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!

110% HEART

I went to a documentary titled "Running the Sahara" a couple months ago. It's the true story of three men with one goal: to run across the entire length of Africa's Sahara Desert. They ran roughly 50 miles a day for over 100 days... all the way to the Red Sea in Egypt. Absolutely ridiculous!

Well the documentary was very impressive (and funny) -- you should watch it if you are at all curious. There was a lot of interviewing and commentary from the runners. When asked how one can do something so challenging, one of the runners commented that doing this sort of thing is "90% mental... and 10% mental".

While I am not doing anything near as imcomprehensible as runnning across the Sahara Desert, those words have definite truth in what I've been facing in my training. As race day approaches (less than 50 days away), the workouts get longer... and longer... and longer! And I can say that I am as mentally exhausted as I am physically. It takes a lot of will power not only for the long weekend days, but for also for those workout sessions that come after a long workday.

Last weekend consisted of a 2.5 mile swim followed by an 81 mile ride on Saturday. Then Sunday was an 18 mile run broken up with a 15 mile ride after mile 11. This definitely was a physically challenging weekend; I can vouch for the fact that weekends like those take lots of will power and mental strength. I've found that what I put my mind to, my body can accomplish. I've also found what drives me deep down. My heart: God in me and being my strength as I Race for Relief.

So this brings me to this realization... it definitely is 90% mental, 10% mental.... and 110% heart. I learned at Camp Ozark growing up that we are to give 110% to all that we do. 110% heart. And what gives my HEART that energy and passion and what drives my mind is GOD. Christ alone has given me the heart to do this, the mental capacity to do the trainning and the strength in my body to get to this point.

So for me it's 90% mental, 10% mental AND 110% HEART!

Doesn't really make sense mathematically but it makes sense to me :) And the cool thing is I can apply this to the training, to the future race day, and all aspects of life. It's amazing to experience God in my life as He intertwines my heart for Uganda, UVP & His people with my passion for fitness. He really knows what he's doing...

That's all for now. Back to enjoying my "rest day"!!!

3, 270

Ugandan woman and child with malaria net.

Ugandan woman with child at a Uganda Village Project Family Planning & Safe Motherhood Seminar

The first clean water drops from a shallow-well.

3, 270

That's the number of miles trained so far. Phew!

105.7 miles in the water
2,601 miles on the bike
563 miles in my running shoes

And if you multiply 3, 270 x 10,000 that is the population of Uganda. 32.7 million

Now here are some more numbers/stats that explain the reason why I am a part of Uganda Village Project and why I am raising money for this organization.

51% -- Probability at birth of not surviving until age 6
76% -- Ugandan population living under 2$ a day
50% -- Ugandan population living under 1$ a day

11, 772, 000 -- # of Ugandans not using an improved water source. This means 36% of Ugandans do not have clean drinking water. Over 1/3 are at risk of water-borne diseases. According to the World Health Organization, the objectives of a safe water plan are to ensure safe drinking water through good water supply practices, which include: 1. Preventing contamination of source waters, 2. Treating the water to reduce or remove contamination that could be present to the extent necessary to meet the water quality targets and 3. Preventing re-contamination during storage, distribution, and handling of drinking water.

UVP's Healthy Villages program supports these goals through the following methods: 1. Protected shallow well construction, 2. Installation of community level chlorine dispensers, 3. Improving hygiene awareness and behavior change through education and 4. Providing access to household level safe water storage. UVP strives for sustainability through local community and government resource contributions and expertise.

12, 792, 759 -- # of reported malaria (thousands go unreported) in 2007. Uganda has the 3rd highest death rate from Malaria in Africa. According to the Ugandan Ministry of Health, malaria “currently poses the most significant threat to the health of the [Ugandan] population.” Between 25 and 40% of outpatient visits at health facilities in the country are for malaria. For Ugandan children, malaria is the primary cause of death. Pregnant women, the elderly, and HIV-positive individuals are also extremely vulnerable to the disease.

