There's No Place Like Home

Last weekend I went home to San Francisco. Sigh! I miss San Francisco! :o( The occasion for the visit was to throw my BFF Garley's baby shower celebrating the upcoming arrival of her second son.  I flew home for a change since I lucked out on flights and found a flight deal for $90 round trip on United! Only negative was that I'd have to travel Saturday/Monday instead of Friday/Sunday. Oh well, no biggie.

Congratulations Nick & Garley!

Garley's Shower

To prepare for Garley's shower I put together a team that consisted of me, her sister, and her sister-in-law. I took on favors, games, and a memory book, her sister took on decorations, and her sister-in-law covered dessert. The event was set for 11:30am on Saturday morning, just three hours after I'd be getting off the plane from San Diego! (Yes, that did mean I was up at 4am to get to the airport at 5am for the 5am flights. *yawn*)

My Crafts in Action - Shower Favors!

We got to the restaurant, set up the decorations and cupcake table, put out the favors, and then the party started! It was a nice little event for Garley and a great way for her to get to see all of her friends and family before she dove into the role of a two-child parent. As a non-mother, I have to admit I haven't enjoyed many of the baby showers I've gone to. Watching someone open 100 gifts that all look the same (ohh!  a towel! Oh! A pink onesie! Oh! Another towel! yeah ...) and playing gross games like "guess what type of chocolate is melted into this diaper" or "taste the baby food to guess the flavor" really aren't my favorite things to do on a weekend. I don't mean to be a baby scrooge, but seriously - melted chocolate in a diaper is just plain gross. Don't even get me started on Lentil baby food! Ick!

Best Friends for 24 Years :o)

For Garley's shower I found two fun games online. One was "How well do you know the mom & dad?" trivia, and the other was "Match the celebrity couple to the baby name". Both games turned out to be pretty challenging, but we found two winners who each got an iTunes giftcard.

The Happy Couple

Russian Hill

Later that night I had a "date" with Jenny. We were going to go get dinner in her new neighborhood (Russian Hill) and then meet up with her boyfriend and his friend for a drink. We had dinner at Rex's Cafe which was good, nothing to write home about, and then went across the street to Tonic for a drink. After getting up at 4am that day to make my early flight, I was in no condition to close the bar down. Let's be honest, halfway through my first drink and I was tired and wanted to go to bed!

Drinks at Tonic

Hoppers Hands Run

I needed to get up early anyways because the next day I had a running date with Jojo from the San Francisco Marathon! We were going to meet down at the Marina and run out to Hoppers Hands and back. Jojo brought along her ADORABLE  Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy who was just a doll. He waited patiently in the car while we ran out to the Golden Gate Bridge and back, on a surprisingly beautiful sunny Fall San Francisco day.
  

Cooper - San Francisco Marathon Dog

During our run we bumped into the race course for the Mermaid Run. So cute! This race series has races in San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Cruz, and Mountain View, and one of their races was held in San Diego and was co-promoted with Girls on the Run. One of the girls I currently coach actually did the last Mini Mermaid Run.
 

Lunch at Luna Park

After the run I had to quickly get ready and head down to the Mission to meet up with some college friends for lunch. Gaucho Girls unite! I was leery of the location and worried about parking, but found parking on the street about a block away from the restaurant! wow! I quickly parked my hamster car (the rental Kia Soul) and walked over to the restaurant.

Lunch at Luna Park

After brunch Christina and I had originally talked about going to see a movie, but ended up hanging out on the patio of a Mediterranean restaurant called Ziryab down the street from her. We hung out here for a while enjoying the fruity hookah smells of our table neighbors before I was off for dinner with my dad. Yes, all I do is eat apparently!

An Afternoon of Wine & Hummus

My dad and I met a friend of his at a Chinese restaurant and dined on several courses of mysterious dishes. The whole menu was on the wall in Chinese, so I said I liked shrimp and chicken and waited to see what was in store! We had several incredible dishes and plenty to take home. I'm pretty sure I got tricked into eating jellyfish at one point (what else is clear and thin and rubbery? errr..) which didn't really taste like much, and all I could think was that the jellyfish on the table was not unlike what could be found swimming in La Jolla Cove. ack.

After dinner I headed over to my friend Danny's house to watch some Jeopardy. We watched two episodes while keeping score, and not to brag or anything... but guess who won? Oh yeah! This girl! I couldn't stay out to late and had to leave and get to bed  with yet another 4am wake-up for a 6am flight on the horizon. *yawn*. I got into San Diego about 7:30am the next day and headed straight into work. Amazingly I wasn't that tired! The trip was short but sweet, and I'm excited to head back home this week for Thanksgiving. For some reason I'm not sure I can ever see myself returning to San Francisco even though I love the city dearly. Because of this I cherish my weekends at home, and I'm so grateful to have a network of friends and family who always make me remember that there's no place like home.

