Rev3 Runs Across AMERICA!

This last couple of years more and more people that are close to me have been diagnosed with various types of cancer. This disease does not discriminate and finds many different angles with which to strike.


When I heard that Rev3 was planning something truly epic that is way outside my comfort zone to raise money for the Ulman Cancer Fund I knew it was exactly what I needed to do for the physical challenge and to give back in the process. I am running all 21 days with the Rev3 Staff.

We are running from Oceanside, CA to Washington, DC.

There will be 10 people on the core team doing 15 miles a day each to get from coast to coast in 21 days. Along the way the age group team will fill in days where they can. I am more the excited about this opportunity. I’ve always wanted to do an across the country voyage - not involving a motorized vehicle - and to be able to do it with the Rev3 crew is just AMAZING! We will depart on March 26th and arrive on April 16th. In true Rev3 fashion we will be tweeting and facebooking all along the way! And I’m sure blogs will be firing off all over the place!

We aim to RAISE $100,000 for Ulman Cancer Fund!

The Ulman fund was started by Doug Ulman and his family after his cancer diagnosis while in college. Since its inception in 1997, UCF has worked tirelessly at both the community level and national level to raise awareness of the young adult (ages 20 - 39 years old) cancer issue and ensure all young adults and families impacted by cancer have a voice and the resources necessary to thrive. As we run across these great United States of America we will strive to spread their good word and give many children and families inspiration and access to the services provided by the Ulman Cancer Fund.

Cancer is the leading killer among 20 - 39 year olds!

While the Ulman Cancer fund focuses on young adult cancers I will be running to support and honor all people with cancer and to support and honor the people in my life - some of which are not young adults - that have been touched by cancer. These include, but are not limited to my Dad (prostate cancer), my Mother in Law (Lymphoma), my sister in law (breast cance), Louise Sweet (breast cancer), Suzanne Chamberlain (breast cancer), and Amanda Bostick (Breast Cancer).

Young adults diagnosed with cancer today have a worse prognosis than those diagnosed 25 years ago.

I hope that you will join me in this journey by supporting the cause of the Ulman Cancer Fund through a donation. No amount is too small. Please donate HERE!


For giggles.. if you wish to pledge per mile: 15miles/day x 21 days = 315 miles!!!! OR if you are feeling extra motivated... 150 miles/day x 21 days = 3150 miles! Thank you for whatever contribution you can offer!!! 


And THANK YOU to my mom and dad for stepping up to help with my kids and to my husband for allowing me to live such an amazing life!

Impossible things!

I stumbled up on Joel Runyon's Website Impossible HQ and was immediately intrigued!

Then my friend Christine (check her out. She organized a 5k last year and earned $20k for Haiti) sent a Facebook message to a bunch of us listing the 10 impossible things she did in 2011 and the 10 impossible things she wanted to do in 2012... all based on Joel's Impossible HQ site.

I decided to play along.

10 Things in 2011

1. Completed a half distance triathlon. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1mile run
2. Became a sponsored triathlete
3. Worked at two Rev3 events and had two of the most epic weekends of my life
4. Moved my Great Uncle into a home and organized his entire portfolio of
art - including 150 canvases and nearly 1000 pieces of original art on paper.
5. Simplified our belongings and donated thousands of dollars worth of stuff we did NOT need.
6. Completed my 4th marathon despite fighting an injury
7. Rode the MS150 with my family from Houston to Austin
8. Tried my hand at Personal Training & eliminated another thing that does not quite express my passion
9. Kept pushing through physical obstacles to keep on running.
10. Discovered that I am physically and mentally stronger than I thought I was.

on Tap for 2012

1. Run Across America with Rev3
2. Raise $100k for Ulman Cancer Fund w/ Rev3
3. Race my 2nd 70.3 at Rev3 ME
4. Start ECH Fine Art and Designs and sell my Great Uncle's Art
5. Send 1 hand written card every day for 365 days
6. Do 52 Random Acts of Kindness with my kids
7. Compost {Again}
8. Downsize our house
9. Return to my {mostly} vegetarian diet for my health and the environment
10. Go 1 month, 2 months, 3 month w/o purchasing anything BRAND new. (except running shoes)

As the year goes on I will be constructing a "life long" list of IMPOSSIBLE things. Like a bucket list, but, like, way cooler! :) I encourage you to reach for the stars. To put that thing out there that rolls around in the back of you mind.... that you never speak. SPEAK it... to the world... and watch impossible things happen! Make IMpossible POSSIBLE!

