I knew this weekend was going to be busy, and it surpassed my wildest expectations. I'm finding that Ironman training is not only an exercise in training, but it requires extreme everything..
Extreme communication with your spouse, family, co-workers etc.
Extreme training / time (well, that's a given)
Extreme training / time (well, that's a given)
Extreme eating (a sport that I have yet to conquer but am enjoying trying)
Extreme PLANNING (this may be the most important one of all!)
At some point, you realize your social life is about to be extinct due to all of these things (mostly the training / time) so you have to just accept it. I have six weeks of very long, hard training ahead of me and I know I have reached that time. Social life - I'll miss you, but not before I give you a proper farewell.. enter.. this weekend!
The goal was to drive to Clarion on Friday night, wake up on Saturday to run the Autumn Leaf Festival 10k at 9:00am the next morning and then drive back to Pittsburgh to ride my bike for a few hours and be about 30 minutes away for a wedding at 4:00pm. You do the math.. it was going to be tight.
Everything went pretty smoothly. The weather for the 10k was perfect and I had many friends to see who were also running! That part was really fun!!
It was also a race where people were paying tribute to our service men by wearing their names on their shirts. I made this shirt on Friday night while staying late at my office just to make sure I could wear it on Saturday. Judd is the little Brother of a very good friend, and he's in Afghanistan as we speak. We're thinking of you Judd and we are very proud of you!!
The race itself was fast and furious. I enjoyed it immensely! My legs even felt great which was a nice surprise coming off a fairly sizeable week of training. I came through the first mile in 6:03.. yikes Kim! A little fast!! I calmed down from there and it didn't really start to hurt, hurt until mile 4.5 which I think is how these things go. I was thankful to have some other men around me to push me to go harder.
I haven't run a 10k in so long (plus with NO speed work) so I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping to break 40 and low and behold, I went 38:35, so I was very very happy! Plus I collected a little $ which never hurts when you are paying to travel / race for 8+ triathlons a year!
Thanks to everyone who volunteered and to those who came out to represent someone in our Military. I enjoyed hearing some of the stories behind people's shirts!
It was also a race where people were paying tribute to our service men by wearing their names on their shirts. I made this shirt on Friday night while staying late at my office just to make sure I could wear it on Saturday. Judd is the little Brother of a very good friend, and he's in Afghanistan as we speak. We're thinking of you Judd and we are very proud of you!!
The race itself was fast and furious. I enjoyed it immensely! My legs even felt great which was a nice surprise coming off a fairly sizeable week of training. I came through the first mile in 6:03.. yikes Kim! A little fast!! I calmed down from there and it didn't really start to hurt, hurt until mile 4.5 which I think is how these things go. I was thankful to have some other men around me to push me to go harder.
I haven't run a 10k in so long (plus with NO speed work) so I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping to break 40 and low and behold, I went 38:35, so I was very very happy! Plus I collected a little $ which never hurts when you are paying to travel / race for 8+ triathlons a year!
Thanks to everyone who volunteered and to those who came out to represent someone in our Military. I enjoyed hearing some of the stories behind people's shirts!Needless to say, I started to run behind at some point, and I never really caught up. I felt like I was going to fall asleep on the way to Pittsburgh and at some point my 2-3 hour bike became an hour spin-the-legs-out-so-you-don't-die-tomorrow bike. I hopped off at 2:30 and was aiming to be ready by 3:15... Um.. didn't happen. Kyle was late too, so it was a double whammy.
I had a chance to see so many friends and family. It was awesome. My Aunt Dena has had a rough year after being diagnosed with cancer. Talk about an amazing role model.. she has had the best attitude of anyone I have ever met. She inspires me and makes me want to just cry every time I see how positive she is about beating this disease. Her last scan showed everything looked good after months and months of chemo. One more big treatment and she'll be "in remission" for good!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH Aunt Dena.. what a great evening with you!
Other things I don't do well with when I am having a few glasses of the good grapes is challenges. At some point it became apparent that Erol wanted to challenge me to a pull up contest. Unfortunately, I must have forgot that:
We made it to the wedding just in time to have to "not so sneak" beside the bridesmaids.
It was 3:59pm.. it was beautiful and it was precisely on time, much to our dismay!!
Lisa looked so wonderful. My cousin Brian also looked very nice in his suit.
The weather was perfect so that helped set up a great day!
The barn was decorated with cute little lights everywhere!
I felt like I was in a fairytale!
In PA, we roll with a cookie table. I'm not sure if you have these other places too, but let me tell you.. you start out with thinking you will "just have one or two" and you come back to your seat with like 6 or more. They ALL look so good (and they were!).
I had a chance to see so many friends and family. It was awesome. My Aunt Dena has had a rough year after being diagnosed with cancer. Talk about an amazing role model.. she has had the best attitude of anyone I have ever met. She inspires me and makes me want to just cry every time I see how positive she is about beating this disease. Her last scan showed everything looked good after months and months of chemo. One more big treatment and she'll be "in remission" for good!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH Aunt Dena.. what a great evening with you!
The tables were simple and elegant!!
My Uncle Mike!
Erol, Laurie, Kyle and I were at a table together and we had so much fun!
The cousins giving a toast together with Dena!! To happiness and health!
Then it was time.. Napoleon Dynamite, you may have met your match..
If you didn't know before, you know now - I LOVE to dance.. It's like unleashing some sort of gene I must have been born with, but that only comes out after 3 glasses of Merlot. Of course, so does my cousin Jessica's husband Chad. Can you tell?
Other things I don't do well with when I am having a few glasses of the good grapes is challenges. At some point it became apparent that Erol wanted to challenge me to a pull up contest. Unfortunately, I must have forgot that:A. Pull ups are hard!!
B. Pull ups are harder wearing a cocktail dress
C. You should really practice pull ups if you want to try and do them.. especially if you are doing them in public
D. My dress was really short.. no XX moments.. but dang close.
So I made 4. Erol made 12. Lost that battle. I told him if he wanted to do a quick 5k that would probably sort things out :) However, he declined (and I was thankful.. not sure that would have worked out after the 10k earlier that day).
After partying / dancing / having fun like a rock star Saturday night, I felt like someone had beat my legs with a baseball bat on Sunday morning. Hence, that will be the end of my little "I can do all things along with training" escapade.
I'm going to miss my social life until Nov. 28th, but I think it will be worth it. At least I went out with a bang!!
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