Muncie Pictures

I'm not so pretty when I swim, bike run. :)

Let's start with the swim. Do I look like I'm having fun? Notice the pouring rain coming off the lake. Also notice how totally badass my arms have become from swimming.


Moving on to the bike, am I touching myself inappropriately? Nope, I'm trying to get the salt tabs out of my Ziploc baggie yet they have all melted away from the rain. Notice, it's still raining. I also love how it looks like I'm about to vomit.


Um, why do I have aero bars?


Finally to the run. I have NEVER taken a good running picture. There is no good way to smile while you are running.


Coming up the hill at the very last 0.1 of the race.


And finally, the finish.

Muncie Endurathon 2008

When it rains, it pours.

Literally.

Three years ago when I did this race it went something like this....rain, thunder and lightning at the end of the swim and during the whole bike, and then got sunny and hot, hot, hot on the run. Yesterday's race went something like this....rain, hail, thunder and lightning at the end of the swim and during the whole bike, and then got sunny and hot, hot, hot on the run.

As we were setting up our transition area the race director called a little meeting with all participants. He said the weather was looking bad in the next three hours so he was moving the waves around to get everyone started in the next half hour. My wave was moved up from 7:30 to 7:16. I quickly put all my stuff away and got down to the beach.

Because the water was 80 degrees, wetsuits were not allowed. Although I had not done a race without a wetsuit, I was probably happier not to be wearing one. I'm more of a pool swimmer than a triathlete swimmer and use my kick. When I wear my wetsuit, I don't really get to kick the way I want to. I had practiced the day before without a wetsuit and I was feeling pretty good. The gun went off for my wave. I hung in the back, counted to ten, and then dove into the water and started swimming. I made it out to the first boat with little trouble. There I stopped and treaded water for a few seconds. The people on the boat asked if I was okay. This time I was able to confidently tell them yes and I kept on swimming. Although the water was choppy, my swim was going great. I was breathing every four strokes, sighting well, and catching people in my wave and other waves. As I rounded the last buoy and now was heading towards shore, the winds picked up, the sky opened up, and it began to rain. HARD! What I found out from Dave is that it was also hailing. As I took a breath over my right shoulder I saw a huge bolt of lightning. My only thought was....did that strike water and how far could the electrical current travel. I kicked it into high gear, got those arms moving, and headed towards shore as quickly as my little body would get there. As I'm running up to the transition area, another lightning bolt hit. I truly thought about stopping at this point. The important part of the race was over for me. I had conquered my open water fears and had a great swim.

Swim time = 42:10

But I didn't stop. I didn't train like a crazy woman for 12 weeks to come all the way here and not finish the race. I put on my helmet and my shoes and I was off.

T1 = 2:25 (this is longer than it could have been because I was trying to figure out if I was going to continue on in the race)

The rain didn't bother me....it was the wind. Let's face it, I'm a little girl and the wind can do a number on me. There were times where I was flying on my bike, easily doing 20-22 mph. But there were other times when I was struggling to keep it between 14-16 mph. I was having fun, though. I actually passed 5 people, which is a record for me! I followed my nutrition plan and kept my spirits up by singing to myself and playing games. My most favorite part of the bike was when I needed to take my salt tablets. I had put them in a plastic Ziploc baggie inside my Bento Box. To be efficient (as all engineers are :) ) I kept the baggie unzipped so I could easily reach in and get what I needed. But, because it was raining, my salt tablets disintegrated and all that was left was soggy salt. I licked what I could off my fingers and carried on. :) The bike was longer than I hoped but I was still in high spirits as I entered T2.

Bike time = 3:16:36
T2 = 2:22 (I was smart enough to put my socks, shoes, and hat in a plastic bag to keep them dry. What I wasn't smart about was my balance as I fell with my dry sock onto my wet towel.)