Speaking of impossible things. Here are something to inspire you to think of IMPOSSIBLE things and walls YOU can shatter!

Jim Wilkes a Team RWB triathlete. His doctor USED the word IMPOSSIBLE when he asked if he could ever do a triathlon. Look at him now! Like him on Facebook!!!

The big REVEAL!

I keep talking about this huge goal I have for 2012.. one that requires a lot of running.... drum roll....  

Rev3 is RUNNING across AMERICA!!!! 

And I'm joining them!

10 people (plus some) x 15 miles a day x 21 days = 3,150 miles!!!

You read that right. We'll have some RVs, Some vans, a core group of 10 runners and other Team Rev3 athletes, friends and family meeting us along the way!

Why in the WORLD would we do this?

Raise Money for the Ulman Cancer Fund! 

 I told you I wanted to be more involved in fund raising for this organization!!! And we aren't just raising SOME money... we are aiming to raise $100,000 as a team! Yes, $100,000 in just about three months. Our fundraising site will go live on January 2nd. You WILL get a link.

 So let's see ... 21 days x 15 miles = 315 miles. I will be running 315 miles. So don't you think you could donate just $1/mile? Okay make it $.50.... $.25? In all seriousness every dollar/quarter/nickle/penny helps! 

The number of people I have personally known just in the last year that have been diagnosed with one form of cancer or another is just FLAT OUT unacceptable. We need to make strides to not only fight and stop this disease, but to support people in fighting when they do get the BIG C diagnosis. 

Stay tuned for more information as time goes on... like on January 2nd when the fundraising link goes live! :) I'll post about my training, our planning and when we are out on the road there will be a veritable BLITZKRIEG of information for ALL of you to follow.

So ... now's your chance.

Fire away with the questions. What types of info do you want me (us) to share as we are going through the journey of preparing, fundraising and completing this event!? Any fundraising ideas... fire away! :)

I'm beyond excited to be involved with both Rev3, the Ulman Cancer Fund AND this Run Across America!  

I'm Not Sitting Down Till it's Over!

so you may or may not know, but me and Jesus share a birthday. I'm cresting the hill and riding the slope down starting on December 25th.

I turned 35 last year and it was the first birthday to give me pause. Every other year I truly felt AT LEAST 10 years younger... well in the last 5 years I guess. Last year was different. I was facing 40 as my next milestone. How in the HELL did that happen? Well, I'm mostly over it. Though I'm quite aware that it is a slippery slope. Why do I care about being 40? Who the hell knows. I don't give it a lot of thought really, but I'm really not to excited about it truth be told.

I can really identify with this song lately. It's in more than one of my spin play lists and it always gets me fired up during class!!



"I'm not sittin' down till I'm older and I'm not shuttin' up till it's over!"

What's my point? God, I'm sure there is one!!! I've got things rolling around in my mind (when don't I).... no, not just the normal mundane BS that is usually rolling around in there, but stuff that is SO MUCH cooler.

In the last couple of years I've not been 100% satisfied with how the year closed. (even though I've had perfectly fine years.) Well, who do you think is to blame for that feeling? Um, sheepishly raising hand, ME!!!

In 2012 I'm going to try some new things... LOT'S of new things. Some big ideas and some small ideas. I've given some hints on Facebook and will provide just a few more below. I'll detail each of them as the weeks pass on and I will invite you to join me on many of them.

Impossible HQ

I'll be modifying this. Since XMas is soon to be over.

With EMPHASIS on the NO WHINING. And I'm not just talking about my kids.

I'm looking forward to sharing with you and to hearing all about what you've got planned for 2012!!!!

Let's LIVE LIFE LOUD!!! I'm not sitting down.

Dragging A$$ lately - THE REAL DEAL!

So let's get real shall we? I just and I mean JUST posted my last blog titled "Dragging A$$ Lately" and as soon as I posted it I felt like... well that seemed CANNED. I don't like Canned. EVERYONE tells you what I just told you to do to stay balanced.

Balance can mean a lot of different things. When I think of being balanced in terms of my life I think "not feeling INSANE."

What makes me feel 'not insane' might be different from what makes YOU feel 'not insane'.

For me: exercise and a plan = sanity! And exercise as I like to do it would likely be defined as INSANE by a large majority of the population. Or so it seems when I talk to people about what I'm doing. I do have to scale back my desired amount of exercise to fit in, well, life sometimes. This is why the whole endurance thing works for me. I like to be WORKED over! I like to run for more than an hour - hell it takes me an hour just to warm up - I like to do multiple workouts in a day.

