I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time!  Yeah, so I might have registered under the influence of a few glasses of wine, giggling to myself (and hoping Shane wouldn’t freak out when he found out how much it cost!) and thinking it could be fun.  And now it’s finally here.  I have a feeling I am going to be sad tomorrow after each leg is over.  After months of training and all the sacrifices, it’ll be over in one day.  Guaranteed within 17 hours – no matter how it ends.

To get pumped up, I like to watch the coverage from last year:

That gives you a good idea of what kind of day I”m in store for tomorrow.

We went to the dinner and athlete briefing last night.  The dinner was very fun and inspiring.  They told us fun facts about the race this year.  For instance, only 24% of competitors are female.  Go us!  1100 of the 2500 athletes are TEXANS.  410 athletes are over 50 years old.  The oldest racer is 80 and the youngest is 18; the average age is 37.  95% of Ironman triathletes have a college degree – yeah, they’d have to have a decent job, this sport is not cheap.

They held a competition to see who had lost the most weight during training.  One man lost 230 pounds – 230!!! He has been training since 2010.  THAT is incredible.  Lots of husband and wife teams out there – don’t know how they do it, especially if they have kids.

So tomorrow.  D Day, as they call it.  As WE call it, I guess.  There are 800 athletes tomorrow for whom it will be our FIRST Ironman – about 30% of us have never done this before.  To my fellow athletes – good luck, godspeed, and if you swim over me I will elbow you in the nuts.

And to Mike Reilly – there are only four words I want to hear from you.

Saturday morning is coming.  Quickly.

At 7am I will be treading water with 2500 of my closest friends, waiting for the gun to go off so we can begin the 2.4-mile swim.  Before the 112-mile bike ride.  Before the 26.2-mile (full marathon) run. 

On Saturday, I will be racing in my first Ironman!

I kept it a secret for a long time.  From friends, from teammates, from coaches.  I didn’t want to hear the negativity – that I couldn’t do it, that it was crazy, that I wasn’t experienced enough.   They don’t have any idea what I am capable of.   I don’t think I even have an idea yet.  But hopefully I will on Saturday.

I was reading the intro to Chrissie Wellington’s book, A Life Without Limits.  For those who don’t know, Chrissie Wellington is a 4-time Ironman World Champion.  She didn’t start triathlon til later in life, had no natural athletic abilities, and honed her skills merely through determination and heart – lots and lots of heart.  She said that all Ironman competitors ask themselves the same two things before the race. 1) Will I finish? And 2) At what cost?

I got this someecard from my in-laws this morning.  Aren’t they funny?

Goal #2 for me is always to finish the race.  I know, it should be Goal #1, right?  Yeah but Goal #1 for me is always to not shit myself.  Seriously.  If you don’t know much about endurance sports and effects on gastrointestinal issues, Google can help you.  When your blood is busy keeping your legs moving, you can lose control of basic bodily functions.  TMI, I know.  And Goal #3 is always to finish in under [whatever time goal I have set for myself].  Well, my friends…the day has come when Goals 1 and 2 have switched places.  I want to finish.  And that’s the price I’m putting on it.  Shitting myself.  I would rather shit myself than not finish.  That’s how badly I want to finish.  Ideally, I will finish AND not shit myself, but hey, we can’t have everything we want.  Cross your fingers.

Why am I doing this?  Why would anyone subject themselves to this?  What is the pull, the desire?

