Thank you officer

So this week was filled with MANY workouts. I started to do a spin class with my bike and a trainer. Its basically a contraption that you put your bike on so it becomes like a stationary bike. I bought one a few years ago off craigslist. Turns out it sucks, I was leaning the whole time looking like I was about to fall off, and turns out I was about to fall off. So the wonderful professional triathlete that was coaching us told me not to do anything crazy on it. So I didn't. After class we did a strength class with one of their trainors, and it was like something from the biggest loser's last chance workout. So of course I got through it with lots of humor and grunts, but I did get through it. Wednesday night was another spin with my team and then a swim workout. We are swimming well over a mile so that is good. Even though it is California, it is dipping into the 40's at night. So right when we are finishing our swim, we get out into the cold air, and it is pretty comical to see everyone sprinting for their towels/hot tub/showers. So I was pretty much unable to move or sit down without grunting from being on the bike two days in a row. I am basically going to have a really sore ass for the next 5 months. I took Thursday off and did my run on Friday and was back at it on the bike this morning.
So last week I was awarded the "spirit" award from my team for my fundraising. I had to add something to a wheel and pass it on this week. I passed it on to my new friend Katie, and did a dedication to my mom and to one of my past honored heroes Lindsey who had open heart surgery this week because of complications from all her chemo she had the past 5 years. Anyhoo we took off for our 25 mile bike ride and it went very smooth. I had a good time and had fun chatting it up with Katie on our ride.
On my ride home is where it went a little south. I put my bike on the rack and must not have secured it enough. I was on the freeway singing, loudly, when I notice a cop behind me, when I take another look in my rearview mirror I noticed that my bike was not there, well it was there, but it was barely there. So for once in my life I was happy to see a cop behind me cause if it weren't for him I would no longer have a bike. And its a REALLY nice bike. So I made it over to the breakdown lane and the cop made sure I got there safely. My bike was literally hanging off the rack and was dragging by my back tire. Luckily I will only have to replace the tire. PHEW!!!
I drove home VERY slowly.

The boot, babies and bdays

So last week was the Ellen show. Now while I was told that you should dance crazy before the show, because Ellen is watching, it was apparently not in the cards for me that day. I was so super excited because while waiting for the show to start I realized that not only Jen Aniston would be on but Stevie Wonder, who I have been pretty obsessed with since childhood was also a guest.

Anyways we got to our seats, second row right in front and center. I danced, kind of like Chris Farley/Elaine on Seinfeld, and the producer came over to me with a not so happy look on her face. I decided it would be a good time to ask if I could "dance over Ellen's table", she looked at me in dusgust and said "no, don't move, actually please sit down." She then came back over and made me and my 3 friends move. I was then unable to sit on the end as well. FUN VAC!!

Anyways it was fine because we had a great view from our new seats, and actually got quite a bit of face time when they actually aired the show. The best part of the show was definately the commercial breaks where dance offs ensued. At one point they started playing Stevie songs right before he came on, and asked if anyone knew the words. Of course I raised my hand and practically fell out of our aisle and tackled the man with the mic. I got to perform my best and most exciting karaoke performance yet. 300 people, walking up and down the Ellen aisles, and actually dedicated it to Stevie who was in the same room as I sang Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

It was awesome. The 5 hour ride home from LA in the pouring rain,,,,not so awesome.

I got home and ran right for the airport for my suprise flight home to Boston to see my friends and family. I got to see new babies and celebrate bdays. Even though it was a super short trip with really long flights, it was great to be able to just hang with my friends and laugh til I almost peed. Good times.

Possibly the best laugh of the weekend was Nana almost getting beat up because she keeps calling a female resident a man "here he is Mr. America" and the woman got so pissed and started to get physical. I had to separate them and pleaded with my Nana to stop calling her "him". She looked at me totally serious and says "well Jody, i'm sorry, she has very masculine features." Good lord!

Stroke it

I had my first swim last night with the team. There are some pretty comical coaches so that makes it fun. We only have to share each swim lane with two other people so that is pretty fantastic. The pool is actually an outdoor pool in La Jolla, and its a salt water pool, pretty neat. The coaches taught us all the crazy strokes they want us to practice this season to make us more efficient. Anyhoo my mentor is the unofficial cameraman and is documenting the whole season which is great for me so I can post pics for you all!

