"So You Think You Can Video" Take One

Well, I wouldn't say I'm a videographer yet by any stretch of the imagination. However, I did bring the pocket camera with me to Clearwater and I definitely wanted to do something with the footage. This is my own personal first attempt at making a little video montage, and I'm pretty darn excited about it.

What I've learned from this experience is the following:

- I do not have a steady cam hand (so sorry in advance about the shaking)

- Making a video is harder than I thought but still very fun

- If you are person also holding the pocket camera you may not get much footage of yourself unless you ask others to do it which is a little strange

- When you crash your bike in the race you don't tend to want to do much footage after that because you're collarbone is broken and you're in a sling. So, that being the case, the story sort of ends on race morning. Hopefully, the next race you'll see a lot more footage afterward!!

Because YouTube does not like the copyrighted song I chose, and I am attached to this song with the video, here's what you have to do. Just hit play on my video first (on top), then hit play on the bottom video and adjust the sound so that you mostly hear the music not the video (which has a lot of wind - sorry!). It should work! Soon, I'll figure out how to do this so they can go together!

Let me know what you think!

Clearwater Pics

So there were definitely some wonderful things about my trip to Clearwater, Florida. So I only got to race about 53.2 miles of the race- what are you going to do??! One of the reasons I love racing is because I love to travel to cool places and I am truly blessed to meet amazing people who make my life so much more interesting than it would be otherwise. I can honestly say meeting people who have become friends (most of which I will retain for life I feel quite sure) has been more satisfying than reaching any personal goal or achievement. So, here are some pictures of the rest of my trip and some of the people who made it fun despite a few minor setbacks!Of course, you've seen him many times, Jim B. He just sent me this picture a few days ago and it is a keeper. Everyone is always making fun of me for having my mouth open in pictures. This one is no exception!

White sand beneath my feet...even with a broken collarbone it felt pretty good!!

The Days Inn Clearwater Beach was a wonderful place to stay and my two newest friends Janet and Ray, the Manager, could not have been sweeter to a girl who had just been through a bit of turmoil. They took great care of me with free continental breakfast, great directions, and just some general company when I needed it! I really appreciated their generosity and I would definitely recommend this hotel as a great place to stay (short walk to the beach and very clean) if you end up racing Clearwater next year. As I mentioned, I won't be back but if I ever end up there again for another reason other than racing...I will definitely stay there!

Ray and I

The pristine beach with little cabanas

I raced with Powergels as usual, and I had my Powerbar Towel on the beach to represent! Thanks for a great two years of sponsorship!!

Just to prove I WAS there, I had someone snap a quick picture on the beach (no, I took off my sling because, well, imagine the tan lines-kidding)

If nothing else, the scenery was very pretty and I'm going to bottle it up and take it with me for the long winter of snow and ice ahead. If I would have realized how bad my collarbone was at the time, maybe I wouldn't have stayed. I certainly did enjoy my three days of relaxation after the race even if I was in some pain. It was a fun trip for the most part, and I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that I did get hurt but that's part of the game. I can now say that without getting emotional!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving..so much to be thankful for all over. We sure are lucky.

Ready, Set, Surgery!!

Well, I guess Joanna Zeiger and I have more in common than previously thought.

After both braking our collarbones in the Half Ironman World Champs on Nov. 14th, we both had surgery within the same week to insert a titanium plate and screws. I had no idea when I arrived at Doctor Bradley's office on Thursday that he would be serving up some surgery just in time for Thanksgiving.

Somewhere along the way I'd convinced myself that I might be able to just "heal" on my own and my collarbone would magically come back together. Dr. Bradley, who has operated on over 100 Steelers and countless athletes over the years, begged to differ. In all the ER doctors wisdom, she forgot to mention that I was so smashed up inside that I had fragments of bone actually floating between my broken collarbone. After gasping as my Mother and I viewed the x-ray, we both realized things were very very wrong inside and the lump I could see sticking out of my skin in that area was a sharp edged part of my collarbone sticking almost directly vertical.

