Autumn Leaf Festival 5K = Money in the Bank

It was cold, it was wet, it was completely typical for our annual running of the ALF 5k. Going into this race I knew I wasn't in eat em up and spit em out mode as I was after nailing every speed workout I did last year. However, I was feeling rather optimistic and didn't want to put any time goal on the race. If there were heart rates of 190 and above involved and maybe a little lunch money cash prize - I knew I would be a happy girl. Luckily, there were both.

Right from the gun I went out hard with the rest of the men knowing that my competition would be one of my good friends and training partners when I was home. Tasha ran at Clarion College for many years and is now training to take it to the next level in the marathon and maybe even a little something something in 2012. She's a great girl and a good friend but that day she was my competition. A little healthy competition is good for all of us and pushes us to be our best. It certainly did that for me on Saturday!

My first mile was reasonable at slightly under six minutes. The second mile had quite a few uphills and to be honest, I never even saw the marker for mile 2! I just ran hard, tried to keep my turnover high and glanced at the heart rate monitor every once in awhile - 196..yep.. good. It hurt.. It hurt bad. I wanted to stop many times and at one point I did glance over my shoulder very subtly on a turn to see Tasha not far behind. I probably had 30 seconds on her so I felt comfortable, but not too comfortable.

My fans were out and it was nice to see family and friends cheering me on and saying good job. I appreciate you coming out and supporting the other racers and I on a cold, damp fall morning!!!

I was thankful to head into the stadium where we did one loop around the track and then it was finish line all the way. Thanks fast pink Newtons!

There was also a 10k so no, I did not run 21 minutes. I heard them calling out times and I thought that I was at 20 mins at something for just a second on the backstretch! Not that it isn't a decent time, but I was pretty sure I was running faster than that!!

They started the clock with the 10k'ers two minutes earlier so even though I didn't run a personal best, I did run a decent time (19:08) and I was happy with the good hard effort. I smiled and put that in the bank for Clearwater.

Not to mention a little hotel money for Clearwater also which was nice. I shouldn't be advertising they have cash prizes. Don't you all go showing up next year! Kidding!

In other news, training is going well and I had to put my money where my mouth was this week when I didn't get my swim in yesterday morning and then had to turn around at night and do 4000 yards from 6:15pm-7:30pm last night. I did it though!

It really is getting unusually cold here so I've broken out the fall shoes and light jackets. Did I ever mention I have a complete coat fetish? I'm terrible. I won't tell you how many but it's obscene. I should be wearing them around the house soon because I refuse to turn on the heat this early in the year. My answers to no heat - sweatshirts, electric blankets and space heaters. Yep, I'm all over it.

Great job to those who races this weekend. It's almost Kona time. This time last year I was crossing things off the final packing list. Hope you all are mentally preparing!! It's almost time!!!

Just Do It...

Nike made this saying famous through it's advertising campaign, but I'm convinced that it's more than just a marketing gimmick (at least to me!).

Ask how many people actually "feel" like jumping out of their nice warm bed in the morning when the buzz of the alarm fills the room at some hour before God actually rises himself and you won't find a bunch of raised hands.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not one of them.

Some things to know about me: I'm not a morning person, I like getting 8+ hours of sleep, and I once finally get to sleep I'd like to stay there as long as possible.

Needless to say, as most triathletes, my training has to happen early if it's going to get done. At least 3-4 days a week this requires a 5:00-5:30am wake up call.

In those crucial moments right when the alarm goes off there are a few things you have to know...

What you're doing.

Why you're doing it.

These questions are so important because if you hesitate in knowing the answer for just one second, the temptation to hit the alarm to snooze is just too great.

For those of us that still have a little bit of racing left to do, there is no room left for inconsistency, no room left for missed workouts and bad recovery.

It's crunch time people..