SFM Ambassador - Heck Yeah!

In case you didn't know what SFM stood for, you will from now! Expect to see it in many future blog posts. SFM stands for the San Francisco Marathon! I was recently chosen as a SFM running ambassador and I couldn't be happier! Wow, what an honor! (Full running ambassador profiles here.)

You're probably wondering, wow, running ambassador - what is that? Well, I'm probably going to be traveling to third world countries and holding orphan babies like Angelina Jolie! Errr no.. okay, so I won't be like a Goodwill Ambassador, but as a running ambassador I will be on a team of people who love running who will be helping to spread the word about the San Francisco Marathon and the incredible race that it is.
 

My first distance race in San Francisco was the Nike Women's Marathon back in October of 2005. This was my second full marathon and I (stupidly) thought that I could beat my first marathon time at the Rock N Roll Marathon in San Diego. You probably think that I trained on hills to prepare. Nope! Did I pay for that? Oh yeah! I suffered throughout the entire course and even after three months of speed training during group track runs, I only finished TWELVE SECONDS faster than my first race. Ugh. I trained to get faster on flat ground - which did help overall in my race, but not enough. I was miserable the whole time and swore never to run in San Francisco again!

But then, the next year, I decided to sign up for the San Francisco Marathon. It had been a year, I felt like I was in better shape, I had more marathons under my belt .. I could do this! Well, yet again, I suffered on the hills and struggled through the race. Had I trained on hills up until the race? No. Okay, as a smart person I was not being a smart runner. I never liked running on hills and didn't train on them, and because of this my performance suffered. After my 2nd mediocre race in SF I swore to never race there again. Period!

And then ..  I ran the Surf City half marathon and had a great race! (More on my race recap.) Soon after my friend Christina told me about the California Dreamin series and said that if I ran Surf City, San Francisco, and then Long Beach (a course I had done previously in a full), that I could get a special medal and jacket for completing the series. This totally caught my interest! I thought about it for a while, and decided to go for it. I ran the SFM half (No thanks on the full), and then the Long Beach Half .. and I did it! California Dreamin time! Kudos to the marketer who came up with that bundling deal!! (Race recap on the SF Half here.)

Not too long after running the SFM Half I saw a tweet on twitter about the running ambassadors. I immediately replied to show my interest. I L-O-V-E running. Running has done more for me than anything else in my life! (okay, besides my parents). Running is amazing and can change your life in so many ways. Its changed mine, and I want to take every chance I have to help make it change someone elses. Anyways, a few weeks after expressing my initial interest via a tweet, I got an email back with an application to become an ambassador. The application asked for a variety of things such as:

• What motivates you to run? What got you started running?
• Do you prefer to run alone or with others?
• Are you involved in the running community in your hometown?
• What are your running/fitness goals in the next year?
• What are your personal/professional goals in the next year?

My favorite question on the application was:

In 2010, we described the San Francisco Marathon as "worth the hurt".
What is running, marathoning, or the San Francisco Marathon
specifically "worth" to you?

My answer?

"Feeling your life change as you cross the finish line is
worth everything you sacrificed to get there."

I filled out my application and sent it in, crossed my fingers, tried not to be so embarrassed for my shameless self-promoting entry .. and then I waited. Part of me didn't feel that I deserved to win. I've had two other opportunities in the past to share my 'story'. The first was when I submitted my story to the Rock n Roll marathon in Phoenix, resulting in my Arizona Central Living front page cove rin 2005 in the feature article "What makes them run?" (Check out the article here.)  

My second bout with fame came in 2009 when I applied to the Rock N Roll Marathon Foot Locker Challenge team for the "race within the race" and was accepted to that! That was an incredible experience! When I applied to be a SFM running ambassador, I kind of thought well, I don't really deserve this. I've had my moments of fame already, shouldn't they pick someone else?

A few weeks had passed and I hadn't heard anything, so I thought hmm.. oh well. :o( I guess I didn't get it. And then .. I got an email saying I had made the team! OMG so exciting!! The SFM emailed and tweeted to those of us who had made it! This ensued with massive retweets of everyone on the team with congratulations! I swear, if you did a productivity study of our group, it dropped like a hot potato on that day. We were all so excited!

It has been so interesting to see the other ambassadors in the group and to read their blogs. On several occasions I have started on one blog, clicked on another, and then another after that.. until several hours had passed and I had done nothing but read running blogs for hours! The Internet is an amazing thing, you can connect to strangers in so many ways! Through being an ambassador I have been exposed to so many other interesting running blogs, and because of this I have updated a section of my own blog to include other blogs I follow.

