Balls n Dolls

I was up this morning at about 4am with the race day jitters, EVEN THOUGH I was only running 7 miles. Not sure what that was, but ready I was. I put on my silly outfit and made my way downtown. I got to see some fast runners go by, then some familiar faces as I waited for my relay teammate that I had never met. It was pretty easy to spot someone dressed exactly like I was. (although she was about 5 feet tall so the shorts looked a little more normal on her!) I took off and just tried to warm up a bit since it was pretty chilly at 6:30 am and a little misty. It was such fun having so many people to run with. I am not used to that. The Boston Marathon usually left me with all the stragglers in the way way back of the pack. It could get lonely out there. But here in San Diego practically half of the runners are with TNT and they are all running about a 4:30-6 hour marathon. I forgot how much running on the highway sucked and I pretty much felt like I was going to fall over because it was so slanted. Unfortunately it was like that for a good 4 miles. I met some interesting people along the way and kept at about a 10 minute mile, which is actually pretty good for me. I upped it for the last mile and a half and ran 9 minute miles which is even better for me. I finished and passed off our drumstick (rock n roll marathon....get it?) and walked another 3 miles to try to meet up with Brian since most of the roads were closed. I ended up waiting on a corner where there was a group of jokesters from a local bar. They had a whole crazy set up, couches, tables, tv's, and a treadmill. The best part was there was a guy about 75 on the treadmill barely moving, and he was already up to 16 miles for the day (he started at 5am), they were taunting the runners with bagels, donuts and jello shots and I was shocked at how many took them up on the offers! I can't even imagine downing a donut with another 13 miles to go, but to each his own! Brian said "well you slammed down beers at Fenway" I had to let him know that having one mile left is a whole different beast than having 13 more to do!

Prune toes

I woke this morning to a text asking me "are you still riding today in the rain?" Hmmn I didn't know it was supposed to rain. I watched the weather and they really did not say much, so I just got ready and off I went. I actually had to use my windshield wipers on the ride out to meet up with my team. That almost NEVER happens in sunny San Diego. As I am getting ready I realize it is going to be a very wet ride and I was ill prepared. Luckily I ended up receiving my full fundraising TNT jacket. Its fluorescent green and purple but everyone in San Diego gets one once you meet your fundraising minimum. I was a little out of it this morning and started doing the whole "fat guy in a little coat" as I stood in the middle of my team circle. I then look to my left and my mentor was videotaping the whole thing. I'm sure he'll post that soon so i'll be sure to share that just in case any of you were missing seeing me make an ass out of myself on a regular basis.
A few people got back in their cars and decided not to do the ride because of the conditions. My coach just continued with his mischeivous little smirk and I knew we were still riding. Since it never rains here the roads build up quite a bit of junk and when it rains it gets very slick. We just kind of took our time and played it safe. I almost bit it once but was not really going very fast so I was able to steady myself before I fell over. PHEW! Four teammates actually all hit the same glassy patch and all got flats. Then a woman I was riding with had some damage to her bike so we had to make sure she was okay. So the ride took a little longer than normal, but I felt pretty good. My coach rode with me a bit and suggested I get my cadence up because if I keep riding like I have been my legs will be toast for the run. It just means that I have to go into an easier gear and work my legs really fast, instead of moving them slower but harder and going way faster. That mainly means that I can't keep up with my friends on rides and then end up somewhere in between groups and ride alone which I am not a fan of. Especially since I am lazy and don't like to look at the cue sheets that tell us where to go. Oh and towards the end of the ride on one of the paths we were on there was a snail mass suicide. There were hundreds and hundreds of snails crossing the bike path. Lets just say that some made it, some did not.
Anyways we made it back to base and took off running in the canyons. It was a great path and the only thing I had to watch out for was lots of horse poop. People ride their horses through here. Smelt awesome. I felt really good and was really comfortable running about a 11-12 minute mile.I would be happy with that on race day. Granted I only ended up doing about 3 miles because I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow to join a relay team for the Rock N Roll marathon. While I was very excited at the thought of this, actually getting up and running the most desolate and slanted part of the race is really not so appealing. Out of hte 6.5 miles that I will be running only 1 is on roads that I will see people. The other is on the highway that I recall HATING the year I did it because it was so slanted it felt like you would fall over. Not a good thing for me since my legs are already different lengths. Oh well what are ya gonna do right??? It should be interesting trying to make my way back to my house after ending somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Now I am off to volunteer for the TNT. Since about 5000 or so TNT runners come into town for this event they need plenty of help with their pasta party. This is the same party that I won the motorcycle at 6 years ago. Ah the memories. I will be collecting raffle tickets (which I believe will be for this years big prize) funny how all things come around full circle. I'm sure I will cry at least 5 times tonight listening to stories and speakers.
Maybe it will give me some good ideas for the speech I was asked to give before our triathlon!!!

