Chisago Half Ironman

So... after dreading writing about this race I thought copy and paste what I wrote to my dear friend Carissa sums it up pretty well!

So here is my race report:)

Swim: So Sat was a bizarre day, I felt great in the morning, I wasn’t too nervous the swim went out in waves of 50 and I got clobbered the entire 1.2 miles...like hit on the back of the head, kicked all over. A girl who my bike was set up next to she had done a couple full ironman's and we came out of the water together and I asked her if that was an aggressive swim and she said it was the worst she had been in.

Transition 1: I think I’m discovering why people wear the tri suits or don’t mess with throwing on the tank top, I felt this way for the past two I’ve done this summer but this one was especially bad, when your wet putting on dry top is tough and I ripped my number off so I’m repining that, and trying to get the stupid thing over my head. Since I don’t have a bike computer thingy I put on my Garmin watch which is great but not when you have to wait for it “find satellites” :), note to self get a bike calculator thingy, my sunglasses were foggy, and I have no clue how to run in biking shoes, is it possible?

Bike: the day earlier I had spent 50 dollars on getting everything in case I got a flat, CO2 cartridges, replacement tube, etc. Mile 1 of 56 my pack rips off and falls to the ground, UMMMM what????? Then I got to thinking as I’m yelling at myself for literally throwing away 50$ why did I even bring it???? If I had gotten a flat I would have been out there all day replacing the stupid thing I would have needed a ride in anyways!! The bike ride actually was beautiful and I felt fine, took my nutrition in and drank lots of water. With 14 miles left to go my Garmin dies, excuse me but WTF????? I packed it the night before to be sure I didn’t forget and I must of had in a mode where it was sucking the juice out of it. So the last 14 miles where my legs are beginning to feel like they are blowing up I have no idea what mile I’m on or how fast I’m going. At one point I thought we had about 12 miles and when I asked the lady she said 4 and I could have leaped off my bike, tackled and kissed her!

Transition 2: I was happy to be off the bike, put my shoes on, put a couple gels in my shorts and headed for the porta potty before heading out on the run. I went in with two gel shots, left with 1 the other fell into a big dump from somebody who clearly lost their bowels after the bike. Gross!

Run: You know me and how much I hate heat, well I ran the 13 miles between 11-1 in the 90 degree heat. Tyson ran with me and at first it was a nice distraction and fun to have somebody to say a few things to since I been alone with my thought for the last 4 hours! But mile six rolled around and I thought my legs were going to blow off, my body would not cool down and I knew it was going to be a bear fight to get back to the finish. I was throwing ice cubes in my bra, shorts, hat mouth anywhere. It was a miserable 7 miles of trying to run for 5 minutes only making it to 3 and then walking until I could find the gusto to get my butt going again. The way I was moving I would have thought I was pacing at eternity per mile, it felt like forever!!

Finish: I thought I would be so relieved, excited, proud of myself but none of those was how I felt. Instead I was pissed, hot, and nauseas. I told Tyson I didn’t know if I could walk to the car so he got it as close to the site as possible and threw my stuff in, handed Tyson the bike and tried to control my stomach so everybody wouldn’t have to see me yack my brains. Poor Tyson!! 4 miles down the road he had to pull over and I yacked more yellow Gatorade then you see players dumping over their coaches head after they win the super bowl! That continued on the way home, once I got home and then once I was showering. Classy huh? I couldn’t stand in the shower so there I am washing my hair sitting down and puking, yuck!

I made it to the couch where I slept for a few hours and then by 8 or so I could stand up and feel normal. I told Tyson the storm had calmed and we needed some Old Chicago pizza as it was in my head the entire run, with ranch dressing of course:) I ate one piece and had to be done but it was oh so worth it! We went home and I said I think I needed a walk or something as my legs were just throbbing and we made in down 4 houses and I couldn’t go any further, so we headed home and I crawled into bed and called it a day.

2 days out I’m still upset with my time but acknowledge I got what I trained for, I mean I did maybe 2 long bike rides but not even close to 56 miles and never once ran more then 3 miles after a long bike ride, hmmmm and I’m surprised I blew up? C’mon I know better. So there it is, will I do it next year? I told Tyson to never let me sign up but I already want to go and redeem myself. We shall see....

Summer Fun

Will sitting on his "chair" (picture frame)

Finishing Lifetime Tri

4th of July Gilligan's Island

Hayride with a 10 yr old driving

Cattle Pull

Summer is the best, I just wish there was a way to speed up the winter and slow down the summer!

4th of July weekend was a blast, Saturday we went to the family farm in Henning, MN for the family reunion where I got to learn all the ins and outs of farming. People kept asking me if I was an animal rights activist because I was like “umm I don’t think I like that you dehorn the bull, umm I don’t think you should deball the bull, umm should you really be doing a cattle pull, the calf doesn’t seem very happy etc etc”. There are so many things about a farm I can’t believe it took 26 years to find out! After a long day of activities and catching up with the family Ty and I headed back to Alex for the Sahli Storm, some family friends have a huge party with fireworks on steroids so we wanted to get back in time for the fireworks! Stef and Dustin got a babysitter so it was fun to be out and about with the family and not worrying about little kiddo’s for a night.

Sunday I got up bright and early to get my banners made for the boat parade and make sure everything was good to go. We had the theme song from Gilligan's Island playing in the boat and we were rocking out until a couple boats started throwing water balloons and Tyson took one to the back of the head and Maggie one to the hip. Despite the battle wounds we had a great time and it was a fun start to the day. When we got back the weather got all gross and I was feeling like I should really get a long workout in so took off by myself and biked 50 miles and then ran for a few miles. My back got so sore I had to get off a couple times and stretch. Other then my back hurting everything felt find except for some serious chaffing from the bike shorts. I think I need to figure something out before the big day because it was UNCOMFORTABLE. The rest of the day we sat by the lake eating good friend and catching up with friends. The best part was that I didn’t have to go back to the cities!! However the next morning my dad and I went for a bike ride and I had to ask to turn around only a few miles in as I felt like I was ripping my flesh. Not good...hmmmmm

Last week I tried to cut back on training to get ready for lifetime and I was getting really excited for it! Friday night my parents and I had dinner at Northcoast in downtown Wayzata and we enjoyed a great dinner on the patio and then walked around a bit. That night I had a heck of a time falling asleep, when I finally did and then woke up in the middle of the night I could barely swallow and felt sick to my stomach. What?? I tried not to panic so I went and ate a piece of bread, gargled salt water and hoped for it to be gone in the morning. It wasn’t, instead I had a sore throat and aching body and the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed at the butt crack of dawn and go exercise. I had to tell myself like I do anytime I’m in pain that there are people who would love to get to exercise sick so I bucked up and headed out.

I think it was sort of a plus that I wasn’t feeling all that well because I wasn’t nervous at all. Tyson dropped me off and I headed to transition while he got his long run in. Usually I hate milling around transition by myself it makes me super anxious but I was just in that slightly miserable stage where you just don’t care. Tyson promised me he would find me before I took off but when it was about 15 minutes to go time I started panicking if he was ok etc and then I see him coming down the stairs with my parents. It was great to see everyone for a second before I left...I just kind of took off and went through the motions. It was a beautiful morning and I felt great on my swim and did a great job sticking to the buoys, one guy was swimming backstroke and I didn’t see him and ended up getting a handful of something crazy!

The bike went by pretty fast, I knew I wasn’t going as fast as I wanted but the course had a lot of sharp turns and bumps so I just tried to keep an ok pace. Tyson’s parents, my parents, and my sister and boyfriend Stu came out so it was fun to see them!

The run went pretty good, at first I felt great and thought I was holding a super fast pace but by mile 2 I was just hot and sick of it. I didn’t make myself uncomfortable instead I just relaxed and managed an ok pace.

I ended up 5th in my age group and 40th for women, I think I get frustrated with myself because if I just shaved off a minute here and a minute there you wonder but whatever I had a fun morning and got to chow down on some amazing Old Chicago pizza afterwards and it made the world right again:) Tyson and I went home and napped all afternoon, it was great! It was our first weekend home since the beginning of May so it was such a great feeling to just relax in your own home. We watched a movie and went back to sleep, pretty crazy!

Sunday I woke up feeling worse so I rested Sunday and Monday but figured I should get myself going again. Carissa and I had a date for Tuesday so I asked if we could test out running and see how I feel. I think I get so wrapped up in talking with her I forget about it, so we ended up going about 6.5 miles with a few farmer blows along the way. We then went to Panino’s and my gosh it was delicious.

Today is Friday and I think I’m on the upswing. I’m still blowing chunks but hopefully that will subside soon as the farmer blows during a race isn’t the greatest thing. I got my long workout done this morning and ready for a wonderful weekend of resting, eating, and laughing with my sisters and Will.