So in case you couldn't decipher this from my blog up until this point, I will be running the SFM race in July .. and .. deep breath.. I will be running the full marathon! I swore off fulls after my last heartbreaking race this past June (more on that disappointment here) , but I think another full is in my cards, and I think this special race should be my next one. As a true SF native (born and raised in the city thank you -  Sunset District baby!) I love San Francisco with all of my heart. Its my favorite city in the world, the place I grew up, home to my family, hone of the majority of my friends, a great place to live at any age, and a place I will always call home.

Best part of the SFM? You get to run across the Golden Gate Bridge! Let me tell you - its amazing!!

San Francisco hills .. you've beat me twice, but this time I'll come and get you! Can't wait to run the course in July. want to come and join me? Registration opens in a few weeks on December 1st!

Triathlon #2 – The Sprint

Close upon the heels of my first triathlon on October 30th, I completed my second triathlon this past Saturday with the San Diego Tri Club. My first race was a mini sprint (250m swim, 5 mile bike, and 2 mile run) and this past weekend’s race was a regular sprint (800m swim, 12 ½ mile bike, and 4 mile run).

 

The Tri Club holds about 20 races each year which are free to its members, and the last race of the season was this past weekend. I wasn’t quite ready to increase my open water swim distance from 250m to 800m, but I figured what the heck, might as well do the race since its my last chance to complete a triathlon before the season picks up again in the spring.

 

Preparing for the Race

I felt like I barely made it through the 250m swim in my first race, so I had decided that I’d do one longer swim workout during the week to improve my swimming confidence. Well, I didn’t get up quite early enough any morning last week to accommodate the drive time to/from the gym to swim, and ended up just running a few times before work. Oh well.

  

Race Morning

This race was going to be held in the same location as last week’s race (Fiesta Island) and would follow the exact same course but instead of two bike loops there would be five, and instead of one running loop there would be two. Sounded easy enough!

 

I arrived at Fiesta Island around 6:30, unloaded my car, and headed over to the transition area to meet my friend Robin who would also be racing. It was a little harder than last week to get the bike out (without the help of David) but I managed. I didn’t have much time to set-up my transition area and put on my wetsuit before it was time to get into the water. I went in for a few strokes out and back to get wet and acquaint myself with the yuck of the water. The sun was starting to come up and there was a nice frothy brown foam coming in with the water and onto the beach. GROSS.

 
 

The Swim

Prior to starting the race one of Robin’s experienced tri friends joked that the swim was so short that it wasn’t even worth getting wet, and it just meant we’d be cold and wet during the bike and run. So short? The buoys looked like they were miles away to me! Last week’s course was a rectangle with the short leg out, the long leg across, and a short leg back to shore. This course was the long leg of a rectangle out, the short across, and the long leg back.

 

 

There were about 60 of us racing and we all started at the same time and charged into the water. My “charging” was a bit more apprehensive of course, but I tried to start in the middle of the pack so I wouldn’t feel too left behind during the swim.

 

 

There were many things that crossed my mind during the swim, and I’d categorize my emotions as fear, terror, helplessness, and despair.

  

Some things that crossed my mind during the swim:

 

• Wow that first buoy looks far away!
• Okay, just keep swimming and before you know it you’ll be at the first buoy.
•  Wait, are you kidding me? Its still so far away!
•  I wonder if I should backstroke for a bit?
•  Okay, I feel like an idiot backstroking, I’ll go back to freestyle.
•  I can’t believe I’m only half-way to the first buoy! I’m not going to make it!
•  Where are the lifeguards? Should I flag one over? How embarrassing would it be?
•  If I flagged a lifeguard over on a paddleboard, how would we get back? Would I sit like Pocahantas while he rowed?
•  Okay, keep swimming. You can do this!
•  Yay! The first buoy! Crap .. I’m not even halfway done.
•  Okay, second buoy! Hurrah! I did it!
•  Wait … why does the shore look so far away?? ARGH!
•  Keep swimming. Calm down. The shore will get closer.
•  Am I the slowest one here? Oh good, there are people behind me.
•  Shoot, two people just passed me.
•  I know, I will just count each stroke until I get to the shore. I bet I can get there before 100.
•  1 … 2 … 3 …
•  65! I did it! LAND! Get me out of this nasty water!

 

I was SO happy to be out of the water and was soon unzipping my wetsuit and running up to the transition area. I was happy to see that I wasn’t the last one out of the water. Whew!

 

 

The Bike 

I ran over to the transition area and rinsed off my feet with my water bottle before putting my socks on. Again, I put wet and still moderately muddy feet into my socks before slipping on my shoes. I put Yankz laces on my shoes a few weeks ago and I have to say – I love them! Slip-on running shoes? Genius!