The King of the Road

This week's breakdown and shakedown.

Sunday- I got my whimpy ass to the La Jolla Cove where I met up with fellow woosies (you know who you are) and LG (not a woos at all). The cove is a beautiful area where many people and divers go to snorkel and look at all the fishies. While I too enjoy snorkeling, there is something different between snorkeling, and then swimming, with wildlife all around. I would also like to note that there are many many seals in the area, and we all know what kind of large fishies like to eat seals....SHARKS!! So we walked up and must have had a terrified look on our faces because the firemen asked "what are you looking at?" we replied "searching for any signs of sharks." They laughed and walked away. A few minutes later I heard one of them say "shark" and I nearly lost it, and he said "no no no I was just repeating you." Then they went on to say, "it takes a shark about 3 minutes to completely eat you and it takes us about 8 minutes to get out there on the jet skis." GREAT!!!

We suited up and got into the water. The reefs are literally right at the edge of the beach so right away we were surrounded by many fishies. Now I am not even sure why we bother swimming in the pool and working on our form, because once I get into the open water I am just a flailing body trying to go in one direction and not die. I swallowed so much water and refused to look down. I made sure to stay close to my swimming buddy and just focused on LG, fortunately she pulls to the left and I pull to the right, so we kind of kept eachother straight. My least favorite part was swimming through the kelp, they don't call it "kelp forest" for nothing!

We made it out in one piece and stood there waiting for our mates that went a little farther. I felt so Californian with my wet suit pulled halfway down and the bikini top on, should have taken a picture.

Monday I took off for a much needed day of rest. I spent memorial day learning to embroider and I was quite suprised by my efforts. I am going to do some fun tank tops for people. I'll post pics of my first one once its completed.

Yesterday was another beatdown at Rehab United. Lesley returned from her weekend triathlon and she placed 2nd! We did a 4 minute warm up of 15 minutes standing 15 minutes seated for 4 minutes. then did a pyramid of all out 15 seconds, rest 15, all out 30, rest 30, and increased it by 15 seconds all the way up to 90seconds. Then did a circuit of lifting and jumping and silly things like that and then did it all over again. It was a great workout once again.

Tonight I attempted to run. I was going to go around mission bay but realized I had no idea where I was going so I did 2 loops at Fiesta Island. Around mile 5 I literally felt like my entire stomach was spasming, it was some serious cramping like I have never experienced before. I was close to tears and just plain embarassed since the bikers were passing me over and over again probably wondering why I was looking so pained. I just tried to plug through it and eventually made it back to my car. I did 8.5 miles but wanted to do 9.5. Oh well.

On a more exciting note, my brother and I bought my dad a Harley Davidson for his birthday and for being an all around kick ass guy. Mark and Dad saw one that he fell in love with this weekend while they were in Indiana for a race and we decided to go for it. He is so excited and I can't wait to see pics of him on his black cherry Road King!!!! He deserves it and then some!!!

Sea Breezes

Our trip to the Cabrillo National Monument from Belle's perspective. One of the most beautiful places I have seen in San Diego. Nice hikes and lots of fun tide pools to search for sea creatures. Its still fun to flip over rocks and see whats underneath! Reminds me so much of Bar Harbor and EAGLE RAKE!!!!!
Will post more pics once Bri sends me his pics.

"You haven't lived!"