This gets me in trouble sometimes... I tend to NOT take a break and burn myself out. So there is where I need to discover my BALANCE!

So the truth in HOW I stay balanced through the holidays is to HAVE A PLAN. Not a plan on how to execute parties, or gifts, or decorations... a PLAN for my WORKOUTS!

A training Plan!

The past two years I have trained for a marathon over the winter and I've got to say that they were likely my MOST SANE winters yet. I told myself I was not going to train for a marathon this year because, frankly, I'm a little burnt come spring/summer season when I'm supposed to be training hard for triathlon, but when push came to shove.. I was NOT SANE (aka BALANCED) not running.

An EPIC (to be announced soon) opportunity was pretty much dropped in my lap ... it involves copious amounts of running... and I JUMPED at it. Guess what... I now feel sane. Despite all the BS I've been dealing w/ lately (yea, that non-holiday people dying, back surgeries, tooth aches.. etc etc stuff)

I feel SANE and BALANCED.

Does that make my last, somewhat canned, post total BS!? No... I do those things too, but my workouts are a bit more, um, extreme and mandatory. Did you SEE that word? MANDATORY! Because I am TRAINING for something. I'm not just going to the gym to work off the gingerbread man cookies I gorged on  last night. I'm running, lifting, stretching for a PURPOSE that means something bigger than gingerbread men to me. (Side note: this training thing tends to keep me out of the gingerbread man binge.... but allows for me to endulge in one w/o my pants button flying across the room.)

So here we come back to something I've discussed before. Your WHY! Perhaps you don't TRAIN for EVENTS, but you are a certifiable gym rat. What's your WHY... beyond the gingerbread man. And make a PLAN... to progress to lifting heavier weights (or lifting at all), doing more reps, doing a big girl push up, doing a pull up. Have a GOAL! This is what will get you to the gym and keep you FOCUSED and BALANCED over the holidays! (and during any high stress time in your life)

Okay. I feel better now. Having given you the 'standard' speel and my REAL speel. Find your WHY... Holiday or not and the balance will come.

And while that other stuff is important - for me - the workout is the MOST important in keeping me BALANCED/SANE!

Okay... off to RUN!

Dragging A$$ lately?

Yea I said it... Merry CHRISTmas

It's the holidays... shouldn't we all be enjoying some crazy wonderful merriment!? Raise your hand if you are 100% lovin' it this season! Yes, I can see you. No, I'm not telling you where I put the cameras so stop looking over your shoulder!

I won't get into my craziness this holiday season... because it's getting old and I'm tired of giving it attention. My weird holiday season aside I think we all struggle a bit over the holidays to maintain our sanity.

The holiday foods and parties abound. Even if you aren't a party goer it comes into your life. Work stuff, kids (even my anti sugar butt has been baking up a storm - okay it's a dull breeze - and we are going to do gingerbread houses), the "oh it's the holidays' libations... the stress of

GETTING IT ALL IN!

Again, raise your hand if you have skipped a workout because you are TOO BUSY! Raise your OTHER hand now to indicate that you've loosened the reigns on your food and drinks as well!

Okay.. put your hands down. Let's  move on.

The new year is coming... let's start getting some BALANCE now. Let's not wait. These things work during any time of stress... holidays and otherwise.

Say NO! Maybe you're super cool and are being invited to every party on the block... I KNOW you don't necessarily want to GO TO all of them. Say NO! It's okay. Your kid's school is pulling you in a million different directions to help out with the parties etc that go on at school. And GOD FORBID you have more than one kid in different classes. Double (triple, quadrupal) whammy. SAY NO! It's okay! Work obligations, end of year deadlines... Say NO!

Say YES! Yes to your workout. FIND the time, MAKE the time. DON'T fall off the bandwagon! Recruit a friend to go with you so you KNOW you can't blow it off because s/he will be waiting for you. Get up at day break and GET ER done if that's what it takes. Will you be crabby about getting up early.. perhaps, but YOU'LL be DONE! Maybe you'll even create a new habit.

I kick it old school.

DRINK... your water! This is HUGE. At least I find it to be HUGE! Water flushes those toxins out... you know the sugar and alcohol etc that you are indulging in! Water feeds you cells and lubricates your joints... keeps the ol' brain in tip top shape. Wash out the cob webs and the toxins. I like to carry a 32 oz Nalgene around with me all day. I try to drink FOUR of them. I sweat a lot when I workout. If I'm spinning I finish AN ENTIRE bottle... and don't include it in my FOUR. Drink at least 8 oz of water upon waking! Your body will thank you and YOU will thank ME! Drink it w/ your morning coffee if you must have your coffee. It's okay!