Sometimes you have to use tricks, Psyche yourself up a bit you know.. I was talking to my masseuse last night and I kept telling him (I swear I told him 4 times) that October meant four good hard weeks of training and then two weeks of taper would follow. The countdown is on, and you have to mean business because when you're standing on that starting line you don't want to think about snoozing through workouts, or not doing your long rides or long runs. You want to know you're ready and that you've done everything within your power to make yourself fit & mentally prepared to race & race well.

Think Less, Act More.

Stop procrastinating.. you're not that busy, or that tired. You've done it before, and you will do it again. These are things I tell myself all the time when I just don't feel like doing what I know will help me be the best athlete I can be in the end. Forget the "what if's" and the "oh..I know this workout is going to hurt" Embrace it, feel it, let it remind you that you are living, have two legs and should be thankful you can get out there and feel the burn.

Get Pissed, Get Frustrated - Get MOTIVATED

Sometimes I have get mad just to get going. It takes me thinking about something that will help me to get off my hiney!

Reach Your Tipping Point - and then go past it!


Sometimes you really have to challenge yourself to something big. I know what my goals are, I know they're lofty, but if they weren't I wouldn't know what else would get me out of bed those early mornings except for that I know to reach them it's going to take a lot of sacrifice. There's just no shortcuts. It's either do the work, or don't. Consistency is the key to our sport and we have to really put the hours both in training, and outside of training with eating right, sleeping right, and taking care of ourselves to get there!

You can either succumb to the pressure you put on yourself, or the fears of what if I don't do well/make this time or goal or you can harness that energy and use it to drive you toward what you want. I just try to put in 110% to every workout and see where it gets me. If I do that, mentally prepare and then execute the best of my ability on race day then there is nothing for me to be dissatisfied with. I can only worry about me, that's all.

So, as these last weeks of putting the best race of your season together are upon us, don't forget what your doing and why it means so much to you. It's much more than a sport to me. I don't want to find myself, I want to create myself...reveal my character and live my dreams. This opportunity to compete in a gift and I have one more race to use it this season. So if you need me between now and November 14th, I'll be busy working my tail off to be the best athlete I can be!

Last years ALF top 3 women

This weekend I have a little tune up at the Autumn Leaf Festival 5k in the home town. Last year I had a pretty good finishing time (for me) and I have no idea if I'll even be close this year. I'm certainly not going to let that stop me! I'm excited to race and see some old friends so it should be a fun weekend.

Here's some pictures from the Nations Triathlon if you'd like to see them..

Good Luck to Beth and everyone else racing at B.O.U.S.! You're amazing - now Just Do It!

The Heart of Life...

Even after a crazy work week, somehow my Pittsburgh North Hills girls found a way to help me bring in the 30's with a bang! We headed to a great Cabana bar on Friday night to sit around a fire and tell stories about everything from trips, family, weird encounters and peeing mis-haps.

Three of them had just done Ironman Louisville (two for the first time!), so it was so fun to hear about their experience and just share the moment with them. They both did so well and I couldn't have been more proud of them.

Yes, this is my hiney... One of the girls grabbed my camera and took this while I was chatting. I kept showing off my new jeans with these fun pockets so I guess they thought it would be good to snap a shot! I do love those pockets!!

Joselyn is one of my regular training partners and she will be headed to Hawaii in a few weeks to support her boyfriend Jeremy as he goes to the big dance! I love riding with her..she's just the right pace!

Janine was one of the first timers and she's one of my closest friends right now! She's so wise in the ways of the world and helps me stay grounded when I start freaking out about nothing. Someday I hope to swim 1/2 as fast as she does!! What a fish! Thanks for being an amazing friend J.

Megan and Lisa are two cool Ironman Louisville chicks and I saw Megan riding with her new jersey just the other day. The sound of Lisa's laughter filled the whole bar. They are both such storytellers and made me smile like crazy that night sitting around the fire!

Tammy, Sharon and I chilled out on the love seat area! Tammy teaches my favorite spin class with the best music in the world! Sharon and I just sit in the back spinning away and crackin each other up (as much as you can at 6am).