By the time I got on the run, it had stopped raining. I trotted along for the first couple of miles having to walk and stop and stretch and readjust my socks a couple of times. When I got to the first water stop I pulled out some more salt tablets which had been sealed in a plastic baggie. Of course what do I do? I drop one of the ground. Being the gross athlete that I am, I picked it right back up and popped it in my mouth. Although I walked a little bit of every mile, I was making good time until about mile 5. There my stomach revolted and I had to take a port-o-john stop. Still, that mile was only around 10 minutes and I kept on keeping on. At the turnaround I still had a shot to make 6 hours, but that quickly went away as I needed to walk more and more. I was passing people, though, and having fun and just taking small strides toward the finish. In the end I got passed by one person in my age group on the final 0.1. Darn it! But, I beat my time from 3 years ago....just barely. 59 whole seconds!

Run time = 2:05:43

Final = 6:09:17 (12/20 in age group)

Although I really wanted to go under 6 hours, I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out. I'm glad that my triathlon season is over and I look forward to hitting the pavement and getting back to running full time. I'm also really looking forward to the saddle sores going away because they've become unbearable!

Confidence

I have been a bad blogger this week. There's not much to say when you're tapering and the race is just a few days away.

My coach has been talking to me about mantras--things to say to myself during the race that will put my head back in the game and keep me focused. Usually when I lose focus in a race, I count. Maybe it's the engineer in me. :) I count my steps between poles. I count my steps between mailboxes. I count to 50 over and over until I reach the next mile marker. Because this race is going to likely take me 6 hours, that's a whole lot of counting! So, I decided to take her advice and think of a mantra. What did I come up with?

Confidence

Physically, I am ready for the race. I did more training than I did for the last one. I'm lean and muscular. I've been following the nutrition plans. My body is ready to go. But, my head always seems to get in the way of a great race. The two marathons in which I think I had the perfect race, my mind was focused. I thought of nothing except running. I need those thoughts to happen this weekend. So I decided to focus on the word "confidence". I need to be confident that my training was enough. I need to be confident that I deserve to be out there with the best. I need to be confident that I can pull off the race that I want to pull off.

Coincidently, I've been asked to speak at vacation bible school next week and my topic...confidence. :)

On a Three Hour Tour

We’re about a week away from our half Ironman and should be tapering, but due to some bad weather we still had one big ride to do. And last night was the night. The plan was to ride three hours and hopefully get in close to 50 miles.

All was going well until we turned onto a road that last week was paved and this week was gravel. Dave seemed to be riding fine on the road, but I was worried about busting a tire and considering I’m not really sure how to change a flat, I didn’t want to press my luck. So I stopped to turn around a take another road. But, when I stopped my bike leaned to the side that still had my foot clipped in. The asphalt quickly came up to greet me. I cut my knee and bruised my elbow and hip. I kept yelling at Dave, “DAVE, I’VE FALLEN!”, but he was too far ahead to hear me. I yelled that I wanted to turn around and he finally came back. I then showed him I had fallen and he got out my camera and took a picture.


We reached our turnaround point in 1 hour and 24 minutes, took a bathroom break, and refilled our water bottles. On our return trip, it got windy. So windy that we could only manage 12 mph and were getting blown sideways. And we ran out of daylight, having to cut our trip short by about 25 minutes. We stopped at my parents’ house and they drove us home.

Today I’m sore, but no real damage caused by the fall. The picture’s awesome, though!

At Least Ask Permission

I went to the pool Monday evening to see 2 of the 5 lanes taken up by the master swim class. I've always seen the signs advertising the masters swim but I had yet to actually see them in action.

I was intrigued.

I was let down.

There were only two people at masters swim and one of them was the instructor. But, they continued to occupy two lanes and spent a majority of their time standing and talking and laying all over the lane lines. If you're not going to swim, get out of the pool!

The three other lanes were occupied by me, the Splasher (he's famous), and some dude who would do 25 yards, stop and stretch, and then do it again. Because I was the most normal swimmer of the bunch, two different ladies decided to join me during my workout.

Problem is....they didn't ask permission.

I'm totally cool with sharing a lane, but at least ask permission to jump in and share. Maybe I wanted to do butterfly or maybe I was almost finished with my workout, maybe I didn't want you to join me, maybe I'm the meanest person on the planet (totally possible...y'all don't know me!). But instead, I hugged the lane line and just finished my workout.

