Day 1

I was excited yesterday to finally get serious and start my IM training plan. Happily it was an easy day with only a swim.  I headed off to my coached swim practice at the gym.  Lots of new faces which is fun...looks like everyone else's training started yesterday too. 2700 yards. DONE. 
Day 1 down.
Only 132 to go till Boise 70.3.  

Loving What You Do.

"I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I do know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will NOT ask, How many good things have you done in your life? Rather he will ask, How much LOVE did you put into what you did?"
 Mother Teresa  


LOVE what you do.

What ever you choose...put LOVE into it.

Your kids, your marriage, your job, your hobbies, even your chores ...EVERYTHING

This morning I opened up my email to find Day 1 of my Boise 70.3 training plan on Workout Log. 

And I peed a little.



This training is a lot more structured than I'm used to.   Every workout has a specific purpose. There is no more..."just run for 40 mins" -  now its about HR zones, cadence targets, drills and time trials. It's right about now I'm glad I hired a coach.  There is so much "stuff" that I just don't have to think about.  The only thing I have to worry about is scheduling it and making sure I can fit it all in.  Which of course I will. I am a little A-type you know :-)

So flippin' excited.

Loving it already.

So many things

So many things in my life are good.



So many things make me smile. 



Melt my heart





Celebrating the good makes the difficult stuff seem small in comparison

Maui Paradise HM

This was purely coincidental.


Matt doesn't believe me but its true.


AFTER we had planned and booked our trip to Maui I found out that the Maui Paradise Half Marathon would be on while we were there. Purely coincidental.


Truth!

Anyway..its very small town and fun, organised by a great race director called Jerry of the Maui Road Runners Club. He seems really laid back and accomodating. When I spoke to him a few days before the race he told me that only 6 people had signed up...6!!!  I felt really bad for him but he went on to explain that this was not your average half marathon.  There were no aid stations, no timing chips, no finish line to speak of.  You didn't even have to run it on the scheduled day if you don't want to. It seems that people run this race effectively all through the year so its not just a one day event its year long.  Like I said VERY laid back and accomodating.  One other thing he told me was to make sure to bring a flashlight or headlamp because I would be starting out in the dark.  I'm not sure if I forgot or just didn't think it was important enough but neglecting that little bit of advice cost me.  Oh well, live and learn.



So the short version without too many boring race details.  I did it.  It was hot. It was fun.  A new half marathon PR but I was hoping to go a little faster.  But a PR is a PR.



The long version...I missed my sub 2 hour goal by 1 min 45 secs.  That 1:45 I lost in the first 2 miles because I couldn't see where I was going. Yes...it really was THAT dark. It was about now that I was understanding the wisdom in Jerry's advice to bring a flashlight...doh!

mile 1 - 10:12 min
mile 2 - 10:03

(Can't see anything...hopefully I am still running in the right direction.  I can't see my time on my garmin.  I can't even see my Garmin.  Actually I can't even see my arm....just keeping running and hope the sun comes up soon.)

mile 3 - 9:31
mile 4 - 9:24
mile 5 - 9:12

(Sun comes up and it starts to occur to me that I have lost a bit of time and need to start picking it up a bit)

mile 6 - 8:58
mile 7 - 8:59
mile 8 - 9:10
mile 9 - 9:11
mile 10 - 9:08

( Feeling good until I do a quick calculation in my foggy brain and realise that I need to giddy up some more to reel in those first few lazy miles)

mile 11 -8:48

(Trying)




mile 12 - 8:56

(Trying)




mile 13 - 9:00

(Trying)



the last 0.13 -1:09 (8:36 pace) 
(Oh well...better luck next time)

Total time - 2:01:44

Av pace- (9:16)

The Brave Ones

After the last post you might think that there was good reason for me to stay out of the deep water.  I would agree with you.  I stuck to the surf despite the dire warnings.



But the rest of my family are far braver and don't let a few sharks scare them off







Moray eel....icky

A New Community and an Interview

Being part of the blogosphere has opened my life up to so many amazing people that I never would have otherwise met.  People from all over the country and the world. I think about my parents generation and those before them.  They would never have had the chance to meet random strangers who live thousands of miles away drawn together by a common interest. The internet really has become a powerful tool for making a new kind of community.

Speaking on new friends, I have just met Russell.  He is racing Ironman Arizona in November just like me...AND it turns out he is doing Boise 70.3 in June too.  So we thought it would be fun to keep in touch and follow each others training progress for the year.