We had a lot of fun and it was great to celebrate with friends (again!). I swear, the bigger the Birthday the more you get to extend it over a two week period which I TOTALLY did. I'm not complaining! I loved every second of it! I was thankful for those people in my life that make it so much better. For those that couldn't make it - you were missed! We'll celebrate next time I see you!

When you have a Birthday I always think about where I'll be next year at this time. This year has shown me it's just hard to tell. Either way, I'm happy to embark on the adventure and just relish every last second of it! My new favorite song...The heart of life is good...

Back in the Saddle & Good Stuff!

I'm back at it...

At what you ask??

Well, all of it. Work, training, eating, sleeping... you know - my life!!

As you may have noticed I blogged basically NONE last week. Ahhh...the life of a working your @&& off girl. Meetings, meetings, oh...you want to workout tomorrow.. how about not. Instead..how about a MEETING again for 6-8 hours! It was good though. Our company got together, shared some good ideas and went over new projects for the upcoming year. We have some great things in store so that is exciting. With the three hour dinners that ensued after its amazing I can still fit anything in my body at this point! I swore off food for about 3 days, but only lasted about 2 hours. Then I got hungry again (surprise, surprise).

By the time Friday came I was so sick of sitting in a room and then eating myself to Boliva I couldn't stand it!

So here, I am after a pretty big weekend of training (minus swimming which is what I need the MOST work on and seem to do the least of!!). Finally, this morning I got back in the pool and got in my much needed 4000 yards and a lift. For about 1 second I felt like I remembered feeling last year when I used to DO all my workout - tired, sore, and happy.

There were some good things about last week like...
TA - DAAAAHHHHHH....

The NEWTON Fairy!!

One of the other elves / centairs / mythical creatures must have let her know I was in desperate need of new running shoes! Low and behold she flew down while I was sleeping and bestowed upon me two lovely pairs of Newtons - one yellow, one pink!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.

Beyonce tried on both, and decided the pink just felt "right" for the rest of the season so we're going with those! Beyonce says..thank you very much NEWTON for helping me run so fast!

In other news, Powerbar also was good to me this week and send some bars, gels and other goodies for me! This should allow me to ramp up over the next month (ONE MORE MONTH) and get my game face on for the Half Iron World Champs. Thanks Powerbar..you guys are so good to me and I appreciate it!

I was sad to see my favorite kind wasn't on the list of products (carmel) so I will be eating some new flavors (aka strawberry). I'm saving 5 Carmel's for November 14th though just so I have all my favs to race!

Thanks for all the Birthday cards (you know who you are) and Birthday wishes. I tried on 30 all of last week and it feels pretty good so I guess I'm here to stay. As Jen pointed out, at least my leg age now matches my real age!

Hope everyone had a great week last week and weekend! IM Hawaii is so on count down.. I can't wait to cheer for all of you!!

Nations Tri Race Report & the Big 3-0!

My Cute Cake from My Mom last weekend!

Well, I'm entering the next decade sore, tired, but happy and thankful that I got to race this past weekend which was fun.

I headed down to DC on Friday after work made it by 10:00pm with minimal traffic which was a plus.

Oh..before I get started on that.. I think it's time to introduce my new mascot (yep, I'm that big-time, I have a mascot) her name is Beyonce the Beaver. We were first introduced when Kyle and I were running and we found her along the road in perfect condition and needing a home. Luckily, I quickly realized that she wouldn't eat much, nor would she need ample attention because she is in fact a stuffed animal. The perfect companion for my busy lifestyle. Someday maybe I'll graduate to a real animal mascot (like all you people with little dogs that eat your cupcakes off the counter and such), but for now, I'll be chillin with Beyonce.

Anyway, she will now be traveling to all the races for moral support and to keep the general moral up among the troops (aka me). She loves car rides and short rides in my transition bag so it's a perfect match.