Here's the kicker, pun totally intended....don't you dare jump in my lane without permission and then do the freakin' breaststroke! You know how many inches away you were from kicking me in the face?

So next time you're at the pool and you're thinking of sharing a lane, please ask permission and then let the person know you'd like to kick them in the face.

Thank you and have a nice day. :)

June Totals

It was a pretty big month of training. Lots and lots of time spent running, swimming, and biking. It's a good thing Dave is training for the same race or else I never would have seen him!

Swim: 19,050 yards
Bike: 8 hrs 51 mins
Run: 62.2 miles

Because they're fun!!

10 Years ago I was…
...entering my junior year of college totally intent on studying mechanical engineering. I was dating a lot of boys during that summer. Who knew that in less than a year I'd meet the boy I was going to marry.

5 Years ago I was…
...working my second job out of college as an industrial engineer. I had been married almost a year. I now owned my first house. Wow! How things change between 10 years ago and 5 years ago.

1 Year ago I was…
...working at my 3rd job out of college as a systems analyst. I was sponsored by Team StayPut and I was gearing up to train for my 9th marathon.

5 things on my to-do-list today..
Return calls from clients
Finish wedding pictures
Run 45 minutes
Swim 2000 yards
Watch swimming Olympic trials

5 snacks I enjoy...
Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate
and Chocolate

If I were a billionaire I would…
QUIT MY JOB!

6 people I want to have lunch with tomorrow…
Dave
Ryan
Manoj
...oh wait, I have lunch with them every Friday

5 places I have lived
New Albany (I was born in a small town...grew up in that same small town...probably die in that small town)

5 jobs I have had
Beverage cart girl at a country club
Orientation advisor for incoming freshman at OSU
Management engineer
Industrial engineer
System Analyst

I Need Your Help!

I maintain two blogs: one for my running/triathlons and one for my photography business. Generally I try not to cross paths, but today I'm going to.

I am my own worse critic and to date I still haven't put together a portfolio for my photography work. But, my business is growing and people are asking to see my pictures and I really need to get something together. A friend suggested last night that I let others choose the pictures that should be in my portfolio. What a great idea!

So, if you have seen any pictures on my website, my blog, or my Flickr account that you like and should be included in my portfolio, let me know. Feel free to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail, meredith@meredithgordon.com.

Thanks for your help!

Thursday Thoughts

Ugh! I'm tired today. Around 11:30 last night when I had finally fallen asleep, Dave wakes me up to tell me the tornado sirens are going off. So, to the basement we went. We watched the weather coverage until 1:00am until Dave was asleep on the couch and I could no longer fight back the sleep. I went to bed, Dave came a little later, and although it was storming outside like crazy, I never heard any thunder.

Now, I don't really know if I could live in a place that has hurricanes, but at least they're given fair warning about them. We live where tornadoes are frequent and there was a touchdown just two miles from us two years ago, so we don't mess around. But, it would sure be nice if you could get more warning about a tornado--like a week. :)

Anyway, this is not at all what I had planned for my Thursday Thoughts. The question of the day is:

What song do you like listening to the most when you work out?
Mine is, "Misery Business" by Paramore. It's an angry song, that has a great beat for running cadence. I'll hit repeat several times when it comes on the iPod while I'm running.

Eyes Wide Shut

Even though I've had hundreds of pictures taken of me while running, no matter what, I always have my eyes closed. I promise you, I do not exercise while sleeping.

Check out these pictures from the Wendy's Triathlon:




Also, am I the only one who thinks my boobs look huge in these pictures? Maybe my wetsuit doesn't fit quite right? Maybe I've finally hit puberty? :) I promise you, I do not look that buxom in person.

New World Record

...or maybe just a new Meredith record.

Today is day number 8 in a row of working out. I'm not sure I've ever made it 7 days in a row. Thursday will be my next day off. What I wouldn't give for a nap this afternoon. :)

For My Dave

Dave and I have this running joke (sorta) where we find a song on our XM and dedicate it to the other person. The other day I chose Right Said Fred for Dave. Catch the drift?

