1 More Day !

Tomorrow I race. I'm packed and off to Austin now. Started the day with a little yoga & meditation to relax my mind & my nervous stomach. Got my running mantra down that flows right with my pace. In some instances, I have "Do it for the children" running through my head and at other times I have "Community Partners" in cadence with each stride & step. I'm ready to do this! Think good thoughts for me tomorrow morning & remember it's not too late to make a donation to Community Partners of Dallas. I've done all the hard work. All you have to do is type in a few numbers & click send. See you at the finish line!!

2 More Days

All I did today was make my gigantic gear list & check it twice. Heaven forbid I forget anything, but I've been packing for a week. I've got everything I need and in some cases double - just in case I need a backup because something breaks. I maintenanced the bike, got some new tires & put the bike rack on the car. I feel very granola now with this gigantic rack on the car. Tomorrow I'm off!

3 More Days!

Today I took a nap & shopped for my BYOB -- Breakfast not Booze. My coach has encouraged consistency in all routines varying nothing & introducing nothing new on race day including eating, so she told us to pack our breakfast. I have to eat so early the morning of race day there probably isn't even room service available & I'm sure not walking to Denny's - although pancakes are always a great start to any day. These last 3 weeks, I've been starting my day with bananas, peanut butter and a wheat bagel with an orange Gatorade chaser. Pretty boring, but that's the menu. Off to bed early tonight. I've got one more open water swim training bright & early tomorrow morning and then training is officially over. Hooray!

4 More Days!

Day 4 was all about the bike! I did a slow bike ride around White Rock Lake to respect the memory of bike riders killed by motor vehicles. Riding the bike in a large group was definitely challenging, but the worst part was I had to ride in silence. Absolutely no talking for 11 miles. This was difficult for me. This last month of training has been so crazy with the ramped up training schedule. There are so many things I wanted to blog about -especially when it comes to the biking leg of this race, but there hasn't been enough time in the day to compose my thoughts. A big thing that happened in May was the training wheels came off my bike. Now I have those bike pedals that bike shoes can clip into. Since I'm all about brands and nothing but the best, these pedals are called Candy pedals designed by crankbrothers. I let the guy at the bike store assure me this is what I needed. I have no idea if he is right or not, but I'm guessing he saw a sucker and sold me an expensive pedal. This pedal claims to be the world's first 2-sided pedal with 4-sided entry. The design allows me to clip my foot in a variety of ways not possible with other pedals and they have 6 degrees of rotational float so my foot is not held in one solid position allowing less strain on my knees. My opinion on this -"Whatever!" I still have a hard time clipping into them and I've fallen off the bike enough times trying to unclip from the *&#@ pedals to have bruises all over my body. I know I would have this many coordination issues no matter what brand of pedals I have.

At least I got to buy new shoes. I've gone from Gucci to Sidi. Things these shoes have in common: their designer names rhyme, they both come with a brochure telling you what an amazing pair of shoes they are in two languages; they are both made in Italy of the finest Italian leather; they are both really expensive and they can only be worn to compliment specific outfits. Speaking of outfits - the bicycle shirts are mind blowing. It's like a watching a psychedelic t-shirt collection in motion. I've seen some super cool shirts. Some of my favorites depict images & logos of: Martha's Vineyard Black Dog Wharf; Sutter Home, Lone Star and Shiner Bock (I'm sensing a theme here.) I still hate working out, so I will do anything to distract me from the pain. I've been training in different bike rides with large groups of people. I have to try really hard to focus on my extreme lack of bicycle handling techniques because all the vivid colors, designs & styles of these shirts and in some cases the matching bike shorts are very distracting. One thing that I quickly came familiar with are brand names of triathlon gear that encompasses the swim, the run, and the bike. It goes way beyond the familiar ones everyone knows like Nike, Addidas and Speedo. Unlike my familiar circle of gal pals, you can't walk up to these athletes and casually ask, "Who are you wearing?" So I've educated myself on the best places to shop (it's not Neiman's) and I'm now familiar with designers like Tyr, Bell, Shimano, LGI (Louis Garneau), Pearl Izumi, Specialized, Moving Comfort, DeSoto, Zoot and Brooks. Most importantly, I now own something from all of these designers. So, don't hesitate to ask me, "Who Are You Wearing?" I'll gladly answer and in return would like the Paris Hilton approval of "That's Hot!"

5 More Days!

My last run before race day. I needed to run 6 miles one more time prior to the race, so I took on "The Bridge" one last time. For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, see the March 31st post entitled "Milestones & Measurements." This running thing has been an incredible progress monitor. In January, I could barely run a mile. At the beginning of Feburary, I made it a mile and half. February 14th was my first training day for the triathlon and by the end of the month, I was running between 2 to 2-1/2 miles. March rolled around and I turned a year older -35. I could run 3 miles at the beginning but it hurt terribly. I even cried during a training one Saturday when we were focusing combining running and sprinting. That was one of the days I would have quit had I not already received so many generous donations encouraging me and supporting Community Partners of Dallas from many friends & family members. At the end of March I ran 4 miles and thought I was going to die when I finished. I was breathing so hard and almost puked right at the end of the bridge. Last month, I was accomplishing four to five miles and doing alot of hill training. Up the hill and back down the hill. Up the hill again and back down. It was awful. On top of this, April was also the month these fun things called "double bricks" were incorporated into our training schedule, which is where you get the fun task of a two hour workout that combines swimming and running or bike riding and running. This last month, I've consistently run between five and half miles to finally the big 6-1/2! I actually don't feel terrible when I'm finished - (other than all the blisters on my feet.) I really have this great sense of accomplishment. I'm still amazed that I've gone from couch potato to triathlete. This just goes to show you, if I made the decision to this with these results in a little over 3 months, there are alot of you that could take this on an accomplish it too. Many of you have consistently told me what an inspiration I have been. If this is true, I hope I've inspired you to do something that makes you a better person inside(physical fitness & mental wellnes) and outside(taking the time to help the less fortunate, and neglected.) What's the worst that could happen by taking on a personal challenge? If you don't succeed the first few times out, try try again!

6 More Days!

Today I'm celebrating no more drinking chlorine during cocktail hours. I'm going to avoid the pool from the hours of 4:00pm til nighty-night time for as long as possible. Cheers!

7 Days till the Big Race!

THE COUNTDOWN TO THE RACE BEGINS!

Next Monday, I will be in Austin participating in my first every Olympic length triathlon. So, what does one do the week before the race? I'm gonna tell ya. One day at a time. Day 1: You go practice a one mile open water swim wearing a really tight, but really cool wetsuit. It's not fun. The waves hit you in the face and your chest hurts from drinking all that lovely lake water.