I was pretty much a bum on Friday. I was planning on doing the La Jolla cove swim with my team. HOWEVER I am just scared, and a you know what, and will find ANY excuse to swim elsewhere. My friend Katie and I are both wooses, so we quickly talked our ways out of the swim. She at least made it to the pool, I made it to the couch for a nap, then out to our favorite Italian restaurant for some homemade gnocchi and the most amazing artichoke I have ever eaten (it was boiled in water and white wine, then sauteed with garlic, had a very long eatable stem...yum). Whatever its a recovery week.

The alarm went off at 6 today and I started my Saturday rituals (packing my bag, making sure I have all my essentials, spraying lots of sunblock, loading the bike on my car....you get the idea). Since it is a recovery week we were ONLY doing 26 miles. We met at the UCSD campus, and had a training on how to give and receive water bottles while remaining on your bike. Apparently on the course they have two stations to refuel. Some people practiced "bunny hops" in which you would hop over debris with your bike. That just sounded like a sure trip to the dentist for losing my teeth so I just stuck to the handoffs.

We got our course stats for the day and I quickly noticed that there were a few streets with the word "mountain" in them. That typically means a nice climb. The hills I can handle, but then I see that we are riding on the 5!! In case you are wondering, that is the largest freeway in San Diego. As coach Trent said "you haven't lived until you've ridden on the freeway." I was a little scared but kind of psyched. We took off and were quickly turning onto the onramp. It was so exhilarating and fun to have cars whipping by you going 70+ mph. My friend Katie and I pretty much hysterically laughed at ourselves at this point. I can only imagine what people on the highway thought. Apparently it is legal at this part but I am not so sure. We soon hit the Sorrento Valley hill which did not look like much but boy it was a doozey. It was only about 3 miles into our ride so a bit tough to get your body acclimated to that. Needless to say my heartrate was way up and I was panting like a boston terrier. Next up was Black Mountain road, which was actually not as bad as the hill before. At the top of this was our trusty SAG man Marty. If he were fast enough he would have caught a picture of me peeing in a median, but I was too quick for him. Would have been a good pic though. Next time. Next we got on the 56 bike path and headed towards the 101 to go up Torrey Pines. This is the same hill that I struggled with months ago. Today it felt like a bump in the road. I could not be happier. My heartrate stayed pretty steady and I stayed in my middle gear the whole time. At one point a large group of older men were riding by me. One of them had a very strange looking bike so of course I inquired about it. One guy (Carl) responded "its for his neck, no neck pain at all anymore" my reply "really have you got anything for vagina's?" The guy nearly fell off his bike after asking me to repeat myself about 4 times before he believed what was coming out of my mouth. We quickly introduced ourselves and we gabbed all the way up the hill. That probably made things go by a bit quicker as well. All in all a great ride.

About 10 or so of us went out for some grub after and I so very much enjoyed my mimosa, oh and bacon, and french toast, and eggs. YUM.

Todays garmin stats:
timing: avg speed 12.4, max 30.8
elevation: 2228 elevation gain
Heart rate: average 160, max 182
Time: 2:07, distance 26.37 miles
calories burned: 1370

Now we are off to do some sightseeing at Cabrillo National Monument. Such tourists

A "safe" run

I met my team tonight at a local high schools track for my first track run. Since it is a recovery week not too many teammates were there but a good little group of ladies to run with. Our workout was 2 laps warm up, 3 laps at a 80%hr, 2 laps at a 85-90%hr and then one lap "balls out", then back to two laps at 85, then 3 laps at 80 and then do the whole set over again. The track was great because it was dirt so a little nicer on the knees than the concrete and flat!!! What was fun about this run was running by a fluorescent green condom on one of the turns (we were at a high school afterall), so I felt like it was an extremely safe way to run. My second favorite moment was when the volleyball coach took her girls out of hte gym and reamed them a new one "I am sick of your bickering and trashy mouths, and harrassing one another!!" Oh man those poor girls must have been up to no good cause this woman was not backing down. Made me realize how happy I am working with the population of kids that I do.
I felt really good and enjoyed this run. It flew by!
I averaged a 10:29 minute mile, and best was a 6:50
average Heart Rate- 166 Maximum heart rate: 189
4.62 miles in 48 minutes
497 calories burned GOSH I HEART MY GARMIN!!!!