Anyway, 9 years ago today, Dave and I started dating. When I first met Dave he was shy (sometimes I wish he still was) and he wasn't exactly what I would call athletic. We used to play tennis together every week--sometimes I would win, sometimes he would win--but that was the extent of his athletic abilities. The rest of time he spent pretending to be someone else online and playing video games.

He's not shy anymore, he plays less video games (some days), and his inner athlete has come out. He's learned to appreciate running and has completed three marathons. He's also excelled at fencing earning his ranking this past spring. And this summer he discovered he liked and was good at triathlon.

Today he made the bravest and boldest athletic move:

He signed up for Ironman.

Please go over to his site and send him some love.

This post I dedicate to my Dave.

Thursday Thoughts

Thank you for all the people who chimed in about a coach. I sent a few e-mails on Tuesday, had some discussions with The Husband while biking later that evening, Wednesday morning a decision was made, and by midday yesterday I had workouts laid out for the next couple of weeks. I'm excited to be working with a coach and anxious to get started and see what results may come.

It's been a while since I've done the Thursday Thoughts and I know I have readership that gets tired of all the running and triathlon talk, so back to the Thursday Thoughts.

On Tuesday, Dave and I watched some of the AFI's 10 Top Movies in 10 Categories (or whatever it was called). Some categories we could name most of the movies, some (like Westerns) we couldn't name any. I wound up falling asleep before it was over so I have no idea if they covered my favorite genre--Romantic Comedies. Here is Meredith's top 10 list of favorite romantic comedies.

10. (tie) Music and Lyrics
I don't know why, but I am a sucker for Hugh Grant. Maybe it's the accent, maybe it's the hair, but he can pull off a romantic comedy. And, I love Drew Barrymore. Who doesn't? (And if you really want to love Drew Barrymore, go rent "My Date with Drew.")

10. (tie) Father of the Bride
I've had to relook at this list a million times because this movie should be way higher than #10. I will watch this movie every time it comes on TV. I get choked up when Kimberly Williams accepts the cappucino maker from her dad and says, "I couldn't love anything more" and then Steve Martin says "My sentiments, exactly." Uh, my heart aches just thinking about it.

9. Notting Hill
Of all the movies on this list, I think this one is the most romantic. I love, "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." Sucker!

8. Indian Summer
Perhaps one of my all time favorite movies, although I'm not sure it's a romantic comedy. Elizabeth Perkins is dynamite in this movie and the cast as a whole is genius. If you haven't seen this one, you have to. You'll love it.

7. Doc Hollywood
Maybe I like this movie because it reminds me of my hometown. I have been quoting this movie for years. My favorite line is when Julie Warner says, "You can't poop in this town without everyone knowing what color it is." Classic and so true in a small town. And I love when Michael J. Fox grabs Julie Warner and says, "I don't want Hollywood, I want you."

6. Sleepless in Seattle
Sure, it's Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and they are the king and queen of romantic comedy, but my favorite character in this movie is played by Rita Wilson. When she starts talking about "An Affair to Remember" and starts crying and her husband says that she's okay....OMG! Tell me you can't watch this clip without laughing. I love this movie forward and backwards.


5. The Wedding Singer
There are so many quotable moments in this movie! "They were cones!" If you were around in the 80s this is the romantic comedy for you.

4. My Best Friend's Wedding
I laughed so hard, I cried. And then my mom bought me lobster claw pot holders. Ha!


3. While You Were Sleeping
"Peter once asked me when I fell in love with Jack, and I told him...it's while you were sleeping." I kick off every Christmas season the weekend of Thanksgiving by watching this movie.

2. When Harry Met Sally
Billy Crystal is one of the funniest men alive. Just this morning I was laughing at him because of a line he has in "Monsters, Inc." And Meg Ryan, well, she's obviously a favorite of mine because she's all over this list. "I hate you Harry. I really hate you." Seriously, every girl should own this movie.

1. You've Got Mail
I think I can recite every word to this movie. I crack up every time when Parker Posey says "uhhhh, where's my tic tacs!" Of all the Meg Ryan / Tom Hanks movies, this one's my favorite. I only own about ten DVDs and this one gets played over and over.

