oh crap, I have a blog

How did I forget about that halfway through last year?

Well I'll catch you up quickly.

In July, I visited my hometown with the intention of doing an Olympic-distance triathlon, but totally freaked out and bailed at the starting line because the waves were huge and I had no team support (I did have my totally supportive dad!). I learned from that that I am a team player, even in individual sports, and I need to know I have company out on the course. I also turned 30, which I celebrated with a party at my house with family and friends.

In August, I did the Vineman Aquabike Half and then immediately after learned that I am pregnant. The Aquabike was the opposite of the Oxnard fail-fest: a huge Mermaid contingent was racing Barb's Half or Aquabike, and it was a great weekend of supporting each other. I also did the last Splash and Dash at Stevens Creek Reservoir.

In September, I spent the whole month feeling tired and queasy but not actually sick, which is better than my fellow pregnant Mermaids fared (there are three of us!). DH and I celebrated our third anniversary with a fondue feast and sparkling cider. I did the Santa Cruz Mermaid Sprint as a relay, and matched last year's bike time. That's pretty good since on the one hand I have a much better bike but on the other I walked most of the big hills because my heart rate and stomach were acting strangely. All part of a healthy pregnancy, apparently.

October flew by without me really even remembering anything significant. Hmm. I did go to a great Halloween party with Melissa, at which I was a pirate and she was a wench. I drank a lot of non-alcoholic champagne with one of our hosts who was also abstaining, and Melissa drank whatever we put in front of her, which was entertaining since she rarely drinks at all!

In November I ate a LOT and did the Mermaid San Francisco 5k. My walking partner G asked me what pace I was hoping for and, like a great teammate, pushed me to jog just enough at the end to make my 15:00/mi goal. Thanksgiving was delicious as always and delightfully uneventful. Mostly in November I worked a lot!

Last month continued the whirlwind pace at work and I was only too relieved to escape at 5:30 p.m. on December 24 and only return today. While I was not working I celebrated Christmas with my in-laws and my extended family, spent a few days with my parents and close friends in Oxnard, and did some serious furniture rearranging/reorganization at home.

So that brings us to January 2010!

These days my belly is an entity all to itself. It sticks out, it moves, it makes demands. For the most part it doesn't make me ache anywhere else and I'm still mostly unaffected except for my clothes not fitting anymore. (TMI for some, but totally essentially information [TEI?]: I have gained less than 10 lbs. but 3+ bra cup sizes!) Others tell me that the backaches, constant need to pee, and other fun stuff is imminent!

I am hoping to survive the busiest parts of two cases (the last few months pretrial) while in my last trimester. That may or may not be possible. There are childbirth prep classes to take, baby stuff to register for, and hopefully some swimming and some spending time with DH and friends and family to fit in before April.

Hopefully also some posting, if only for Molly who told me today that I should blog more. :)

Morgan Hill Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Hidey-Ho Blogging Neighbors!

So yesterday I raced. It was an exciting day, and a really hard day--some of those things combined.

It actually started on Saturday with packet pickup, then hanging out with Melissa the rest of the day. She was the best sister-in-law anyone could ask for, as she made dinner, soothed my nerves with good conversation and a Veronica Mars marathon, and even let me have the bed so that Jemma wouldn't be trying to roust the intruder from the air mattress at all hours of the night. I was really nervous about the heat, but by 9 we had eaten a light dinner and drank enough water to ensure many midnight bathroom trips, if not a perfectly hydrated race the next day.

We were up bright and early and arrived at the course by 5:30 a.m. I futzed around with my stuff for a while and was just settling in to chatting with the other Mermaids (some of whom were even earlier than we were and saved us a great spot in transition!) when they announced that everyone would have to leave transition and be race-ready when the first wave started. Our wave was the last of 12, so I had mentally planned to be lounging and pondering putting on my wetsuit for at least another 20 minutes! But of course we'd been there for hours by then, so I pulled on my wetsuit and headed down to warm up in the water and take photos until our wave started. By the time our wave started, I had scoped out that there was very little competition in the Athena category and was feeling pretty good in the water.

