Give thanks...

There are SO MANY things I am thankful for this year, I could probably write a post eight pages long... but no one wants to read that do you? I'll save that kind of wordiness for my race reports :)

One of the things I am thankful for this year are the friends I have met through triathlon and blogging. It really is such a great community. I have been fortunate enough this year to meet more than a few of my friends who formerly only lived in my computer - KC, Beth, Summer, Colleen, Meredith - I am looking at all of you! :)

I stepped outside of my routine of training alone and went to training camps and met some great new friends and found new training partners. Now I am looking through my magic mirror and see Sarah, Kristi, Mari, Callie, Trisha, Robbie and Steve. So excited to train with you guys next year!

I am also thankful for each and every one of you! I love reading your blogs and following your training. You are a constant source of inspiration and ideas. For those of you who post such great pictures, I can only hope to be as good as you someday - ha ha! I will take more pictures, I will take more pictures, I will....

I hope you all had a great day. :)

5k domination...

Happy Monday Bloggies!  For most of you it is the beginning of a short work week.... enjoy!  I am sitting here waiting for the repairman to come fix our heater.  He came yesterday morning, adjusted a wire in our thermostat gave it his blessing as the heat was running at the time and left.  This morning, the heater is still not cycling on properly.  Luckily (or not luckily as the case may be) this is the one day we are both off each week so we have all day to lounge around and wait on him.  I feel bad for CR as I think he had big plans on going to do some go-kart racing at an indoor track and then catching Lincoln at the movies but it seems that might get delayed.  Fingers crossed that they show up quickly!

Over the weekend I did a fun 5k with friends.  I say fun but as it turns out one had big plans on total 5k domination...  ha ha.  Early last week I got an email about a 5k across town that some of my friends were doing and did I want to come out and support the group?  Sure, sounds like fun - who doesn't love a nice low key 5k I told myself.

Friday night, the tweets started.  "Going to bed early so I can DOMINATE..." followed by a tweet about carb loading and garmin charging.  I think the words "it's ON" were used by another friend.  Suddenly my leisurely 5k didn't seem so leisurely.  I knew I was in trouble as I had done boot camp Friday morning and by Friday night, the DOMS was already taking up residence in my quads.  I knew it was going to be a painful weekend.  Who needs to go upstairs anyhow?

I arrived at the race Saturday and assessed the situation.  Mari took off on a warm up run as I stood there and conserved my energy.  :)  Yes, she wasn't kidding about domination.  The race was pretty small, so small that I worried I might get lost if I couldn't keep the people ahead of me in sight.  We all lined up at 8:00 and headed down the road.  I don't have any real strategy to racing other than to break free of the crowd as soon as possible.  Not because it give me any advantage but because I just hate dodging people.  About a mile in Miss Domination cruises past me.  At the turnaround, I am counting women and realize I am 4th OA.  I do thrive in races with small participation....  My other friend Callie is right behind me in 5th.  Up and down a few hills and we are headed for the home stretch.  I see a shadow coming up fast behind me.  It is a guy making a sprint for the finish.  Why must they always do this to me?  I kicked it into high gear and sprinted down the chute to the finish just barely beating him.  Afterwards, he came up to me and congratulated me on the race.  He said he was trying his best to beat me until I kicked it in gear.  LOL.  I ended up 2nd in my age group (Miss Domination took first - as it should be...)  :)

Post race, we headed over for coffee and bagels before I made my way to Trader Joe's.  We have a few in the ATL area but none are really near me.  Once I realized there was one across the street, I couldn't resist.  Check out my new prized possession....  a brussel sprout stalk!  They look so much fresher than the ones sold in bulk.  Apparently you cut them off the bottom as you need them.  They will stay fresh on the stalk for 2 weeks.

I had such a fun day!  I don't think I have laughed that much in a long time.  I need to do group races more often.  Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving week!  My Disney marathon training starts this week.  I am running this one with another total DOMINATOR (KC) so I had better lace up my shoes and get to training.    Can't wait!

  

What's happening now...

