Chrissie, and some other things, but mostly Chrissie

As everyone is well aware, Kona was this weekend. I had some friends racing (Travis and White Hot) as well as knowing some other people out there as well (Cait Snow as a USA Pro and Pat Wheeler from QT2). Add Chrissie Wellington in there and you have the 5 people for whom I was actively rooting.

I don't know why I am so emotionally tied to Chrissie Wellington. When she pulled out of Kona last year, I was devastated and lost my motivation to watch the race. This year, she crashed her bike 2 weeks before the race and (thankfully) only sustained minor injuries, but still, that's enough to ruin you for an upcoming Ironman. (I know, I am truly just happy that her injuries were not life-threatening, unlike what happened to Jordan Rapp a few years ago). As I sat in my apartment streaming the live feed on Saturday, and Chrissie came out of the water several minutes slower than usual, I started to worry. When she didn't make a big gain on the bike and as Julie Diebens continued to pull away from the field, I started to worry more. But when Chrissie hit the run, I started to believe that she could pull it off. (I never REALLY lost hope, but it wasn't looking so good for a while there - apparently I forgot how truly amazing of an athlete that she is). Her and Rinny were running through the field at almost the exact same pace, separated by ~3 minutes. Chrissie took the lead, and I was literally on the edge of my seat wondering if she could hold off Rinny.

And she did.

And as much as I love seeing Chrissie run away from the field, as she has done sooo many times, it was exciting to see her challenged, fight back, and win. ALL while feeling less than 100%.

It was also crazy to see her looking as shelled as she did after the race.

I truly believe that Chrissie is THE spokesperson for triathlon. She is always humble, she takes everything that happens to her in stride (flat tires, bike crashes, being sick, etc) and always comes back better, faster, and stronger. She is an amazing athlete and an amazing woman, and I truly admire her in all aspects. Which is perhaps why I am entering a race (Timberman) next year JUST for the chance to meet her (oh.. and race a 70.3 - no biggie).

Anyways, enough about Chrissie. I am very, very happy at the outcome of Kona, to say the least. Congrats are also in order to Crowie who obviously won the men's race and broke the 15 year old race record, and one of my other favorite pros, Cait Snow, who I met in Coeur D'Alene, landed myself on her blog, and who had a phenomenal race yesterday which I believe resulted in a PR for her and the only top 10 finish for the USA in both the men's and women's fields! Also to Travis, who had a great day on the lava fields and finished in 10:08 which is a PR for him I believe. His finish line video is truly inspiring (I wish I could share it with you all). Same goes to White Hot and Pat Wheeler - who we watched cross the line as well.

In other news..

On Friday night, I went to a haunted house in the city (The House of Pain) with my friend Ari. We were both excited to go, and we both view ourselves as.. not too girly. Ari is a hardcore mountain biker, I do Ironman, we're tough chicks! Yet, 5 minutes into the haunted house, we were shrieking our heads off, holding hands, and sprinting through the rooms, away from the creepy actors that were jumping out as us. I guess we are women after all!

Then on Saturday I was forced to clean in the morning for my Kona party (which was me, Solveig, and Matthias) that afternoon. The good news is: my apartment is the cleanest it has EVER been and I am loving it! I am going to make a huge effort to keep it this way AND get going on some organizational projects that need to be started!

I also drank almost an entire bottle of wine at the party and definitely felt the effects the next day, especially when I tried to run. I made it 57 minutes, but it was not pretty, and we'll leave it at that.

My god, I love life!

crossing over to the dark side

I have done the unthinkable. After battling with a hamstring "niggle" for well over a year which has failed to go away even with several weeks of complete rest, I caved and made an appointment with a chiropractor. I do not believe in chiropractors or "alignments" or any of that nonsense. However, I have heard that this guy that I made an appointment with is a miracle worker. When I emailed Mary about my hamstring niggle I got a slap on the wrist for not telling her about it sooner and then a recommendation to Greater Rochester Chiropractic Group!

I am having a whole slew of issues with my right leg. Currently I have a deep soreness in my hamstring that flares up when I sit for a lengthy amount of time (such as driving), bend my leg, and run. Yeah - that's a problem. I also have had this weird tingling in my right foot that I've had since partway through my Ironman training. And now my right ankle is starting to bother me which could be a flare up of some lovely tendinitis. So I need to get this shit under control now. Hence me violating my belief system which includes real doctors and not chiropractors! But many, many teammates swear by this guy so I am going in with an open mind and hoping to god he can help me!

I am slowly trying to get back into it!

