...live in the moment, repeat...IMKS

I am not sure I have ever been so chill coming into a race.  I was in California the week prior...perfect taper right?  Just a couple of fishbowls beers were consumed.  Even with getting home on Friday and only having a day to prep for the race, I was just chill as can be.  #odd

I knew I didn't prep like I had last year.  Last year was a whole different caliber.  This year has been a completely different beast to tame.  My head and heart have been all over the place.  So I took the fitness I had and decided to just race to the MY best in that moment on that day.  No pressure, no major time goals, no disapointment...high five EVERY kiddo, smile, push, live in the moment, repeat.

Typically pre-race I feel sick to my stomach, have major anxiety, and sometimes cry.  Prior to the race on Sunday, there were no butterflies, no wonky stomach and not a single tear.  But there was a dramatic photo shoot at the swim start. #evenbetter  Yup, #hotmess #Imadork

Lovely Liz, of the RED LADIES, #Casey'swife

COME HERE CASEY (the stud who just rocked IMTX also on #teamBSC)

CHEEEEEESE

Sandy Brown says...look like you're gazing over the H2O...who does that with a straight face!?!?!?! #nostressinghere

high fives and two thumbs up

Was not my fastest swim at this race, nor was it my slowest.  The conditions were perfect so I might have needed to be a bit more serious and attempt to swim straight and not take the long way around the buoys.  No excuses, it was 3 min slower than my PR at this distance and for what I've put in this year...I'll take it.

The bike...hmm, despite some Garmin snaffu's the bike was pretty ok!  My legs were on fire until.mile.40...SERIOUSLY LEGS?  Well at least they warmed up right?!

I had an AMAZING cheer section at mile 35 on the bike.  at the top of a pretty good hill.  Damn my girls are the best.  #lovemyathletes It was such an epic section of cheer, I was asked on the run if I was 'the Kelly' from the bike course!  Ha!  So.much.fun.  THANKS LADIES!!!  (I'll add more pictures later, I have some good ones!)

The run...hmmm, no real major issues.  I have been running pretty good lately, if I had any expectations for this race, it would have been on the run.  Being present and in the moment was an intention I made from the start.  I wanted to make sure that I was working as hard as I could at that particular moment and if so GREAT!...if not, well I needed to get there.  My legs didn't feel great...ever during the 2 loops.  My mantra during the 2nd loop was "round 2...fight"...is that from a video game?  hmm. weird as I don't even own a DVD player, much less a video game thing...oh wait, I do have the original Nintendo.

After reviewing my race plan, Michelle wrote me to high 5 every kiddo and I did just that.  Try it!  It totally makes you smile (i.e. have fun!). 

Overall it turned out to be exactly what I had hoped.  I smiled almost the whole race, I finished in a respectable place/time and I had FUN!  I won't lie, it is was so nice not chasing PR's, world champ slots, etc, etc, etc.  & even with all the fun I had, I was only 7' slower than my PR on this course...with way less fitness.  I think there is something to be said about limiting stress and having fun in this sport.  Sounds like a good plan for the rest of the season, no? 

Post race shenanigans...

Kept my eye on the prize.

Getting the new babe (no, not mine) ready for the "LaPan medal" photo shoot.

Tuckered babe

Despicable me and aloha pants #chillin

Big thanks to everyone who reaches out every.single.time I race.  It means a ton hearing from everyone.  Lots of xoxoxo to my coach, #teamBSC and my athletes.  #lovebeingacoach 

hashtag.lotsofthem

Aaaannnnndddd we are running - Kona 2013

Off the bike and into T2.  I really don't remember much about the transitions except they went pretty smoothly.  Transition is LONG on the pier.  You have to run all the way around...tip - WEAR SOCKS.  AstroTurf can get hot. (tips like this is reason #400 why you hire a coach ;))

On to the run.....Lets do something different and let me briefly recap mile by mile (or something like that).

8:20 - "Yahoo!  I'm off my bike!  I'M FEELING GREAT!!  All these people are cheering for ME!!  I live for the applause, applause, applause....  YAY!!  Great pace!!  Can you keep this up another 25 miles?!?!?...maybe you are running a bit too fast...