With that said, The Nations Tri was our first official endeavor as team owner and mascot set out down Rt. 76. Beyonce was pleased with the new Garmin so she didn't have to do any map reading, which was good for both of us since she doesn't really say much.

The trip went smoothly and I crashed pretty much as soon as I got there! Saturday was spent getting everything done -registration, bike racking etc.

I attended a race meeting and bumped into one of my fellow Mark Allen Online athletes Collin so we checked out the expo together and he filled me in on some nuisances about the race. Beyonce, also a bike expert, getting ready to make sure the the Cervelo is ready to ride fast and smooth. Checking the Polar to make sure it's reading properly pre-race.

I only have time to do a very abbreviated race report because I'm in Cleveland with my company and I get about 10 minutes to myself each day! I started with the elite wave of about 70 men and women and that was exciting. Once they rushed us from the holding pen to get in the water we only had about 10 seconds before the gun went off. To my dismay my goggles (that I had just worn the day prior during a practice swim) didn't want to adhere to my face no matter what I did. I started to panic a little when the suction just didn't seem to be working but decided everything would be fine. The gun went off and on the way out to the first turn buoy I felt pretty good about my stoke and pace. I was pretty in line with the group and things seemed to be going well. However, on the way back water started to leak into my right eye very badly and I found myself closing it just to try and keep all that extra water out. I probably should have stopped, tried to suction it again, and then kept going. However, I didn't want to loose a bunch of time so I let it go. The leakage, combined with the sun was an awful combination and at one point I looked up only to find I was (what seemed like) miles away from the other swimmers! I was so upset! I tried to take the straightest line I could to get back on track but my eye was still bothering me immensely. When I finally made the final turn I couldn't wait to rip those goggles off my face!! I came out of the water, looked at my time and wondered if we might be swimming a half-ironman race as opposed to 1500 meters! It wasn't pretty, but I decided to just move on to the bike. The crazy part was that my right eye was still blurry and no matter how I rubbed it, it didn't seem to clear. It took a few minutes but with some fresh air it FINALLY became normal again and I was thankful as I mounted my bike and rode off!

The bike was pretty flat and I tried to keep my heart rate in check while giving it some good power and high cadence. I immediately fell in with a group of two guys and one other girl who all seemed to be riding my pace. The not so cool part is the older gentleman that was with us kept riding faster to pass, then would slow up once he got in front slowing all of us down to keep from drafting. My heart rate would drop and I would end up backing off significantly. This happened two or three times where one of us would pass him and then he would re-pass and slow down (as would the girl in our group further making things complicated). Finally, I said, ok..lets give it 5 hard mins and push it to get away from this pack. I tried once, it didn't work. I tried again, finally, they were gone. I was riding pretty much on my own and had less to worry about. By that time I was getting pretty far into the 25 miles and really was feeling better about my race. My legs felt good and I was thankful to be out there in the perfect weather racing again. When I pulled into transition people were cheering loudly and I felt I was somewhere in the top ten women. I racked my bike and ran out quickly toward RUN OUT.

During that first mile I was feeling pretty darn good and the leg turnover seemed perfect. I passed two girls right away and kept telling myself I was about to have a great run! I looked at my first mile split - 6:12..WOW Kim..slow it down here! I always do that and I have GOT to do better at pacing that first mile. The next mile was better and when I hit the half way point I was starting to feel it in my legs. By mile four I was really pushing it to stay around 6:50 and it just seemed so empty with a few men in front of me. Mile five finally arrived and I saw a girl about 40 seconds up but I was really starting to hurt and wanted to catch her but didn't think there was enough race left to do most likely. Someone told me I was in 6th at that point and I thought I might have a chance at top 5 which is what I really wanted. Later I would find out they couldn't count and I was actually in 7th! I pushed the last mile as hard as I could and pumped my arms to get into the finish. The crowd was awesome coming into the finish and I enjoyed the course so much. It was flat and fast and I would highly recommend it!! It really was a wonderful venue and was run extremely well! Afterward I caught up with some friends and ate some PB&J sandwiches! Beyonce was willing to wear my finishers medal for a picture which was good of her.. I don't have many race pictures (ok, none) since I was traveling solo and Beyonce isn't very good at cheering and holding the camera! Hopefully the race photographer will have some good ones! Last night we celebrated my Birthday in Cleveland with my company at a really cool Thai Restaurant and they even had a tiara and sash for me! I had to laugh because I felt like some sort of prom queen or pageant contestant (which was a first for me!)

