100 things about moi

well, i said i was going to do this 100 random things about me dealio awhile back but never got past 25 but today is a new day and i found my blogging mojo. enjoy!

1. After almost 40 marathons, I’ve never lost a toenail.

2. The smell of pancakes and syrup makes me sick.

3. I used to work at village inn as a hostess when I was in high school (see #2)

4. I used to cry if my Mom made me wear a dress to church.

5. I really despise sneaky wheel sucking cyclists. I may or may not try to pick a fight.

6. I should have weighed 300 pounds as a teenager with the eating habits I had.

7. I used to eat an entire strawberry cheesecake from village inn for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in one day (see #3 & 6).

8. I got serious about my health and fitness at the age of 19 and have never looked back.

9. I was a vegetarian for about 3 years in the early 1990’s.

10. I have never been to Steak-n-Shake, Checkers, Olive Garden or Sonic.

11. I used to think marathons were fun, now I find them boring.

12. Eating out is a waste of money and time in my opinion.

13. I miss my parent’s every single day and don’t think I will ever meet 2 people more special than they were.

14. I’ve never met my biological parent’s.

15. One day, I hope to meet my biological parent’s.

16. Short hair rules and I will never grow mine out again.

17. I’m scared to see what my hair color would be if I didn’t color it.

18. I eat way too much cheese. I may need an intervention.

19. Learning to swim was a very humbling experience.

20. If I could safely ride my bike to and from work (50 mile round trip), I would.

21. I could live without a TV in the house.

22. I cannot live without the internet.

23. I don’t have any pets.

24. I am deathly afraid of lightning.

25.  I prefer running alone in the dark.

26.  I have to agree that working out is cheaper, better for you and more fun than therapy.

27.  I could eat sashimi everyday but can't remember the last time i had any.

28.  I hate that my body doesn't like to build bigger muscle. And Lord knows i try.

29.  Peas and Lima beans gross me out.

30.  I have no room in my life for gossipy, stir the shit up kind of people.

31.  I wish I lived closer to the ocean so I could do more open water swims.

32.  I am more scared of crashing on my bike because of an animal than being hit by a car.

33.  I have way too many running shoes.

34.  I went thru 5 swim suits this year alone. They sure don't last long.

35.  I didn't pay more than $12 for each swim suit (see #34).

36.  I still don't "get" Twitter.

37.  I really don't "get" Google+.

38.  Slowtwitch forums are full of haters.

39.  Beginner Triathlete forum is so much classier. Especially the IM Florida peeps.

40.  I have never followed a schedule for my ironman training.

41.  I have never followed a schedule for all of the marathons I've done either.

42.  I hate schedules. It takes all the fun out of training for me.

43.  If I weren't so into triathlons, I would probably be a bodybuilder.

44.  I'm addicted to my smart phone, so says the J-man.

45.  I don't stop to smell the roses as often as I should.

46.  I have been eating Flintstones vitamins with iron for about 10 years.

47.  I have a hyperthyroid but haven't taken my medication in over a year.

48.  I really don't think I have a hyperthyroid.

49.  I hate my doctor's office and think they aren't very in tune with me (see #47 & 48).

50.  As a teenager, I ate almost all of my meals from fast food joints, McD's mostly.

51.  I broke into a vacant house on my street when I was in high school. Just cuz.

52.  I worked out with Andrew Dice Clay one late Friday night at Bally's.

53.  I am absolutely against listening to music with earphones on when biking outside.

54.  I can cook, I just chose not to.

55.  Thank God for microwaves.

56.  I'm pretty cranky when I don't get to workout in the morning before work.

57.  I really do think the honey badger is the baddest ass animal out there.

58.  I loved Christmas growing up but not so much anymore. Just another day.

59.  I thoroughly clean my bikes after every ride.

60.  I will never eat popcorn. Farmers feed their cows and pigs corn to fatten them up. 

61.  The first thing I want to do after an Ironman race is brush my teeth.

62.  I refuse to pay someone to wash and detail my car. 

63.  I can detail a car like no one else (see #62).

64.  The J-man is my bike mechanic and he is the bomb.

65.  I have no interest in learning how to do mechanical stuff to my bike.

66.  Since Ironman Florida, I have had about 50 people add me to their google+ circle.

67.  I don't know any of these people (see #66).

68.  Meeting bloggers in real life is pretty darn cool.

69.  Mellow Mushroom pizza has to be about the best pizza that I've ever had.

70.  Thank God Mellow Mushroom is about 30 miles away or I'd be racing as an Athena.

71.  Coffee is in fact the nectar of the Gods. 

72.  I used to hate Starbucks coffee. Now I can't live without it.

73.  My first hamster's name was Timothy. He froze to death.

74.  I think Vanilla really is the finest of the flavors.

75.  I drink Slimfast shakes but not for weight loss. I just love them. Vanilla of course.  

76.  Tapering for a race isn't as bad I like to make it out to be.

