chillin’

don’t hate!

yep, that’s me chillin’ out. don’t ask me where i got those very cool slippers cuz i ain’t tellin’. since my last, less than chipper post, i’ve been trying to just appreciate the time off that i have but it isn’t easy. i’m not used to taking it easy, taking time off, or resting and honestly, relaxing doesn’t make me happy, training does. i make no apologies for that, it’s how i’m wired and i accept that…the good, the bad, and the ugly black clouds that go along with it. i was talking to a good friend of mine recently about having signed up for the 2011 ironman florida (oh yeah, i forgot to tell you all about that-so now you know!) and what my ultimate goal is for that race (more on the little gem later, much later) and her response to me was, “so basically, you’ll possibly be training for the next 2 years? my response, “oh yeah, i didn’t even think about that.” looks like 2 more solid years of blogging material folks!
i want to personally send big hugs out to all of you who left such kind, positive comments on my last post, to all who sent me emails, and those that called me. i know a lot of you have been there, done that and it’s always good to know, we are not alone. i knew that there would be some feelings of blah after the race but didn’t ever think it would be as long and profound as it was…a solid 4 weeks of blah. it also took a solid 4 weeks for me to feel completely recovered physically. i really thought i had it all figured out, how to avoid the ironman blues, so as soon as the race was over, i decided i would do a marathon. it made sense to me, i was already trained, the race was in 5 weeks, perfect! but, that was not to be. a week or 2 after the race, all the little aches and pains started to creep up and the doubts started to set in. i had to wave the white flag and say no to the marathon. was i a little disappointed? hell yeah but i know how important it is to stay healthy, uninjured, and i realize there will be plenty of other marathons to do in the future…and a lot more ironman races.
okay, time for some randomness…

• i hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving with family and friends. mine was interesting in that, for the first time ever, thanksgiving was at my house. for those who know me, who just read that, that was not a mistake and you may now pick your mouths up off of the floor. for those of you who don’t know me, I DO NOT COOK…ANYTHING. it isn’t that i can’t cook, i just chose to spend my time doing things that i enjoy more. life without a microwave would be a living hell for me. anyway, special thanks to PUBLIX supermarket for coming through big time with their awesome thanksgiving feast in a box. i would highly recommend this to anyone who is low on time and motivation to cook for a holiday feast. for $45.00, i got a pretty big turkey, fully cooked, mashed potatoes, stuffing that was to die for, potato bread rolls, apple/raspberry cobbler and pumpkin pie. the only thing i had to do was heat it all up in the oven. this is the tricky part. i had to make a little flow chart for each item’s heating time since there would be 3 items in the oven at the same time. all in all, everything turned out lovely and it was delicious. we had way too much leftover though and unfortunately, this was the smallest amount we could order. now that i know what a success this was, i will have to invite a few more mouths next time.
• i think that since there are blogger awards for beautiful blogs, versatile blogs, creative blogs, amazing blogs, etc…don’t you think there should be an award for deadbeat bloggers? i know, deadbeat and award don’t go together but you get the picture. i’d certainly be honored to receive that award or whatever you want to call it and perhaps it will spur me on to blog on a more regular basis. i love blogging, i certainly have the time, i just think my creativity is on vacation but i can feel it coming back, albeit slowly. dang-it, i have to be ready to celebrate this blogs 1 year anniversary soon (december 23rd!).
• i got an early christmas present last week. actually, mandy got an early christmas present. first picture is mandy before and the second picture is mandy after. for those new to reading my blog, mandy (named after the character on cartoon network) is my tri bike.

yes, new wheels! who cares if they don’t make me faster, they look cool! afterall, it is better to look good than to feel good, right? just kidding.

• i had a really nice 15 mile run with my favorite running buddy Amy on saturday. here is a picture of us after as we chug down our ice cold powerade zero’s. thanks Amy for remembering how much i love zero’s and for remembering my favorite flavor. you rock!
• lastly, i’m looking forward to some much needed time off from work these next 4 weeks. i feel like i haven’t been able to catch my breath with the high volume of work lately. it’s making me pissy!

my next post will be about next years goals and races. can you believe we will be in 2011 in 1 month?? thanks for reading.
much love and peace out!

black cloud be gone

i feel the need.... the need for speed to blog! what an interesting 3-4 weeks since the 140.6 race. i can honestly say that the ironman blues really exist and it sucks. i admit that i can be moody but these past few weeks have been downright depressing. i don't remember feeling like this after a marathon except for maybe very early on after my first and second one but it was short lived. how do you top an ironman or iron distance race? seriously? i did a little research on the subject and found this great article: post ironman blues. i think it pretty much sums up how i've been feeling. i do feel like i finally turned a corner this week though and things are feeling a little more back to normal.

i didn't think it would take me this long to recover physically. in fact, after the soreness wore off about 2 days after the race, i was back out on the bike. it took me about 4 days to finally be able to run comfortably. however, week 2 and 3 were not so nice. i started feeling my left hip hurting, my shins were killing me, i was having to stop 2 and 3 times within the first mile of my run to stretch out because of the burning shins and tight hip. thankfully, based on past history (usually after running a marathon around this same time each year), i remembered these aches and pains i was experiencing were "pre" injury signs, so i knew i had to back off a bit and that's exactly what i did. this week, i was finally able to run without having to stop and work out the kinks. i had planned on doing the palm beaches marathon on december 5th but decided that this just isn't a smart idea. even though i know i can do it and could probably very easily throw down a boston qualifying time, i don't think that i would come out of it without some consequence (ie. stress fractured hip and/or shins). at this point in time, i'm not willing to sacrifice not being able to run for 2 months just to run a marathon that wasn't even on my list of to do races. i would just be doing it for the hell of it and that's not a good enough reason right now.

during my little down time recently, i've been thinking about my goals for next year. i made a list of races i'd like to do and specific (and realistic) goals for each one and will share those on a later post. i signed up for IMFL too! i'm very excited about that, yet it seems a million years away...349 days away to be exact (i may have to do the daily blog countdown like Caratunk Girl).

i finally got the official race pictures this week from the great floridian 140.6. i posted them on facebook so some of you may have seen them already but i'll post some here for those who haven't seen them. click on the pictures to make them bigger. i did have them set at a larger size but when i originally posted this blog post, the pics were enormous and completely off the page so i had to decrease the size so they would fit.




done!

  much love and peace out!

shout out to my IMFL peeps!

just wanted to wish you all the best of luck this weekend. tear panama city up yo! i really don't like to use the term, good luck, because i feel that there is really no luck involved. luck is just a residual of all the hard work you put into your training. simple as that! so without further ado, here is an inspirational poem for my pals:

In my world,

The water is cold,

The wind is hard,

And the road never ends.

In my world,

There are no losers.

Only competitors still on their way,

And spectators waiting to be inspired.

In my world,

Victory is not weighed in gold,

But in determination and courage.

In my world,

There are no boundaries,

No limits,

There is no end.

Every day is the last day of my life,

And the first.

In my world,

The word “can't” does not exist,

And nothing is impossible.

author unknown

sending this shout out to:

~ Chloe at Running with a bottle of wine - bib#2254

~ Heidi at Swim. Bike. Run. Blog. - bib#2225

~ Bob at One hour ironman - bib#1994
~ Michael Ervolina - no blog but a tri-buddy nonetheless - bib#1334

i'll be following all of you on Saturday!! race smart and finish strong!

much love and peace out!