They brought out a huge cake and surprised me! The whole restaurant sang to me and it was quite the event. Here I am looking kind of funny with my eyes closed right after I made my wish and blew out all 30 candles (which had pretty much melted down to stubs!). I would put in a better one but I don't have it since after that I was stuffing my face. The cake was enormous and delicious!! It was a very nice day so I was thankful to have friends around me to celebrate.

Thanks for all the well-wishes before the race and for the Birthday wishes also! I really appreciate it, and you guys are awesome. I hope everyone else had a great weekend!! I'm looking forward to the next thirty years!!

Tour de Faith

On October 4th I'll be biking and running in State College, PA for a cause very near and dear to my heart - Play By Faith Ministries.

When I was in college I met a fellow athlete wise beyond his years my bible study called "Athletes in Action" (maybe you're heard of it - or AIA as I affectionately refer to it!). We became good friends and we were both very close to our bible study leaders Tim & Denise McGill. Over the years we spent Wednesday nights at their house or in a little room off the gym discussing the most pressing questions of life - why are we here, what is our purpose, what do I want my life to look like? Sometimes even though bible study was only an hour I'd end up staying for two or two and half because things got really interesting and although I should have been studying, I just couldn't leave! The debates were so good! So many interesting ideas were shared. It really changed so much for me and Tim and Denise will always be special friends.

Play by Faith Ministries was a spin off organization started by Joe Rose and his Wife Ginger to do the same type of things with schools like Penn State. They work with athletes of all types and do wonderful things in the community like outreaches and lots of work with the Ronald McDonald house which helps families as their children are staying in the Hershey Hospital for extended periods of time. Sometimes Joe, Ginger, their two daughters and the athletes go visit the kids or sometimes they make meals and bring them to the families who are couped up in hospital rooms all day eating not so great food and not getting too much outside interaction!

I know times are tough right now, but please check out their website and if you feel compelled to help me raise the $200.00 total I need to raise to participate and help fund their ministry for the year, please donate. I already have me and two other people in for $20.00 flat donations so I only need seven more donations of $20.00 to reach my goal. If you'd like to help them continue on their mission of helping others, please email me and I will tell you where to send your donation - kxd185@hotmail.com. Your check needs to be marked payable to "Play by Faith" and they are a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization so every donation is tax deductible. They WILL send out a receipt after the event when you give me your address and phone number.

Every little bit helps so if you can donate $1.00, we will take it! Every last bit of proceeds will be used to support their day to day ministry operation. I can't do this stuff on a daily basis, but I always feel I certainly can help support those that do. Check them out - http://www.playbyfaith.com/ . Thanks for anything you can do! I'm praying I can reach my goal!

In other news, I'm headed to Washington, DC tomorrow night to get ready to roll on Sunday for The Nations Triathlon! It's a fun Olympic distance race and it's the day before my Birthday (Race - Sunday, Birthday - Monday) so I am excited that I get to race yet again. I'll be in the elite wave so if you happen to be watching be sure to cheer loudly! I have no idea how it will go but I hope to be able to run a bitter better than I did at steelhead (ok..I ran/walked there but whatever) so I can have a better feeling going into Clearwater this November. I'm thankful I'll get to race again and see some friends as well. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm pretty fired up and had a tiny tiny taper so we'll see!

Bikes, Friends and Alpacas!?

Saturday was the day..