Honorable Mentions:
Love Actually
Bridget Jones' Diary
Sabrina (the one with Harrison Ford)
One Fine Day
Joe Versus the Volcano
The Wedding Planner

Did I overlook your favorite? What's your favorite romantic comedy?

Wanted

When I started thinking about doing the Ironman, the first thing I did was hunt down a coach. I didn't hire the person because I was waiting until I actually started the training. And now that I'm not going to do the Ironman, I'm not going to hire the coach.

That kinda bums me out as I was looking forward to working with somebody as an individual athlete and seeing how far I could push myself under the tutelage of someone else.

For years I've had some BIG running goals--goals which I still haven't achieved. Since 2006 I have been following the same marathon training plan. And although it served me well for two marathons, I've grown to not like it and don't want to follow it anymore. To me, it's just numbers on a page that I can pick and choose which ones I'm going to do. As I'm sure I'm not far from reaching my peak in running, I'm looking to achieve those BIG goals.

And I want to hire a coach to help me.

Today I did some Googling and came up with very little in terms of either coaches in the Columbus area that work one-on-one or online coaches specifically for running. I did find one and filled out their questionnaire and the return e-mail said they didn't work with triathletes (I thought I made it clear in the questionnaire that I was not going to continue with my Ironman dream) and "swimming and biking are at odds with becoming better as a runner." I could not disagree more. The year 2005 was the year I trained for several triathlons and that was also the year I set a lot of PRs.

Needless to say, I'm not interested in hiring that person.

So, here's where I need your help Internet. Do you know of any coaches? Are you a coach yourself? Do you know of any resources that would help me find a qualified 1/2 marathon / marathon coach? If you can help, please leave me a comment or send me an e-mail: meredith@meredithgordon.com

Thanks in advance!

Wendy's Triathlon 2008

This race recap is going to be a lot better than the last one.

Dave and I decided last Thursday to do the Wendy’s Triathlon on Sunday. The race was expensive, but we figured because it was shorter and geared more toward beginners that it would help boost our confidence after last week’s mess. And it did.

Because I usually do my open water swimming at Alum Creek, the swim was more comfortable for me. Plus, this race swims from one side of the beach to the other so at any moment you’re freaking out, you can just stand up in the water and walk. I wish all swims were like this. The swim was longer than in previous years but I still managed to do pretty well and only stood up once and that was because another person freaked out and floated right in front of me to get to shore. Y’all would be so proud too! As I approached the exit from the water, I did dolphin dives to continue my momentum. Yeah, I’m awesome. :) I ran up the beach and got through transition really quickly.

I did forget one thing in transition, though. See, I’m allergic to my wetsuit and I wear a surfer’s rash guard underneath it to prevent rashes (makes sense, huh?). About a mile into my bike I realized, I never took off that shirt. Oh well. It’s pink and stylish. :)

The bike was longer than what the officials said which means my average doesn’t look so good, but I had a much better bike than usual. I pushed on the flats, stayed in a big gear, and tried to stay in contact with groups. I did have to yell at a person on the course, though. As we were about 200 feet from the dismount line, we had to corner and I was ahead of a pack. That pack decided they wanted to pass me on the corner and yelled at me to get out of the way. I said, “Excuse me! Jerk!” Who does that?

I transitioned quickly to the run and I was in my element. I kept my steps small and light and started picking people off. I reminded myself that it was only three miles and to just put one foot in front of another. Dave saw me on the run and said it looked like I was feeling good. And I was. In the last mile and a half I caught a ton of people and sprinted all the way into the finish line.

I finished 10th out of 28 in my age group, which I find as a victory. I was only 7 seconds out of 9th place and only three minutes out of third place.

Swim: 15:48 (1/2 mile)
T1: 1:33
Bike: 59:51 (16.8 miles—I had over 17 miles on my computer)
T2: 1:17
Run: 25:35 (5K)
Total: 1:42:44

You Better Work!

This morning I sent a check to Marathon Tours to reserve a hotel room in Boston for 2009.

I still have to qualify.

It's time to get down to work.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Many believe that the television season ends in May when all the major networks wrap up stories or leave us with cliff-hangers until the fall.

This is so not true, my friends!

