You may have noticed that that I affectionatey refer to Michelle as PIC. It stands for “partner in crime”, I’m not really even sure when it came about. Maybee when she started her blog? I don’t know. She calls me PIC too. It’s rather fun. Sometimes I call her Fordy-Ford, or Michelley-Elley.

Michelle and I met shortly before our first ever trip to USAT Age-Group Nationals in 2007. That was way back when I had only done two sprints and Michelle was still riding this red bike with like Shimano 105 on it (I don’t mean to offend anyone…well maybe I do a little bit).

Breakfast two days before Nationals in 07

We were roomies in this totally cheep extended stay hotel right next to Nike in Portland. We both had what I would call super solid races, but even bigger than that we began a friendship that both of us never realized would be so much fun.

I think this was probably the last time we got totally sloshed right after a race…we are much more dedicated now (we are the middle two).

We trained together occasionally, mostly on weekend bike rides. Michelle was a working girl with a demanding job, but she was focused and nailed her workouts.

We went through a Twinkie phase (identical, comes in a pack of two). Almost all the group pictures we were standing next to each other, and we had matching helmets, blue bikes (she got rid of the crummy red one…no offense) and ponytails. Check it out.

Twinkies we are

Scary huh?

We came back to nationals in Portland in 2008 ready to kick ass, and qualify for Team USA. We had Australia on our minds. For the first time we allowed another person into our nationals lair, Tyler.

PIC, Me, and Tyler

He proved to be an acceptable addition. It also meant that PIC and I shared a bed for the first time. And we learned that we sleep well together, who would have thought? Probably a fact that our husbands try not to think about too often…or maybe they do. I don’t know and this is going south…

So we both really rocked the house at Nationals, it was the same course as the year before and PIC knocked 16+ minutes off her time, and I took off a little over 6. PIC nabbed that Team USA slot, and I missed it by one, but got it back in the lotto.

Early morning pre race, we are together, there’s a shock!

Several months after Nationals, the best thing EVER happened to my athletic career (and let’s be honest, it’s all about me). PIC got laid off, SWEEET, full time training partner. I think this is when the term “PIC” came about. That year was about becoming super stud kick ass athletes and helping each other get there. We started on the bikes.

Mt.Evans in the back, we two man teamed it all over the place that spring.

We really learned a lot about each other. Usually we knew more about where each other was at than we knew about ourselves. I knew when she was blitzed, she knew when I needed to eat. We shared gels, we took turns on each others wheels, and we had so much fun.

We raced across the county, heck the world, together. We always found a way to get our PIC time even if we weren’t rooming together. We found a camaraderie that year that was sorta “the next level”. I think in the beginning we may have felt a little competitiveness against each other, but any and all of that dissipated throughout last year. When we became PIC’s things changed and we helped each other through the hard times, and the hard races, and we celebrated with each other through the good ones. It helped that we had numerous good performances through the year. At Kansas, we qualified for Clearwater together.

We went to Nationals for a 3rd year together, we added Beth and Tyler to the room, which meant again…PIC and I were sharing a bed. Which apparently meant great races for the both of us. PIC taking 5th in her AG, and me 14th, both earning TEAM USA spots if we so choose to take them. Seeing her on the podium made me feel like I was on the podium, I kid you not.

Red hair extension…it was for CHARITY!

We went to Worlds in Australia with our different families, but we found a way to hook up and train everyday together. Training in unfamiliar adds a whole different crazy factor to things, but when we were together we seemed to have so much more confidence. It didn’t matter that we were riding on the wrong side of the road, we handled it together and we laughed a lot. Meeting up with Michelle was like a having a piece of home with me.

In AUS, training, note that we now have matching TT bikes, and non matching helmets, since I crashed and broke mine.

I think having each other there at World Championships paid off, we went 19th for PIC, and 30th for me, in our age group, in the world. And you know, PIC slept over in my hotel room the night before, I’m thinking that’s why we raced so well.

And at the end of the season we found each other in Clearwater, out there on the race course, and ran together for part of the race. It was almost poetic.