The swim was LONG but actually quite enjoyable! The longest open water swim I'd done previous was only 400 meters, and this was about 3 times that (3/4 mi). But I just concentrated on sighting the next buoy and didn't get too off-course. While I was definitely in the back of the pack for my wave, I did pass at least one person from the wave ahead of me. I told myself I was slower than everyone else because my wave was full of relay racers (including Melissa, who totally killed her personal goal time!) and therefore better-than-average swimmers.

Knowing that I was not the last one out of the water made the next leg all the more confusing. I headed out on the bike, nearly taking out Chris "Macca" McCormick (Molly would have been so upset!) as he turned right in front of me into the chute to finish his race. Don't worry though, he won. I headed out on the bike and pep talked myself into a nice 12-15 mph pace on the flats, climbing the small hills steadily and racing downhill as fast as I dared, given that most of the downhills ended in sharp turns. I ate my moons and didn't freak out too much when my favorite water bottle bounced right off the bike, despite the fact that I had opted for a cage inside my frame and not a back-mounted cage to avoid bounce-outs. I got to the nasty hill at mile 11 and felt decent. My goal was to stop once. I made it about half way, stopped and recovered, then headed up some more.

That's when things got weird. A motorcycle cop rode up behind me, and I was flustered and decided to stop and catch my breath again. He asked if I was okay, and I said yes, and he said something about me being last out. I couldn't believe it, and said that was impossible. He said "you will be soon, there's one lady coming up the hill right now." Sure enough, another woman gritted her way past us, swearing her way up the hill. I tried to get back on, but I was distracted. It didn't help that when I tried to go back down to a flatter part of the hill to get a little momentum, there was a full-size police car in the way. I walked the last hundred or so feet to the top of the hill, where I stood wheezing for a full minute or more. Note: I don't have asthma. I do, however, have panic attacks. I wanted to cry and yell at the cops to go away. Instead, I did some yogic breathing, thanked the awesome people who were cheering for me at the top of the hill, accepted a full bottle of water from a non-racing biker who was stopped at the top and offered when he saw I was out, and got back on the damn bike. I managed to pull it together and when the motorcycle officer who followed me for the last 5 miles joked about throwing me a rope to get us back faster, I did not swear at him. I gritted my teeth, smiled, and said "No thanks, I think that would get me DQ'd."

At transition Melissa was great--she could tell I was upset but she just yelled (cheerfully!) to get my shoes on and spritzed me with more sunscreen. They were announcing over the loudspeakers, "The last cyclist has come into transition! Look out for number 808, our last racer headed out on the run!" Oh, great, thanks. Just what I needed. I mean, I love the spotlight--I'll play just about anything for attention and laughs--but I felt more like they were saying "thank god, that slowpoke is finally getting somewhere" than cheering me on. It didn't help that I could see them breaking down the bike course behind me.

I started out jogging, but by then it was almost 10 a.m. and it was really hot. My breathing went ragged and wheezy again, and I walked most of the first 2 miles. I saw my friends heading in and they all yelled encouragement. Paige gave me the best advice of the day, which was "I'm running two cones and walking one, and it's working! Find a strategy!" But there was also a new motorcycle cop following me. When I let out an exasperated "are you going to follow me the whole run?!" he gave a kind but misguided reply of "yep, I'm your guardian angel!" I was distraught, and I could feel tears (a little hotter than the sweat, but otherwise indistinguishable) rolling down as I thought, "This is a stupid waste of hydration. Stop crying and run." Every time I started to run though, it reminded me that I needed to pee and my stomach was churning in a scary, might have an accident kind of way. Mercifully, the cop leapfrogged ahead of me and then pulled over for a few minutes at a time, so he wasn't directly behind me the whole way, but there was no way I could relieve myself roadside with the cop following me.