Stef and Will are staying with me this weekend while Dustin and Brett go to Chicago. This morning I got a text from Stef saying she came upstairs to Will trying to sit on a chair. Love him!!

Wedding Weekend With a Long Run...

My Sulfur Mask...Tyson calls it my war paint

Beautiful Bride

Bridesmaids at rehearsal

Probably right before we all wiped out...

Last week seemed like such a blur that I couldn't really get excited for the wedding, also I broke out with a bad acne break out but went to visit Bri and she stitched me up and made me all better (note the red sulfur mask). I ran out of work on Friday around noon and got to Alex in time to meet my mom for a quick mani and pedi, which got the weekend started on a good note!

The grooms dinner was great getting to see everyone and meet Erin's fiancee Shane's family. After the dinner we all headed home pretty early knowing that the next day was going to be a long one. Ty and I set are stuff out to get ready for an 11 miler the next morning. The furthest he had ever gone and the furthest for me since my last marathon.

Saturday morning we woke up to a thick fog and we headed on our way. My legs felt like lead and Tyson seemed to be on cruise control, I thought maybe I just needed to wake up but I felt terrible the entire way around the lake (8 miles) we stopped by my house grabbed some water and split a gel shot and took off again to finish the last 3 miles which again I felt terrible. I don't know if it's because I haven't really done too much running, humidity or if my legs were just tired. Tyson was feeling great and I then realized that I needed to worry less about him being able to keep up and worry more about me being able to keep up! It was awesome to finish with him and see someone conquer something they had never done. Tyson officially understands the runners itch & high:)

We couldn't tell what the weather was going to do that afternoon but it was perfect and she looked beautiful and everything went great. We danced the night away and even survived a few falls, Courtney went to hop on Tanya's back but Tanya wasn't ready therefore they crashed, then Courtney, Tanya and I were dancing when Courtney all of sudden pulls out a new dance move sprang her ankle and wiped out which lead to Tanya and I laughing so hard that we proceeded to wipe out. No permanent injuries, just a lot of good laughs.

a fathers day not to be forgotten...

Went home this weekend to celebrate fathers day with the whole clan, my dad and I planned to go for a long bike ride and then go to our favorite spot for breakfast. The morning was going pretty good despite biking into the wind for 20 miles we were pretty much wrapped up in our conversation and we made it to Evansville before we knew it. We were at 18 miles and my dad made a comment that he would like to get 40 in so we kept going and when we hit 20 miles and started to turn around so did the entire morning...

As I was about to turn around I heard my dads bike crash to the pavement and looked back to see my dad do a complete barrel roll across the pavement. At first I started to giggle because I didn’t know what else to do and told him “that was an amazing barrel roll!” I saw him do something to his hand and he said “I broke my finger, but I think I just reset it.” He held up his hand and his middle finger was still crooked and his ring finger was bleeding pretty bad. Two seconds later my dad was on the ground pouring water on himself trying not to pass out. At this point I started to freak out and started bawling and he had to tell me to pull it together and call mom. I was panicking so much that it took me 5 minutes to call her number. I knew my dad was in a ton of pain because when my mom suggested she pick up the suburban that has the carrier for both our bikes my dad told her to come straight to Evansville and said she might even have to drive on the bike path to get him. Right before he crashed he had told me his heart rate was at 160, when I looked at his watch after the crash it was down to 60 so I knew he could pass out anytime. He wanted to get back to Evansville so my mom wouldn’t have to drive on the bike path so he pedaled a little ways and got dizzy and had to get off a couple times. At one point when we moving at a snails pace back to Evansville I looked at him and said “happy fathers day” he started laughing pretty hard and then I knew he was going to be fine. We made it to Evansville in perfect time as my mom was just pulling up, we got his bike thrown in the truck and they took off. My dad had to get his finger reset again and the nurse thought it was too much adrenaline and the shock that was making him so sick, he was already feeling 100% minus the finger when I picked him up from the doctor so we decided to go get some breakfast. We were so hungry we practically ordered the entire menu and rehashed the scene a million times, by this time it was so funny we could barely talk. We both agreed it was a fathers day we would never forget...

1st for everything

This week was all about going out of my comfort zone and doing a few things I've thought of doing for a while now but just couldn't get the oomph to do it!

Carissa (my marathon partner) decided she was going to do her first triathlon this summer, so we were going to meet up Tuesday night for a brick workout, an hour of biking followed by a 3 mile run...the weather has been so unpredictable so we thought we would hit up a spin class and run on the treadmills but much to our surprise we got some gorgeous weather and didn't want to waste it being indoors. I have been wanting to try the bike path from Wayzata to St. Bonifacius for a while now but with my sense of direction (lack of) I didn't want to try it on my own. Carissa is a human Garmin so I thought it would be the perfect time to go and find it.

I loaded our bikes on the bike rack which I put on entirely by myself (for the first time) I sort of impressed myself with but couldn't take my eyes off the bikes the entire way there I thought for sure it was not going to end well! Of course I got us lost but Carissa put us back on track and we were able to find it and park no problem. The path was great and it was so much fun to catch up with Carissa, we were definitely a pair out there, I'm sure people were wondering who the two yahoos in the neon tanks were! Neither of us are comfortable on bikes so it was sort of hard for us to even look at each other. Taking one hand off the handle bars meant veering in that direction and I of course had to show Carissa how I have a near wipeout every time I bike...for real. We finished the night with a 3 mile run and got cleaned up and went to Cowboy Jacks for Tuesday night Fajita Night, my FAVORITE!! Overall a great night, put on the bike rack by myself, bikes didn't fall off, found the bike path, and didn't actually totally wipeout...

I'm really going to get serious about the food I buy and learning how to cook. So Thursday I researched a recipe I could make and headed to Fresh and Natural on the way home. I about had a melt down when I walked in and saw my asparagus I wanted was 10$ but kept an open mind, took my time walking through the aisles and found that I could buy my dinner supplies and not have it be totally outrageous! I ran into one obstacle, the recipe called for ginger root, I didn't even know where to begin to look, I got side tracked by the chocolate covered raisins (YUM) for a while and then decided I should ask, she pointed it out to me and I about panicked, did I need to buy the entire root? How do you cook with it? I don't get it??!! I asked the lady if I had to buy the entire thing when my recipe only called for 2 inches (I should have known when it called for 2 inches dangit) and she said that was exactly what I did. So I broke off a couple inches, bagged her up and went to the check out. I got home poured myself a nice glass of wine and told myself to take a deep breath before I started. I made Mahi Mahi with a Lime/Soy/Ginger marinade, red potatoes and green beans with almonds. I must say that other then a couple burnt fingers it all turned out and was probably the best dinner I've made for Tyson in our 4 years of marriage. I was really proud of myself for completing the task but also I made a few mistakes during the process and instead of throwing it all away and calling Pizza Hut I just figured out how to deal with it (ie fish exploding, shaving the ginger root??, putting plastic in the oven!) and thought it my head, well now you know better for next time.:)

This morning Ty and I both got up early to get a workout in and I got back to the house earlier then expected so I made oatmeal on the stove and mixed in peanut butter. Tyson couldn't believe it, cooking twice in one week, let alone 2 days...I could tell he was impressed:)

Looking forward to next week and teaching this ol' dog some more new tricks!

Love the Handles...

The love handles that is...the nice squishy stuff that when I'm frustrated or in deep concentration they provide such nice added cushion and resting ground for my hands to be placed.:)

I went to a physical therapy appointment Monday, after being sick all winter and with the busyness of training I needed a refresher course in my exercises, stretches etc. My PT is an ultra marathoner so we love to talk about races, paces and all that fun stuff. After we got done going through my workout I asked him what I can do about my “love handles” and he looked at me in almost disgust and goes “Katie, those are what being a woman and an athlete is all about.” I kind of just rolled my eyes and thought “easy for him to say he’s a guy!” But the more I thought about it the more I think he’s right. These love handles swam in the lake taking in waves each breath and endured chaffing from my wetsuit, biked with my dad 30 miles allowing us some quality time to get away and catch up followed by running 4 miles with my dad pedaling next to me all back to back. When you ask me the best part about my weekend I would tell you the 3 hour workout, that I got to do something that I love with someone I love.

I got a fitness magazine and there was a huge Dove campaign where women were saying what they were thankful for about their bodies. Many said they were thankful their body fought cancer, held up during a marathon, or was able to have a baby. It got me thinking about why we don't see all the great things our bodies do for us and instead focus on those lingering love handles?