Michelle and I have learned through the years the value of having a training partner. I don’t think either of us could have ever imagined just how tight we would become. Going forward this year we have switched coaching, and we have switched team affiliation. It was a process that we relied heavily on each other to get through. Lots of leaning on each other, and a fair amount of tears.

It wasn’t easy, but you live, you learn, and you try to move forward with an open heart. With Michelle, I’m not afraid to tell her the truth, and she knows I’m in her corner 100%. I’m so extatic that the recent changes in our athletic career have brought us even closer together. I couldn’t imagine racing in a uniform that is different from hers, so I’m pretty stoked that this year we will be Twinkies again.

Having the same coach will enable us to continue to train together and to help each other achieve our goals. We have been very upfront with our new coach (who likes upfrontness) and he has instructed us to tattle on each other to our heart’s content (when it pertains to training). He seems to “get” our relationship and has an idea on how to use it to make each of us stronger.

We feel like we are a little mini-team this year. Our sponsors are the same, we represent them together, and although we are training towards different goals (as we have most years) I have no doubt that this year will yield lots more fun and silly pictures.

Thank you PIC, Michelley-elley, Fordy-Ford for all of your support, for being my “honesty” meter, for not making things harder than they need to be, for traveling with me, planning with me, schooling me in swimbikerun, for not holding it against me when I school you in bikerun, for sharing recipes, and photos, and lessons learned.

Here’s to another year of fun, we’re gonna kick ass!

What epic things am I going to endeavor in during the year 2010?

2010 is a big year. Ten years in the 2000’s. What better than to make it extra special by running, biking and swimming all over the place.

My 2010 schedule is set, and I’m sure that you want in on some of the action. The year will be divided between epic adventures, and kick butt racing.

EPIC ADVENTURES:

~ Moab 100 miler, 3/27 – 3/28 (running)

~ Double Crossing of the Grand Canyon, Monday 4/19

~ Ride Across Colorado in 3 days, 470 miles, 7/16-7/18, taking the north route through Poudre Canyon/Steamboat.

~ Double Summit of Mt. Evans, bike up then run up, late August

~ Something in the summer in the Tahoe region. Not quite sure yet, but the Tahoe Rim Trail will be incorporated. Still scheming.

KICK BUTT RACING (the big races)

~ Rev3 Knoxville, 5/8, Olympic distance

~ Rev3 Middlebury CT, 6/5, 1/2 Iron distance

~ IM Coeur d’Alene, 6/27

~ A second Iron Distance Race, either the big island one, or this one.

~ USAT Age Group Nationals, 9/25

~ IM Arizona, 11/21

So, who’s in for some fun? Did my Grand Canyon video last year make you want to join me? My goal this year is to inspire others to do a little more than they thought was possible. To that aim, all my adventures will be well supported, well schwaged, and well planned. If you want to come along, contact me, ask questions, leave a comment, hunt me down…

PIC (who has a new blog with the best url evah, check it out) and I wanted to do a little track workout today. I’ve been running with PIC as she trains for the Arizona Rock and Roll Marathon, and in the spirit of getting her quick we did a little speed work. The problem? It looks like this outside. Seriously?

So, we hit up the matching treadmills at my apartment complex gym. It was awesome, we brought some tunes, cranked up the music, and off we went. I found out for the first time that my treadmill maxed out at 10mph. I ran 3 of the 4 0.5 mile efforts that we did with the treadmill maxed at 10. I think it’s easier to run this fast on the treadmill, you just spend a little more air-time and let the treadmill go zooming under you. PIC rocked it as well, she was uber close to maxing out, but the girls’ gotta save something for another day.

When we got back to my apartment there was a package waiting on the door step. Humm? What could it be. I opened it up and it’s CHOCOLATE. Lots and lots of CHOCOLATE! Oh my! PIC and I immediately start digging in. Ritter Sport emailed me a few days ago to ask if I would review their chocolate. Humm, I thought long and hard, I had a family meeting with Troy, and after much deliberation, we finally decided that we could accept some chocolate into the house. NOT!!! I was responding to the Ritter Sport email within pico-seconds. SEND ME CHOCOLATE!!!

