Ramblings from a Forgotten Athlete

Have you ever had to wait for something?



I've been waiting for something since Nov. I'm finally getting down to the deadline. It's one of those things that defines your direction once it's done.







With that one little itty bitty thing at the back of my mind, I've been thinking about the upcoming years from an athletic perspective.







Work has been so busy lately that when I get home or when I'm running....that's what I'm doing. I need to set work aside for a little while.







Have I completely lost you yet?







Besides work and this little itty bitty thing, there is also my family. Well, the boys are older now. In a couple of years, Jordan leaves for college. Next fall, Justin starts high school. Things...life....changes when your kids get older.







Where does this leave me?







It leaves me with potential training time.







Sigh.







This year, I'm not doing any tri's. Taking the year off. You can see my "racing" schedule on the right hand side if you're so inclined.

I've been giving serious thought to doing another (full) Ironman. Not this year, not next year...in fact, I don't have a clue when....

In the meantime, I've been giving serious thought to this in 2011.

There are a few things that need to fall into place for me to really commit to the race. First of all, I would like to continue seeing my run times improve. Second, I'd really like to get a new bike. I've put as many upgrades as I possibly can into the one I have. I love my bike. Sometimes you just find yourself at a point where you want to make the jump.

The positives of doing the race...I can ride the course every single weekend....if I so choose. The timing is perfect. August is hot, but the training is during the best months of the year (for me).

The strangest thing is that I miss the training.

I really really miss those long training sessions. They cannot be duplicated when there is no race.

And that's a GOOD thing. For awhile, I didn't think that I would ever ever ever want to do Ironman again. I didn't even want to think about it. Sure, encourage others, cheer everyone else on.

I've done my dance with the devil. Yes siree...I'm not going down that road again.

But time passes and things change and

I just miss it. that's all.

Things are different now. I would even say that things are better now.

So maybe next year, I'll venture out to IM Boulder and see how I feel. Then figure out where I want to go, what I want to do, and who I want to be.

Knowing what I know about training for Ironman and the time committments and sacrifices that need to be made....I want to do it again.

However, this adventure is only for the truly committed because although I say it here that I want to do it again....it could be another 5 or 6 years down the road.

Until that time.....

Runnin of the Green Race Report

Open water swimming is a contact sport.



Apparently, so is running, Runnin' o' the Green.



Here's your all important history lesson. The last time I ran this race was in 2006. It's ALWAYS cold. The course is difficult. It was never crowded.



That was then. This is now. This race (a 7k btw which is about 4.34 miles) used to be running only. Now, it's open to walkers AND they have a 2.2 mile walk.



That means that it's no longer a little race. WOAH. Registration winds for blocks. At 20 minutes until race start, the RD makes the announcement that althought they are thrilled that so many people came out, they are now at capacity and everyone standing in line (several HUNDRED people) will not be able to race.



Next....this race is always COLD. Yesterday it was 60 in Denver. At the start of the race, it was 90% humidity, 20 degrees with a wind that would just take your breath away. We were expected snow, but it didn't show up until I was driving home.



I trained for this race. My goal which might seem conservative or crazy or just plain weird to some was simple. I wanted to beat my time in the 4 mile race that I did in Nov.



The secondary mission was to set my pacing plan for my half marathon training. As you all know, my BIG goal of the year is a half marathon PR which happened 7 years ago....at sea level....at the age of 35.



But I digress.



People started lining up early....mostly to keep warm. We tried to follow the fine example of the Penguins (as in March of, not 'ockey). Everyone had to take their turn on the outside of the circle to warm the people on the inside.



When on the inside, I found 3 other women. We started talking and sharing goal times. It just so happened that we all had very similar goals. One woman was from Florida. She had just moved here. We decided to pace each other. She was probably in her early twenties, so I made sure that she understood to keep going if I fell off the pace.



When the gun went off, it took us about 5 minutes to get to the start. With all the bustling, I lost my new found friend. Then, I saw her camelback. My goal was to keep her in my sights.



Lemme say one thing....I've never run such a crowded race before. It never calmed down. There was never a time where I felt that I could just bust a move. The downhills were particularly frustrating because (as you know) I am training for a trail race and have learned how to take the hills pretty fast.