Finally, as I passed the second water table at mile 2, I was bored with feeling sorry for myself and the stomach churning had passed. I looked at my watch and decided to set a new goal. I thought I could maybe make it in by 11 if I started following Paige's advice. Once I turned around, I saw a blue blob up a head that seemed to be getting closer. I ran one cone and walked one, throwing in an extra cone-length of running when I could. As I passed a guy who looked more miserably hot than I was, the cop called out to me "I can't follow you anymore! Good job!" Along the way back I started to feel stronger, and I passed two more hot, tired guys. I spied an older woman (I think she was in her 70s) up ahead as I reached the last half-mile and decided to pass her before the finish. She didn't let up--I'm pretty sure she ran the entire 5 miles--but my legs were a lot fresher, or at least younger, and I passed her as we crossed the parking area and headed toward the finishing chute. Melissa was out on the road to run me in, and I sprinted as best I could across the finish at 11:03 a.m. I was not last, and as stupid and petty as it sounds, that was all that mattered at that moment.

As it turns out, I took third in the Athena division (in a field of three, but I get prizes regardless!) and had okay times except for the run:

• 3/4 mi Swim and T1 0:38:38 (stupid broken sensors!)
• 16 mi Bike 1:15:15
• T2 0:03:02
• 5 mi Run 1:12:50
• Total 3:09:45

And Melissa managed to get a good picture of me racking my bike in T2, despite my foul mood:

After waiting around for awards and collecting our gear, Melissa and I hit her place for showers, then quelled the gnawing hunger with Sonoma Chicken Coop (mmm, rotisserie chicken and grilled artichoke!) and Baskin Robbins. I dragged myself the rest of the way home and veged out while sipping ice water, but didn't end up napping. I guess the hydration and sunscreen strategy worked well, because normally I'd be zonked after 3+ hours laying around in the sun, much less doing relatively intense exercise.

I learned a lot about myself and about racing this weekend. I definitely need to work on letting it be about my own race and not how I'm doing versus others, especially since in the end I wasn't nearly the slowest overall--it's just that I was in the last wave. I also need to trust my training and push harder. While I did push on the bike, I think I could have gone faster in the swim and I definitely could have run more. Hell, I'm not even sore today. But don't tell Coach Heidi that. :P

Big Sur 5k 2009

A story in pictures.

Warming up with the children of a photographer involves more posing than stretching:


At the starting line. Smile, Jack!


Was I leaping for joy or wincing in pain? I don't even remember.


We run for the view:


Coming across the finish, where C beat me in and was waiting with the camera:

Lessons learned for next time:

• Wake up 30 min earlier so you don't have to pee 5 min into the race
• Don't try out a session with a personal trainer the day before a run, and if you do, flat out refuse to do that second set of lunges. My quads are killing me!
  
• Wear shorts that don't slide down and create a belly overhang. I swear that doesn't exist except in those shorts. Well, at least my other shorts hide it better.

We had a great time!

News Flash

I am WHITE. Not just caucasian, or fair-skinned, or a little bit honky. Full on Northern European, never meant to see the light of day white.

One would think I would be aware of this. And most of the time, I am. I don't inflict my bare midsection on anyone but my spouse, lest someone be blinded. I own many lightweight long-sleeve shirts for days when I would like to go sleeveless but I will be outdoors for more than, say, 10 minutes. I own no fewer than 6 different kinds of sunscreen.

And yet, every spring, my incurable whiteness escapes me in the form of small mistakes in the application of SPF 1,000,000 and UV-blocking clothing. There are chinks in my armor, if you will. And that, dear readers, leads only to misery and stripey red patterns across the neglected body part. Let's survey the damage:

There is a 1-inch stripe across each thigh where my shorts rode up after sunscreen application. I have matching crescent-moons on my shoulder blades and my chest where my jersey pulled down. This reminds me that I usually put on sunscreen before putting on my clothes, and again after. Yes, I have to slather up nekkid, plus put on more once I get where I'm going.

