GU winner

The winner has been picked out of the hat and it is one of the first bloggers I ever started following. Vanessa at Medievalist running in circles blog, you get the honors of testing out the GU Roctane Ultra Endurance and the sample pack of Gu goodies as you get ready once again to kick some butt at the Boston Marathon. I see a 3:15-3:20 in your future! Vanessa, email me with your address please.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I'm sure there will be more giveaways to come in 2012.

Much love and peace out!

2 years ago today ...

2 years ago today i sat down and started this blog.

the main reason i decided to start a blog was to put my goals in writing. i also planned on telling 2 or 3 close friends about it as a way to hold myself accountable. my thinking was, if i write about it and they read it, then i have to do what i say i'm going to do or they will surely call me out and lord knows that is my worst nightmare. ask anyone i know well and they will tell you that when i set out to do something or say i'm going to do something, you better believe i will do it! no matter how small or big of a deal it is, i do what i say i'm going to do. period.

in this case, i began this blog with the intentions of doing an iron distance race. 10 months later, i did just that and loved every second of it. so much so, i did it again a year later and getting ready for round 3 in 2012!

the best and most unexpected benefit of this blog has been "meeting" some of the nicest, most caring group of people i have ever come to know. some i have met in real life and i can say that each and everyone of them have been as awesome, if not, more awesome than their blogs portray. i hope to meet many more of you at future races.

THANKS for 2 great years of constant motivation and for keeping me on task. something about having to blog about my training and race results, keeps me honest. sometimes when that alarm goes off at 4am and i start talking myself out of going to the pool, i think about what you all would say ...like, SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP or IRONMAN WAITS FOR NO ONE! 

here's to many more fun years of blogging! much love and peace out.

who wants to be a guinea pig for GU?

i crack up every time i look at this picture

i need one brave person to step up to the plate and test out a new liquid rocket fuel, made by GU Energy Labs. it is not yet available to the public, not even to me. can ya help a girl out here? the deal presented to me was to pick my most loyal reader of the year. WHAAAAT? well, i have no idea how to do that since i consider many of you to be loyal reader's of the year and if i could present each one of you with a tub of this GU Roctane Ultra Endurance, I would in a hot second, however, there are only 29 tubs of this stuff in existence.  

sadly, i have not had the opportunity (yet) to get my hands on this drink mix and this opportunity is only for you, my loyal, lovely friends out in blogville. from what i've read, it sounds very promising and sounds yummy. here is the scientific mumbo-jumbo about GU's new drink:

Light tasting, carbohydrate-dense Roctane Ultra Endurance Energy Drink provides athletes easily available energy with the superior rehydration combination of sodium and potassium. Taurine, Caffeine, and the proven Roctane Amino Acid Blend provide extra energy, reduce muscle damage and maintain mental focus, while Beta-Alanine augments muscle buffering capacity and performance to help athletes meet their goals. In short, Roctane Drink is essential for any athlete striving to sustain peak performance through their endurance pursuits.

did you get all that? no? basically, what it means is, this stuff could possibly be a serious dose of kick ass that easily mixes in water.

the beautiful thing about GU products is that IT IS tested by super humans, like you, the beautiful people who read my blog (not tested on animals, not even on guinea pigs) and that is why they came to me, to seek out the perfect candidate.

the lucky winner will also receive this:

a GU sample pack full of goodies

since i think the task of naming a reader of the year, is next to impossible, i will do a giveaway in a random like fashion.

as Ben Bailey from Cash Cab would say, "You in?"

a few favors to ask of those who'd like to participate:

1- Follow my blog and let me know that you do. If you are a new follower (as in, you just started following for this giveaway then you get 1 entry).  If you have already been following my blog, and I do know who you peeps are, then you automatically get 2 entrie's.

2 - Tweet about this giveaway for another entry.

3 - Post the giveaway on your Facebook page for an additional entry.

4 - Post the giveaway on your blog if you have one, for 1 more entry.

5 - Promise me that if you win, and once you've had a chance to test out the drink mix, that you'll write an honest review of it on your blog and if you don't have a blog, then you can be a guest writer on mine. Easy, right? Pinky promise me this and you get one more entry.