ENJOY! It's the holidays. Eat the fun foods. Have a cookie OR the pie OR the cake. Drink egg nog. Have some candy canes. Chocolate.. OMG love the chocolate. That said.... LIMIT yourself. Don't deny yourself... but LIMIT. Keep it under control!

RELAX! If you have to ... SCHEDULE IT! Whatever it is that you do to relax. Curl up by the fire w/ your honey. Watch a movie. Have a random coffee date with a friend. Don't make it a thing. Just something easy and fun. Read a book.  Take a nice long hot bath. You get the idea.

Are you maintaining some semblance of balance? How are you doing it? What's your key to stress relief. For me it's keeping my workouts and finding some quiet time every day. Sitting here blogging in a quiet house drinking a nice hot cup of coffee ALL BY MYSELF is pretty golden for me!

Happy Holidays, Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas!

And please check out my follow up post called THE REAL DEAL!

2012.. it's a comin' in a big way!

I've got a bunch of projects in mind for 2012.... who's getting excited for the 2012 debut!? I think I must have accidentally had caffeine this a.m. bc I have been JACKED all day. It's either that or the anticipation of all of the cool things on the horizon has me super FIRED UP!

Right now I'm working on looking at all I hope to be involved in and accomplish in 2012 and prioritizing and scheduling my time. I feel like through the process of all of this I'm FINALLY starting to find myself or grow into myself and I'm not going to lie... it feels glorious. Who went through their 20s feeling like they were having a midlife crisis and feeling ill equipped to deal with it? THIS GIRL! I called it my quarter life crisis.... then I had kids... couldn't really have a cognitive thought... follow through = FORGET ABOUT IT!

And now suddenly - surely has something to do with the full day kindergarten thing - I can have a cognitive thought... and now I work on the follow through. By way of a plan and simplification of the things I need to and want to get done.

(Mom, hold onto your hat.. I'm about to implement things you've been harping on me telling me about for YEARS!)

From Zen Habits:
"Design a simple system intentionally, making a routine that works for you, and alter it if it doesn’t make sense. Write out the system, so it is formal, and try to stick to it as much as possible — religiously, if possible."

Schedule all those little things! Make a plan... and it will get done. Just running around and 'filling in' is inefficient and sucks up a lot of my time. (It's not like this is a new thought... I've been doing this with training plans for years now. Time to apply to other aspects of my life.)

Designate day for each task: I'm working through this. Here's what I have so far
- laundry
- meal planning (1week out) - day before grocery day (sunday)
- grocery/errands (monday)
- clean (friday)
- review finances (thursday - 2x/mo)
- spinning/training (tuesday & thursday)
- workout/train (I've been scheduling this for years... it's 5-6 days a week for me at various times/locations.. all written in my calendar and updated weekly.)

Schedule time to complete your NEED to do tasks: (think of your projects and things you need to do to complete them.)
- workout (9:30a m/w/f, 12pm t/th)
- write (6am-7am m-f)
- photograph
- blog
- email (ie. top of the hour, 3x/day for 30 mins)
- create spin and training plans

How do you make sure it all gets done? Do you prefer a paper calendar, icalendar, pda calendar?

Oh... as to what all these projects and super fun things I'm looking at for 2012.. and the elusive race schedule. Well, it's coming together.... but I won't be unveiling it until closer to the new year... come on people there is still 1.5 months left in this year!!!!! :D Maybe on my birthday I'll do that post... but only if you PROMISE to check in here on my Birthday Christmas!!!

2011 Danbury Half Marathon

2nd race of the season... done.

Honestly I kept forgetting that I was doing this race. My TP wanted to run a half this year. I may have said I would do her first race with her. Then she said she wanted to do Danbury. UGH! My memory of Danbury from the previous year was almost two hours of torture on hills. Perhaps I had blown myself up a little training for Miami and was little "done before I started" as TP pointed out.

This year I was 'just running' I had no expectations on myself other than to join my friend in her first 1/2. Gotta say this approach works MUCH better for me. No pressure, just running. I loved it. This year was 1million zillion billion times better than last year. I loved it and was reminded that Oh, I do like this running thing.