The weather was simply gorgeous, the bike was lubed and two friends and I were set up to ride out at 9am. Yes, I was supposed to swim first, but a reception the night before got the best of me, and I stayed out a bit late to be hitting the pool at 7am (sorry to my training partner who was expecting me...my bad).

By the time I pulled into stone field Heidi was all suited up and the pink hotness was shining in all her glory. Blue and I got ourselves together and double checked that I had everything needed for a four hour jaunt through the PA hills. Jocelyn then pulled around the corner and said hello! I knew she and Heidi would get along great and they were like two peas in a pod from the second they met!

Just like clockwork we were ready to roll out by 9:15am. Both of them started giving me some business about not having any more races so not to "kill them" out there. Come on ladies..you're fast chicas! No problemo!

We chatted it up as women do, and had no problem hanging together as we road out of North Park and headed out toward treesdale. I kept trying to talk both of them into doing my whole four hours but neither of them would budge! Once we hit the 1:10 mark we stopped to take pictures (like I have wanted to do 10 times but ALWAYS forget my camera) of the alpacas (which in case you didn't know are related to the South American Lamas). These guys are cute. Yes, I know they spit, but I didn't get that close mind you.

It was a fun little photo opportunity and I even got all of our head in one picture! I was impressed with myself!

We turned around and I dropped them off at 2:20 and headed out for my last 1:40 solo. I was feeling pretty good so I really pushed my heart rate to the upper aerobic limit for those last miles. I was thankful my legs were co-operating and I was riding on a bright and beautiful sunny day! I had a great ride and was so glad I got to ride with these two great athletes. Thanks so much for making the time pass so quickly!

A quick 30 min t-run and I was so ready to go home and get some lunch. I headed home to see friends and family for Labor day and that was a lot of fun.

It's now Monday and after having a wonderful Birthday dinner (a bit early since I won't be home next weekend) with my Mom. I am so excited about getting my new Garmin for my car (Thank you Mom & Dad - you know how directionally challenged I am!!) It will be wonderful to have some lady telling me where to turn left, turn right - with all the bells and whistles (bluetooth, traffic alert etc. etc.) in new cities while trying to get to all these triathlons! It's going to take me two years just to learn how to use it! It has some high number like 700 something so I'm just going to call it the PIMP Garmin. I can't wait to hear what versions of the women's voice I can get (I think I'm going to choose British).

I hope everyone had a relaxing and fun Labor day weekend. It was so nice to have this third day. I need that every week!

Oh Boy...Here We Go...

Low and behold, I looked down and there it was..

Right on the schedule.

SPEED.

Yep, it stared back at me like a evil eyed ant eater who'd just run out of ants (ya like that one?! :)

After weeks of training in my aerobic zone and constantly thinking "back it down Kim, take it a bit easier up this hill, oh no you didn't just hit that heart rate - deep breaths"

It was finally here. The time in which I get to feel the burn rising up and setting my muscles on fire, hear my labored breathing increase to the point of no return, and know that if I felt like I was going to puke - that meant I was doing it right.

I have goals for speed.

Although it always says, heart rate 160-197, getting to 197 only happens every once in awhile when I'm in a 5k or something anaerobic of that nature for an extended period of time.

The speed bike goal is always 180. I usually try to build throughout the workout starting in the 160's and then finally by the last one or two intervals bust it out as hard as I can to hit that magic number.

On the run, it's always 190. I've been known to hit a 192 but the weather has to be pretty hot and I pretty much have to kill myself for a long interval to make it happen.

Either way one thing if for sure, without a doubt, not a question in my mind - it's going to hurt. Bad.

Hurting bad is kind of fun though every once in awhile don't you think? It reminds us that we are in fact increasing our fitness and getting some mental training to push through the hard times during a race. I find it so gratifying when I'm doing my cool down, soaked to the core with sweat, tasting its saltiness on my lips and knowing that rolling out of bed tomorrow might just be a killer, that I freakin did it.

Besides people, there's still racing to do.

