Snotspray

Well I thought I'd add some humor/randomness to my blog to lighten the mood and share with everybody part of my training you may be unaware of.

For those who have ridden, you already know. Your nose runs. Even if you don't necessarily have a runny nose or sickness that day, your body decides to release it's mucous. I think it has to do with drinking lots of water when you're cycling and thinning your mucous... and going fast. And cold temperatures.

Most people resort to the infamous "snot rocket". Many runners do this as well. I quite frankly have not yet mastered this art. Upon attempt, usually I just get snot on my face. SO I pretty much just don't do it! I just wipe it on my gloves. Which is basically more gross :)

My loving fiance, however, is a master of the snot rocket. During runs, it does not affect me. However, during rides, I usually am fortunate enough to catch his snotspray. At first I was like, "WHOA, your snot just sprayed on me! SICK!" But now I'm just kind of used to it. After a year of training, there are certain bodily things that just don't gross me out anymore. That being said, I could really care less if I'm riding behind Rob and get snotsprayed.

HOWEVER, today a complete stranger decided to snotspray me. So bad that I had the spray visible all over my sunglasses. Here's what happened:

It was a beautiful day in Seattle (FINALLY), so the Burke Gilman was hoppin. I'm coming up behind some dude, not passing him but riding about maybe 10 ft behind him (not drafting... pretty far back). He turns around, sees me, and then releases his snot rocket! I was like, ummm WOW! Not cool.

So I passed him. Wiped off my sunglasses. And that was that. And the rest of the quick ride was golden, and I got to ride on my exciting new red-rimmed tires!

I promise, I won't write any more weird blogs. Unless someone pantses me again!

Strength in Christ

So it turns out when you taper, you have more TIME. Wow! Which means I have time to blog. I have a lot of thoughts/fears/emotions going on in my head this week. And time and time again, God continues to give my soul peace. And joy. I wanted to take some time in a blog to give a "shout out" to my God.

For those who aren't aware, we are made and loved by an AWESOME God. He has shown me his unconditional faithfulness and love throughout this life HE has given me. And this year has been no exception.

In Christ alone, I find my strength. I wanted to share a verse that has been essential for me to cling to throughout my life, and will definitely be said over and over again to myself on this upcoming Sunday. It's a bit "cliche" in the verse world, but it speaks the Truth. I can do all through Christ who strengthens me. Amen.


And now I'd like to give a "shout out" to the YMCA Sharks... and my parents! When I was a wee lil chap in Hot Springs, AR, my parents (or Mr. and Mrs. Butler) would drive me to swim practice at the Y, where I would swim many laps and get fed m&ms or gummi worms during the workouts. Now the m&ms have turned into gu shots and gummi worms are now clif bloks. And now that hand-me-down speedo is a wetsuit and I will unfortunately be swimming in some wavy water instead of that pool. That being said, thanks to Coach Sha, Coach Andy and my parents for introducing me to the water at such a ripe young age! All those swim meets have brought me to where I am today. So maybe I should not thank you... but be upset with you, Mom and Dad?! ;)

Here's an old school pic, circa 1992 at a YMCA swim meet.


And lastly I thought I'd share a glimpse into the *start* of my packing. Just getting things going, as we will be in C'oeur d'Alene in exactly 48 hours from now! My packing list... well it's pretty extensive... and according to Brian, the only thing I forgot to put on it was the kitchen sink!

Anyways, that's about all I've got for now. Just wanted to give God some glory on my blog, because truly He should be glorified in all this. Also, thanks to my family, fiance and friends who are being so supportive and encouraging to me right now! You've been so supportive of my heart for Uganda and for how and where God has called me. I really appreciate y'all, more than you know.

Time for sleep. Good night!

TOP TEN & Mileage

Highlight: raising funds for Uganda Vilage Project!

This is a picture of me with dear friends in Uganda.

This is a gomes dress; it's not dri-fit, but should be!

Lowlight: the infamous "wetsuit kiss".

Oh so painful!

Well 10 days to go! I figure now is a good time for me to reflect on the ten most memorable moments of the past year leading up to now. Here goes: top ten memorable moments/experiences, both good (highlight) and bad (lowlight)! In sequential (chronological) order...