I cannot even begin to explain how bummed I was that Chrissie pulled out of Kona on Saturday. I was geared up and ready to watch her dominate the field. I absolutely LOVE Chrissie and honestly I don't really follow any other pros besides her. So when I found out that she wasn't racing, it basically killed my desire to watch Kona. I streamed it to my laptop and then hooked it up to my TV via some crazy wire that my dad got me last year and basically had it playing while I napped on and off on a very, very lazy Saturday. I started paying attention again during the last miles of the run because that's really the interesting part.

And because I can't go a week without some type of over-sharing about my life..

I am really fed up with how I handle things in my personal life. I am very sensitive and tend to take things way too personally. Therefore, my mood is directly affected by what other people say to me or how they treat me (or how I interpret them treating me). If someone is having a bad day and they snap at me, it will literally upset me for the rest of the day (this could be a friend, coworker, anyone). If someone ignores me because they are busy, I get offended. (Do you see a trend in how ridiculous this is?). And god forbid if I am actually fighting with someone, I can't focus on anything else. I have been known to cry after a crappy workout, or a stressful day at work, or a bad grade (like.. a B --> I'm a freak). Trouble letting go? ... never.  I know I am like this, it sucks, and I hate it. I need to CHILL OUT. So far my ideas on dealing with it better are to: smoke some weed, take Valium, go to therapy, ???????. Perhaps yoga.

*Just kidding about doing any drugs, mom and dad! :)

Shockingly, right now I am in a great mood which is a big relief after just being bummed out for no legitimate reason for a while. And I had a HORRIBLE night at work (like.. worst night of work ever) Sunday night and I think that was my breaking point, because the stressful night on top of being upset just wasn't working out very well. Today (or yesterday for all you normal people who sleep at night) I talked to a good friend, ate some Chipotle for dinner, cuddled with my cat, and watched some YouTube videos of cute kittens! And I made the executive decision to chill the f- out.. now I just have to execute.

hot for Chrissie

The story of the hour is: KONA is this weekend! I am super excited to stream it on Saturday! I cannot WAIT to see Chrissie dominate! If you know me, you know I am a huge fan of Chrissie. I would go lesbian for Chrissie. I think that she absolutely epitomizes what every pro athlete should be like. This is a great article about the women pro competitiors at Kona this year. I wish I was going to be at Kona! Gonna have to get a LOT faster to make that happen!

My credit card bill came in the mail over the weekend. I am a little scared to look at it. IM Wisconsin is on it! But once I pay for that, I can concentrate on next year because I am done with big purchases this year. Anyone who regularly gets Christmas presents from me, expect a hug. :)

I have been.. moody for the past few days. I try not to make excuses for my moodiness because I think that everyone has the ability to change their own attitude (excluding people with mental health disorders). But my moodiness turned into a full blown meltdown today which was not enjoyable.

PMS + lack of sleep + an incredibly stressful night at work + no exercise + other extenuating circumstances = lots and lots of crying

I am fine now. Sometimes, I just have to get it out of my system. Sometimes, I just need to talk to someone and secretly hope they don't think I'm nuts.

It did not help that when I went to Wegman's to buy some food, they did not have my favorite pumpkin cookies!

Some of the things in my life I cannot control - such as work being stressful. It is what it is. Last night was so horrible (I was alone at work on an overnight) that at one point during the night after having to redo a test 3 times, I looked down at my hand and it was shaking, and I was sweating profusely.

Some things I should be better at controlling - like making sure I sleep on Sunday before going into work. It's hard to do when everyone else is out doing things, and I want to be doing things with people that I care about, but in the back of my head I know that I need to sleep. What usually happens? I skip sleeping and go to work with a sleep deficit. Takes a few days to catch up after that.

Also, my 2 weeks of mandatory rest after Syracuse 70.3 are up. They have been up since Sunday but I have yet to work out. I want to run. I want to go outside and run (not in the city) and look at the changing leaves and feel the crisp fall air! But.. it has been raining for 2 days straight here in western NY which puts a damper on my motivation to go running. I might even ride my bike this weekend if it is nice out! Exercise makes me feel good and it makes me happy. I need to get my butt MOVING.

I really don't mind getting out of shape during off-season. There is some push and pull when it comes to fitness and I understand that I can't maintain A+ fitness year round. However, I do have a gigantic fear of getting fat. I don't like gaining more than 5 lbs over the winter. I NEVER want to reach the point where my pants will not zip up!

I promise I will have some workout/triathlon/fitness related blog posts coming SOON! It's hard to do when I am not doing anything. I don't want to rehash this past season. It's over. Time to move forward.