77.  I wish my body didn't rebel so damn much when I try to run over 45 miles/week.

78.  Men with overly hairy bodies should not be allowed to swim in the pool.

79.  I never knew snorkels were allowed in triathlons until last year. 

80.  All of my "vacations" in the last 15 years, have involved some kind of race event.

81.  I am not a procrastinator even though I've been putting this list off for months, lol.  

82.  I prefer running alone with music blaring.

83.  I graze all day long.

84.  I don't participate in food days at work. I have watched too many Hoarder episodes.

85.  I refuse to shop at Walmart during normal hours. 5-6am is usually best and safest.

86.  I vowed to never buy an American car. I think I may have to go back on my vow.

87.  I love the new Ford Focus SEL Titanium 5 door, fully loaded in red. I'm getting one!

88.  J-man doesn't like that I want to put more race stickers on my SUV back window.

89.  I still haven't gotten that 140.6 tattoo I was thinking about last year.

90.  I really like the M dot tats but not on me.

91.  I'm still devastated that I can no longer eat peanut butter b/c of allergies. I miss it.

92.  I hate excuses. They are just reasons to fail.

93.  If I could, I'd wear a running cap to work everyday.

94.  I don't get along real well with people who tend to always be running late.

95.  I still haven't visited my parent's grave since the funerals, almost 5 years ago.

96.  I think funerals are a big waste of money. What a ridiculous ceremony.

97.  I want to be burned at the stake cremated.

98.  P90X rocks. If you don't already have it, go buy it and DO IT!

99.  Don't be fooled by my quietness.

100.  I got married in Vegas almost 15 years ago. I'd do it all over again too! With J-man of course.

Much love and peace out!

Ironman Florida - Part 3 - the run

yay! windy 112 miles done and i quickly hand my bike off to a volunteer and start running to the T2 bag area, which was very close this time compared to where the first transition was, and i hauled butt to the same changing area as before. plenty of space, even more than before and i quickly removed my bike shoes, the volunteer dumped my bag out and handed me my running shoes, and the other volunteer (yep, I had 2 helping me) sprayed sunscreen on me and i was out the door running. time in T2: 4:49.

this picture sums up how great i felt during the run but unfortunately, it doesn't reflect in my time: 4:08:28

i learned at about mile 8 that the few big gulps of salt water i took in the swim had done some damage to my GI system over the last 6-7 hours. i figured this out after the race while talking to at least 2 handfuls of others who had the same experience and could only attribute it to the salt water. i would say for me that it couldn't have been anything else as my eating is ALWAYS the same leading up to a race, my nutrition and hydration were exactly the same as last year when i did my first 140.6 race, and always the same as i do during training. i have never had stomach issues in a race. i also have never done a race of this distance that had a salt water swim. so with that being said, i had to make a couple of not so fun pit stops at the port-o-lets which started to eat into my time.

i would have killed for a vanilla frosty from Wendy's across the street right about now

my "should have been" marathon time should have been closer to 3:45-3:50. i never felt bad while i was running and never slowed down my pace but the time i spent reading magazines, really hurt me and does reflect negatively on my run. oh well, maybe i will experiment in my training by drinking salt water.

the spectators along the way were awesome. tents were set up along the side of the road as if people were tailgating for the big game and they were rooting for their favorite athletes. it was great and i had my share of cheerleaders along that stretch. thanks you guys! overall, the course is okay, maybe a little boring on some stretches in St. Andrews State Park. the aid stations were plentiful and i used them at least every 2 miles. i lived off the course for the marathon. i did a post last year regarding my hydration and nutrition during the Great Floridian 140.6, which was flawless, and i followed that again this year and it worked like a charm. if you want to read it, go HERE.

the finish was just as i thought it would be ...bright lights and lots of screaming spectators. the words, Kristie Concepcion, you are an Ironman never sounded so good. i felt fine when i finished, had a great catcher walk me thru to get my finishers medal, t-shirt, hat and then a finishers picture. i found the J-man right away and quickly found a spot to sit down and stretch out. then got changed into some dry clothing and headed to Wendy's for that vanilla frosty i wanted. we were going to stay and spectate until the cutoff but we all were so tired that we hopped on the shuttle and headed back to the car and then to the hotel. on the ride back to the hotel, i told the J-man i wasn't sticking around to register for next year, however, before my head hit the pillow, he had me talked into signing up for IMFL 2012, so that's what i did before rolling out of Panama City Beach on Sunday. I'm so glad I did it and I look forward to next year with even better results. 

