in the bed in the next room (yes folks - he can be heard through layers of drywall), I had some interesting revelations that made me realize how far I've come since I've started this whole journey into the multisport arena.

For example, although I did not have a goal of weight loss in mind when I started almost a year and a half ago, I was hoping that my fluffiness would be an incidental casualty. A long time ago I learned that the number on the scale is not as important as the overall health and fitness, but still.... a girl loves to see that number go down, ya know! Anyway, I have not lost any weight... as a matter of fact, I gained about 10 pounds. Lots of speculation about why - maybe some of it's muscle, maybe going from eating absolutely no sugar and no white flour to incorporating some of those things back into my diet (gels, fuels, recovery foods, etc), maybe all the stinkin' pills for this-that-and-the-other... any one of those things (or all of them) can do a number on a person's weight. Feeling a little discouraged, I decided to break out the tape measure and compare to the measurements from 10 months ago just to see if anything had changed. As of this morning:

Bust - unchanged (Kurt's thrilled! .... what a pig!)
Waist - 38" @ belly button... that's 3" down! WOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!
Hips - unchanged
Thighs - 25 1/2... 1/4" down! I'll take it!
Biceps - 12"... 1/4" up
Calves - 14 1/2"... 1/8" up... I'll take those too!

All of that means muscle baby! WOOT WOOT! Although those changes are not Biggest Loser huge, it is definitely clear that my body is getting healthier and is responding to all the hours and miles I'm putting into training.

Speaking of training, I was reading back through some of my old blog posts this morning, and I was amazed at the difference in my training. As Coach Andy keeps telling me, it's never going to get easier, you just get faster! Of course, I had my doubts about that, as I keep waiting for the day when it's not so hard... cause let me tell you, training has not gotten one bit easier! It's always hard! But some things I realized are:

1. I swim more now in 2/3 of one training session that I used to in a whole week.
2. I can ride more in one training session that I used to in a whole week
3. I run more before walking in one training session than I used to in a whole week.

I'm anxious to see how that translates on the clock come race day - I want to do some of the same races as last year to see if I've gotten any faster. Personal records are soemthing I desperately want to say I have... I mean the proof is in the numbers! Not to mention, there's dudes I want to chick and a couple of chicks I want to catch. Nothing like spite and competition to get one motivated, LOL!!! But races will be selected much more carefully and deliberately this coming year to keep in line with training for my big race of the 1/2 IM in Augusta. And I think, after taking this little trip down memory lane, I think I might maybe just maybe actually come in before the cutoff time in Augusta! 2012 is going to be BRUTAL, as that's the year of the full Ironman distance race.... I try not to think of that too much right now, as it makes my insides start quivering with fear at the thought of 17 straight hours of cardio and sheer exhaustion. But it's all something that must be done if I want to earn my IM tattoo!

Overhaulin' My Bloggin'

Well hello there, everyone! No, contrary to what some of you might think, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, but life has been sorta pedal-to-the-metal since the end of summer. I can't believe we're in December already - just seems like last week I was doing my first Olympic distance tri (which was back in August, LOL)! Since then, I've done another sprint tri and a whole crap ton of off-season training to get ready for the main event of next season... my first Half Ironman. Crazy huh? Well, if that's crazy, then 2012 will be COMPLETE insanity since that's the year of "I'm Freaking Fabulous at 40 and I'm NUTS Enough to Tri a Full Distance Ironman"! But that's another story for another blog post, LOL!