The thing is, I’m an endurance athlete, so I’m gonna put the Ritter Sport chocolate through the ringer. This weekend, the Ritter Sport will experience extreme skiing as I compete in the Pink Chase at Keystone. We’ll see if it can handle it.

Ritter Sport also offered some chocolate for my blog readers. I’m a sharer! So, there will be a massive chocolate giveaway at some point soon. Only the best for my bloggy peeps!

Pookette turned 4 last month! I’m still a little miffed that I’m the mom of a 4 year old. They let anybody parent now a days. Annie is super tall, Troy is 6′4″, and the munchkin is following in his footsteps. She is actually 3/4″ taller than Troy was at age 4. Yikes! She names everything “Sarah” right now, her dog, her pony, her bike, it’s all “Sarah”. I find that rather hilarious. Here they are on Troy’s birthday, which is just three days after Annies Birthday. When I found out I was preggnant I got a card for Troy and I wrote in it “You’re going to spend your Birthday in the hospital”. I was close, we came home the day before. These two are buddies.

A couple days ago I picked her up from a Kidstown playfest. They gave her a lollypop at the end and she was licking it on the way home. I watched her eyes start to droop, she was so sleepy. She fell asleep mid lick.

My hair is growing, I know crazy huh? But yea, I spent a little time in what I call the “fuzzy werewolf state”. I like it short and think I will keep it pixie like for some time. It’s just easy!

As always, Troy and I are loving life. We’re happy, it takes being mindful, but boy, every bit of “work” you put into your marriage, comes back tenfold. He has been a huge source of guidance as I went through the process of discontinuing coaching with Steve a month ago. He has also helped me process what I need from a coach going forward. I’m very excited about where my new coaching decisions are taking me. More news there sometime in the future.

I went to the GoLite warehouse sale this weekend. I was looking for a tent, sleeping bag, and a pack for fastpacking. I was successful. I’m ready for a multiday running adventure now. I don’t have a date yet, but you can bet there will be a fastpacking adventure post this year. You bet-cha!

Kat and Annie are in my new tent, they loved it.

I spent several hours communing in my new lodging as well. So comfy and my pack, sleeping bag and tent all together weigh 4.4 lbs.

Lastly, I organized a long run this weekend. If you came out and ran, I hope you had fun! And if you missed us, come out next time. It was great to catch up with some friends that I hadn’t seen in awhile, and to spread the news on some of this years planned adventures.

Okay, peeps, this is mostly a triathlon blog, so some of you might just need to tune out this post, but I think it’s related, so I’m posting it! When I am training hard the first thing to go out the door is meal planning. When I loose time, I neglect to sit down and plan, I’m in pure “survival shopping mode”. It’s a solid fact that meal planning your week saves you money, and helps you to eat healthy more balanced meals. I’m sure there is some study out there proving it. And when you are training hard and racing hard, saving money is what you most likely need to be doing. I wish I could claim this idea as my own, but actually Troy came up with it on a whim, and I implemented it.

His idea was to have a magnet for each common meal that we make. When we plan for the week we could just fill in a sheet that is taped on the fridge with magnets for what we want to eat. Then if we had a binder that had a sheet for each meal, even if it’s for something simple like “salmon with rice and veg” that explained how to make that meal to back up each of the magnets.

This would enable us to:
- Easily plan a weeks meal: scan magnets, pick what looks good, and stick on sheet.
- Easily create a grocery list: flip to page in binder and write down what we don’t already have
- Cooking is easy: with each meals directions written out, Troy can make a meal while I am training (cooking is usually my deal, which means when I’m training Troy ends up with hamburgers, pizza, and fried rice, but he’s good with directions)

Tonight I implemented the plan.

I found these great magnet sheets at Office Depot. They were under $4 for a pack of 4 and even though I bought two packs, one would have sufficed.

You peel the sticky sheet off the back of the magnet, then stick a piece of paper on it.

Then cut the paper to fit the magnet.

