Tri-Dogmom

Today one of the local papers ran a story about Tonsa , Breast Cancer Awareness and our team's efforts to raise some money. Check it out here. Last night Tonsa asked me to come to her house for pictures an interview with another local paper, the Scottsdale Tribune. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate pictures, hate being in the spot-light. Heck, I even ran away to get married on an island, because I couldn't imagine walking down the isle in front of so many people! I am much more of a "behind the scenes" person. ANYWAY, I couldn't make Tonsa be there alone, so I actually showered & got dressed in real people cloths after my swim workout (working from home has been fabulous for my mental health, not so great on my appearance) & met Tonsa . We sat through about 150 pictures (this girl was so click happy), then I listened to Tonsa tell her story. Had some tears at a couple of points. This woman is such an inspiration. Her main goal is to get the

I first have to start out by saying what a pleasure it has been to be part of a race where the race directors have been so incredible. The race directors at Ragnar have been nothing but helpful, resourceful & gone above and beyond any expectations. They have taken our idea of " Runnin ' Ragged, Inspired by Tonsa " to a whole new level. What started out as a way to make a nice donation to the Susan G Komen Foundation, in Tonsa's name, had turned into much more. The race directors have put together THIS site , as well as posted, the press release (see below) trying to get awareness out. They, have been truly amazing. Our team members, and everyday training buddies have been just as amazing and supportive. Ready to wear the PINK in Tonsa's honor, and donating money to help raise awareness. They are some of the most passionate & caring group of people, that I am proud to call my friends. Tomorrow, check out http://www.azcentral.com/ where, there just migh

Yesterday I hit a personal peak on the bike. I rode the longest & furthest in my cycling career. I have trained for 2 half- ironman , and my peak long ride was 4 hours, but no brick following. Yesterday, I did my first 4:15 ride, followed by a :30 run. S, was out sick & others out of town, etc., so it was just Heather, Sara & me. I rode down to our "tour de crib" area (funny, name huh? I think Heather & Troy came up with this - it's an area in Paradise Valley where the avg home price is probably 3million. It's a great riding place. Some flats, some climbs, nice bike lanes & few stop lights or traffic) to meet H & S. We spent about an hour doing some short STEEP climbs (no one will be able to say we are NOT hill trained for CDA ). We headed down to my old cycling neighborhood Papago Park. Unfortunately a lot of Tempe is a cluster, because of a new light rail system being installed. We had to make an adjustment to a loop I had plann

Our little Abby has several names. The most prominent is "Punkin" or "Punkin Pie." No reason for the nickname, I just kind of gave it to her. We've also called her "Evil Abby" when she's being naughty. "Jessica" is her sir name when she's acting well... not so bright (so, she's PRETTY, but not very smart, just like Jessica Simpson). I call her Stinky sometimes, because she's ALWAYS having ear issues and they STINK! Well, today I had to take her to the vet to get some medicine for her ears, they just weren't getting better. First thing on the agenda was to get her weight. She proudly hopped up on that scale, like it was a fashion show catwalk, or something. (nice to see that she doesn't have "body weight issues" like most young ladies...) Anyway, the nurse said - "Oh, oh no... she's 66.6lbs!!!" I start applauding her because she's always been so skinny and scrawny and exclaimed, "Wow Pu

Today I learned something new, well new to me anyway. I learned that I like, or eh.. LOVE to run slow. It's easy (relatively speaking), my face doesn't turn a nice shade of PURPLE, my shorts don't creep up between my thighs (I knew I should have worn a skirt today), and I don't get that "I'm going to throw up" feeling in my tummy. So, today I had my first "speed run" of the IM training schedule. Mark Allen's philosophy is based on a huge buildup of aerobic/low HR training at first, then about half way through , he ads a weekly "speed" training for each discipline. So, for the Ironman training we have not started speedwork yet, but we had one added this week to prepare for a "race." The race is the relay I've been talking about. Anyway, the workout was as follows: 10 minute easy warmup . 3x1 minute fartlek accelerations with 30 seconds rest. 1x6 minutes, 1x4 minutes, 1x3 minutes, 2x1 minutes all with rest of half

What a week! After all of the crazy travels at the beginning of the week, I struggled to "catch up." After no sleep the first couple of nights back, I was so ready to just get in bed & stay there for a week. Of course that wasn't going to happen, but somehow I did get a great night's sleep on Thursday. S & I were in bed by 8:30, so we could get up at 4:45 & do our 2:10 long run. I awoke nice & refreshed before the alarm even went off. I must have passed out as soon as I hit the pillow :-) The run went REALLY well, minus a few stomach issues (I think still messed up from the travel). S & I ran 2.5miles up to a park where I met Stacey. S left us after that so he could run his own speed. He's finally broken the 10min barrier & moving more like 8:45-9:30 aerobically. Stacey ran 8.5miles with me, which helped a lot. We talked about her upcoming wedding, and old friendships. Next thing I new, we were on the last mile stretch back to the park whe

First off, I'm just going to refer you to momo's blog to recap our Boston trip. I think she was waiting for me to recap our more than eventful business trip, but I just couldn't seem to get my words down. So, thank momo . Now, I can move past those crazy days & get life back in order. Well, somewhat. I can't seem to move past the jet lag . It usually doesn't affect me like this, so I'm not sure what is up. For some reason I just can't sleep. I was awake all night last night, and finally just got out of bed at about 5:30 when S went to go run. I'm kinda hoping I crash here in the next hour or so to get a little bit of rest. Training has been a bit sporadic this week, to say the least. Monday I did my 1:20 moderate run in Boston which was actually great. Including the grumpy, fast/serious runners we encountered. You know, I actually thought it was runners law that we are all friendly. Guess not. At least not when you are fast and getting ready for th