        ********************************

Swim - 1:20:30

T1 - 8:26

Bike - 5:43:16

T2 - 4:49

Run - 4:08:28

Finishing Time - 11:25:29

544th OA

15th AG/120

much love and peace out!

Ironman Florida Race Report part 2 - the bike

first i gotta give my J-man some mad props for being such an awesome cycling coach and helping me to HTFU on the bike. i took this picture of him last Friday before he headed out for a ride in Panama City Beach. it was a little nippy, thus the arm warmers. when he got back from his ride, the first thing he said to me was, "omg, i hope it isn't this windy for the race tomorrow." to which i replied, " well, i do have an aero helmet, aero wheels and the right bike so i'll just deal with it tomorrow and take what the day gives me."

fast forward to saturday, swim done, run on the cheese grater asphalt, grab my T1 bag, and into the ladies changing area. best part about ironman triathlons? lots more men than women do them so much more space for us ladies to change without someone's butt in our face. there were chairs but i didn't even sit down. the volunteer (God bless all of them) dumped my bag out on the floor and handed me my helmet, then sunglasses, socks, and then as i put my shoes on, she sprayed me down with my personal spray-on sunscreen. i wasn't about to get slathered with that generic crap they have set up with latex gloved volunteers ready to slap it on you, as you are running out the door to grab your bike.

T1: 8:26 

it sure didn't feel like 8 and a half minutes, maybe more like 5 but it was quite a haul from the swim to T1. next year i'll shoot for at least 2 minutes less.

just like clockwork, my bike was awaiting me as i ran out. unfortunately, there were so many others exiting at the same time, we had to keep running with our bikes way past the actual mount line. it was crazy! sherpa Angie yelled at me to "be careful!" somehow, i knew what she meant and she explained later that people were all over the place and almost crashing into each other. thankfully, i was able to get clear enough to get on my bike, clip in and GO!

too many people at the same time trying to get the hell out of dodge

forgive me for not going into the finer details here but i don't remember all that much about the 112 miles other than it was freaking WINDY as all hell! i have never, ever ridden in such horribly windy conditions. NEVER, EVER! there were times i almost lost control of the bike while i was in an aero position, which was about 95% of the time. i would have to say that i fought the wind for 75% of the miles and maybe had a little help from the wind at my back for about 25% of the time. i was not happy. in fact, i pretty much had convinced myself by mile 50 that i would never sign up for ironman florida again. from the minute we rolled into PCB, nothing but crazy ass wind whipping up. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

i'm sorry if this post seems negative but there wasn't much good going on out there. one of the main things i noticed, that i had heard about from previous years, was that the drafting is off the chain. now, i know some people are going to cheat but for the most part, everyone "gets" the rules and tries to maintain proper spacing, passing, etc... unfortunately, this is nearly impossible to do with the volume of people racing at this venue. my legs were about to blow up before i even got to mile 40 because i kept getting caught up in groups of riders and i'll be damned if i was getting a red card from Heidi or Chloe, so i kept surging ahead, keeping with the "pass within 20 second" rule. let me tell you, it is IMPOSSIBLE not to draft at this race, period! if anyone tells you otherwise, they are full of crap. can you imagine trying to keep surging past these clumps of riders, over and over? by the time you hit the half-way mark, your legs are toast.

then at mile 43, some guy caused a horrible crash. he should be very ashamed of himself for riding like an aggressive asshole and for not even turning around or acknowledging the crash he caused that made 2 people hit the pavement hard. he just kept on pedaling like he stole something.

i stopped twice briefly to fill my aero-bottle. the volunteers handed off the water with the caps still tight and i couldn't open it and dump it in without feeling like i was going to lose control of the bike. so quick stop, dump water in, get going.

here she comes!

i had no flats thank goodness and for the most part the roads were okay. there was this one terrible road that went about 10 miles out, than you u-turned, heading back on the same road for another 10 miles. it had these deep indented ridges i guess is the best way to describe it. every 5 second, bump, bump, bump. i was getting so annoyed, i just wanted to scream. no matter where you were on this road, those bumps were there and stretched all the way across. the absolute worst part was the last 6 miles coming back. the wind would come from between the high-rise condos and hit you like a 350lb linebacker. i had to keep getting out of the aero position and grab the handlebars tight to not get blown over. my speed would literally go from 22 mph to 14 mph within seconds and this continued for 6 miles until the finish.