That was the frustration, but the good was that maybe it forced me to slow down in the beginning and hit a negative split on the return. At one point, I had to stop completely and walk for about two minutes. I couldn't get around the guy with the stroller, the lady with the 3 dogs, the three little girls and mom running holding hands (how freaking adorable).



Still, I was having a good time. I knew my face was completely windburn, and my green beads kept hitting me in the face. But what better way to spend a Sunday morning.



That's when I realized that I had lost my little friends. I figured that they are probably so far ahead of me (with getting stopped and all) that I was just going to try to re-gain my lost time and try to hit my goal.



As I round mile 3, I notice the camelback! She is only about 20 feet in front of me all the way over to the left. I was feeling really good (tired, panting, cold, sore, but good). I decided to push it and see if I could pass her.



A few minutes later, she pulled up along side me and said, "I can't believe you just blew past me. You think I'm ok with that?"



I started laughing....but I think it came out like some kind of grunt at this point. We round the 2nd to last corner. We round the last corner. She says "Kick it!"

I responded....

cant

kick

it

feel

sick

With 30m to go, I realized that there was a WALL of people right at the finish. I look at my garmin which already read 4.6 miles but I'm beating my pace. I'm not going to run all this way only to not make my time because of a line.

Camelback turns to me and asks "Is that a wall of people?"

rumpf

I respond.

We are running. She's running. I'm sprinting to keep up with her. With the wall right in front of us, we both see a tiny itty bitty opening. We make a mad dash for the opening and slam our feet down onto the timing mat and exactly the same time.

**

I didn't see camelback after that.

The flood of people engulfed us and I saw her being pulled off to the left.

With the storm overhead and the buildings of downtown Denver as a backdrop, my garmin wasn't accurately reporting distance, time, or pace. Official results aren't in yet.

I.am.going.crazy.

I'm SURE I beat my goal time. I'm sure of it. But I don't know yet.

I made my way over to the water station and got my t-shirt. My beads were wrapped around my neck like some sort of choker, and now that I had stopped running....I realized how truly cold it was.

I head toward my car and looked up at the sky just in time to see the first snowflakes falling.

It's like this

When I don't blog for awhile, I have all these unwritten blogs floating around in my head just dying to get out.

They just never make it there. Weeks go by, and I have to try to figure out what interesting little tidbits I can pull from those lengthy unwritten blog posts.

In a way, I present to you THE BEST OF THE BEST. If it doesn't live up to your expectations, well....I am SUPER sorry about that.

Work, work, work. We had a meeting last week to try to adjust our plans for the year. We have been so busy. In some ways, I feel out of control. It's hard to get to the gym. It's hard to find time for anything else. We are re-adjusting our hiring plans and possibly moving up some other plans that we had in place for the next 2 years.

Let's just say we're doing our part to get the economy rolling.

We had to do it without a bailout.

Don't get me started on banks.

Let's see a corporation do that.

**
Because of the above, we are trying to get a vacation scheduled. Trying isn't the right word. We're comparing schedules yadda yadda and are going to get it booked.

I couldn't be happier.

All work and no play makes Tea a dull girl.

**
Training while healthy
I have a race on 3/14. I am SO excited for this race. It's a 7k. I've really trained hard for this race. I don't expect to PR, but I am hoping to beat my 4 mile time from Nov. I don't think I've ever really trained for a short race. I done hill repeats, speedwork, tempo runs, long runs, recovery runs. I feel great.

if not a little nervous. I am going to give it everything I have!

After the 7k, I have a number of races starting the end of April. In May I have Greenland followed by my first half marathon of the year.

**
Training while sick
Unfortunately two weeks ago, I got the cold that was running through the house. Due to lack of sleep, the cold stretched into over two weeks. I'm just about over it now.

But there were a few days (4) that I was completely wiped out and even walking was difficult. No swimming, no cycling, no running. I tried to keep up some fitness by walking but mostly I just skipped workouts.

This week I was back to running and am still amazed at how sore I am from the time off. At the same time, I physically feel really good. The forced rest was really good.
**

I get so tired of people who do or say thing for the sake of image.

**

I have no patience for wussies.

**

Sometimes I am rather wussy.

**

Doggies
We took the doggies in for their annual check up. Our stupid-big German Shepherd (Brinks) is probably going to live until he's 20. (He's 6 now).