Then start thinking of recipes and write them down on the paper. I got tons of recipes on one sheet by just being space conscious. I made several “leftovers” magnets, and made multiples of breakfast items since we don’t have a different breakfast every day, usually just 1-2 different ones a week. Same with lunches, I made some magnets that said “same” so I could put one lunch in the lunch area on Monday, and then put “same” for the other days.

Cut them out and stick them on the fridge. I kept them to the top half, so that Annie doesn’t get “curious”.

I also made a few magnets to remind us of events that seem to happen weekly, like track club, Sonja racing, Troy racing. You could get creative here. I may add some that say “Troy cooks” or “Sonja cooks”, something to that effect.

Then you can “meal plan”. I printed out this sheet, which is the template I use to meal plan on a regular basis.

Lastly I pulled all the recipes I have for meals on the magnets, I labeled the end of the paper with the exact name on the magnet, and stuck them in a huge binder alphabetically. Now Troy can find the meal easily.

I also made a list of meals that I made magnets for but don’t have recipes for (the ones that live in my head) and plan to work through those this week to create a sheet on each of them.

Troy loved seeing Type A Sonja attack his idea with a vengeance and we did the meal plan for next week in about 2 minutes. I made the grocery list in about 5 minutes. It was so much easier!

I love to try new recipes and I think this system will be easy to incorporate new recipes into. I put lots of blank sheet protectors in the binder so I can just slide a new recipe into, and I put spare magnets on the side of the fridge, ready for a new meal to be written on them.

Not totally triathlon related, but I hope it can help some of you out there!

More Resources:
- This Week for Dinner: Jane outlines some meal planning tips
- Definitely not Martha: Leslie outlines her meal planning process with a nice excerpt on how to organize your grocery list (step #5)
- Meal Planning 101: I like the idea of making a pre-made grocery list where you just have to check what you need, I would add a “quantity” section next to each ingredient.
- Simple Mom: this is a great link for A-Z menu planning.

I got notice this week that First Endurance is teaming up with Trakkers as the first official sponsor of Team Trakkers, which I am a blissful member of. Team Trakkers is a pretty cool team because rather than being the being a group with the highest level of race results, we all excel in the “electronic” world. We are a team of bloggers, twitterers and facebookers, who happen to train their fannies off (and blog about it) in triathlon.

So, First Endurance must be pretty sure of it’s product. Because by sponsoring Team Trakkers that means that 30-40 blog-aficionados will be testing their products, using them like crazy, and then blogging and tweeting the honest to goodness truth about them. Bold move, First Endurance!

So, when I think “First Endurance” I think Michael Lovato. What really sticks in my mind is that a “shipment” would be delivered to his condo in Kona when he was there for World Championships. I thought that was an amazingly rock star triathlete thing to do…rather than packing your goods in your bag, to actually be cool enough that your sponsor would ship you a box of goodies right to your location. I know, I’m easily impressed.

I wanted to learn a bit about First Endurance before we got to select some free goods to test out. I started by joining Team First Endurance. This is a place for athletes to educate, research, and commune. They have a “facebook” like setup on the Team FE site. You can create a profile, add friends, and post blog posts about your experiences. It’s really quite cool and is so much more helpful than just a message board. Check out the profile I made:

Once my profile was made I started searching around. I found a great blog entry by none other than the Michael Lovato himself, outlining his Kona nutrition strategy.

I added myself to the Team Trakkers Group, and the Rev3 Group.

Then I clicked on Programs. This section REALLY impressed me. You can pick a program topic (Caffeine, Gluten, Sodium Loading, Anti-Inflammatory Foods, and Low Carbo Training). I picked Caffeine. They had an article summarizing and explaining the “Caffeine issue” including common misconceptions, and the history of it being a banned substance (in high levels by the US Olympic committe..now unbanned). There were recommendations on safe use, and a huge list of references. Then, the next link was “How to Implement a Caffeine Test” with great instructions on how to test it within your own body. Finally a link to their forum where the issue is discussed and a survey to take after you complete the test (along with the survey results). I was just really impressed.

Now I’m all giddy and excited to perform some of the tests, and to report my results.