Put simply, because I can.  Because WHY THE HELL NOT.  There are people who can’t do this.  I can, and I will.  Team in Training for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has changed my life.  A year ago I had not yet run my first marathon.  I didn’t really know anyone in Houston.  I weighed almost 140 pounds (while not at all a heavy weight, not MY happy weight and not my natural weight – it was a result of eating garbage and not working out – oh, and lots of wine).  I was very unhappy.  Today, I have run 4 full marathons, 5 half marathons, countless 5Ks and 10Ks, 2 sprint triathlons, 3 Olympic triathlons, and 2 half-ironman distance triathlons.  I have many amazing friends whom I’ve met through TNT, several of whom are blood cancer survivors and have been directly impacted by LLS’ efforts. I have bonded even more with my friends who have since joined.  I weigh 115 pounds (would like to gain just a little back, this is my race weight).  AND I AM SO HAPPY.  I feel healthy, and while Shane and I are both busy bees, we have the best time together and I think this has truly helped our relationship.  It was never rocky, but my unhappiness made it not as bright as it could be…does that make sense?  I can’t say enough good things about TNT. 

I want to raise awareness about TNT and our mission to cure blood cancer.  But I NEED YOUR HELP.  If you have even $5 to donate today, if you’re even slightly interested in what I’ve written here, or just think that the idea of doing an Ironman is pretty cool – won’t you help? I will not stop until we have reached the ultimate finish line – a cure. 

On Friday I get to meet Chrissie Wellington and she’ll sign my copy of A Life Without Limits.  And that’s the way I want to live.

I can do this.

Yes, I know it’s Wednesday.

But this weekend was still phenomenal.  My little sister Stephanie graduated from Texas A&M University – Commerce as a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies.  I couldn’t be prouder of her!  She passed her teaching certification exam, her PPR, and is ESL certified – totally ready to teach kindergarten!  She won’t find out til this summer if she has a job at the school district she’s been working at, but with her awesome recommendation letters and teachers/administrators backing her, I am thinking/hoping it won’t be a problem.

“I did it!”

“Look over there…”

And just a picture I love.  We got some funnier pics that are on my mom’s iPad too.

Afterward, we had family and friends over to the house to celebrate.  It was so great getting everyone together to congratulate Steph!  My friend Merritt came with her 11-month-old son Mason, so I got to be baby-crazy for most of the afternoon.

–Also… a big congratulations to my friend Terra on her graduation this weekend too!!  You ROCK.

Met up with Kristen, Valerie, J, and a couple of significant others for drinks at The Cedars Social in South Dallas.  Despite being born and raised in the Metroplex and living there for a year after college, I haven’t spent much time in this area and was more than a little apprehensive.  Texts I sent to J while sitting in the parking lot:

However, once inside, the place is pretty hip; we all agreed it was a scene straight out of Boogie Nights!  Their cocktail list was very extensive.  Of course, I’m STILL not drinking so I settled for the food menu.  Val and I split the deviled eggs and artisan cheese tray.  Delicious!  I would absolutely go back to try some of their tasty looking drinks.  I left early, unfortunately – love spending time with those ladies (and gentlemen)! – had to get back and see what was going on at the house, since I had left Shane their on his study group call.  Hung out with Steph and her friends in the hot tub til midnight or so.  Great day.

We had full intentions of taking my mom out for brunch on Mother’s Day, but she instead insisted on making waffles.  Twist my arm, right?  It was nice being able to spend Mother’s Day at home for a change.  After gifting her our tokens, we packed up the stuff and the dogs and headed back to Houston.  I went for a ride with Crystal (very short ride – 20 miles, thank God for tapering) at Bear Creek before tending to the laundry and crashing.  All in all, an awesome weekend.

May 19th is only 3 days away – you know what my next post will be about!!

This week starts my final preparations for what will be one of the longest days EVER.  I got an email from Aimee (my SiL, you know her by now, right?), with only two words:

It’s coming.

IMTX setup has begun in The Woodlands.  AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  I got my magic tyres put on at TOTR on Monday – hopefully they will better my odds of not flatting on the bike course!

Yesterday was nuts.  NUTS, I tell you.  But one good thing came from all the crazy and made me proud to be an American:

My heart swelled.  As a Jewish woman, I believe in EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL.  Period.  End of story.  I find Obama to be just as capable and intelligent as I did 4 years ago, and make no mistake – I will be casting my vote for him again on November 6th.  And donating to his campaign, as I did yesterday.

