I TRI, Really I do

never thought this would be me

2011-02-26T11:58:00.001-08:00

I used to get so aggro at people who just went away for long periods of time without blogging and now I am one of them. Wow I suck. Come to find out, opening up your own business takes up alot of time and energy. Things are going well at the studio and I am now finally able to pass on some classes to other instructors which gives me a more normal schedule, but when I am not there, I am at home still dealing with the phone calls, emails, and the occasional ass bag who calls to yell at me. Fun stuff.

In the meantime Bri and I have bought a house. Well we bought a plot of land that will eventually be a house and we are super excited to do it and will hopefully have a place to live come summer time. Its all good though.

I have to be honest. I have MAJOR triathlon envy. I am so jealous of my old teammates in SD who are about to head back to Hawaii for the lavaman, and ESPECIALLY for those who are going to get to train for a full ironman with the TEAM in New Zealand. I think that is probably the only way I would do a full IM is if it was with the support and guidance of the my TEAM.

In the meantime there was a small triathlon added to the area in Nahant. It is on the anniversary of my mom's passing so its a must. Since its a sprint tri and I have never done a mini TRI I am going to try to get some people to train with. The idea kicking around now is to field it out to some of my clients to see if they are interested. The only problem is I need a pool to train at and am PETRIFIED of masters classes because everytime I went in SD people got aggro with me cause I was too slow. Hey it takes a long time to pull these long lanky arms through the water!!!

I am hoping that if I get going training and set up a schedule of events to train for that I will start to feel a little more normal.

I do miss sharing some ridiculous life stories so here are a few:
-my husband who will remain nameless came home the other day and had an egg on his head. apparently he was in the shower and experienced an "aggressive sneeze" and slammed his head against the wall. WOW

-driving home after a super long day the other night I was in the left lane at a red light when an MBTA bus decided I was too close to him to make a right hand turn, but instead of waiting for the green light he instead honked at me before driving into my buggy and ripping off the right side of my car. Oh and then he made his turn and kept going. It was awesome. I think my car hates me at this point, first she is covered in snow every other day, then covered in soot from all the crap on the ground and now she is covered in black white and yellow from MBTA's finest!

So if I still have any readers left I apologize for going MIA and cannot guarantee I will be any good with this but I will try!

1-1-11

2011-01-01T06:33:00.001-08:00

I really am a terrible blogger as of late. Come to find out opening your own business makes one extremely busy. The funny thing about the New Year is it causes you to look back at the year and take it all in for all its guts and glory. This year had a whole lot of ups, and some fun downs that make you want to throw your arms up and pretend you are on a rollercoaster.

One things for sure I did not think we would be back on the east coast this year but life happens and you gotta ROLL WITH IT!

Highlights of 2010:
-Began with the Rose Bowl with our friends and cheering O-H-I-O to a victory (sorry bri).
-shortly thereafter we started many swims in the pacific ocean training for the Lavaman tri.
-training in general was a blast, i had bri by my side for this one and so many fun teammates and an unreal coach from whom i learned so many lessons from.
-in march we got to go to Hawaii and race together and again raise a ton of money for the LLS. We also got to race along and then get extremely intoxicated with world class triathletes.
-then a bunch of weddings happened, which meant alot of travelling.
-the stress of all that hit me and resulted in some stomach "issues" and my first colonoscopy also known as "the coolest shit i ever took." and a day spent high as a kite. Luckily everything the dr's thought was not true and since then I have been ALOT better (no more poopy stories for ya folks!)
-had my first primetime debut on network television but was TOTALLY jipped but still fun nonetheless.
-shortly after we made the decision to move back east and to start my own business. which meant ROAD TRIP!

I guess in just a year it was quite alot. A welcomed change that I am so thankful for. And now here we are ringing in 1-1-11 with snow on the ground, living across the street from our old place and just a slight headache because I could not indulge too much last night because I have to get to the studio to teach some pilates classes. WHAT?!?!? seriously life is too much! Life is funny you just never know what the day will bring you, let alone a WHOLE YEAR! Here is to a New Year. May it bring everyone the peace and change they wish and hope for.

2011 or bust!

justice for all

2010-11-21T05:00:00.001-08:00

all i have to say is if you are not from the boston area you are missing out. yesterday the news ran a bit all day that made me so very happy.

it was of a woman at a convenient store, she was in line and just all of a sudden drops her pants and tinkles on the floor. gets back up and pays for her stuff.

it was awesome. she is obviously not a triathlete cause she would have just leaned to one side and peed down her leg!

the store released their surveillance video for "justice."

ahha.

Other than that bri and i have pretty much been like an infirmary here all week/end. we have now had to sleep in two different rooms for two nights now because neither of us were sleeping with all the snoring/coughing going on. pretty sad. i think we have been sick more in the two months we've been back than the entire time in san diego. i think i just have to get used to the allergies and heat being on and what not. fun times!

i have discovered the netipot which i have been doing like any chance i can get. although today i am super stuffed up so it all went down my throat and i pretty much puked it up. fun stuff!

all i know is if you want to make it onto the news, pee on a floor and act like its normal

not my first rodeo

2010-11-17T14:47:00.000-08:00

I'd like to say this has never happened to me but it has....multiple times.

I was at the studio in between getting my haircut and highlighted (could have had a child in the amount of time since my last haircut) and seeing clients. My space is done but everything else is still under construction as are the bathrooms. Since there are lots of construction guys I can only assume that the womens room is probably the room where the guys drop a deuce, leaving the mens room for a quick number one. However there is rarely anything to wipe with so I bring my own tp. I think they must be wiping with sand paper...

Okay so I went to the bathroom and yes women do shit, and if you are new to this site then you should be lucky that I am not fully describing this said shit. THANK GOD it was a normal BM or things could have gotten really ugly. Anyways I go, I wipe, I flush and the water just filled up. Now I should have known better but whats a girl to do at this point when there are only men using this facility? leave my brown friends floating in the toilet? NOPE I flushed again BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG mistake. The feared water rising happened and I quickly turned the water off (glad I learned that one) and grabbed the mop that was in there and started mopping. Thank god the poops did not float out cause thats happened before. I'd like to say I have matured cause the last time this happened I threw some paper towels down, closed the door and pretended it wasn't me.

This time I decided to yes close the door, but to call the contractor to let him know what he was walking into. I am sure he was amused. I would like to say that I was lady enough to drop in some "easy drops" before pooping. This stuff is genius. you drop a little of the oil in the bowl before you poop and no matter what happens in there it smells divine! It has been tested quite a bit. As I said to the contractor it was not my first rodeo with a crazy toilet and I am sure it won't be my last!

11/11

2010-11-13T05:32:00.000-08:00

Thursday was Veteran's day which also is my mothers birthday. She would have been 59. I honestly think the thought of being that old would make her puke, but i'm sure she would rather be here with us than an eternal 50 year old. I spent the day working but had some time with my niece. At one point we were dancing in the living room and THE SONG came on. This was THE SONG, the cry in the shower song, the song that I heard after my mom passed and it moved me, the song that still if i hear it to this day it can rock me. The song came on and E-beth just looked at me and said "it sounds like a beautiful butterfly song" and started floating around the room. Presh. I have always connected with music, there are songs that can not only get you through a tough time but can connect you back to that time and bring all that emotion back. When I know I need to connect to that time, I will listen to that song. I miss music, for most of my life music was always on. I grew up with lots of music, granted it was always michael bolton type stuff that my mom liked. I went to my first concert at a young age and have attended hundreds of concerts. I have been slacking in the music dept. I don't love itunes or downloading music but i LOVE pandora. Actually pandora is where i first heard THE SONG. I played all my moms favorite music for her while she was in the hospital, I remember wanting her to connect with all those times and songs that made her happy and to take away the fear and pain that i am sure she felt at that time. Then we played all her favorite music at her funeral, odd to some but it just felt right. I miss her tons and it is still hard to imagine life without her.

I was walking with my doggie and contemplating things a bit. I was thinking about what has brought me to this point in life. I NEVER imagined opening my own business, and I was wondering how i could ever put into words what got me here. but now i know. it was my mother, it was her death, her absence that truly changed me. Obviously loss like that will change a person, but how did it change me? it was that loss that prompted me to start training for endurance events. the reason was my mother, i wanted to help empower families and people who are diagnosed with cancer and hope & pray that maybe one day there will be a cure. i do not know where i would be at this point in life if none of that happened. i realized that being healthy, and exercise could save a person. it changes you, changes how you feel, it destresses you, it forces you to breathe when sometimes its hard to do.

these events gave me courage, strength and confidence. but the best part of it all was being able to connect to my mom. whenever i was out on the roads or on the bike or anywhere it was like connecting to a good song. i found a way to honor her life but to honor my own and to hopefully inspire and help others along the way. i still find it funny when someone tells me that i am the one who inspired them to participate in a race. so here i am opening my own fitness studio. what a gift. a gift to be able to change other peoples lives, make them feel stronger, more confident and to connect to whatever it is they were disconnected from.

it is no shock that my actual opening day will be 12-11-10. who knows how this all worked out that way, but the fact that i will start on the 11th of the month once again connects me to my mom. i owe her a big thank you, thanks for this opportunity. i will take none of it for granted and will hopefully be able to make more of a difference in peoples lives now. all i can say is, on 11-11-11 when she would be turning 60 we are going to do something awesome.

outta my head

2010-11-09T06:37:00.000-08:00

so I think that perhaps some of the stress of starting a new business up may be hitting me a bit. i have had a migraine for about 2 days now and the only medicine that helps makes me want to vom all over the place. pretty awesome. i do however think it is a result of tmj which i have not really had any issues with since i got myself all riled up around the vineman tri. i have had random twinges of pain in my face and ear area which is typically how it starts for me. oh and my shoulders and neck are super tight! man i miss my masseus!

whatevs. as the dr told me a year ago "find some namaste" so that is what i am going to do! and fortunately i can do it with one of my fav's from san diego! our friend from our tri team flew out last night and is here a few days so i am very excited. we are going to eat our way through boston pending that i do not hurl all over the place.

the rain is not helping. its not helping ANYBODY. especially when i went to the studio yesterday to let the mirror guy in and saw that yet again it rained inside the studio again. the puddles are back. son of a gun. so thank god i told them i needed the place done in november because i would likely have been screwed if this were all happening in december. as of now my machines get here december 1, training will be december 7-10 and i hope to open on 12-11-10! cool date if i do say so myself. not going to waste anytime!

do it

2010-10-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

http://bostonpilatesplus.blogspot.com/

Check out the blog for my pilates studio! Pass it around, like it, friend it, whatever the kids are calling it these days!

the potty train

2010-10-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

I had to run out for a bit today to pick up some stuff at a Staples. I remained calm in line despite the fact that i was in line over 15 minutes with only one older woman in front of me that needed a price check on all items she bought. As I was waiting there was an older woman yelling at her grandson "go to the bathroom!" It was loud and obnoxious and I can imagine embarassing for this kid who was clearly just trying not to piss himself.

I finally get out to my car and hear her again "go dammit go just go!" She had him taking a leak ON MY CAR!!! He was mortified especially when he realized it was my car. Grandma could car less she continued to yell and draw further attention to him "just relax and go hurry up! She don't care she's not looking at your little thing!" yup it was awful. To top it off there were no other cars around me! I mean come on lady have him pee on your own car!

Frigin massholes

that hurt

2010-10-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

I felt like pounding pavement the other day so that is what I did. I took the dog with me despite the fact that since we moved back east she has had the constant runs. And everytime i take her on a run I have to stop about 10 times and uses all the poop bags and then i have to run back out to the other spots that she leaked on to pick it up. Anyways the run was going well. its kind of good having the dog with me all pissed off cause she holds me back and makes me run slower than my already excruciatingly slow pace, but then picks it up the second half of the way after she realizes that she is on my time.

Now I try to be friendly, and I like to say hi to people. Sometimes I make extra eye contact especially if its a sketchy guy. I give him a "yeah I could draw a picture of you from this mental picture i just created in the event that you try anything on me" kind of look. But mostly I just want to not be a douche and actually look at people. I guess my fellow bostonians are not on the same page. On the way back I decided to pick up the pace and forget about my heart rate monitor for a while and had a good pace going. A woman was running towards me but seemed to be refusing to make eye contact with me. Of course I tried staring her down all the while with a big smile on my face. Well she never looked. As I am looking behind me at this point I failed to notice the low hanging branch and clotheslined myself. Stupid bitch, she never even stopped despite me yelling a quick obscenity and moaning a little bit.

I will not give up on my fellow americans and i will continue to say hello even if you blatantly try to ignore me.

H 2 Oh shit

2010-10-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

We all know how I have been dragging my feet when it comes to choosing the color scheme for the pilates studio. I have been agonizing over this decision more than the original decision to actually change my life and do this. I have finally narrowed it down to my colors, now I just have to pick where to put them. Sooooooo yesterday after doing some interviews I called the owner of the building so I could check in and just figure out what I needed to do. Well we got in and in front of me was our first major snaffu.

Its been raining pretty hard here and there was water that leaked into the space. I actually kept my cool, I mean we haven't done any real work there yet (and by we I mean the contractor) AND this probably buys me a few more days to figure out the paint situation. The owner is obviously taking care of the problem and at least it happened now and not when I am trying to run a business and cannot afford to have someone come in and take down the wall.

Things like this are bound to happen so I move on. Monday I am meeting with the contractor and am going to put up some paint so I can make my final decision.

On the workout front I reconnected with my kettlebell. I figure until my machines get here I need to do whatever I can so that I do not die during training. It actually went pretty well.

Now we are off to check out some fall foliage! My how I missed the colors of fall.

nothing special

2010-10-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

The weeks seem to be flying by. Hard to believe we have been home for over a month. There is something about home that gives my dog the runs though. It has been rough on her intestinal tract. She literally had no issues at all in San Diego but something about being back here makes her a little leaky. It has made for some long nights as well as long runs when I decide to take her. Poor thing.

I have been trying to get some workouts in and they have been bike trainer sessions, lots of runs with the pup and some good ole walks too. I have been continuing to interview people so I have been taking some of their classes as well. I spend so much of the day on the coach cranking out paperwork and cranking out numbers for the business so I need a good amount of exercise each day so that I don't wither up here. I just filed an application for the Boston Triathlon Team. Hopefully that works out because I really do not know many people out here in the tri world (move home LG) and its not easy finding fellow slow pokes to talk about peeing and pooping with.

I was super psyched to watch this years world championship ironman in hawaii via the live stream on the computer. I pretty much spent about 13 hours in front of the computer watching. The same fella that we got super drunk with while we raced in Hawaii actually pulled out a win at the big dance. It was amazing to watch others that I have trained with through the years in San Diego compete in that race. Made me start to search for another half iron. I did come across an inaugural race that is in Italy in June, but with the business opening this year I am just not sure if it is feasible. I will have to do a local race towards the end of the summer.

I think I have finally chosen some colors for the studio but still have to fiddle with them a little bit. I kind of just wish we could fast forward to December's opening. Enough talking about it lets just do this already! Until then all the pieces of the puzzle will continue to come together.

color me....

2010-10-05T16:09:00.000-07:00

This is what my living room looks like right now. Lots of swatches, so many choices. I have to choose a color for the floor, for the walls AND for the ceiling. I have to live with it everyday so its not a decision I am making lightly. The color has to SPEAK to me for the studio. It has to say "yeah I like this place, I would love to spend lots of money working out here."

I think I need a life coach, I am kinda okay with people making decisions for me. OOOOHHHH maybe its time to call the psychic!

Bruising arms everywhere

2010-09-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

I have been lucky enough to be able to ride with my top down nearly every day since moving back to Boston. While there are LOTS of difference between San Diego and Boston one MAJOR difference is that people are crazy about the "punchbuggy" punch! I never really noticed people doing it on the west coast. Here if I so happen to drive by a school when its being let out it is like mayhem. I wondered today "why are these kids all fighting and hitting eachother" then I turned my music down and realized! How fun! I want to purposely let a headlight go out so I can be a pididdle punchbuggy!

I attended a class today to check out someone for the pilates studio. I am psyched by all the interest in people who want to instruct. I REALLY need to get some muscle back though so its good timing to be "interviewing" people at the gym. I do need some hot guys though, afterall I am on the market for a gay husband or two....i'm just sayin....

domestic diva

2010-09-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

First things first this is my new store front for the studio. We will be the one on the left. There has been lots accomplished this week but still lots to do of course!

I have been getting back into a regular workout schedule. I also posted job openings to craigslist to find some instructors so I am checking out some of their classes in the next few weeks. If you know anyone who might be a good match to teach here then pass them on to me.

Apparently my stomach is back to 'normal' and normal as in being sick all morning but hopefully that is a flukey kinda thing.

Even more exciting is that I finally found a good yoga studio! After some recommendations I ended up at Prana Power Yoga. They have a bunch of locations and it is clean, just the right temperature and very similar to the corepower yoga that I loved in San Diego. Like with any working out I always feel like a different person after doing it, yoga especially. Rumor has it a yoga place will be opening in Lexington Center as well which I am very excited about.

So yes money is tight right now and I am lucky to have an understanding husband. Fact of the matter is there is no way I could have a job right now with trying to get the studio going. I am seeing clients 4 times a week which is nice to put my speech hat on but even that is tough right now. Its nice not having to be out of the house by like 645 to get to work though. So instead I get up hang with the pup and make my husband some coffee. Oh AND I have cooked dinner a few times and kept the house really clean. Best of all the puppy is MINE again! We spend the first year of her life together then she spent all her time with Bri since he worked from home. NOW its all puppy Jodes time and its WONDERFUL! Except for the 3 days that she had runny poop, that kinda sucked. Maybe I got it from the dog????

suckram yoga

2010-09-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with power yoga out in san diego. After the moving and packing and unpacking and driving cross country my back was a mess. Not to mention the core strength I gained with pilates out in SD is nowhere to be found since I haven't done it in oh so long. Since getting back to Boston I have been trying to find a yoga place to stretch out and get some core strength back. It has not been easy. I found a so so place but the moaning is just too much. I went with my friend that I giggle too much with and it was kind of embarassing how much we were laughing. Like that trying to suppress your laughter and it gets even worse. But really people there is a difference between deep breathing and the shit you are doing which is borderline pornographic.
So I tried another place after many people recommended it. BUT it was bikram yoga. I have never done it and can say that I will never do it again. It was hotter than hell. My water bottle was hot to the touch. The tissues I had with me were hot to touch. I was not sweating like I should and that is not good when it is 120 degrees. When I am out doing an event in heat I just pour water over my head since I don't sweat like normal people and that cools me down. There was no reprieve. THe heat brought on major vertigo and dizziness and I couldn't do anything. I could not stand, I could not lay down. So I left the room to compose myself. Of course the instructor who was really nice and trying to be helpful stopped me in front of the door and asked "are you sure you want to leave? you could just sit down...blah blah blah" BUDDY I have alot of pride so if I didn't feel like I was going to pass out I would stay. I said "believe me I need this" and upon feeling the normal temp air yelled out "sweet relief!" I composed myself in the bathroom, cried a little bit inside and headed back into the room. At this point everything was spinning and I still had a gd hour to go. UGH! I just sat down for most of it. It was embarassing, but I really didn't care, I looked HORRID. I made it through the class, I have no idea how. I am pretty sure yoga is not supposed to make you feel super anxious but when you feel like that it is pretty unsettling.
It was so bad that at the end of the class a woman went up to my friend and said " was that your friend? he really should have let her go...she did NOT look good." AMEN SISTA! I honestly still felt like that a day later.
So bikram yoga, not for me. I like to leave yoga feeling like I worked out because of what my body did, not because of the heat. I am not knocking bikram, I know alot of people love it, but it is most certainly not my thing. So I am off again on the search for a good yoga place. There is going to be a yoga place opening right by my pilates studio so lets hope that is a good fit, that would be convenient afterall!
However, there were no moaners, that was good. Oh forgot to mention that it was carpeted, and stunk like the armpit of a sweaty man. brutal.

It's all happening!

2010-09-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

This week was pretty exciting and exhausting all at the same time. I thought I was going with one space at the beginning of the week, and that did not happen. I am always a girl to go with my gut and sometimes people will show their true colors and fortunately for me it was before I entered into business with them. So I started my search again and was brought back to the original space that I was drawn to. It is in Lexington Center. Today I signed the letter of intent which is like an agreement, and then they will give me the lease. At that point I will have my lawyer check it over to make sure I am not screwing myself or anything like that. Lord knows I am no good with the fine print so i'd rather pay someone who can sift through the bs. So if all goes according to plan I will have the space by next week!
I had my LLC formed and my official name is Boston Pilates Plus LLC. I kept going back and forth with names, and this ended up being one of the only ones available for use so that is what it is! I also got my tax id number today so i'd say all in all this was a pretty successful week.
One thing is for sure, I have to get back into shape before this all starts up. Its a good thing I have no job right now.
I am going to start putting the word out there for some cool people that want to be instructors. I figure that is also a good way to get back in shape if I try out their classes (not my idea but i'll take it anyways) to see what their teaching style is.
All good things.
I created a facebook page for Boston Pilates Plus as well as a blog. I will likely use that blog for all the good stuff: www.bostonpilatesplus.blogspot.com

where to begin?

2010-09-14T15:37:00.001-07:00

I honestly have no clue how to start this post. I will break the last three weeks down for ya.

Cross country trip:
Utah: gorgeous, saw so many rainbows and awesome scenery.
Utah to Colorado: I cried, a few times, it was so damn pretty. I want to back to the breckenridge area in the winter, I cannot even imagine it. Ate really good steak at a random "restaurant" that was really a house in the middle of nowhere with a giant tree growing through it.
Colorado to Nebraska: BOOOORING! Oh and we took a wrong turn so we ended up in Kansas for a while instead of Nebraska
Omaha: We arrived to our hotel along with about 100 police cars, apparently someone tried to steal something from a nearby mall, ran down the cop, and the cop shot them. We ate yummy steak yet again.
Next stop Chicago! I have to go back there, what a cool city. The hotel we stayed at was super pet friendly and was pretty ridiculous with dogs everywhere and happy hours that were free. LOVED IT! It was interesting watching Belle try to find a place to do her business in the city. Highlight was her peeing next to a homeless man and me yelling for him to move....was probably unnecessary since it already smelt of urine, but really its his home too!
Chicago toooooooooooooo Boston...Really? thats a long time, but we did it. At this point we were DONE with the driving. I got slightly batty at one point and pouted big time but it was the right call to just get home.