My overall impression thus far is that they really take “individual” nutrition seriously, not only recognizing that each person is different, but providing a tool that athletes can use to educate themselves, and mingle with others to discuss issues.

Check out their site. And check out Team First Endurance.

I have been racing for the past few weeks for my friend Amy who is currently battling breast cancer. Since day one Amy has made it known that she wanted to have a head shaving party. I told her, “Allright I’m in”. Then I got home and thought, “Really, I’m gonna shave my head”. I started thinking about the concept and several things came to me.

One…Amy doesn’t have a choice. It’s a part of this horrible disease for her, her hair is going to leave her whether she likes it or not.

Two, it’s hair, come one people, it’s hair. Hats are quite prevalent in these parts. Please, it’s hair.

Three, the biggest one, if shaving my head can give Amy a giggle, or a laugh, something to make this process just a little bit easier, I’m in. She is my friend and has been there for me through some of my dark times.

So, with those thoughts in mind, last night I attended Amys head shaving party, and I lined up with 12 other people to have my hair buzzed. Amy’s husband Brian went first, he was the “warm up”. Then Amy, then Hillary, and then me. I must say, us three ladies were clearly the “Main Event” of the night. Then 9 other men jumped in the seat one after another and buzzed it all off. We were lucky to have one of Amys friends from high school who is a hairdresser do all the shaving, she was very gracious to donate her time and clippers to our crazy antics.

I have said all along that I shaved my head for Amy not because it’s this huge monumental thing, but to remind her that “It’s just hair”. People say that to cancer patients a lot, and I say “If it’s just hair, then shave yours off too”. The rest of this post will be photos of the experience. At the end is a video of me getting shaved.

We are all racing the Race for a Cure tomorrow on a team called Amy’s Chemo Sabes. We have 84 people racing the 1 mile walk tomorrow as part of Amy’s Chemo Sabes. We are just a little short of our fundraising goal. If you would like to help, you can donate here.

The Before Picture

Hil getting her hair put in ponytails so that all the hair gets properly donated to Locks of Love, or Children with Hair loss.

Brian (Amy’s hubby) cutting her ponytails

And the shaving begins for Amy

Almost all gone

Amy rockin the bald look!

Hil in the shaving chair

Amy enjoying cutting Hils hair off a little too much!

Hil enjoying having her hair cut off WAY too much!

She’s bald

Big hugs for Hil from Amy

Hil and Amy cutting off Sonja’s ponytails

Celebration, down with the hair!

Amy with her butchered ponytails

Here goes Sonjas hair

Amy watching with glee!

And it’s off

The three ladies AFTER, hair GONE.

Hil and I

Amy and her hubby Brian

Amy and I, my fav pic of the night

The carnage!

Enjoyed it? How about a little donation here?

Video of my hair chop chop. You gotta watch the end, it makes me a little teary. I find it slightly frightening that it has 350 views before I have even posted the link here.

What an amazing way to spend an evening. I walked out of their house that evening feeling so hyped up about life. Amy has so many amazing friends that have helped in so many ways, I applaud all of them. Amy is going to beat this cancer, she’s going to live a long and blissful life with her two beautiful children and her loving husband. She knows that one day one of us will call her and say “I have Breast Cancer”, but she hopes that this disease can be cured.

To donate to Amy’s Chemo Sabes…again, the link.

Before I get into the race report, a little update. I’m on the skyride bus headed to the airport, headed to Ironman Canada right now. From wednesday to Wednesday I’ll be on Canadian soil, so please limit all emails. Please no text messages and no direct messages on Twitter. Calls are for emergencies only. The best way to say hi is to comment on my blog, or post a tweet with @gosonja in it. I have a data plan for my phone, but it’s pricy and tweeting is the cheepist.

Lastly, please wish Amy good luck, and keep her in your thoughts Friday, she’s having both ta-tas removed.

I’m always chatty on outbound flights. Always. I’m bristling with excitement and I make friends with those around me. On my first leg it was a business traveler who used to dabble in triathlons, on the second leg it was a nice guy from Chicago headed to Birmingham for the same reason I was. We talked and talked and talked about triathlons, it was totally the bomb!