President Obama, I cannot forgive you for waiting so long to do the right thing when it comes to marriage equality, but thank you for doing it now.  Regardless of the disappointing (but of course anticipated) vote in NC on Tuesday, my friend Ada put it very well.  “Don’t fail to remember all of the other times throughout history that civil liberties were denied.  This is not the first or last time that people will be denied equal rights based on misapplied religious doctrine, but I guarantee the ultimate result will be the same.  History speaks for itself.”  That’s  much more eloquent than me saying, “psh…rednecks.”  JUST KIDDING (I’m plenty eloquent).  I will continue to speak out for marriage equality until EVERYONE has the same rights.  Gay pride arm warmers and ALL.

Anyway.

Yesterday was the fall season kickoff for TNT and I am SO EXCITED about the upcoming season.  I will be doing a cycle event (Viva Bike Vegas) to FINALLY get my Triple Crown award (you need to do a marathon, triathlon, and century ride for this, and so far I have done zero cycle events).  AND I am a mentor for Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco – with some amazing ladies!  Aimee is doing her first TNT event (we are having a VERY exciting fundraiser in September so stay tuned) and (duh) we are doing Nike with Kristen, Amy D, Valerie, Marisa, and Julie – well with some other crazy gals too – but the 7 of us are planning a NAPA TRIP after the race.  NAPA, NAPA, NAPA *more chanting*  Cue me hoarding my vacation days.

READY for fall season to start.

My little sister Stephanie graduates from college this Saturday.  She’s receiving her BS in Interdisciplinary Studies, is a certified teacher Pre-K through 12th grade, passed her PPR, and is ESL certified.  She won’t find out if she has a job at her current district (in our hometown) until the end of the summer, but they’ve written her such amazing letters of recommendation and I’m hopeful they’ll find her a spot.  I’m so proud of her!  Proud of her for pushing through and doing something she loves.  Can’t wait to see her walk across the stage!

In other news, taper to me means not training.  Seriously, I don’t know what’s gotten into me.  I’m just exhausted lately, can’t focus on anything, don’t want to train, just want to do the race.  Our brick practice was cancelled on Tuesday due to rain and I did not make it to the gym.  I’ll go swimming tonight, and running this weekend.  I need to sneak in a 30 mile bike ride sometime.  TAPER.  Oh, and I’m starving.  I can eat a seriously disturbing amount of food these days.  Bring on the doughnuts.

I’m always late on these things.  It’s because I forget.  But so far I really like being able to look back at what happened month by month!

April was:

Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Galveston

Jess’ birthday party at Canyon Creek (ah, the good ol’ days when I was drinking!)

Passover dinner at the Arlens’ house.

Daniel Tosh at Verizon Theatre.

My first time to ride 100 miles on the bike.

Second Seder Social at our house with my in-laws, Marisa, Amy D, and J-Ro.

We visited NYC (still didn’t blog about that, did I?) – Central Park Half Marathon, Newsies, happy hour with Rachel and Pete, dinner with Chandler and Clint, cupcakes, shopping, and all of the other fun stuff.  I’ve included this particular picture because I look dead and think it’s funny.

My 27th birthday – pretty anti-climactic.

More long training days.

Got my HR Generalist certification.

Kemah Triathlon with some good friends.

Isn’t there power in positive thinking?  I found this on the IMTX thread on BT, and it was modified from freeswimmingfish on the IMAZ thread.  This is what I have to believe for the next 10 days….

Right now you’ve all entered the taper. Perhaps you’ve been at this a few months,
perhaps you’ve been at this a few years. For some of you this is your first IM,
for others, a long-overdue welcome back to a race that few can match. Finishing an Ironman is never an accident. It’s the result of dedication,
focus, hard work, and belief that all the long runs in March, long rides in
April, and long swims every damn weekend will be worth it. It comes from
getting on the bike, day in, day out. It comes from long, solo runs. From that
first long run where you wondered, “How will I ever be ready?” to the
last long run where you smiled to yourself with one mile to go…knowing that
you’d found the answer.