 

 

 

I started out on the bike at the same effort that I had biked the previous weekend in my first race. I felt like I was pushing myself enough, but not enough to make my legs burn. I wasn’t surprised as a few people passed me … until I began to notice that everyone was passing me and I was passing no one. The bike leg of the race consisted of five loops and the trend of being passed and never passing continued. I started to worry that anyone who I might have beat out of the swim was now beating me on the bike.

 

 

Oh no! Could I possibly end up coming in last in the race? How embarrassing! As I finished up the last portion of the bike and came into the transition area to go run, I noticed a large gathering of people already enjoying the post-race breakfast buffet. Boo. :o(

 

The Run

I was a bit discouraged when I started out on the run. I know that I’m not a star triathlete or anything (yet! Haha jk) and I’m a weak swimmer and biker, but my win the prior weekend had boosted my confidence a little in my ‘natural’ athletic ability. I went into this race thinking I’d do okay! After thinking that I had come in last on the bike, I was really worried that I’d come in last in the race overall.

 

 

 

I know that I’m an above average runner and hoped that I could gain some time in the run. I started out on the first of two running loops by myself, and after a few minutes I finally saw someone in front of me. I slowly closed the gap and then passed them. Yeah! Okay, so at least one person would finish after me. Is that a bad thing to be happy about? :o( Over the next few miles I slowly passed a handful of others, and even passed two people in the last quarter mile of the run. That really felt good!

 

 

I was watching my pace during the run and was happy to see that I was sticking to a steady 8:00 pace over the four-mile course. I had the same strange sensation as before after doing a bike/run “brick” workout. I’m not sure about the nickname of the bike/run combo though. My legs didn’t feel like bricks, they felt more like rubber and they didn’t feel as tired when I pushed harder. Maybe I should bike before all of my runs!

 

 

The Finish

Oh the joy of rounding the last corner of a racecourse and seeing the finish line! I was so relieved to be finishing the race and was happy to know that I wasn’t going to be coming in dead last. Since most people were already done racing, there were plenty of people to cheer me on as I crossed the finish line.

 

 

After finishing, I went over to my friend Robin who was hanging out by the post-race breakfast spread which consisted of hot breakfast items like eggs, hash browns, veggie sausage, and bacon, along with yogurt, berries, granola, and muffins. Yummy!

 

 

The Results 

Everyone in the race was wearing a timing chip to give accurate split times. The timing chip costs $30 and can be used at all of the FREE Tri Club races. What a great deal! It makes me never want to pay for a running race again! They were tracking the results throughout the race and announced the top three winners in the female and male categories. My friend Robin came in third! What a stud!! The top three male and female winners were also going to get medals which the tri club would mail out later. Guess what the first place winners got? A turkey! It was really funny to see them take an awards picture holding up frozen turkeys.

 

 

A few days after the race the official results were finally posted and I could see how well (or should I say not well) I placed compared to the rest of the group.

 

 

 

• Swim 800m: 17:58 (10th of 15 women)
• T1: 2:01
• Bike 12.5 miles: 48:46 (14th of 15 women)
• T2: 1:17
• Run 4 miles: 30:16 (4th of 15 women) YEAH
• Overall time 1:40:18 (11th of 15 women)

  

I finished as the 11th of 15 women and … 45th of 52 overall! Wow, not so great. Its okay though, this was only my second triathlon and my first time doing this distance. I’m glad that I just got through the race!

 

 

The triathlon season is over for now and won’t start back up until March of next year. That gives me the next several months to focus on my running. My upcoming events are:

 

 

• Nitro Turkey Trot – November 25th
• Gladiator Rock n Run - December 4th
• Carlsbad Half Marathon – January 23rd

  

Its time to get running again!

 

 

 

Fearless Triathlon - I Did It!

Gratefulness

First off, I want to say this blog isn’t to brag, its to share my appreciation for all of the good things that have happened to me recently. In life I’ve had successes and failures, and when it comes to racing, I feel like the scales have been tipped to the negative for me lately.

  
 

In the past two weeks, I’ve had three incredible things happen to me.

1. I was named a running ambassador for the San Francisco Marathon
2. I won a $200 gift certificate to XTERRA wetsuits in a raffle that bought me a sleeveless wetsuit, a wetsuit bag, and a triathlon transition bag.
3. I did much better than expected I my first triathlon, and I feel good about my athletic ability for the first time in ages

As most of you know, I’ve been running marathons for 5 years, and have improved my progress moderately over the years. My long-term goal was to qualify and run in Boston, but prior to that, I wanted to break 4 hours. Well, 12 marathons and 5 years later I’ve yet to do that. I’ve come really close (4 hours and 32 seconds – argh!), but still haven’t officially done it. To many people those 32 seconds don’t count and I have done it. But to me, I haven’t. I had a really bad race for my last full marathon which really just broke my spirit. I felt terrible for days after that race, sad for weeks, and now months after I feel a dull pain that I’ve chosen to ignore. Because of that last terrible performance (attempt #12), I’m scared to try for another full marathon. To fail for a 13th time might hurt me more than the 12th, and I can’t even imagine that. (For more details on my 12th race, check out "Dealing with Disappointment")