Since the arrival we have been at my dad and apples house until today. Weddings, sleepovers with little ones and TONS of unpacking. I have also managed to get many steps closer to being a small business owner. But I have come to realize that ALOT of things have to happen in order for this to happen. Thank god I am unemployed right now because this has been more than a full time job. Patience my little grasshoppers.

Belle is settling in and has fallen back in love with grass since she hated it in SD. We are at our new place which is across the street from our old condo. THis came in handy these past few days and we owe SO many favors. I have to say its really nice to be welcomed back to our old neighborhood and see so many familiar faces. We did not get to know hardly any neighbors in SD, which was sad for me :(

That is it for now. I am hoping to get my bike put back together because my body is falling apart. PLUS there is a ride this weekend with the boston tri team called "concord to cakes". YUP a ride specifically to go eat cake.. I LOVE IT! Only thing missing is LG!!

Thank you SD

2010-08-25T12:20:00.000-07:00

Dearest San Diego,

I never thought we would be so close. I think I had a hand in sending at least 10 people your way and I knew I would have my turn someday and boy am I glad I did! A few things I will take with me about your lovely city.

-Your jacarandas are quite possibly the prettiest trees I have ever seen.
-The smell of the eucalyptis trees that I would always say a "yoooooooouk" in honor of the red sox each time I smelt you.
-Your countless dog parks and dog beaches and many restaurants that allowed Belle to sit with us.
-Your endless sunshine, I mean really that was too much.
-Your coastline, especially the 101 where whether I was biking, running or driving took my breath away each time.
-Your vineyards
-Your canyons and trails, gave me such a break from the roads(until I got too scared of rapists and killer bees)
-Your wonderful people who I got to swim bike run with, work with, and play with!
-Your crazy chargers fans who liked to yell at me many times for wearing anything patriots related.
-Your sunrises and sunsets
-Your many outdoor pools that were always nice and warm
-Your fish tacos, sushi and many breakfast nooks, and Croce's which was like a second home at many times.
-Your silly porn shops and smoke shops on just about every corner, kind of like a dunkin donuts
-Your palm trees, lily's, and hibiscus flowers
-Your crazy helicopters letting us know what killers were on the loose
-Your driving rules because it made everything so much smoother
-People who do not incessantly honk their horns
-Not letting me get eaten by any sharks or swept out to sea because there were a few questionable moments.
-your avacados
-and last but not least your CUPCAKES!

The list could go on dearest San Diego. Thanks for the good times and the memories. I hope we will be back, what a great place it would be to retire. Until them please take care of my wonderful friends I made along the way and I can't wait to see you again soon! I am so sad to leave you but I know there will be another time we will be together.

Love The Merrill's

its so haaaaaaaaaaaard to say goodbye to sun diego

2010-08-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

My first week of vacation was fantastic. I probably would have been pretty bored if my college buddy did not come out to visit from the east coast. We had some silly times with too much wine and way too much food and very little packing. When you move 6 times in about 4 years you get to be pretty good at packing though so I am not nervous. At this point we are mostly packed up. All of the breakables are wrapped and what not and we are going to be good to go for our next move after this one with all the extra boxes that we have.
My car was picked up today and I have to say it was pretty sad seeing her go. While I know it will be there when I arrive in Boston, she will not be the same when she is covered in ice and snow. Ugh. I do have to say I am slightly looking forward to the changing weather, but talk to me in February.
In the meantime we had a super fun barbecue with lots of SD friends. I know we'll be back for visits but its still hard to say goodbye to such wonderful fun loving peeps.
Now its all about packing and cleaning. Not only did I have to say goodbye to my car today but I am bringing my bike down to the shop so I can have it safely packed so it doesn't get smushed in the treck back east. Not sure if I will have time to post again before our cross c0untry trip on Thursday but we will be sure to update as we drive across country. I am going to try to document all of our car fights. Its really the only time we fight and it is always because I yell out "brakes" or slam down my imaginary brake and hold onto the side of the car when Bri is well aware of whats going on. Then I have to tell him what a great driver I am, but not good enough to drive the full 10 hours a day that we have planned. I'll try to keep it zipped but its not easy when you are such a stellar driver and great trash talker like myself. OH speaking of trash talking I got into a fight with the traffic cop at the airport the other day. They do not like when you pull over to text and then say "come on what am I supposed to do, I can't text while driving and you guys won't let me pull over?! should I just have my friend DIVE into my moving car when she comes out?!" then they gave me a ticket. SUCK IT CALI COPS YOU are not getting my money!

I feel like this blog needs some direction instead of my random spatter.This always happens in the "off season" hmmmn any ideas?

moving on

2010-08-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

Our time is dwindling. It is all about goodbyes right now, which sucks but I am so grateful for the lifelong friends I have met (yes you LG). Luckily alot of the people I have met have east coast ties.
Today was awesome. The weather was perfect when I woke up, which has not been the case here in Coastal Socal as of late. I got up early and drove to southern Orange County to check out a pilates studio that is using the new machines that I will use at my studio. The ones I am used to are the older model. The owner of SeaFit Studio in San Juan Capistrano was so welcoming and helpful to me today. What was even better was hearing from the loan guys that things are finally moving on that front. I have been apprehensive to share too much because I did not want to jinx anything, but I am getting really excited to bring this awesome workout to the Boston area. It will be epic. I forgot what a tough workout it was until I was shaking all over and sweating my buns off.
I got to chat to the owner and got some pointers from her. After that it was top down weather all the way down the coast until I stopped at In n Out burger. I mean it feels kind of gross after, but I know once I am back east I will hope I had more of it around.
Todays awesomeness also included a final massage from Roz my masseuse extraordinaire. She has become a great friend and is so knowledgeable on anything and everything especially when it comes to the body and how it works. I am so grateful for her and for helping me to realize the potential of my body when I take care of it.
My other awesomeness of the day came from a book. Right after I lost my mom I found myself in the good ole grief section of the book store. I wanted to empower myself and learn as much about the grieving process as I could. I recently found myself on Amazon and found a book that was the sequel to the one I read years ago. Although it does not really relate to me at the moment (its about raising your kids without a mother), it is the topic that scares me to death. After just a few pages I found it does relate to me, there are other motherless daughters out there who like me know what a tremendous loss it is, and are apprehensive about starting our own families in fear of how that loss could be magnified. I need to find these other freakshows and maybe just maybe I can get over it. Anyways in this section I was reading it mentioned a social worker who happens to run groups in Boston so I AM IN LUCK!!! I already emailed her.
While the fitness and training and fundraising has been like a therapy for me, I guess its time for some professional help. YAY ME! So please people, stop asking if I am having kids. You have no idea how messed my head is. God bless my husband.

all done

2010-08-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

My school year FINALLY came to a close. Sick to see commercials for back to school when we hadn't even had our break yet but that is the life in a special ed school. School gave me quite a send off with a great day of eating and lots of visits and fun books and flowers and all that fun stuff. The real party happened at the end when I was just casually walking by a classroom. Now typically on peoples birthdays they get a pied, which is a platefull of whip cream or shaving cream in the face. I got through the 2 years without being pied. Instead I got a bucket of water poured over me superbowl style. My initial fear was that I was in all white on top and since we weren't on spring break, and I was surrounded my my high school aged students I was a little nervous but they also had a dry shirt for me...how nice.

After that I was on bus duty and I got proned. At our school for safety reasons you carry a whistle. A whistle only blows when something bad is going down and you need back up. They blew the whistle on me and proned me right on the pavement. Was pretty funny. I will have pictures of that soon because someone had a camera.

I am going to miss school very much. It was like a family for me and I have never had so much fun at a job. You have to have quite a sense of humor to survive. At this point I don't know if I will ever work at a school again. Life is COMPLETELY up in the air right now.

I have been interviewing and am still waiting to hear about loans for the pilates studio. I am excited to get back to the east coast but am really going to miss all the people that we met along the way.

One thing is for sure, San Diego will be a GREAT place to retire.

booooooooring

2010-08-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

Really life is kind of whatevs right now. I am pretty much in limbo here in between here and there. My last test on Monday was pretty uneventful. The only fun this was checking into the hospital for the test. I was behind two guys in full out shackles and about 20 corrections officers with them. It was something else. The test was BOOOOOOOORING! At least with the colonoscopy I got to get loopy, this one not so much. I had to drink a sugary drink (oh and fast yet again) and literally sit, couldn't lay down, couldn't move around, just sit for close to 5 hours. Then a nurse would come in and I had to breathe into a tube every 15 minutes. At one point I was getting sooooo loopy it was close to 2 I hadn't eaten since the day before and was bored off my ass. I decided that trying not to sing was way harder than just singing so that is what I did. I was in the prep room for peoples procedures so they were all getting drugged up anyways. That left me amused for at least a half hour or so. I won't know if I have some sort of bacteria issue for another week. They have tested for everything so only time can tell. Most likely they will label me with "IBS" which is like when you go to the dr and they say you have a "virus." At this point I am over it and have come to terms with the fact that I am going to deal with crazy movements of the bowel nature for a long time and the only time it will be acceptable is when I am in a nursing home some day. ( I am well suited for a home, it will be just like college again....sleeping in a room with 3 other people, bad food, people pissing in weird places...its gonna be great.)

Anyways there is not a whole lot of "training" going on. Just doing the random run, biking and some pilates thrown in there. I did sign up for a half marathon in Boston in October to technically I am starting to run again. This is a good thing, because I start to go a little cookoo when not breaking a good sweat every day. I am not sure my body knows how to slow down. Exercise gives me way more than just the physical benefit. I mentally need it so bring it on!

We are just trying to get organized in life here. Come to find out its kind of a pain to move across country, all the while trying to start up your own business. I always did like a challenge. Looking forward to spending the next month here with all the people who have been our family the past two years. One more week of work (yes thats right there are already commercials for back to school and we have yet to start our summer vacation). Its not going to be easy to say goodbye to my coworkers and kiddos at school but i'm sure i'll be seeing them in the future..hopefully...

Ok enough of my booooring post. I will write more when something funny or athletic happens, but there is really a fat chance of that.

post colonoscopy

2010-07-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Again please disregard if you do not want to read about my poop but this is for those who may be embarking on their first colonoscopy. Okay so the day after was more uncomfortable than I expected. You are painstakingly aware of what you are putting into your mouth, which I suppose is a good thing. I was still pretty exhausted and just had some slight crampage which was likely due to the biopsies that they took. I pretty much slept most of the day. We decided to head out for a bit cause I was going slightly stir crazy. We went to the movies and ate a bit before. All I managed to eat was some tomato soup and a grilled cheese. We went to see Salt which was a great flick but I was just as uncomfortable as I was when I was drinking the stuff and not going to the bathroom yet.

I finally was able to have a normal bm this morning and finally got some relief. Seems as though things are back to normal. I am going to work on finding a nutritionist soon. If anyone knows a good nutritionist back in the Boston area who may have some knowledge on IBS I would love it.

Made it out to the Solana Beach Triathlon today. I was so amazed watching the young kids who joined in on the action. They literally kept up with the elites. They all came flying off their bikes doing the same fancy dismount that I attempted a few months ago but fell on my ass. Stupid kids.

Its OVER!

2010-07-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

I survived last night. I was pretty much up all night running to the bathroom but was properly flushed out by the time I left for my appt. I was more worried about my leg. I had been having a weird sensation/pain in my left leg that has slowly been traveling from my calf and is now in my thigh. I decided that since I would be at the hospital I would just swing by and have them check it out and make sure it was nothing like a clot. For some reason I keep hearing clot stories and was freaking out a bit.

I got to the hospital and told them that after the colonoscopy I wanted to have my leg checked out which meant that I would need to be somewhat coherent. This led to me telling the Dr that I didn't want any of the sedative. This quickly changed once I got wheeled in because I was getting a little anxious. They promised me that they would give me a minimal dose and if i needed more they could do that. I have to say I really don't think you even need the sedative. The only painful thing is that they blow air up there so its like a really bad gas pain that comes on really quickly. Nothing too bad and it was quick. It was also good to be coherent cause I could watch the whole thing on the screen which is pretty cool. It looked clean but they did take some biopsies just in case.

After that I took my slightly drugged behind to the ER with Bri and they did a quick ultrasound. It was clear so I likely just did something to my leg. Thank the lord for that one cause I was pretty nervous for that. I will chaulk it up to the meds that after the ultrasound we just left. I came home and passed out and the ER was calling my phone looking for me. OOPS!!

So now I am trying to eat a little, I was warned not to do anything fatty. I don't think my colon has ever been so clean!

Colonoscopy Prep

2010-07-22T23:51:00.000-07:00

I am writing this simply because I could not find any sites that spoke on this topic AND I like to talk about poop. Anyways I got the call from the Dr this morning as I was attempting to eat some egg whites that they could get me in for an early morning colonoscopy the next day. I had my gallon of stuff chilling in the fridge since yesterday so that was good to go. I was not as hungry today as I was yesterday. I think the two days of pretty much only liquids better prepared me for the lack of food. I didn't even imagine the dog to be food products.

I would say that I should have started the drink sooner. It was extremely difficult to keep up with. I was supposed to drink 8 ounces every 15 minutes. That lasted the first 45 minutes or so. At one point I considered putting it into my aero bottle and getting on the bike. It feels really strange to drink that much of anything and not be running mile after mile. Once you start drinking you could really care less about eating food anyways so its kind of okay.

It was extremely uncomfortable and nauseating. I was NOT a good time. I was super mean to Brian, hung up on my dad, and whined ALOT, oh and I was bossy. But really when you know you are supposed to drink something that makes you vomit almost every time you sip it, you really don't need someone telling you what you should be doing. I believe my quote was "bri when you turn 50 and have to do this, you will finally understand." But he can drink large quantities of stuff anyways so perhaps he would be okay. I should have just funneled this stuff like the good ol days.

I found that taking my time with it and having some nice warm tea to chase it helped a bit. I started it at 4. It is now midnight and I am not through the gallon yet. I do have to say the actual shitting part is CRAZY. It is like a powerhose. It is so effortless. It is so unlike all the attacks I have had as of late. At one point I was just lounging on the toilet. Sounded like running water but it was just me. It almost made it all worth it!!! okay not really but once you go the first time it is easier. It took until about 9 at night though for me to go so for about 5 hours I was in bad pain, kind of like gas/ass pains and awful nausea. I would say start early, take your time. I started to think I was never going to go, but rest assured that is not possible.

I am now waiting for the bowl to be just a clear yellow so I can go to bed!!! I have an early morning appt so this should all be over before lunchtime tomorrow and I should be coming off of my buzz from the anesthesia! Oh Boy!!!

(during this very short post I had to sprint to the bathroom twice actually 3 with editing.)

NO MAS!

2010-07-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

I apparently have an addiction. It is an addiction to food. I am not sure if its because of constantly being in "training mode" but my body has become accustomed to eating small amounts about every two hours. I have been doing that for like 8 years. I have never missed a meal pretty much in my life and if I have its because I am ill or taking in gu's instead of food during a long race. Anyways my colonoscopy was scheduled for today BUT it was scheduled at 2 PM!!! So that meant that I was supposed to be on fluids ALL DAY yesterday, drink the nasty stuff to "clean" myself out, and then wake up at 5am like I do every day and not eat or drink ANYTHING until my colonoscopy at 2pm.

I was good, at work I just pretended the chicken broth was food. I got home and had some Jello and ginger ale and lots of clear stuff. At about 330 I went crazy. I was dizzy, I was starving, I was in pain. I could not conceive how I would get through another 24 hours. So I called the Dr for like the 3rd time that day. I kept calling and asking different people if they were sure I could not eat food. I begged them to take me in the am. I told them how ridiculous I get when I don't eat and how my dog was already looking more and more like an in n out burger. Seriously I was like homer simpson stuck in a desert where everything was an oasis of food. It wasnt pretty. I even cried on the phone. She told me not to give up and she would send an urgent message around to see if they could find a time to do it for me in the am. Well they never called and so around 7 last night I snuck into the fridge and ate. It didn't even feel that great, but it felt better than being starving.

I got up and the Dr called saying they could see me tomorrow morning at 730 am. Now THAT is more like it. This just means that yet again today I am on a liquid diet and will begin my liquid concoction at 4. I will just have to suck it up and get through it. I was just going to wait til I got back to Boston but at least my stomach will be a little more used to having nothing but fluids in it. I will chaulk yesterday up as my dress rehearsal, a run through for the real thing. So tomorrow morning at this time I will be all through with the madness and will either have a diagnosis or more tests in my future. Either way its one step closer to not having UD every other day. Amen to that!

My wipeout review

2010-07-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

So this is what ACTUALLY went down. I have been waiting to post this since October but we were under strict rules not to talk about the course until it aired. So here goes. Since I was only shown for a total of about 3 seconds here is my recall of what went down on my day at WIPEOUT!

So this was my battle cry, I did a karate kick and sang to vanilla ice's ice ice baby. "yo big red balls you can suck it!" and then I went backwards into my typical backbend and humped the air. Your typical graceful moves from yours truly.

I should back up a bit. My nickname was given to me at the initial interview and I was deemed the Master Pee-er. This was due to my story about how I suck at everything triathlon EXCEPT peeing myself during the race. It is a skill that develops for people and I just happened to be born for that skill. Basically I had a 10 minute interview with the host Jill in which I told her that she was in Bri's top 5 and how that was okay because I put every guy there that day in my top 5 for the day (if you saw the show you would know why that was funny). It came up that I was 30 and so was Jill so I did a WHS cheer and yelled GO HAWKS. My friends at the bar would have appreciated that. Thanks to the Waltham News Tribune for the front page coverage! News must have been lagging this week huh?! I said alot of other inappropriate things thinking that I gave them plenty to go on, but I guess not!! back to the course!

The diving planks were first up. This mud sucks. Like real bad. It gets in your lungs and is just nasty and cold and really tough to get through, kind of sucks you in. I fell and fell some more. But what great form!

I do have to say that most men finished the course AND PUKED. Like bigtime pusses. However alot of the second course relied on upperbody strength to hoist yourself back up on that platform. As you can tell by the lanky limbs my upper body strength is not a strong suit.

Next up was the punching wall. This was one of the only shots I got on tv, taking one in the face. For some reason I thought I got kind of far, but not so much. As people were coming back from the course I did notice they were covered in various colors. I should have known. It took about 3 weeks to stop finding this shit in my ears and other orifices of my body.

After the punching wall were the big red balls. I do not recall anything about those, judging by the pictures it looks like I hit one but fell to the side. Thank goodness. Next was the shakealator. I ALMOST made it across this when a wrecking ball took me out from behind. Last was the slide and as you can see I timed it perfectly to not hit any holes.

I finished up by doing an irish step dance on the circle and probably saying something really stupid judging by the way Jill is laughing.

I made it to the second round and although it looked like I never tried I assure you I fell off that frigin thing at least 20 times. It got so bad that at one point I swam up to the producer and asked if my eyes were bleeding. And I was not kidding. It was by far the most fun day I have probably ever had in my life. THe people were just hilarious and some totally weird. But most were those I never would have met and I can't wait to get together with them soon. We spent the ENTIRE day together so you really have to make the most of it. Its ALOT of sit and wait. As my friend LG can attest, when I walked to the car I was once again COVERED in mud cause I fell in the mud at the ranch while walking to the car. I was a real good time. I am sorry I didn't get more coverage cause I know you would have laughed but obviously I was way too cool for ABC. It was a suuuuuuuuper fun time and I am so glad I did something like this while I had the chance out here in Cali. YO BIG RED BALLS LETS KICK IT!

One more day!

2010-07-19T15:46:00.001-07:00

The day we have all been waiting for is almost here! My WIPEOUT Debut is tomorrow at 8pm!
Here is a sneak peak! And at first I forgot that there was mud before this too and for a second I got nervous that I shat myself...

NO NO NO YES YES YES!!!

2010-07-17T07:29:00.001-07:00

I have never been a "no" person, but this year has brought me the challenge of having to say "no" or "i can't" to ALOT of things. I hate to miss anything, but when you live across the country apparently you can't go home every month like I pretty much did l
ast year. Today marks the last "I can't" of our time here in San Diego, and it is one that hurts the most. Today I am missing my best friend Dee's wedding. Its hard to believe that I won't be there. If anything this reminds me that going back to Boston is the right thing. I don't want to be the absentee friend, ESPECIALLY to those who have always been there for me. It really sucks letting finances dictate what you can and cannot do. Dee was the friend who let me make halloween costumes like this. ( I cannot post the after picture because it is obscene but we did win 3rd place that night AND were able to flag down cabs with our giant penae that were under these coats). I mean who doesn't love a nude leotard?!
I guess in a way though I am grateful that I have had this new experience of missing things and with battling with money because it has forced me to get COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone. When I come back to Boston I will be opening my own business. You heard it right people. I am what they call an entrepreneur (not even sure if I spelled that correctly)! I am going to be opening a pilates studio and am super stoked about it. This is going to be a challenge and something I have NEVER dreamed of doing until recently. I am so ready for the challenge and for the possibilities it will bring. I am most excited to get people moving and for them to believe in themselves as they challenge themselves through this difficult workout. I will share more details as they come but right now I just have to get home so I can make the next step and find a studio to do this in! As Bri put it, "we are risk takers and this is a risk but we have to go for it."

Before I go I have to thank my friends and family whose big moments i've missed. You have all been understanding of my situation and made it as easy on me as you possibly could. I thank you for that and hope that I will be there for not only all the big moments in life but for all the crazy fun little ones in between too!

September is right around the corner!!!
In the meantime to get through this day I am off to the Pride Parade!!!

buh bye cali

2010-07-13T16:03:00.001-07:00

So the word is out and Bri and I (& Belle) are moving back to Boston. Lots of factors that at this point no longer matter we are on to the next venture. California was something I NEVER thought I would do and it has been an amazing experience all around. Its time to go though and although it happened pretty quickly we are now embracing it and excited for the next chapter. We will be homeless and I am pretty much jobless but i'm sure things will work out. There are always ways of makin money....legally of course.

So we should be back by September and are looking forward to being a part of everyones lives again, but sad to leave all the friends we have made here behind.

I guess things got too boring and we thought another cross country trip would be fun....right?!

Cupcake crawl

2010-07-11T19:43:00.001-07:00

LG and I finally made it out for our cupcake crawl in LA. She has been talking them up for some time. With the weather being sub par in San Diego this July we took off today bright and early for LA and literally opened up a few places. We did manage to walk a bunch on rodeo drive of course. I mean can anyone go to rodeo and NOT act out scenes from Pretty Woman...I think not. I had yet to go to LA so LG toured me around like a guide to the stars. We saw the hollywood sign, rodeo drive, the stars on the ground and I mostly sung the tune of 90210 in my head the whole time. It was great. At one point we realized that we had about 10000 calories of cupcakes in our cooler that we packed equipped for cupcakes and milk. We are two smart broads. Of course this Cali day trip could not have been complete without a trip to In N Out Burger so that was how we ended it.