10. Lowlight: Waiting too long to re-fuel post-run prior to Jen's bridal shower, slicing my finger and then proceeding to pass out in the loving arms of Jen Chestnut and Stacy Rydell. Lesson learned: ALWAYS eat immediately following a work-out depspite future brunch/food in store.

9. Highlight: An 80 mile ride to Snoqualmie falls (almost) and then a run loop around the lake on a nice Seattle Saturday. After this ride/run, for the first time in all my training I really felt the confidence that I CAN be an Ironman. Until then, it seemed out of reach.

8. Lowlight: Realizing that Perpetuem (a carb + protein powder used to make a fueling drink mix) does NOT settle well with my stomach. 3 trips running to the restroom in one spinning class :)

7. Highlight: Rob asking me to marry him after a 10 mile run at Discovery Park! That is a MAJOR highlight ;)

6. Lowlight: Getting pantsed while enjoying a nice sunrise run at Greenlake. Showing travelers on Aurora my bright white booty = not an expected training day.

5. Highlight: a beautiful 9 mile run on the coast of Monteray, California. Hard to beat that!

4. Lowlight... well, these are lowlights: having to wake up at 4:15 on many morning when the rest of the world is sleeping! OR having to stay up late to train and sacrifice time with Rob, Rob/Megan/Molly or my friends.

3. Highlight: My first 100 mile bike ride, which happened to be on the Ironman race course on Memorial Day Weekend in CDA. AND God sent me an angel, Lou, who lead me on the course so I didn't have to follow the sparse directions/map. God is so good.

2. Lowlight: Serious "wet-suit kiss" after my first swim in Greenlake in my new (sweet! -- thanks Shawn Lucas) wetsuit. The picture speaks louder than words.

1. HIGHLIGHT: Exceeding goal of $5,000 for Uganda Village Project! Woohoo!! Currently around $5,600 has been raised, thanks to such generous and loving friends and family. This makes my heart so incredibly thankful, humbled and inspired.

So, that's that. Highlights got me through, and lowlights either provided growth/challenge/endurance OR humor! Either way it's a win-win. Or as Michael Scott would say, It's a win-win-win situation.

Current mileage, with 1 week left of training:


Swam 219 miles
Biked 3,500 miles
Ran 738 miles

Grand total of 4, 457 miles trained so far!

I guess that gives me a bit of some comfort going into race day; I know I gave this training my all and my body is ready for the test!

And a fun fact is that when adding up my time spent in training, it is over 370 hours (conservative value), which is about 15 and a 1/2 days of training straight.

That's all for now. I'm going to *try* to fall asleep by 9:0o so I can wake up for a sunrise run!

Dear Diary

I have been more diligent with this diary than I have been with any other diary in my entire life. However, I did not write my secret, most exciting deep and dark secrets. Nope, I wrote what I did to train every single day that I did. Definitely not exciting but, here's why:

6 days a week for the past 9 months, I've been following a training schedule. I knew when I started that I had a pretty big task at hand. Showing up on race day is easy, but preparing your mind and body for the race is not easy. At all. I knew that I needed something to hold me accountable to my trainining and track my progress. The simple act of knowing that I got to go home and record my miles gave me reassurance that I was doing everything in my power to prepare myself for this Ironman.

So that's what I did! I recorded everyday whether I swam, biked, and/or ran. I also recorded the time and distance of each. The diary also has spots for nutrition, energy, etc. but I didn't fill that out usually. However, one day I did calculate how much nutrition I needed to sustain my bike and run that day. Over the course of an entire day (breakfast, fuel during training, and dinner) I ate 5,000 calories! Kind of crazy.

Anyways, so here is where I am currently:

215 miles of swimming

3,395 miles of biking

718 miles of running

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And only 2 weeks until race day. As in, in 2 weeks I will be currently on that race course. Praise the Lord! This year has been quite the year. It's been fun training (well sometimes), but at the same time it has been lots and lots of sacrifice. Many times when I would have much rather gone to spend time with my family, fiance or friends, I had to train. Sometimes in the cold rain, ha. I knew God called me into this Ironman for a reason, and I've given my all to prepare myself for the race and to raise money for the work coming out of UVP. My prayer is that my sacrifices and hard work will be worth it come June 27th! It's been quite the journey experiencing God sustaining me through this and I can't wait to cross that finish line.