Nice heel strike...ugh, no wonder my feet hurt so bad!

9:31 -  Maybe I slowed down just a bit too much.  Or maybe this is where I saw coach and slowed down to chat with her?  And when I say chat, I mean, Me: I am HURTING ALREADY.  Did I train AT ALL for this race?  Michelle: YOU'RE RUNNING ON ALI'I DRIVE...PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE!

9:12 - Still running pretty ok at this point.  The pain is setting in though.  My feet felt like they had stress fractures.  broken.

9:37, 9:37 - Just barely hanging on.  Way too early in the race to be saying this.  I had to stop to pee. Every porta potty had a line so I found some lava and sat down.  I hope I didn't piss off Madame Pele...or on.  Damn.  Cursed.

10:06, 10:14, 9:56, 11:09, 9:54 - Still on Ali'i drive really trying not to break down into tears.  Michelle found me again out here and got me to smile for a couple of photos.  Such mixed emotions out here.  I wanted so, so badly to feel better and to have fun out there.

Forced, but hey it's a smile :)

11:20, 10:24, 10:44, 10:41 - At this point I had reached the Queen K.  This is the 'calm' before my storm.   Still feeling like crap, but had made a friend from Brazil and she kept me busy by asking me how many kilometers we had already ran.  Hmmm, folks who know me know I am NO math major.  Totally different kind of pain for me.  ;) This distracted me away from the pain in my legs and feet for a bit anyway!  They closed the roads to the spectators way earlier than in years past and it's a black asphalt highway in the middle of lava beds.  Needless to say, it's HOT.  It was the biggest mental battle I've ever faced.  It's you and your mind out there and if your mind is not right, you're in BAD COMPANY.  See mile 15. 

13:16 - Ah, mile 15, this will be forever known as the BREAKDOWN IN THE PORTA POTTY MILE.  I'm not even talking about shedding a couple of tears now.  I'm talking full fledged I'm a 5 2 year old having a tantrum.  Full fledged SOBS.  I mean seriously?  What was I doing?  I was so disappointed ANGRY in how I was running I was willing to give up a few minutes and get it all out.  Silly, SILLY girl.  I had just had enough.  FINALLY, I was able to get over myself and get back out there.

On the way back to the finish.  Was I about to puke???  Notice the 'shuffle' going on here.

11:38, 10:45, 13:44, 11:42 - Oh fun times...we reach the infamous NATURAL ENERGY LAB.  NEL for short.  Oh baby everything you hear about this place is the truth.  Why?  Terrain isn't that bad, you have the ocean to look at and you can geek out looking at all the solar panels...so why is this place so dang hard? I have no answer for ya.  Better get your mind right.

11:21, 11:09, 10:44 - Running out of the NEL, you run up a pretty good hill.  It's as if the NEL was saying 'it was nice seeing you!!!  don't let the door hit ya on the way out'.  Double bonus...when I left, the volunteers were hollering 'you only have a 10k to go!'  Uh, wait a minute...I'm no math major (see miles 11-13) but a 10k is 6.2 miles.  We are not at the 20 mile marker.  That doesn't make the mind right.  Heading back into town the sun was starting to set.  They had started passing out glow sticks.  Michelle reminded me earlier in the week that if I got a glowstick, NBD.  I would be fortunate to GET a glowstick.  Truth?  I didn't want the glowstick.  No one ever does I know.  Just keep hanging on....one foot in front of the other.  I could do it.  I could get there in time (sans glowstick).

11:05, 11:11, 10:55 - Shuffle, walk through the aid stations. Repeat.  Head down chin up.  Holy cow, we are almost there.  The excitement was starting to build.  I was ready to stop running.

8:49 - One last turn onto and down Palani AND.here.we.go.  It was finally THAT time.  The moment had been plastered in mind for almost a full year....and I was about to live it in REAL TIME.  My chest started to get super tight as I was choking back the tears.  All the blood, sweat, and tears (many, many tears) was all about to be 'worth it'.  Hell I'm crying now just thinking about it.  This is what we live for.  It was my turn.