I also think I burned my scalp. This is interesting because I was wearing a helmet for most of my time outside today.

My face, there's nothing more to do. I'm not interested in adopting the (probably very smart from a skincare perspective) face-covering customs of desert-dwelling women in the Middle-East and North Africa. So it's just sort of pink all summer long.

The rest of me (or at least the parts that were exposed to the sun) is a pretty shade of pink, which hopefully will fade soon lest my father see it and give me a lecture on how some kid in Australia sunburned his whole face off.

I guess I should stop whining, though. I rode my bike 20 miles today, including one big-ass hill, and the worst injury I have is stripey legs. :)

Mermaid 10k Race Report!

I am fried! But happy.

This morning was COLD and WINDY. Yes, that requires shouting. But I was out there at 7:30 a.m. to meet M and the Smofit crew, plus MK, the Team Mermaid folks, and the other 900-odd women who were planning to run, walk, wog, or otherwise make their way through the 5k, 10k, and half-marathon courses. We prayed it would not rain during the race, and for me that was mercifully true. The half-marathoners were not so lucky.

So MK and I set out to hit 80 minutes or fewer, since we managed the practice run at 85. I thought going in that it would either be a breeze, because I'd be running so fast to keep my toes from falling off, or it would be miserable and slow. It ended up somewhere in the middle--my toes finally defrosted as we passed the 2-mile marker, but I can't say it was a fun race as these things go. What was fun was all the company we had out there! Most of them are people I've met through M, but have now become my friends. It was great to cheer as Heather, Molly, Chris, and Justine blew by me on their way in, as I was nearing the turnaround. Once MK and I hit the turnaround, we got to cheer for M--she was right on our heels!

MK is really hitting her groove these days and honestly is much faster than I am, but she insisted on keeping our 8 min/2 min interval and waiting for me to catch up on the walking intervals. Once we got to the 5k turnaround--3/4 through our race--I insisted she should go as fast as was comfortable and finish strong. She had a great last mile and a half and finished at 74:32. I came in not too long after, at 78:07, which means we both hit our time goal! M also blew hers out of the water, by quite a large margin. Yay all of us!

I thought I was going to Sonoma for a much-deserved wine tasting adventure, but last night my friend E, an old buddy from my camp counselor days, called and said he was in town for one day only. A graciously offered to postpone the drinking trip, and so C and I met E and his girlfriend to wander around North Beach and catch up. Hopefully all the walking (from Washington park to St. Mary's Park in Chinatown and back) stretched out my legs well enough that I won't be hurting tomorrow.

Want pictures? Go see Molly's race report and Facebook.

You may notice that I updated my list of races--it's an ambitious schedule, but it should keep me on-track all summer. I haven't signed up for anything past UVAS, just because circumstances can change so quickly, but I hope to complete them all.

Happy Sunday! I'm going to collapse now. :P

Happy Day!

This morning I was up bright and early and headed to Shoreline for my long run so I could see the course we're going to run next weekend. M, MK, and some awesome Smofit buddies all did the course, though we all went different speeds since we're at different stages in training and have different goals. MK and I left the parking lot with my watch set for 8 min run/2 min walk intervals and the goal to run for 80 minutes and hopefully cover at least the 5.5 miles that we were scheduled to run today.

Here's Shoreline (it was cloudy today):


We started out strong and when my watch beeped for 40 minutes, MK pointed out that we were just short of the turnaround for the 10k! So we kept going, and made it all the way back at 84:30!!

Our friends were waiting for us in the parking lot so we stretched and then went to Tied House Brewery for lunch. I had the steak taco salad, which is MUCH better than most taco salads because it has tri tip, avocado, and lovely fried flour tortilla triangles instead of that soggy bowl that most places have. Yum!

Another minor miracle: my new bike is ready! I'll pick it up tomorrow and blog about it then!

I bought a bike!

This weekend ended up great, though the ride was a little bumpy.