 

Enter triathlons. I’ve been asked in the past if I thought I’d do a triathlon ‘next’. I’ve always thought the person was crazy for asking and said no. I have a million reasons why triathlons aren’t for me. But, due to circumstance, timing, and relationships, in the past few months I started considering them. When I went to visit my mom in Paris in July I couldn’t run during that week, so I swam laps for the first time in 10-15 years. I was amazed to find out that I felt strong in the water, so when I came home I kept swimming. As soon as I realized I had the potential to be a strong swimmer, the idea of a triathlon suddenly came into my periphery. At this same time, a friend of mine started training for his first triathlon, making the concept of this race more real.

 

Inspiration 

My friend Todd started training for his first triathlon (an Olympic distance) not too far after running the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in San Diego. Since we’re friends on dailymile.com, I’d see each of his swim, bike, and run workouts posted as he did them. From seeing his posts and his accomplishments, thoughts, challenges, and improvements, I started to think wow, is this something I could do? I was still doubtful of my ability but really enjoyed watching his progress. He trained for several months diligently, raced in October, and beat his goal. Totally amazing! (For more on this topic check out "Watching a Tri")

Todd at the San Diego Classic Triathlon

 

Motivation

When I was at the San Diego Classic Triathlon watching Todd, I wandered over to the expo booths during some of the wait time while Todd was running. I came across a booth for the Fearless Races and recognized them as a beginner triathlon that my friend Robin had told me about. From the little research I had done, this looked like one of the shortest triathlons out there, and it was totally beginner friendly. The race had 3 free clinics included in registration to help acquaint newbies to the sport of triathlon.

 

I stopped at the booth and talked to a guy there (turned out to be the founder of the races) and he handed me a coupon for $10 off registration. Score! But wait, it expired the next night. When I came home that night I decided to suck it up and register. I did it! OH no… A few days after registering I met up with Robin for lunch and she gave me a pep talk and advice and encouragement for the race. Her experience and calmness about the port gave me a little bit more confidence.

 
 

Preparation

I lucked out and was able to borrow a wetsuit and borrow a road bike from fellow GOTR friends. Whew! Those were the bare minimums that I’d need. To try to get over my biggest fear of the water, I planned on meeting a couple friends for an open water swim in La Jolla Cove. That didn’t go great. For more details on that check out "Giving it a Tri".

My First Open Water Swim

I think that one of the best thing about the Fearless Triathlon is that it included three free clinics. I missed the second clinic because I was running the Long Beach Half Marathon (more on my blog here), but made the first and third clinic which were totally helpful.

 

In the first clinic we did swim drills in the water for an hour, went over the first transition (from swim to bike), and then biked about a mile. In the third clinic we also spent about an hour doing swim drill in the water, did a practice swim and then transition to run, and then everyone but me went back into the water for a second swim. (For the race you could either do one loop (mini sprint) of swim/bike/urn or two loops swim//bike/runs/swim/bike/run. Since I was only doing the mini sprint I had no motivation to go back into the water a second time – without a wetsuit!

Fearless Tri - Clinic #1

Photos courtesy of Fearless Races

 

Raceday 

Raceday finally arrived and it was time to put my training to the test! David and I arrived at the race start at 6:40am. I was super stressed because the transition area was supposed to close at 6:45am. We had to park sooo far way, and by the time I got to the bike racks it seemed that there was literally only one spot left for a bike - which I took. As I racked my bike and fumbled around in the dark with my transition bag, I sadly remembered that in the clinic they recommended bringing a flashlight. Shoot. I set up my transition area and started to put on my wetsuit.

Body Marked and Ready!

Waiting to Start the Swim

 

The Swim

The first wave of racers started at 7:00am, but my wave (the mini-sprinters) didn’t start until 7:30am. I was nervous before the first wave started, felt calmed a bit by watching them start and then the subsequent wave start … but then I was just restless waiting for my own wave to start. Prior to the min-sprinters starting there was a nice pop-talk from a emcee. I assume most of us were doing a triathlon for the first time. I was appreciative for the talk and welcomed any and all comforting words!