After a brief discussion that went like this between Doc Bradley and I:

Kim: So how bad are we talking here, any chance I can just "heal"?

Doc: Well, let me see, do you want to ever do a triathlon again and have any range of motion while you are swimming?

Kim: Ummmm that's a resounding YES

Doc: Then you'll be having surgery

Kim: When? Couple weeks?

Doc: Nope, I'll get you on the schedule tomorrow (aka Friday - Nov 20th)

Kim: Seriously, tomorrow?! Then how long to recover??

Doc: 6-8 weeks, no working for a week, no driving the whole time, no working out for at least two - three then we will evaluate if you can ride a recumbent bike or do the elipitcal

Kim: I feel faint

Doc: About what?

Kim: All of it..

So, that was that. I had my first surgery (besides my wisdom teeth) and everything went very well. I was thankful he was able to get me in so quickly because the sooner surgery, the sooner recovery begins.

How am I doing with the no activity part?? Well, under my bathroom and kitchen sinks are completely cleaned and organized, my house is clean, I've organized all of my triathlon stuff for the next year, my car has been cleaned out from the wrappers, bottles and other tri carnage from the year and I've done it all with one hand. I can type, but slowly and mostly with my left hand and even then it starts to bother me after a little bit.

I'm not sure what this means for the blog, but you may be getting a lot of pictures over the next month with very little words.

This is my most favorite card ever. You guys make me feel like this.. thank you!!

In the mean time, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. Your comments have made me laugh, smile and even brought a tear to my eye. What a great sport we are able to do that brings us all a little closer together from hundreds of miles apart.

Good Luck to those in IM Cozumel & Arizona.. Thinking of you!!

Sun, Sand & Road Rash

Just to prove I started the bike... Thanks Ken for the picture!!

My waitor at the restaurant acrossed the street!

Today I sat on the beach for about four hours and watched families build sandcastles, older couples read books and felt the warm sand between my toes. I called doctors and made appointments for when I return, and returned more phone calls about the accident.

I wouldn't say I'm nearly out of the woods, mentally or physically, but I certainly think today was a step in right direction. For the first time in well, as long as I can remember, I didn't have a schedule, I didn't know what time it was, and I remembered what it was like to be just like everyone else. No workouts, no thought to when I would get to pool or get my run in, just me and whatever I felt like doing. I smiled while I watched children enjoy running through the waves and I was thankful just to be alive and able to take a few days to myself before entering the rat race once again.


The bright and beautiful sunshine heating up my skin while I fell asleep in my chair (which I rented for 7 dollars since I can't lay down) was welcomed like an early spring. After looking forward to this for months, I decided two more days wasn't going to make the difference between my collarbone healing incorrectly or not. Many people thought I shouldn't stay, but that's one of the benefits of being 30 and having the best manager in the world at the Day's Inn Comp you a few nights - Thanks Ray!! You get to make your own decisions...so that was that.

I can't even think about next season...the thought of it seems impossible right now so I'm going to let it go. I had big plans for the off-season that included hot yoga, mountain biking and climbing...hummm..there goes that!! O well, it is what it is...
Some road rash pictures...Really it's not too bad. I've heard mederma and vitamin E to prevent scarring. Let me know if you have any other good ideas!

Reading some of the comments over the last few days has reminded me why I have this blog. I know sometimes people like to read and not leave comments and that is 100% fine. In times like this though, even if you are not so much a comment person people who I didn't even know read have left amazing comments that really touched me..thank you!! I'm also so lucky to have friends who cheered for me during the race, took my bike with them when I didn't have a way to get it home (Beth & Oscar), and have been calling, texting and really concerned for me which I sincerely appreciate. I'm a lucky girl for that and even though I don't understand why this happened, I'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason. Someone once told me I was the most resilient person that they've ever known and when I really start getting down I try to remember that comment. I don't know that they're right, but it seems to help me anyway.





