Playing Catch-Up

Ok, so I legit have tons to talk to you guys about- congrats for reading and guess what? This past week my life was interesting I actually have more to report than just working out haha.  So since I have so much to tell you, I’ll break it all up into days of the week so that it’s organized and awesome… per usual.

Tuesday-Thursday;  So my friend Kinga came to visit me last week and she was here Tuesday thru Thursday.  She got here at like 10 am on Tuesday and left at like 8 on Thursday.  Anyways, we spent Tuesday drinking and going shopping.  In all honesty, I don’t drink much when I’m home because I don’t really see the need, plus I don’t really go the bars.  So I think those 3 days I drank enough for the entire summer.  Wednesday we went for a 6 mile run, then we went to the town pool and finally we went out to the bars that night.
Funniest thing was that the bar we arrived at looked super crowded and then when we got in we realized it was bingo night and that was why.  We had a good laugh over that, but we stayed and had a good time anyways.  Later in the night we went to another bar where there were legit like 10 people (us included) and we sang Karaoke.  I just want to say that I don’t really sing in front of people anymore and kinga doesn’t at all so we almost peed ourselves laughing that we did that.

And finally on Thursday we went to the race track where it was college day so we got free t-shirts, we drank, we bet on the horses and oh Kinga won a $1000 scholarship… nbd.

When she won I looked at her and just said; “You don’t even go here!”  But I digress on that matter…

In 3 weeks her and I will be reunited since we are living together at school and I absolutely can’t wait.  It’s going to be a great senior year.

Friday-Monday; I know- that’s a long stretch of days, but they all relate to one another so there you go.  Friday I left with my friend Christine to go up to my camp/Lake Placid the next day.  This past weekend was Ironman Lake Placid and we were both volunteers at it-mostly so we could get first dibs at signing up to do it next year.  So Friday we basically got to my camp and spent the night.  The next morning we woke up at 6 a.m. to get to Lake Placid.

Saturday; we got to Placid around 8ish where there was a free pancake breakfast going on. After that was done we had our respective volunteer meetings to go to so that took a few hours.  After that we walked around the expo  (basically like an awesome assortment of goodies) and I bought a few t-shirts.  Then we did 1 loop of the swim course  (it was 1.2 miles) and for not swimming for like a month, I really didn’t feel that bad while doing it.

Finally, we went to the house of some friends of the Slyer’s (Christine’s coach and family) where we set up tents in the backyard.

The next morning we woke up at 4 a.m.  (Rough!) and went to the start where Christine and members of the Slyer family were lifeguarding the swim portion of the Ironman.  I just waited around and took pictures the entire time.  I got lots of all the racers, spectators, and even some of the elites!  After the swim was done we ate and watched the bikers come around for the 1st loop of the bike course.  Then Christine and I went on a run, it was supposed to be 2 miles, which turned into 6, that then turned into 9.5….  oops!  While we were running we saw Andy Potts the winner who was around 10 minutes ahead of the guy who was in 2nd.   He literally passed Christine and I 3 times before we made it back into town- that was him going out, in, and back out for his 2nd loop on the marathon.  Needless to say we felt slow.
After that we went to our aid station where we would be handing participants broth, water, soda, fruit, etc.  The goal is to give them fuel and to help motivate them.  It was really tiring but really fun and I was surprised at how many racers took the time to thank us for volunteering while they were going! If I were them I don’t know if I’d be able to say anything I’d be too tired.

After that we watched the final people to make it under the 17 hour cut off come in to the finish.  The cut off ended at midnight and let me tell you it was emotional- those people who barely make it I was like bawling, yelling; “GO RUN!!!!” which is silly because they can’t hear me, but its like to think of all the work they put into doing the race.  I mean seriously.  After that we didn’t make it back to the house until around 1 a.m.

Unfortunately for Christine and I our rain tarp apparently wasn’t working and so the inside of our tent had puddles.  After we moped it up and attempted to sleep- we started to get flooded.  So we moved inside the house to sleep on the living room floor at around 3 a.m. and then at 6 a.m. we got up to take down the tent and head back to Placid.