Some are winding down, and trust me, that's hard for me a bit. It would be nice to kick back and enjoy the fall, watch the leaves turn, sip a little apple cider. What the heck though, that will just have to wait until Thanksgiving.

For now, I'll be fighting the darkness off with my bike during my mid-week long ride, churning out the yards in the pool, and running my long runs in tights getting ready for three more big showings:

The Nations Triathlon on September 13th in DC

The Autumn Leaf 5K on September 26th

The Half Ironman World Championships on November 14th in Clearwater

So, that's the dilly-o folks. Please pray I can make it that long as my friends kick back and stop showing up at the pool etc. The new playlist is set, I've started looking for my arm warmers, and rumor has it two pairs of Newtons from the Newton fairy are in the mail.

Tonight 8 x 400, at DUH DUH DUUUUHHHH - the track. Oh man.. this is scary. No faking it now kids..

Let's Get Er Done.

Blessings...

Did you ever notice how easy it is to be happy and thankful when things are going right? I'll be the first to say I have.

Even worse, sometimes we don't know just how thankful we should be until the world starts crumbling around us. We might have been upset we missed a workout or two during one week, and then the next week we end up getting injured or sick and miss an entire week.

It's just so hard to have perspective sometimes. We're so into ourselves, let's be honest! I'm completely willing to admit that I spend a darn lot of time thinking about me. What will I wear, what will I eat, when will I ride my bike, what will those intervals feel like, what am I shooting for, when will I get home?

I question, and I answer..my little interpersonal dialogue goes on constantly, assessing, evaluating, measuring, and answering my own questions!

People always ask why bad things happen to good people (don't get excited, I'm not going to answer the worlds most evasive question with my pea sized brain over here today). Although I don't have some profound answer I guess I just have to say that this world is so big with so many things impacting one another. It's all relative - aren't we all "good" & "bad" at the same time? Things that are not ideal happen to all of us, yet to those who get dealt an even worse set of cards - especially children, how do we wrap our minds around it.

I believe it all ties together. Unfortunately, we might not see how in this lifetime. What if something that happens to someone allows them to identify with someone else in a way that no one else could. What if through having a terrible disease someone is able to have their voice hear because of their circumstances in such a way that ends up helping millions. Sometimes it doesn't even happen while their alive, it takes more time for their purpose to be completed.

Where is all this going?! I've been thinking about blessings lately and how it's so easy for me to get negative and go down the wrong path. When my face was such a mess I let it consume me at times and I was disappointed in myself for that and I knew I was going to get better (or at least I hoped I would - they did burn me by the way..not nice people).

So much is about how we handle things, our attitude. I know its corny but after I die I would love it if people didn't talk about what I did in my career, or in athletics, but who I was..and if I had an "attitude of gratitude." It's so catching too..did you ever notice that? One minute your yelling at some person in traffic but if you're around someone who's smiling and just happy to be alive you end up changing the way you feel.

I found this and liked it:

Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. (Jim Rohn)

I'd like to spend today, and every day after, even the hard days (which I have all the time), being thankful for the little things that make my life better. I don't think I did it enough last year when I was all consumed with training for Kona. So many things were right, and so much was falling apart at the same time. Ironman will do that for you.

I haven't been blessed because I'm some "good" person. It really is a gift given from above. I have so many and I want to keep counting them. I don't care if I sound lame. It's the truth.

Maybe someday I'll tell you a story that happened to me recently that only because of what I'm going through was I able to connect to another women and really help her. It was such a blessing and luckily wasn't busy being consumed with me, me, me for like one minute to hear her needs and try to understand. She left me a message the other day that I will never erase. It was better than any store bought gift I could ever receive. Maybe that's why I am where I am right now..who knows.

Ok..enough rambling! I hope this made some sense..who knows! Have a great night everyone (oh..and all my Louisvillers finished happy & healthy!). YOU DID IT AND I"M SO PROUD OF YOU!! ALL OF YOU!!