So tomorrow it's home and then to the doctor on Thursday. It's taken way to long to write this blog and I'm starting to hurt so its time to stop...!!

Thanks to Blogland. You're comments were so warm and heartfelt. Sometimes it takes someone who's been there to understand. I know that for many of you, you have been here and know what it's like to see your race, your goals, your hopes get flushed pretty quickly down the loo.

My plan was to stay in Clearwater and enjoy the sun and sand a bit before heading back to cold and wintery PA. Either way, it is the off-season and I wanted to start it out by getting tan - I mean what can I say storing Vitamin D for the long cold winter is important to me (I'm a dietitian for heaven's sake!).

Now, I'm sitting in my hotel room with a bum arm wondering if I should take an earlier flight back. Most of my friends and gone at this point and with them gone I'm fighting off the tears a couple of times a day. I'm not trying to be dramatic, I'm just a cross between seriously disappointed and really pissed. Maybe I should take my sling outside, go find someone to mark 13.2 miles off with their car and then run it as hard as I can to find out..well, I'm not sure what. Something..something more than I know right now. Then again, I can barely move when I sleep without wincing so maybe not. I can't believe it's over and I can't believe this is really the way it ended.

I was realistic about what Clearwater was before I got here (and even more so once I talked to the other athletes here). I knew there would be fast times based on a bit of drafting and I knew I would do my best to ride a clean race. I did, and that I feel good about. I keep replaying the accident in my mind and thinking about what I could have done differently. Was I letting myself lose focus? What it the fact that I had to go for about 17-20 miles with NO aid stations in a 56 mile race with very little fluid because I threw both my bottles within seconds, maybe. Either way, I've got to accept what happened and that is not easy.

I read what I wrote the day before, "It's the journey, not the destination" Well, ok...I mostly agree with that... but after 11 months of training I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit interested in seeing how things turned out. I wasn't unrealistic in my goals, I was hoping for a top 10 or top 7 if I had a good day. Do I think it was possible - yes, Will I ever really know - noper.

Many people said "Oh, I'm sure you'll qualify next year and get another chance."

Then again, I think ELF said it best about this race:

Which brings me back to Clearwater. Or the 70.3 World Championship. Until they move the location or change the format, I would not waste the time. You only have so much life energy, so much money, and so many miles you can race. Spend them wisely. There are better races out there. Maybe experience it once but be prepared for some dishonesty out there. If you cannot reconcile with that, then go out and race a different race. I’m not accusing, I’m just saying. And along with that just standing by and laughing with the other spectators as the pro men’s field moves farther and farther from the start line before the race starts….

I'm about to call the race director to called to check on me and I'm going to let her know my thoughts. They did an excellent job running the race (which wasn't easy), but was I happy with this race - not so much. I don't think I'll be back for round two. It's just not the place for me, World Championship or not.

So, that's the breaks. I'm going to get some breakfast and try to forget about all this non-sense for awhile...

Thanks again for all the thoughts.. I do appreciate them and I know you are all with me!!

No Guarantees

My friend Jim and I after I got cleaned up and we went to the awards for a little. He's been a God send. I'm so lucky to have people who care about me!!!

Beyonce and my hospital tag

We had to cut me out of my sports bra and MAO tri top... o well.. guess I won't be wearing that again..

My face says it all...this sucks...

My powerbar tattoo took a beating (along with my body)

I heard Road rash is always in season

Bare with me as I'm hunting and pecking with my left hand. The short version is I didnt get the memo railroad tracks were ahead at mile 52 of the bike. I hit them going too fast and almost recovered but there was another rider right in front of me as I came off of them. I swerved right, but hit a cone dead square. I flew over the front of the bike and broke my clavicle (aka collar bone).