You’ve been following your schedule to the letter. You’ve been piling on the
mileage, piling up the laundry, and getting a set of tan lines that will take
until next year to erase. Long rides were followed by long runs, which both
were preceded by long swims, all of which were followed by recovery naps that
were longer than you slept for any given night during college.

You ran in the dark.

You rode in the rain.

You ran in the heat.

You ran in the cold.

You went out when others stayed home.

You rode the trainer when others pulled the covers over their heads.

You have survived the Darwinian progression that is an Ironman summer, and now
the hardest days are behind you. Like a climber in the Tour de France coming
over the summit of the penultimate climb on an alpine stage, you’ve already
covered so much ground…there’s just one more climb to go. You shift up, you
take a drink, you zip up the jersey; the descent lies before you…and it will
be a fast one.

Time that used to be filled with never-ending work will now be filling with
silent muscles, taking their final, well-earned rest. While this taper is
something your body desperately needs, your mind cast off to the background for
so very long, will start to speak to you.

It won’t be pretty.

It will bring up thoughts of doubt, pain, hunger, thirst, failure, and loss. It
will give you reasons why you aren’t ready. It will try and make one last stand
to stop you, because your brain doesn’t know what the body already does. Your
body knows the truth:

You are ready.

Your brain won’t believe it. It will use the taper to convince you that this is
foolish – that there is too much that can go wrong.

You are ready.

It is worth it. Now that you’re at the taper, you know it will be worth it. The
workload becomes less. The body winds up and prepares, and you just need to
quiet your worried mind. Not easy, but you can do it.

You are ready.

Say that like Pauly D from Jersey Shore – t-shirt tiiiiiime!  No?  Just me?

Here’s what we got ourselves into this weekend! 

Friday night was spent at Sherlock’s for my CapTex team’s fundraiser.  It was a $10 donation at the door and $1 drinks til 7pm….I’m actually surprised we didn’t get a bigger turnout - $1 drinks, people!  And I’m still in Oktsoberfest (now it’s Day 19) and it was like my own personal hell.  BUT we raked in around $300 for the cause, so it was an evening well spent.

Saturday I woke up at 5:30 and got ready for Bike for Mike in Fulshear (about 45 minutes west of Houston, nice flat place for riding).  It was a really nice ~70 mile ride.  Ended up riding with a couple of friends for most of the way.  My only complaint would be the headwind when traveling south (standard anywhere right now, with the wind coming off the gulf) and lack of coverage.  That’s what’s nice about the IMTX bike course – it might be 112 miles, but it has a lot of shade, especially riding through Sam Houston National Forest!  Anyway, Bike for Mike was my first sponsored ride and it was AWESOME to have rest stops – the food was awesome (especially the smoothies at the 30 mile stop!).  We stopped at mile 30 and mile 56 for refill and snack breaks.  It was pretty hot out and I was ready to call it a day.  Jess was flying with her new Gatorskins tyres and I think I’ll have to procure some for myself.  It makes it harder to get a flat, so even though it’s a heavier tyre, it would still be worth it for the time it would take me to change a flat.  I don’t want to risk that on race day.  I ran 2 miles just to shake out my legs, and then Jess and I headed over to 288 Lake for a 2 mile open water swim.  It took us 1:16, which would put us at about 1:30 for the 2.4 mile swim at IM.  That’s my goal time!