While I was running I was chatting with a super fun and sassy teammate who mentioned that one of her friends had to drop out of their relay team for the rock n roll marathon next weekend. I was just thinking how fun that would be so I am going to join her team and do about 7 miles of the marathon with all the glory!!! It will be fun running parts of my first marathon again and I am looking forward to dressing up like an ass, maybe even literally!

Time for pepperoni pizza!!!!!!!!

2 months from today

Vineman Ironman is 2 months from today. HOLY *$#*!!! We are onto our recovery week, which basically means our Saturday ride won't have me out of the house from 6am til 3pm...YAY!!! Monday was a nice long swim about 2300 yards or so. Tonight I was back at it at Rehab United. Before I went I had a mini shopping spree at Marshalls. Now I rarely shop, so when I do its hardcore. I needed sandals for work because we have to have backs to our sandals so we can run after kids at a moments notice (you'd be suprised how often that is). My method at stores like Marshalls is not to use a cart or I will overload. I went a little crazy on the cute sundress rack though and ended up trying to balance two shoe boxes and WAY too many clothes. Lets just say that by the time I ended up at the checkout the woman looked at me and said "why didn't you use a cart?" I had marks and lines all over my arms from the pressure of so many clothes. The reason I am sharing this story is because one of my purchases was an Under Armour compression shirt. I had absolutely no idea what this meant. Until I got into Rehab United tonight. It was super hot tonight, not sure why. We did some crazy sets on the bike and by the end of the first set I literally had a stream of sweat from my neck to my stomach. I am not a sweater so I was pretty shocked. I mentioned this outloud and my friend LG to my right says "it's a compression shirt, it locks in the heat to get your core going." Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh awesome just what I did not want on my hardest workout of the week. Anyways we got off our bikes and did 1 minute stations that included jump ups onto a big cushion thingie, kettlebell swings, more jumpy things, plank discs, shoulder presses, lunges and side to side crunches with weights. After that was done we got back on the bikes for another whole bike and strength set. Again I was left in a pool of my own sweat. It was fun to have more of my teammates and coach there tonight, always good to be surrounded by fun people during a tough workout.

2 months to go! I can't wait to say I am a Vineman finisher! And more importantly I can't wait to see how much more money we can raise for a cause that helps so many people!!!

You can donate online to my site at : http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/VineHIrn09/jmerrill

Live a little

Below is what I should have been singing to myself during today's "epic ride." Instead I said MANY swear words, and lots of whining and begging and pleading with the man above to get me safely to my car. I heard this song on my way home, just ignore that it is a Miley Cyrus song and look at the words:

I can almost see it
That dream I’m dreaming but
There’s a voice inside my head sayin,
You’ll never reach it,
Every step I’m taking,
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking but I
Got to keep tryin
Got to keep my head held high

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
theres always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

The struggles I’m facing,
The chances I’m taking
Sometimes they might knock me down but
No I’m not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I’m going to remember most yeah
Just got to keep going
And I,
I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on,
cause

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

Okay so today's ride was about a 45 minute drive east to Pine Valley where we would be doing MOUNT LAGUNA (please read that in a dreaded deep voice). My coached prepped us by saying "today will be an epic ride." I was not sure what he was getting at....I quickly realized. We basically turned left out of the parking lot we met at and started the climb. Of course my chain fell off about 2 minutes in, so it took no time at all for me to be covered in bike grease, but at least I got it over with early. Sooooooooooo this ride was a 'gradual climb' as my coach put it, for 12 straight miles!!!!! Yes 12 miles up to a 6000 ft elevation. Now i'll be honest, I hate heights. There were parts that I would not even like to drive by in the car let alone on a bike with nothing keeping me from going over the ravine. It took me close to 2 hours to do this climb. I had to stop a few times since my fingers and toes were numb (very strange but whatever) and I kept trying to scope a spot to pee, but did not feel like bearing my ass to the many bikers that drove by. Instead I waited to go at a lodge. I tried to stay positive, but instead said this: "this sucks" "I am turning around now" "I hate my coach" "I hate doing this alone" "i'm probably going to die" "was that a black bear I just saw?" the list really goes on.