Above is a picture of the chocolate marshmallow cupcake from Sprinkles that NEVER had a chance. This thing was like a hostess cupcake (which my mom packed for me almost every day with my lunch) on crack. It was amazing.

Our first stop to the Cupcakery was fantastic. We got some of their nublets and one was a salted caramel cupcake. The sweet and the salty was something like back in the day at Chadwicks when I would dunk my french fries in the hot fudge that would drip into the plate....yum

Many thanks to them for letting us take shots. Cause they DENIED us at crumbs.

I still feel sort of sick and I really only took in about 2 full cupcakes. Too much sugar in the ole system for me but sooooooooo worth it!

F.O.C.U.S.

2010-07-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just need to call your psychic? Right? Doesn't EVERYONE have a psychic?! I have a real appreciation for those in the energy fields. I am quite in tuned with this stuff myself and love coming across those that I feel are truly gifted. I have had many readings through the years, some have been life changing (i.e. my first medium reading with my dad right after my mom died, room full of hundreds of people but WE got the reading), some have been just okay. It is no suprise that life typically brings me to those in the energy field. One of my favorite people on earth, my supervisor in graduate school Pearl happened to own her own holistic center www.theselfcenter.com . She then trained me on reiki which is all about energy and channeling it for healing. I have loved it all, but when I come across people who are gifted I have to share it. My friend referred me to Tamara Nolan www.energyinhealing.us I knew I had met a good match.

I have never had readings over the phone before and wondered how that would work. I should have known that energy does not need two people to be in the same room to make something like this work. I should know since I still find ways to feel the connection with my loved ones who are dead (really i could try to think of some other pc way to define them but they are in fact dead...i am not insensitive). I find myself at a bit of a crossroads currently and HATE the feeling of not knowing or not feeling settled. So what do i do? I call my psychic!

And thank god I did. She has a way of making me feel so at peace and for the first time in weeks I finally feel like I can breathe easy. Its funny how it sometimes takes someone else to tell you what you already know to really believe it. Everything in life is about believing it.
I will leave you with what she left me with tonight on our phone conversation. F.O.C.U.S. Follow one course until successful. Amen sistah!

And now I will just sit and enjoy this LONG weekend coming up! Oh and I should probably relish this time before my debut on wipeout on July 20th. I am pretty sure I will start to be spotted on a regular basis for being quite possibly the biggest ass on television.

light it up

2010-06-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Neon Themed pub crawl through PB this weekend.
All the kiddos from work on the NEON pub crawl. Yes we were dressed like this for a reason.

Bri was by far the most normal with my vegas hat on but whatever, normal is boring.

And sometimes this is what happens when a 30-something has been pounds vodka sodas all day getting "day drunk" with the youngins. I would like to thank my mother for her godawful taste in shirts that were covered in beads and sequins in the 80s. I have many outfits for future pub crawls.

Come to find out PB is all about the pub crawl. During the day almost everyone is dressed up like a complete moron. I fit right in. At one point shuffle off to Boston came on at a bar. I irish jigged it up and had everyone around me believe I was a true blue irish step dancer. At least thats how it happened in my mind.

sweet revenge

2010-06-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

So my last post was all about being spiteful. I had to stop off at the CVS today. Its the type that has a bunch of cash registers but the line is down one aisle. I noticed there were about 10 people in line. I stood there laughing at the poor woman with 4 girls who were all arguing with each other and thanked my lucky stars that I was there alone. Then an older man and his wife just got in line at one of the registers. The poor kid had to tell him he was not in line and pointed to where the rest of us rule followers were standing. He gave the kid a hard time. I got pissed. At this point I was now at the front of the line and the guy stood next to me ignoring the 5 people behind me. I felt obligated to tell him that the line in fact was way behind me. He argued and ended with "what are you the line manager?" I rebuttled with "I'd ask you if you were a DICK HEAD but i already know the answer to THAT question." I could not believe what came out of my mouth. All my life I have pretty much been a pushover. Not anymore! Luckily the next cashier called me up. Oh not to mention everyone in line cheered for me. As I walked out a girl around my age commended me for my actions, I said "yeah I should have smashed him over the head with my tampon box" hahah that would have been the icing on the cake. I feel like my week of wanting to tell people to F off finally paid off. The guy deserved it, he was a giant jerk. I hate people who do not follow the rules. I guess its the old catholic school girl in me.
Poeple should know they should not mess with me!

Don't F with me today kids

2010-06-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

I am more tired today from my school's walkathon than any marathon/triathlon I have done. Seriously. I woke up before 5 and headed into work just like a race day. Don't get me wrong, it is fun to see everybody and to win some fun prizes, but its just a looooooooooong day. Man. I am also pretty sour on the fact that I have to constantly read status updates from people who work in public schools that actually have a summer vacation. It makes me angry. I understand our kids cannot function being out of school BUT that does not mean that we the staff do not need the time off. I would say that given the difficult (at times) population that we deal with that we should probably have more time off to reboot. I need to reboot. I need to love my job again and right now I want to be somewhere else. I also want to phsically harm the bus drivers that work with our kids. I am suddenly sour and spiteful. Its not enough to just drive home with the top down. I want to be at the beach with the dog. I want to be out exercising and enjoying the sunshine. I want to be out enjoying happy hours in the sun.
My life has been nuts for i'd say the past ten years. In ten years I finished college, moved home, got a job, lost my mom, moved out with a friend, went to grad school, met bri, got a job, got laid off, moved back in with my dad, got another job, moved in with bri, bought a house, got a dog, got married, decided to move to cali, sold the house, got a new job, moved across the country, moved to another house... and here I am. Apparently I like change..BUT DO I? Not really. I guess I had alot of changes that were out of my hands. Thats not fun but you have to roll with the punches. The later part of this decade I finally decided to start making these changes on my own...and now on "our" own. But this has been my life for almost 10 years now. Its kind of the only thing I know. I am not so sure I know how to be in one place for a long period of time.
My mind is always going and constantly thinking about what I can do next, I guess I need a challenge to face. With no challenge I get restless and I feel like that 12 yr old kid during summer vacation whining "but maaaaaaaaaa i'm booooooooored." What the heck was I thinking?! What I wouldn't give to be that kid bored during summer vacation again!
Come to think of it, this happens every year once my big race of the year is done and I don't have something to focus my attention on.

On a funny side note, I pulled into the house today and noticed music blaring and a bunch of kids having fun at the house across the street from us. Now across the street is a hill and we face their backyard. Anyways I was resting my eye lids when I heard some raucus and heard Bri go outside. He put on his old man authoritative voice and yelled "hey kids I don't know what you're doing but you better KNOCK IT OFF!" We laughed at the fact that we were old. Then when we were leaving to head out for a bit we noticed what the commotion was. A bunch of neon colored water ballons that were tossed at our cars/house/garage from above. HAHAHA good stuff. I seriously wanted to knock on their door and scare the shit out of them and make them come down here and sweep up the mess yelling "you missed a spot!" but then I realized that Halloween is just around the corner really and I don't want the house that we rent to be riddled with eggs. I do however want to retaliate. I am good at this kind of stuff, plus I am spiteful and sour right now remember?!?!?!

To my Dad

2010-06-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful, amazing father who is so much more to me than "Dad."

xoxo

stiff arms

2010-06-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

I joined my friends on their personal training session on Sunday. It was at a very cute park in Encinitas and it involved 3 of us, one trainer and ALOT of grunting. It was pretty much what I expected, I have been to quite a few classes like that the past few years but each time I forget how sore I am the day after. We did a bunch of circuit things, cardio, lifting that kinda thing. At one point we started walking over towards the play structure. I had no idea what I was in store for....pull ups. I have never ever in my life attempting one of these. The closest I have ever come is to that machine at the gym that pretty much lifts you up with weights and you go through the motions with your arms. This was no joke. I don't know how people do this. I don't want to make excuses, but my arms are REALLY long. So to hang and then pull myself up...not possible. Anyways the poor personal trainer had to basically lift me up and back, the poor guy was sweating and i'm pretty sure he would have grunted but was too nice and didn't want to make me feel bad.

Today I literally cannot move my arms. I am sore. Real sore. Its always amazing what you push yourself to do when you are held accountable by others.

the flying dismount gone bad

2010-06-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

okay soooooooo I made it back onto the bike today with a few of the girls (rocketpants & LG). They are lying bitches. I kind of figured it would be an easy ride because rocketpants has had a rough year and was diagnosed with an overtraining disease. f-that when you go biking with someone who is of ironman mentality it is NEVER a recovery type ride. LG mentioned something about '3 witches' out about the course. I have come to realize that when bike routes that contain words like mountain or other evil sayers like witches, you should generally steer clear of them if you are not feeling particularly in shape.It was a gorgeous route though. Anyways as we are riding I am thinking...."hmmn Jod when you get off of your STATIONARY bike at home you can do the fancy pro dismount like a champ, you should definatley try it....try it you woosy!" So I did not mention this to the girls. Sometimes you have to do something out of the ordinary. So as we were pulling into the parking lot I made up my mind that I was going to try the "flying dismount." Above and below are pictures of people who actually know what they are doing attempting this at a race. Ironically enough the only picture I could find is a fellow blogger and sd athlete Beth, Check her blog out if you want to read about a real triathlete and not a poser like myself! (OMG EXCITING I just figured out how to do the cool blogger link, so proud of myself! links all around!)

As you could probably imagine, my outcome was not so pretty. I got the one leg over, BUT I missed the whole taking the shoes off thing. SO I was still clipped in with one foot. I was stuck and I was heading for a parked car. I hit the car and fell to the ground while still clipped in. The girls look over not knowing what the hell happened and I could barely stop laughing to tell them what I had tried to do. After being home for a bit I was picturing what the pros(or real triathletes for that matter) do, and realized that they don't have their shoes on. BRILLIANT! What a dumbass. I will try it again and this time I will not fall. That was my first fall.. well my first fall on my new bike. I dunno maybe an uncoordinated lanky broad like myself should not attempt such activities. Whats even funnier was trying to explain to brian why i felt the need to do it. Now most do it to save time, not have to take their shoes off that sort of thing. I did it because after long rides its hard to get my long ass leg over my bike and this just seemed 'easier.'

tomorrow morning my friend and his wife invited me to one of their workout sessions at some park in encinitas with their personal trainer. I am sure that I will never be invited back. I tend to over swear and under work at these types of things. Hopefully I develop a gross bruise from my fall today so I have an excuse for why I suck at life.

I could use a miracle

2010-06-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

One of my coworkers neighbors is distributing the above Mila seeds. These are the seeds from chia seeds. The same thing that you would put on porcelain and grow grass like hair (in college we had a chia dick, it grew hair you know where. the Chaplain came over for dinner once and the chia had to be thrown into the sink so he would not see it...). I have been hearing so much about the chia seeds and its health benefits. I was lucky enough to get a bag of it from my coworker!!!! I can't wait to give it a try and see if it can help with my intestinal issues, so help me god if I start to grow long green hairs all over my body.

If anyone has any suggestions or fun tips as to how to go about ingesting this stuff that would be great!

I am officially on my "off season." I decided after having to waste my $100 entry into the rnr marathon that I did not want to chance missing out on the SDIT and more importantly pissing away $150 bucks. I have pretty much been struggling to really train like I know I should due to illnesses so I put my bib up for sale and a lucky teammate got it. I am relieved. I feel like I have a little stress lifted and now I can just work out as opposed to "train" for something. I am looking forward to my next tnt event and that will start up before I know it so I am going to enjoy my "off season" and hit up some fun classes, volleyball, paddle boarding and whatever else I can think of!

oh dear yogis

2010-06-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

Since I was still feeling sick I took to yoga with one of my buds. It was suuuuuuuuuuper hot, like hot like you thought you were going to pass out much of the time. At one point the instructor kind of moaned out "you don't have to be strong or flexible for yoga....you just have to be aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive."

oh boy the things they say are so funny. I too teach yoga to some of my kids at school and sometimes i laugh at the fact that I am trying to pretend to be a yoga teacher "yes focus on your breath, go inside...blah blah blah." Too funny.

Anyhoo the funnier part of yoga was when this couple in front of me kept like holding hands in their poses. THEN at the end in the corpse pose, they each had their hand on the others heart.....E ZZZZEEEEE people!!!

At least yoga gives me lots of stories....

sell out

2010-06-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

I am a bum. I am not even going to read my posts from earlier cause it will just frustrate me....BUT I had to bag my first race this morning. I was up all night coughing coughing and coughing some more. I was holding off on taking a sleep aide cause I had to wake up at 4 for the half marathon. Well somewhere around 2am (I went to bed at 8) I gave up and took some nyquil knowing I would not be able to function at 4am. I got up at 4 and had to make sure I got in touch with my friend because I was picking her up in the am. Anyways I got in touch with her, she was going to drive and I went back to bed to try to actually get some shut eye. Such a bummer. These things happen though and I have not had the easiest past month with sicknesses. This was just really unfortnate timing to have a sleepless night. Especially when I paid 100 bucks to race. Oh well its still a donation to the leukemia society AND I got the shirt like I finished anyways! I am really hoping that between the cold and the stomach problems that they both stay at bay for the rest of the month so I can get some good workouts in for the triathlon I am doing at the end of the month. Until them I am going to try my best to suck down these monstrous mucinex pills and hope to get some shut eye. I promise a fun and upbeat post is on the horizon...I HOPE!!

fun times

2010-06-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

rock n roll baby

2010-06-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

This week was not the best to be sick (for once i have a head cold and am not sitting on a toilet)for it was the 2nd annual prom at school. Our department pretty much throws this and its ALOT of work but soooooooo worth it. I snookie poofed my hair, rocked a tiara and brought out all the classic prom moves. We had an awesome time with a live band and a limo for the kids to take pictures with. The theme was "Enchanted Forest." Was one of the only days there were little to no behaviors at school and that is record breaking and always amazing to see the kids enjoy a little bit of normalcy.

(k kinda looks like we are holding dildo's. we are not, we are holding flat stanley's and some champagne glasses...get your heads outta the gutter)

After getting home from the prom and wanting to pass out I decided I would try to sweat out my cold on the bike trainer. I put in a solid hour workout and actually did feel a bit better after that.

On the running front, today I picked up my bib number for the rock n roll half marathon. I have to say it is pretty nostalgic for me being at the expo and participating in this event once again. It is so hard to believe that 7 years ago I was here to run my first ever event. What is even harder to believe is that means that my mother has been gone for 8 years. Ugh. I keep kind of hoping that life could be more like a soap opera and people come back to life, or were never really gone. Stupid reality. Anyways I do feel pretty lousy but I am pretty excited to be where i'm at in life and I am pretty sure that if I never lost my mom that I NEVER would have accomplished all that I have so far. But if it meant that I was still a sloth but she was around I would take that trade, pretty fair to say that! I am looking forward to seeing lots of my teammates old and new out there on the course. Should be a very early but fun event with some nice warm temps.

screw you intestines

2010-05-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

Wanna know something intestinal tract?! I have HAD IT WITH YOU! You have ruined way too many weekends and quite frankly I'm sick of it!

I can't drink because of you, I can't do my bike rides because of you and I am sick of getting pins and needles in my legs because I have to sit on the porcelain all day.

I am a little bitter. I was all set to go for a bike ride with my old coach and teammates when all of a sudden everything turned on me and I quickly realized that yet again I would have to back out of something because of the shits.

I guess its okay, instead I spent the day in the back yard where I knew I was close to a facility. I got lots of sun and finished reading my financial book "smart couples finish rich." I seriously recommend anyone who is as big of a moron as me when it comes to financial topics. The man who wrote the book also wrote "smart women finish rich." The book was written back when the ecomony was actually sky rocketing but I just wanted to build some knowledge there. I feel like I should start a second blog about our quest into financial stability, we are like two big idiots. It is really quite astounding to go through every dime that you spend and categorize it. One month we ACTUALLY spent $2500 on food and only about 300 was on groceries....OOPS! After being on top of it its now close to $1000. I seriously dare you to do the same. Its kind of mind blowing. WHen you are not thinking about it, it goes pretty quickly. I itemized all of our money for the past 6 months and we meet with a financial planner in a few weeks to plan out our lives.

I am digressing from my typical ridiculous stories. OH I ALMOST FORGOT my silliness of yesterday. Since my legs were trashed from my pitiful run/walk on Saturday I nixed my bike ride for an easy day on the legs. Instead I went to pilates in which it was ALL LEGS. I was dying. Then I decided I needed yoga so I went and it was a 1.5 hour class. My legs and arms were so dead I couldn't even stay in downward dog without shaking. Here is the gross part. The dude next to me actually blew snot rockets into his mat the entire class. EW. I could not even believe it, like the hot yoga classes are not unsanitary enough I have to deal with that kind of shit?! Gross. I kept giving him dirty looks but it did not seem to matter. I wanted to go out and get him a GD kleenex. Nasty. Uncalled for.

I am done for now. I do realize I complain alot and I am sorry for that but I am just so fed up with this. Its now happening like 4 times a flippin month. I just want to be able to train and feel good and be able to eat and drink to my hearts content. That is all..

a good dooby

2010-05-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

Year after year I tell myself that I will adhere to heart rate training. But year after year it is just way more fun to actually run and chat and talk about inappropriate things with people, who are typically faster than me. After my last bout with whatever intestinal problem it is that I have, I have had a really hard time getting my fitness level back. Not that I think it should be where I was before Lavaman, BUT it should certainly not be shooting over 100%heart rate over any ole hill! I have still been doing plenty of training.

With a half marathon lurking just a week away I got rid of the negative thoughts of (screw it.. hey its still a donation to tnt even if I dont run....i don't wanna!) I decided I should go on a long run this weekend and stick to the plan. DO NOT GO CRAZY! aka keep my heart rate to a semi normal percentage. And that is what I did. I decided to do a time goal instead of a mileage goal. So I just thought eh i'll do two hours. I ran to the 101 and headed up the coast for a bit. It was a perfectly gorgeous day. THAT and my husband had the great idea to use my phone's pandora app on my run and that made it way more fun. It was like karaoke out on the streets. I kind of like to sing as loud as possible without looking like a total freak and more like someone who loves life and doesn't care who hears me.

I have to say it was hard to stay pretty close to 75% Max HR. I did still notice that on inclines it would shoot up but I would just take lots of walk breaks and felt like I did not over exert myself. I made it onto the beach a few times, got lost a few times trying to find my trails to get home.

I finally found the trails and got a friendly warning "hey rattlesnake up ahead." I got my mace ready. Of course the sucker was right there in front of me. I squirt it with my water bottle (THANK GOD I HAD SOME LEFT!) and it made the loudest rattle as it slithered away. Crisis averted! I did not want to have to call brian from the trails.
I have to say I was happy to stick to the plan today and I will try to do so with my running. I know it works out for people and that eventually they can run faster while keeping a good heartrate, but right now it feels like I have to do alot of walking. I guess thats okay....

After my 10 miles I refueled at the cutest place in Rancho Santa Fe for lunch. It was called Thyme in the ranch and had AMAZING looking pastries and deserts and yummy lunch. The chocolate chip cookie hit the spot, but twas nice sitting there smelling all the beautiful flowers growing all around the place. So cute.

Speaking of cute I am super proud of our dog, she was a trooper at the dog beach today and was swimming up a storm. She turns alot of heads I must say. She looks wimpy but the chic does not mess around. She actually puked in her mouth and still did not drop the ball, ah yes she is her mamas doggy. Nothing says summer like being covered in sand and salt water!

Happy start of summer everybody!

and the emmy goes to

2010-05-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

The date is set people. I got the email from the producers today that my episode of Wipeout will air July 20th! Set those DVR's! I can only imagine what kind of ridiculous ass I will look like and i'm sure my friends and family will get a few laughs out of it as well as the rest of America. Apparently they send a bunch of pictures too once the episode airs.

I was really hoping my episode would be early so that when People magazine has the pages of upcoming tv shows that my picture would be in it. Probably my only shot at being in People, unless I start hooking up with Tiger.

breathe in breathe out

2010-05-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Queef: Noun: the expulsion of air from the vagina aka a vaginal fart

After a morning bike trainer session I was feeling rather tight and opted for a hot yoga class. Its been a while. So long that they told me that my membership was expired, I pleaded telling them i hurt my shoulder and could not come so they are at least giving me another month to use up the 8 more sessions I have left.

Anyways I spend the entire hour pretty much dreading this pose. This pose is horriffic and makes me all nervous, worried that I am going to accidentally suck in some air....down there....and when I come out it will not sound pleasant. That is pretty much why I have to constantly change yoga places. Once this happens I feel shamed and never go back. But damn its funny when its someone else!!!!

Namaste you sweaty boob grabbing bastards! (i am surrrrrrrrre it was not on purpose but the gentleman to my left totally grabbed my boob when he was going into airplane pose. sicko

i'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack

2010-05-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

I feel better. I feel kind of silly for all the complaining knowing good and well that lots of people have it way worse than I do. But when you are in the moment its tough not to dwell. My apologies to anyone who is suffering. really. One of my honored teammates who pretty much trains through cancer pretty much put things into perspective for me. I could not get an appt with the gastro dr til the end of June so I will not have a firm diagnosis until then. I will likely have to shit myself at least 10 times by then. But I am not complaining just stating the facts.

Towards the end of the week I got back to working out and swam a few times and got on the trainer. Saturday I went out for a ride that I have done TONS of times with LG. It was a great day to ride, there was a bike race going on so lots of riders. This also meant there were even more disgruntled drivers. Now my friend is not the best law abiding citizen when it comes to bike riding. THis means we usually get sworn at and honked at quite a bit. It feels kind of like home. Anyways it was a great ride, but wow I am already out of shape. My legs were like jello on the way back. Not only that but my heart rate monitor ACTUALLY got up to 100% going up the hills in my neighborhood. It was silly. I have a half marathon in two frickin weeks. I am not sure how this is going to happen but I paid alot of money for it so I am doing it. Today I just did a run walk and it was nuts how slow I had to go to stay under 75%. Oh well. It will come back to me eventually. Hoping all goes well with the tummy this month so I can get back in action for my half marathon and next triathlon.

After tons of searching for some patio furniture I found this beauty on craigslist. The great thing was that it was super cheap AND it was only a few blocks away. I have to laugh though because we hauled it all in my VW convertible. This is funny because my hubs wanted a big SUV so we could "haul stuff" yet all the stuff we have had to haul has had to go in the convertible. Best decision EVER!