If you are interested in triathlon he is writing a great blog about his journey to Ironman and lucky for me he asked me to answer a few questions and put my answers on his blog.  You can check it out here.

I learned that he is dedicating his IM race to a young man called Alex who was diagnosed with a rare and agressive brain tumor 4 months ago.  He is raising money for the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation in Alex's name. What an awesome way to really make a difference.  If you would like to help Russell raise money for this very worthy cause you can contact him at russell.mckelvey@yahoo.com or you can go to the Team Alex fundraising page here. http://www.razoo.com/story/Teamalex

Ocean Swimming

Some of my friends at our team swim practice asked me if I'd managed to do an ocean swim while I was in Maui.  Well I HAD planned to but...the short answer is no, and here is why.







These guys were coming in to see if they could score some free food from a fisherman who caught this.




God help me but I just couldn't manage to go out into the deep water after that. 

Still dreamin' of the Beach

After all the craziness of Christmas it was time to escape for some R & R so we headed off to Maui.  I can't even tell you all the things I loved about this place.  It as really paradise on earth.  Usually by the end of a trip I am ready to come home and sleep in my own bed....but not this time...I could have stayed there forever.  I think Matt and I may have to retire there or at least make it an annual winter pilgimage ....yes it was really that good.



The climate was great.  A pleasant 80 degrees everyday.  Not too hot but warm enough to be out swimming and playing on the beach every day.  I think this was reinforced when we arrived back in Spokane to 11 degrees and talk of a winter storm warning. Uggh.

We spent some time doing a few touristy things but mostly we just hung around the pool or went down to the beach.  Just being together and having some fun. If I had to pick one word it would be BLISS. 


Pure bliss.








{Matt doing his Moses parting the Sea impression}

2012...a little late.

Yes, I know, it's half way through January and I should have done this New Year post weeks ago like everyone else.  But I needed some thinking space.
Don't get me wrong, I get excited about a brand new year. I like the idea of setting some goals for myself but I don't want to be a slave to them.  I have noticed a lot of my friends and fellow bloggers are posting their New Years Resolutions.They seem to come in lots of different shapes and styles. 

I liked my friend Michelle's idea....her 12 goals for 2012.  Simple...not super demanding and leaves room for spontaneity. Another friend who is turning 35 listed the 35 things she wants to do this year.  That is very cool...but lets face it, I am older than 35 so my list would be a little longer AND because I am older I am bound to forget most things on my list so that idea was a no go.

You see ...here's the thing. I am a list maker by nature.  I make lists for everything.  Shopping lists, To Do lists, packing lists...you name it. It helps me prioritize stuff and get it done.  But once I've made the list, the "doing" of the things on that list becomes mechanical.  I don't think too much about it. I just do it.  And that's not what I want for 2012.

So I have decided to throw the list out the window this year.  Instead, I'm using something entirely different. Something that I can look at each day and remind me of where I want to be.  Something that will help me visualize what I want to achieve and remind me to stop and smell the roses.  I want to be present in each day...not thinking too much about yesterday or tomorrow...just enjoying where I am at that moment with the hope that connecting a year full of moments will get me where I hope to go.

So after many creatively challenging moments I came up with my Vision Board for 2012. Hopefully it will help keep me motivated, focused and finding a little bit of fun in every day.



This will go up on my pin board so I see it often during the day, and hopefully I'll be able to add to it as the year progresses.

An American Christmas - Part 3

Honestly I think I lost a couple of days in December.  Before I knew it, it was the 31st.  Long gone are the days where I stay up drinking and carousing till after midnight so when my neighbor suggested we continue a tradition established last year to celebrate West coast New Year on East Coast time at 9:00pm instead of midnight I thought it was a stroke of brilliance. And we agreed also to follow another tradition that was borne a year ago as well. This one was less brilliant....more crazy....with a dash of stupid.  BUT...a tradition is a tradition.


So we all gathered once more on the first day on the New Year at Sanders Beach in CDA and prepared ourselves for our second annual Polar Bear Plunge.  Our visitors surprised me with their enthusiasm to join in.








My Team Blaze peeps were there as usual.




Looking back at all the photos that were taken I can't help but chuckle.  You can see the gradual removal of clothing and the steady increase in anxiety  and general misgivings about the wisdom of this venture.  I leave you with just the photos as we prepared, then plunged...and recovered.  Really words are not necessary from here on out.























Heheheh....so proud of my Aussie peeps who challenged themselves to start the year off with a bang...or a splash. Either way....Happy 2012 everyone. Hope its a great one!