25 miles by 8am!

Well, I'm heading off on a little vacation this weekend...a trip to Mexico to see 2 of my great friends get married, which is exciting... But that also means a little extra training in the early part of the week to get ready for some lighter days while I'm out and about.. So I did a little impromptu backwards tri this morning...20 miles on an indoor bike, straight to 4 quick miles on the treadmill, then on to a mile in the pool. Good times! And to think, all of that and only moving 25 meters! Really makes me look forward to getting outdoors and getting to the 'real' training and racing. But for now, it'll have to do. The ol' bike is in the shop getting it's spring cleaning and hopefully this snow will clear out soon and let some sun and warmer stuff in. Last weekend we had a lovely, chilly, snowy run followed by a team breakfast where our honored heroes were able to join us! I must say, they were a bit overwhelmed by the 30+ of us that were there, but they smiled and nodded as they tried to learn our names... So great to have the chance to get to know them a bit more, as I'm sure there will be plenty more chances to get to know these 2 great kids as we go on with our training this season. After what is starting to feel like a long winter of bundling up to get out for runs, I'm definitely looking forward to the spring... Here we go March!!

Snow, snow, snow...

Well, it's snowing again, here in Indy. The snow and cold actually haven't held me back too much with my training so far... I've still gotten my runs in every weekend (NOT on the treadmill... Something about doing more than 40 minutes or so on the 'mill just isn't appealing to me anymore..). But the one thing that does bum me out is when the roads are too bad for me to safely get out for my practices or trainings. I went out early this morning to my 5am spin class without even thinking about the roads because all they had called for (last I had looked) was an inch of flurries over night... Well, about half way there I started thinking that it was a really bad idea for me to have gone that morning. Now, mind you, I still did make it to my class and I made it home safely...but it made me ponder a bit about my common sense. But anyway. All is well. I had a decent weekend of training... If anything, I'm having the strange issue of having too many training opportunities and not enough time to get them all in! I met up with my usual running group early on saturday to get 6 miles in... and then went back out to meet up with the tri team to run another 4! Then sunday I had a good swim workout and did my own indoor bike training. So that was that! We had a great valentines day weekend... Just made dinner and dessert (which Mason was a big fan of!) at home. It's low-key, but that's the way we roll these days!
The latest on the fundraising front... Donations have slowed down a bit, but there's still time to get in there and join me in my fight against blood cancer. My first deadline for meeting my goal is in April, so the more donations I can get in by then, the better. I am hosting a Tastefully Simple party where the more orders I receive, the more the company will donate to LLS... So if you haven't already gotten my emails on this, you can visit www.tastefullysimple.com to browse their products; then when you make your purchases and proceed to check out, there's a spot to 'search your host'...so look for my name there and add me as the host so any purchases you make go toward my total and will increase the amount that Tastefully Simple will donate. Or, if you prefer to just donate straight to me, the link is still at the top of the blog page and you can add your donation there. I still have a few ideas rolling around, but I'm really hoping to kick start the fundraising again. I greatly appreciate those that have already contributed and I appreciate all the support and well-wishes as my training has started to take off! Here's hoping I can continue to train hard through these darn winter snows...

What's a 1/2 Ironman??

It was brought to my attention that perhaps some folks don't know much about this race that I'm taking on... So maybe I'll share a little about it! Honestly... I don't know too much about the race just yet... Here's what I know for sure about what's going to go down on race day, July 31st... I'll be swimming in Lake Michigan (again...you she-devil of a lake, you... You won't get me this time!) for 1.2 miles, then heading out on what's sure to be a lovely, scenic and relaxing 56 mile bike ride, and then...because I have juuuust a bit left in the tank (I'm hoping), I'll take off on a 13.1 mile 'sprint' to the finish... Sounds good, right?? I'm sure there's still spots available, if you'd like to join me! If you want to check out the race info, the website is: http://www.steelheadtriathlon.com Luckily, I'll be trekking all these miles as a WELL prepared, well oiled, cancer fighting machine. The extra motivation of raising money for cancer patients and survivors, along with the push from my team and all my wonderful supporters will be just the thing I need to keep me going... Go Team!!

another week of TNT!

So 3 TNT meetings down this week and NO tears this time!! A new TNT record for me... Probably because we were all 'business' this week, but I'm getting excited for our 1st official group training this saturday. And I'm very certain that I am in very capable hands.. We met our coach tonight and he talked for over 2 hrs on various race things...from fitting your bike, to planning your potty breaks on race day... And it took all of about 20 minutes for me to be singled out as the group nutrition expert.. I even already had a team member say she was going to email me for advise! Drummin up some business in the darndest of places.. It looks like it's going to be a long season, but I'm ready for it! To update on the fundraising... I've made my 1st grand, which is exciting. I also have some exciting plans that I hope come through... I'll be sure to keep you all posted on that! I'd like to take a moment to thank those that have already visited my site and been able to offer some support; Kathy G., Kathy P, Andrea, Beth L., Melissa (Aunt Lis!), Kain and Erin, the Fischers, Dan, Kim, April D., Amie, and Mom and Dad. I thank you all! And no worries, there's still time left to offer your support! My 1st deadline for fundraising is April, 7.

As I sit here thinking about all the training that lies ahead of me, I can't help but think of where I was this time last year...just deciding to take on the Mini marathon. Starting pretty much from scratch again with running after having Mason. I remember those 1st runs on the treadmill when I could barely do 2 or 3 miles at a 5 mile/hr pace... But I did that half marathon, then got the crazy idea to do 2 tris and a full marathon that season! And here I am... I just think it's so amazing what a person can do when they put their minds to it (I hope I can still say this in a few months!)... So here we go! And the new 'season' officially begins... Here are some pics of last years races:

Mason and I 'pre race at Eagle Creek Tri

heading off for the bike!

Chicago Tri...heading to my 'big finish'!

And this is me heading toward the finish line (it was around the corner..which means I couldn't see it yet, but I knew it was near..) at the marathon. It was 60 some degrees in November and was my warmest race ALL season!.. Go figure.. Just goes to show, you NEVER know what to expect on race day.