I had a 10 miler this morning and the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking about how I don’t want to be that woman who misses all these great things in life because I’m focusing on a little piece that I don’t like so much. It’s so easy to listen to the voices that tell you all the things you are lacking, missing and needing but I think if I can be intentional about silencing them and instead think about all the many things I have to be thankful and excited for I can become that woman I want to be...

Along that note their are a lot of things I have to be excited for:

1.) I’m thinking about going back to school to be a Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Health, I’ve always been intrigued my nutrition and how it can heal and fuel our bodies for a while now and with the program allowing me to keep working full time, I thought why not?!

2.) Going up to the Cabin with my four best friends from High School for the weekend, need I say more?

3.) Saving the best for last.........KRISTIN ARMSTRONG is running the Twin Cities Marathon, I might ditch Tyson so I can run with her and her clan, how great would that be!!???

training has started...

Up until the last couple weeks I really haven't felt like I've been training for a half-ironman. However the last couple weeks I have been completing every workout on the schedule (not blindly "skipping" the ones I don't want to do) and even completed a few 3 hour workouts.

For Memorial Day Weekend I went up to Alex and the weather was glorious! I left work early on Friday to get up to Alex without hitting much traffic. That morning I had met a friend for spin class and also got a swim in so I could just relax Friday night.

Saturday morning my dad and I got up early to get going and were pumped to see how gorgeous it was outside! We hit the trails, and headed to a nearby town of Osakis and got off the path a bit to go around the lake. All the cabins were buzzing with vacationers getting their weekend started, it was so fun to see. We forgot to eat anything before we took off, we were starting to get super hungry and to make it worse every cabin we biked by smelt of delicious bacon. My dad made the comment that if he smelled bacon one more time he was inviting himself in, and I think I would have joined him!

After getting back we enjoyed a huge breakfast and then joined the family on the lake. I forgot to wear sunscreen so it was a good thing I had a shower to go to at 3, because when I went inside I was already fried! The shower was with my four best friends from high school and their moms, it was a good time to catch up.

The next morning I got a 1o mile run in, I mostly went around the lake as that's my favorite path but had to veer off a bit to get the mileage in. My legs felt heavy but not too bad, overall it was a great run!

To close out the memorial weekend I decided to get my wetsuit out and get a swim in, while my little sisters followed by me on the jet ski. It's been a while since I've swam in the lake and forgot what waves feel like, after swallowing two of them I decided to just breath on one side and call it good.

The weekend was an overall success, little by little I'm feeling stronger and more confident I'll survive the race in 8 weeks, yikes!!

Alexandria Tri Update a Month Later...

Time got away from me, yikes!

So the Alexandria triathlon...let's just say my heart rate was elevated way too high from Friday morning until the end of the race on Saturday. Friday night Tyson and I got up to Alex in time for dinner and some relaxation, however I was feeling constantly nervous. I feel like when you prepare for things well you shouldn't be the kind of nervous I was so I went to look at the course map and make sure I new where I was going etc but it wasn't helping. I think what I was most nervous about was swimming in a lane with 4 people, I had never done the swim in a pool before and didn't know how it would all work.

I tried going to sleep around 11 but didn't fall asleep till about 1, I kept saying "Katie this is just a workout" but I clearly wasn't getting it! I woke up around 6 and headed downstairs where my parents were hanging out in the kitchen, they kept laughing at how nervous I was and my dad gave me one of his many major pep talks.

Got to the race site and met up with Heather and her husband Jon, two of the greatest people on earth so we had a blast giggling our nerves away, or at least trying to. I was in heat 2 so I got to watch how it worked which was nice, they put you in a lane with people with similar swim times, I got in the pool and my heart was jumping out of my chest, when I got going I thought it would get better but I felt exhausted from the get go, a little frustrating but my time was fine and I hardly noticed I was in a lane with 3 other people!

I took off for my bike and was greeted with 30 MPH wind, not ideal but I just tried to sprint when I was with it and relax when I was against it. The bike seemed to go by fast and before I knew it I was back in transition to start my run.

Right when I took off my legs felt numb but heavy, very awkward feeling. I wanted to walk but remembered it took about 5 minutes for it to wear off. The course was only 3 miles and I never knew what mile I was on but thought I was keeping an okay pace.

When I was on the last leg of the run I got dry heaving and feeling like I was going to throw up, once I finished I quickly walked over to puke but just kept dry heaving, weird!

Overall it was a great course and a race I would love to do again in the future, I ended up 11th but know I can do much better time then I had. My transitions were WAY too slow and once I get more biking in and on the road I should be getting faster, hopefully?

I'm really looking forward to my next race in July which is Olympic distance, Lifetime is the greatest triathlon and always has great weather and the Pro's are there, so I better keep training:)

TGIF

It's Friday!! My week has been a fast but great one, this weather is the best!

For training this week I have been focused primarily on swimming which is probably good for me to work on my form etc but my skin is as dry as a dessert and my hair is getting nastier by the day. Usually swimming 3 x a week is plenty so doing 6 has been interesting, the water at the pool is so cold that I just dread getting out of bed, but I do and it's been a great week.

I took my bike out for another ride and I had to mentally prepare all day for it. I giggle sometimes thinking about if anyone could hear my thoughts they would die laughing. When I come up to an intersections I say Katie slow down, take a deep breath, don't be in a rush, clip out with your right foot, lead right, relax. Over and over I do this on the bike, I can't wait until I can just zone out like I do with running. I've always gotten in trouble growing up for day dreaming in class, I love it now even though I now know who I married and what job I have etc. There is still so much to dream about!

Wednesday night volleyball was a hoot this week, those guys are like a fresh breath of air. Tanya and I always leave and giggle the entire way home rehashing the night. Mark Bigelow is so nice and encourages the other team even while we are killing them, I've been on the other side of him before and it is quite annoying. In the middle of the game Tanya came over and whispered "I think we are beating them only because Mark is annoying them so much they can't focus". Russ was back playing which was great, he was in the hospital last week and asked the nurses if he could leave for an hour and a half to play volleyball, he's crazy! Dick's serve receiving wasn't the best last night and he was throwing out "I should have paid admission" which always gets Tanya and I doubling over!

WIth the nice weather Tyson has been really pouring his hear and soul into our pour little lawn, I asked him why he's been getting up so early and his response was that he needed to feed the yard, it's great!

This weekend is going to be a fun and busy one! Party tonight to celebrate Scottie opening his chiropractic business, tomorrow dinner with Pete and Jessie, and Sunday Twins game with my dad. I can't wait for it to begin!!

I didn’t find the golden egg or take my bike Easter weekend but overall it was a GREAT weekend!

Lindsay my younger sister picked me up Thursday night and it was fun to catch up on the way to Alex. It seems the second I get on the highway and head towards Alex I feel myself relax, it’s simply the best!

We didn’t get home till late and my parents were already in bed so Linds and I sat in their room for a while and talked before going to bed ourselves. The next morning I got up early to babysit my nephews Brett and Will and had a blast, it was a busy morning with those two. That night since it was just Lindsay and I home and with no kids around we thought we should take advantage and get out of the house. We went to the Last Song and loved it and then went to Doolittle’s for some late night apps and drinks. It was so fun just sitting and talking, it makes me miss the days when it was just us kids at home, it seems so long ago and hard to believe at one time there were five of us girls all under one roof.

The next morning Erica and Paul arrived with the kids and we had the day with them alone until Stef and Dustin and the boys arrived later that night. It is a crazy house with 4 kids under the age of 4!

Sunday morning we all got up and got ready for church early in order to get an entire row at church. It was a good idea because the church was packed and the message was a great one. We headed home for a great brunch and alas the Easter Egg hunt!! We all sat downstairs with no windows while my parents hid the eggs, when they said go we shot out the door like amazing race. My brother in law said he’s never seen girls box each other out like us when we see an egg at the same time!

The golden egg was found by Stef so at least I lost to a fierce competitor☺ I still came up pretty well with 3 caribou cards and $6. It was a good showing…

Last week was a recovery week for training, still had lots of sessions but shorter ones. It was sort of weird because I should have felt full of energy with the short workouts but I felt tired. Wednesday night playing volleyball I just felt exhausted but the guys put me in a better mood. (Above are pictures of Dick and Mark, Ross is the 3rd guy I play with who was sick that night so I will have to follow up with a picture) Thursday night I had a real treat, an hour long run with my running partner and good friend Carissa. It was like food for the soul being able to catch up while getting a really good run in. I had been having a terrible and stressful week and it seemed like it turned around when I got home from that run.