Shane had been at class all day and after he got home we went back out to Katy for a Cinco de Mayo dinner at our friends Lori and Zach’s house.  The more time I spend in the suburbs, the more I love it.  It’s nice being close to all the ‘Houstonian’ stuff – like the locally owned restaurants & bars, and being close to my friends and Memorial Park, but city living is just that.  Our backyard is pocket-sized, there’s a crackhouse on the corner (every corner, not just ours), traffic is horrendous at all times.  So moving out the ‘burbs would be a huge change and yes, it’s far (~30 miles), but what’s so bad about holing up in the house or eating at the local Chili’s?  Nothing, that’s what.  So I was pointing out all the cool stuff when we were driving: “Oh, look, running trails!  Katy has nice running trails!  You know where else has nice running trails?”  Shane, dejectedly: “The Woodlands.”  Me: “Damn right, The Woodlands!”  Since doing all of our training up there (30 min north, that’s where IMTX is held), I’ve become mildly obsessed with this particular suburb.  IT’S GORGEOUS. 

I digress. 

So we had fun with our friends on Cinco – even though I couldn’t have the margs.  BUT I was introduced to mojito flavored Crystal Light…delicious!  Some of the gals were just adding rum to it, but it also tasted fine on its own – very refreshing. 

I was supposed to wake up at 5:30 for a 5K; I had lofty goals of beating my time from the last one.  But then I realized I would probably expend all of my energy for the day and I kinda needed the rest.  So when my alarm went off, I just said NOPE.  Instead I woke up at 7:30 and met some friends for a long run.  It was a nice day – overcast, not too bad.  We lucked out.  Ran from Memorial along Allen Parkway through downtown and back, and then I did an extra loop or so to add up to 16 miles.  Phew!

Strongarmed Jordann into going to 288 Lake, where we swam 1.5 miles with Erin and Julie.  Ok….now it’s taper time.  I will keep my swim volume up but am really backing off the bike and the run.  Next weekend is my sister’s college graduation!!!  So I’ll bike 40 miles either when we get back or before we leave and run 10-12 on Sunday morning. 

Love tapering.  Love it.  More time at home, more time to EAT ALL THE FOOD, more time in general.

Off to a new week.

“BOAT, BOAT, BOAT, BOAT!”

I was chanting and fist-pumping all the way to the Colonel, the huge paddleboat that’s usually docked at Moody Gardens in Galveston.  It came up to Kemah, a town in Galveston Bay, to take us a mile offshore so we could jump in and start our Olympic distance tri.

It felt like we had been signed up for Kemah for FOREVER.  I talked Marisa and Aimee into doing it as a relay with me – I would do the swim, M would do the bike, and A would do the run.  Once it dawned on me that I should probably use this as a final warmup race for IMTX, I contacted the race director to see if I could do the full Olympic myself.  He said since I was the swimmer it wouldn’t be a problem at all, I would just wear my own chip and hand off the relay chip to our biker in transition.  Easy!

Splash, Flash, Dash (our team name) drove down to Kemah on Saturday afternoon to get settled into our suite at the luxurious Super 8 (note – the room was kind of dirty but the bed was very comfortable) and get some dinner at Cadillac Bar on the boardwalk . We met up with K, who drove down from Dallas for her triathlon debut.  I had never been to Kemah before and was gleefully wide-eyed, with grandiose ideas of riding rides, eating cotton candy, and feeding the fish for $0.25.  I did none of these things.  But we did stop at DQ for Blizzards on the way back to the hotel, which is just as good, if not better.

We were in bed by 11:30 and woke up at 4:15 – huge UGH. We had all of our stuff ready to go, so we just pumped our bikes, racked ‘em on Marisa’s car, and drove the 0.5 miles to transition, HAH.  It was along a highway, so we didn’t feel comfortable walking!  I didn’t realize how rushed I would be.  As I’ve said before, I like being really rushed at the beginning of a tri so that I don’t have time to get nervous, but this was pushing it a little.  I tossed my stuff in transition, grabbed my wetsuit, goggles, and swim cap, and beelined for the port-o-lets before running over to the Colonel with Julie (while chanting, “BOAT, BOAT, BOAT, BOAT!”). We boarded and shimmied (not really) into our wetsuits. 