Let me know each one that you do so that i can easily tally up your entries, got it?

the fine print:
~giveaway is only for residents of the US and Canada
~i'm not getting paid to do this
~contest ends at 12:00am EST on Wednesday, December 28th, 2011.
~i will put all the entries into a hat or box and have someone other than myself, pick the name out.
~check back on Thursday, December 29th, 2011 to see if you won.
~the winner has 48 hours to contact me via email with their contact info, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

big thanks to GU via Outside|PR for hooking me up with their awesome products for this giveaway! good luck my friends!

much love and peace out!

thank you secret santa!

thanks J-man for telling me the bag was upside down!



i want to send a shout out to Christie in Utah at Build the Machine who seriously did her homework and took good notes while familiarizing herself with my blog.

fellow blogger, Jill at Run with Jill hosted her 2nd annual holiday blogger gift exchange. she matched up other bloggers and viola, a really fun secret santa-ish event. thanks Jill for putting all of this together; it was so much FUN!

so you wanna see the cool stuff i got from my secret santa Christie?

~ custom made stickers that read IRONMAN WAITS FOR NO ONE. is that too cool or what? i almost peed a little when i saw them. now i have to make sure wherever i stick them is sticker worthy.
~gu chomps which i LOVE. any flavor.
~a red lycra swimcap. perfect color for the season. i can't remember if i said anything on my blog about preferring lycra over latex caps but i absolutely love lycra caps. the latex one's give me such a headache. i only wear them at races because you have to, otherwise, lycra swimcaps rule for me.

i LOVE all of these cool gifts and thank you so much Christie for taking the time to delve into my blog! much appreciated!

much love and peace out!

15 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Monday, December 16, 1996, I married my best friend in the whole wide world! 

IN VEGAS!



Viva Las Vegas baby!

Life is good and I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even the fanciest or lightest triathlon bike on the planet. and i do love me some bikes you know. 

My Project 1 Trek Dream Ride - only $13,000

Happy anniversary J-Man! Just in case I haven't emphasized this enough, I'm so thankful that you aren't one of those husbands that wants to wear a matching cycling jersey or ride a tandem. Because that is so silly!


Team Concepcion kickin' it!

Thanks for not taking me too seriously when i get cranky and thanks for pulling me around on the bike all the time; the scenery is awesome and never gets old ...you also have the cutest buns, especially in those tight, black bike shorts!

much love and peace out!

crunching the numbers & plans for 2012

i know it isn't Friday, the only day i like to blog, but tomorrow is a rather special post and none of this stuff would properly fit into that topic.

i pulled out my carry along abacus last night to crunch the numbers year to date and here's what i've been doing all year, besides working full time, blogging, and doing my best to maintain a normal life at home *(last year's numbers)*:

run: 1218 miles      *(1406)*

bike: 10,048 miles *(9867)*

swim: 126 miles     *(113)*

and the year ain't over yet folks!

the run makes me sad to compare with last year but i had 3 solid months of crappy running or barely running, thanks to a jacked up hammy issue. but i'm thankful that it resolved and that's all that matters now. the bike? what can i say, i love riding and i'll do it as much as i possibly can, no matter what. with our almost perfect year round weather for cycling, i just can't help myself. i knew the swim would be way better than last year. mostly because of kicking the YMCA to the curb and joining LA Fitness. best decision of 2011 right there. now that i know what i've done so far, the OCD side starts to take over as i crunch the numbers to see what i can do in these last 2 weeks to make those numbers all pretty and even. maybe i can get in 82 miles of running by December 31 to make it to 1300 miles and 252 more miles on the bike to make it to 10300 miles and 4 more miles of swimming to make it 130 miles total. I think the hardest one will be the running but I will give it a good try.

i pretty much have 2012 races all planned out. looks like i can get all of them in before the world ends on 12/12/12. i lucked out! i have some specific goals for most of these races but i'm saving that for another time. here are the race plans for 2012:

2/12/12 - St. Pete RnR half marathon
3/4/12 - Gasparilla half marathon
3/25/12 - Ocala HITS half iron
5/20/12 - Florida 70.3
11/3/12 - Ironman Florida

i would like to maybe find something between Florida 70.3 and IMFL but so far, i haven't seen anything that grabs me. there are several centuries that i do annually in between that time frame so really, there isn't a huge gap of nothingness between May and November. more than likely, i will do the 6 Gap ride again (that tough as nails 104 mile ride with 11,000+ feet of climbing) in Georgia at the end of September. so who else is doing one or more of the same races i'm doing? i hope to meet many more new faces at the races (i rhymed, heh!) this year.

a long, long time ago when i first started my blog (2 year anniversary coming up next week!), i mentioned that i have stacks and stacks of race t-shirts in my bedroom armoire and if i had to guesstimate, i'd say at least 100 shirts. as long as i can remember, i have been saying that i'm collecting them so that i can have a quilt made with all of them. so i'm asking all of my friends out in blog land, if you, or someone you know has a race quilt and if so, who made it and are you happy with how it turned out? i see a lot of different quilt businesses that you can send your t-shirts to but i would like to get a little feedback first and a possible recommendation or two before i hand off my prized possessions to just anyone. i'm very emotionally attached to those race shirts, even the one's that are 3 sizes too big!

have a great day ya'll! much love and peace out!

random friday

have you noticed the trend with my blog? i only blog on Fridays. i didn't plan that out, it just happens to be a coincidence, nothing more. anyway, today i realized that i have quite a few things i feel like blogging about and none of it is related or easy to tie in together so with randomness you get lots of bullet points to read thru today.