You see, the day after the race registration opens and sells out.  Volunteers get first dibs at signing up for the race so we had to get there around 7:30 a.m. because that’s when we could start registering.  Anyways, the slyer’s daughter (whose 17 btw) also registered for the Ironman next year- yea 17.   So while we were waiting in line with them after Christine already registered (I’m putting off a full for another year- I’m going to try to do a half next summer.) I was talking to Jon Slyer (whose Christine’s coach) and he was like so you doing this? And I said no I’m going to do a half first.  And then he asked if I was around a lot during the year to which I said no.  He replied with; ok, well we will get together and make a plan for you- what are you doing Thursday? We are going to do a swim/bike come along.  So I think this might be him taking me on and beginning to help coach me??? I’d be really happy if he is because I think I can learn a lot from him and honestly I’d love to have someone coach me and tell me how to do a bigger triathlon because everything I’ve figured out I’ve figured out on my own.  So we will see come Thursday- but I’ll let you know more about that later…

AFTER all of that we finally left Lake Placid to make our way home.  We were home by 11 a.m. and it felt like 7 p.m. to me haha.  I ended up completely crashing in my bed for an hour which gave me just enough energy to make it through the day.  By early that night I passed out.

So I have decided on Tupper Lake’s Tinman (Half-Ironman) for next summer.  This means that my biking skills need to seriously improve over the next year or I will be screwed. So that is everything new and exciting to tell you.  Which was a lot for me, so until later TTFN.

A renewed Tri

So I know my last post was super downey, but I believe that I’ve reached a renewed sense for my healthy eating and training. I call this renewed sense of purpose IRONMAN 2014. Yup that’s right good people- I intend to participate in Iron Man Lake Placid in 2014. 

I mean its kinda been an idea in the works since this past summer when I got serious about my Tri training with my friend Christine and when I took like 10 minutes off of my sprint time.  And I know, taking 10 minutes off of my sprint time isn’t exactly equivalent to pushing my body for like 17 hours, but I digress…

Currently, I have around $150 saved towards a new (pretty) race bike.  Yes, I’m quite concerned not only with the functionality of my bike but its level of pretty.  This is my dream bike, is a Quintana Roo and its like $4,000+ dollars…. needless to say it won’t be my first real racing bike, but I would love to have it someday.  Especially since it comes in Pink- my favorite color.

Additionally, Christine, our friend Becca, and I are volunteering for IMLP 2013 so that not only can I see what I will be up against next year, but also so that we will get first dibs on registering and have less of a chance of getting closed out.

And actually Christine just called me yesterday and told me we were lifeguarding at 5:30 a.m (Ugh, gonna need coffee) and like 8:30-10:30 p.m at night.  But because of the lateness of our 2nd one we get a fast passed to the front of the line for registering for IMLP 2014 the next day.  SCORE!  I will totally be ok with being tired if I get to register ahead of others.

And beside all that, I’m super stressed. I JUST caught up on my school work and….. I’m behind again, all in the space of one day.  But that’s just college I guess.  Oh and P.B and I are like super pissy with each other, which is so much fun.  I feel like if we just have one really good screaming match at each other than everything will go back to normal and he can stop acting like so much of an ass, because he’s really pissing me off.  My therapist, Sean concurs that we obviously need to get some things off our chests, but I don’t want to be the one to bring up a screaming match as a bonding moment to P.B.  So for now I’m just going to deal with it and take out my frustrations on my training.
I did 5 miles on the dreadmill today and then did a tiny bit of abs.  My idea is that every day I will do like at least 10 of some sort of ab workout, and then when that starts getting easy, I’ll add 1o more.  And then eventually maybe by the time the summer comes around I will have a sexy bod!  A girl can dream right?

Well that’s it for now, until later TTFN.

Lake Placid Marathon Recap.

Ok so sorry it’s been a few days after the marathon but things have been a bit hectic, but I will explain that later.  So I shall start at the beginning and go to  the end.   Sunday morning started off with a lovely wake up alarm at 3:30 am.  I kid you not.  This is what I like to call my ‘I just got up, don’t expect much’ face.

As we can all tell…. Not pretty.    But after a lovely hot cup of coffee with a bit of food in me I quickly turned into;

 a very serious Sara.  It’s my; “It’s 4:40 in the morning, do you know where your kids are‘ face.  Personally, if I had kids I’d be wondering where they were, but I don’t so I don’t care.

But let’s get for reals.  I quickly got down to business and was pumping up my jams to get into the mood for my race.  Plus, I got to wake my mom and brother Tim, who would be coming with me, up at 4:50 in order to leave by 5:15.

So perky Sara is up and ready for action!

In between my eating, drinking coffee, and getting pumped up I remembered to write on my arms.  Remember how I mentioned before since I wasn’t going for time I wanted to write thinks I was thankful for on my arm? You don’t? Well you know now. Anywho, I had to use both arms.