Todd Braves the Water sans Wetsuit

 Midget Momo and David

Finally, after about a 10-minute wait, we were off! A friend of a friend from the Tri Club had asked earlier if I wanted a swim buddy. YES! I’ll take any help I can get! My own dedicated help? Heck yeah! When the start was announced my swim buddy and I ran into the water, jumped in, and started swimming. I was nervous and anxious and swam the best I could out to the first buoy, around it, and to the second. At some point near the second buoy though I started to freak out. I already knew the water was cloudy and murky, I wasn’t totally fazed by the kicking feet and flailing arms around me, but suddenly I was uncomfortable and just wanted out of the water. (Inner voice – ACK! We aren’t done yet??) As I rounded the 2nd buoy all I could think about was NOOOO!! Why aren’t we done yet>!? The saltiness and cloudiness of the water, the feeling of people all around me, the weird sensation of dipping my face in a muddy pool while trying to not get kicked and propel myself forward was really just freaking me out. I stopped for a second and treaded, and then breaststroked. My swimming buddy Toni yelled out words of encouragement so I kept going in.

Mini-Sprint Orange Cap Wave Goes!

Don’t laugh. We only swam 250 meters which is nothing. But for me, it was just above my comfort level. If I hadn’t been stroking and breathing and kicking for my life to get out of the water, I probably would’ve cried. Seriously. But suddenly, it was over! HALLELUJAH!

Swim Course

The Bike 

I felt like I was in shock running out of the water; I was sooooo happy to be out. I felt funny running, felt gross running in the mud, and oh yeah wait – I hadn’t mentioned that before the first wave started swimming it had started raining. I ran up the hill to the bike transition area while unzipping my wetsuit and pulling it down to my waist. As soon as I got to my bike I rinsed off my feet with some water, put on my socks (over my wet and mildly muddy feet), stuffed on my shoes and put on my helmet , and I was off!

Running up to Transition (In Purple)

By now it was seriously raining. This race was my second time ever on a road bike. The felling of being pitched forward over the handlebars felt a bit more natural than the first time, but I was still scared to be biking in the rain and was afraid of blowing a tire on the numerous little pebbles on the path. The bike route consisted of two loops that I tried to finish as quickly as possible.

Biking By in the Rain

 

Oddly, I was riding alone for most of the bike leg. Where was everyone? In front of me? Behind me? I wasn’t sure how fast to pedal. As fast as I could go until it hurt? As fast as anyone that tried to pass me? In the end I pedaled as fast as I could without my legs burning, and for the most part I felt that I was cruising along at a really strong pace. Until … I’d occasionally hear a strange sound breaking the silence. I was biking for 19 minutes total. About every 3 minutes I’d be biking alone and then I’d hear this weird sound like a plastic/metal sheet being bent back and forth. Wonk .. wonk .. wonk. And then a guy on a bike with disc wheels and a crazy Spy vs Spy helmet would FLY past me. Wow…

The Run 

Throughout the whole bike portion of the race I was afraid of hitting a rock, popping a tire ,and flying over the handlebars. I was SO relieved when I was done with the bike and could go run! I racked my bike and stared off running. But wait – I felt funny! My feet felt weird and my projection felt weird. Luckily I had my Garmin and I could monitor my pace. I was thrown off though by the disconnect in the speed I felt I was running and the pace my watch said I was running. I felt like I was slogging along at first and was alarmed to see that I was running a sub 7:00 mile. I know I can’t hold that pace for 2 miles so I slowed down a bit. I got to about a 8:00 pace but still felt funny. My feet felt numb in parts and my body felt weird. I tried speeding up a bit and that made me “feel” my feet more of that made any sense. It was as if my body was numb at a normal pace, but by pushing harder, I could feel things.

 

I puzzled over these things in the race and pushed and held back and pushed and held back over the two mile course. Based upon the paces I saw as I glanced at my watch now and then, I estimated a 8-8:30 overall pace on the run.

Approaching the Finish

The Win

As I approached the last stretch of the race, I saw a challenged athlete in front of me with a prosthetic leg. I was on pace to pass him, but suddenly thought to myself “is it unclassy to pass a challenged athlete?” I didn’t want to blow past him so I slowly approached him and ran with him for a few strides before we smiled at each other and I joyously exclaimed “we’re almost done!” … and then I passed him and ran for the money to the finish. I finished strong and LOVED that they announced my name as I finished.

 

Finishing Strong!

Triathlon Complete!

After finishing I found David and Christine on the sidelines (soaking wet and cold - so sorry!). Moments later Todd finished the race and we cheered him on to the finish, and quickly high-tailed it out of there.  For a split second it crossed my mind that I had placed in the race since I had seen few people in the bike and run and had passed way more people than had passed me, but I dismissed it as craziness because there was no way this newbie could have done so good.

Well .. by the time I had gotten home I regretted that a bit. My friend Danielle (fellow GOTR coach) sent me a facebook message saying that I had placed in the race. “Wow” I thought! That’s great1 but what did that mean? Did I place in my age division of 30-34? How many others were in that division? What if I was the only one? Did I only place because I had no competition? I was excited to hear that I had won something bat wasn’t able to put it into perspective until a few days later.