and there she goes ...

overall, i felt strong, but i knew my time on the bike didn't really reflect my true strength on the bike. at the end, my garmin had me at 20.2 for an average speed but with the 2 water stops, i ended up with an official race time of  5:43:16 (average 19.5 mph). 


so, in summary, the bike portion, usually my favorite part, royally sucked in my opinion.

to be continued tomorrow - part III - the run

much love and peace out!

intermission

calm down! part 2 of ironman florida race report is in the works and will be posted before the sun sets on tampa bay.  but first,  i had to give some proper props to the honey badger sign i recently posted on my facebook page via my cell phone cam, which really did no justice to how awesome this sign is. so here it is:

honey badger don't care. it don't give a sh*t. it takes what it wants!

the very talented artist of this sign (Laura Lucus, aka: LuLu), wrote a nice note that read:
"KC don't care, she'll run all day long!"

Ironman Florida Part 1- the swim

ok you guys, i almost had to cancel my twitter, facebook, blog and cellphone accounts because of all the uproar and harassment over not putting up a race report yet. i kid, i kid! but almost!

i have gone back and forth with how to structure this RR and i think by splitting it up into swim/bike/run, it will be easier to blog about from a time management standpoint (both my thumbs pointing back at me) and also just based on my own experience when reading race reports, i actually prefer shorter pieces due to my poor attention span. the coolest part of all is, tomorrow will be the bike portion and then on Saturday, i will post the run portion of the race. that means,  i will have blogged 5 days in a row! i don't think that has EVER happened.

i will be honest, i lost a little sleep thinking about this swim. not about my abilities to do it, but what it was going to be like to (a) swimming with almost 3000 other crazy animals athletes, (b) the wind had been acting up since we rolled into town so i was concerned how that would affect the current and last but not least, (c) the pink meanies!!

prior to the start of the swim that morning, i got some sage advise from Chloe and Heidi about how and where i should position myself. they said exactly what i didn't want to hear ...get up in the front, just go and let the crowd pull you. i said to myself, "self, those chics killed the swim last year, they must know what they speak of so you should listen to them and just do it." as i did my death march towards the shore with the J-man and Sherpa Angie next to me, i  felt all the nerves just go away. i told myself as i always do before any open water swim, to swim as if i were in the pool. nice and calm, relaxed, not panicky, breathing smooth, and kicking easy. before i knew it the pro's went off and then 10 minutes later, the cannon went off for us and just like that, i was in the water in no time and swimming as if it were a day at the pool. i didn't even pay attention much to the amount of people around me, i just tried to stay within myself, holding my pace and just working thru/around the slower swimmers whenever that happened. i think that i imagined the swim to be something far crazier and chaotic, and from shore, it probably looks like chaos but it really isn't as bad as it looks. the current was pushing us to the inside of the buoys as we headed out and then to the outside as we headed back to shore. my sighting was spot on, no issues there and i felt like for the most part, i was holding a pretty good line, not all zig zag. even though i have less than 2 years of swimming under my belt, i can hold a straight line in an OWS.

round one of the swim was pretty uneventful. i exited the water at 37 minutes, grabbed some water, because my mouth was tasting soooo salty and dry, and then ran back for round 2 of the swim. this time, not as many people to pull me along as the first time, which was not a bad thing as i found myself with a little more personal space to swim in. i forgot to mention how absolutely beautiful and crystal clear the water was. so much so, that on the 2nd loop, i started to see things, really funky pink, glow in the dark things under me and then i remembered the race director mentioning, at the athletes dinner on Thursday, something about a new species of jellyfish. oh yeah, and they said, if you get stung by one of these 50 pound beasts with 70 foot tentacles (not testicles, ok?), don't panic, just relax, keep swimming and when you are done, see a medic. great! just what i needed to hear.

say hello to the pink meanie jellyfish! i bet even the bad ass honey badger wouldn't mess with this thing.

anyway, i kept seeing these huge-O-rama jellyfish under me. my depth perception was not very good and i kept thinking as i was going thru the pull phase of my stroke, that i was going to get a handful of pink meanie nastiness. thank goodness, i was one of the lucky one's. some of the swimmers wearing sleeveless wetsuits were not so lucky. 

on this last, mostly uneventful lap, i did get a little irritated on the way back in as i got sandwiched between 2 Sir. Hump-a-lots ( thank you Matty O for burning that name into my head)! i had enough of that BS, so i kicked into turbo bitch mode and ripped right thru the middle of these fools and left them eating my foot bubbles. 