I eventually made it through some more rolling hills to our SAG car (the person who follows us making sure we are safe, and then parks so we can refuel and eat cheetos). This was at mile 18. I stopped here and luckily there were a few girls from my team that made it there before me and were also planning on turning there. It was at this point that I realized how ridiculous the Santa Ana winds were. Out of nowhere there were gusts that would blow bikes over, and swing open car doors. It is that kind of wind that you do not want when you are turning around to go downhill with whipping cars, and no guard rails keeping you from falling into a ravine. As my coach put it "be careful of the wind, you will either go over the side into a ravine, or be pushed into traffic, and you don't want that." REALLY!?!??!

It was nearly about 90 degrees at this point so I was just ready to get to my car to turn some AC on. I was really dreading the downhill. I do not feel safe at all going downhill, let alone for 12 straight miles. My hands have never gripped my bars and brakes so tightly. I had to stop a few times because I was so tense I had to loosen up. The wind was really whipping and I decided to clip one foot out juuuuuuuuuuuuuust in case I got pushed over I could maybe stop myself with one leg. I just looked the other way when I was on the edge and super high and prayed no cars were coming so I could ride closer to the road and away from the edge of death.

Eventually I made it. I may need new brakes after that ride. While I hydrated up at my car most people were returning and saying "wow that downhill made up for the climb" and some even made it over 45mph. Me? I kept it at a steady 20mph, HOWEVER I am still alive to talk about it. Someone actually told me I need to "live a little"....I thought thats what I was doing!!!

So since I focused on lots of negative thoughts I will now reflect on the positives of todays ride:

I challenged myself well beyond what I thought I would be capable of.

I did not pee in public

I did not die

I wore enough sunblock so that I did not burn

I did not get silly tan lines

I did not have any anxiety attacks over the height

I NEVER have to do that again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coma-toast

I am not quite sure what is wrong with me this week, but I feel like I have been punched in the stomach, tied to a truck and dragged all through the county. I'm tired, so very tired. I did not workout Sunday or Monday and still I feel tired. I am the kind of tired that people look at me and say "whats wrong with you, are you sick?" Gotta love it. I slept for a bit yesterday after feeling like hell all day at work and then decided that I had to make it to my workout. Somehow I survived my Tuesday night beatdown at Rehab United. It was 7 minutes of craziness on the bike, and then a five station one minute circuit with absolutely no recovery inbetween. My heart rate was higher during the circuits than the bike. Not sure thats normal. Not to mention I was trying to also watch the Celtics game (came back and won from being 14 behind) which was probably not helping my heart rate situation either. We did this four times and then my time there was complete.

I thought I was coming around, but woke up today feeling again like a big piece of coma toast. I called into work and figured I would try to sleep in a bit. I slept til about 9:30 which is pulling a rip van winkle for me. I am hoping that a day of rest will get me back to normal. I'm sure that these long ass workouts on the weekend are starting to catch up to me. I guess I have to stay on top of it. Its real tough trying to get long run workouts during the week when you are just trying to stay awake at your job. I will keep trying to resist the urge for caffeine and just listen to my body (stop doing this Jody you're killing me), okay maybe I won't listen to my body and listen to my coaches instead (go go go go go you can do this). Yeah thats better.

On a fantastic note, my fundraising is up over $6000!!!!!!!!! I am so excited about that and so grateful for all my supporters. This is always a very difficult time of year so its nice to be able to focus on all the positive things that have happened since my mom's passing. Although i'm starting to think it may have been easier on everyone if I just developed some other kind of habit, but i'm sure glad I chose endurance events over booze!!!!! Although I am kind of a good time when buzzed....hmmmn

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

This is what happens when you put potato skins down the garbage disposal.
It regurgitates up into your bathtub. NICE!!!

I did not attach a very funny picture that Bri had me take of his "plumber's ass" while snaking out the tub. I did this not because I wanted to, but because he assked me very nicelyl. That will be the picture that I hold for a rainy day.