I hate when I go weeks without posting.  I feel like there are so many things to tell you and that each probably deserves its own post; however, if I did it would take three weeks of post to catch you up.  Not that I have been oh-so-busy but I have done some fun things since B2B.  (I love how my life falls into these categories, "before B2B" and "after B2B").

The first weekend after B2B, I went to a Kona watching party on Saturday.  These are mostly friends I have connected with in the last few months through Blue Iron Coaching.  I am looking forward to doing more with them in 2013!

Sunday was a relay at the Atlanta Marathon with Colleen.  We had a team all lined up (Diet Coke mafia) and then life got in the way for two of our teammates leaving us with the prospect of each running a half on race day.  Colleen could have knocked it out no problem but one week after my 140.6 was probably not the best time for me to try out the legs for more than a few miles.  We ended up connecting with two other people who needed running partners through Team Type 1 and we created a relay team mash up.

Where are all the people?

Colleen with one of our teammates.  Apparently she is a super star biker, I was hoping some of it would rub off on me :)

The logistics to a relay are interesting, you have to kind of figure out what time everyone will run their legs in order to determine when you need to start looking for your runner.  It is extra interesting when you have never met the runner you are looking for...  luckily she ended up yelling out " Colleen?, Karen?" several times.  ha ha.  All in all a fun day!

Thank goodness for the buses.  It was soooo cold we waited in the buses until right before our runners rolled up.

Runners waiting for their teammates.  This really doesn't capture how many relays there were.  I think there might be more participants doing the relay than running as individuals.

Last weekend, I got to go down to IM FL to cheer on friends who were doing the race and also do some volunteering.  It was kind of whirlwind weekend.  I drove down on Friday to make a quick meet up with new and old friends at noon.

We then went for a late lunch ...

and a little course preview...

Kristi re-enacting the run from the swim to T1 in case you needed a visual.

After we got settled in to the condo, we proceeded to make signs for the next day...

and model costumes...

Kristi was a cone. 

Saturday was an early day.  I was on sunscreen duty at 6 AM.  Our job was to slather people with sunscreen as they came out of T1 to the bike.  It was a pretty cool gig as you got to see all the racers pass by whether they stopped for sunscreen or not.  After sunscreening, we were all pulled in to help organize the clothing bags so when the racers came back that night, they could easily pick up their gear.  Here is a tip for all you iron people out there...  write your number on the bag in sharpie.  Those labels they give you come off so easily with the slightest bit of water and the bags get super wet from the swim gear.  The sharpie might save you from losing your gear.


After I was off duty, I met up with friends and proceeded to stalk friends and cheer until the last one came in around 11:00 or so that night.  Spectating is a lot of work!  I wish I had worn my Garmin so I would know how many miles I covered walking back and forth during the race...

      

Regina, Joe and Callie

 The A-Train Cheering Section

        

Callie at the Finisher's Chute

Mari, Trish, Callie, me and Kristi

Which leads us to this weekend...  I was scheduled for a 50k on Sunday.  I had signed up a little while back using the logic that I could sort of use the IM training to get me through the run.  I want to cross a 50k off the list and this seemed the easiest way to do it - just piggy back it off of another race.  I was looking forward to it as it was a looped, paved course (it is rare to find a non-trail 50k).  Saturday as I was gathering my things together for the race - garmin, ipod, gels - the excitement had waned.  I could not get enthused about getting up super early to drive an hour across town.  By the time Saturday night rolled around, I knew my head was not in the race and I decided to scratch it from the plan.  I think my mind and body were just tired.  I had not had a weekend to just relax and I think that was what I needed more than a 50k run at this point.

Sunday I got up late did some chores around the house then headed out to Stone Mountain for a 10 mile run.  It was just what I needed, a long weekend around the house without any huge activities on the schedule.  BTW, I think you all should know I am now the Mayor of Stone Mountain on FourSquare.  I still don't understand the purpose of this app but yet I check in places from time to time.  Someone explain the point of it to me...  For my first act as mayor I am going to require people walking in groups to leave some space on the sidewalk for runners to pass.  You have been warned  :)