Go Celtics!

namaste my ass

2010-05-18T20:08:00.001-07:00

These posts are mostly going to be so that I recall in detail to my Dr's exactly what I am feeling. Typically I find that the way things work for me here in California are that by the time I see the specialist my issues are gone and I can't recall how terrible they were. I am pretty aggravated that I still can't call the gastro until thursday and lord only knows how long it will be to get the colonoscopy. For a normal person this would suck. But for someone whose body literally breaks down when it can't exercise this is no good. I get moody, depressed, almost always throw out my back and way more stressed because my only stress relief is to exercise.

I have had adequate energy to make it through a work day, but the kids have been shockingly mellow. I thought I would attempt to "workout" today. I got on the trainer in the house and rode very easy for about 20 minutes. First 10 were uncomfortable then I was okay, then the pain came. So I got off and got prepared for a much needed massage.

I have been busy getting contact info for people with crohns and colitis so I can get prepared for that possible diagnosis. I will be shocked if it isn't. And with the shock I will be pissed. I just still cannot figure out how or why no other dr has referred me to a gastro. I have been complaining of this issue for AT LEAST 5 years. I guess its just getting to the point now where it is screwing with my quality of life that I finally got insistent. The Dr I am dealing with now is kind of making me feel like a pain in the ass with my questions. However if Dr's weren't such morons my mother may actually still be alive. So there is always that playing in my head.

I do not know how people cope with serious illness. For about 24 hours I freaked that I may have the big C, and it was awful. I cannot imagine what people actually go through hearing that..talk about stress. Turns out my labs were only "slightly abnormal" and nothing to worry about. Thank goodness. Its no fun spending life waiting for bad news, but I guess thats just how i'm wired. Geesh when did I get so negative? Gosh I really need exercise back in my life. SEcond thought I need YOGA back in my life. Good thing I teach it tomorrow at school! Namaste everybody!

over it

2010-05-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well since I got back from Boston I have pretty much been super sick. I got yet another ass attack on Tuesday night which led to me feeling horrible Wednesday and it kind of has gone downhill since then. I had to take Thursday and Friday off from work. On both of those days I had to drive downtown anyways to make a "deposit" to the dr's laboratory. I saw the Dr again on Thursday and they made a referral for me to the gastro Dr and gave me some more bloodwork.

I have zero energy, have gotten off the couch just a handful of times in 4 days and am now completely nauseous along with all my other problems. I got the bloodwork back via email and its clear that my body is fighting some kind of infection but since its the weekend I just have to sit and wait (and google all the terrifying things that the results could mean). I am pretty convinced at this point that I have Crohns, but there is no way of knowing until I get the colonoscopy. I will be scheduling that as soon as my referral goes through on Thursday.

I constantly feel like I have awful hunger pains, yet can't really eat or drink cause then when I do, I feel even worse. Its pretty awesome. Really hoping I can get to work tomorrow. I am not even contemplating working out right now and could care less about the fact that I have two races fast approaching. I just need to get better.

I officially do not think that diarrhea or anything to do with it is funny, especially when I have had to shit into a plastic bag and sift through it and then drive a half hour with it in my car and plop it on the front desk of my dr's office. Okay maybe thats a little funny but really I am totally over it at this point.

Where to begin?

2010-05-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

Lets me just get the grossness out of the way first. We all know by now I have a tempermental stomach. WELL I flew into Boston on a red eye on Friday night. I decided I was going to do this a new way, on pills. I popped the same pill they gave me for the MRI, in the hopes I would get some sleep. It worked I was relaxed and think I actually got some shut eye. At one point during the flight I "came to" as I put it. I decided to pop another pill. Not a smart idea because we were descending and I just didn't realize it. I walked through Logan high out of my mind. I LOVE PILLS! Going to turn into Dr House soon I think.

Here comes the grossness. Boston had a PW situation (poopy water). Of course I did not realize this until I was already half in the bag at my friends bachelorette party. I knew the shit would hit the fan for me eventually. I just didn't realize it would happen so soon. The news said sickness should not set in for 7 days but I was ill the very next day and pretty much the entire week home. Excellent. In between trips to the bathroom I was able to see lots of people and most importantly to spend time with my niece. She now has a complex and thinks that everytime I leave the room I am "goin to california." Oh bestill my heart. Poor E-beth ended up in the hospital with a stomach bug as well by the end of vaca. We did manage to squeek in a sleepover in which I found out that she turns into a black belted ninja in her sleep. She had me up ALL night karate chopping me and grappling in her sleep. Priceless though. Apparently she thinks she is coming to Cali for "belle's birthday" and is "so sited" ie so excited to come. That would be nice.

It is always amazing to see my friends and family and its always fun to surprise people. People make a much bigger deal when you come to visit from far away! It was an amazing week and a wonderful wedding. I tried to win the contest that didn't exist of the "#1 bridesmaid" I think I took the title with my ridiculous antics throughout the day. Every bride needs someone to take the edge off through the day and perhaps throw salami on their breasts for the photographer. Photos to come.

No, Your crotch is great

2010-04-29T17:19:00.001-07:00

After last weeks dr visit I was fully prepared to have to have my cysts cut out and stitched up to the point where I would not be able to bike for a few weeks. HOWEVER earlier this week they pretty much took care of themselves and burst on their own. I thought maybe they would come back. SOoooooooooo I went on a test ride this week and biked for a few hours. Typically I would get super uncomfortable around an hour and would not be able to walk normally for the rest of the week. This time I was fine. I thought maybe just maybe the Dr would spare me and HE DID! In fact they told me "your crotch is great!" I asked if they wanted a picture but they declined. I ended up yelling out "Suck it supersquamaous superficial cysts! superficial cysts 0 Jody 100!" I don't remember the technical name but basically one of the hair ducts got all fucked up months ago and just needed some time making me miserable. But now I am comfortable on the bike! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!

This week has been lots of training. I was encouraged to go to a "bootcamp" pilates class. Little did I know what this meant. LG convinced me to go with her then decided to bail on me. I had to go by myself. Ho Hum. Well I got there and started chatting up a young man asking him if I needed sneakers etc. I knew he looked familiar but when I realized why he was familiar I was glad I didn't do the whole "how in the world do i know you" thing. He was one of the millionaire matchmakers from the bravo show. I wonder if I will get that once my debut on WIPEOUT airs!!! I am going to be so famous my goodness. My friends and family better get used to it. I am kind of a big deal.

Bootcamp turned out to be pretty awesome. It was very fast paced and pretty advanced but that pace gave me no time to complain, swear and give the instructor dirty looks. I loved it. My shoulder however did not appreciate it very much. But thats okay I know if I just jump in the pool this week that will feel better.

I want to wish all the triathletes in CALI luck this week with so many races going on!!! A fun time for the sport. I just realized a fun sprint tri is happening in a few weeks right down the street so I may just have to sign up for that. It would be my first sprint. I think MACCA is doing that one too so maybe I could continue to convince him to be our friend. Maybe I should see if he and his family need a place to stay....hmmmmn

Don't F with this broad!

2010-04-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

I nixed my 8 mile run on Sunday because well this weekend we had way too much fun and I was actually up until about 12 each night (GASP!) which is extrememly late for me. We had a sunset cruise on Friday night. Our friends got an amazing hook up and we were on a 60 ft yacht and went all around the harbor with great food, drinks and alot of laughs. I may or may not have mooned the entire restaurant at Fish Market. I was not alone, and we feel that we made the nights of those eating (they were trying to grab their cameras to take a picture). Saturday we headed up to the OC for my first time in Laguna beach/Newport Beach. We definately need to go back cause we just went for dinner with our buds. I looked for all the Laguna beach stars but did not see any..BOOOOO!!!

So instead of running Sunday when I knew it would be a huge suckfest I just went to the pool. I ALMOST was a big girl and joined the masters swim. It looked like a small group. Then I saw them hoisting themselves out of the pool (which sadly I cannot do) and then do a whole bunch of crazy stuff. Due to the ole shoulder I figured I would just take it easy and do my own thing. I did not take it easy. I decided to do a whole bunch of 100s. I warmed up, did 10 timed 100s. I was pretty pleased because my 100 time came down even more to a 1:53 since my swim lesson. I am moving in the right direction so that is good. I decided I would get my run in today after work. I always torture myself trying to decide where to run. I mean the coast is beautiful and all, but its hard on my legs being all concrete and with the mileage getting up there I much prefer the trails. I do not however prefer getting raped and murdered in the trails. hmmmn whats a girl to do. I decided to get the dog on her leash and much to her dismay we went out for our run. She resisted pretty much the whole time, but I just considered that like resistance training in a way. We did 4 miles in the trails. I knew that would be it for her and I needed some water. I took her home and found a package in the mail from my in-laws! It was perfect timing because it was a can of mace for runners! YAY!!!! I slapped that baby right on my hand and took off. At one point there was a man without workout stuff or hiking stuff on and he was alone. I got ready took the safety off and was ready to fuck some shit up. I was ready. Turns out he was just bird watching but if he weren't I would have been ready. I might just start carrying this stuff all the time. Although at one point it got kind of hard to breathe and I kind of worried that a little might have sprayed while I was running. Turns out I am just totally not in shape to be running hill after hill in my flippin neighborhood.

Never have I ever

2010-04-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

Never have I ever had such a ridiculously funny trip to the Dr's office. After my "situation" a few months back of growing cysts the size of testacles after a really long bike ride I have been plagued. I have pretty much been unable to bike without serious pain. It doesn't matter how long or how short. I never healed up and really want to begin half iron training so I need to be avel to tolerate more than an hour on my bike. So off to the Dr I went. I was excited when I heard I was scheduled with the same Dr that I saw around Christmas for my bronchitis. He was awesome. His son has special needs and he not only knew what a speech therapist was but was so thankful to me for the work that I do. We connected and we had similar personalities and he got me better.

Anyways I first saw the resident and told her all about my issue. She was very thorough. I gave her the run down "yes I grew testicles a few months back, they did nothing, told me to exfoliate, but nothing ever got better and I can't ride my bike without wanting to cut off my cooter." She laughed. She got me and she took notes in her cute little pink leather book. Anyhoo she then decided to ask "anything else an issue right now." ughhhhhhh yeah how about the fact that every month about 3-4 times a month I am plagued with unfathomable diarrhea. I then told her that I even went so far as to name various stages UD(unfathomable) GD (Ghastly) and then just regular. I described in such detail. She looks horrified and asks "how long has this been going on" my reply "probably the past 10-15 years..."

Okay so cut to the Dr coming in. He laughs and says "so you have an issue with biking?" "lets cut to the chase doc, I am turning into a man." He 'takes a look' and his facial expressions were not good. I knew this was not going to be taken care of right then and there. He leaves the room in a hurry and comes back with another strange man to check out my nether regions. This man says "so i hear we have a hermaphrodite here" (these guys surely have a sense of humor and knew I did as well or they probably would lose their license). At that point I realized my phone was like under my ass. I asked if they wanted to take a picture to upload it to their facebook pages. It was getting real ridiculous and was like a romper room all the while I am sitting there in the gd stirrups.

They all take a feel and decide that I am going to have to come back (despite my pleas to just do it then and there) next week. It will be about an hour long procedure. I am still not clear if they are cysts or ingrown hairs that are just totally impacted but regardless they are going to go in there and take care of "the situation." I could not be more thrilled.

NOW lets get on to the more hilarious portion of the visit. The resident then makes the dr aware of my 'other situation.' He said "how bad is it?" My reply "doc i have pooped myself more times than I am proud of." After my explanation he seemed to be pretty convinced that I may have a parasite and that the reason it happens so cyclical and does not seem related to any particular food is that hte parasite is just going through its life cycle. So how do we determine this you ask? Well that is where the next hilarious part of this dr visit comes into play. Dr then says "well I need a sample of your warm diarrhea, like right out of you, you go and then you bring it in." Excellent. Fortunately many of my ass attacks occur at work which is close to work.

I then went to the LAB to pick up the devices in which to place my 'samples.' Now this room is the size of a closet. Its packed. I am thinking "there is no way I am going to have to explain what i need in front of all these people...they MUST take me into a private room." Somehow all of a sudden I was feeling shy and modest. The lovely indian man calls my name. Yup turns out we are going to do this in the waiting room. He starts putting these little tubes into 3 different bags. He is explaining what to do indetail to me and the other 25 people in the room. He then numbers the bags and says "this is number one, number 2 and number 3" I say "shouldn't they ALL be number 2?" hahaha at this point most of the room started laughing. I mean they were all listening anyways I may as well make a mockery out of myself. He then says "wow miss you must REALLY be struggling down there." Yes sir thank yo so much. So not only do I have to figure out how to have my ED (just thought of the other one Explosive) into a tube, but I then have to drive to the hospital and plop my 'sample' on the desk at the lab, IN FRONT of everyone there. That grosses even me out. I will have to figure out how to get those samples into those tubes....hmmn

So come next Thursday I will hopefully be free of anymore posts about biking sores. I will also have to take about 10 days off. Well 10 days off of riding cause I will have stitches but I should be able to do something....
Not thatI am hoping for a parasite but if it is that then I don't have to get the colonoscopy. I just don't know how that would go....

WHY?

2010-04-18T15:43:00.001-07:00

Why is it that it takes about 4 months to get in race shape and about one to two weeks to fall out of it? I thought that last weekends run through the lagoon sucked because of the fact that I had had a few beverages the day before, but after this weekends run I do not think that is true. Granted I did have the stomach flu Thursday into Friday BUT I did not expect my heart rate to be above 90% the entire run today. I met my friend LG and we ran the boardwalk in PB. I typically ran this on Tuesday nights with my team when we did sand intervals. Now I did not FEEL like I was going at 90% but thats what my garmin said....Could it be that our garmins were feeding off of one another? Or could it be the fact that I am likely dehydrated, and it was hot? Either way it is pretty annoying to feel like you should slow down in fear of overdoing it. We did manage to get in 7 miles exactly! It was like a tour of LG's terrible dates in SD because she would say "ohmygod take a look at that guy" and I would think it was cause of one reason and it was instead "that is the guy I had a terrible date with" Ah good times.
Brian and I went on a ride on Saturday. Lets just say it was something else. Lets also say that perhaps we both woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Biking is a funny thing, and its kind of hard to talk, so there are times where you think you are being heard but really all you are hearing is the wind. Anyhoo at one point I yelled "i'll just see you at home!" Forgetting that he is faster than me, so that did not work out like I had planned. We got home and pretty much laughed our asses off at what tools we were. Hey when you spend pretty much every waking hour together this kind of thing is bound to happen. I was however pretty pleased with myself that I was able to make it up the hills at our house. It was my first time doing it on my new bike that does not have a granny gear. That and there were a few men in the neighborhood doing hill repeats that were walking up the hills. I stayed in my seat and pedaled past them. It felt pretty good. Anyways back to the grind this week. I am pretty much back on track but should be swimming and biking and running more....guess I am not back on track. Its a new week!

Lavaman Race Weekend Video

2010-04-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

the fast and the FURIOUS

2010-04-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

I am solely posting this so that I will remember everything that I learned at my swim lesson. I don't think I have had a swim lesson since I was about 6. It was great. I met with Ruthy a local pro and lifeguard. She certainly knew her stuff and it was so nice to have someone just watching me and my form and how to make it better. Swimming is kind of like golf sometimes. Everyone has their own way of giving you helpful pointers and it seems like the more they tell you the suckier you get!
Ruthy had a way of breaking it all down. Lucky for me there was not a TON that I was doing wrong. The first focus point to work on was my head position. Turns out I was sticking my head way under the water which is not good. Instead it should be hitting just about where your swim cap comes up. Even with that pointer I felt like I was actually on top of the water. Like kind of when you have a wetsuit on.
Second and third focus were pretty much on my stroke which I have never really known what the hell to do there. So basically I was entering the water by my ear (in my defense I was taught all of this stuff my first year of triathlon). Then I was pulling back with my elbow instead of using my gangly arms to my advantage and entering the water after reaching further.
Third was to pretend to "climb the barrels" and basicallylook like you were hugging a barrel when pulling and windmilling your arms back up around out of the water.
Once I put these all together I felt like I was flying towards the wall. It was like the swimming fairy had come and sprinkled the super fast fairy dust all over me. It was great. I was so pleased. At the end she asked me what my typical 100 was. I know it has never been lower than 2 minutes and usually over. Pretty pathetic. What was more aggravating was that I never really saw any improvement despite swimming a bunch and learning tons of drills. Turns out doing the drills with crappy form will do that to you!
I shaved 10 seconds off of my 100 without even trying!!!!!!!!! AND this is with my bum shoulder.

I am now going to take a few moments to rant about taxes. Read this in the Nancy Kerrigan voice "WHY WHY WHY?!?!" I just don't get it. So it turns out that when you pay thousands and thousands of dollars to get a degree so that you make more money that actually screws you. Cause you see when you earn more money you have to pay MORE taxes. Yeah I KNOW! (clearly I do not pay attention to this kind of thing.) So now not only do you have about 100 K in loans but now you have a better job because of it and you actually make around the same as you did BEFORE you went to school when you factor in your monthly payments. THAT IS AWESOME!
WHY DID WE GET MARRIED! Okay I thoroughly enjoyed my wedding in Mexico, BUT we never should have made it legal here. Turns out you are heavily PENALized for not owning a house OR having children. EXCUSE ME!!! I still pay someone ELSES mortgage AND have a dog who I am pretty sure costs us more than a child. So people, please wait be married until AFTER you have had children. You will be better off.
TURNS OUT Obama's tax decrease just meant that less was coming out of your paycheck but you STILL OWE THE SAME DAMN THING! Oh and if you did not procreate or buy a house because then you are triply screwed! After crying for literally 2 days I am now just a bitter bitter woman scorned by the man. Stupid man. Bri has decided we are going to start our own country. Merillstan where taxes are the same across the board! I am just going to start working the streets so we can possibly make this payment in time.
I wonder what will be on our flag?

Back to Life Back to REALITY

2010-04-05T21:09:00.001-07:00

In the words of my mom after a vacation its "BACK TO REALITY" I can almost hear her voice saying it....

I have to say I love vacations, I love going to places I have never been, I love going to places I have been, I love to relax, I love to eat in new places but I LOVE to come home. Sad I know but even in Hawaii towards the end I was ready to be home. Home is a bunch of different places. When I fly to Boston I say "I'm going home" then when we fly to San Diego I say "time to go home." Home is where the family(that includes my friends) and of course where the PUPPY IS!! Obsessed I know, but I don't care.

We came home and just settled in and I went on a run Saturday to shake off the cobwebs. I gotta say I should NOT have worn my old sneakers cause I got kinda sore towards the end of the run but it started to rain a bit and it felt good. Kind of reminded me of running in New England! I will hopefully get a few good runs in when I am home in Boston in May for a wedding, can't wait to run around the Charles!!!

At one point (now this is where my psychicness comes in and I really am intune with shit like this) I was lying in bed with the dog and I started to think about an earthquake and what I would do if and when it hit. I thought "well I am close by the patio door out so I guess I would go outside. I even looked out to check on wires and such. Weird. Weird because a few hours later the house started to rumble. (as I am writing this we are getting more aftershocks) This was different than the times that I thought we were having them but it turned out to be our spin cycle on the drier. This time everythng was moving. Of course I took the time to grab my phone so I could post on facebook right away (safety first right) and then we went to the backyard where we could see everyone had also retreated outside. The pots and pans were clanging and the ground even outside continued to rumble under my feet. I have to say it was kinda cool and yet scary at the same time. It was a 7.2 that occurred not too far away in Mexico. That is about twice as strong as the Haiti earthquake. Amazing what the earth can do. Since then there have been probably close to 15 aftershocks at least. I swear I spent most of Sunday running outside and was awoken this morning to another shaker. There have been others since I moved here but I honestly never felt one. This was apparently the strongest one felt around here in about 15 years. Some say dogs are supposed to sense these things. Belle was likely licking herself or scratching the huge gash she got at the groomers.

Thanks Belle, remind me to get a smarter dog next time. (jk belle mommy loves you)
You never know, a dog could read.

On the training front, I am now in focus for the future races coming up. I have a half marathon and olympic tri in June. But I am really thinking about another half ironman. In the running at this point are
SOMA- pros: closeby can drive to it in arizona cons:flat, hot, looks like a crappy loopy course
IRONMAN 70.3 Austin- pros: its austin and I have never been and i LOVE the fried pickles and bbq in texas, looks like a cool course, flat and if it has the name ironman on it its gotta be good cons: it would be a plane ride
IRONMAN 70.3 Timberman pros: its in NH during my school break cons: its in NH during my school break. With all the travelling this year for weddings (may boston/mexico, july boston, september boston) I cannot imagine travelling during my time that is supposed to be rejuvenating from a rather stressful/taxing job.

BUTCHA NEVER KNOW! If any of you have done any of these events let me know your feedback.

NEWS!!! I just hired a swim coach, she is a local pro triathlete and lifeguard and from what I hear a great swim coach. I am hoping someone can help me get from the back of the pack to the middle of the pack! I have my individual session on Wednesday night. I will see if I need more, but I am hoping that she can help identify something I am doing wrong that is causing my shoulder to flip the F out every season!

my trip in pictures: PG13 at best

2010-04-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Me and Macca at the pasta party. If he only knew what he was in for the next night.

SD TNT LAVAMAN 2010 TEAM!!

JODS AND BRI IN TRANSITION!!

i'm sure bri was crapping himself here.

Out of the water and off for the bike!

The team running our honored hero Ted in to the finish!

At the finish in A-Bay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here is where the fun begins:

The setting: The Malalo Lounge

The cast: The SD TNT chapter and all the pros/winners of the race

Let me set this scene: I decided that the closest I would get to professional athletes was now, and that I would do what I want to do to those like them (ie tom brady, timlin if i had the chance).

Also I was highly lubricated after a long day of racing...................

Not sure where this pose came from but it is something like when I like to climb through brides dresses on the day of their wedding.

I left out alot of the other pictures because I don't want these guys to lose any sponsorship because of hanging out with the likes of me. Lets just say they are funny and you wish you were facebook friends with me. Here is Bri hanging with the pros. Lets put it this way, not only can he not keep up on the course, but he certainly cannot keep up with the drinking either. We were quite a scene the next day getting onto our flight in Maui......

A great time a great trip and now it is so nice to be back home with the puppy!!!