Rolling into the Birmingham airport at 11pm it was desserted except for compression sock clad triathletes. There were so many athletes I didn’t know what to do with myself. Anthony found me walking to the car rental desk and it was like we hadn’t seen each other in months. You know how it is when you come across someone that you see all the time in a nonstandard location…it’s like “OOOHHH Tony!!! hug, hug” We walked around the airport for awhile waiting for Michelle to get in and drooling over more triathletes. I also ran into TriBoomer. That was super exciting because we had planned a meeting with him on Friday to get the scoop on volunteering for Athletes for a Cure. After retreiving Michelle and deserting Anthony we headed to Tuscaloosa to met up with Tyler and Beth, our roomies for the weekend.

Michelle and I roomed together at Nationals the first year we went. That was where the partnership in crime developed. Last year we added Tyler to the mix, and he passed the initiation with flying colors, mostly because of the introduction of the “Tyler Tab”. This year we added Beth, and boy was she a huge hit…she pummeled Tyler with pillows like she grew up with ten older brothers or something.

After our arrival and the multitude of midnight pillow fighting that resulted, we all crashed in our comfy beds, ready for a hectic Friday.

Friday was all about: easy run, Starbucks, IHOP, meeting with TriBoomer, pick up packets, get red extension put in hair by Paul Mitchell, pick up bikes from VeloExpress (awesome service), drop bikes in transition, drive course, eat, watch movie for 30 minutes (excpet Tyler), CRASH!

The meeting with TriBoomer was especially important. As a group, triathletes are pretty self centered, not a lot of volunteer work going on there, me included. I’ve been wanting to change that, but have been unsure on just how to do so. I had followed TriBoomers blog after hearing his “news report” on the Get your Geek On Triathlon Podcast. I considered him quite reputable within the triathlon community and when he posted on Twitter that he needed some folks to help on behalf of Athletes for a Cure, both Michelle and I responded. What he was planning was a live radio show and twitter cast of the mens and women’s pro races on Blog Talk Radio. He needed spotters, photographers and tweeters. Michelle and I were game, so we dragged in Tyler and Beth. The meeting with TriBoomer was awesome and we were set with our jobs for the pro race. I was stoked that besides TriBoomer himself, and a university of Alabama volunteer, the four of us were his main work force.

Saturday morning came, and for the four of us, it was like clockwork. Nobody got in anyones way, we all progressed through our own routines and before we knew it we were at the race site warming up.

We found out a piece of key information on that warmup. The swim was a river swim and we had been assured the day before that the river was not flowing. There was a dam down river that was keeping the river still. Well, on the warmup we got to a vantage point where we could see that the early waves were encountering a huge current. It was so big that there were about 5 swimmers stuck at the first turn buoy into the current. We stood there and watched in horror as they swam and swam and swam and went nowhere. Soon enough the police boats made there way over in that direction. Back at the swim start I watched more swimmers while waiting for my wave and was shocked to see the bulk of participants making very little progress towards the swim exit. It was sad.

Soon enough it was my turn. I got in to warm up. Against the current I swam out and thought “Okay, at least I can swim against it”. I turned to swim back and it took 4 strokes to get back. I lined up on the dock and my entire age group was holding onto the dock for dear life. You could feel the current trying to rip you off the dock. Gulp.

Boom, we are off. Down river we go. I was at the first buoy before I could say Tuscaloosa. We took a right turn across the river and I was on a set of feet. We get to the next buoy and we are 15 yards downstream from the buoy. We make the EVIL right turn and thus begins the carnage. Swimming against current. I was secretly afraid to look at the shore, hoping I wasn’t one of those sad folks that wasn’t going anywhere. I stole a look and 10 strokes later I stole another look. Whew, I was making progress. It wasn’t great, but at least I knew I wasn’t going to be one of the many DNF’s of the day. It wasn’t pretty but I swam as hard as I knew how and eventually I made my way to the shore. 43 minutes for a mile swim, shesh.