Needless to say I'm sitting in Florida very disappointed but thankful I wasn't hurt worse. There are no guarantees that when we put in the training time that we will get to see the fruits of our labor. I'm so proud of my friends who did so well here. They really made me smile last night at the awards. So 4-6 weeks of healing and hopefully no surgery--tbd.

Here are some after hospital/ambulance ride pics above.

Thanks for all your well-wishes in advance. I'm so bummed I didn't get to see what happened on the run, but there is always next season right. For now, I'm going to figure out how to do everything with my left hand for awhile. That should be a blast. I did get to see so many cool people down here! - ElF, Jen H, Chad, Jen his wife, Beth, Oscar, Mary E. everyone! And met some new friends!!

So, it was worth it!!

The Storm Before The Calm...

I made it to the sunshine state safe and sound. After a quick two hour flight from Pittsburgh (with a 4:15am wake up call - hence, the hat), I was arriving in Tampa at 10:00am and my wonderful friend Jim was there at the airport to pick me up in the "Birchmobile" as he calls it. He's such a trooper that he drove down from Michigan the week before to cheer on Ironman Florida finishers before coming to Clearwater! What a guy right!? On the van ride back to my hotel he told me to look in the back for my Christmas / End of Season present. Well, I'm not sure what this says about me but my gift was above! It's kind of special though because we met in St. Croix in May of last year and that's where this rum is from. I promise not to drink ALL of it on Saturday night after that race (but definitely a little!). We posed in front of the white sand castle 70.3 just before heading in to get me all registered up! I immediately noticed how cold it was off the plane and the wind was really whipping. When we started walking down the beach, I noticed all the "no swimming" signs and I asked Jim what was up? His only reply was that Ida wasn't quite in full effect, but she certainly was still impacting things in this area. I ate a lot of sand as it kept stinging my face and I could see the white capped waves rolling in from the ocean. I only hoped it would be better on Friday morning when I did my practice swim.

Once I had my packet, the last station was weighing and body fat analysis. Oh..that's just what I need right now.. It wasn't too bad but I'm not quite sure what Ironman needs to know this much about me!

Finally, we checked out the expo quickly. We stopped to send each other "miracle mile" messages that will come up when we each cross the 6 mile marker of the run, and saw my Mark Allen Online coach, Luis.

Randomly we ran into some fun tri girls and one said she actually reads my blog - who knew! I hugged her because, well, I'm a hugger and I thought that was pretty cool. I do have people that read this thing!!

They also mentioned the drafting and how rampent it was last year. I'd heard this many times before, but I guess I never really cared much about it until now. What I'm most afraid of is not that I'll draft (because I"m going to do everything in my power NOT to do it), but that I will get mad if I see girls going by me who ARE doing it and that even though I have goals in terms of where I want to place, that it won't matter because people aren't getting their place "fairly." I'm trying to come to terms with that fact that it just might be the case, and that I have to ride MY race and really concentrate on being safe and playing fair, regardless of how the chips fall in terms of place. Hopefully, I'll be able to remember that if I see packs flying by me tomorrow. I want to be happy with myself when I look in the mirror above all, and if people pass me I'm going to back off (hopefully quickly enough that I don't get a penalty either - that scares me too!!).

We swam this morning, and it was pretty rough to say the least. When a wave would come up and then drop out below us it would almost take my breath away they were so large. I really really hope it gets calmer tomorrow for the swim or things could get ugly. They were talking about a reroute to the harbor if it stays like it is now. For someone who's not that fast in the water already, I don't need any extra swells!

Some free swag from the Mark Allen Team was nice!! Thanks for all the well-wishes on my last blog. That's just makes me feel so good and I appreciate it so much. I really hope it goes well, but either way, I just want to do my best and be thankful to be out there doing what I love tomorrow. We really are blessed to have this opportunity so if you look at it that way no matter what, you can never be truly disappointed about the "outcome."

It's the journey, not the destination right!! Look out for number 790 tomorrow if you're watching online!! Please pray for a good race and a safe race for myself and all the other athletes.