Uganda also has the third highest rate of fistula in the world. You are now likely saying, what is fistula? I am going to take some time to describe this, as it is a huge problem in Subsaharan Africa and most of us are unaware of it's reality. If I hadn't ever travelled to Uganda, I would remain naive.

As a young American woman, I do not have to be concerned with fistula. However, if I grew up in Uganda, I may have unwillingly been forced into a situation where I was giving birth at the age of 13. That is 1/2 of my current age! I may at this point in my life already have 5 children and given birth to them in settings we could not even imagine having a baby. I may have died during childbirth, or if I survived I may have a continual fistula problem that takes away my ability to live a full life. I could be ostrasized due to the outcomes of my labors and experience a daily lack of confidence, employment, community and health.

Virtually unheard of in wealthier nations, obstetric fistula (Latin for hole) is an affliction of the very poor, and is predominantly caused by neglected, obstructed labour. If the obstruction is unrelieved, the baby usually dies, the prolonged impaction of its head against the mother’s internal tissue resulting in a fistula. The loss of the baby, the persistent incontinence and rank odor that follows, along with many other possible complications such as infertility and chronic infection, may all conspire to isolate the woman from family, society, and employment. Though a simple surgical repair can mend most cases of obstetric fistula, most women go untreated, afraid to admit to the condition or too poor to afford the repair.

Through UVP's outreach to traditional birth attendants and other healthcare workers in the Iganga district, we have learned that there are widespread misconceptions about obstetric fistula – that it is uncurable, and that it is caused by a sexually transmitted infection. UVP works to combat these misconceptions through birth attendant education, through community educational outreaches, and through community drama group performances about fistula. Drama groups are a natural source for education on health issues, and are commonly utilized by Ugandan village communities.

In order to repair women with fistulae, UVP partners with Uganda Childbirth Injuries Fund. We first identify women with obstetric fistula though a number of avenues – village outreaches, health center referrals, radio shows, and simple word-of-mouth between women. We then transport women bi-annually to “repair camps” at Kamuli Mission Hospital, where they are repaired by surgeons from Uganda Childbirth Injuries Fund. In Uganda, all hospital patients must arrive with a friend to feed, attend and nurse them, and so we also transport one attendant for each patient. After surgery, UVP transports the women home (an important step, because if they go home by motorcycle taxi, or walk long distances, they risk re-opening their healing fistula).

I wanted to share this information with you so you can see a glimpse of one piece of work that Uganda Village Project is doing in the Iganga district. Recently I have been reminded of what a blessing it is to be a woman in America -- To have a job. To have the freedom to make my own decisions. To be able to choose when I want to bear children. To be able to choose who I marry and be in a loving and genuine relationship. To feel respected and loved as an individual. To have a healthy body, healthy enough to compete in an Ironman.

Furthermore, I have 2 sister-in-laws who recently gave birth. Both of them had a long day of labor, with 1 of the babies (Molly) being positioned not ideally for birth. If that happened in a third-world country, the outcome would most likely have been bad for mom and baby. This horrible and unnecessary outcome is a reality for many women in Uganda and Subsaharan Africa.

All this to say, if you decide to partner with me in Racing for Relief, you will be joining a cause that is fighting for sustainable fistula education and treatment in communities in Eastern Uganda. You will be a joining a cause that is rolling out education programs to decrease cases of malaria in the Iganga district. You will be joining a cause that is drilling wells and implementing safe water strategies so that more people will have access to clean drinking water, just like we do.

I have less than 2 months left with still $2,000 more to raise to hit my goal of $5,000. Every single donation helps and will make a difference in the projects named above. A sincere thanks to those who have already contributed. If I can raise $5,000, over $35 will go towards UVP for every mile I complete in the Ironman! I am so excited to run this race and hope you will join me in it.

Visit http://ugandavillageproject.org/racing-for-relief to make a tax-deductible donation UVP.

I truly appreciate the support, and I absolutely love thinking of the positive outcome that will result from all this training. All thanks to YOU!