Saturday I did my loop around Lake Merced with practically no problems--one running interval in the middle was interrupted because my foot was falling asleep, but after a little bit of walking and a pep talk to myself, I ran the rest of the intervals and finished the 4.5 miles in just barely under an hour.

Sunday I went to ride bikes with M and my father-in-law (her dad). He just got a bike for the first time in many years, but he loves riding so we were excited to get him back into it. Unfortunately, I'm not very coordinated with my clipless pedals (still) and I tipped over. Normally, no biggie, right? Wait though--I managed to break my seat! Far beyond repair, in fact. So my mother-in-law (M's mom) very graciously played SAG wagon and picked me up, taking me to the bike shop where I wanted to buy a new bike anyway.

Once I was there, I learned that the bike I've been drooling over was sold--sad, but to be expected when it's a closeout at a great price. Instead, I got this year's base model Specialized Roubaix--a full-carbon frame with Shimano 105 derailleurs and a Gossamer crankset. In short, a really nice bike. I had to order it in my size, so I won't actually have it for another week or two. I can't wait!

Fits and Starts

We have done very little of what we planned to do today. But it has been a great day anyway!

C woke up early after 4 straight days of opening at the bakery, so when I rolled out of bed around 9 he had already been awake for hours and was ready to Do Stuff! He made a yummy scramble (eggs, potatoes, and cheddar) that I paired with fruit and we made plans to take a bike ride and then hit up the movie theater to see Coraline, after which I was going to make tilapia with mango salsa for dinner.

However, once breakfast was over things went all pear-shaped. First, it was too rainy and cold for biking. So I decided that I would do the Firm video I bought over Christmas instead. Ten minutes of staring at the tv, bewildered at the dancing people, and I gave up that idea. I need to "preview" that like 50 times because I am no good at dance aerobics and they move fast!

C tried to hop in the shower, only to discover that we have no hot water! That sort of nixed things like washing dishes, showering well, etc. I took a shower anyway but literally yelped when I ducked into the full blast of the shower. C called our landlord and they were not nearly as concerned as we are. We might get someone out here on Tuesday. Seriously?? Argh.

After our totally unsuccessful midday, C suggested we hit the theater at matinee time, so we hopped in the car and headed to the movies only to encounter the world's worst traffic while trying to park. Seriously, like 20 minutes to go up one floor in the parking structure.

So after all that frustration, we got creative. We abandoned the movies and headed north, without a particular destination. Once across the Golden Gate we drove west around the Marin Headlands and stopped at various gun batteries and missile silos to look at the interpretive signage (M--I know you need to know--it wasn't very good) and climb around imagining the massive guns that sat guarding the Golden Gate from WWI until they were declared obsolete during WWII.

We stopped and bought some maps at the visitor's center because we had very little idea where we were, and then decided to drive up Highway 1 to Point Reyes Station and buy cheese at the Cowgirl Creamery. We did, and then munched on apples (that we brought), cheese, and chocolate on the way back to 101. By then it was raining pretty hard, so we didn't want to take Highway 1 all the way back.

As we were approaching the bridge again, C made the astute observation that we would not be able to clean up after cooking since we have no hot water. So we stopped on Chestnut and wandered (with the umbrella I keep in my trunk--yay!) until we found an Italian place that smelled delicious. I had lobster ravioli (yum!) and C had lasagna bolognese (even Yum-er!). On our way back to the car we happened upon a candy store called The Sweet Dish, and they were having a party! A friend of the owner sells vintage jewelry and there was a crazy bustle at the back of the store where she was hosting a trunk show. There was champagne and free samples and all the things you want in a candy shop.

Now I'm finishing up some laundry, posting, and about to do some old-school Tae Bo so I can say I did my cross-training for the Higdon plan. (Yes, I still do Tae Bo. It's the only video workout I've really ever liked, try as I might to expand my horizons.)

In short, it's been a fantabulous day, even though it was nothing like what we had planned! Nighty night!