Here we are again. Almost the end of another week of my IM training. You know, after tomorrow I will have completed the first 25% of the training. Pretty cool, eh? Today was a little tough on me. Well, I actually feel really good, but my run was a little "off." Arizona weather decided to actually turn into Arizona Weather. Meaning, for the last couple of months we've been running in the 40's to 60's. That's cold for here. Then, out of nowhere comes the mid to upper 80's. This morning I met momo , Natalie & baby Kate for our 1:50 long run. We started later today to allow a little sleeping in, so it was nice about 60 or so when we started but jumped up to the 70s when we finished. My HR shot up from the get - go. I struggled with it all morning. I stayed in my zone, but the top of it, not where I like to be. My legs wanted to GO, but my HR said I cold only go a snail's pace (or at least that is what it felt like). Not sure if it was the jump in temp

I got this note from my friend "T" I mentioned in an earlier post . She wrote this letter to the Race Directors, in a response to an email they sent out asking for inspirational stories. Well, there you have it. Can't get get much more inspirational than this!! For any of you that know 'T' you know she is a fighter!!! She will be back out there in no time, I just know it. Our Runnin' Ragged Team has set up a fund with the Komen Foundation in T's name. S is taking the donations, so if you would like to make one, please contact him, or me. Thanks! ~K Enjoy this letter from the words of a true inspiration.... Here is my story …….……. I won’t be running the Ragnar Relay. Not because I didn’t think this was the most fun a set of runners could ever have. Not because I was unable to convince eleven other fools, (oops I mean friends) to run 187 miles with me. Not because I didn’t even flinch at the thought of spending hours in a van filled with funk and sweat. No

Well, today started off a little rough. I woke up in pain. I knew it was coming though. Yesterday, Daniel was mean. He created this 'fun' little workout for me. Have you ever seen one of those saying shirts that says, "I make stuff up".... Well, Daniel needs one. This one weird exercise he concocted did me in. He had a stair stepper (which was held in place by a bunch of dumb bell weights) about 2 feet from a wall. Then he had me lean against the wall with an exercise ball behind me & go into a squat position. With that, I had to place my toes on the end of the stepper & do calf raises. Are you picturing this? Well, if you can then go ahead and add my legs shaking perfusely as I'm doing it. The weird part is that the actual movement did not hurt or burn, but the legs were shaking from the other sets I'd been doing (this was the last exercise of the set). And, I did them all 4 times. And, this was after a 30+mile bike ride. SO, back to t

So, I finally had it. My very first Ironman nightmare. Now, don't get me wrong, I've had the "race dreams." You know, the ones we ALL have where you..... Missed the start Forgot gear Didn't tie shoelaces Forgot to put goggles on No wetsuit No water bottles No Nutrition CAN'T seem to run.. anywhere... Ringing a bell? Well, my IM Nightmare was a little different. It's actually kind of a blur, not a very vivid dream, at least it wasn't once I was awake. BUT, what I do know is that my legs were THROBBING in the dream. I was thinking the whole time - how can I do an IRONMAN when my legs are hurting and it hasn't even started?? Of course the dream is already a distant memory, but I certainly made a note of why on earth I'd be dreaming about tired legs. Well, I am pretty sure it had something to do with Saturday's ride . As you may have read, I had a pretty good ride, considering the weather on Saturday. Well, I certainly paid for it on Sunday. O

S & I were woken up at about 4 this morning by the wind. You could hear the trees whistling, the pool filling with our neighbors STUPID tree, and the sun shade smacking against the window outside. I wasn't surprised, because while I was checking weather.com for our morning forecast I saw 15-20mph winds. Can I tell you how much I was looking forward to this? Anyway, the wind was BRUTAL. Roads we usually ride around 18-20mph, had us at about 15. It didn't help that we hit EVERY SINGLE stop light. AND, we were meeting some other friends at about 20miles into our loop. I felt so bad. It was our friends Toni, Dave & Stacey. Dave & Stacey JUST got their bikes. They've been on 3 rides with us. For some reason we always have less than ideal conditions on these rides. Or maybe it's the routes I choose. I don't know, but I'm beginning to worry that they aren't going to want to ride with us anymore! What really sucks is that on a NORMAL AZ day

This afternoon I was reading through a few blogs and I came across this post (scroll down a little to Wed 2/28 post). I had almost forgotten about these things. I remember ordering them, from a friendly neighbor who came knocking at the door a couple months ago. I don't know what I ordered, or how many rather, but I sure would go for a samoa, or tagalong right now.... And, who can forget the thin mints... Is your mouth watering yet? Thank God for this Ironman training. Right now, I'd kill for that little girl to come a knocking at my door AGAIN, this time with whatever I ordered in her hands... I guess I'm a little low on sugar right now. I just ate a bunch of Raspberries, so hopefully that will tie me over for a while I can't believe it is March. I swear it was just December- I just turned 29, and celebrated the new year with our friends Stacey & Dave in Mexico (viva Hornitos!!) Where has the time gone? Not only is is the end of my 4th week of training, but it'