This morning I got an email for my last chance to order pictures from the Boston Marathon which was almost exactly a year ago. Although it was a tough race it was so fun to look at the pictures. When I look at them I always wonder what I was feeling or thinking during that moment. That was the race that Carissa thought she was going to die so it was fun to look at our finishing photo with the biggest smilesever. We were so upset with our time but looking back through the pictures it made me upset for even caring. It was a fun race and maybe a one in a lifetime opportunity to run the Boston Marathon. I can’t believe a year ago I was gearing up for the run, can’t say I wish I was going this year but happy I did it when I could. Sleeping in on the weekends is a pretty wonderful thing that I am enjoying for a short period of time. I’m back into the thick of training so sleeping in won’t be happening for a little while longer!

This last weekend I took my bike off the trainer and took it out for a ride. When I take my bike to Alex we just hit the trail and go and very rarely do we need to stop for lights, traffic etc. I’m not used to navigating around cars, potholes, runners etc I wish I could say I enjoyed my 30 minutes of being back on my bike and on the road but I can’t. I literally was screaming at one point because I could feel all the cars flying by me with what felt going 90 MPH!! There were potholes every two seconds that I was trying not to hit in fear of flying over my handlebars. I’m still so new on a road bike and don’t know what my tires can handle! My nerves were shot by the time I got home so it was good I had a 30 minute run afterwards to calm down.

This week in training I’m focusing on the swim, meaning I will have a swim workout 6 mornings with a few short runs and bike rides. Thanks goodness!

I have my first triathlon in 3 weeks, yikes!

Tired

Where has the week gone!?

This past week had been extremely busy and tough. Work has been crazy, training has taken a ton of time and energy, and I just can't quite get everything done...

Last Saturday I had to get a swim in and I get anxious going to the gym on the weekend because it's so busy. However I got to the pool and there was a lane open!! For some reason I just felt really good, my stroke felt right and I thought I was cruising. On Monday morning I was back in the pool feeling pretty cocky after my great swim on the weekend and this time I felt like I was swimming through mud. What gives? That night I had a much needed 10 miler and a coworker told me about a perfect loop to try however he forgot to mention the hills, yikes! I felt like I went up hill the entire time, but I was wearing shorts and feeling heat finally so I didn't care.

Wednesday morning I got up at 4:40 am for a two hour bike ride, and 30 minute run. As crazy as it sounds I wasn't tired and I felt great. I got to the spin room a half hour before class and then stayed a half hour after class so time seemed to fly by. Later in the day I started to get cranky but didn't know it it was the day or being tired.

We played volleyball last night and Tyson subbed so we got to play indoor volleyball for the first time together. It was great. I love my Wednesday night league, they are like a dose of goodness. Dick had on an ankle brace, knee brace, and black knee pads. Why he has knee pads on I don't know considering I saw him use them once and it was a five step process getting him down and then five more getting him back up. Too funny!

Ty and I went to noodles for dinner and then came home and cleaned up and got ready for our April Fools stint. We replaced a toilet in our house so the old one has just been chilling in the garage. So Tyson flipped the lid up and wrote "here I sit broken hearted, paid a dime and only farted. Have a great stinking day!" We then realized there was still water in the bowl so I siphoned it out with that thing you use for a turkey, baster?? I knew it would come in handy:) We put our black clothes on, loaded the toilet in the trunk and when it got dark we headed over to our good friends the Halverson's house. They live up on a hill and we could see Jessie and a couple girlfriends in the living room and didn't quite know what to do. The door was open also so we had to be very quiet. I carried the top of the toilet and Tyson carried the bowl part and we trekked up the hill. Just as we were getting close their motion lights went on and we about died. We had a quick argument on where to put the toilet and agreed to put it right by the door instead of in the driveway and then ran off. We were pretty proud of ourselves on not getting caught. However Pete texted Tyson this morning saying "nice pooper" so I guess we aren't that smooth.

I'm pumped to get to Alex this weekend and take my bike on the road for a few rides and also to take home the grand prize of the easter egg hunt which always gets quite competitive. I am the holder of the golden egg and must claim in once again. Better get the legs rested!

This week has been crazy at work. Max my sales rep is out so I’ve been playing sales rep/still taking care of my other two reps. I was pretty worked up the last two days leaving work so I decided to get my long run done yesterday. It was a little chilly so I thought maybe I would take my wimpy butt to the gym but decided I needed a good dose of fresh air.

I took off in my neighborhood and right away realized it was a little chillier then I thought. I didn’t bring gloves or a headband but did have a sweatband on to hold my bangs back so I tucked that over my ears, took my watch off and readjusted my long sleeve to cover my hands, put the watch back on over my long sleeve and it seemed to be the perfect cure. Going into the wind was pretty cold but for some odd reason it felt REALLY good. I got myself lost and enjoyed the sunshine and seeing different neighborhoods I hadn’t seen before. It was a great 90 minutes of digesting my week and figuring out why I was so worked up. After a while of running I kept smelling chlorine and was so confused, I was wondering about the air quality of Plymouth until I tried biting my sleeve down (because my other hand was tucked safely in it’s sleeve) and realized it was my skin, I had swam that morning and the smell of chlorine was just oozing out as I was sweating. When I got home I felt like a new woman. It’s funny how I always dread getting out and so thankful coming back. It never seizes to amaze me!

We are fresh out of groceries and Ty and I were supposed to go on Tuesday but decided to put together some cheese slices found with the last 4 pieces of bread and made grilled cheese sandwiches. Wednesday we were gone so yesterday we were going to get groceries and sure enough we talked ourselves out of it. So we ran to Chipotle and proceeded to pound an entire burrito myself then hopped over to Noodles to get a Snicker Doodle cookie. I guess it’s a good thing I had gone for a long run☺

This morning I met Lauren for Spin Class, we got there about 20 minutes before class and it was fun to catch up but also to have someone there to work out with. Our instructor was one I had never had before and we both thought he was adorable, he was a bit older and was loving every minute of teaching spin class. His enthusiasm was just what I needed to get through this Friday, looking forward to the weekend!

Addiction

Life is busy! I can't believe it's been so long since I've written!

My favorite concert was at the Xcel center last night. Celtic Woman!! My entire family was able to come down for the second year for it. We all met at the Downtowner for a wonderful steak, to die for mashed potatoes, and a glass/bottle of wine:) and then took our full bellies to the Xcel center. My dad brought the binoculars (standard) so the entire concert we passed them down and enjoyed the angelic voices. Can't wait for next year!!

Training is going well, I'm through with my prep phase and have now started on my second week of base 1 which means a little more time in each sport but overall it's going well!

I also bought a weight workout from spinervals and I love it! Tyson came home the other day and I was doing mountain climbers in the living room and the look he gave me was priceless.

This weather has been a huge help in training and being able to get some fresh air on the runs. I still haven't taken my bike out but going to over Easter weekend, and I am really excited about it!

I have a new addiction...candy!! And it's bad. Connie my receptionist keeps a mean candy bowl and I get my grimy hands in it every time I walk by. I find myself sneaking like I'm going to get in trouble when she sees my hand in the candy bowl AGAIN! My addiction came to a new level when I saw she wasn't at her desk I snuck into her candy cupboard and took a handful of starbursts, I'm taking some serious risks now. It's got to stop! Above is from one of the many trips I've taken today...don't mind my filthy desktop calendar, good thing it's the end of the month:)

I've been googling sugar cravings and I trying to figure out how to kick it, is it just a lack of discipline? Wish me luck, I might endeavor on a "no sugar" kick. But of course that will start on Monday:)

Gramps turns 90!!

The weekend was a success! It was such a great time I must start from the beginning…

We took off around 6:30 PM Friday night; I hadn’t seen Tyson much last week so it was fun being able to have 4 hours to chat. My favorite thing to do when going to Iowa is stop at Coldstone in Albert Lea, I never go when I’m in the cities but for some reason when I’m heading to Iowa it’s a must. So around 8 I took down a Cookie don’t-you-wantsome in about 5 minutes and had a stomach ache the rest of the way. We both got so tired that we were eating candy to keep ourselves awake, that combined with looking at my phone for updates on the Gophers basketball I could barely walk into the hotel when we got there I was so sick! I downed a bottle of water and was good to go…

My parents, and my sisters Lindsay, Erica and Stef and their families were all there and in bed when we got there, so we just turned in for the night.

The only stinky thing about staying in separate rooms is you don’t know what everyone is doing at all times, so I couldn’t sleep in because I was afraid I would miss something. I rolled down to the breakfast area and everyone was up eating breakfast and chatting. It was so fun to see all my aunt and uncles, they live all over so we aren’t able to be in the same spot very often. We then proceeded to get the room set up, food put out, punch made, pictures put up and presents were wrapped. As we were setting up someone yelled “grandpa’s in the parking lot.” We later found out my grandpa was driving around the parking lot looking for Bobbi but when he didn’t see her car he decided to not come in, thank goodness!