In fact, summer may be my favorite time of the year for television. Here's what I'm watching and what you should totally check out.

The Mole--My love affair with reality television began with The Mole back in 2001. The first host was the unknown-at-the-time Anderson Cooper (ooh, la la!). I'm not sure what happened to Mr. Cooper (besides showing up in my dreams and giving me the best name ever to give my first born son, he he!), but the show is now hosted by Jon Kelley. Each week the contestant are given tasks to complete as a team which can earn them money into a community pot. The only problem is, one of the contestants is being paid by the network to sabotage the game. The end of each episode is a 10-question quiz about the identity of the mole. The contestant with the lowest score will be "executed." Catch it, Monday nights at 10:00 pm eastern on ABC.

30 Days--Morgan Spurlock, the genius behind "Supersize Me" is now in his third season of "30 Days. " I initially became interested in this show because the very first episode was about living on minimum wage and the experiment was conducted right here in Columbus, Ohio. The premise of the show is that an individual with strong beliefs and opinions or curiousity about a life situation finds themselves in the complete opposite for 30 days. Making sense? For example, this week's episode was about an NFL player who had seen a teammate make a bad tackle and as a result became a quadriplegic. For his 30 days, the now retired NFL player used a wheelchair and had to take on simple daily tasks such as getting around public places, driving, and having to deal with society. In addition he got to learn from other quads who defy the odds of being handicapped. The reason I like Morgan Spurlock so much is that he's thought provoking without shoving it down your through that he's right and you're wrong (Michael Moore). Catch this show Tuesday nights at 10:00 pm eastern on FX.

So You Think You Can Dance--Back for it's forth season is "So You Think You Can Dance." Unlike "Dancing with the Stars" this show features good dancing with a variety of dances like hip-hop, ballroom, contemporary, jazz, etc. The competition is very much like "American Idol": thousands try out and only the best of the best make it to the top 20--10 guys and 10 girls. Each girl is paired with a guy and a choreographer works with the pair to create a unique dance each week. The pair performs, is critiqued by the judges, and then is voted on by the audience-at-large. During the first couple of weeks, the bottom three couples is determined by the audience and then the judges decide who is going home. Once the competition is down to the top 10, then the audience gets to vote on the individual and their vote either keeps or eliminates the individuals. The winner is voted "America's favorite dancer" and wins $250,000. So You Think You Can Dance airs Wednesday nights at 8:00pm eastern and Thursday nights at 9:00pm eastern on Fox.

My Boys--"My Boys" is quite possibly my favorite sitcom on TV. PJ is a 20-something tomboy who is a sports writer. Her friends also share her interests in sports and beer, oh, and they all happen to be male. Another friend, Stephanie, is her female voice of reason who tries to feminize PJ. PJ has also dated most of her guy friends, except for her brother, of course. At the end of the first season PJ shares a passionate kiss with her close friend and roommate Brendan who quickly moves out. At the end of the second season PJ is courting many men and has to come to a decision which one she will choose to take to Italy with her on a trip she and Stephanie have already planned. Who will she choose? Find out tonight on the season premiere! My Boys is on TBS, Thursdays at 9:30pm eastern.

Intervention--My guilty pleasure. Intervention documents the lives of addicts--drugs, alcohol, anorexia, bulemia--you get the point. The addicts agree to be part of the documentary to talk about their addictions and how they got to the point they are, but they have no idea they are about to be ambushed by their family, friends, and an interventionist. The drama is raw and real and is both hard to watch and hard not to watch. The new season starts Monday at 9:00pm eastern on A&E.

Finally, the summer of television will hit a high note on August 8th when the Olympics begin. You can catch the Olympics on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, and pretty much every station under the sun. I can't wait!

Dust off your remotes, set your TiVOs, and get watching.

Bubble Butt

As I stated in this post, summer and my skin is not kind to me.

Dave has started calling me "Bubble Foot" because of the rash on my heel and the fact that it blistered over. Yuck! I went to the doctor, though, and it's starting to clear up. After the race on Sunday, however, I have started to develop rashes in other, more private, areas. I am assuming this is because of riding my bike while wearing wet shorts. Now Dave is calling me "Bubble Butt."