What A Race

2010-03-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

This has been an amazing trip so far. Last night we had our pasta party and it was wonderful. Our teammate and my mentee Ted was honored for the fact that he is now a triple crowner (century ride, marathons and tris) as well as actively going through cancer treatment. He is amazing and it was wonderful that he got that recognition in front of all 311 TNT participants. As a whole we raised 1.3 million and that pasta party always reminds me of the reason we are there.
Another fun part was running into a girl that I have not seen in 8 years that I used to work with. SUCH a small world. Partway through the party Chris McCormack (the Tom Brady of Triathlon, former IRONMAN champion and record holder on our course) sat right in front of me. So of course I harassed him for a picture. I think we impressed him so much because he is now crashing our after party where I am sure will lead to more pictures, and since there will be alcohol involved, most likely pictures of me doing inappropriate things in the pictures.
We woke up at 4am and were good to go, met up with the team. We did our thing, pumped tires, stapled bike numbers then rode to transition. As you can see from the pic above the sun rose over Mount Kea ( or Koa can't remember) and it was beautiful. I got to do some pro stalking and got pictures of my favorite female triathlete Bree Wee who also won the race!
We got marked up and did our thing (record here! I did not have diarrhea once!!!) By 7:33 Bri hit the water and I was about 6 minutes behind him or so. The swim was just amazing. I got kicked and punched and all that but its only because our biggest obstacle was coral that was very close to us so there was alot of moving around as to avoid some nasty cuts. I spent the first half getting into the groove and then the shoulder started acting up. I took some deep breaths (out of the water, not in it) and just went for it and enjoyed myself. It was like snorkeling, so many fish to see and the occasional foot in the eye.
The transition went smoothly, I used some water to wash off my feet and threw on my bike gear and was off and running. The prayers to the wind gods were answered. The wind was remarkable. It was pretty much only strong once in a while and provided either nothing or a bit of a tail wind which I'LL TAKE!! I saw Brian a few miles before the turn around so I knew he was cooking and I was releived because HIS STUPID WHEEL was broken when we got up this morning. His spokes keep coming loose and as a result ended up in some bad situations while training. He had a new wheel made but apparently that one sucks too! Luckily a teammate had a wrench and basically put a band aid on it with a "this might work or this might not". Brian was cookin and I was so proud of him. I was having a ball on the bike. I was singing, taking requests (afterall I have been training that way) and tried to hammer it as much as possible (despite having grown small balls again, must figure out why I keep getting saddle sores). At about mile 20 on the bike was when it happened. Almost every race I get this overwhelming sensation and I know then that my mom is there with me. It always catches me by surprise. Of course I soaked it up, shed a few happy tears, thanked her and asked her to push me in, and a push I got!
In T2 I decided I should throw on socks which took a while for me cause I kept falling over. I ran out so quickly that I forgot my handheld water bottle. Our coach has been hammering this into us all season and I have trained all year with it. It is not to drink out of, but strictly to pour over your head. Of course I forgot it and realized it while I was not even 25 yards out of transition. So I ran my little behind back to transition and grabbed it, probably lost a few minutes there but it was worth it!
The run starts off through the black lava fields (aka its hot as shit) but it was not as hot as I expected and not half as hot as Vineman last year. THANK YOU SUN GODS!! I had a great pace going, almost always under a 10 minute mile. At about mile 3 I saw Bri just after the turn around and knew I could catch him. I was feeling great. That was also about the time that I saw a fellow teammate, well heard her really as she was wheezing and pretty much having an asthma attack. There was no chance I was leaving her. At that point I knew I would still hit my goal (to beat my last olympic tri time which was over 4 hours) so I stayed with her. Did Reiki on her back while we walked and ran along side her squirting her down as we ran. It was worth it because I know she would not have left me either and I am here as a part of a team that I love very much, and that is what teammates do. UNTIL the last half a mile. At this point I knew she would not die and she waved me on so I put the petal to the metal. I wanted to do a sand angel at the finish but there were way too many people there. Instead I did a Run run leap run leap run leap like the good old days at Susan Wright's School of Dance.
It was awesome. I finished in 3:26:06!!! Brian finished in 3:23 I'll get him next time!
Mahalo for all the support this season and for the continued support I receive. This race lit the fire and will only be race number one of the season as I am already signed up for another oly in June and a half iron in October.
Congrats to my husband on his first triathlon! If he had a bike that didn't suck so bad (maybe one as nice as his wifes) he would have done even better!!

We are off to the victory party and then leaving for Maui in the morning for some serious R & R!!

XOXO from the Big Island!

wah wah wah

2010-03-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

We are here in Hawaii! I have to say when we landed into Oahu for our stop over I was blown away by all the colors of the ocean and could not wait to dive in! We had easy breezy flights and ended up in Kona on time and rented a Caddy for the week. It was one of Bri's classic "we may have spent a little more extra money for this" seeing as I thought we got the economy car. Oh well its our pretend honeymoon. My dad keeps telling us "not to skimp" so maybe i'll just send him the bill....

PS thanks to papa al for doggy and house sitting this week! I'm sure the dog will be about 5 pounds heavier than when we left and probably already forgot about us...stupid dog

Hawaii is AMAZING! It will be a shocker if I get back on that plane to go home. Although Kona is not what I expected. We have yet to leave the side we are on...(not sure which side that is) but it is mostly dried up lava which is hot and black AND we get to bike and run on on Sunday! But it is beautiful. Our hotel is amazing although it is huge and impossible to find your way around. I think we have probably walked 5 miles alone today just going from one spot to another.

Last night we went out to the Kona brewery with our team to celebrate my bday. It was so nice of all these people to fly to HI for my bday! Loved the beers and I think I will love them even more after the finish, as they are a sponsor of the race and you get 2 free beers when you finish. That should do it for me. Lightweight!

Not sure if it was the flight, or the fact that the liquor loosened me up thinking that my shoulder was better BUT I awoke last night around 3am and was literally in tears. I can't remember the last time I cried because of pain. Most likely the last time I threw my back out. I was hurting. I could not sleep, every position hurt and it was just a giant spasm. I woke Brian up with my whimpers. PITIFUL! I got up went to the ice machine and iced the hell out of my shoulder. This then resulted in my side of the bed getting completely soaked through so that was also wonderful. I woke up a few hours later and it felt normal (normal is now painful but a tolerable pain in which it is difficult to lift things and move normally).

I think I did the best possible thing I could have. I got up and went for a swim in the ocean. The bay we start at is called A-Bay (insert long Hawaiian name). It is calm, it is clear, it is gorgeous, it has tons of fishies and LOTS of turtles and is NOTHING like the water we have been training in. Not sure if it was all the above attributes but I did not notice my shoulder at all! YIPPEE!! I will be able to do the swim and get through it and that is all I can hope for!

We are off to pick up our bikes and then head back to the bay for a swim/run with the TEAM!

Then off to a nice dinner with my husband and hopefully plentiful amounts of food and desserts!
I will hold off on posting pictures so that none of you hate me too much!

Aloha from Hawaii!

messed up tan lines here i come

2010-03-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

First off a picture of Brian and our teammate playing under water. Too bad I couldn't swim this week when it was clear and tranquil and fun!

Instead I swam both days last weekend and as a result messed up my rotator cuff amongst some other parts that I don't remember after todays Dr visit. I can hardly dress myself without lots of pain, driving is hard, and at times I kind of want to hurl due to the pain. It was feeling a little better on Sunday and I had a massage which also helped. Then today I was feeling like I should see the Dr. My friends all recommended a great chiropractor at Elite. They are strictly athlete kind of people which is my kind of place. I have been to Dr's who look at me and an injury and say "well just don't do it." Never what you want to hear a week before a race. And yes this is not the first time that an injury snuck up on me. I knew it was a good place when we could laugh at the fact that I wrote in an email to them that "a shoulder issue pooped up" instead of "a shoulder issue popped up!" goooooooooood stuff.

Anyways they were able to sneak me in very last minute, I literally ran out of work, drove a bout 90 the whole way and made it there in record time. The Dr did an evaluation and then did some Active Release Therapy...ART now I feel like a real triathlete! This reminded me of rolfing aka it was painful. I sucked it up though in the name of recovery. I will do anything if it means I will be injury free or pain free. Then he did some stim LOOOOOOOOVE that. Then he did some adjustments which were so gentle and then taped me up to look like a bionic woman.

I am hoping this helps. I know I will get through the swim, but I am pretty darn uncomfortable to say the least. Kind of wish I had some happy pills cause I feel a restless night coming up.

Okay enough of the negative stuff! I will soon be saying ALOHA to 31! And on the same day that I say Aloha to Hawaii! One more day of work to get through. I am staying clear of any children that may injure me more, but then again thats not really possible.....

I guess I am just going to have to kick ass on the bike and run to make up for the swim!!! Perhaps near 80 degree ocean water will bethe answer to all my prayers!!!

Next post will be coming to you from Hawaii!!!!

Thanks again to everyone for your support this training season!

San Diego Lavaman 2010 Team Video

2010-03-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

This is the video that I have been working on using windows movie maker. There were waaaaaaaaaaay too many great pictures from training but these are the ones that made the cut!

Can't wait to make one after this weeks triathlon! Yes thats right,,,,this week!!! Even though I can't move my shoulder I could really care less cause I'm sure the warm water in Hawaii will be therapeutic for whatever it is thats happening. I have a massage tomorrow and am going to hit up the chiropractor before we leave too. Just doing my part to help out the holistic peeps.

carmen electra

2010-03-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

Okay so this week was a pretty successful one workout wise. Monday swim, Tuesday track workout, Wednesday sit on my ass, Thursday bike ride, Friday hill repeats running, Saturday practice tri! whoa nelly.

Okay so we got to the practice tri which was a sprint distance around 6am. We had the typical pre workout kinda stuff and off we went. The ocean was looking grim, it was brownish orangeish due to the sand they had to add to the ocean. Besides that there were giant waves. Not sure what was going on but it was the type of waves that all the surfers run out to ride. Not so much the type of sea that I rush out to swim in. Anyways we went in to "warm up" and I was not so much worried about the freezing temperatures as I was the ridiculous swells and currents. It took a bit to get out past the waves, and when we did we were being pushed around like crazy by the currents. I started to get pretty whoozy and was pretty much yelling for Brian to stay close. This is where it got ugly. I got tossed by a large wave. The type of wave where you are just begging to get another breath of fresh air. It scared the shit out of me but I tried to stay calm. I took in way too much water and when I came back up I was without goggles and without alot of pride, and full of puke. I threw up in the water pretty bad. At that point I kept getting wrecked with waves. I was "unresonsive" as Bri put it which scared him but at this point I could stand up so I just dragged my sorry ass to the shore.

Since this was just the warm up I decided that I had swallowed enough water and was pretty shooken up. I bowed out of the actual swim which was more of a try to get through the breakers and then get pushed back to shore. The kayakers who were supposed to be there to save our lives could not even make it out so everyone was on their own. On their own with the dolphins!

I shook it off and waited til I knew Brian was safe and we ran up for the transition. I am soooooooo slow getting out of that damn wetsuit. Thank goodness we don't have to wear them for Lavaman! I got on the bike and hammered out our bike course. It was just up the coast so nothing too crazy there. On the way back I thought there was tons of dirt flying. Turns out it was swarms of gnats. It was nasty. I was covered in them, they were stuck all over. I just ducked my head down hoping the helmet would shield me from eating them. EW!!

Had a nice quick transition to the run course and I was pretty pleased. I ran the 3 miles at or under a 9:30 pace. I even ran a sub 8 minute mile on the last leg of the run. I was pretty pleased with that. Brian did awesome and was pretty psyched to finish his first triathlon. He is going to kill it in Hawaii and is looking trim and slim. I am not even going to recognize him once he shaves his triathlon beard....

Tonight I went to a pole dancing class that my friend from the team was doing for a fundraiser. It was HILARIOUS. I wore 8 inch heels, stripper heels that is. We strutted, we did all the sultry moves and of course I made a mockery out of it any chance I could get. Turns out there are just some stripper moves that are not exactly made for lanky broads who were coming it at about 6'5". Made for some laughs thats for sure. Definately have to go back again for a GNO!

dna has been tested

2010-03-11T18:24:00.000-08:00

Yes after watching Oprah the other day about dna testing I have determined that I am in fact part Kenyan. This is due to the fact that I ran my mile time trial a whole minute faster than my last one. While it is still nothing to brag about and most people can pull out a whole marathon at that pace, I am still pretty psyched. I ran it in 7:56. I find that I definately hold my self back on most occasions. Well on races I hold myself back, not so much in regular daily life situations. (I certainly did not hold myself back on todays bike ride. I didn't make it across the street while the cross walk sign was on cause my clip wouldn't work, so the car came cruising at me, so I did what any Bostonian would do. I flipped the jack ass off!) I may have flipped off someone, BUT I also decided I am going to throw the peace sign to all the people who are a bit more understanding on the road. Its more fun to flip the bird though. GFY guy in the white truck!
Okay so back to races and holding myself back. Yes I thought I was stuck in the slow poke marathon pace, and always wanted to finish races with that "oh yes I can't wait to do that again!" While that has been successful for me, this is a shorter race coming up and I am looking forward to not just going through the motions but to push my limits like I haven't done before.
I have to thank my coach for teaching me so much about pace and limits and feeling it, and not just looking down at my garmin. For the record I did not check the garmin at all, but instead just ran til I puked in my mouth. Good stuff!
We have our practice tri this weekend which I am totally psyched for! So many great things coming up! My dad gets here next week and then we will be in Hawaii within a week! WHOO HOO!!!! I hear the Kona winds are picking up so we'll see how that goes!
I will end on one final note: I CAN'T WAIT FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!!! THIS SUNDAY BABAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY! Let spring begin!!

how i spent my weekend

2010-03-07T15:44:00.000-08:00

I am trying to put together a video montage for my teammates before the big event and practiced. Belle was my muse to practice this skill.

hodge podge

2010-03-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

So many things to rant about:

First off WE HIT OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL!!! Yet again I raised close to $7200 and the funds are still coming in! Its pretty mind blowing that that is the average that I raise each event. (still trying to top the 20+ thousand that I did for my first event ;) ) I am so truly grateful! I have been continuing to read some blogs about myeloma and am moved each day. Although people continue to lose their battles there are more that are able to power on and live full lives with their family and friends. Thats what its all about! so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

On even better news our friend Keri who was diagnosed at the start of our training just had her last chemo treatment on her birthday! I'm sure she will never forget that birthday! She has remained quite an inspiration taking this whole cancer thing like it was just another bump in the road.

On the training front, this week started off strong and ended kind of EH. My knee has been a bit of a shit, a very odd muscle pull is what I think it was. Anyways we did a mini brick on Sunday where I got to feel my bike out a bit and he felt goooooooooooooood. My knee felt like shit but the bike felt smooth like buddah! Monday I met up with some teammates and swam at the local boys and girls club. I tried to see what a difference I had in time doing 500s with and without the pull buoy. Yeah it was a difference of 2 minutes with the pull, thats quite crazy if you ask me. Why couldn't my ass act more like a flotation device, then i'd actually be a more efficient swimmer.

Tuesday I got into work at what felt like the ass crack of dawn so I could get a bike in on Coronado Island. A great place to do some lavaman specific training with the crazy winds, except I was alone and I was spooked.
Allow me to back track. A local high school girl went missing last week after a run through the trails around lake hodge. We do tons of training there and I run in the trails by my house alone on a regular basis. While I was always cautious and did not run with music, I also never had anything to protect myself. Anyways this young girl was raped and murdered by a convicted child molester. It hit home for just about every person in the country and especially here. When you live in an area that has so many inviting places to be active its troubling to have to keep yourself from these activities because of fear. All week long I wanted to ditch work and volunteer to help find this girl who was just training for her high school cross country team. As I was riding out on the strand all alone I felt like my head was on a swivel, always looking to see who was coming, were there groups of people, never wanting to be riding alone. I got a text from Bri during my ride that they finally found the body near the lake. So troubling.
At this point I was into my 30 mile ride, feeling great on my bike, testing out my aero bars and feeling like I was flying. I rode with a nice guy for about half of it and then found myself alone. At one point I was in between two bodies of water with 5 guys riding by and got spooked. THAT SUCKS! I am sorry but it totally sucks that this is how we have to think while we are just trying to live!!! It is so frustrating that now I can't just head out to the trails for my run, that I have to figure out who else might want to run 8 miles with me. SUCK IT PSYCHOS!!!! Unfortunately I am realizing that the system fails many people and its not always easy to help these people who are clearly messed up. And while the system is failing people are getting hurt. Eh enough of that rant. Now I have to find some mace or pepper spray so that I can once again continue to do the things I love. There is nothing better than just hitting the trails, hearing nothing but your heart beat, your feet hitting the ground, and your breath. I am sure that this has been a valuable lesson for so many and that this young womans death will change things for many people, but it is just so unfortnately and unfair for her, her family and friends.

Ugh just so terrible.

I was pretty beat from the week and did not get to work out Wednesday or Thursday. I thought Friday would be a day to play catch up before the weekend but nooooooooooooo. Instead I woke up with the same nasty head cold that my husband had that week. Niiiiiice. I barely made it through the day at work, came home and just tried to sleep it off. Saturdays team workout got changed to a open water swim since we were expecting rain again for the 7th weekend in a row. With the run off into the ocean it is not safe to swim after rain so we have been pretty screwed with those. Anyways coach changed it to saturday so we could get the swim in before the rain. Since I could not breathe whatsoever and felt like crapola I stayed in bed and Bri went off for the 2 mile open water swim. So proud of him. That is more than double the distance for the triathlon so he will be all set. I set my bike up on the trainer and did a mini brick by myself. I ran a mile loop around the hood (of course couldn't go into the trails alone) and then would hop on the bike for a 15 minute interval workout. I did the run 4 times and the bike the same. I gotta say the first run/bike was ridiculous for me, my heart rate was through the roof, I was dizzy, and felt like I had rubber legs. By the 3rd time around I was feeling a little more normal but was thankful to have the aerobars to rest my tissue box on. BRUTAL!!! Turned out to be a good workout but I wish it was with the team instead.

We ship our bikes to Hawaii in two weeks so I am hoping to get at least two rides in during the week and of course our rides on the weekends. THis means some early days at work and some grinding out on the road! Can't wait!

And luckily the 3 days off this week must have been what my knee needed because it is feeling almost back to normal!! Hoping this cold is on its way out because I have to get all my workouts in. I feel totally ready to do this thing and could do it tomorrow if I had to but I really do need more time on my new bike to get comfortable.

Big Al will be here in less than two weeks and Hawaii is just around the corner!!!!!!!!!

a hot day

2010-02-28T08:10:00.000-08:00

This week was sort of a blur. A bunch of workouts a whole lot of knee pain and more rain. Rain keeps ruining our saturday workouts. Yet again we had to cancel a workout and move it to sunday. Since I had my saturday free I went to hot yoga in the morning. It was pretty annoying because something is wrong with my knee. Hard to straighten it, hard to bend it all the way which made for some uncomfortable poses. Also the broad next to me stuck her foot in my face not once, not twice, but THREE frigin times. And its HOT yoga, like sweat dripping off yourtoes into my face hot. EW EW EW. I was aggro oh AND she knocked over my water and spilt it with her stupid shweaty feet.

After yoga my friend LG invited me to a "spa day". I have never done anything like this. I figured it would be a good way to spend a rainy saturday. I signed up for my first facial. NOT A FAN! At one point I had stuff over my eyes so I couldnt see, my hands in baggies inside gloves under a towel close to my body and steam blowing up my nose. I was soooooooo claustrophobic it was not even remotely enjoyable for me. I felt like it was a mix between an mri and a cat scan, neither of which were enjoyable for me and both of which I needed to pop meds. Oh then she brought out the pic to poke my blackheads with. They all happened to be on my nose which is apparently the most sensitive part on your face. I flinched and teared up the whole time. The lady kept saying "does this feel good?" ummmmmmmmmmmmmm "NO!!" A few parts were nice but I would take a massage over that nonsense any day of the week!

After that we spend the day in our robes and slippers. It was glorious! We got lunch sat in the jacuzzi, then went to the sauna, then out to the roman waterfalls, then back in the jacuzzi, then the steam room (i lasted about 2 seconds in there), someone gave me a loofa bath (that was odd, but free), and some more time in the jacuzzi. It was awesome! Such a relaxing day. I realized I spent much of the day in over 100 degrees so I drank tons of water.

Not so sure what is happening with my knee. I woke up to this feeling last week and it has not gotten better. I kind of have to limp. It feels okay when I workout but definately something going on. Resting it did not seem to help, ice and lots of ibuprofen help. Oh and all the heat yesterday definately helped it. Kind of feels like I have a floating knee cap or something. Maybe fluid? Who knows ?! I guess it would not be a true training season without a good injury. On the bright side I get to go on my first ride out on the roads today on the new bike!

isn't he lovely

2010-02-20T17:09:00.001-08:00

Isn't he wonderful! Its my NEW BIKE! I finally broke down. I have been walking by bikes that I want for a year now. I went to a TREK tent sale last night and knew that there were some great deals. I went back today to "browse" and left with a new bike! Well new to me but it is a 2008 demo bike. I basically got it for half off. It rode like a dream. I had to bid farewell to my "old bike" and I have to say with all my issues this riding season it was not a tough one. I got a good trade in value for the bike so that helped with cost as well. Need to name this bike. I decided that it is going to be a he. I often feel like I have an extremely intimate relationship with my bike so its only fitting that it is a guy. Name suggestions are welcome. He is a Trek Madone if that helps you to get the creative juices flowing.
Belle was extremely helpful at our workout today. Due to my testicles I decided to stay off the bike for the weekend and heal up so that maybe one day my husband will have that loving feeling for me again. I volunteered with a few other mentors and helped out at todays "time trial". The team rode the same bike path I did last weekend for 15 miles and did 2 loops. We were simulating the bottle exchange for them so it was actually kind of fun. We had a minor mishap when Bri showed up a bit earlier than expected and I got frazzled, the dog got away and Bri almost ran her over and he almost crashed. Definatley not my fault.

Bri killed it which is semi annoying since he did not work out a single time this week. I guess he was making sure he was rested up for the big time trial. He is going to crush the triathlon. Maybe he'll get a bike as gorgeous as mine someday.