Here we go!!!!

Clearwater or BUST!!!!

Glorious, Simply Glorious

You’ve gotta love the taper. I don’t care who you are, you’ve gotta love it. Ok.. maybe some of you type A triathletes (and I would know, it takes one to know one) don’t think that sitting around watching a bunch of TV, doing your nails and getting nine hours of sleep an night is cool. I don’t think I’d be nearly as down with it if it hadn’t been almost a full 11 months of training 20+ hours a week, getting up at butt crack of dawn and spending every Saturday on a bike seat between 2-4 hours. Don’t get me wrong, I love it… like love it, love it.

But it’s nice to have a break. I’m eating it up. Last night I stayed up until 10:40pm – whoooo…don’t you all fall off your chairs now!

So in other news, I analiated packing like a world class sniper and decided this weekend was a way better time to do it than during the middle of the worst work weeks ever. It's kind of like pledging a fraternity I think..initiation or something like that! Well, it’s been about two weeks and I’m pretty sure work is trying to kill me before I leave. I’m not trying to be dramatic. It just wants to send me stressed out and screaming out the door before I get to board the plane to sunny and beautiful Florida. I’m not sure why it hates me so much right now. I mean, what have I ever done to you work? Who knows, but if I make it to the flight, it will be a small miracle in itself.

Speaking of miracles, I noticed on my face cream this week it said.

Where there is faith, there is hope. And where there is hope, miracles can happen. Well I’ll be. If that isn’t the darnest thing to have on your face cream right before you take off for the biggest race of the season.

I think about what I’m going to write in my blog sometimes and when I don’t have time to actually write them it’s so funny. The turn they take is so completely different it usually comes out as if it was written by someone else.

That’s the beauty of blogs I guess, they are a snapshot of that one moment, where you are at that very time. I thought about giving up wine for this week in order to cleanse before the race. Then I thought…nahhh.. not really my thing.

For me, at this time, I’m just so thankful that I’m going to get the chance to race one more time. Racing is gut-wrenching, and hard, and it strips you down and makes you feel a cross between alive and a totally idiot for doing this to yourself. In college, I distinctly always remember finishing my cross country race or 3000 meter track race and wondering if I had given it every last drop of what I had. I always felt I held back just a little to shield myself from feeling drop dead honest spent.

I don’t know if it’s old age, or if I’ve just been doing this too long, that I now realize what it’s like to give so much and then give a little more. I consider it an art form…I really do (now I KNOW you think I’m crazy). I can’t help it though. I consider learning how to do that a skill that cannot be completely taught, you have to learn it on your own. It comes through years of competition and teaching yourself to dig into a place that you could never experience unless you’d been there before. It is a combination of experiences, and just plan wanting to be the absolute best that you could be on any given day. When the time comes to call on that place, your mind goes back to times where you’ve done it before, and you just know that when it’s right, you’ll go there again. It’s a dangerous place though, one that shouldn’t be visited too often and is only visited in training in very short durations.

Those of us that know it, know it well. We don’t necessarily look forward to going there, but at the time going there really isn’t a yes or no question. We’ve taught ourselves to go there and to do "anything less than that, is to sacrifice the gift". It’s a place of hurt and pain, but it’s also a place where you reveal who you are and call on things about yourself that you wouldn’t know about otherwise.

I have a feeling I’ll be visiting on Saturday. Believe me you, I’m not packing bags, or moving in…but I know I’ll be there for a bit and it will make me question everything. Hopefully, I’ll have the answers though and I’ll know that in the end going there will be better than the alternative. That’s the beauty of it.

So, there is so much too look forward too. My family and friends have come out in full effect this week – emails, phone calls, cards…you all are amazing. I thank you from the bottom of my heart and the best thing is I know you love me no matter if I am first on Saturday or dead last. You love me for me and that is why I will always be there for you when you need me. I’m so blessed to have you in my life. It gives me comfort and it gives me strength to be the athlete, but more importantly, the person I know I can be. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.. I can’t thank you enough.