I never get rashes from running. This triathlon crap is for the birds.

Deer Creek Olympic Triathlon 2008

Warning, in advance. This is a really long post.

Halfway through the bike yesterday I made the decision that I am not doing Muncie and I'm not going to sign up for Ironman. Around the age of 14 fear crept into my life and I have only become more neurotic with age. There are fears I have of triathlon that I just can't get beyond and doing these races is just not worth it. I am fooling no one out there, especially not myself. Honestly, I have goals on my life list that I'm not going to achieve. And I think, Ironman is going to have to be one of them.

Saturday night I couldn't sleep very well. I was trying to visualize a good swim and not freaking out, but I would fall asleep and have nightmares about it and then I would wake up in a panic. When I woke up for good Sunday morning I was nauxious and could barely eat my breakfast. We left the house around 5:30am and headed down to Deer Creek to check in, set up our transitions, and take a practice swim. We've had a lot of rain this past week and the lake was really high. So high, in fact, that there was no beach. The water was up over the sand and you could feel grass beneath your feet standing in the water. You could see a handrail, that usually leads down to the beach, under water. I had a good practice swim and felt a little better about the day.

My wave was the second-to-last wave. By that time, however, I had seen two people pulled out of the water by lifeguards. I was definitely nervous again. When the horn sounded, I walked into the water, took a deep breath, waited for the mass to go, and then started swimming. I had rounded three buoys when the next wave caught me. One of my neuroses is I don't like to be touched unless I initiate the touching. This includes hugs or when people touch your shoulder when they talk to you, etc. I physically cringe when I'm touched. Yeah, I know, I probably need help. :) Anyway, when the next wave reached us I was being swam over and touched on all sides. It was freaking me out. I started to hyperventilate. I flipped over to my back to backstroke, but the current was against us and I was getting water splashed in my face. I was starting to think I was going to drown in the deep water. There wasn't a buoy in sight to grab hold of and the next lifeguard was at that buoy. I waved my arm, but no one saw me. I tried to compose myself again and somehow made it to that next buoy. At that buoy I grabbed hold of the board the lifeguard was on, talked to him for a minute or two, and just tried to relax. He told me I was doing a good job. Sure he was just an 18 year old kid, but he helped me to focus again. I put my face in the water and kept swimming. Once on the front side I got into a groove and was about to do the second loop fairly well. Despite the freak out and holding onto the lifeguard, I finished the swim, which included the run to the transition area, in about 33 minutes.

Transitions are transitions. I did what I had to and didn't worry about my time. My bike was the only one on the rack so I certainly didn't need to worry about beating anyone. I got off my wetsuit, put on my biking shoes and helmet, tucked my gels under my shorts, and away I went. In addition to all the rain we've had this week, it has been extremely windy. There was a point this last week where we were under a tornado watch for 24 hours straight. Sunday was no different. It was quite breezy and being that Ohio is rural pretty much 90% of the area, there was nothing to block the wind. Into the wind I could only manage going between 13-15 mph. But once we were not in the wind I was able to kick it up around 18-22 mph. But, so did everyone else. I was going 21 mph at one point and getting passed like I was standing still. Dave told me afterwards that he was going 24 mph and getting passed. Unbelievable! Towards the end of the first loop you head down a steep hill (I was going over 30 mph!) and then a sharp left turn and immediately uphill. Well, I geared all wrong and if I tried to do anything I was going to drop my chain. So I hopped off my bike and ran that sucker up the hill. I wasn't the only one either. I thought I was staying in good contact with the bikers until the second lap when I realized all the bikers I was around were doing the sprint triathlon. I was all by myself and that's when I stopped caring. That's when I realized I am never going to be the triathlete I want to be. And that's when I made the decision to stop trying to be a triathlete.

When I finished the bike, I was the last person in my row to rack my bike. There wasn't enough room, however, and I didn't have the strength to move any bikes so I just set mine against the fence. I didn't care if I was going to get a penalty. (I didn't.) From all the people I saw on the bike course drafting, they weren't really doing too much to enforce penalties.