Around 12:15 everyone started to come, we were expecting around 40 people and were totally surprised when people just kept coming! Over 80 people were in the this room and I started to panic because there wasn’t enough chairs for everyone and there were a lot of people that probably could have used one!

Finally we heard “Bill’s here” and we all quieted down and waited, when the door opened the lights were turned on and I can’t describe the look on my grandpas face. He looked so cute; he thought he was going to a birthday party for someone else. So he was standing there smiling holding onto a present. His sister who is 93 was able to make it and they hadn’t seen each other for a while, she ran up and gave him a hug and at this point I was about to start sobbing in my sisters shoulder. However I put makeup on for the special occasion and couldn’t risk the outcome. Once my grandpa was in there we were able to open the doors to the overflow room that had a ton of tables and chairs, so I was able to stop panicking about who was going to drop.

It was so much fun putting faces to names, his golfing buddies, church friends, and there were even a few that were friends with my grandpa and grandma back when my grandma was alive. Like I said before I don’t have many memories of my grandma so it was extra special to meet people who knew her and could tell me some stories.

The party started at 1 and it didn’t start thinning out until around 5, so we were all exhausted and happy to sit down and just have it be immediate family with my grandpa and Bobbi. We ordered pizza’s and just sat around and talked some more. It was starting to get late and my grandpa asked me when everything was ending and I go “oh grandpa you can go on home, it’s been a long day” and he goes “I don’t have a car”. We had forgotten his friend picked him up and took him to the party. He goes “my teeth are starting to fall out so I better get going” I about died of laughter and told him I had some bubble gum we could stick them back in with but he didn’t think it would work☺

The kids had gotten him a nice big flat screen TV to replace his little 32” box TV. It was so fun watching him unwrap it and I think he was anxious to get home and have it set up. So my dad I brought him home and got the TV in the house. My uncles came over and got it all set up and my grandpa looked pretty content sitting there with his new TV screen, it was so fun to see!
The next morning we all met for breakfast and said our good bye’s.

Ty and I got home and went for walk and I was telling him how weird it is when your with your entire family when I come “home” I’m “homesick” for everyone. I called my mom and we did a run down of the entire weekend again, and I started feeling better. I must say two days of no working out was marvelous and it felt good to want to get up the next morning and work out. After the weekend I was exhausted from all the talking and greeting but very happy and rested in a weird way. Ready to take on another week of training, work and the everyday busyness.

I just hope that when I’m 90 I can look and feel as good as good ol’ gramps and doing the YMCA!

I’ll post pictures when I get them!

Love it!

I think I'm developing that extra layer...could be the 10 pounds I've gained since I went on vacation or maybe from being in the saddle more but I was able to bike for 90 minutes this morning without a whimper...It could be from being on a spin bike but it was nice to not be uncomfortable the entire time and I wasn't even wearing two pairs of padded shorts!

I needed to get 90 minutes in today so I get to the spin room a half hour before class starts, then I can just be done when the class is done. I love doing spin, makes the time go by so fast! I have never seen muscles like our instructor so it really motivates me to pump the peddles! She's really cute and kept telling us to stay in the "moment" and don't worry about what she's going to have us do next. It was interesting because I do that a lot with everything. I'm always looking at tomorrow, next month, next vacation etc. I think I need to start being intentional about being excited for the moment and not looking ahead to the next "event".

I tried something new today after seeing Biggest Loser's host Allison last night. I noticed she had her hair parted down the middle. I rocked the middle part, hair curled up for most of my junior high years so I thought I would give it a try today. I don't quite know if I love it...

Leaving work early today and heading to Waterloo, IA to celebrate my grandpa's 90th birthday!! To say I'm excited is an understatement. The whole family will be there except Maggie (since she's abroad) so even if it's Waterloo, IA it will great to have a mini family vacation! Above is a picture of my grandpa at age 87 doing the YMCA, love it!

Red Wine

Last night we had our first book club meeting and Laura put it best in an email this morning sent to the members
What does great friends, lots of drinks, too many appetizers, overrated dessert, lots of laughs and a great time have in common....BOOK CLUB!

We should probably name ourselves the best friends club because it is Tanya (my best friend since the 3rd grade), Laura and her very best friend from the 3rd grade Liz. I had met Liz a couple other times but Liz and Tanya had never met, so I was a little anxious as to if everyone would feel comfortable talking etc. But we had a blast! The book we are reading is remarkable, Blink by Malcom Gladwell and it's all about the kind of thinking that is made in a blink of an eye. Thus the title Blink. The book is very thought provoking and was fun to hear what the other girls thought about the points in the book. Laura is our book club president and she really stepped it up, she had questions ready to go for us to discuss. Thanks Laura!

I LOVE red wine, but I think the red wine mixing with wings was maybe not the best decision. Plus I got home that night and realized I had forgotten to take my vitamin pack and I think the entire mixture was too much for my stomach to take. I was up a few times in the middle of the night trying to decide if I was going to throw up or not. I would walk around and things would get better and then was able to fall back asleep. 5:45 came too quickly and I decided it would be best to skip the weight workout and just try to get a swim in. I slept till 6:50 and was in the pool by 7:05, Tyson found me in the pool area and it was fun to chat with him for a bit. He was exhausted when he got home last night from small group so it was nice to finally get caught up with him from the day before. Plus I love running into him at the gym, when I see him I get all confused like I know you, oh yea you're my husband:)

Once I started to swim I started feeling better. My swim workouts consist of a warm up, main, and cool down. My plan shows me my workout and then how long it should take. 4 weeks ago my first swim workout said it would be 45 minutes, when I looked at the clock after the warmup it was already 45 minutes!! So today I was pleasantly surprised that when I finished my work out I was under the time it should have taken. Since I had a few extra minutes I hit the hot tub, as much as they gross me out having the jets hit my sore muscles is pretty great so I just forget about all the people that have peed in it...gross. I can't believe I'm still sore from this weekend; hopefully a care free weekend celebrating my g-pa's 90th birthday, no workouts and little red wine (minus the wings) will be my cure.:)

Working it out...

I'm in week 4 of training and have been told that the further you get in training the more you need to get your sleep. I love to read before bed so I've been getting into bed around 9 start reading and then usually fatigue around 9:45. Last week I was having the weirdest night sweats, like would wake up and check to see if I had spilled my glass of water on my pillow or if that was from me, and my cup was full! I keep turning the thermostat lower and lower and poor Tyson is putting up with it. I had it turned down to 63 degrees I then put on my softest socks and crawl into bed. Tyson HATES socks in bed so he's having to put up with that too, he hates even touching them, it's pretty funny!

Anywho last night I was sleeping great and 5:45 am came too quickly, since it's so cold it makes it even harder to get out of bed. I knew I had an hour run to get in and a swim so I couldn't hit the snooze. I grabbed my robe and left. I have a new routine of putting all my workout gear etc in the guest room so I don't have to get ready in the dark, I don't know why it took me so long to figure that one out, had to learn the hard way of working out with my shirt inside out or backwards too many times! Another new thing I have learned is to put my running workout before the swim. I used to dread getting out of bed because you have to get in the cold to get to the cold pool, nothing about that seemed worth leaving my warm down comforter. So now I get my run in, get real hot and sweaty then when I jump in the pool it feels great and it makes my legs feel better! It's funny what I've learned these last three weeks of training, I know when I can have the cycle room to myself, get a lane in the pool, what days the cafe special is egg and cheese quesadilla etc.

When I jumped in the pool it felt great, with my legs feeling stiff it felt good to kick around. However I don't know if it's the soreness or what but my technique or something is off. I was flapping way to much today, plus the warm up called for a few laps of back stroke which is no good for a couple reasons...1.) In the 3rd grade when I was in USS Swim my coach put me in the backstroke, which I hated and I managed to drill my head on the wall extremely hard, so now I just put my arms out and kick half the lap so that never happens again. 2.) when I do actually try to do the "back stroke" I look like a submarine merging because my body is underwater but my limbs are moving, not how it's supposed to look. I was already feeling off but I was also feeling very thirsty, I forgot to bring a water bottle and had just ran for an hour and was now halfway into my swim workout and couldn't stop thinking about how thirsty I was. I scanned the area for a drinking fountain and found one, I hopped out took a drink and as I came back to get back in the pool I couldn't figure out if I should jump in or dive in. There is a ton of people in the pool area and I was at the deep end side so I figured the dive might look more graceful...wrong. I had my goggles on and when I hit the water it felt more like a belly flop, something kinked in my leg, my goggles flung up and it felt and looked miserable. I decided my workout should just be done. I just doggy paddled to the other end and got out.

Even though I am still learning and still doing crazy things, I'm feeling more confident in my training and I think I'll be good to go at the end of July for the half-ironman. I just gotta keep working it out...