Our Crazy Bitch....well....she's not long for this life. (She's 4 or 5). Some of you might remember when we adopted her. She was on deathrow as she'd been given up by 3 previous owners. She was malnourished, abused, neglected, dog aggressive and was scared to death of men. This will be our 3rd year with her. She still cries in her sleep, but it's happening less often. She's no longer afraid of men. She's no longer afraid of sprinklers or hoses or haribrushes. She's still dog aggressive, but she's no longer destructive and goes outside to use the bathroom. I doubt she'll ever learn any commands, but she did learn sit and shake. So, maybe one day she WILL learn stay or place, or down. And, she no longer buries my swim caps and goggles. She's come a long long way. She's so happy now. She's not the smartest dog, but she really does try. Besides, she's the cutest thing ever.

Her tests didn't come back good. She has problems with her pancreas and her kidneys are starting to fail. Medications will help and a special diet will help. I just hope she's not in alot of pain. She's such a good girl.

It's hard when you adopt a dog that experienced such a life. Even though she might not live to even 8 years old, I sure hope she is happy and that whatever life she has left wipes out those bad memories.

**
I guess that covers the last month or so.

Hope you all have been well. I really enjoy reading your blogs. I just don't always respond.

Could you resist this race?

Well neither could I.

It's SO on!

Who I be, I be Tea

I know it was popular (like 5 years ago) to list out interesting facts about yourself.

Well, I'm not one for fads. So, here's mine 5 years late and in no particular order.

1.) I'm not one for fads. (Didn't see that coming did you?)

2.) I can absolutely not resist Lays potato chips....the plain old salty Lays.

3.) My favorite simple pleasure is a cup of tea and a biscotti in front of the fireplace with a book.

4.) I have a dark sarcastic sense of humor, which means that people either think I need to be locked up or that I'm hilarious.

5.) I eat ridiculously well, except for the Lays.

6.) I love the mountains.

7.) I love snowshoeing and hiking.

8.) I love the ocean even more than the mountains.

9.) I love movies that know what they are.

10.) I love reading, especially historical fiction.

11.) I am a music fanatic but I'm not a guru. I couldn't tell you who played guitar or sang vocals for any particular group....except Van Halen but then You'd have to be pretty sorry not to know that.

12.) I love writing and have works of fiction published.....a long long time ago.

13.) Places that I haven't been but would love to go: Turkey and Croatia.

14.) Goal in life: To finish my family tree which requires research in Dublin....not that I have a problem with that.

15.) Countries I've been to: Canada, Jamaica, France, England, Germany, Amsterdam, Japan, China (Xi'an to Beijing and other eastern cities), Hong Kong. I think I'm leaving something out.

16.) Country I've spent the most time (other than US): France.

17.) Favorite of the list: China

18.) Place in the US that I want to visit: New Orleans.

19.) Place I'm least likely to live: Florida

20.) Languages I know: English & French. I learned some basic conversational Catonese. I know how to curse in Hindi and German.

21.) If I were a superhero, my superpower would be flying.

22.) Strange special talent: Imitations.

23.) I own an unusually high number of: sweatshirts.

24.) My first job: McDonald's....which was an odd choice since I was a vegetarian.

25.) My first car: Mustang

26.) I really like snow.

27.) I love being able to get through the snow.

28.) I believe that all women need to know some form of self-defense.

29.) I studied Karate.

30.) I don't now but want to do it again.

31.) I don't believe in marriage.

32.) I believe in committment.

33.) I believe anyone who wants to be married should be allowed to get married.

32.) I think the religious right is freakin' nuts.

33.) I still struggle with "Paper or plastic" when I leave my bags at home.

34.) I think the BEST pizza is NY pizza.

35.) I'm from NY. Born in Queens.

36.) When I get angry or excited, I have a NY accent.

37.) I smile and laugh alot.

38.) I tend to sing aloud in the car....regardless of who is in there with me.

39.) I just loves me some Knish.

40.) I love Indian food, and Mexican and Chinese food. Hmmm, I really just love food.

41.) I don't drink alchohol. Not that I have an issue with it. I just don't. I might again someday. But I do own quite a collection of wines.

42.) I don't smoke, have never and will never.

43.) I love going to summer baseball games.

44.) I love sports.

45.) Yoga, yoga, yoga.

46.) I love tea...hot or cold....unsweetened.

47.) I love thunderstorms.