Happy weekend to all! I will bea much happier camper once I get my bike on Monday after my bike fit!!! ooooooohhhhhhweeeeeeeeeee

moo

2010-02-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

um yeahhhhhhhhhhh, not sure what to even title this post with so I will hold off on that. Mondays ride was a long one for me, this I know. Perhaps I should have eased into mileage. My legs feel great, my cardio is up there, HOWEVER my ass this whole season has been killing me. Correction not my ass but my girlie parts. Not sure if it is the new tilt of my handlebars which changes my position on the seat, or if its the shorts. However I have worn these shorts forever and have never had this problem in the 3 years I have been riding my bike. Anyhoo I had some slight discomfort and now am in full blown FULL ON DISCOMFORT. I have saddle sores. They are right on my underwear line so I am goign to have to go commando til these things are healed up. It is almost as if I have giant balls growing. Not sure if they are like turning into cysts but I am pretty miserable. I called the dr. That was fun trying to explain it to the receptionist, but they can't see me til Monday. I am not so sure how the hell I am ever going to sit on a bike seat ever again, I can barely walk. I did some reading and people suggested the above Bag Balm. This stuff is actually made for cows and horses, I think they put it on cows udders. It makes it even more ridiculous. I am just going to lather this stuff on and try to see if it heals up in time for our time trial on the bike on Saturday. Not a good time for this. Now I am going to have to go for yet another bike fit and really all I want is a shiny new bike so I have been trying to stay far far away from bike shops. We still have to pay for taxes and a gazillion trips back east bf I can buy anything for myself....WOE IS ME! Due to this discomfort and the fact that someone called us at 4am today I figured I would just get up and go for a swim. The masters practice was there and I gotta say the old men were such d-bags. It further convinced me that I will never go to that because they have NO patience for people who are not fast. How are you supposed to get fast if you are not slow at first??? Oh and the bathing suit kills the sores as well so I had to kind of pull it up my bum and give myself cameltoe. No wonder why noone wanted to share a lane with me.....

our first sd wedding

2010-02-15T18:03:00.001-08:00

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
this is where I can be found from here on out!

view of the sunset from the cocktail hour

Shabby setting for a wedding aye?

before many glasses of wine

the beautiful bride!

We had our first San Diego wedding in beautiful Del Mar. It was nice to only have to travel a few miles to attend this wedding seeing as I have to fly to the east coast for 8 weddings in the next 6 months. ouch! still hoping all of those are going to be possible only time will tell! Anyhoo I met my friend Susie in graduate school and she and a few others came out to SD right after graduation. I am so glad they did! She also trecked it to Cabo for our wedding and I am almost positive that SD is where we belong. I could not help but think if we had come to the wedding from the east coast to 75 degrees and sunny I think Bri and I would both be thinking "lets move here." We are living the dream alright! This weekend has been beautiful and warm and sunny and glorious! Bri bought me my new favorite piece of furniture...a chaisse lounge chair for the yard. Due to the weather this weekend means I have some rather crazy tan lines. Saturday morning I was not feeling up to the 40 mile team ride so I went swimming. We usually swim at night so I didn't even think about the crazy straps on the back of my suit til I got home from my 2500 yard swim. Really cute. THen I came home and read on my new chair and forgot sunscreen and got pretty burnt. Sunday I ran in the lagoon for a good 7 miles and really took it easy at my "base pace". Sometimes I do not have the patience but it felt right.

I was not sure if I would be able to bike after the wedding, afterall I do love an open bar. But I was a good girl and only got buzzed. Although I had enough in me to go into the photobooth and moon it for their photo album. Priceless pics. hope they are available digitally soon. Everyone deserves that sight. I am just so damn funny. Regardless I still woke up to join another teammate in Coronad to ride the silver strand bike path. He is training for ironman in a few months so I knew he would want to log some longer mileage and I was up for it. Apparently he likes to tell himself he is doing double the distance that he is really going to go. So we joked the entire ride that we were going 100 miles "at least" and when people would whiz by us we would say "heh I bet they are not riding 100 miles today" or "whoo hoo only 60 more miles to go". This way of thinking actually worked pretty well. My feet were numb most of the ride but I felt very good. It was hot and had a nice headwind so it was very "lavaman specific". On our last loop he started getting bored so he would come up behind me and say things like "its bri right ahead lets sprint and pass him" it made the way back go by alot faster. Sometimes on a flat ride you have to switch it up and fire up some different muscles. It was a great ride and I so appreciated the enthusiasm. We went 50 miles and I have not done over 30 miles yet in training so I was pretty pleased. I honestly felt like I could have run after. Maybe another HIM is in my future!

A great wedding weekend, a great vday with my lovah and the in-laws, beautiful weather and our anniversary this week with even more visitors! life is good!
Happy Monday!

this is how I "roll"

2010-02-13T08:29:00.001-08:00

One bottle of wine and I am shoving bread rolls into my pants, stand on chairs, and thrust them into the faces of strangers. Good times.

I managed a bunch of workouts this week, but took it easy on running because my feet were aching for some reason. Made it to two pilates classes this week. If Thursdays class had been Tuesdays class I definately would not have made it to two but its always good to start our your morning with total muscle fatigue. My legs have never shook like that before. It was a little weird but happened to all of us. I did a few two a days with either a swim or a bike at the end of the day and then of course I had to get sick again. I woke up THursday night certain that an alien was trying to come out of me. I kept running to the bathroom to throw up but I just couldn't bring myself to actually do it. Then I got sick of going from bed to bathroom so I kind of just hung out in there for a couple hours. Anyways I managed to make it into work for a few hours to see my kids and then took off and just moaned on the couch all day/night. You know its bad cause I bought a variety of cupcakes the other day and still have not been able to eat them. Brian just said "you must be feeling better, you stopped moaning" haha he is so right. It just helps to moan when sick. I stand by that. Anyways today I am not going with the team on the 50 mile bike ride. I am going to take it easy and do a swim and possibly yoga it up. Frank and Rhonda are flying in today as well so we are super psyched for their arrival!!! We also have a Valentine's wedding on Sunday so that should be super fun!! Can't wait for my first San Diego wedding!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Bri and I do not believe in this silly holiday and I am lucky to have a husband who sends flowers just because and takes me out to wonderful dinners on a regular basis. HOWEVER my wonderful father has always made this a special day with a card and a little something. I got a fun package from him with a personalized keychain from Brighton collectibles. SOooooooooooooo cute. Its got a pineapple that says "hawaii" a yellow VW buggie just like mine and a palm tree,,,,,,does he know me or what?! Oh and he got me a cute bracelet that says "believe in yourself" which I love but I have too tiny wrists so I will see if I can exchange it for a smaller one. I have the ass of a rapstars girlfriend, but the wrists of a 2 year old. haha thats funny.

no rain, no rainbows

2010-02-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday night I set out to do what I planned on doing....being inappropriate and drinking too much wine...done and done!
We met up for our friends 30th bday at a wine bar/restuarant close by our house. I planned on sharing my bottle of wine, but everyone ordered their own, sooooooo drink it I did! By the end of the night I had a french bread roll stuffed into my pants coming out of my zipper and was pelvic thrusting the window while standing on a chair for all the patrons inside the restaurant to see. Some people laughed, most were horrified but I am pretty sure I was the hit of the party. Brian was oh so very proud. Notice the distance between us at the table!!!haha!! It was super fun and a night I needed oh so badly!

Drinking too much, and not sleeping hardly at all meant that Sunday was a no workout day for me. I don't know when Sundays became yet another training day, because it has always been an "off day" until this training season. I kind of don't mind cause I have all day to workout, and it just means that on another day during the week I can sit and relax, perhaps clean and bang out some laundry that I let build up the whole week.

Monday night Bri and I headed to the local pool and did some nightswimming. LOVE nightswimming. ESPECIALLY when we do not have to stay and cover the pool and ESPECIALLY when it is super warm. So warm that the mist is rising off the top AND when the lights are on in the pool. Its just magical like that and so reminds me of the many nights at friends pools throughout the summer nights. We did a build up that I made up, 100 swim 100 pull, 200 swim 200 pull, 300 swim 300 pull, 400 swim 400 pull. Totals to 2000 meters which is just over a mile. A good workout and tough on the arms. I was secretly racing with the middle aged bald man to the right of my lane. I love when I find someone who is just about my speed and I secretly race them the whole workout. I know he was pushing a little more effort as well. I swam way faster than I would have had I been alone and I'm sure he did too. But I smoked his ass the whole time. At the end of the workout I decided to see if I could still do flip turns. I did them growing up when I would swim but havent in many years since the vertigo started up. I decided to wait til the end of the workout to see if it would make my head spin or not. To my suprise I was okay. A little loopy but really I think I will be fine. Maybe now I can stop making excuses as to why I can't join a masters swim....

I woke up this morning to do my now weekly pilates class. I may even start doing it twice a week, but really its just to hang out with LG and hope that she brings me more cookies (need the recipe LG!!). Not sure if it will ever get easier but I can only get stronger.

NO RAIN NO RAINBOWS!!!!(saw that on the back of a guys shirt during this weeks 10K and love that motto)

I am supposed to do a track workout but its pouring AGAIN in sunny San Diego, so looks like a bike workout will occur tonight and a track workout later this week.

The flights and hotels are booked for Hawaii!! WHOOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!!

right on pace

2010-02-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

I woke up early today for our Super 10K after. I spent all day Friday on the couch sick, and think I may have gotten up only for essentials. So I literally went from couch to 10K like all those silly workout websites say! Anyways my original pace after our time trial was to be 10:16 for my 10K pace. After we did the 2 mile time trial I was apparently super fast and my pace changed to 9:30. I knew after last weeks track workout that it would most likely be somewhere in between that. To be honest I am happy with a 10 minute mile since I have been so used to a slower marathon pace.

This was actually my very first 10k. The only other one I can compare it to was part of a triathlon so I am not sure that counts, but for comparison purposes lets say that it does. My 10K pace at Mooseman was 1:16 which was about a 12 minute pace. My 10K pace today was 1:03 which was almost exactly 10:15 my original pace. The race today went around Fiesta Island and with the storm coming in it was extra windy. The kind of wind that knocks your hat off as you are running. I was amazed at how much the wind can affect your pace. Its basically just like a hill. I would go from 9:30 to 12 minute miles like it was nothing. Very strange. That is what Kona will be like on both the bike and the run so it was a good way to get used to that. I was running with my girls for the first 2-3 miles then I started with a pretty uncomfortable stomach cramp. I felt it before we started running but just kind of hoped it would go away. I suffered. I pretty much wanted to stop and walk a bit the whole last 3 miles but it was a "race" and I wanted to see what I could do so I just kind of went for it. It felt like a comfortable pace and if anything hopefully the bike ride will serve more as a warm up and my body will be more ready and willing to run that same pace. Granted Kona will be about 30 degrees warmer than today (i hear it will be around 90 and even hotter on the lava fields) but I will also have good ole adrenaline helping me out there!

So my first 10K is over and done with. Now I will get back into that horizontal position and milk this rainy day for everything it is worth! Looks like there will probably be no ocean swim tomorrow so we'll see what kind of workout happens on Sunday! Plus I plan on drinking lots of wine tonight...yay!!!!!!!

Jody Grylls

2010-02-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

Today something bad happened. Something so so very bad. As a child I had serious night terrors about bugs. My parents had to buy me a care bear that was supposed to ward off all the bad bug dreams. I can still recall them to this day. There was the one where there were all these bugs on the walls making it look like the walls were moving. Then there was the one with the giant lady bug who was attacking me. I bought the whole care bear thing and got over it but still to this day I cannot kill or be around spiders or any other creepy crawlers.

Cut to todays lunch. There I was having our Tuesday lunch meeting. I had a lackluster lunch today. Not much food in the house so I brought some brie cheese and carrots and hummus...oh and some wheat thins. The wheat thins were all smushed so I just dumped them onto my plate. I would take a little brie on my knife and dunk it into the smushed wheat thins and eat them. I was getting full when all of a sudden I looked down and MY GODDAMN FOOD WAS MOVING!!! There was a maggot/worm like thing in my GD WHEATTHINS!!!! I immediately screamed, spit my food out and ran to the sink to wash out my mouth. My coworkers did not know what the hell was happening. I just kept yelling "get rid of it get rid of it!" One of the women from next door to us came running in "is it a rat?!" (that happened to me last year there). "NO I JUST ATE A MAGGOT!" Oh goodness I still can't really think about it. Even though the cheese and carrots and hummus were new I had to have them expose of all the evidence before I could sit back at the table. It will be a very long time before I can eat any of those things again. My body eliminated the parasites immediately so hopefully there was no harm done. My dad tried to convince me that I should go to the emergency room. I think he was f-ing with me. I had Bri google it and he said "whatever jodes Bear Grylls eats that kind of stuff all the time,....you're fine." I am going to go with that.

I woke up early today to go to pilates class. It was brutal. The instructor had these circular torture devices that made impossible moves even more difficult for me. I then went down to the local HS track that I had to do some searching to find to do my tempo workout.
Due to our 2 mile time trial I have a new 10K pace. When we did the 1 mile time trial that determined that my 10K pace would be 10:16. But after the 2 mile my new 10K pace is 9:31.
800M warm up
400M hard 8:00 pace-400 pace-400 hard-800 pace-400 hard-1 mile pace-400 hard-800 pace-400 hard-400 pace -400 hard
It was hard, my legs are certainly going to be toast. I found it pretty hard to hold the 9:30 pace, I was cramping (due to my lunch incident) and felt like I was either going at a 9:00 or a 10:20 pace. Will have to see what this means for our 10K this weekend. This is my chance to see what I am really capable of! Kind of excited for that!

warning: don't drink the water

2010-02-01T17:27:00.000-08:00

Woke up Saturday morning feeling like I was going to puke. Not a great way to head to a brick workout at 6 am but I went. I quickly realized that workout was not in the cards for me. I stayed for the pre meeting stuff and listented to our swim coach give his mission moment. Always amazes me how resilient people can be and how you would really never know the true essence of a person just by looking at them. We have no idea what people have gone through or are going through. I have known him for 3 years and never knew his story so that was pretty moving. At TNT it really never is a true Saturday workout until tears have been shed. Doesn't take much for this broad!

So I left after helping our coach a bit and went home to pick up the dog and pretty much drove back to the lake we started at so I could get Bri. He killed it again on the ride, had his first flat, fixed his first flat and made it back to run about 3-4 miles or so.

I rallied Saturday night for a GNO! Ummmmmmmm lets just say that I got halfway to the bar, sneezed and pissed myself in the car. YUP had to drive back home, change, explain to Brian and the dog who were both judging me that I was not a 90 year old woman and made it back to the wine bar in record time! Seriously its been an issue since I was young I have accepted it and so should you.

Woke up Sunday and convinced my lovely friend LG to ride with me. We did the same ride that the team did the day before. Let me tell ya the people of Rancho Santa Fe were not a fan of her. She got honked at about 25 times for riding in the road. It was pretty hilarious to me. I can't believe she never flipped the bird. Being the nervous nelly that I am was pretty much begging her to move over the whole time. What can I say, she likes to live on the edge. We pretty much only did the ride so that we could go to our favorite breakfast/lunch spot, the Naked Cafe. It is seriously ridiculous and the kicker is that it is all super healthy stuff, located right at Solana Beach, AND there were people dancing to thriller outside. Doesn't get any more entertaining than that. OH and we stared at some woman with the largest most ridiculous looking diamond ring on that I have ever seen. We were not discreet about this fact at all. I think that if you have a ring of that caliber it is pretty much so people will stare, and stare we did. It was legitimately the size of my eyeball. Her ring could probably have paid off all of my school debt, and there is a whole lot of that!

Moving on!

I pretty much got back from lunch and got my stuff together for our 2nd open water swim at La Jolla Shores. I thought it would get easier but not so much. The water felt colder and I yelled like a lunatic, it was like I had tourrettes for a bit "F&#K S&*T" you get the idea. We did a whole bunch of swimming and that was great. There were tons of planes flying overhead for the golf tournament that was happening right next to us. I got home and was SUPER uncomfortable. I coudn't breathe very well and had intense pains in my chest and lungs. I figured it was the asthma flaring up from the frigid water (its about 56 degrees). Took a few puffs of the inhaler and that did not help. It hurt way worse when I ate or drank. I got frustrated and decided to sleep it off so I went to bed at 7:30.......yes I am so cool.

Anyways I was explaining this to my boss and she said "did you drink the water?" Well I mean of course I did not go into the ocean thinking "hmmn I am so thirsty, I could really go for 50 degree salt water with some algae in it" but I mean you do drink some water when you have waves crashing in your face. Apparently this causes awful heartburn which TOTALLY makes sense to me now. I am so releived that it is not the asthma flare up because the water is not going to get warmer any time soon. Although it will be about 80 in Hawaii!!!

Which leads me to another attempt to beg you all for money! We are almost there on our goal this year. It has certainly been more difficult with both Brian and I fundraising but we are getting there slowly but surely!

If you would like to donate to our cause please visit our fundraising website:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/lavatri10/bmerrilsti

Happy February!
The month of our dogs birth! Our Anniversary! And hopefully the month we can stop begging you all for money!! WHOO HOO!!

run til you puke

2010-01-28T18:37:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was our 2 mile time trial. We did a 1 mine time trial at the beginning of the season and I ran just under a 9 minute mile. Pedestrian for most but pretty fast for this lanky broad. I made sure to only eat a little bit knowing it would be rough so I just had a banana with a ton of almond butter. It was pouring rain when I got there but luckily it stopped as we set up the lights (yes we have to run on a pitch black track so we bring a few lights). I peed twice in the bushes before we even started. I was fired up. We warmed up and did a bunch of "strides" whatever the hell that means. Off we went. I did not look at my garmin at all, didn't want to waste any energy. The idea was to run til I puked. Save nothing. Leave it all out there. I had some "stinky thinky" as my coach would put it about the second loop around the track. I thought "this sucks, i feel like shit, i just burped up my banana" and alot of swears. I had that "stinky thinky" for a few more laps and after mile one decided I couldn't crap out, I just had to power through. And power through I did. I was breathing heavier than ever, I can only imagine what my heart rate was. Sort of pathetic that my all out run is way slower than most peoples marathon pace but whatever. I typically run a 11-12 minute mile pace when I just go out and run. At the track workouts I do about a 9-10 minute pace. It is nice to break out of the norm and feel like I could move past the 90 year old geezer in front of me if I wanted. (happens every race, I get passed by a 80+year old, someone with no legs, and a blind person.) I ended up doing both of the miles under 9 minutes, I think it was like 8:30 and 8:40. I was supposed to shoot for descending splits but that shit wasnt going to happen. I felt gross, I puked in my mouth a few times. I should have booted on coaches shoes. He would have liked that...sick bastard!
Wednesday I decided to make sure my vagina was in the sorest of conditions and go spinning with the team without tri shorts on. We met up at the pool we swim at and it was fun, Lots of inappropriate talking which I truly appreciate in life. Then I threw the bike back on the car and threw on the googles and swimcap. Bri and I had our own lane to ourselves which was nice. We had a pretty great swim workout. At one point we did "lung busters" breathe every 3 strokes, 5, 7, 9 then 11. HOLY CRAP. Each time I increased I thought "there is no way I can do the next one." Then it would get easier, but by the time I made it to 11 I was about to black out, I spazzed and hit the lane divider so hard with my hand, in particular my pinky finger I was sure I broke it. Still hurts to touch but I think its just bruised. What a tool.

Okay so on the homefront we have been on calls with detectives this week and watching dogs sniff the yards looking for the person who murdered our neighbor. I have hardly slept all week. Totally has freaked me out thinking that just maybe I could have heard something to stop it. Or what if, what if we did see something, what if they hit our house in stead....

Can't live life doing that, thats for sure. Turns out it was her son who committed the murder. I obviously cannot understand that and it is such shame. At least it is not some crazy person wanting to kill all the poeple in my neighborhood. It has certainly changed how we do things here. I just watched Bri answer the door withour gigantic/heavy flashlight in his hand. It was the fedex guy, they can be real scary ya know.

Last night was another sleepless night and not because I was freaked about the murder but because it sounded explosions about every 15 seconds, THE WHOLE NIGHT LONG. At first we thought it might be the ocean waves, but that has never happened before. Thehouse was literally rattling and vibrating every 10 seconds. IT sounded like people were banging on our roof. Then I thought it might be little earthquakes. Then I just didn't care and wanted to SLEEP!! Turns out it is Camp Pendleton having explosive training. So basically they are bombing the shit out of the valleys about 15 miles away. Sounds like frigin Baghdad. For christ sake people this broad needs some rest! I am going absolutely crazy, and when I get crazy I get CRAZEEEEEE!!! Just today at Valvoline I got batty, and way tired and super cranky. The bastards told me 5 minutes to do some job that I know for a fact i didn't need but they bullied me into it. The 5 minute job took well over an hour. I lied and made up a story about how "my kids are waiting for me ALONE at school." hahaha whatever they don't have to know. I just said "next time I appreciate your honesty, please don't lie to me." Then I huffed and puffed alot. Then I felt bad about it. Oh I am so tired. Night

5-0

2010-01-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

Not sure if I mentioned that the cops showed up at our house last week. They were banging on the door while Brian was working and were looking for a woman who used to live here. Apparently she was a really good time cause she had a few DUI's and did not show up to court so she had a warrant out for her arrest.

Cut to today.

I decided to cook a soup and was shopping for the ingredients at the store when I get a text from Bri "call me its URGENT". However when I called he was yet again speaking to the police. This time it was a murder. Apparently a woman was killed across the street from us. They were focusing in on Saturday night which was the random black out that we had in the neighborhood. When the lights went out we decided to walk the dog cause there was nothing else to do. I had the flashlight and put it on much to Bri's chagrin because I was spooked. I did not want to suprise anyone in the dark so I lit it up. We told the police that we were walking by at the time they may be thinking. Once I saw the house on the news I was sure that it was one that we walked by that had the garage door open. I thought it was weird since the electricity was out. This was also the first time that we ever walked up on this street cause its across from us but to get to it we have to go up a little hill. So this womans back yard faces us. I am spooked and feel so terrible for her family and friends. I am hoping I can walk down the street tomorrow to jog my memory a little bit. I am wondering how they are determining Saturday, and thinking about the other day that I was out for a run I saw a strange man going up that street. He had no shoes on his feet which was odd because it was pouring. He kept looking around like someone was chasing him. I kept my eye on him to make sure he was not following me he was that creepy. Not to mention we live in a million dollar neighborhood where it is mostly families and older people and he did not fit the norm around here. I have already left one message for the detective maybe I will tell them that too.

Anyways we will be locking up these doors nice and tight tonight!