I did this race all for the boat start.  It sounded amazing.  AND IT WAS.  800 triathletes on a 3-story boat jumping into Galveston Bay? Rocks my world.  Coast Guard helicopter flyover during the national anthem?  I almost peed myself (and then I did pee myself once in the water).  By far the coolest tri start ever.  It was a time-trial start, meaning there were no waves – the pros started first, then all male and female age-groupers – your time starts when you cross the timing mat and jump in the water. 

Swim – 38:43

This swim was HARD.  5 foot swells in the bay, which of course I couldn’t tell while I was swimming…I would just feel a wave push me forward and then pullllllll me back.  Finally I started trying to swim hard with the current and then just relax when it was against me.  The lifeguards pulled dozens of people out of the water.  I could hear them yelling at people to see if they needed help or were being pushed off course.  I used my new AquaSphere goggles and they were AMAZING.  I’ll never go back to TYR.  Although since it was a saltwater swim, I had stuffed an extra pair into my sports bra – an awesome tip I received from one of the JSC guys before I did Galveston 70.3.  I told Kristen to do the same thing, and it’s lucky she did because not 20 strokes into her sprint swim, she got a foot to the face and it broke her goggles.  Phew!  So my Oly swim prior was 37 minutes – and this was almost 39, and I’m a stronger swimmer now.  I think the course was a little longer than 1500 meters (about a mile), but it still sucked.

Getting out of the water; I think if you could read my mind while this pic was being taken, it would be saying, “BLURRRRGGGHHHHHH.”  Look at that dirt on my face…nasty.

T1 – 3:27

Long time, but again, it was a hike back to the transition area…I think about a quarter of a mile. I saw my swim time on my watch and was not pleased.  I handed off the relay chip to Aimee, who ran it to Marisa, and then got my bike gear on – used my new Pearl Izumi cycling shoes and honestly I love them – now I don’t know which pair to use for IM.  Maybe I will try to use the Izumis for the 70 mile ride on Saturday and see how it goes. 

Bike – 1:26:57

Bike course was also a bit long, around 25.2 miles (instead of 24.9). Not bad, at least it was under 1:30.  I averaged 17.3 mph.  Strong headwind going out, I think I averaged 14 or 15 then.  Saw some asshole shamelessly drafting off of EVERYONE (this is illegal and you can get time penalties).  Finally I yelled at him to stop drafting, but it doesn’t sound very authoritative coming from a skinny pale chick.  I should have thrown in a curse word.  FLEW on the way back with the sweet tailwind – I hit 36 mph on a downhill, which is the fastest I’ve ever gone…I was pretty nervous about that!  I finally got to play “fishing,” where I try to see how many fish I can reel in (how many people I can pass) – I think it totaled to 18.  Crazy!  I never pass people on the bike! 

This was taken on the way out, around mile 8 – mugging for the camera:

My Splash, Flash, Dash teammate Marisa killing it on the bike:

T2 – 2:01

Saw Aims again – I had passed M in the first couple of miles – and told her M was on her way.  Tossed my bike on the rack, got the helmet off, and changed shoes.  Most of this time was spent scrambling for my race belt until it dawned on me that I left it on the hotel bed (I put it there so I wouldn’t forget it – stupid).

Run – 58:32

This is an average of 9:26 mile…eh, ok.  I’ll take it.  I was wearing my new Zoot tri shoes that don’t require socks.  I was worried they’d rub the back of my foot since that’s what happened on a 2 mile run previously.  I was right.  It rubbed a lot of the skin off – gross.  So it was painful.  But I love running – it’s fun for me.  I tried to push myself.  It sucks that you can’t use music in triathlon, so I play a game where I count every time my left foot hits the ground up to 200 and then I start over.  I lent my Garmin to Aimee so she could track her pace, so I wasn’t sure how fast I was going.  It felt like about a 10:00 mile so I just kept at it.  Loved seeing my CapTex team on the course – they had done the sprint so I got to chit-chat with a few of em and see how they were feeling.  Saw some of the JSC guys out there too – great job to all!  Got to pass by Aimee when she was on her way out and give her a high-five!  The run is the best because of all the spectators – saw Shane and my in-laws (my mother-in-law is getting famous for her signs – it’s my goal to make her go viral, hahah).  She needs to be the new ridiculously photogenic guy.  Just known everywhere.   