Over the river and through the woods

Saturday's workout:
4 hours and 45 minutes in total (forgot to stop my watch when we stopped numerous times)
average heart rate: 150bpm
50 miles in total (47 on bike 3 mile run)
calories burned- 2801
what I ate- 2 gu's, one shot block package, fourth of a clif bar and some cheez its drank a bottle of gatorade- around 600 calories.
How I felt...........cocky the first half, sick the second half, and like I was going to puke during the run.

All in all not a terrible ride. We did around 47 miles for the ride and compared to last weeks beautiful FLAT ride it was a real bitch. We rode from Encinitas through Carlsbad and then into areas out east I have never heard of. Lots of farms and trees and brooks and MOUNTAINS. We then hooked around to Lake Hodge so once I saw that I knew we were in store for some more climbs. But I felt pretty strong. I stayed in my big gear for most of the ride and never used my granny gear on any of the hills which is a big change from normal. I'm growing up! So I have to say that my nether regions were not as sore this week. Probably thanks to lathering myself up with bodyglide. We rode back to the coast, actually I shouldn't say we cause I rode alone for about the last 20 miles or so which sucked. I did the pee pee dance at many red lights, and the cars must have thought I was seizuring. I finally found a gas station and boy did that feel good. I got back in the saddle to finish up my ride to the parking lot. I totally cheated because the parking lot is at the top of a ridiculously steep hill, short but steep. So I extended my ride a bit cause I did not think I had the legs or stomach at that point to do that. shhhh don't tell anyone. I changed up pretty quick and went for my transition run. While I saw a few people skipping it, and although that was tempting, I laced up my sneaks and took off for the coast. I found that I was doing a 12 minute mile for about the first 10-15 minutes. Our coaches have suggested running at least 2 minutes slower for our first few miles so our heart rate can adjust and your legs can get used to it. I ran out one way for 20 minutes then ran back. I found that running back was alot easier and I was able to do around a 10 minute mile. I felt like I could keep running which was good. My stomach however is still something I need to figure out because I am SOOOOOOO hungry, afterall these workouts are now over five hours. However when your heart rate is elevated you really can't digest anything, and my stomach can only handle so much Gu and Gatorade. I am going to try to do more real foods next week like fig newtons and crackers and things. We'll see how that goes.
I got home to our friends Lauren and Todd sitting in the livingroom drinking Margaritas. As tempting as that was, I resisted the ritas and drank some whey protein.

Happy Happy Mother's Day to all the special mom's in my life!

puparazzi

So I am just going to brag a little bit. Mother's Day is coming up afterall and since Belle is the closest thing I have to a child I would like to take this moment to brag about my pupparoni.
I don't know if something is wrong with me but at the beach a few weeks ago we were stopped and someone asked "is that a showdog?" I nearly cried I was so happy. Now I know how those show mothers must feel. I'm pretty sure Belle barked "world peace" at that point like a good contestant would do. At the beach last week a woman was walking around taking pictures for a website. I'm pretty sure she was the cutest most well behaved dog there. I'm just sayin

Ok off to get a hair cut since it is more like straw. There is something about the water here, it kills my hair, plus the chlorine, plus all the sun. Brutal.

Eventually today I will clean before the arrival of Lauren and Todd so that they don't have to sleep amongst all the crap that I have been piling up on the guest bed.

I have a 50 mile bike ride tomorrow followed by a 3-6 mile run. Should be a LOOOOOOOOOONG day!!

R A T T L E S N A K E spells rattlesnake!

I would like to share some things I saw at work yesterday.

- 2 goats- yes and the teacher who brought them in would carry one away so the other would flip out. I thought the "baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"s were a students new weird sound they were making.

- 1 boy drop his pants and about a pound of mulch fall out of his underwear. Apprently it happens every day. Ouch.

Don't you wish you worked with me?! I think so.

Moving on. I went to meet my group tonight for a beautiful run around Torrey Pines. We did about 4 loops in the trails along the ocean and I wanted to get another few loops in when the team was heading back. I made sure I would have enough light to make it back and turned around by my lonesome. BAD IDEA. As I made it to the end of the loop where I could pick the road up again I saw a couple and the woman was limping and looked rather freaked out. He nonchalantly says "oh there is a rattlesnake up there on the trail."