Transition was flawless and I was off on the bike. I had a little trouble getting going, and my quads HURT from all the kicking, but I made my way through the bike. It was a two lap course, with three U-turns on each lap, so 6 total. I got a little tired of all the turn arounds but the bike went by about ten times faster than the swim.

The transition to the run had an extra step this year. I put on socks at Steve’s request. He was really concerned with all the technical downhills we would beat up our feet. With IM Canada a week later we couldn’t afford to have mangled feet. So I sat down, put on socks and off I went.

I instantly got into a groove and felt like I was calm and steady. I was running behind a guy that I had gone back and forth with at the end of the bike, he was older, but very fit (tops were not required on men in this race due to the heat…thank you triathlon gods). He was running so strong that I just stuck onto him. I was excited to think that he could drag me around the course at a fast pace. We got to the first hill and he stepped off the course to PUKE UP HIS GUTS! Dang! There went my pacer. On the first hill, which was also an out and back I saw that Michelle was just in front of me and Steve was just behind. Michelle had actually passed me in the swim despite starting 12 minutes behind me. Yea, it was that bad. So I focused on drawing myself into her, and holding off Steve. Steve caught me first and I hung to his shoulder…until I didn’t. I got to watch him pass Michelle and watched her hang onto his shoulder…until she couldn’t. It was fun to watch! Soon enough Michelle and I were side by side and I secretly hoped that she would find that extra little bit to hang with me the rest of the race. That would have been awesome!

I pulled away from her and at that point I knew I could start picking it up. I came upon Wonder Woman. I passed her, she passed me back and I passed her again. In the final half mile I dropped the pace down to a strong kick and found 3 other ladies in my age group to pass. It was a nice way to finish.

Crossing the line I felt good, not too tapped, but also felt like I had been on an epic adventure. We should have been given a medal for just surviving that swim. One guy was out there for 179 minutes. Do the math… Tony, Beth and I were all in the “swam slower than we ran club”. It was EPIC!

We waited in line to get our results and I was pleased to see 14th age group. Yea! That should get me on TEAM USA for 2010. Standing next to Michelle and watching her find out that she was 5th in her age group was pretty priceless. It was her day for sure!

We grabbed our bags, and bailed out our bikes. We cruised back to the car and changed. We had a mission, it was our time to give back, to work. Athletes for a cure needed us…but that’s better left for another post.

Thank you Troy!!! Thank you to my trip roommates Beth, Tyler and PIC Michelle. I laughed so much this trip. Thanks to Steve for training my body, and thanks to Trakkers, NUUN, and Core Concepts for supporting me.

Details:
Swim: 43:03
T1: 1:27
Bike: 1:07:14
T2: 1:05
Run: 41:21
Total: 2:34:08

Lastly a huge congratulations to my PIC Michelle, she was 5th in her age group and made it onto the podium. You can read about it here.

I know you are all anxiously waiting for my Nationals Race Report. I’m writing it tonight and will post it tomorrow, but check this out today. Look what came in the mail? As an age group athlete, when your world uniform arrives in the mail it’s like…”Oh my, this is real, I’m going to represent team USA at a World Championship event”. It’s insanely exciting, and such an honor to wear this uniform. It’s special, just for Gold Coast…and maybe Budapest next year, eh?

The whole “name on the butt” was something that I scoffed at, but secretly wished I was good enough to warrant having my name on my fanny. Well, here it is, wow…I’ve got my husbands name on my butt!! HaHaHa. Just kidding, it’s been mine for seven wonderful years and I’ve grown accustomed to it!

To all that have helped me get to worlds, I love you. I hope that I can continue to show all of you out there just how possible this all is. I’m a mom, I was overweight. I decided to make a change, decided to get out there and start really running after what makes my soul happy. Look where I got in just a few short years. I can’t imagine what the next ones will hold but I know that I will continue to surprise all of you out there. More epic adventures, more gnarly trips, more fast racing, and more pedals to the metal.