I still have dirt on my face, how gross!  Or maybe it makes me look pro?!

I love this pic of Aimee because she looks so hardcore sprinting to the finish!  That is the face of determination – and look at her stride! PRO:

While Kristen didn’t have a great time in her first tri (see: foot to the face), she made the best of it and rocked the rest – she looks pretty happy to me.  GO K!

My final time – 3:09:42 – I finished 13th out of 28 in my division (females 25-29).  I’ll take it.  I was really hoping to go under 3 hours and I think I could have if the swim had been a little easier. 

Splash, Flash, Dash’s final time – 3:34:17 – we came out and had a blast, and btw this time is better than my first Oly tri.  Wut wut!

OnUrMark was very disorganized with awards – our relay team came in third and we literally waited an hour to get our trophy.  Hey, we were not about to pass up the chance to stand on the podium!  So I would do this race again, but only because of the incredibly badass boat start.

We had to celebrate the only way we know how – with my mother-in-law and THE SIGN!  And in our cute t-shirts.  Mine says SPLASH on the back, Marisa’s says FLASH, Aimee’s says DASH, and Kristen’s says CRASH (bc she “crashed” our relay party, not bc she crashes on the bike!!). 

Photo credits to Shane!  And one of SFD with our medals (but not our trophies yet):

Had a great time with all of these fun ladies!  We’ll have to figure out another race to do together.  Oh, wait – NIKE WOMEN’S MARATHON in October! ;o)  Already planning our Napa trip too – it’s gonna be this much fun x5!

And you know what that means.

Today was Day 14 of what I’ve not-so-affectionately dubbed Oktsoberfest.  In an effort to positively affect my training AND to prove once and for all that I’m not an alcoholic (might have a slight wine obsession but we already knew that), I’ve quit drinking for 30 days.  It’s on my list of things to do and trust me, I can’t wait til I cross that finish line in 16 days and get a delicious delicious beer (I prefer wine, but beer goes better with endurance events).

I’ve done the 100 mile ride(s).  I’ve done the long bricks.  I’ve done the 2 mile swim.  I’ve done the warmup races.  I’ve given up alcohol, FFS.

I’m feeling ready.  The only thing that terrifies me to my core is the mass swim start.  Look, I can swim 2.4 miles but I’ve never tried to do it with 2500 other people around me, kicking, flailing, etc.

Also, I’m constantly starving.  Who has two thumbs and ate two dinners tonight – this chick.  FOURTH MEAL FTW.

This week’s training:

Today – short 6 mile run (was supposed to also go to the lake, but my buddy bailed)
Thursday – swim at least 1.5K (I also have my pre-race physical to make sure I won’t croak out there)
Friday – 10 mile run in the morning
Saturday – 70 mile ride, 5 mile run
Sunday – 5K race, followed by 13 more miles and a 2 mile swim later that day

Next week – want to squeeze in one more long run (18 miles??) and then start tapering hardcore.  No rides or runs longer than 2 hours.

Must focus on something else.  I’ll leave you with a funny quote from my friend J about building her company’s website:

Me: So, ideally, what do you want it to look like?
J: I dunno. I mean, anything but Baby’s First PowerPoint.  And pictures of nature always go over well.

Sneak peek of Kemah Tri – race recap soon.

And while you’re at it, check out the new site I’ve been working on for an awesome tri team here in Houston – www.jsc-racing.com !!