A few days after the race the results were posted online and I was astonished to see that I finished first in the overall women’s division, AND I finished as the first woman in the swim and run. How was that possible in the swim?? I saw so many people in front of me! I guess they were all guys?


Official Results

Overall Time: 43:21:08
Swim: 7:05  (1st place female, 2nd overall)
T1: 2:18
Bike: 19:32  (6th place female)
T2: 1:35
Run: 12:50   (1st place female, 3rd overall)

 

When I looked over the results I also felt guilty because I don’t think the run was an actual 2 mile course. (I haven’t downloaded my watch data yet.) My run time was clocked at 12:50. There is no way I ran 2 miles at a 6:25 pace! Maybe close to 7:00 but not under 7:00. Hmm....  I felt bad for a bit until I realized that well, even if the course was shorter than 2 miles, we all ran the same course, so if I ran that part fastest, then I deserved to come in first!

Winners' Medals - Mine in the middle!

 

I looked at the races website and saw a list of school schwag for winning. Darnit, why didn’t I stick around?! I sent an email on Monday to the race organizer asking if I could still get prize. On Tuesday I sent another email. Crickets. Crickets. On Wednesday morning I was sad not to have heard back yet … and then finally I got a response! I’d still get my award! Yay! They won’t mail it for two weeks and I’m not sure if I’ll get just the trophy, or the trophy plus the other goodies (food and a tri outfit). I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Next Race 
I came into triathlons at the wrong time of year. The season is over! But not just yet. The San Diego Tri club (AWESOME) has a club race this coming Saturday that I’ve signed up for. I’m a bit nervous because its 2-3 times the distance of the race I just did. I feel like I barely made it through that race! Its hard to imagine going so much further. Oh well, we’ll see how it goes. Gotta give it a TRI right ? :o)

 

Thankfulness

I couldn’t have gotten to where I am today if it weren’t for a number of friends. Thank you so much to everyone who helped me by lending me gear, giving me advice, and encouraging me to go for it.

 

Todd – thank you for the original motivation! I’m glad you shared your training progress and thoughts along the journey towards your first tri. Thanks also for going with me for that first swim in the cove, and for signing up for the Fearless Tri to keep me company and make the race seem like it was something I could do.

Carol - thank you for holding my hand as I walked into the water at La Jolla cove. Thank you also for your reassuring words up until the swim!
 

Robin - thank you for all of the advice and encouragement! Because of you I joined the Tri Club, went to a coached swim at the JCC, heard of the Fearless Race, and eventually signed up.
 

Megan – thank you for lending me your wetsuit! Without a wetsuit training for this race and competing wouldn’t even have been possible!

Kathryn – thank you for talking bikes with me and going to a few bike stores to look at my options and to start to kind of understand what road biking is all about.

Tara – thank you for lending me your road bike! Without your bike I would have had to use my dead weight Target mountain bike from college.

Christina – thank you for talking triathlons with me over the past few months. Even though we didn’t sign up for the races we’ve talked about lately, having another newbie friend who was willing to make the transition from marathons to triathlons made me feel more confident about the decision.

Lastly David – my number one fan, captain of my race support crew, fellow marathoner, and my favorite person. Thanks for always believing in me and encouraging me to go for it. You’ve believed in me so many times when I didn’t believe in myself. Thank you for that.

I’ll report back after my next race this weekend. Who knows, if this goes well I might have to change the title of my blog to Engineer, Marketer, Marathon Runner, TRIATHLETE, & Cheese Hater.

Courage,Motivation,Inspiration

Want to Cry? Watch the CAF Tri!  Hey, that rhymes! ;o)

This past Saturday I went down to La Jolla Cove to watch the Challenge Athletes Foundation (CAF) Triathlon. I've heard that watching this race is amazing, and it didn't disappoint.

Finish Line of the CAF Triathlon

My Reason to Watch

I'm doing my first triathlon this coming Saturday. I won't lie, I'm scared. I'm afraid of the swim (even after some open water practice), I'm scared of riding a road bike (it feels so awkward to be pitched forward), and I'm afraid of doing poorly on the run after getting off the bike - when the run is my best part. A triathlon in all of its parts make up about 80% of my weaknesses. Two sports I'm terrible at, with transitions in between. Um, have any of you seen me get ready for work on the mornings? I'm not quick to move. A race where the clock is ticking while you change gear is totally my enemy.

Bike Transition Area

With that said, after having burned out on full marathons recently, I've decided that a triathlon will be my next new endurance goal! First up I needed to conquer my fear of water, and more specifically the ocean. I'm not a great swimmer, I'm a major germ freak, and I don't like nature, plants, and creatures. The idea of an open water swim was my worst nightmare on so many levels, but on another hand it was something I just HAD to do. I had to face those fears and see if doing a triathlon was something I could even do!