As my miles taper down, and my training hours dwindle I’ve started to look back on what was accomplished this year. I think you have to remind yourself what you have done to reach your goals, it’s easy to forget. Steve, Andrea, Anthony and I started off this training block by heading to Canada together to volunteer in August 2008. Being total triathlon geeks were immediately bitten by the Ironman bug. We had way to much fun volunteering for IM Canada and we came home so jazzed and excited to train for the next years race. Steve got to thinking about how he was going to train us and thus was born the 17 hour training day plans. A website followed, and we had introspective meetings once a month. We started to build or base and along the way came lots and lots of fun.

We ran 41 miles on the Colorado trail and dragged way way way too many people with us.

We ran up Red rocks stairs a ka-billion times.

We swam and swam and swam all winter long

We signed up for our first 50K and ran all over Moab.

We ran long long runs in tights…with friends.

We ran even longer runs, through the snow.

We swam more…and more…and more.

We ran 46 miles to Boulder in 19 degree weather.

I tried to run 15 miles two days after running 46 miles and not yet recovered. I hurt myself. My knee kept me out of the running game for about 4 weeks, just had to take it’s time to properly heal. I learned the difference between bad pain, and healing pain. I will try much harder not to make that mistake again. Here is the “I’m happy but I hurt look”.

We ran up Mt Evans in the snow and I turned back early b/c the knee wasn’t quite back completely. I can’t believe I left these two together.

We went to Catalina Island and I watched Steve, Andrea, and Anthony run 50 miles. It was a hoot, and I gained perspective on being on the sideline. I had a ton of fun, and drank a few too many pomegranate margaritas.

We ran up Highgrade…a tough climb for most local cyclists

I progressed through another great snowshoe season, this time with more depth to my running and made my second National Snowshoe team.

I got two new bikes which made me way faster

Michelle and I raced the boys over our entire Shadow loop, and we won (because we’re better).

We rode everywhere. Shadow, Epic, Shadow, Epic. Climb climb climb

We went to Las Vegas and slaughtered a half Ironman

Then turned around 40 hours later and ran across the Grand Canyon….twice

I ran a mountain marathon in Gateway Colorado

I raced my first road race

I went to Connecticut and raced the Rev3 Half Ironman

And then the next weekend raced the Kansas 70.3 half Ironman

and then the next weekend raced the Loveland Lake to Lake Oly

And then we rode our bikes home

It all involved a lot of this

and this

Then we cranked up the mileage and rode out east week after week after week, hundreds of miles. 156 mile rides, 100 mile rides, and lots of 85 mile rides.

We trained for 17 hours in one day. The “official” 17 hour training day. 7K swimming, 100+ riding, and 30+ running.

I went to California and competed in Vineman 70.3 Half Ironman

Then came home, rode a couple hundred miles, and entered my first crit

Then we rode 225 miles in one day

And finally we endured a hail storm after 100 miles on the bike and 18 on the run, incurring substantial “hail damage” to our bodies.

So, all these experiences. What if I completely choke at Ironman? Doesn’t matter. No really, won’t I be so disappointed if it just doesn’t go my way on the actual day? Nope. Because, for one, I know what it feels like when it’s not going my way. I’ve been to that ugly place on runs, on swims and on rides, and you know what, I’ve persevered through it, I’ve figured out how to keep going. So does adversity scare me? Nope. Number two, I’ve enjoyed this training, I’ve enjoyed the Ironman lifestyle. If you haven’t seen much of me lately it’s not because I’m out there painfully toiling away on my bike, it’s because I’m out there living it up doing what makes my soul happy. I have found out that there is something in me that loves to go long. I love the outdoors, and I love the way this training makes me feel in both heart and mind. If all this was for nothing…I would sign up again tomorrow. The adventures and experiences have been priceless.

I don’t know how I can encourage you all out there, but I want to let you know that I don’t consider myself to have any special powers. I don’t see myself as an unusually hard worker. What I do have is a passion to live life to it’s fullest, and the ability to smile. If any of what I have done in the past year sounds fun to you, please find a way to talk to me about it. Do you see all the pictures of all the different people that did just some of the fun stuff I did last year. Well, that could be you. So please don’t sit by and think “Man, I wish I could join them”. I would love to find a way to make that possible for you.