Yesterdays workout was great. I was all screwed up because we had our team workout on Sunday AND it was at 1:30! I don't think my body has ever worked out at that time for a long period of time. It was like sitting around watching paint dry to just get going. We did a 4 mile bike ride which was mostly uphill so that was good. Then we did a 1.2 mile run nice and flat. We did 4 repeats and I was pretty beat. We were supposed to push it on the hill that we ended on then push it running to the turn around point. I did not have my garmin yesterday (SOMEONE unplugged it to plug in their electric razor to shave their beard.......hmmmn WHOM COULD I BE TALKING ABOUT) so I am not sure how fast I went but I felt like I was running under a ten minute mile which is rather good for me.

We finished up and did what every triathlete does...went to In-N-Out for a burger, fries and a milkshake. I was SHOCKED at how many people turned us down at the idea, even looking at us like we were crazy. I mean I thought about a double double animal style after loop 2 for christ sake!!

Needless to say we got home and I felt ILL!! I was in the shower thinking "geesh I really could use a massage" I was achy and sore. When I got out to my suprise Roz the amazing masseus was at the house! Apparently I forgot that I scheduled a massage for us! YIPPEEEEE!!!!

It was marvelous, but made me really doubt my mental status. I have been sooooo forgetful lately! The other day shopping I swiped the same debit card I have had since the beginning of time with the same password and I kept getting denied and they would tell me "sorry wrong password" I basically told all 3 cashiers that they were in fact the crazy ones. I even called the bank and went to a local one but they were closed. After many hours I remembered that they had changed my number like 6 MONTHS AGO!!! I remembered the number but could not for the life of me recall why they changed it. Lord help me!

mr sun sun mr golden sun

2010-01-23T08:01:00.001-08:00

Sunny San Diego has not been so sunny this week. It has stormed for about 5 straight days with crazy winds, hail, thunder, lightning, and some crazy surf. We lost electricity a few times and I have to say, it wasn't fun ESPECIALLY when it happened on my favorite night of TV!! Anyways because it sucked so badly weather wise it meant rediscovering my inside activities. I reupped at the pilates studio and got a good workout there tuesday morning before work and managed to to a tempo run around the neighborhood between storms. Wednesday was the night that we lost power and had some pretty horriffic storms so I did not make it to the pool.

I did however have an awesome phone call on Wednesday with a intuitivist. Its like a psychic but they don't really call themselves that anymore. She was incredible and please spare me how you feel on the topic because I don't really give a shit. People are allowed to believe what they believe and I find it incredibly rude when people slight things that I know and feel because they are not comfortable with it. Don't quite know why people feel the need to do that but to each his own I guess. Anyways she was incredible, we did it over the phone and she was actually able to pinpoint all the weird health issues I have been having, and also gave some pointers to help with the head/stomach and vertigo stuff. That was basically worth its weight in gold. She also does medium readings and after the first reading I had with her I think it will be an amazing one. I have another call with her in a few weeks where we will be chatting with my mom and hopefully some others! Again people spare me your feelings on this. I have had some experiences with people who have crossed over, and it started when my mom was sick. These experiences helped me to cope with her passing, and have helped me to hone in on that kind of energy so that I can try to open that bridge for other people. Until you have lost someone so close and dear to you I don't think you can understand how important it is to keep that connection with them. And there are certainly ways of doing that.

Okay minor rant there! Our workouts got all screwed up this weekend due to weather. We will not be able to swim in the ocean this weekend. Apparently after storms like this it takes about 3 days for the levels to be safe to swim in the water without getting some sort of disease. So we are doing our brick workout on Sunday and I am heading to the pool now! I think I see the sun!!! WHOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!

fear not

2010-01-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

We survived our first ocean swim! While I despised these swims last year, I decided to totally change my attitude and embrace and learn to love the open water ocean swims. It is not the open water thing, because I love getting into a lake or other body of water without the threat of death by large animals. I used to love ocean swimming and would get in all the time and swim. Then I got old. Not sure what it is about getting old that brings on strange anxieties. I struggle with heights, and claustrophobia big time. I try to face those fears often and the heights thing is getting better. The claustrophobia thing...not so much. I take stairs whenever I can. My Dr thought I was nuts when I went to see him for severe chest cough/asthma and even though they were on the top floor I still took the stairs. The only time I have needed medication was when I went in for an MRI and I stand by that decision, but think that meditation and deep breathing can pretty much get me through the rest. Although the meds made it really fun, I mean what isn't fun about falling asleep in your plate of pasta.....at a restaurant...

Anyways I have digressed. Back to my fear of ocean swimming. Yes I used to pick triathlons that I knew were not in the ocean and that is pretty limiting, especially out here in California. I decided that mentoring this year would be the perfect thing so change my frame of mind. Now I am the one others are looking to when they are panicing. I have to lead by example. I can honestly say today was the most fun I have had in the open water in a very long time. I have not been on a tri team that is so supportive. I had to give one of my fellow mentors a heads up that I might need him while we were showing the example of how to break through the surf and then come back in riding the waves. I hadn't been in the water and it was cold. While it was still warmer than the water at my first tri, it was still 58 degrees. So apparently with this asthma thing I got going on it gets way worse in cold water. I felt that right away but remained calm and by the time I went in for the second time I was feeling more comfortable.

We practices about 3-4 times jumping dolphin style out to the waves and then diving under the waves and then out about a hundred yards. One of our coaches was on a kayak so we swam around him and then back. I just hung with my swim buddies and we made it back into shore. We then practices riding waves and I was a pro. I felt like I was a kid again...it was awesome. Another awesome thing was doing this with Bri. He did so well, its not easy doing this. He has a very large fear of open water but you never would have noticed this today. He had his first experience doing this in a wetsuit which is challenging at first because it is so constricting so it makes you feel like you can't breathe, plus the cold water equals a major panic attack. But he got through it and swam right past me! Even after we were done he wanted to go back out for more. Such a Stanimal! At one point he looked at me and said "you would be so proud of me" and right then I knew what he meant. He had his first pee in his wetsuit! Popped that cherry! AHHHH it feels so good!!!

We got out of the water and poured some hot water on us and it felt sooooooo good. Amazingly enough my hair was still dry. I wore two swim caps to keep my head warm and even though I felt like I was losing blood to my brain cause it was so tight, it was definately nice not having a wet head when we were done!!

Very happy to know that the water in Hawaii will be at least 20 degrees warmer than today. I can hardly wait!!!

In other race news I signed up for the San Diego rock n roll half. Its the first year they are doing a half. I also signed up for the San Diego International Triathlon. Both are in June which are the only two weekends that I am not travelling for weddings.

Somebody has to fall

2010-01-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

My wonderful husband woke up yesterday to join me at our brick workout, despite the fact that he had gotten about 3 hours of sleep the previous night and then flew back from boston. We met down the street and listened to a truly inspirational mission moment from one of our teammates. Makes us realize how lucky we both are that despite losing our moms we have our family to support us. We dried our tears and left for our ride with my teammates mom's name written on our hands. I was the "sweeper" for the team which means that I stay with our slowest rider and cheer them on. I have to say, it is not easy. Biking is a weird sport. It is not easy to keep up with others whether they are faster or slower. I will consider it a good base building ride because my heart rate was at a resting pace most of the ride despite there being some climbs. We rode the Del Dios highway which heads east through some beautiful rolling hills then opens up to the below picture.

I love this ride. There are some nice climbs and tons of bicyclists to watch. At one point there was a group of guys going down as we were going up and one dude actually was off his seat crouched down on his tube going about 40 mph. It was insane to watch and I can only imagine the kind of damage he would do if he hit a bump. I guess some people take the whole aerodynamic thing to the extremes.

Anyways we made it to our destination after a few hours. When I pulled up everyone was showing me Brian's bike because all his spokes inhis rear wheel came loose. He realized this when he was going downhill and luckily stopped when this happened. THe coach tried to repair it as he was off for his 5 mile run. The wheel that he put on was not a good match but Brian did not realize this until he was trying to grind up a 14% incline hill. This is the site of where Bri fell off the bike. He is okay, just a little road rash on his shoulder and ass. I got to see him right after and he along with me was wishing I was there to see it. It would have been a real good laugh! I am such a good wife.

We walked at the lake for our transition and then I headed back west with my teammate. THe ride back was a little more brutal than the ride there because she was tiring, but powered up the hills little by little. By the time we got back I was frigin starved! I was not expecting a 5 hour day so I did not eat enough or bring enough with me. Bri had to get a ride back to our car so I just hit up the local pizza/brewery and waited for him to get me.

Good times! Today is our first open water swim! The water is about 55 degrees! BRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

is it ow or ough?

2010-01-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

I went back to Rehab United, the same place I went last season every Tuesday for a spinning/lifting beatdown by my favorite Scottie. This year is a little different, its two days a week and its mostly strength training. It was embarassing. Most people are on their 12th week or so. Me, not so much. We did a circuit of about 8 different moves which targeted every area of your body. At one point we used a hell contraption on wheels, the godforsaken abs torture device. You put your feet on it and it slipped in every direction possible and we were supposed to drag our legs in the plank position across the room. It was like doing the whellbarrow on crack. The frigin thing was going every which way, I couldn't balance nor keep myself going and tore up my knees falling off the damn thing over and over again. I swore. I swore alot. Scottie tried to root me on, I just swore some more. I finally pleaded when it came to the 3rd time around "there has to be an easier way" sure enough most women were doing it on their knees. It was much better for my poor core and back. An absolute pitiful debut at RU. After we did the circuit 3 times I thought we were done and was feeling like I was going to pass out and had a charlie horse in my quad. Nope we weren't done, we went on and did abs and THEN we were done. Oye. I thought I was all good today but as the day wore on it is getting harder and harder to move, to sit, to cough. Must mean I did something right! No shocker I ended up taking today as my off day so I can heal up a bit and will do a spin/swim tomorrow and hopefully loosen up these tight muscles. I am going to attempt to do this twice a week. I know how much stronger this class made me last season and I could use all the help I can get. We are halfway through our training and I just don't feel very strong yet swimming, biking or running. Hoping it all comes together. Until then I will continue to moan with every move! The flights are booked and we will be hitting up the Big Island AND Maui!!! I can't wait. Belle is excited too cause her papa is coming to doggysit...not sure if my dad realizes that she is not a real grandchild???? who cares she loves him!!!!

suck it brick

2010-01-09T19:35:00.000-08:00

Yes we realize how cool we are, especially me and my double jointed thumb. It is the only flexible thing on my whole body. I honestly cannot figure out who looks like a bigger tool in this...

Today was our first "brick" workout. I always thought it was called a brick workout because your legs felt like bricks when you go from bike to run..etc. Apparently that is not the case and it is because you are building foundation like bricks. I don't really see the correlation, really your legs feel like bricks, and often times there also feels like there is a brick in your stomach, or that you are going to actually shit out a brick. (Driving home from our first brick, he should really drive with his eyes closed more often)

Anyways we met up in Carlsbad along a beautiful beach where the swells were high which meant tons of surfers. We set up a transition area there and started off our workout. Bike along the coast for 6 miles then run 1.5 miles...in the sand. Yeah good stuff. Oh and we repeated that 4 times.

It was fun and I felt pretty strong, I only stopped because I was getting super hungry. I worked up quite an appetite with all of my performing. My buddy Mark on the team and I have started a new craze, dueling bicyclists. You know like a dueling piano bar, except its the two of us on the road seranading anyone and everyone that we happen to pass. So far we have been hitting up most of the hot 80s and 90s songs and even did some name that tune of childhood shows. At one point I requested I touch myself and dedicated it of course to the two senior citizens walking by. I think the surfers especially liked that one. Anyways it was a busy day so I think that the loud obnoxious singing was safer than wearing a helmet, because EVERYONE knew we were coming. I think that we should probably be on the Ellen show any day now. This should spread like wildfires.

Props to Bri for surviving his first brick workout. I am waking up early to meet my team for a run around Lake Hodges which will be the site of next weekends brick. Then its time for the Pats game and then...wait for it... ROZ IS BACK!!! Roz is my masseus/rolfer and I have to say it will be wonderful to have her back in my life to give a nice painful sports massage as opposed to an excruciating rolfing session! AND now in our new house we have a massage room! (well its just an extra bedroom that we really didn't realize we had and all that is in there are my weights, a foam roller and a wetsuit...pretty pitiful)

climb this ladder

2010-01-08T15:48:00.000-08:00

Swim workout Wednesday went by pretty quickly. We did a bunch of stuff and did a ladder: start building up in laps and hit the top and then go back down. Makes a long workout go by pretty quickly. Big fan. The worst part of the swims are getting out of the pool and the long walk to the bathrooms while freezing cold. In the car I decided I would tell Bri that I peed in the pool since we share a lane and all. To be honest, I can't think of a time that I hit water and didn't pee. I can just have peed (in a toilet) and the moment I hit water, especially cold water a little seeps out. I just can't help it and to be honest I really could care less. I could care less thinking that everyone else also pees in the pool. I just assume everyone does! Apparently they don't because Brian was repulsed beyond belief.

I told my friend at work and she went to "pool school" and said that she learned that pee gets taken care of within 3 seconds in the water. So pee away people! Cause if it doesn't come out in the pool it will just come out while I am running to the bathroom after getting out. Maybe I should just borrow the plastic diapers from school.

Speaking of diapers another friend of mine had a baby! Still amazes me that my friends, people my age, have kids....scary cause I still think i'm 16!

Big weekend of working out! We have a brick workout Saturday and starting next Sunday we will have bricks both days. Saturdays will be bike run and Sundays will be run swim. FUN FUN FUN!!

Going to be booking our Hawaii trip this weekend! WHOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I don't do math

2010-01-06T16:30:00.001-08:00

After a long weekend of riding (aka feeling like my girlie parts were either on fire or about to fall off) I decided to make Monday my "rest day." Probably a good idea being that it was the first day back to work after two weeks off. Tuesday was our track workout where we were focusing on "perceived effort". The workout was a warm up, abs and stretch and then 800 at pace which is a 10:16 (what I am supposed to run my tri 10K at), then 400 at 60%, 400 at 70%, 400 at 80%, 400 at 90%, 400 at 100% then a 800 60%, 800 pace. We were to tune into our body and see if we could feel the difference in these paces.

Okay so I cheated because I have a heart rate monitor and garmin so I pretty much know what my effort is by looking at my wrist. Coach kept stopping us after each lap and asking people what their time was yada yada yada. I was really not paying much attention cause I was watching my watch and running according to that. I did tune into how it felt. It felt easy at first and like I was about to die of an asthma attack by the end.....he didn't like that. But he was saying stuff like take that number and decrease it by 10 % and I just can't think about math when I am running. That is why I spent a paycheck and bought the garmin. HOWEVER just like the day of my HIM (thats half ironman for all you non triathletes) I basically raced against my garmin's 8 hour battery life not knowing what I would do if it ran out. I used to turn back if my radio or ipod went dead when running. Now I am getting that way with my garmin, and I hate that. I guess you never know what can happen with technology so you should know how to read your body. I am pretty sure I know what it all feels like now but basically I am releived to do a shorter race so that I can feel like I can push myself and run (as opposed to walking slowly during the HIM convinced I was going to die of heatstroke).

Had jury duty today and like travelling all last week wasn't bad enough I had to sit there pretending to not notice anyone around me (why do people do that its so weird, just look at me and smile maybe... wouldn't kill ya!) so that I would fit in. I got bored and went over to the library seciton and some tool actually came up and yelled "DUDE NO SCI/FI BOOKS?!"
That was pretty much the highlight of the day. THey did let us out early so that was good because I got to come home and get all the laundry and household chores that I didn't get around to this weekend done. Stupid work gets in the way of fun things like vacuuming, laundry and dusting.....Oh to be young again!

Off to our swim tonight!

all time new low

2010-01-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

Had another bike ride this morning in Coronado on the Silver Strand bike path. It is "lavaman specific" in that it is on the coast, flat and has a tail and then headwind. I thought it was a little peculiar when I was going about 20mph on the way out. I should have known....
THe turn around brought on some nice head winds which is what we will be dealing with in Hawaii as well so its good training. I have to say it was nice to be on a path where you don't have to keep stopping for red lights and such so it feels like a real race day kind of day. I passed some people, who cares that they were on bike cruisers and were like 80! I don't! Perhaps the most hilarious part of this ride was when I was on the way back and killing myself to go about 13 mph and I see a little boy (like seriously little, maybe 6?) and he is riding behind a large guy. As soon as I said "on your left" he looks back at me (mind you he was in bike shorts, shirt, and oakley sunglasses and a MOUNTAIN BIKE) gives me a sinister look, gets to the left of the guy he was riding behind and starts hammering it out. Of course I start taunting the kid saying things like "well look at you little Lance" so he kept it up. I have to say I had to work pretty damn hard to pass the little bastard, and went up about 3 gears and had to go about 16 mph to pass him. I was impressed. I can only imagine if the kid were on a road bike. I tried to take a picture but realized I would just embarass myself if I did that cause I probably would not have been able to overtake the 6 YEAR OLD!!!
Oh to be young again!
Well I have to rest my nether regions. Two days in a row on the bike have left me in a bit of pain. I also feel like I should note that I already have a tri tan. Its only January. I am going to have to do some serious beach time to get rid of these tan lines for all the weddings this spring!

75 and sunny again in paradise! Suck it snow!

OH-IO

2010-01-02T14:52:00.001-08:00

It seems as though Bri and I have a new tradition! The Rose Bowl! Last year we went to support penn state and this year our friends (our old neighbors from Medford) flew in for the big game. Gotta say its much more fun when the team you are rooting for wins!! Go Bucks! I totally fit in with my OH-IO t shirt that Christina loaned me and I LOVED the dances...I mean cheers for the Buckeyes. It was like the ymca but only better because EVERYONE was doing it! We left ass early to get there in time to walk over to the parade and made it to Pasadena in record time. The parade was fun and I think next time I might want to overnight it the night before and get a good spot for the parade. It is quite beautiful and I like to pretend I am black with the bands that go by. Sorry all you white folk but the all black bands KICK YOUR ASS!! Oh and the Mexican ones kick your ass too! We hot footed it back to our spot on the golf course to tailgate. While this tailgate was a bit different for me (only had a mimosa cause I felt sick still and wanted to be bright eyes and bushy tailed for my Saturday am ride) being sober but it was still oh so fun. What is better than enjoying sun and friends, silly game and all the cheese a girl could possibly eat?! My only gripe about the day was that we spent alot of money for the tickets and I almost felt like asking the couple next to us for half of the money we spent because we were practically sitting on one anothers laps. Now I am not bashing large people, but it was really unfortunate for all of us, especially Brian who was next to them. Oh well! We made it out of the lot without running over any drunk asses and had a few more laughs at the expense of others....SUCK IT LEXUS!! sometimes its fun to yell stuff at people even if they may or may not hear you!

Bri and I begrudgingly woke up today for training. I can barely swallow because now my throat has dots all over it (at least I can sort of breathe now thanks to my new inhaler). I sooooooo wanted to stay in bed but have missed too many trainings due to travelling and sickness. As our coach said "THE PARTY IS OVER!" and I am ready to get my ass in gear. I knew today would be tough but I rode with a great group and felt okay enough to sing some Debbie Gibson with my soul mate/teammate who loves Deborah as much as me! We rode down the coast and then hooked east for some fun hills. Stupid chain fell off 3 times but I really shouldn't be going into my granny gear (but hey I'M SICK!!) so I wont complain. The ride back along the coast was absolutely magical. I don't know if it is because we were recently back east, or just the pure beauty but it was truly something else today. I swear we live in paradise or heaven, one or the other. The sky could not have been bluer, the ocean prettier and then random waves that would crash close enough to us to spray us with mist while riding by. Ah yes San Diego I love you more and more with each passing day. It is so beautiful that our friends that were visiting are hoping to come back out here to live! wouldn't that be wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes it would!

Also we would like to thank all of you who donated to THe Leukemia and Lymphoma Society so far! I am always amazed by the generosity of others and pray that this year will be the year closer to a cure!

I am going to take the dog to the beach now since she has been rather neglected lately!!! I will spare you the photos for those of you from back east who are once again blanketed with snow! Whatever the weather be sure to get outside and enjoy the fresh air, whether with snow shoes or running shoes!

Its a new year so get off your ass and do somethin!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if you don't please do not sit in our row next year at the rose bowl.....

I kid I kid

The year in Review

2009-12-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

2009 was quite a year indeed. I have to say I am pretty pleased that the highs certainly outweighted the lows of the year. I never thought I would feel like I was home so far away from friends and family and boston but it is starting to happen, and I am relieved of that. Most of my years have been dominated by which endurance event I chose that year. 2009 certainly was a doozy on that front! I trained longer and harder than I ever thought possible for the Vineman half iron. I now actually like to swim bike AND run. I have met some amazing people along the way and so happy to have made so many tri friends. Living in this area, you are certainly exposed to some hardcore athletic people. I became more aware of that as I was watching tv and two triathlons were recently televised on network tv and on both of those I actually knew people on those shows. I am so lucky to be exposed to all of this and to continue to be able to participate in these sports and fundraising. Perhaps the best part of all is inspiring other people to feel that they can do the same. THat is the icing on the cake that a stupid shmuck like myself can make people feel like they can do anything. I do have to say I was pretty moved while watching ironman this year and actually contemplated that for myself, but fortunately 2010 means 6 weddings which we have to travel for so training would be null, but I may add another half iroman to my list for 2010.
-I got to travel to Cabo and vegas a few times for fun and Bri and I sort of got a mini honeymoon out of that but we are going to keep making excuses to get away for a "honeymoon" since being away with 80 family members for your wedding does not equate a "honeymoon."
-raised a ton of money, got into really good shape and completed a half ironman!
-I turned 3o and had a fantastic time drinking way too much, acting really stupid and dressing like an idiot!
-I got to see the Ellen show AND will be on a wipeout episode this summer!
-We travelled home to Boston a ton which makes living so far away that much more bearable. It really isn't that far. I was able to do a few impromptu visits for fun, and a few for some not so fun stuff.
-This year I had to say goodbye to Nana who I miss every single day. I was so lucky to be so close to my grandparents, it was such a gift to be able to be a part of the good bad and the ugly times with them. Family dynamics change more and more for me but the best part nowadays is the neices and nephews and all the new little ones to focus on.
-I also had to say goodbye to a friend Connie who loved reading this blog and whom I hope I can continue to amuse. It was a gift to be able to be part of her life and that I was able to share some time with her before she passed. It has also been a gift to be able to support her daughters, and my friends through this process that is really never ending. I did not have anyone in my immediate life that had been through the loss of a parent (at the time) which is why the Team in Training means so much to me. THrough that I met Julie and Ursula andmany more who I felt instantly connected to because of this disesase.
-The highs certainly do outweigh those lows. We were able to purchase a "real bike" a harley for my dads 60th. No suprise there that he retired shortly after. I am so lucky to have had so many visits from my dad and apple this year and many friends.
-Work has been another gift and I am so lucky to be surrounded by friends every day at work. I love the kids I work with and am so inspired by their determination and spirit, even if they are beating the bag out of me, humping me, or yelling exploitives at me! Its all in good fun and I love what I do and how many people can honestly say that?
-I am so happy to have Brian join me in 2010's endurance event and so proud of his accomplishments so far (like already losing 25 pounds without even trying!!) I hope we can raise more money than last year! We will continue to be inspired by those we train for and with and are looking forward to our friend Keri to say she is cancer free in 2010. That will be a great gift!
Everyday is a gift and noone knows that like us! We look forward to all that 2010 has to bring and know that Hawaii will be on the top of that list!

