Tri-Dogmom

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." - Einstein In a year filled with so many highs and lows, I find it hard to reflect on the amazing things, when such an overwhelming sense of loss is there with them. I spent the past week or so in my favorite place, with my family, but as much fun as we all had - I couldn't help but feel the empty hole in my heart.  There were times in this past week where I literally felt my mom here.  Albeit it her rolling her eyes as my dad poured me yet another  birthday shot, or when I got a last minute email from my uncle (her baby brother) telling me he was heading into town.  She even came to me in my dreams (unfortunately not the best of dreams).  Non the less, she was here.  I can only hope that while she may have been rolling her eyes at our imbibing, she was also smiling high above as we all sat giggling together enjoying dinner, all at the same table… And, at each beautiful sunset I thought of her knowing she w

Yesterday was my last official race of the 2012 Season.  It was my third time doing the Tucson Half Marathon, and by far the most seamless, and enjoyable (minus the dig deep effort) run race I've ever experienced. I actually didn't even plan on signing up for this race.  I've always had an urge to do a hometown half marathon, the Fiesta Bowl, but when the opportunity came up to join my buddy Andrew down in Tucson all inclusive with a pacer set to give us both huge PR's, I just couldn't resist.  So, I tagged along with them and before I knew it we were at the start line for the race. It was an unbelievably beautiful day.  Super chilly to start, but with a few layers on and the sun quickly rising it made for absolutely PERFECT race conditions.  Since I've done this race a few times, I didn't really have to do any planning.  I knew the course, I knew the logistics. It was all about putting in the miles, having a strategy and getting it done. I basically h

“All things are possible until they are proven impossible.”   ―   Pearl S. Buck Over the past month I've done a lot of thinking.  With so many life changing things that have happened to me this year, I've spent many nights daydreaming myself to sleep with what ifs.  I think about where I was at the beginning of this year, and where I am now. I think back to where I was in March - I have a great job with all the flexibility one can ask for, and it still pays the bills.  I have a family.  We drive each other crazy, but they are here.  My mom, my dad, my sister, my niece my husband.  I have a husband who is a dreamer.  We love to sit over cocktails at night and talk about our plans, our goals, our future… When I think back to then, to March… to those thoughts, so many things have changed.  Instead of knowing what tomorrow will bring, I'm faced with uncertainty.  I no longer have my mom.  I no longer no what to expect at the holidays.  In 5 more weeks I no longer have a j

So, the 5th time was definitely a success, unfortunately just a bit off from my goal!  I had a crazy, but really not THAT crazy, goal of going sub 5hrs.  The numbers were there (yes I ran them over and over and over until I wasn't thinking clearly).  Last years times were ~35, 1:40, 1:57.   I While my swim is strong, that swim is just never fast for me so I figured I would swim about a 33mins but after wetsuit stripping and getting to the T-1 timing mat I woudl be about the same 35.  I was dead on.  I (over) analyzed past bike times and people I've been racing (bike splits) similar too and thought, on paper, I should be able to bike a 2:35.  The thought of that seemed crazy tho, so I settled on a 2:37 goal.  My run has been improving greatly, especially in the past run and I thought a 1:45 totally doable!  Add those up and they are damn near a 4:59! I swam my ass off.  2 super fast girls bolted out in front and were instantly gone.  I had maybe 2 other girls with me, and one

Of course a post with "dream" in the title would come right after the ever-inspiring Ironman World Championships, right? I know everyone will have their favorite stories of the day, people that surprised them, endured, kicked ass, survived.  Who didn't love watching Leanda Cave run herself into first place, IM World Champ?  In fact, Shane and I were at sushi happy hour, sitting at the bar with my iphone leaning up against the menu watching the live feed.  Our bartender/waiter actually came around to see why the hell we were staring at the menu, #weirdos!   He was relieved to see we were actually watching something . When our bill came, Shane looked up at him and said, "extra point (tip!) if you can name what  it is that we are watching."   His response… Ugh, Kswiss Triathlon????   Lol.  Yah, something like that!  When we told it what it was, his response was "oh, cool!  have you heard of Ragnar?  I heard it's like really really hard!" We just

I'm officially in my 12th year of running!  Crazy to think that.  Actually, crazy to think and God forbid, say  anything like that, dating myself.  I'm realizing this a lot lately, mostly as I'm looking for a new job and reviewing my resume and finding myself looking over my history and experience and realizing I'm no young pup anymore… I didn't just graduate college (even tho I'm still paying for the stupid thing), and I continually get looked over instead of getting carded anymore :( Not that I'm feeling old or anything lately.  I mean, I'm officially going to enter into my racing age group here in a few months, and realize that turning 35 means I'm getting just that  much closer to another decade. Shit. Back to my point.  RUNNING!  I really really do have a love hate relationship with it.  I've always loved it, even back when I was first starting and did all my runs on the treadmill.  Even after years of injury resulting in a comeba