I'm sorry, come again????? Yeah so I asked him if he would poke it with a stick to get it out of the way. He declined and so then I asked if I could at least run with them so I wouldn't have to truck it alone. Let me tell you I have never run so fast in all of my life. I kept thinking I saw snakes and it was getting pretty dark so I hot footed my ass (which was covered in my new favorite running skort) back to my group where they were waiting for me.

Sometimes I forget that I am amongst the wilderness here. I did get to witness one of the most beautiful sunsets, with one of the most amazing views while I was running alone. It felt pretty good. We were supposed to run about 9 miles or 90 minutes, I made it about 7.5 but if you have ever ventured to Torrey Pines you would be shocked that I run up the entire hills there. Just a few months ago I was huffing and puffing just walking up these hills and through the trails.

Onwards and upwards! Oh and I guess you should find out if what you are supposed to do if you get stung by a rattlesnake. Do you pee on it? I think i'll try that just in case.

We are very excited to have some visitors coming this weekend! Yay to Lauren and Todd!

whip those legs

First things first, I have reached my minimum and am now soaring above the $5,500 minimum!!! I would like to thank everyone so much and especially my Aunt Elaine for getting my letter and story out there. Because of her, I received my largest donation to date. The bar has just been set a bit higher because I was just given a donation of $500 from my aun't sister in law. She has had quite a rough go at things, losing two sisters in the past five years. I am always honored when people share their story with me. It gives me even more of a kick to get going because I am not competing and fundraising for myself or my mother, but for all of you and your loved ones. I reflect on these people that I am told about often during my training. Especially when I feel weakness creeping up, that is when I channel all my angelic energies to get me going, and I do honestly feel it. I can't think of any other reason that I have been able to complete all of my races. So please continue to share your stories and names of loved ones and their stories with me.

Training this week so far:
Sunday: Was my first time running with my heart rate monitor and it was something else. I varies from a sub 9 minute mile to a frigin 13 minute mile. Strangely enough I go faster on uphills than I do on the downhills. That just does not make sense to me. My heart rate was pretty much through the roof and if I have to stay in my zone 1 I would basically have to walk. Gotta work that out a bit.

Tuesday:


I just got back from another beat down at Rehab United and it was a good one. It was my first time with the heart rate monitor so I was hoping that my heartrate was where I thought it was during the workouts. I got it up pretty good but not too super high. I definately need to start watching my heart rate because apparently the heart rate I had going my entire 50 mile ride on Saturday was way too high and I shouldn't be doing that to my body for long periods of time. Just means I have to get more efficient which is what I am focusing on.

A few of my friends from the team attended tonight as well so it was a rather good time with LG to my right and Marcus and Katie to my left. I actually got chastized for talking a few times. Brought me back to high school, oh and college, oh wait and grad school for talking when I shouldn't. Oh well some things never change.

Monday:
Bri has been joining me on my swims which has been quite fun, especially during the chasing drills. Kind of pisses me off that he is faster than me, but I also have to factor in the part of him being stronger. Whatev.

I am basically coming to grips with the fact that I am going to have to work real hard this summer to combat my ridiculous tan lines. Because I have been swimming during the day, I have some real messed up lines on my back, and I wont even get started on my arms and legs. Oye, not cute.





Not sure what my workouts are supposed to consist of this week but I may start to try to do a brick on Wednesdays and work in a long run with a swim. The crazy Scot is doing a spin/run workout by the bay on Thursdays and I think I may have to start giving that a whirl. Since Thursdays usually involve my long run, i'll have to fit it in another day during the week.



Happy Cinco de Mayo!!! We celebrated by cooking some lobsters that my dad sent for Bri's Bday from none other than Legal Sea Foods. Thanks Dad!! YUMMO!!

You want an ice pack for your WHAT?!