On top of that my TP blew her "pie in the sky" goal out of the water by nearly 10 mins. That was lots of fun. She ran a smart run and pushed it beyond her comfort zone at the end. I'm so glad I was able to be there w/ her for her first race and such a great success! She should be so very proud of herself! :)

The day before the race I PIGGED OUT so by the morning of the race I wasn't really hungry (and frankly I've been eating later breakfast lately) and I wasn't sure what to do. I mean it's race morning don't I need to eat SOMETHING!? So I had my coffee and water and waited for the hunger to set in. This race has a late start (10:20am) so I figured I'd get hungry before then.... It was time to go... still not hungry. So I poured the remainder of my coffee over one scoop of First Endurance Cappuccino Ultragen in a flask, mixed a bottle of EFS and headed out.

I still wasn't really that hungry, but about an hour before the race I drank the Ultragen/coffee combo (which by the way tastes like a milkshake.. um, yum) and then wandered around a bit. I had been sipping on the EFS drink and had another swig right before heading to the start line. I didn't take anything with me.

We did the whole run and I didn't have one hunger pain the whole time. I didn't realize until we were done that I hadn't been hungry. SHOCKED really. I still wasn't that hungry. I am ALWAYS hungry.

I've been kinda holding out on using the First Endurance products thinking they were only "worthy" of longer / harder efforts, but man that stuff works... will need to put in in normal circulation.. anything longer than an hour to one and a half hours seems about right.

Triathlon and balance

 Travel gear for ONE month for STEVE's trip.

I've been reading a ton (I go in spurts.. I'll be a voracious reader on a particular topic and then I won't read for a long time.. it's like taking a drink from the fire hose then suffering through a drought.) about simplicity and minimalism ("Minimalism isn’t about being cool or hip (though some might think so). It’s about re-examining our lives. It’s bucking against the trend of over-consumption, of consumption as the fundamental act of our lives. It’s a critique of the status quo of owning too much, of mindless buying of gadgets and big cars and clothes and other luxury items." quoted from mnmlist.com). While minimalism can be quite extreme it appeals to me. I'm not in a position to delve so far so to have only a knapsack of belongings and travel through Europe with no source of income, but the idea of owning less and ending my consumerist style of living has great appeal. We've started to downsize quite a bit and I will say it's both freed up my time and seems to be starting to free up my mind while introducing me to a new way of thinking.

I'm thinking about how we are spending our money a great deal lately. We are by no means over spenders (and by we I'm mostly talking about myself bc Tom barely spends any money at all), but I know we (okay.. I'll just start saying I) spend money on things we don't 'need'. I want to work on 'needing' less. I want our family to live our life to it's fullest. I want to DO things together that are both fun and enriching.. not spend all our money on things, but on experiences. Anyway. I could go on and on and on... but I have no concrete answers to it all that I'm ready to share.

Hmm. This ONE RACE worth of stuff looks similar to Steve's ONE MONTH of stuff.

The other day as I'm driving along and thinking about all of this this pops into my head, "Can I be a 'minimalist' and an athlete.. specifically a TRIATHLETE!?" We aren't exactly known for SIMPLICITY or MINIMALISM. How much gear does it take to complete a triathlon not to mention the bottles and clothes we go through in any given week. I mean seriously. And don't even get me started on the shear quantity of food we can throw down!

In the end... yes, I think there is a way to find balance in it all. I have gone through my workout clothes and gotten rid of the non-essentials. You know those jerseys/shirts/shorts that are always rolling around in the back of the drawer. The ones you pick up, look at and then see you 'favored' and choose that one instead and the race shirts that are so ugly but you earned them, but you hang on to the extras for the days that you are behind on laundry and your favorites aren't available. The beauty of it is by getting rid of non-essential things in my life it's a rarity for me to get so far behind on the laundry that I NEED the 'extra' clothes. So away they went and I haven't missed them. A lot of the plastic bottles have found their way to good will or the recycling as well. Not a problem what so ever. Might need to wash a bottle pre-ride when the training volume gets longer and 'exhaustinger', but I'm cool w/ that to have some space in my life.

When it comes down to it part of the LIVING piece of the puzzle includes triathlon for me so it will always be worked into the program. I'll be talking about how to get it done... as I figure it out! Hmm wonder how Tom would feel about starting w/ the 11 bikes and 6 frames we have rolling around the garage! Probably not going to be 'downsizing' any of those. We could fill a small house w all of our bike stuff. I did get him to get rid of all his old extra helmets. Really, you have only ONE head why 6 helmets? Next up the 7 pairs of bike shoes. I get it.. you need road and mountain, but beyond that?????