• I'm finally getting around to doing the DWYLLC (do what you least like challenge) that i cleverly dreamt up back in September. if you forgot about it, go HERE  to refresh your memory. since i least like swimming, i have to swim 5 days out of 7 within the same week and no less than 1 mile. so far i have 2 days in a row of 3000 meters each. the deadline to complete this personal challenge is midnight, DEC 31st. some of my over-achieving friends have already completed their challenge ...Jenn at Junk Miles and Beth at Discombobulated Running you rock! Jenn ran 5 out of the 7 days and nothing less than a 5k distance and Beth biked no less than 12 miles for 5 out of the 7 days. 

• remember the deal of the century i posted about back in march? no?  i posted about the "tent" sale that Shop Ironman.com was putting on and that i made out like a bandit. you can see all the stuff i got in March, by going HERE. anyway, they were back again last weekend for another tent sale, but this time, thanks to people like me who blogged about it (or should it be blabbed about it), everyone and their mother knew how awesome the deals were going to be, so this time it was a zoo. i stood in a line to pay for 3 hours! why? because there were people with boxes and boxes of merchandise they were purchasing ...maybe to sell on Ebay later? Smarties!  i didn't think the selection was as good as last time and they jacked up the prices. by jacked up i mean what i payed $5.00 for last time, was now $10.00.  i know that $10 for an $82 pair of tri shorts is still a bargain, so i'll stop my whining now.  here is what i got this time around (don't hate, LOL):

matching jersey and arm warmers at $10/each

IM jogbra $10

matching IM shorts that go with the jogbra above for $10

70.3 Florida visor $5

(front view) IM St. George Utah K-Swiss tri top $10

(back view) IM St. George Utah tri top ...i love the Kokopelli man!

• i am way behind on movies but i just saw the hangover and i laughed my butt off. now i need to get my hands on the hangover 2 dvd. that's a hint by the way since Christmas is right around the corner.

• Jill at Run with Jill is doing her 2nd annual blogger gift exchange again this year. i missed it last year cuz i was under that ugly, dark post IM black cloud but not this year, no sir, so i was all about getting in on the action this time. can i tell you how freakin' excited i was when she sent me who my exchangee is? oh yeah, this is gonna be good! secret Santa message to my exchangee ...i think you rock! can't wait to send you your gift from Santa!

• i signed up for 70.3 Florida! it isn't at Disney anymore thank the stars above! after so many years of running the marathon there and having to wake up at 2:30am to catch a bus by 3:30 to then sit in the Epcot parking lot until 5:30 ...nah! i don't think so. after 2004, i vowed to never go back again and still have no intentions of ever participating in anything Disney related. too high maintenance for this girl. i prefer a grass roots race, especially when it comes to a marathon. preferably with about 1000 runners at the most, very little fan fare, like the Jacksonville Marathon. that is one of my favorites by far. 

• ok, speaking of signing up for IM's. what is the deal with all the stupid questions you HAVE to answer in order to register? and they have a little red asterisk to let you know that you HAVE to answer it. if you hit submit but didn't answer all of the mandatory questions, it will take you back to the registration page and let you know it is not complete. why does WTC need to know my local newspaper and news channel? i assure you, i have no tear jerker, pull at your heart string stories to offer them. here are a few other stupid questions that are mandatory: 

~What other athletic accomplishments and athletic background do you have? 

~Please share significant information relating to your training or participation.

~Interesting facts about you?

~Why have registered for this event?

~Significant Personal Achievements?

~What is your favorite food and car? (just kidding on this one)

i ended up putting either a smart ass answer in the box or n/a so it would allow me to move on with the registration. anyone else find these questions annoying as all hell or am i just a crank yanker?

• but wait, there's more! then there is another section of "non-mandatory" questions such as household income, do you expect to hire a coach, how many bikes do you own, are you planning on purchasing a bike or some race wheels in the next 12 months, how many pairs of running shoes are you planning to buy this year, what about a new helmet? 

• i did a trail run this morning. not that this is huge news but usually when i run it's dark so i don't dare enter the dark trails with all the spooky animals but this morning, since i was off work, i swam first, then went out to run once the sun came up. i saw 3 deer and group of about 10 turkeys. the turkeys were busy eating and just for fun, i whistled at them and they all stopped and looked at me. it was kinda funny. 