Between writing checks for Andria's college applications, getting my heartrate back to normal after seeing the Sheriff's radar that clocked Bailey going 67 in a 45, and trying to understand how Tyler can still breathe in a bedroom that reeks of butts and feet, I haven't had much brainpower left to devote to proper blogging. But, as you can probably tell by sloppy looks of my little plot of cyber-realty, I'm trying to overhaul my blog! My graphics are so outdated, and it is just time to give the old page a facelift. However, I've run into a snag! There are no really cool blog graphics out there for triathlon, so I thought... Hey, I'm a Crafty Mama... (I know this because my blog header says so, LOL) I can create my own! Only one problem... I have changed laptops since I bought my Photoshop Elements, and I cannot find my disk to save my life! I can't remember if I actually bought a hardcopy or purchased it online, but either way, I can't find it. Really hacks me off, too... GRRRR!!! I hate to think I'm going to have to buy the stupid software again.... that'd hack me off even more. It sure wasn't cheap! I'm hoping that it miraculously appears out of nowhere and just falls into my lap, cause I really want to get some graphics for a new blog header. And since I'm going to a Scrapgrlz retreat in February and will actually have some time to SCRAP (egads - I know it's shocking!), I think I might want to design some triathlon/multisport graphics, papers, and other scrapbooking doo-dads to play with.

Anyhooooooooo.... I better get back to wrapping up the day! Tomorrow's going to be jammed packed: full day of work, kickoff weigh in at Hub Endurance for the Littlest Winner, deep-cleaning chores, and an epic "I-BROUGHT-YOU-INTO-THIS-WORLD-I'LL-TAKE-YOUR-BUTT-RIGHT-BACK-OUT" meeting with all the kids... Anyone wanna trade me? LOL!

Fall Creek Falls Race Report - I'm an Olympic Distance Triathlete!!!

Man, I know I am WAYYYYY late on getting this race report blogged, and I really have no one single excuse other than life has SOOO gotten in the way lately, especially now that the kids are back in school. Matter of fact, in 45 minutes I have to leave to go on a camping trip with the SDHS Raider team (JROTC) for a competition.. GO TROJANS! But I thought I'd make use of a little time and see about getting a blog post done.

**UPDATE** I started this blog post last week. Didn't finish before going out of town, and so here I am making myself late for work trying to get it finished. Blogspot is on the fritz and it won't autosave or regular save, so I'm trying to finish and publish wo I don't have to start over.... or you guys will NEVER get this race report, LOL!!!

So anyway, race day came on August 15th, and it was just BEAUTIFUL!!! We did not go up the night before to spend the night, since Fall Creek Falls is on central time, which means I got an extra hour of sleep anyway, lol... so it was just like going to a local race for my biological clock. Gotta love that! Of course, when we got up there and got stuff in trasition, Andria did my body marking and Kurt was the perfect spectator-slash-photographer.

Normally Kurt's not the greatest photographer, but he actually did a fantastic job this time! I mean, he was able to spot me in the sea of swimmers and get some pretty good action shots! Thanks Kurty Wurty!

I felt super strong in the swim. the .9 mile seemed to pass fairly quickly, as I just kept reaching and passing buouy after buouy - and a couple of other blue caps too,, LOL. When I reached the exit, I really felt like I could have swam alot more.

Instead I did my best to walk that terrible rocky bottom and get to the shoe staging area. Yep they had a shoe staging area with numbered spots and everything because there was about a 300 yard run back UPHILL to transition. But I was still pretty pumped from the swim that I jogged the whole thing! WOOT WOOT!

However, it seemed that the residual fire quickly faded as I mounted my trusty red steed to pedal off into the sunshine.

The course was really nice, not too many little rolling hills, but I must have used way more energy on that swim than I thought. I just couldn't seem to get my legs working - they felt like I had been dipped in cement! And to top it off, about a mile or so into the bike course, I freakign DROPPED my Powerade bottle, and I couldn't stop for it, since there was a car and another cyclist on my heels. So I had to ride the entire course without any calories.... BIG BUMMER! The course was well marked with lots of marshalls along the way, and I promise you I propositioned every single one with the distinct priveledge of giving me a piggy back ride through the course. The closest I got to acceptance was a little old man who said he would if he could LOL! I was so stinking tired, and due to the mental frustration, I did get off and walk for about 20 feet. But I quickly put my big girl panties back on and got back in the saddle. I truly am so grateful for some of my Tri Club pals (like Ed Rusk, although he doesn't read my blog and won't know I mentioned him, lol) who saw me along the course and gave me just the right words that got me through. Thanks Ed... you're really the best!