On a way more fun note my friends Lisa and Matt had their baby girl Katherine Rose today! Can't wait to meet her!

WE WERE ON A BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so beyond excited right now! So I got tickets for the Ellen Degeneres show and will be attending the taping on Thursday but it will be aired on Friday. The guest??? JENNIFER ANISTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am completely still obsessed with the show Friends and any movie she does, and have been TEAM Aniston since the break up. So very psyched!

Had my first bike ride with the TEAM this weekend and I met a few more people and had a great ride with a very sweet girl, whose mother was ironically diagnosed with Chronic Leukemia a week after she signed up to do the triathlon. Crazy how things work.

I am hoping to get something cool as a giveaway at Ellen so I can try to raffle it off for my fundraising. Still have plenty to go!!!!

25 Random things boop boop be doop

So in case you live in a cave and don't know what facebook is, I will tell you. It is a social networking website, that I pretty much live for. I get to talk to all my friends, and we update what we are doing, so you really feel like you are still part of eachothers days. Recently there has been a forward going around in which you are supposed to share 25 random things about yourself and send it to your friends. I figured I would share mine, because they are ridiculous, yet all true, and I think I could keep going on and on but I did stop at 25. WARNING: They are almost all about either pee or poop, or both.

1. My first concert was Paula Abdul
2. I was OBSESSED with Debbie Gibson when I was younger. Each birthday and CHristmas my parents asked what I wanted and I would reply " I want to meet Debbie Gibson"
3. I met Debbie Gibson when I was 19, and yelled her name during the broadway show, then staulked her after. She needed a body guard because I was psycho, but I got a good pic with her. My dad sent me a picture of me dressed up as her and she autographed it.
4. I just saw the New Kids on The BLock BY MYSELF in San Diego and had a great time
5. My all time favorite CHristmas present was my LA Gear jacket in 2nd grade, I wear it any chance I can get (e.g. the new kids concert a few months ago, still fits)
6. When I smell parmesan cheese I think of my mother. I loved smelling her hands after she grated cheese.
7. I still pee my pants on a regular basis, sometimes from laughing too hard, sometimes because I can't get my pants off fast enough.
8. I once mooned thousands of people at once during our midnight madness, had a players name on my ass, and was told that next monday morning by my theology teacher (yes he was a priest) that he "saw a side of me that he never thought he would).
9. Speaking of inappropriate things in college. When my name was announced in college for my diploma, I walked up to the president of the school, also a priest, and grabbed his ass, and then squeezed it. My mother was sick and in a wheelchar, and BEGGED me not to do it. She was pissed for a long time, but i'm almost positive that she really thought it was funny.
10. I think its funny when my Nana makes inappropriate/sexual comments.
11. I call my dog "pooperhead" "stupidface" "sucka" "belleface"
12. I am not sure I will ever cook a meal again, Bri is way better at it and likes to do it.
13. I have awful anxiety attacks due to heights, but keep putting myself in those situations anyways.
14. I have fundraised almost $60,000 for The Leukemia Society in the past six years, and think its funny that when I google myself I come up under an "endurance athletes" website, who'dathunk?!
15. I have no shame in the fact that I still watch the Real World.
16. I like to cup my farts and smell them
17. My favorite topic to talk about is BM's
18. The silliest thing I did in high school was sneak onto stage with the show choir and butcher songs that I didn't know and have to jump off the podium and run away so I didn't get caught. 19. I was pretty drunk at my wedding, but it was in Mexico, so whatev!
20. I played basketball in middle school, I only scored 4 points
21. I have about 30 "best friends" and hope to keep making more
22. My favorite show is AMerica's Funniest Videos, nothing makes me laugh harder than a montage of old people falling
23. I win almost every single karaoke contest that I go to, and have even won one for an interpretive dance to total eclipse of the heart.
24. I have had a 20 minute conversation with Richard Simmons
25. I have peed in my back yard to help teach the dog about where we wanted her to go.