48.) On the first day of summer every year, I find a park bench in the shade and have a bag of m&ms and a coke and watched people go by.

49.) I sing "Go runner, go runner" when I'm driving by a runner.

50.) I love it when people make fun of themselves.

51.) I don't like it when people make fun of others.

52.) I tend to root for the underdog.

53.) I am not allergic to anything. Nothing. Onions don't make me cry. Dust doesn't make me sneeze. Nothing. I can walk in the middle of a field of weeds and sunflowers and not have a problem.

54.) I think I have really good genes.

55.) I don't like laying in bed once I wake up.

56.) I don't watch much tv. I hate sitting idle.

57.) I have too much energy for my own good and drive my family crazy.


And....I can't think other anything else to say.

goals & expectations

I'm so tired. It was in a state of near hypnotism (during my long swim this morning) that I realized how truly SICK I am. My weekly volumes are increasing (like most of us do when we are training for a race), and I honestly said to myself, "I can't wait for the weekend when I can just do my long runs".

Apparently, relaxation now means running stupid far distances. Which is (apparently) easier than doing 2 or 3 workouts a day.

You following me?

Fridays are particularly difficult. Not only have I had a week of training, but Thursday is a speed workout in the morning followed by a tough ride in the evenings. The next morning is a recovery run followed by a swim.

By Friday nights, I'm tired, physically tired. Knowing that I have only one thing to do each day on the weekends is like a mini-vacation even if the ONE thing is running STUPID FAR.

sigh

Did I mention that Sunday's run will be in the cold, windy, snow? AGAIN?

sigh

By the time my race comes around, I'll be a hardcore runner.

The real reason I'm writing today besides having the opportunity to demonstrate how poorly I think, write, and function on exhaustion is to talk about something I've been thinking about.

It's something that really took me a long time to learn.

I'm not the fastest person when it comes to running, and I've been running a long time. Sometimes people look at me funny....like I'm supposed to be in the olympics by now. This happens alot with people who are new to being athletic. They look at me as though something is wrong with me.

I don't know what got me thinking about this....seriously. I started thinking back in time. With the exception of 94 and 95 when I had the two kids, I was running. I've been running as long as I can remember. In fact, I did races too.

I just never really cared about comparing times. I know it sounds crazy to some people. I guess, running was more of a process for me. It was how I dealt with stress or family issues etc. If I started adding the pressure of being concerned about race times, I don't think I would have liked running....back then.

There was alot going on in my life, and why ruin "running" with more stress? At the time, I couldn't separate goals and expectations. Goals are good; expectations not so much. I didn't really know how to set appropriate goals without then also getting tied into the expectation of hitting goal.

I'm starting to babble.

blah blah blah (speaking of which, have you heard Keisha and 3Oh3's song?)

This year, I'm doing a number of races and bike tours. But I have only 2 goals and 2 races that are special to me. They are races that I have some aggressive goals, but I have no expectations. All I can say is that it won't be for lack of training that I don't hit my goals.

The first is next month. I have a 7k planed (4.34 miles). My goal for this race is to run it in the same time I ran 4 miles in Nov 2009. That's a pretty aggressive goal. It won't be a PR for the race, but it will set up my goals for my half marathon.

The half is really important to me. I'm running one in May, but that's not my A race. Again it will be a pacing race that will allow me to set up my plan for my Oct half.

If I PR in my Oct half, we're heading to Carlsbad for the half in Jan 2011. That's where I got the PR that I'm chasing down.

Of course, I'm not really sure if I can PR this year. But that's why the 7k is important. It's going to tell me how I've been progressing this winter.

That's the lesson that I've learned. I have goals, but I won't assume or expect anything that to have a good time.

The PR will come.

Herstory Part 1

Several weeks ago, Rachel (who is probably my oldest friend--we've managed to stay in touch since high school) mentioned in that off-hand, sigh, slightly bothered way that she has, "golly gee willikers, I sure wish you talk more about the business."

For the next few weeks, I chew on this idea thinking, "Who really cares? Seriously?"

Then I realized a couple of things:
1.) I write about training. I actually have a job. You would never really know it, though.
2.) Maybe, just maybe there are people out there in big wide world of the internet that might find this interesting. Maybe they are thinking about starting a company. Maybe they don't have the first idea how to start. Maybe they have a successful business that I could learn from.