 Start of the Swim

Lifeguards on the Course

The Swim

My first open water swim was terrifying. I had never willingly put my head underwater in my life. I knew I wasn't a strong swimmer, and since I don't like nature the idea of swimming over kelp and past sea lions was a personal "Fear Factor" challenge.On my first swim in the cove I  made it about 1/8 of a mile out, and came flailing back to shore as quickly as possible. My 2nd an 3rd open water swims were different a little bit better. I swam in Mission Bay which has calm, unmoving water. This was an improvement over the Cove but instead of masses of plants and creatures, the water was just gross looking and dirty. Imagine putting your face in a bowl of pea soup - that's what swimming in the bay looks like. At my 2nd and 3rd swim I managed to make it through the clinics but really didn't enjoy the water. Apparently most others in my newbie group didn't either as well. It made me feel a bit better to know that I wasn't alone in my fears.

CAF Triathlon 3rd Swim Wave Start

Courage

Lets go back to the CAF Triathlon. I heard a quote from the race MC of my first marathon right before the gun went of, and it brought tears to my eyes that morning.

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

-John Bingham, running speaker and writer

Coming out of the Water - Headed for the Bike

When I heard this the first time, I thought wow - that is so true! Deciding to take on the challenge of  a  marathon and taking the first step to register and acknowledge that you think you can do it is really hard. Once you've made that decision and you commit to the training, putting one foot in front of another on race day doesn't seem as hard in comparison. Don't get me wrong, running a marathon is hard. Making that initial decision to go for it though is REALLY hard.

Two Challenged Athletes Towing a Third

When I got to the CAF triathlon and saw all of the challenged athletes I thought to myself WOW, here are some brave people. I thought it was hard for me (able-bodied) to make the choice to train for a distance race. Can you imagine how much harder it must be for those with physical challenges? I saw people missing one leg, both legs, one arm, someone that was blind, and someone who was a paraplegic. Imagine how much courage THEY had to take the first step. I'm scared of swimming in the ocean - but I can walk in and out. I saw several athletes being carried in and out! Amazing.

Carrying a Swimmer Up

Motivation

I've always wondered what motivates others to take on big challenges. For me, attempting to run a marathon was something I wanted to do to see if I could do something I never thought was possible. Years ago running 10 miles was as crazy an idea to me as lifting a car with my bare hands. Finding out that I could actually run 10 miles, 13 miles, 20 miles, and then a full marathon was life changing. Now I feel like I can do anything! Well, kind of. :o)

Scout Bassett - Amazing Young Athlete

As I watched all of the challenged athletes out there in the water, on the bike, and preparing to run, I wondered what motivated each of them. I heard the MC announce that some of the athletes were born with their physical limitations, while others lost a limb or mobility in an accident or even in war. Regardless of their history, I think its amazing that they all decided to not allow a physical challenge to stop them. They were at this race doing what many able bodied people don't even try to!

Challenged Athletes Bike Start

  

Inspiration

I watched the entire swim portion of the race and watched the start of the challenged athletes bike race. Have you wondered by now what distance this event was? It was a Half-Ironman distance, also known as 70.3. This consists of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike, and a 13.2 mile run. Amazing.  I left after the bikers took off and ended up walking a few blocks with a man who was there taking pictures of the event. As we were chatting he said to me "Man, I haven't worked out in years. Watching these guys with no limbs do what they do, really made me think its a sign for a change." I hope this race really did inspire him and many others to change their life!

1.2 Mile  Swim Course

We walked a couple blocks further and a woman walking towards us stopped to ask what was going on down by the Cove. I told her that the Challenged Athletes Foundation Triathlon was going on. She said "oh, a triathlon." I giggle inside a little when my walking partner corrected her by saying 'No, not just a triathlon. A CHALLENGED ATHLETE triathlon. There's people missing limbs!" She didn't look like she got it and just walked on. Oh well. I loved that he asserted that point.

After leaving the race I kept thinking about the athletes. If they weren't scared to swim a mile into the ocean, shouldn't I be more brave about swimming 250 meters in the bay? Next weekend when I do my first triathlon (a fraction of the distance of a Half-Ironman) I'm going to try to suck it up and be brave and to face my fears of the water. I'm also going to try not to fall over trying to get my wetsuit off (which has happened), and to try to give this little race everything I've got. For me, this race is about facing fears, taking on new challenges, and doing something I never thought I'd do.

I'll be back next week with a race report! For now, think about these athletes and everything they have overcome to get outside and to get moving. Next time you're tired and don't want to workout, appreciate the fact that at least you can walk outside to get going. Not everyone can.