once i stepped onto shore, i was thrilled to see the time of 1:20:30. that is 10 minutes faster than my first 140.6 race, last October. maybe 10 minutes doesn't seem all that impressive but when you consider the swim last year was in a body of water with no waves or currents worth mentioning and only about 200 athletes at the most, i think i did pretty darn well. i think what also helped me improve my swim, was kicking the YMCA to the curb and signing up at LA Fitness. i had more opportunities to swim and my consistency was much better this year. i also have my homegirl, Summer to thank for keeping my butt in line when i began to slack with the swimming over the summer. she made me step up my game and i wasn't about to disappoint her. 

getting thru the wetsuit stripper was uneventful but kinda fun to have them yank it off you. i hauled booty to the T1 area (swim to bike transition bag area for those non-triathletes reading this), yelled out my number so they could find it faster and a wonderful volunteer handed me the wrong bag. the bag had been bedazzled and had a huge pink bow on it. i mean this bag was beautified beyond belief. i don't decorate my bags, folks. not my style. anyway, my bag was right there so no prob, grabbed it and ran into the changing room. the only part i didn't like about this long jaunt from the shore to the changing area was the asphalt was really bumpy and rough. mind you, my feet are like rawhide from walking barefoot all the time but i felt like i was walking on a cheese grater, ouchies! 

to be continued tomorrow ...much love and peace out!!

almost wordless Wednesday

this ALMOST wordless Wednesday will serve as my "pre" race report ...

WOW! That's A LOT of bikes. I'm plotting out a fast escape.

Another view of all the bikes stuffed into every available nook and cranny.

T2 - Bike to Run bags ...looks crazy but it's very organized.

Another view of T2

My bff and bestest race sherpa hanging on the beach! THANK YOU Bella for cheering your ass off! Poor girl even got a blister from ringing the cowbell so much, LOL!

I even met some fellow dailymilers. This is me and Beto from Miami. He is now an IRONMAN!!

Blogger meet-up! Can you say AWESOME? These people exude awesomeness in every way.  Love you guys!!

Yep, that's the Queen of Caratunk, Maine right there with me! Rumor has it that we were separated at birth. And, I hear she can cook up a mean batch of rice crispy treats with her eyes closed. (THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!)

Stay tuned because i promise to at least blog about the swim portion of the race. Would you believe me if I said that the swim was my favorite part of the race? Yep, you read that right. 

much love and peace out!

teaser

i am still gathering my thoughts and photos for my race report but did manage to put a little video together. it isn't anything special but what i love most about it is that it shows just how HUGE these Ironman races are. you get a good feel for that by watching the athletes lining up for the swim. i knew it was close to 3000 athletes but until i saw the video, i had no idea what that looked like. there is music on the video so you may need to stop the music that automatically plays on my blog or you will be listening to 2 songs mixed together and Eminem and Techno don't go together. enjoy!

Ironman Florida 2011

much love and peace out!

lose yourself

i'm ready to have myself some fun! you think doing an ironman race is exhausting? i think getting all the gear ready and organizing all the stuff needed is more exhausting! it's such a mind drain but thankfully i had the entire day to get this done.

cell phone pic is sorta crappy but you get the idea - all the bags and box

hopefully all of my various bags with labels will make putting together my T1 and T2 bags a lot easier. it also helps that i have 2 of the best race sherpa's going along with me to help keep my head on straight. i get a little discombobulated with so much going on.

J-man - an awesome race sherpa

Bella - my other favorite race sherpa

i'm very lucky and so grateful to have them as my sidekicks for the next few days. i'm also looking forward to meeting so many of my favorite bloggers and daily-milers from all over the US. i will make sure to take plenty of pictures and videos. 

the weather is looking fabulous. last check showed 46 as a low and 75 as a high and the wind was 10mph but i can't remember what direction it was blowing. i could care less. i'm going out there, wind or no wind, and i'm going to give it my best and have fun along the way. who knows, maybe i will have the most perfect day and maybe get a chance to go to hawaii next year but if not, no tears here, i will gladly sign up for IMFL 2012! in either case, there is another IM on tap for 2012 and that alone makes my heart happy.

Mandy - my tri bike chomping at the bit!

we are ready to rock and roll on the streets of panama city beach! thanks to all my friends for the encouragement along the way. it means a lot to me ...more than you know and you all will be with me in spirit on saturday for sure. if you'd like to track my progress on race day, see my last post HERE.

much love and peace out!