Today started out at about 5:30 am. I tried to get everything together last night as well and just had to make some sandwiches (which I would later forget) and get my food on. I rode up to the Solana beach train station, but had to make a quick pitstop at a gas station beforehand...if you know what I mean. I waited by the bathroom door for what seemed like forever. Finally a man comes out, looks at me and says "so sorry." Great. I get in and start to cover up the toilet and drop my beautiful dolce and gabana sunglasses into the same toilet that this man had just descecrated! Good start to the day I suppose. Anyways I shook it off, cleaned them off and headed to meet up with my team. We boarded the train and it was such a scenic and quick ride to San Juan Capistrano in Orange County. There were about 8 of us there today, and luckily my friend Lisa (LG) joined the group and I got to ride with her when she wasn't smoking my ass. I rode with my coach for a bit. She is a beacon of knowledge, but lets just say that she takes the rules of the road VERY seriously. We came to complete stops at places that I knew my buddies ahead were plowing through. I was psyched when I realized that LG stopped and waited for me. So we rode down the coast through San Juan, San Clamente, and a bunch of other places that I don't remember. All beautiful coastal communities. We then made it to Camp Pendleton. We had to show full id and all that to get onto the base and once there it was so worth it. We basically had the road all to ourselves. In fact almost the whole 50 mile ride was off of the main roads and on what looked like an old insterstate that went right along the coast. I was psyched when I started to recognize some familiar places because around mile 35 my lady parts started to feel like they were about to fall off. At one point I met up with our SAG vehicle. A wonderful man named Marty comes out every weekend with tons of nutrition, water, and help if anyhthing happens to our bike. I rode up to him and forgot to give him an "earmuffs" kind of warning and asked if he was providing new vajinas today. Lets just say that I think that comment probably made his day, and I was actually suprised that it came out of my mouth. My coach said that it is good to get your hoo ha used to it for the race, but I am not really into developing calluses down there. Bike shorts it is! We continued our ride through Oceanside, them Encinitas and finally back to the train station! Yay 50 miles done (really 48 but I am rounding up).
Here are some stats from my trusty Garmin 405 (I need to name this trusty friend)
48 miles in 3:53
calories burned 2097
12.3 mph average
159 bpm on average
sunburn: face and on my forearm (was supposed to rain today so I forgot sunscreen)

I am trying to download my garmin connect so that my watch synchs up with my computer and converts all the info onto my computer but I am half brain dead right now.
For now we will cheer on the Celtics, and head out later to meet up with some friends at our favorite local watering hole, True North.

Big Bri's bday is tomorrow so not sure what we will do for that but hopefully some nice weather is going to be with us again tomorrow!

such a Pain in the ....

Okay so this week I have been having some "bowel issues". Monday morning I thought that I was having a slight alien attack in my lower abdomen, and was doubled over in pain. I thought it was a one time thing, but pretty much every day I keep getting these piercing pains. Now I am obviously being so mature about this and not using the gross terms that I plague my poor coworkers with. Anyways after being woken up around 2am last night with severe pains, I figured I should see a Dr. So I made my way today over to UCSD's medical center for my first ever visit. It was pretty awesome riding the ELEVATOR with some woman with a mask, who checked in before me with pretty much every flu symtom there was. Yes I should have taken the stairs. Anyways after my last awful experiences with my first Dr (i.e. taking 8 weeks to get proper treatment for a hurt wrist) I was so pleased with my experience today. They gave me a very thorough exam and did not miss any questions. Its difficult when you try to explain "ass pains" to two extremely intelligent women. I put it like this "well ya know when you really have to ......make a bowel movement?" "Well its like those severe ass pains like the poop is going to come out, but the pains weren't in my ass, they are in my abdomen." And that is when I got some shocked looks and fleeting eye contact. They handled it well, and I did my best to be as classy as I could. But lets face it, an ass pain is an ass pain. So they think that I have some cysts and that when I get "full intenstines" that it is adding pressure to them. So I am going for some ultrasounds that sound like a really good time next week.
So I am going to have to wake up super early tomorrow around 5am so that I can avoid any "ass pains" on the train ride we are taking up to San Juan Capistrano for our 50 mile bike ride. Who knows if the ride is bumpy enough I just may rupture these cysts and save myself some aggravation. Its always something!!!

Oh by the by, I am on the brink of reaching my minimum and would like to keep going and going. If you have not yet had the chance to donate please consider taking part in a great cause!!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/VineHIrn09/jmerrill

Thanks!