With those thoughts in mind, I thought "Hey why not? But let's start from the beginning so everyone has perspective and background"

So, dear friends, I present to you Herstory Pt 1.

I know many of you know bits and pieces of my story. Here's the opportunity (whether you like it or not) to put the pieces together.

My working career started in banking and financial services. I did that for a long time. During this time, Mike and I met and shortly thereafter we were married and in even less time we had two boys (Jordan born in 94 and Justin born in 95).

During this same time period, I was putting myself through college. I attended the Women's College of the University of Denver. (In fact, I started when Justin was not even 2 months old).

In the early to mid 90's, I jumped into the high tech start-up craze. This time period was probably my favorite. I really loved working for start up companies. It wasn't the possibility of getting crazy rich that drove me to these companies. It was the getting down and dirty; everyone doing everything; no bureacratic red tape.

Of course, we had our challenges, but more than anything I remember how much I loved working with the people that I worked with. We all had so much fun even during stressful times.

Unfortunately, in the late 90's one of the companies decided to close their offices in the States, and I was unemployed.

On a positive note, I was also working on my MBA during this time. It really helped me to stay focused during the period I was unemployed.

I found a job at another company and discovered very quickly that.....how do I say this.....well, I truly believe the President's heart was in the right place. I really do. But the rest of the executive staff was a bunch of liars and unethical jerks. Those are the kindest words I have for them.

But I felt stuck. I tried to change the way things were done to no avail. I slowly began to become someone that I didn't like. I still tried to change things, but when your company does things that go against your core values, it causes tremendous emotional distress.

In 2004, I left. This is where the story begins.

I looked back over my entire work history. I thought long and hard about when I enjoyed work and when I hated it.

I made the decision to start my own business. I've always read, "Do what you love and what you know."

I didn't know anything. Or so I thought. Mike had worked for awhile in the clothing industry. I
knew enough about the more technical aspects of running a business, project management...but mostly I'm resourceful and I dream big. How do you turn that into a business?

Well, you put the two together.

We launched our first company in 2004. We sold men's and women's clothes.

It failed miserably.

For a variety of reasons. I would say that the main reason it failed is because I was 100% bought into it, but Mike was not. I needed him for his knowledge.

But I knew....deep down inside....that it could work. I wasn't ready to give up on the idea.

We closed shop. Re-organized, re-defined who we were, re-designed our website....really we started over, completely. In August of 2006, we re-launched as a new company under a new name.

Mike still wasn't bought in, but said that he thought we could have a nice "part time" income from it.

I didn't agree. I saw the company as being much more, much bigger. In fact, I started thinking about the company that I would be proud of. It would an ethical company in which everyone has the opportunity to be great. That was it. That was kind of company I wanted to build.

In early 2008, I almost lost Mike, professionally. I could tell that something was happening. I think it was the stress. I started quietly making plans for his exit. How would I handle the stuff he does? How would I be able to move forward without him?

I'm not sure if you've caught on to this, but this business was all we had. We weren't working anywhere else.

This wasn't like buying into a franchise. We were unknown. We had no customers. Nobody knew us, and they didn't know if we could be trusted. From a financial perspective, we tried to get SBA loans but found out quickly that SBA loans are a joke. We financed the entire thing on our own. No loans from friends and family. We put everything we had on the line.

I was never worried. There were tough times; don't get me wrong. I think that's the benefit that "dreamers" or "visonaries" have. We can see beyond the day-to-day business, and we can see the other side of struggle. I realized that I had to communicate better my vision and the direction of the company.

Since that time, we have grown tremendously.

Now we're faced with managing the growth and planning out our future steps. Looking back, we've made some mistakes, but we've also had great success because of those mistakes.

As hard as some of the times were, I wouldn't change anything.

I can tell you that starting a business takes different types of personalities in order to be successful. I think Mike and I have that balance. When he can't see the forest for the trees, I'm in a hot air balloon over the forest pointing toward the mountains.

So when I'm not spending a couple of hours a day training, I'm actually "working". Yes, shocking, I know but true.

All the stress we have now is good stress, forcing us to be better, make smarter decisions, and define our own path.

Because of it, I can train for a couple of hours in the middle of day. We are home for the kids when they get out of school and when they leave in the morning, and we don't have to miss any of their events because our boss wouldn't let us leave work.

Those are the values we are going to take with us as we grow.