So I have my first bike ride with my team, we are doing 20 miles. My coach said we should do about 5% more than we have been. UMMMMMMMMM well that that would be about 2 miles. So we shall see how this goes. I realized I do not have proper biking clothing. So I went to a bike shop and picked up some bike shorts. Damn things feel like wearing a giant full diaper. While at the store I spotted this Betty Boop shirt. The one they had was WAY too small (picture a belly shirt) but I just found it online. Can't wait to sport this shirt in honor of a few ladies (you all know who i'm talking about). I think that with biking shirts, the more flamboyant the better!

Half diva

Hey everybody! I have to thank those of you who have already donated, I have already raised over $800 with plenty to go...(about $4700 more, but we'll get there!)

Today was the Carlsbad Half Marathon. Despite starting early at 7:30 am, it is a beautiful run, and the weather was perfect (cloudy and 60) for running. I started with my friend from work, who was running her first half ever. Of course I had to stop early on to pee, big shocker, so I ran way faster than normal to make up the 7 minutes it took in the line, to catch up with Melissa. I found her eventually and then powered on. The course is right along the ocean and is an out and back. A full marathon was being run at the same time so that was fun to try to pick out those who were running the full as opposed to the half. I was extremely inspired at one point when I spotted a man in a TNT shirt running with pretty severe cerebral palsy. This guy was fast, it took me a while to catch up with him, but I just had to do tell him how great I thought he was. He was not even verbal, but he was out there running. Absolutely amazing.

So I finished somewhere around 2:25, but I never stopped my timer for my porto potty run, so that means I am getting faster! yay! Good news since the next time I race, I will be doing 56 miles of biking before it!

Lots of TNT people out there. I can't wait to meet all my new teammates and coaches. I have my kick off on Tuesday night and start training next weekend! Not much time off but I feel like I am in good shape so who knows. Shall we start taking bets on my first injury?! NAH

Well I am off to do some more sitting on the couch and get ready to take Bri to the airport for his trip to Boston.

Puppy/Jody time! Gotta love it!

Found a great clothing line for female runners at the expo, check out their stuff. its my new fave t-shirt. http://www.runningdivas.com/

cold weather and please give me money!!

I am not going to even sugarcoat it, it has been the most amazing weather this week. Its not only amazing compared to the weather that is being reported from back home (ie snow and frigid cold). Luckily Erin was here visiting during this time and I was so glad that the weather cooperated. We pretty much went to the beach every day and I am now rockin a pretty nice tan. SORRY!

Anyhoo I have already started sending out my fundraising letter since I have to raise quite a bit this year. So here it is!

Since the past few years have involved nothing but life altering decisions (buy a house, get a dog, get married, sell the house, move to San Diego, turn 30) I figured it was only fit to go really big this year and participate in the Vineman Ironman 70.3, as part of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training(TNT). I will be swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56, and running a half marathon in beautiful Sonoma, CA.
This will be my sixth event with the TNT since losing my mom to multiple myeloma six years ago. As I sat at the information session in San Diego, I thought about who I was sitting in that seat 6 years ago as I was about to sign up for my first marathon in San Diego. I wonder what the older, more mature(sometimes) Jody would say to the young 23 yr old Jody. I think she would say this:
“Don’t sweat it, there is nothing that a few cortisone shots won’t fix!”
“You aren’t going to believe this but you are going to run the Boston Marathon 3 times after this.”
“Get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
“Oh did I mention you are going to do a triathlon too?”
“You will inspire other people to do this.”
“You actually win and learn to ride a motorcycle.”
“You will learn to love running, okay you will learn to tolerate running.”
“You are going to raise over 60K in just 6 years.”
“You are going to see people survive and thrive with the same disease that took your mothers life.”
I cannot thank all of you for your support I would not be able to fundraise or train for these endurance events without your help. Because of you, people have the chance to live, to see their kids grow up, to see them get married, to see their kids have kids. While it is the big things in life that make it difficult to be without the people you love, it’s the little things that you need to appreciate in the here and now.
I am going to continue my fight so that more people can celebrate the everyday occurrences that happen with family and friends. Help me to raise a whole bunch of money for this wonderful cause!
Be well in 09!
You can check my updates on my blog:
http://www.jodsandbri.blogspot.com/

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