Long Lost Friend

I am loving having my bike trainer set up downstairs, this morning I rolled out of bed and 5 minutes later I am biking. I also need to get a 30 minute run in so I was going to run outside this morning. After training for Boston and running while being so cold I have NO desire to run outside until I am wearing shorts. However, I really didn't want to go to the gym and thought it might be good for me to get back out there. My hour bike ride went fast because I had taped Jason and Molly's wedding, so that was fun to watch:) Then I headed out for a 30 minute jog around the neighborhood. About 20 seconds into it I realized how much I missed running outside, the fresh air on my face and in my lungs, no crazy people blowing there nose right next to you, no TV or music, just me and the road. I love the way running outside by myself helps me clear my head, or reflect on what is running through my head. Some days I feel like ticking time bomb until I get out running and everything comes back together and I have get my rationale back.

It was so fun to explore the neighborhood and since I have no sense of direction the plan was to go out 15 minutes and come back the exact way. I got cocky. I totally thought I new where I was so I just kept going until I hit a busy road, I tried to just use some common sense as to which way I should go and then kept running. I am proud of myself because my senses were correct on direction but not distance. I ended up sprinting through my neighborhood like a maniac, the kids waiting at the end of their driveways probably thought the boogie monster was running in their neighborhood. I did get out "another great day for school" so maybe that's why they were looking at me weird:)

I didn't' have much time to stretch afterwards which is too bad because I'm pretty sore from Sunday. But overall my body if feeling pretty good once it gets warmed up. I started taking prenatal vitamins, not because I'm pregnant but I thought it would be good for me since I'm probably depleting my body and with being sick so much I thought it would be a wise investment. I was also hoping to get some glowing skin, thick hair, and beautiful nails. But hasn't happened, maybe that comes from actually being pregnant?

On my way to work I always talk to my sister Stef but today Will (her youngest son who is almost 2, whose picture is above) decided he had a lot to discuss with me. So the entire way to work he discussed things that sounded to me very important, I would say "do you love apple juice" and he would go on and on and on...I could listen to him all day!

I don't know if it's my morning run outside, prenatal vitamins or my deep conversation with my nephew Will but my day has started out on the right foot and I plan on keeping it that way...

My first 1st

I LOVE this time of year, the snow is melting, the sun is shining, and you can feel winter giving us a Minnesota good-bye.

The weekend started off great, we went to Angela and Landon's house for dinner. They just bought their house a few months ago so it was great to finally see it. It is brand spanking new and Angela has a gift I highly admire of decorating and laying out a house to make it feel like a home. Plus she also has another gift I REALLY admire and that is she is an amazing cook, I felt a little sheepish with my chips and dip from Byerly's I had bought to bring as the appetizer:) Dinner was amazing, got my butt kicked in Wits-and-Wagers, and then got to have brownies and ice cream for dessert, my favorite!!

We didn't get home till late so Ty and I decided to not set alarms and just let ourselves sleep in. It was wonderful sleeping until my eyes decided to open which was around 9:30! I knew I was getting up early the next morning so I didn't really feel guilty. Tyson made a huge breakfast and as we were eating we could see it was going to be a beautiful day out, so I was determined to find as many things to do outside. First we took a walk which was hilarious because it seemed people were coming out of there houses for the very first time. It was great to see people out and about, and fun to explore our neighborhood. Tyson needed to get a few things done inside so I shoveled our deck with a t-shirt on, it was amazing! Then I talked Tyson into peppering (play volleyball) in our driveway. It was fun to see all the people walking too! One couple was hilarious as they were walking by they said "great day to play driveway volleyball" and we laughed and said something similar and they looked at our neighbors across the street who STILL have all their Christmas decorations up (choir, manger scene, snowmen etc) and said "this is great, you even have an audience to watch!" Ty and I thought it was hilarious!

Carissa came over that night for a sleepover since we had to be at the gym around 7 for the indoor tri, so we just watched a movie, caught up and then got to bed.

The next morning we ate our usual breakfast and were out the door for the indoor tri. We were both a little hesitant to sign up since we hadn't been fully training for it. But we both agreed it had been too long since we had done a race or an event so there we were...I know it's only an indoor tri but I was still a little nervous, Carissa always gives the pep talk that we are just going to have fun, no need to race etc. But the truth is that we are both way to competitive to stick with it. I still have flashbacks to races/workouts that Carissa has said were "just for fun" ending with me not feeling my legs, lungs burning, and feeling like I'm going to puke any second. So I had to stop her and let her know I wasn't believing it!

I realized yesterday why I get so nervous for races. It's not so much the race itself but about the pain I'm going to endure. It makes sense because when I got my ears pierces, blood drawn etc I get as nervous as starting a marathon because I hate wondering how bad it's going to hurt and then when it does hurt you have to stick with it.

So the swim is 10 minutes of swimming seeing how many laps you can get. I started out way to fast and didn't breath enough so ended up with 12 laps and a huge migraine!
We got ourselves dressed for the 30 minute bike and made our way to the spin room, 10 minutes in my migraine was gone but my butt hurt soo bad, my dad told me to double up on the biking shorts but couldn't stomach looking like I had a pillow stuffed in my shorts while competing. Carissa and I were able to talk the entire time making it go by super fast. We both improved by over 2 miles so we were in good spirits heading to the treadmills for a 20 minute run. We both had gotten 2.7 miles a couple years ago so would be happy with that or better. My legs felt pretty good so I started a little faster then I expected to and was able to hold to it. I had brought my shuffle to listen to music so I found my favorite song "super girl" and then started to run hard. I finished with 2.91 miles in 20 minutes so I was happy.

Carissa and I both agreed that it had been a great morning and happy we signed up for it. However the best part of the morning hadn't happened yet, Original Pancake House. We showered up and then enjoyed some great pancakes while catching up. It was a great morning.

The rest of the day was uneventful, went for another walk, read, and watched movies with T-dog.

This morning I got a nice little email from Carissa saying that I had gotten 1st for women in the triathlon and 4th overall, Carissa got 2nd for women. We are pleased with ourselves and I'm going to enjoy my first and possibly last time getting 1st place...hopefully not:)

Filled up right...

I'm lucky in the fact that I've found my soulmate (Tyson) but yet also have a soul sister, which is my very best friend since the 3rd grade Tanya. She just bought a town home all by herself and I went down there the other night because I hadn't seen it since it was empty. When I walked in I was amazed, it looked amazing!!

I missed the part in her text saying she would cook dinner, so I was pleasantly surprised to smell warm (from scratch) bread baking in the oven. We sat in the kitchen just cooking away and then sat down to an unbelievable meal. Those for me are few and far between so i was all around giddy at this point to be sitting down to a home cooked meal with one of my favorite people in this entire world.

Dinner was delicious but more then anything it was so fun to just get caught up in life again. It's like we morph into another world. We talk about the silliest things causing us to laugh uncontrollably and then are talking about the deepest things a minute later. I have no need to be anything but honest with her because never once in my life have I felt judged, belittled, or uncomfortable telling her anything. We sat talking from 5-9 and still found myself driving home thinking of a million things I forgot to tell her (and it was a long drive home since of course I got turned around and didn't get on 494).

Going to sleep that night my belly was pleasantly satisfied, my heart was happy, and my face hurt from laughing. I was filled up right!

The Trainer

This sunshine is really putting a spring in my step or as my sister Erica would say "Stella's got her groove back". I don't know if it's been that I've been really intentional about my attitude or what but I'm feeling like myself again.

Last night I went to my sister Erica's house to see her and the family. For being so close I really don't get to see them much so it's always a treat. Micah (her oldest) is going to be 3 May 1st and when he saw me come through the door he started doing quick feet he was so excited. When you're not a mom it totally melts your heart when young kids are excited to see you. I had so much fun seeing him and Alli. Micah was so excited to show me everything in the house and would do quick feet again each time we got to something new, he was literally bursting with excitement. Being around him made me feel like a child again and just made me want to let go of the everyday worries and get excited about all the things around me!

I picked up my bike last weekend and my dad had given me his trainer so last night instead of acting like it was just one more thing to do, I was really excited to hook my bike up and see if it would all work. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me, so two calls later to my dad and Tyson interpreting an utterly confusing instruction sheet we had it ready to go! I knew I had a 90 minute ride in the morning and I really want to start getting miles on my actual bike instead of the trainers at the gym, so I was relieved we had it all figured out.