On a side note, why are the rack so damn tall? Am I the only person who rides an extra small bike with 650 tires? When I rack my bike on the seat my bike swings in the breeze. None of it touches the ground.

Yesterday was a scorcher. I think it was like 93 degrees. By the time I got out on the run it must have been around 90. Straight out of transition I asked the people at the waterstop for water and they said they were out. Uh oh! My friend Asha was sitting on the corner and I handed my gross shirt to her. I'm not much for running in a sports bra, but it was too hot to be wearing a shirt. My first mile was 8:40, but all the other miles were much, much slower. It was so HOT! I employed the Galloway method. I would run for two minutes and walk for one. That's all I could handle. During the run I saw two people hauled away in an ambulance. I ran into a former high school student around mile 3 and talked to her for a few paces. I caught Dave at mile 5, walked with him for about a minute and then finished my run. Saturday I did 7 miles in 59 minutes, but this 10K took me over an hour. I finished 5th out of 6 in my age group.

The official results haven't been posted, but I'm not sure it's worth posting them up here. Who cares. I'd like to carry on with the training. It's helping my running and I'd like to support Dave as he continues on toward Ironman. I'm sad that I'm giving up a dream, but I know in my heart it's not something that I can do. When I talk about running people always seem amazed/dumbfounded about how much I run, how fast I run, or how I can continue to qualify and run Boston. But running just comes naturally. It flows. Running is something I need. I ache for it with all this triathlon training. Triathlon, on the other hand, causes me anxiety. I worry about the expectations and wonder how I can get past my fears. I wonder how other people do it the same way that people question me about my running.

Dave says I should take some time and really decide if I'm ready to give it up. I don't think three years is too short of time to think about it. I knew three years ago that triathlon was not for me. And yet I thought I would give it another try. Nothing's changed. It's not the training. I can handle the training. Shoot, if my head didn't get in the way, I could handle the races. But because I've had such good success with running, the bar is immediately raised for triathlon. I'm not satisfied with just finishing.

Dave has supported me for a long time with running. He's patient with the amount of time I spend training. He picks me up when I've had a bad race or when I'm feeling defeated. He comes to my races and cheers from the sidelines. He's very selfless when it comes to my goals. I haven't exactly reciprocated. I have a hard time putting my pride away and letting someone be better than me at something. I have felt like he's hijacked my Ironman goal and made it his own. I didn't want to race in Austria, but he did. I told him before we bought our bikes that I wasn't certain this was something I wanted to do, but he said I would want to once I got started. As it turns out, Dave's pretty good at triathlon and he's only going to get better. I need to stop being so selfish. I want to be the wife who supports him and cheers from the sidelines. I want him to be the best athlete he wants to be and not who I want him to be. It's time to sit there and be pretty (that is a saying I hate, but I will use it anyway) and let him fulfill his goals. I may be done with tri-ing, but at least I tri-ed in the first place.

I'm Sensitive

I inherited my mother's sensitive skin genes. My skin gets all blotchy when I get nervous starting on my chest and going up my neck. It's lovely for interviews. In the summertime I get terrible heat rash, again on my chest. And, here's the kicker, I can get contact dermatitis from just about anything...including my wetsuit. When I last trained for triathlons I had awful rashes all over my shoulders, chest, and back. This year I bought a surfer's rash guard shirt and it seems to be working.

But two weeks ago I got a rash on the inside heel of my left foot. I think I got it because I was wearing a new pair of leather shoes without any socks. I've always had some issues with leather. I cannot wear a leather-strapped watch because it makes me break out in a rash. Because of the amount of running and biking I'm doing, along with the fact I work in a facility where you have two wear shoes with heels and toes covered, this rash has only gotten worse. I've tried ointments and liquids to no avail. I even took my mother's advice and tried bleach. Now the rash is out of control, itches like crazy, and is blistered over in parts. Nasty!

Today I made a doctor's appointment. I can barely walk in shoes as it feels like it is ripping my skin off every time I take a step. I'm even wearing flip flops today and I hate flip flops. I hope the doc gives me some good stuff so things can start healing up for my race this weekend.

I would post a picture, but YUCK!