My almost ugly cry face.

The buzz is indescribable.  Hands down the BEST BUZZ EVER.  Spectators are lined up 2 and 3 deep.  EVERYONE is hollering/cheering like crazy.  High fives everywhere.  I sounded like I was having an asthma attack...I couldn't breathe, I was literally all choked up.  The moment is hard to describe. Photos are worth 1000 words, right?  I'll let them speak for me.

High fives to the family!

Add caption

oh, here's the ugly cry face.

Funny how the finish time in the photo is different than my 'official' time...

Check out those crazy fans...how fun is this photo?

The finish is uphill, funny, IM, very funny.

My photographer was a Mizzou alum.  #rockchalk

I am so incredibly blessed.  I am so, so thankful for this experience.  It really takes a village and I have the best.  To all my family who took the time to go Hawaii, I love you forever for it.  Michelle, you're the best...I cannot thank you enough for all you have done (and endured) for me. Team BSC, thank you for accepting and supporting me as one of your own as quickly as you have, I am proud to be a part of this crazy family.  To all my training buddies, thank you for suffering with me....so thankful for the time.  To all my friends and loved ones thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the generous support.  My FB feed blew up on October 12.  So forever grateful.

March Madness - 2012

My bro Taylor and my niece Cambridge in Denver for St. Patty's Day!

 Robert and I went to CO with my niece for a partial spring break!  Cambridge hadn't ever been skiing and it was Robert's first time skiing this late in the season so a first time for everything! 

Cambridge's first day of ski school!  She did so good! 

 We skied at Eldora, which is right outside of Nederland, which is right outside of Boulder.  Great little place, not a crazy resort.  I highly recommend if you are in the area.  It didn't hurt that our friend's brother worked out there.  It was as if we had the run of the mountain (not that it was the end of the season or anything!)

"I LOVE skiing!  I want to ski down Mt. Everest!"  Go get 'em kiddo.

 Cambridge did so well her first 1/2 lesson, she 'graduated' from the RED school to YELLOW the next day.  She was so excited she exclaimed "I want to ski down Mt. Everest!"  I told her she should get past day #2 in school.  I have a feeling this Florida gal will be tearing up the slopes in no time!

Taylor and I getting our runs in!  I wish we lived closer.

My lil brother came down from Ft. Collins and skied with us for a couple of days.  Ironic that Robert and I took Taylor out to his first snowboarding trips while he was still in high school and now he's a pro on the slopes!  We don't see each other as much as I'd like, he's a good kid.  *sniffle*

Training consisted of snowboarding and a couple of runs while I was gone (I reeeeaaaalllllyyyy wanted to get a long in while in elevation, but things came up).  I got back in the groove when we got home...pronto.  I hate being out of my routine.  First things first, 10 miles on Thursday, in the rain.  I'm getting used to running in the rain, I guess I used to think I'd melt...I don't.  :)  Long 3 hour ride on Sat.   I got in 53+ miles, I had intervals/steady state work to get in.  With the different bike sessions I've been putting in, I can tell my strength on the bike is improving.  I've heard I'll need this strength for WILDFLOWER!!  sh*t, that's only 5 weeks away!!!! 

Bright sunny 50+ miles with H2! 

Final Four Baby!!  Rock Chalk!

 I live in Lawrence, Kansas.  Home of the Kansas Jayhawks.  In case you haven't heard, they are going to the final four.  Sat. afternoon, they beat UNC.  If you follow KU basketball at all, you'd know how special that win was.

Celebrating KU in the Final Four with DJB.

 We now live very close to downtown.  I hadn't planned on celebrating, but the traffic/horns/fireworks/craziness didn't allow me to do anything else but join in.  What's the saying, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em?  It is quite the sight to see when the entire town congregates into a 3 or so block downtown street.  Pretty cool.

This is how we should all get around when drinking.  In case you can't see it, here's a link to the Pedal Hopper website.