6 am rolled around and literally by 6:05 I was riding. After riding for about thirty minutes it wasn't my legs that were so uncomfortable but my butt was throbbing. Even with my extra padded biking shorts I had on, by 40 minutes I was wondering how Lance Armstrong even has 1 nut. I kept trying different positions but yowsers is that uncomfortable! If it weren't for Bill and Julianna, After the Rose, and Oprah Winfrey I probably wouldn't have been able to stay on the bike but I ended up making it through. It was awesome just being at home, making my coffee, eating breakfast etc and realized I had probably gotten ready at my house twice since we moved in. Taking my time and being at home all morning rather then getting out in the cold and trudging to the gym also made me a very happy girl and fed into my child-like spirit:)

Carissa and I are doing the indoor tri in on Sunday and I think we are both a little apprehensive but excited to be in a competition again. We'll see if my body will agree with my attitude:)

I'm officially in a funk... today is my first day of taking action steps to getting out of it!

Each night I pull a random outfit from the closet, layout the workout clothes to throw on in the morning, and double check I have everything to get me through the workout the next morning. Not only that but I never allow myself more then 20 minutes to get ready so hair and makeup just don't get done. I believe in the saying "look good, feel good" and lately I have been looking and feeling wha wha.

I met one of my dear Friends Laura last night, whenever I get together with her it seems like if I have any stress, dopiness, or anything negative it all goes away and I start feeling silly, happy, energetic and excited. Which go figure those and then some are all words I would use to define Laura. I've seen her two days in a row and each day I greet her with "I look like a hot mess/crap". Hot mess is my new favorite word that I've been using lately and for the majority I use it to explain what I look/feel like for the day.

So after leaving dinner with Laura I was in a very good mood and decided I'm done being a hot mess and I am going to do something about it. So last night I strategically picked out an outfit that actually fit, had some style to it, and it put a little sass to my step. I also decided to throw on some makeup which I haven't done that since....I can't remember. The hair still didn't get done but I did make sure the top of it was dry before exiting the locker room. But I think it's working, I greeted our receptionist with a boisterous good morning, tolerated small talk with a smile on my face, and have that old love and feeling:) We will see how long it lasts, if it does it's silly what a few extra minutes to pull yourself together can do for yourself and in turn those around you. I'm sure my coworkers are silently thanking me...

A topic that Laura and I talked about last night that really struck a cord with me was wounds from our past. I was telling her that I found all my report cards from when I was little and how I started to cry because I felt bad for myself as a kid but also for my parents. They probably thought they were raising a Tanzanian devil! I clearly remember a teacher who made it a point to let me know I wasn't cool and in turn I made I point to show her I was ( I live/d by the motto "well behaved women rarely make history" much to my mothers horror). Any who few things she said to me I can remember them like the day they were said. Laura had some similar examples and it really put me in check for how I speak to people. Especially since I'm blessed with the worlds greatest nieces, nephews and God son. As they are growing up I hope I am always speaking words of encouragement to them and also everyone around me. It's so easy to judge, criticize, correct etc and everyone has enough people in their life that are good at it. Which is too bad since most of the time I doubt that's what they need. So my new action step is to let go of all that and just listen and encourage. This should be interesting...

Thankful.

I’m on week 2 of a 20-week training plan to get me to the half-ironman in Chisago this summer. I don’t know what it is but I have been seriously lacking motivation to get up and get my workouts in. I just trudge in each morning and with absolutely no enthusiasm I get the workout done. Still tired and little cranky leaving the gym, which isn’t how it’s supposed to be.

I thankfully got my workouts out in yesterday morning, short 30 minute run which my legs felt like lead the entire time from running too fast on Monday night. Then off to the pool to get a quick swim in.

I have a child like idol at Lifetime (very different then my crush on Kristin A.) and I see her every morning. I think she’s a swim coach but she also gets her workouts done the same time as I. This woman just glides through the water totally effortless. As I am in the next lane working soo hard my lungs are about to burst but nonetheless going NOWHERE! I look like a caught crappie trying to get off the hook while being reeled in. Not to mention (which Tyson thinks is the real reason she’s my idol) she has the highly coveted Ironman finisher water bottle. I get so self-conscious swimming next to hear I rationalize the entire time different reasons why my workout needs to be done. So yesterday I left the pool feeling defeated and just wishing I could swim like her. Which I know sounds crazy but if you know me it’s pretty normal☺.

Tuesday night Tyson was reffing a basketball game at Heritage Academy, which is right next door to us so I thought I would go surprise him, and watch him ref. I of course got lost for half an hour trying to find it, which is pretty typical, but the fact the school is only a few miles from our house it was pretty amazing I could get my self that lost in such a short distance! As I pulled in I stopped to ask a couple getting out of their van if I was at the right place. They told me I was, and something about them just made me smile. They were so sweet and so energetic to help and just had sweetness to them. As I was walking into the building I saw they had gotten a wheel chair out and were loading someone into it. I figured it was a grandparent and just kept walking in.

As I was sitting in the bleachers I see this couple coming in all grins, when I realized it wasn’t a grandparent but their son who looked to be my age. He looked to have cerebral palsy, and was somewhat high functioning but I couldn’t stop thinking about the everyday struggles that family endures and what that must put on a marriage. I instantly thought about my attitude lately and realized how thankful I am to have an able body that is sore from working out and not pain from being in a wheel chair struggling everyday with an illness. Things like that totally put my whole life view in perspective. How much I am to be thankful for and how little I have to complain about. I guess I won’t comp

I woke up this morning with a little less crankiness and with more thankfulness I can get up and go the gym. Which is good because I’m going to need to do a lot of that….

I almost forgot to mention how cute Tyson looked in his reffing gear. I could not stop smiling watching him, it was too much fun! The game took over two hours so instead of going home and trying to find something to eat he let me go to my favorite place for fajita night. Which reminds me…so I am sitting in our booth and I see this guy across the restaurant, he looked JUST like one of my good friends through jr and sr high Matt Carlson. I haven’t seen him in forever but know he lives near Plymouth so I was pretty sure it was him. I told Tyson as we were leaving I was going to go say hi to Matt, so as we are walking out I stop at his booth and just stare at him (akward) and still debating whether it was him I just stood and smiled and he goes “I haven’t seen you in forever” so I grab his soldier about to hug him but something about his voice was not familiar so I go “your not Matt Carlson are you” and he’s like “nope”. I felt soo stupid and didn’t know what to do so Tyson finally came back and got me, made a joke and we were out of there. You had to be there to see how awkward and hilarious it was.

I’ll leave you on a good note…

The beginning...

It's my grandpa's 90th birthday next month and we are having a surprise birthday for him. To get ready for it my parents have been going through boxes and found one with a journal from my grandma when she was engaged to my grandpa. My grandma died when I was 4 years old so I don't have too many memories of her which is too bad because my mom speaks so fondly of her. Which has brought me to why I started my blog, how fun for my future kids/grandkids and whoever to read about what I was like in my twenties and to hear about the fun everyday life that usually is forgotten. I would give anything to read what my mom was doing in her twenties!

The new announcement in the Bjorklund house is that Tyson and I have decided to run Twin Cities Marathon together, which brings me to my first topic...

I ran 3 marathons in one year with one of my dearest friends Carissa. THe training, racing, recovery etc with her have been some of the best experiences I will have in my life. Having trained for a marathon by myself and knowing how lonely it can be I couldn't believe how easy and fun training is when you are with a friend. Which is why i think it will be great training for one with Tyson. I'm a little apprehensive about training for another marathon for a few reasons...1) since Chicago marathon (October 09) I have struggled with a low immune system (bronchitis, flu, 2 sinus infections, and 2 streps). 2.) It usually takes me about 5 minutes after a race to forget about the pain I endured but I am still feeling it from Chicago. It could be that I ran it with an annoying head cold or my hands swelled up so big my fingers looked like cheddar bratworsts just ready to explode...or 3 which is the big one Twin Cities Marathon was my very first experience and is one I would like to forget! Not only was it record high temperatures for the day but the rookie of me decided to go balls to the wall for the first 13 miles and then my body just stopped. It was pretty unbelievable. I wanted to quit SO bad, but every time I got close to that curb I would remember the cake that my mother in law had gotten me with "congratulations on finishing" written on it. Would they let me still have a slice if I didn't actually finish? I couldn't risk it so I just kept trudging along. I would say "Katie, run for 4 more minutes and then you can walk" 30 seconds into the run I was back walking. Crap.Got.Crazy! I should have known when I was sweating like I do for job interviews before the race even started that it probably wasn't going to be my best day, but I finished and got to enjoy the cake:). I will post pictures as that really can only explain how terrible it was...