On that note, as the bad cheerleaders say – Bring it On! Sunny Florida, Clearwater or Bust!!! If you’re down there and see me wearing an Mark Allen Shirt, please come up and say hello!!!! I’ll be hanging with my man Jim who is going to rip up the “65 to death category” as he calls it!! He’s such a blast.. I can’t wait to see him.

See you on the flip!

Stick a Fork In Me & Girls On The Run

I'm done.. I'm sooooo freakin done. I couldn't be more done if I tried.

This has been THE WORST work week EVER. I have never experienced the long hours, the crazy mind-frying experience that I'm sure some of you take on every week. I'm lucky enough to have a job I really like with some pretty great people with whom I work (most of the time). Not this week though, I've been fighting fires in Chicago and trying writing pieces all day which have me totally brain dead. I'm pretty sure I only have about two cells left and even those poor guys are raising the white flags and keeling over. I'll explain more next week if we end up getting our rebuttal letter to the editor in the tribune. We'll see. This thing has been kicking my hiney since last Thursday, and I'm so sick of it I could PUKE.

Speaking of puke (which is something I think I've never used to start a sentence before!), I was 800 into my 2000 swim on Wednesday after a VERY long day of workouts and work and wouldn't you know it, some kid couldn't hold his cookies. I was SO close to putting in almost four hours that day but nope, everybody out of the pool. I said "sianara" to that workout, as I wasn't sticking around for another 30 minutes to see if I could get back in.

On Tuesday I did a track workout and I was really really trying to talk myself out of going outside considering it was already dark at 5:10pm when I left the office. Then, I gave myself a little lecture about this being the last week or so, I put on the big girl pants, and got my butt out there.
It was dark...

Then it was darker...

Then I ran till I felt a little like puking myself.

Finally my Pink Newtons and I saw the Finish Line and it was good. I said I'd be seeing that word again soon, preferably while running and not crawling, in about 7 days.

On another wayyy better note, last year I was blessed to participate in a great event that was so fun and special.

This is a little blurb about the Girls On The Run program:

Girls on the Run® is a life-changing, experiential learning programs for girls age eight to thirteen years old. The programs combine training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the programs are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development.

This program exists in multiple cities, so check out the website and see if you might have a way to participate in your own home town. The annual girls on the run 5k will be here in Pittsburgh in December and it's a great way to get involved, show your support for this amazing program and have a ton of fun being paired with a young girl to support her first 5k EVER! It's so cool, trust me you'll have a blast. If you're in Pittsburgh come out and join us for this great event!

It’s that time of year! Time to get out your jingle bells and ear warmers, and join us as a buddy runner while the fall girls on the run complete their end-of season 5K!

The Arthritis Jingle Bell Run is December 12th at 9:30am and will be held on the North Shore this year. So if you would like to share in the amazing accomplishments of over 100 Girls on the Run, please read the details below….

Be There With Bells On! Be a Buddy Runner on December 12th, and witness the accomplishments of over 100 Girls on the Run!

Who: Buddy Runners are adults who will run with, encourage, and help keep an eye on one to three Girls on the Run runners while they complete their end of season 5K. (Must be able to complete a 5K)

When: Saturday, December 12th - 9:30am

Where: Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Run @ Heinz Field, North Shore

What: Please register yourself for the Jingle Bell Run, www.jbrpgh.kintera.org, and then email Andrea at sandersae@mail.magee.edu to confirm your registration and to be added to the list. Specific information will be emailed closer to the date of the event.

Please put on your Santa hat and come out to join us in supporting a great cause or donate through the website! I'll be there with bells on :)

It's Time...

A Penn State Running Picture from an article Back in the Day

Every year at the beginning of the Penn State Cross-Country season our team would take time to decide what this year would represent to us. The t-shirt design would beckon that year's slogan, and all of our efforts would be rallied around upholding the attitude, message, and spirit of that particular saying.