It's been just over 2 weeks since Ironman Canada, and after a weekend of laying around on the couch and stuffing my face with (more) chocolate and (more) wine, I'm feeling so much better!  Now, instead of worrying about some nagging pain, soreness or post IM injury I just keep thinking how fat I'm going to get cause I haven't stopped freaking eating!! Rather than bore you with my last 14 days of activities or lack there of,  think one of my A.D.D. bullet point posts will suffice. I still can't get over my race.  No matter how many times I'm asked about the day, or my highs and lows, my answer is still the same.  It was a PERFECT day.  I still pinch myself thinking about how amazing I felt the entire time. I'm still shocked that I'm an 11hr Ironman finisher.  And, not an 11hr IMAZ, or IMFL or another flatter, faster type course, but the infamous IM Canada.   Instead of back pedaling and thinking "woulda, shoulda, coulda" done this or tha

I'm not really sure if I can even describe what an amazing day I had in Canada last Sunday.  I remember everything about it (not usual).  I never had a crazy low.  I never felt like I couldn't do it, or more importantly that didn't want  to be there.  I've never smiled so much in my entire life.  I've never had so much fun. The days leading up to the race I felt good.  Maybe too good.  I was calm, rested, happy.  For the first time in 5 Ironman I knew I had done everything I possibly could to make my training count.  No skipped workouts because I was too tired, or because I just didn't want to do them.  I did the work, I made the work count.  I knew that the only factor that could mess up my day was going to be ME.  I knew that all my issues in the past 2 IM have been nutrition related and bonking, and I was not going to let that happen. I stayed pretty quiet leading up to the race.  Every night when I went to bed I visualized the race start, my transitions.

A little less than a year ago, over some martinis and a weekend in Flagstaff a plan was made to race Ironman Canada.  Community Fund slots were the only spots open, with the exception of a possible Team Newton/Athletes for a Cure entry, that I had heard about. At the time I didn't realize what a whirlwind my year would become.  I decided rather than just write a check over to the Ironman Community Fund Foundation, I would try to do a little bit better.  I decided to be part of something bigger and try to raise more money. I always seem to go back to the "when life gives you lemons," saying.  This year life, God, whatever it was threw me a whole bag of big fat rotten lemons.  In March just a few weeks into training, and just after announcing I was going to be part of Team Newton/Athletes for a Cure raising money for prostate cancer, I received a phone call that I will never forget.  My sister called me saying that my mom was…. gone.   GONE. I honestly can't rem

A few weeks ago I had a very nice representative from a new (or new to me) swim gear company contact me about taking a look at their website , AquaGear.com .   I'm an easy sale.   Swim gear, online shopping & product/site review. I'm IN! I was able to pick out a couple of items to try out and see how their ordering, shipping, and service went.  I have to say I'm more than impressed.  I've been a long time customer of swimoutlet.com.  Mostly for their swimsuit selection, but over the years I've been beyond frustrated at their website performance.  It's slow, and half the time I click on a suit I want they are only available in child size 24s??? Anyway.  While AquaGear isn't currently supplying a selection of swimsuits, they are working on expanding to do so in the near future. I would like to point out a couple of great features on their website.  While at first glance it's nothing fancy, very basic - a few things really jump out at me. 1.  

What fun would a post about wine country and gorgeous scenery be without a picture post? Thanks to Amy for being our photographer extraordinaire. Here we go! Day 1.  Karen picked us up from the airport and we headed to visit a couple of smaller wineries in Healdsburg. First stop:  A Rafanelli - YUMMY Zinfandel!  Pricey, and they limit your purchase to a couple of bottles, but definitely worth the stop! Stop 2.  Arista - a variety of Pinot Noirs, and gorgeous grounds to walk around. We also visited Thomas George which was good, but not great.  I think I bought a Chardonnay from there.  Not normally something I go for, but it was light and crisp, a great summer wine at a good price. That was it for Thursday - the next two days were all about the race;  rest, hydrate and EAT! On Sunday we booked a limo to drive us around to all our wineries.  Karen and I spent a couple of days booking appointments and trying to find some off the beaten path Boutique wineries, endi

Finally sitting down to write my race report for the past weekend's Barb's race, aka Vineman, I struggle to put into words how I feel about the race.  While in total the race was a very very slight PR for the distance, I can't help but feel a bit bummed about a few things.  At the same time as feeling a little less than complete about it all, I also know there wasn't much more I could of done out there…. I'll start off by saying that the venue is STUNNING.  What better way to do what you love surrounded by stuff you love.  WINE!!!!  Even swimming in the super shallow Russian River surrounded by lush green trees isn't so bad :) I have always wanted to do this race.  Swim, bike, run, wine…. yup - pretty much made for me.  At first I just thought the big 70.3 race was the way to go, but then I found out about Barb's race.  Basically the same course, but all women and for a great charity; cancer research. Smaller race, all women;  I'm in! Unfortunate