This was the first 13 miles.  And the next 13.2 miles were done on the other arm.  The ones on my left arm didn’t come out quite as neat as these ones, mostly because I’m not left-handed. 
Anywho, I found during the race that they turned out to be very good motivators for the first 1/2 but I managed to get sidetracked during the second 1/2 to the point that I wasn’t focusing on what I’d written quite as much.  So here’s the second 1/2;

As you can see I have a lot of motivation, and truthfully during the race the writing was smudged and sort of sweated off.  But I shall not dwell on my nastiness.  Moving along…

The car ride was pretty much uneventful.  All I really did was eat a bit more food, drink some water, and tape my feet to keep my blisters from rubbing raw and bleeding again.  Look at my handiwork;

Beautiful aren’t they? Anywho, we got to Lake Placid a tad before 6:30, because I’m anal retentive and made sure we left on time/early for the race.  Plus, this way we found a lovely parking spot, the registration, and most importantly- the bathrooms!  I shall now show you some scenic shots of the area where the start/finish was.  It was right next to the Olympic center in Lake Placid.

And the finish line;

This was actually in the outdoor speed skating oval. They had the last tenth of a mile on this track.  And in the center green were the registration tent, medical tent, massage tent, and food tent.  All very important once you finish.  Alas, I would not see the Finish again for several hours once the race started.  

Personally, I really enjoyed seeing the flags of all the other countries up around the oval.  But I digress… I checked in and got my number on, my number to marathon greatness!

Or I guess you could say number 31.  But that’s besides the point.  My mom and brother Tim did a great job of creepily following me around all day.  Which was very nice of them considering they could’ve gone to the beach or done some shopping.  Instead they decided to stalk me and keep me motivated and for that I am extremely grateful.  But we shall move on to their stalker-esc type pictures now. 

I think this is between miles 2 and 3, no wait.. I’m sure this is between miles 2 and 3.  I was still feeling good so I was smiling.  You know how misleading long runs are into making you feel fantabulous.  
Depending upon what loop this was I’m thinking either mile 5 or mile 14.  But it’s a toss up as to which loop so I don’t really know. 

When I get really delirious or in pain I like to make faces at people to distract myself.  Or to scare people away.  It depends. 

Oh lord! This is my main man and I.  he’s in the green shirt running next to me.  We legit became Besties during this marathon, we ran together for at least 6 miles and I learned his life story.  Haha I loved him! I never caught his name but he was straight up adorable and he kept me motivated which was nice.  

Sidenote time: My mom ran with me from mile 14-15, which was awesome cuz I was in a bad place mentally at that point and really needed that boost from my mom.  Well at the end of the race my brother came and found me with a mile left to go.  He came up next to me and asked: “May I have the honor of running this last mile with you?”  I almost starting crying it was so sweet.  So he helped keep me going to the end, which was nice because the last mile was pretty much all uphill, the race organizers just like to torture me. 

I don’t have any of my official finish right now, depending upon when the official pictures from the race are ready I’ll have some later.  But my mom took this after I finished.  My brother gave me a huge hug, which was nice because it kinda kept me standing to be honest.  Then of course what’s the first thing I want to do?  Well eat of course!

Mom! Stop making me pose with my medal when I’m attempting to stuff my face with as much food as possible!

Another Sidenote: I have a book that I write in all the things I want to accomplish before I die.  Well, I was looking through it before this weekend and I found #201. Run a marathon.  Well I’m happy to say that that goal has now been checked off, take a look for yourself; 

So that’s pretty much it for my epic journey of a marathon.  I ended up running it in 5:43:17, which I’m pretty proud of considering I learned after that it was one of the hardest courses not only because of hills, but because of elevation change.  So I figure if I can run/complete this marathon I can run/complete any marathon. 

Besides that, I won’t lie- I walked a bit during this race and I’m completely ok with it.  If you’re not, oh well, I don’t care.

Oh and I might have a stress fracture because hey when I run a marathon I do it right. 😛 

And I’d like to take a moment to say that my friend Justin was right, this was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done both physically and mentally.  I hit a lot of low points during the race and I’m damn proud of myself for not quitting.

But I won’t worry about that till I see the Dr.  for the rest of this week its rest. Both because I want to and because I have to. 
You see I had eye surgery on Monday to take care of a droopy eye lid I’ve had for over a year now.  Hence why I didn’t blog about my race yesterday.   Because well… this is what I looked like; 

Yes I am smiling even though I can only see out of one eye.  Why? You ask, well that’s because I like the nickname Cyclops.

Anywho, I got the bandage off today and so I shall show you a picture of me today.  It’s not to bad, a bit swollen and bruised but that is to be expected. 

So that is all I believe I have to say.  I think I’ve talked myself out for now and I hope all y’all are appropriately satisfied since you had to wait a few extra days for the recap. 
So that’s it for now, until later TTFN.