• do you all have nick names for people at the gym? i do! lots of them. makes me wonder if they have nick names for me. anyway, lately i have had this guy swimming in the lane next to me that i have named, Hop-Along-Cassidy because he hops on one foot back and forth a few laps, then he does what i call the seahorse swim. he swims upright for a few laps, then swims the rest of the time with a pull buoy. i get the pool buoy swimming but what's the deal with the hopping and seahorsing? 

well, i think that's all i've got for you today kids! it's been nice, but i gotta go. i'll leave you with a picture of my beautiful Christmas tree. don't laugh! it really is my tree and it really does make me smile. it even has one Waterford ornament hanging from it but it's hard to see in this picture.

much love and peace out!

chain reaction

A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results ~Wade Boggs

As many of you know, I log my training on Dailymile now. I have ever since the other log that I had used for over 4 years completely crashed and burned, never to be recovered. I can't say enough about some of the people that I have met thru Dailymile (DM from here on out). What's great about DM is that you meet others that have the same goals such as training for an Ironman or marathon. Sometimes, they are training for the exact same one you are so that's an instant bond right there. Some even live right here in Tampa and I see them on a regular basis. Many of these people are simply awesome and sometimes they may not even realize the impact their comments carry.

Here is an example. Last week, even with all the holiday craziness and work, I somehow managed to bike 251 miles and run 26 miles. Earlier this week, I got a text message from Patrick at 3 Sport Journey, whom I met via DM. Here is his exact text message: Just a friendly reminder that 0 (zero) of your 277 miles this week were in the pool. My reply: Aaaaaaah! Cold busted! I will make it up this week, girl scout promise (insert smiley "i just got busted" smiley here). So mind you, all week, his text message has haunted me. This morning, I got up, of course I really wanted to run, but I grabbed my swimsuit, gym bag, and headed to the pool without kicking and screaming. I admit, it felt great to swim again. I have been in the pool twice since Ironman Florida, which is 2 more times than last year at this same time. I did none (ZERO) swimming for about 3 months straight after my first 140.6 and felt guilty almost every day about it but obviously it wasn't enough to make me head to the pool like a friendly text message from a friend. Here is where I tie in the chain reaction part of this story. After my swim this AM, I text messaged Patrick to say swim done and thanks for the kick in the ass! On my way to work, I got a text message from my GA buddy, Summer from Blue Line Runner wishing me a happy Friday. Of course I had to throw in that I had already swam 3000 meters. She and I have been each others swim police since this summer as we both tend to slack off sometimes when it comes to the pool. I'll tell you what, having someone to be accountable to is wonderful. At least for me since I hate to disappoint others when they are counting on me. It worked very well for us but now that all of our races for the year are over, it makes it easy to have pool amnesia. A few hours after our text message conversation, I got an email from Summer letting me know that she too had gone to the pool and swam.

How's that for a chain reaction of pure motivation and keeping each other on task and motivated? This is just one example of how we all come together and I'll tell you, it brings out the best in me and for that, I am thankful and lucky to have met many of these DM'ers. My fellow bloggers fall into this category too.

Lately life has been super busy. Work, holiday stuff, family obligations, training just to keep my sanity, yada, yada, yada. Yeah, I hear ya too and many of you are in the same boat. It isn't necessarily a bad thing either because it's what helps us keep our lives in balance. Last week and most of this week, I found myself feeling inundated by social media ...such as, facebook, twitter, text messages, dailymile, blog stuff, emails, etc... so i had a lot of conversations with myself, on my morning runs, about how to handle it. Should I just take a vacation from all of it? I totally blame myself for allowing it to make me feel overwhelmed. I came to the conclusion that I can have it all but just need to manage my time better and not feel like I have to be instantaneous about answering an email or text. Problem solved!

I'm a night rider, not to be confused with Knight Rider. Ever since daylight saving time kicked in, the day after Ironman Florida, J-Man and I decided we weren't going to let that hinder us from still being able to get our after work rides in. We both equipped the roadbikes with a front and rear light and have been flying thru the hood during the week like bad-asses ever since. The cars can see us very well and besides the occasional jackwagon who thinks yelling at us to get on the sidewalk is a good idea or just honking their horn at us, it has been awesome. There really is something exhilarating about riding at night. J-Man and I also agreed that we feel like we are cheating time. Good times!

Big shout out to all who are racing this weekend, especialmente Señor Bahamundi at Cook|Train|Eat|Race who is running the Las Vegas Marathon this Sunday. Looks like the winds have calmed down and the weather is going to be great for a 26.2 mile run.

Much love and peace out!

***side note: why does this post look like crap? I hate you Blogger!