My junior year of eligibility was a tough year. We had just lost some great seniors, and some of us were feeling a bit down after working extremely hard the previous years without seeing much fruit from our labors. We were an underdog (and that is an understatement), who had basically built our team from the ground up with the majority of the team as non-recruited walk-ons, like myself. We didn't have much to show for ourselves at that point, and certainly no one expected anything from us at the Big Ten level, let alone at our regional championships. My coach believed in us in a way I had yet to experience in my athletic career. She suggested a team saying that became the slogan for that year that really hit home with all of us (and really for me personally as well at different times in my life).


You may wonder what the heck I'm talking about.. It's time?? What kind of saying is that?! To us that year it was something like, "it's time to stop being down on ourselves, it's OUR time to make something of this team and really do things that people think we can't or won't, and it's time for us to come together and have our day." It didn't matter if one other person who saw that shirt knew what we were talking about, we knew.


That season, although we made some improvements, wasn't "our time." However, we did our best, and we learned so much. We began to build what I like to think as the basis for what has become one of the best teams in the collegiate cross country field at the present time. This past Saturday, Penn State Cross County proved it wasn't just one of the best - it WAS the best of the Big Ten Conference. Let me tell you, the Big Ten Conference is no joke. To win that title is a huge deal and these girls went out and ran their heart out for one another to make history. What was once a team of misfits, is now a Championship Team of all out extraordinary athletes (thanks to their dedication and to my awesome Coach - Coach Sullivan). I've been privileged to have some amazing coaches during my running career, two in particular. Coach Sullivan was the first person to believe in me so strongly that she MADE me into the athlete I became throughout my years at Penn State. From a timid walk-on, to a team captain, she molded me and built my self-confidence that lives on with me today any time I toe the line.



Congrats PSU CC team. That is quite an accomplishment and all of your alumni are SO proud of you!!!

So, seems to me "It's Time..." once again. Just like the humble beginnings I came from that season, this season has been quite the experience. I can't say it was one of my best, but I certainly have worked harder at overcoming obstacles than I ever have before. That, I can honestly say, is what I am most proud of right now.

Now, it's time to see what all this training is about. It's time to prepare and execute to the best of my ability. I wanted to get my running back late in the year - I have. I wanted to take my cycling up a notch these last few months so I could get off the bike and have the run I know I am capable of producing - I also have. I wanted to go into this race feeling confident in my coaches, training and in the best shape of my entire season - I am. So, here goes. This next week is about checking all the equipment, visualization and just doing exactly what it says on my taper (which does feel like a taper with a 2.5 hour ride, 2000 swim, & 35 min run today - geezzz coach!). I do what they say, it works, and I do it.

Congrats also to another simply extraordinary women - Chrissy Wellington who was just named the 2009 Women's Athlete of the Year. She really deserves it, and is both a wonderful person and athlete. Good for her!

Some Spooky Halloween Fun!

I talked up my costume enough on the blog that hopefully you can figure out who I'm supposed to be! I found this other image on the web and I didn't have any gold hair jewelry, but other than that, I was pretty happy with it (for 20.00 at Target!)! No one offered to carry me around, or be my slave, but I still had a pretty fun night with plenty of other characters.

My Mom made me pose in front of this fake tree. Yes, I am 30, and yes, when my Mom says "stand over there by that tree", I still do it! We found Mr. Reno 911 and I think he nailed it.. see above for a comparison!

The Ref, The Polly Girl and Cleo were out having fun and calling fouls, serving drinks and bossing people around (isn't that what Cleopatra did?!).

We found another cop so we ditched Reno and hung out with her instead.. much cuter!

Finally, in case you were wondering what a close up of my arm-pit looks like, here you go. Enjoy! Hope everyone had a good & safe Halloween. It's taper time! The training went great this weekend and I'm excited. We're almost there!!