And here’s a funny picture from HRG’s site today.  It’s true.  Shane, remember what happened the last time you tried to stick with me in a race?  Not a good look for you.

Ok so I left you with a lot of stuff…

As many of you know, on May 19th (less than a month, ACK) I’m taking on a feat that a year ago I would have imagined impossible: Ironman Texas.  A year ago I hadn’t even run my first marathon yet.  A year ago I barely knew how to ride a bike.  A year ago this would have sounded crazy.  This still sounds crazy.

What is an Ironman triathlon? An Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile (full marathon) run.  All in 17 hours.

Why would I do something like this? I’m at the point in my training where I can’t truly say.  It seems ridiculous, to the point where I’m offering other people my race spot at pit stops on training rides in bunkass towns.  But, of course, that’s my screaming legs talking.  Put simply, I’m doing it because I can.  TNT/LLS has given me something, a part of my life that I really love – I can’t wait to sport the colors and rock out on the course.  I want to spread the mission.  On my 30 before 30 list, I said that I want to raise at least $30,000, and I’m at well over $11,000.  Can’t believe it!

Last weekend I went on an 80 mile bike ride on the course (we are very lucky to live a half hour away from The Woodlands, but then again, that’s why I chose THIS Ironman) with my friend Jessica…it wasn’t my first time to go that far, and it obviously won’t be my last, but I was honestly just bonking.  I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me.  I almost cried when I looked down and saw we had only gone 26 miles – it felt like 56.  And I knew we were climbing, on the hillier part of the course, but I couldn’t believe how bad I felt and how slow I was going (averaged 15mph).  Upon seeing one of the tougher hills coming up, I said out loud, “MOTHERFUCKING WHY????”.  Yeah, I felt that shitty. We stopped in Richards, at a teeny general store where many cyclists stop to refill bottles.  I said that I thought my brake was rubbing and a nice man came over to look and fix it – I still know jack about bikes.  So the 40 miles back to The Woodlands was cake compared to the way out.  Except my legs were tired from trying to maintain speed…ugh.

I’m constantly starving.  I eat everything in sight.  Don’t hate me when I say this, but I can’t stop dropping weight…I’m really trying to put it back on.  The scale read 117 yesterday, which is a number I haven’t seen since high school – I’m definitely more comfortable when 5-8 lbs heavier (in case you are wondering, I’ve now dropped over 20 lbs since starting endurance sports).  I’ve started eating a lot more than I usually would to compensate.  I’m all, “I need TWO muffins, I’m hungry.”  Or today after my big lunch, two cookies.  Hey – my lady parts hurt from being on a bike for 5 hours, I can have two f-ing cookies, ok?

I’ve given up alcohol.  Let me repeat that.  I’VE GIVEN UP ALCOHOL.  I’m going on Day 8 and so far, sobriety is not for me.  I miss wine something fierce.  Today all I wanted on the way home was to relax with a glass.  Liquor is easy because I hardly ever drink it.  Beer, feh – fun with the team after a workout but I could take it or leave it.  But I was in such a cranky mood tonight because I knew I couldn’t drink my wine.  I’ve decided to start hoarding in preparation for May 20th – when I can finally have some.  Yes, I’ve just written an entire paragraph on when I get to drink wine again.  I LOVE WINE.  Of that I am sure.

I have one more hard workout weekend – long run on Friday, 3800 meter open water swim on Saturday, Kemah Triathlon (Olympic distance) on Sunday – can’t wait to jump off that boat!  Then I get to start tapering.  No runs over 15 miles, no bike rides over 70 miles, no swimming.  No swimming.  Just kidding.

May 19th is almost here – and while I’m super sad to be missing my blogger friends at BiSC this year, while I am on the course I will picture them gambling, partying, and sipping cocktails next to the pool – and me pushing them IN the pool.  Just joking.  I’m just jealous.

May is almost here.

And PS – I will never do something this stupid again.  Swearsies.