How much GEAR do you have rolling around and how much of it is redundant and EXTRA!? Why do you keep it?

Tri Season is upon us folks!

 For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

Okay. Time to get my head in the GAME! Tri season is here. REAL training has begun and my head is elsewhere (in case you hadn't noticed). It's all good though. I'm hitting the workouts (uh, except the swims last week. Additional level of scheduling headache w/ the hubs traveling and my regular swim time being in the evening.. post kid's bed.) I think I've got it nailed for this week. Time is carved out and plans are made (I sit down w/ my calendar every Sunday and make sure my workouts are SCHEDULED!!! this helps me insure that I get them done. I do have to juggle sometimes, but for the most part I can hit them) so I'm hopeful that my two swims will happen... though I'll be swimming solo and we all know how that usually turns out. Not quite as good as when I'm training w/ my friends, but something better than nothing.

Rev3 Knoxville is only 8 weeks away. EEK! I'm feeling okay. I lack focus a bit right now, but so long as I'm getting my workouts done I'm happy. The running is still painful... BOO! I'm suspecting that I'm going to be limping along all season because, let's face it, I'm not going to have any time to get off it for months to truly let it heal. I KNOW I need to do some yoga and I'm working on (meaning planning and getting my mind around getting up earlier) finding a place to fit it in. I've only ever overcome an injury and gotten back to pain free running through yoga. We all know it would benefit us... as would uh, swimming, biking, running, eating, sleeping and strength training. Who wants to pay me to just exercise all day? Cause I'll do it! Any takers? I can set up a paypal button on here and you can just start clicking it! :)

For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

 

I'm no longer racing Rev3 Quassy either (oh, how plans change after the initial hub bub wears off and reality sets in). I AM working with Rev3 as the Local Volunteer Coordinator and I'm having so much fun with it. I mentioned some of the connections I'm making as a result. I've gotta say I love LJ too! She's so amazingly energetic and delightful. SO.. if you are coming to the race, but aren't racing (or you, uh, live here) click on THIS link and hit SIGN ME UP! and volunteer for this great race. It's an amazing experience to volunteer and gives great perspective as an athlete. Give back to your sport! You know you want to!

 For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

Originally I had planned on doing Rev3 Portland as well, but things have changed. For a few reasons... 1. Money money money - all frequent flier miles have been used up for our trip to Texas for the MS150 in April.
2. Family. A trip to the PNW to do a race also includes crazy running around to see family. I wouldn't feel right going out there just to race and not going to see everyone. This would add a level to stress that I don't want to put the family through. We will find a time for a family only non-race related trip.
3. We are taking the kids to DISNEY World for their birthday. They don't know yet. We're going to do that 'hey kids, wanna go on an adventure today. Get dressed we're going to Disney." thing. This goes w/ the 'spend our money on family time' and not on items thing. Though Disney is FAR FROM MINIMALIST! ha :) To each their own.

Now I'm speculating as to whether or not I need to (should) do a local HIM. Thoughts on that? Can I hit a Full Triathlon without first doing a HIM? Coach says absolutely.. what are your thoughts fellow AGE GROUPERS!?

For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

We're not even going to talk about Rev3 Cedar Point yet. Maybe after we get through Knoxville. Still totally freaks me out to think about it so I generally just don't! :)

For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

Capping off with Rev3 South Carolina will be great fun. I'll be looking for what coach calls the Ironman Bounce.. a little bit of extra speed doing a shorter (God, really?) race after a longer race. Or I might be just glad to be heading back to my alma mater for some fun with the team and reunions with fellow alumni. We'll see how I'm feeling when we get there!

I am getting paid or three workouts a week so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much! My spins are going great. Coach has worked it so I have my three spins a week to just wreck myself w/ speed work and big gears and then I do one nice long ride outside. This works surprisingly well for me. I have a hard time killing myself on a ride outside, but I have a hard time NOT killing myself in a spin workout. Go figure.

In addition to this a buddy and I are putting together a tri program at the gym where I teach spin (New Milford Sports Club) that starts in June (yes, that's late, but it's for a sprint in August) and I'll be running a run and bike program as well in April and May. I'm really looking forward to sharing my love of sport w/ others and I get an enormous high from seeing people succeed in their athletic endeavors!

Should hear about whether or not I got into the NYC Marathon sometime mid April. Here's hoping that TP and I both get in. It would be a great way to cap off the season before hanging it up for some R&R.

Let's do this thing!!

How are you feeling about your upcoming season? HIM pre IM a necessity or a luxury?