Speaking of Hawaii, there is an anonmymous donor that is doubling all donations up until the 31st for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. People are so generous despite "these hard economic times."

Take advantage of that and a tax deductible donation before the years end by donating to our cause!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/lavatri10/bmerrilsti

Our best to you and yours this new year! We will be celebrating once again at the Rose Bowl with our friends!!! Looking forward to all that is in store for us and for 2010's highs!!!

coast to coast

2009-12-29T22:02:00.001-08:00

This week was quite a whirl wind per usual. Going home for the holidays feels more like being pimped out like a two dollar whore. In good travelling fashion I was sick the entire week which made travelling really fun and seriously cut into my plans. I guess you might as well be the person coughing the entire time on the plane rather than giving dirty looks to the "a-hole" who gets on a plane sick. Anyway I figured a quick recap with pictures would do more justice than my banter.

Flew in Saturday night right before Boston got about a foot of snow dumped on them. Fortunately I did not dig out our winter gear until AFTER my dad and apple shoveled.....hehe

My wonderful husband bought me two tickets to the New Kids concert and I had SO MUCH FUN! I did more damage to my throat but got nice and drunk with Kyla who hadnt seen them since she was 12. Lets just say, they still got it!

JOEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

We sucked it up during the storm and went to the gym. This was the same day that my cough emerged. Really fun to swim while not being able to breathe!!!

I had a sleepover with Elizabeth and taught her to pleaye(not sure how the hell you spell that but it is a ballet move). She was way fun and we were surrounded by cute kids all week and no we still don't want any, but thanks for asking!!! Oh and I taught elizabeth to say "I need palm trees in my life" in the hopes that mom and dad or papa will take her to visit me soon.

Went to see santa and this dude seriously had me fooled.

Went to disney on ice with papa! I think I was just as mesmerized as she was.

Flew back through LA. The only thing that I said would make having to drive to and from LA besides saving a ton of money, was if we saw a famous person. As we were waiting for our bags Bri says "don't look now" which to me meant "SOMEONE FAMOUS DONT BE OBVIOUS. OH MY GOD WHO IS IT JT? DEBBIE? BRIT BRIT?" but no.....it was Toby from the show The Office. Still a fun thing but not as exciting as the others. Of course I had to go up to him. I think it is important to go up to famous people and tell them who they are in case they forgot "hey you're toby"

That was fun.

Now I continue to hack up lungs. I think I peed myself from coughing so hard at least 10 times this week and continue to do so. I finally went to the dr and he said its likely a bad chest cold that is triggering asthma. I have not had to use an inhaler in about 10 years and I am praying it does not spark a recurrence of asthma like when I was young. I am taking hits from the inhaler and hoping it helps. If it doesn't help in a few days I think they will put me on antibiotics. I went running sand intervals with the team since I only squeaked out a swim and a bike ride at the gym this week. It was hard. Turns out its kind of important to be able to breathe in order to run. I took it easy and tried not to talk too much. Some dumbass smartalleks were teasing me by running behind me mocking me. I told them I had a taser and wasnt afraid to use it. That was fun.

Our friends are in town for the rosebowl so we are going to be touring around sd this week! Yay to visitors! Next year I think we will petition early for christmas visitors. I must say it was quite nice to come home to 70 degree weather.

Happy belated Merry Christmas to all!!

big shoes to fill

2009-12-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

This week was long and hard but oh so worth it. Workouts whatever whatever we swam we biked we ran. School was where it was at. Thursday was our holiday show and I was the emcee for the second year running. I killed it, had the crowd laughing, crying, ok maybe not but it was super fun. I mean I got the crowd to do the wave. YOu have to be creative when you have hundreds of special needs kids (with serious behaviors might I add) all up on a stage to perform. They were so impressive and it was just so special to be a part of it and to see how happy their parents are. It is so difficult for them with kids who are "special" but during the show they are just like any other kid doing a show and they shined like the super stars that they are!

Like Thursday wasn't long enough with the show (we set the place up, decorate, move heavy things like treadmills, set up tables and chairs the list goes on) I also got a cold this week. Fun!
Today I was the school elf because the usual elf (who is short and super cute) called out sick so I was filling the elf shoes. It was soooooooo fun. Only a few kids tried to attack santa, and only one ran from him screaming. It was just hilarious to see the kids get all excited. What a fun job. After that we continued to spread the holiday cheer by putting together the food/toy drive boxes for the children at our school who really need the help. Such a special place to put all of this together and I am just lucky to be a part of it. I mean comeon, I get to dress up like a fool and pretend that I am a stand up comedian AND get paid for it! Gotta love it.

We are soooooooooo looking forward to travelling back to Boston for the Arctic Blast/BLizzard! Should make for some interesting travel stories!

roger rabbit

2009-12-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

Last week was a bit of a wash for working out. I suffered it out on the trainer on thursday and the only good thing about waking up at 5am was knowing i had an episode of Glee to watch. Its a good thing I did a morning workout cause by each night I was totally assed out so I was in bed pretty early all week and missed a few workouts. I must have had a little bug coming on cause Friday just around time for our work luncheon I got pretty sick to my stomach. I did decide to drink some ginger based alcoholic beverages, but no such luck, I still felt like puking. I hung around long enough to dominate on the pool table but made it home early enough to practice my tire changing skills on the bike.

Saturday morning was supposed to be a tire changing clinic and Torrey Pines hill repeats. We only got around to the tire changing (took about 3 hours) in the pouring rain before our coach decided that hill repeats would not be wise in the inclement weather. THANK GOD cause I puked in my mouth all morning and felt like death warmed over. I did however learn how to change my tire. I have always known, but it usually involves alot of swearing, really dirty hands and broken nails. I am a frickin pro now!

We pretty much prepared for our team party for Sunday. I managed to get on the trainer a bit and decided to take it easy later on when some teammates met me at the house to run the lagoon. I walked it with one of my mentees and his wife and made belle come along. Needless to say we were covered in mud but had i ran I would have been suffering.

The party was a great time. Tons of food. I actually felt kind of jiggly today, thats not good. Must stop eating every sweet in front of me. I learned how to do the backwards running man (video to come), it kind of looked like a messed up roger rabbit but i was impressed with my skills, oh and got slightly buzzed which was really fun. It was a super late night for me though (10pm...ouch) so I am so very tired today.

Gotta suck it up and get into the pool tonight. No slacking this week cause next week we are home!

its what janet does

2009-12-09T17:47:00.001-08:00

Sand intervals. Mighty interesting way to spend a blustery cold tuesday evening. We met the team at Mission Beach and warmed up a bit and ran about a mile. This interval session was "lavaman specific" because the last mile is on sand. Not sure if you have ever run in sand? but its hard, and your heart rate hits the roof, and it hurts your legs, but it was fun!

We would run on the boardwalk for recovery, but then hop onto the sand til the next opening. I will not mention what bri did when he jammed his knee in the sand, oh okay he threw his water bottle. It was fun trying to explain to our teammates that when he hurts himself it is not okay to speak to him for at least a few minutes. I now just wait til he starts talking. Stupid knees. ANyway he powered through and made it almost the whole run. We did about 5.5 miles of sprinting in the sand and recovering by jogging on the pavement.

Perhaps the highlight was running with my new tri friend M.A. He completes me and let me tell you why. HE KNOWS DEBBIE GIBSON!! I knew I liked this kid! Oh and he has met Ms Jackson a few times and just danced for her in a flash mob at the AMA's. It was meant to be people. We are hosting a team party at our house this weekend and I promised to adorn the purple suit and dance to electric youth as long as he videod and promised to send to DG. She is soooooo going to want to hang out with me. I am such a good time.

G F Y

2009-12-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

In an effort to explain how our bikeride went on Sunday I would like to explain a little something and give some background. Okay so there is a term my old neighbors and I termed a few years back..."GFY. "This stands for "Go F*#* Yourself." This came up once when I was aggravated with my dear husband and instead of saying the whole phrase decided to give it an abbreviation.Making it less offensive and more playful but still helping me feel like I did something naughty. Lets face it, sometimes you just need to tell someone to GFY.

Saturday our team did a bunch of intervals and since we did not get much mileage in I decided to put together a ride to do around our new neighborhood. WELL lets just say I did not check out the elevation, and I did not factor in that we are at the very beginning of our training still. Anyhoo Bri did great, but at one point flew by me on a steep downhill and did not give me the bike etiquette of "ON YOUR LEFT" to let me know. Instead he scared the shit out of me and I then retorted with "thanks for the heads up!" He retorted with "I SAID IT JODES!" Well that is the hard thing about biking. You see the wind is a factor and unless you yell you can't hear shit. So don't bother talking to me on the bike cause I can't hear you. Which brings me back to the GFY.

Since I knew he would not hear me I threw out a few GFY's and maybe a "DICK" or two. Its all in good fun. I mean lets face it, we were on a 2.5 hour ride that I projected to be about an hour. I had a raging headache and not enough fluids. Oh AND I was hungry. A real recipe for disaster. I got us lost a whole bunch of times and actually had to clip out of my pedals once to walk up a hill. I have not done that since I started biking. In our defense it was at the end of our hellish ride and we still had our neighborhood of hills to get up. Needless to say we both collapsed to the floor when we got home and did not get up for a very long time despite having to pee for the previous 2.5 hours.

Oh speaking of gfy's I would also like to give major props to the behind the back flipping of the bird. I do not like conflict but sometimes I like to swear. So whats a girl to do? Flip people off behind their back. Do it with both hands at the same time and I swear it will make you feel SOOOO much better. I asked some other people how they felt about it and I think I started a new fad of the btb birds (thats behind the back).

Well we are off for sand intervals tonight. Ironic that we are doing this on the biggest loser finale night!

Today

2009-12-02T17:43:00.000-08:00

I had a hilarious day at work in which I felt like I was at an improv session. We are being sex ed trained and while this is fantastically useful for us and our population and keeping them safe and helping them to build relationships, it ALSO brings me back to my immature days. I take the class with two of the most twisted individuals I know and we did not hold anything back today. We had to pretend that we were the possible students or "consumers" that we would run this class with. Which meant lots of swearing, talk about penis, and me betting one of the teachers 5 bucks that he would not hump someone/thing by the end of the day (we take this class with a bunch of other people as well). It was fun we'll put it that way.

During that class I realized I had dog poop all down my shirt (one of the teachers brought her dog and I had him on my lap). That was awesome. Then I had to run out of work because I thought I was late for my dentist appointment. Ran into whole foods to grab some soup so that I would not starve as it was already 2. Literally shove it down my throat in the car, spill carrot soup (yes it stains) all down my front and on car seat etc. Get into the office in which the receptionist says "you do know you're an hour early?" Yeah lady, I look all disheveled for NO REASON, I RAN HERE just so I would be an HOUR EARLY! I called myself a jackass and went back out to the car to see if there was anything else to eat and to not sit there and be judged by the receptionists. I had the car radio on so I could listen to "santa baby" for like the 10th time today when all of a sudden my car shut down. I had killed my battery. Had to go back into the office that already thinks i am an idiot and ask if they had jumpers. A wonderful young college student rose to the occasion and helped me out. I did not even know how to open the front hood of the car. Turns out VW's are a bit diff looking and I could not even find the battery. The young man came to my rescue yet again. Before I knew it the hour went by and I was in the chair getting my invisalign consult. I thought it would cost like a grand,, maybe 1500??? NOT SO MUCH!! They pretty much convince me that I need it and that it will help with the jaw pain i am having. THEN I was asked to sit in a room much like a car dealership and they told me it was 5000....dollars. I quickly retorted with "do you even know what kind of tri bike I could get for that?" and then "if we are talking cosmetics, I would MUCH rather put this towards a boob job." I did not get a laugh. I will have to think about this. If it is merely for the look I could care less, but if it can possibly help the TMJ issue I would consider it but that is ALOT of money.

On the training front we had a tempo run last night. Turns out if you are tall or have long legs your "pendulum" is longer and therefore you are slower and have a slower cadence. TOTALLY makes sense why shorter people can absolutely smoke my ass! Anyways it was quite fun because there were two other girls, AND they were younger than me, AND they are super fun that are my exact same pace. SOO we got to do our 1000 m intervals at our 10K pace minus a few together!! Apparently the coach thinks we botched our mile time trial because we should not have been talking so much. Will have to learn not to talk when we run past him. We kept being referred to as "charlie's angels" so of course I kept throwing the gun pose up and a few hair tosses. We ran at basically a 9 -930 minute mile pace. It was fun. I like tracks

Tonight we are off to the pool!

the week in pics

2009-11-30T16:22:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving week in pictures:

Belle stood by Papa's pocket most of the week and has probably gained 10 pounds in pupperoni's. Santa Ana's were here at the beginning of their trip which meant warm beach weather.

Bri's smoked turkey. She was delicious!

Papa taught the dog to climb trees, because she needs to do that right? (notice the pupperoni's on the tree)

We FINALLY convinced my dad to try sushi. After many bad looks at us he agreed and I nearly peed myself watching him and apple attempt to use chopsticks.

Apple had to use a fork, but she ate it!!

Bri and I bought one of the biggest trees we could fit on the car. A 9 footer. Luckily my dad was here to help put it up for more comical entertainment. Typically this involves much swearing, it was at an all time low....BOOOOOOOOOO!

We did a bunch of workouts this week, swam on Friday, ran on Saturday because it was monsooning here and rained for the first time in over 160 days! Oh and it was windy as hell so our ride was changed to a run through the lagoon. Bri ran 5 miles with me and therefore could not walk on Sunday. I went to the bike ride along the bike path with my team. Something one should not do....ride up an on ramp to the I-5 thinking it was the parking lot. .....OOPS! SUCH an airhead sometimes!

On a more serious note, today was a very difficult day at school. A teacher passed away in her sleep Sunday morning. I feel so badly for her family knowing how close she was to her daughter and especially for those at school who were extremely close to her. You just never know how much time you have here. My heart goes out to her friends and family members.

oh I almost forgot. I decided to make the dog wear my goggles for our fundraising letters/holiday cards which will be going out this week. But hey bri wouldn't let me buy her the super cute $60 red holiday dress I saw at the store.

negative nelly

2009-11-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

negative nelly much?! So I met my friend LG at the pilates studio at 6am thinking i'd get a good workout in since dad and apple are here for the week. Welllllll lets just say I was not super positive. The workout is hard, its different everytime which is a great thing, but I went sour at the end. It was aggravating that the instructor who is super sweet and helpful HAD to help me for just about every move. I was all done and so were my abs. At the end it was like a verbal diarrhea "I hate this, I hate everything about this. This is too hard. I am not made for this. This sucks" you get the picture. Pretty sure I said it all and felt so bad about it after as the sweet instructor tried to lift my ego a bit and tell me I just needed to go to the technique class to learn the correct ways to doing some of the tougher moves. I just need a body transplant honey! I seriously spend the whole 45 minutes trying not to fall off the machine and breaking my neck.

Onto better things its Thanksgiving! AND I have family here! AND we all went out and bought a bunch of pies without telling the other and currently average one whole pie per person!!!!

Gotta squeak in some workouts this week but lets face it, its all about eating and wearing elastic waist pants. Luckily the Santa ana winds are here which means unseasonably warm weather so we are off for some fun in the sun!!

A new reason

2009-11-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

Every year when I sign up for a new event with the LLS I know that I am going to meet even more people with the disease. What I don't expect is to have friends be diagnosed. This year our fight against this disease is even more personal. Our friend Keri from Boston, whom has been Bri's co worker/friend for years was recently diagnosed with b-cell lymphoma. This type affects mostly women in their 30's. How many 30 year old women do you know? The face of leukemia and lymphoma is not just the little kids, its your friend, your sister, your wife, your gf, your cousin, your coworker, your aunt, your neice and the list goes on... Keri is keeping an extremely positive outlook and attitude towards this and has already started treatment. I hope and pray that around the same time we are crossing the finish line in Hawaii that she is crossing her finish line and will be cancer free. I know that her journey with this disease will fuel our desire to train and fundraise so that this disease will be DUNZO!

If you want to do something about it. Go to our fundraising page and make a donation:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/lavatri10/jmerrill

We also have a fundraising portal set up. This means that anytime you do online shopping you can go directly through our portal and find pretty much anything you are looking for and each site offers a certain percentage that goes directly to our fundraising.
http://jbmerrill.mytnt.org/

On the training front things were pretty quite, a few early morning rises to get on the bike. Yesterdays training was all about safety on the roads so we practiced that going back and forth on the quiet roads before our ride next weekend along the coast. Today we will be running the trails at our house and preparing for the arrival of Al and Apple for thanksgiving week!!!! Which also means I gotta get some shit done around the house! Happy Sunday!

TT Tuesday

2009-11-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

Busy busy week we are back in action baby. Monday night we had our first swim. It is definately getting cold at night and although the water was warm it was frickin freezing getting out of that pool. We did some time trials and gosh darnit I am frigin slow at swimming. Can only get faster from here on out. I did a 2 minute 100 yards. Not only that but I felt like I was dying. I was swallowing the water from Bri's wake but still. We have to cover the pool up when we are done which takes about 20 minutes and SUCKS. I try the whole time to not end up underneath the covers where I will die of a panic attack. Somehow I always end up on one end by myself while 6 people pull from the other end. I was spent after the workout and then the frigin pool covers so I could not even get out of the pool (its really high up) so I had to have to guys pull my arms up (yes I think bri was already in the showers at this point..along with most of the team argh!) and I got pool rash all along my stomach...AWESOME! We went out for some team bonding and its going to be a great training season.

Tonight was another time trial at the track. We met up and had to set up a few lights since it was pitch black at the track. Always fun. We did some warm ups about two miles or so and then did some ab workouts, then we were all lined up and off and running. Fortunately I had done a bunch of track workouts last season so I can kind of gage my energy so that I can pull off a negative split and basically go balls out the last few laps. I always like to finish a run or race or whatever really strong so that I feel competitive for at least a few minutes. Its fun even if you get passed the whole race if you do that you will no doubt finally get the chance to pass some other people. I got in the zone and ran my buns off and did a mile in about 8:50 mile pace. COach will do some crazy data collection and project what our 10k 5K and various other K's are for training purposes. Already learning quite a bit this year and given the fact that it is a shorter distance I am really going to try to push my limits and "race" and not just "finish" like all my other previous races.

The rest of the week is still kind of up in the air for me. BUt it will no doubt involve some form of swim, bike, run, yoga or pilates and htat just about covers it!

Schooled yet again

2009-11-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

Well smack my ass and call me judy cause Brian whooped my apple bum today! Last week I rode behind him on the bike, and that was okay. I know the last few times we swam he was faster (although I am sure I could go longer). And today the one part of the tri I thought I would have on him due to his bone on bone knee situation, the run, he again was in front of me most of the time. Granted I am trying to work on my base building and staying below 75% of my heart rate which means oh so very slow, but he was running around a 10-11 minute mile. Well okay then! We did a bit of a run walk because he was dressed rather warm for the hot sunny day it turned out to be. I better hope that his age group starts way behind me the day of the race because it would be amazing to finish together. There are a bunch of couples on the team which leads me to think that those who "tri" together stay together,,,,hahah GAY!!(and i do not mean that in an offensive way). It was pretty awesome to run with him today though, hard to believe that after I dont even know how many years, four maybe, that we have never gone out on a run before. Oh how times are a changing!!

If you would like to donate to my cause please visit the webpage:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/lavatri10/jmerrill

I also am trying to create my webpage on the TNT portal. What this means is that if you do any online shopping, you go through my portal and anywhere from 5-30% of that goes directly to my webpage for fundraising at no extra cost to you! They are even adding some restaurants to this as well. What better way to stay out of the malls and do some online shopping and help raise money towards a cure! Will share that with you as soon as its up and running!

playing catch up

2009-11-11T17:44:00.001-08:00

Okay trying to play a little catch up here. We moved to our new digs this weekend. Here are some pics!

and yes we realize how small the tv looks in this giant room, I am lobbying for a 60 inch.

The TNT kick off was last night and it is going to be a great group of people. It is just amazing that there are 4 honored teammates on the team who either have or have had a blood cancer, and are training along with us for Lavaman. I will make sure never to complain in front of them.

Since we had today off Bri and I set out for our first bike ride together. We fortunately live about 2 miles from the 101 which is some of the best biking around. We set out for an easy 12 or so miles. Bri was looking strong and was totally acting like he knew IT ALL. Good luck to his mentor, I was just trying to keep him from ending up on someones windshield but he apparently "learned it all in gym class" or some shit like that. It was a beautiful ride but we must remember in the future that the 2 miles back to our house from the 1o1 are some INTENSE hills. We are certainly going to get some good hill training done in this neighborhood.

We are loving north county so far and have already tried out a few restaurants in the area. Plenty of space for visitors!

We officially begin training this Saturday and lets just say I am a wee bit out of shape. I went to a 6am pilates class tuesday morning and I have never ever shaken like that in my life. It was slightly embarassing but more amazing to me. I felt like I had some control but then I would look at my legs and they were quivering. It was one of the strangest feelings I have ever had while working out. Not sure if it was the early morning, dehydration or just being totally out of shape that did it to me. Pilates Sculpt is now offering two morning sessions which will be great for me so I can still work it into my schedule once the tri training starts. I also have to incorporate yoga into the schedule. I had to go back to the ENT this week for him to once again tell me that i am "stressed." This so called "stress" gave me a giant ulcer on my tongue (yes it felt wonderful and was tons of fun to speak and eat all week) and my TMJ to spike up again. Sooooooooo I have to be better about being proactive on the yoga and what not because I dont even know i'm stressed until my body completely breaks down.

Thats it for now! Happy Veterans Day!! And Happy 58th (yes i calculated it was 57 and my dad called to inform me that my math skills sucked)birthday to my mom!