Anyway, I was never so glad to get off a bike as I was that day. 25 miles really took it out of me, and at that moment, I really didn't care to sit on it.... ever.... again. LOL!

I limped and whimpered all the way through to my spot in transition, racked my bike, and was so thankful to reach in my little insulated lunch bag to find another bottle of powerade. Normally I make it a point to jog out of transition and not walk until I'm out of sight of the spectators... I mean it's not like anyone can see my fluid graceful gazelle-ish gait turn into that of a wounded water buffalo that's just had a leg gnawed off by an alligator... right?? LOL Anyway, that's not the way it worked this time.... I was SO exhausted and SOOOOO miserable, that I made no bones about it and just blantantly walked right out of transition and right through all the spectators... that's right, the wounded water buffalo is on the move! I walked past this guy, who was clearly one of the early finishers, sitting under the shade tree, saying, hey go for it girl! Walk if you have to! It was somewhat uplifting, but a split second later, when that guy was out of sight and I was headed down the hill on the main part of the run course, I really started getting depressed. I saw all of those people already heading back in to the finish line - I mean dozens and dozens of them, some sprinting up the hill and some walking up, and I had some tearful moments of "what the heck am I doing here?" and started to cry a little. I think it was mostly just the exhaustion talking but, it was a really hard few minutes. Once I got some electrolytes and calories in, I started to feel a little better, and decided that there is no room for crying out on the race course. I mean after all, I worked really hard to get out there, and no matter what, come hell or high water, I was going to finish that dang race! So I wiped my face, took another swig of Powerade, and just kept walking.

I decided to try to find the humor in it all - I mean it's the small things that crack me up and keep me going :) Again I propositioned everyone at every water stop and tried to solicit a piggy back ride, but again no takers. The closest I came was a lady who offered to pimp out her husband for the job, lol, and some little kids who offered to run the rest of the distance to keep me company. Really sweet, but I couldn't bear to look at those little pip-squeaks, even as sweet and thoguhtful as they were, running effortlessly beside me not even breaking a sweat. Would have hated to have "accidentally" hip-checked them into the lake, LOL!

Even though I was passed at mile 5 on the run by a 69 year old lady, I still felt a great sense of resolve that I was going to finish. I did jog a few times for a few minutes, but decided that I was going to save whatever tiny little ounce of gusto I had left in me for the finish chute. So I just kept saying "only 4 more miles between me and a chair, only 3 more miles between me and the chair" and so on. My legs were kind of numb, and I was pretty much on auto pilot throughout the remainder of the course, but slowly and surely, I kept rounding curves and passing landmarks until that last turn was in sight. As I walked up that final incline and rounded the corner to head into the chute, it was like someone flipped the NOS switch! I'm telling you I took off like my butt was on FIRE, and I ran down the chute and through the arch faster than I have ever ran before in my life!!! I have no clue where it came from, but as soon as I crossed the threshhold of the big blue arch, Kurt was there with an ice cold water bottle and towels soaked in ice water, and Andria was there snapping pictures.

My official finish time was 4:35:29. My swim time was 32:26, T1 7:51 (including the 300m jog), bike was 1:59:01, T2 - 3:35, and I finished the run in 1:52:18. I finished 302/310, and all in all surpassed my overall goal of finishing in under 5 hours. It was a fantastic race course, lots of volunteer support and soothing shade, and I'm really glad I made Fall Creek Falls my first Olympic experience!

I'll be finishing out the race season this coming weekend with a Sprint, which will bring me to a grand total of 5 triathlons in my first year! I'm really excited, and really proud of myself... I mean who the heck would have thought that I, me of ALL FREAKING PEOPLE, could ever be able to do anythign like that??? I'm telling you - I'm living proof that ANYONE can do ANYTHING they set their minds to!