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Also, in one HUGE way, my sacrifices are already are worth it and I haven't even raced. There is still 2 weeks left to go, and I am continually humbled by the funds donated to UVP. Currently about $5,500 has been raised. THANK YOU to all of you who have donated! I can't tell how how joyful my heart is to think that what is being done here is going to impact many people in a BIG way across the world in Uganda. Wells with clean water, safe water education, sustainable nutrition education/initiatives, obstetric fistula education and surgeries... the list goes on. I love the power of a group of people coming together behind one great cause. Sincerely, thanks to all have supported Uganda Village Project!

Let the taper begin!

Riding the bike course in CDA over Memorial Day Weekend

Rob and me in front of Lake CDA

This is me being bored on I-90 as we strolled at 3 mph. We could have biked home faster than driving. Well maybe not :)

What I eat before and during my workouts. Oddly enough, I'm still not sick of chocolate gu!

This is where you can find me during late nights or rainy days. Joined by my fiance sometimes, which is great!

Well, the race is now only 20 days away and I get to start tapering down my workouts. I've been awaiting this beautiful taper for the past 8 months, and I've finally arrived. The past month has been the peak intensity of my training and I'm excited to slow down a bit. I've had some long training days amidst my travels to California, Idaho and my fave state down south... Arkansas!

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3 weeks ago, I enjoyed my training runs along the beautiful beaches of Monteray, CA. I left behind my long spandex and running gloves at home and enjoyed running in shoes and a tank top! It's been a rough spring in Seattle. It was a great change of pace, scenary and climate. And the beaches, hills and sunsets were absolutely incredible.

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The next weekend I headed to C'oeur d'Alene in order to prepare myself for the bike portion of the race. This weekend called for my longest ride, so it was the perfect opportunity to ride the course, which is highly suggested. After some major frustration at a detail-lacking course directions page and lack of road signs, God blessed me with an ANGEL, named Lou, who let me ride along him. We rode the entire course, and now I know the task at hand! It was quite hilly and a bit challenging but definitely scenic. And FUN! The climbs allow for some fast downhill speeds approaching 35 mph. After 100 miles, I called it a ride! My first centennial ride. A happy moment for me!

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Then I ran a quick 2 miles. Felt great. So hopefully the remaining 24.2 will feel as good as those did. Right. All in all it was a successful day. I made a new friend, Lou, who has raced before and gave me some good pointers. I also got to finish the ride with Rob, which was the perfect way to end the long day. Being in CDA got me excited for what is to come.

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Last weekend I was in Arkansas, so my trianing was skimp. However, I did some training in advance which helped. Rob and I rode the South Lake Washington loop, which always makes for a fun ride. We had a sunny day to enjoy Rob's birthday and then enjoyed some delicious salad, pizza and gelato from Tutta Bella to replenish our bodies.

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My one training sesh in Arkansas took place in good ole Eastgate II, and left me a sweaty (and apparently stinky according to my mom) mess. Man, I miss that Arkansas HEAT! But let's just say I'm glad my run I'm about to take will be in about 68 degree weather...

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Otherwise, my preparation has been lots of reading from a triathlon book and lots of making lists for the big race day to come. So much to plan and prepare for.

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And now here I sit with less than 3 weeks to go. I only have 15 hours of training this week, and it will cut down over the next 2 weeks. The bulk of it is over, praise the Lord! I feel blessed that God has kept me strong, motivated, inspired and dependent on Him.

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Furthermore, I feel blessed to be surrounded with such generous and loving friends and family who have been supporting my fundraiser for UVP since day 1. Thanks to you, I have reached my goal over $5,000.... and am well over it... and it's still climbing! God always exceeds my expectations. I have no words to express my thanks to you. This will be the crank inside my body on June 27th. A sincere thank you to all who have supported the cause and myself through words, prayer and financial support.

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And if you haven't donated and still want to, it's not too late! http://ugandavillageproject.org/racing-for-relief

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Alrighty, well off I go to enjoy a 12 mile run. Until next time!