After that race I swore I would never marathon again. Then one day I ran into Carissa Carroll (who had done several marathons) and she told me they aren't all like that. We then started talking about how sweet it would be to qualify for Boston (which would mean I would need to shave an hour off my time!). We would meet for casual runs, and another marathon would always come up along with were we capable of qualifying. During this time our Runners World Magazine was featuring the best Marathons in the United States and on picture really stuck out to us. It was of a handsome fireman handing out Tiffany necklaces from a silver platter. I mean THE TIFFANY! I mean HELLO, you had me at TIF!!

We signed up, booked our accommodations and told the husbands it would be a ladies weekend. We started reading reviews about how challenging the course was and that people were even putting books under their treadmills to create even more of an elevation to mimic the hills in San Francisco. Almost everyone we talked to told us not to even try qualifying there because the course is just too tough. It's a good thing we are both pretty feisty because we went for it anyway. Snail Lake and Gramsy Hill became our domain, up and down, up and down. People thought we were crazy! We trained through the summer and were never around on the weekends so we would get up as early as 4:30 on the weekdays to get our long run in. Weaving our way around in the pitch black was quite exciting and a tish spooky at times. The best part about it was when we would get to North Oaks and start running around the lake we could look into all the houses that had their lights on. Little stalkerish but fun to see how people decorate:)

For the most part training miles flew by as we never ran out of things to talk about. For one of our 20 milers we decided to sign up to race it in White Bear. We finished in 2:43 and not until we were in the car heading home did we realize that we could totally qualify.

We arrived in San Francisco with spirits high, at the expo I got my first ever manicure along with massages, pictures and the very best....a speech from Kristin Armstrong. She is my all time favorite and I totally have a crush on her in the way that I know we would be the greatest friends if she lived in Minnesota:) Carissa and I went to listen to her speak at the Twin Cities Marathon and on the way Carissa had given me a gift of Kristin's new devotion book. We both brought our b ooks in to get them signed when she was done speaking. When I got up there I couldn't even speak so Carissa did the talking and I just stared! I then proceeded to cry as we were walking away because I was so excited...little embarrassing since we were managing our way through thousands of people while I'm blubbering about seeing Kristin Armstrong. It was great. Seeing her again in San Francisco I wanted to let her know my plans of being friends but still couldn't speak and I don't think she remembered us so decided not to. However, I did add her as a facebook friend but she didn't accept, no hard feelings though:)

ANYWHO so race morning comes and it is DARK, we walked to the start, said our prayer and we were off. The start was so chaotic because they had a group of walkers take off in front of us making us swerve around them all. I grabbed Carissa's arm so I wouldn't lose her and a lady yelled "not going to work girls, not going to work!" It's a good thing I was so worried about conserving my energy because I could have shown her something that did work!

The first miles flew by and at one point we went up a short incline and my ignorant brain thought "that's what everyone has been talking about?" At around mile 6 I found out what everyone was talking about as I was trudging up a mile high hill. We kept looking at each other like this can't be right, they can't put these kind of hills in a race, can they? We clocked in at over 10 minute miles which means we would have to make up some serious time in order to average around 8:20 miles. As the saying goes what goes up must come down, and down we went. It was almost painful because your quads were trying to hold you back from wiping out! At around mile 16 Carissa had a minor breakdown, but after a short little pep talk we were back at it. That is until mile 24 when my wheels completely fell off. You can see the finish from over a mile away but everything was just falling apart. I just wanted to walk for a few seconds but we new we were close to the qualifying time and probably didn't have any extra seconds. At one point I was closing my eyes running with one hand up asking God to save me! The last stretch Carissa was fist pumping and yelling at me to keep moving, which is pretty hilarious when I think back on it. We finally finished and it was just how I imagined. Firemen with silver platters of the beautiful Tiffany necklaces lined up all the way down the chute. We got our necklace, got out of the way and plopped down on the curb. Carissa checked her watch and we saw that we QUALIFIED. We were two grown babies just crying on the curb, totally a sight to see! I know it might sound pathetic but for me it was one of the best moments in my life. I had never gone for a goal that I didn't think was possible to reach. Accomplishing it was a feeling I can't describe, let alone doing it with one of your best friends is totally priceless!



So then we began training for Boston! Training for Boston was probably more amazing and mind-boggling then the race itself. We would go to Lake Calhoun area for our long runs every weekend.We would arrive in a warm car and just dread having to get out in the Minnesota cold. We would wear layers of tights etc but my legs never seemed to warm up no matter how many miles we would go. You saw people with icicles hanging from their ears, layers of snow or ice on people’s facial hair and the craziest farmer blows you can imagine. We always loved going to get Carmel Skinny Lattes right after runs but those tasted a million times better when you have been in the freezing cold running for hours! As terrible as it was getting out of our warm down comforters in the dark on the weekends, we would both agree getting that Minnesota air in our lungs was extremely rejuvenating and would always start the day off right.

Boston Marathon once again was a hilly course and to make matters worse I think I poisoned Carissa with my cooking a few days before the race. Ty and I had never been out East before and with Tyson working and getting his Masters we thought we could use some time away and get to know each other again☺ I flew out by myself and met the Carroll’s because Tyson had to finish up a championship. We got to stay at a prime hotel spot because Tyson was able to find us a good rate through a hotel contact. Boston looked like it had just dropped acid with all the runners with nervous energy just bouncing around. It was crazy! I must say since I’m not really a die-hard runner I found it weird being with all these runners that you knew lived, ate and breathed running. I’ve never seen so many fit bodies in one room before!

The morning of the race a little different as Boston has a late start time and you have to take busses to the starting area AKA athlete’s village. The bus ride up to the village all you can think is “so we have to run all that way back?” It took forever! We talked to two nice gentlemen who let us know that the hills wouldn’t be like San Francisco which we were eternally grateful for☺.

Up in Athletes Village was crazy, we saw all kinds of people just dropping trow to change etc. It was bizarre. I as always had to pee the entire time so we pretty much stayed in the potty line for an hour and a half. Not the best idea to be on your feet for pretty much two hours before your marathon. The start was super organized which made it great and we were off before we new it. The course was so much fun, I loved it. Just the mentality that you are running to town was great for me instead of loops etc. I can’t remember what mile it was but Carissa started to feel like crap and we were both there with the mentality that we made it and that was good enough. So we plugged along. Carissa was able to maintain our pace for pretty much the entire race, which is unbelievable considering she was puking her brains out 3 days before the race. We finished with a 3:42 which we were happy with but both being competitive in nature were hoping to beat our San Fran time. Which leads us to entering the Chicago Marathon for some revenge…

For Boston we really just put the miles in as the roads were never dry enough to do speed training so for Chicago we really got back into the speed training with track and pace workouts. Since training was through the summer again we went back to getting up early on weekdays to get the long runs in. Training seemed pretty easy since we had built up our endurance. We knew Chicago was a flat course so we wanted to beat our time for San Franciso but we REALLY wanted to finish in 3:35. I came down with a terrible head cold and was questioning if I could even do it so we made a pack that she would go ahead if I couldn’t keep up. Race morning was crazy as it was freezing out, like 20 degrees. Friends of Chris & Carissa’s that are from Chicago came to cheer us on and brought us sweatshirts and stocking caps the night before which ended up being our lifesavers!! That morning we were huddled with garbage bags and heaven sent sweatshirts. The start was pretty normal and it was a sunny day and I was thankful for the cold, I knew they were prime-racing conditions for me at least. The course winded all over downtown Chicago, at about mile 7 I see this guy with a t-shirt about serving our country and I of course start crying and saying thank you so much for serving our country and he was like oh it’s my son. That is when Carissa said maybe we shouldn’t cry every time we see a serviceman like we did in Boston. It was pretty funny. At mile 13 I started feeling rough. I blew my nose and got dizzy and was just feeling all around terrible. Carissa was feeling great I kept telling her to go ahead but she said the pace was fine. She was running just ahead of me so I just stared at her calves for the last 13 miles. If any of you know the Carroll family you know their calves because they both have the most amazing calves you will ever see, truly they are amazing. So for that I was thankful. I don’t’ remember China Town or anything after mile 13 but at mile 22 Chris and their friends were there cheering which made me lift my head and got my mind off the race for a few minutes. It is so great having someone to cheer for you! I don’t remember much about the end but Carissa yelled out to the motivational speaker on a microphone something about how amazing he was.☺ It was great! The one and only hill in Chicago is at mile 26 and it’s not big but goes straight up. I thought I was going to puke but could finally see the finish line so I decided not to. Good choice because we finished with our goal time of 3:35.

I thought Chicago was going to be my last marathon unless I got the guts to do a full ironman. However I've been antibiotic free for over a month and feeling encouraged. I'm in week two of training for a half-ironman and feeling strong and somewhat athletic again. However anything can happen and we'll take it week by week. We are both really looking forward to quality time together and all the wonderful things that running can bring to people. Like they say couples that run together, stay together or something like that☺