THANK YOU!!!!

This is Vicky's family (her mom and older sister).

Thank you all for your support.
Clearly, I couldn't be happier (to be done).

I trained in the wet suit!

Me in the wetsuit day 2.

Road Rash-- Road clips are the devil

Being clipped into your road bike is like accepting that one day you're going to eat pavement.


But it's nice to christen a new bike with some blood from your palms. Then it really becomes yours.

does leisure "activity" count as training?

Mare and I bike on the beach to get some kind of workout in...







I'm wearing my pajamas, so does it count as training???

Honestly, we'd rather be partying...












We were in a Wedding in Florida and the following morning we woke up and decided to run for 30 minutes on the beach. When we got back to the beach house Mare decided that we should do 5 sets of push-ups where you do as many push-ups as possible in 2 minutes (interpret that as ten for me), then hold a low push-up for one minute and repeat. I couldn't get through one set without laughing hysterically because she was using her scary bootcamp instructor voice yelling "Stop laughing and KEEP GOING!" And it was ridiculously hard. AND Kelly's family (the bride's family) kept coming outside and looking at us like we were crazy for trying to workout during vacation.

The only thing that got a good stretch that vacation was my stomach. Later on when Kelly came to the house we broke out the wedding cake none of us got to eat and went to town on it like a pride of lionesses on a deer carcass in the Serengeti. No plates needed. Just a fork and gallon of vanilla ice cream to lubricate our esophagus. No crying allowed then. I made sure to use my dessert bootcamp voice during that eating exercise. Eat! Stop laughing and pick up that fork!!

There are some things you have to get serious about.

friends make you a better athlete/a mini shout-out

Friends push your pace (Becca).
They make you aspire to be better (Jeremy).
They make sure you don't injure yourself (Talia).
And they bring out the best competitor in yourself (Mike).

Friends check up on you and make you feel like you're doing something right (Hil).
They stand in the rain on race day and hold your bags so you can make sure you warm up properly and happily take pictures of you (Sherry).
Friends refuel with you and empathize with you (Dana and Taner).
(One) Friend doesn't give you a hard time for eating 3,000 calories in a day (Maria).

They send you encouraging and funny emails and pump up your self-esteem (Cassie).
Friends keep your ego in check and keep the fear of finishing poorly alive so you always want to train better (Anna).

And they're there for you no matter where you are, no matter where they are (Ally and Laurel).

Friends are the refining fire and family is the foundation.

10 miles of fun weaving and yelling "nice cut!", splashing shoes in puddles, using my fingers as wipers for my glasses, running directly for the port-a-potties, fantasizing about food, fantasizing about a race with music, and laughing in wonder of our 9:17 moderate pace.

rock n' roll dedication

All day I was dreading my training. Run 6 then swim 30. Run 6 then swim 30. Run 6 then swim 30. It was haunting me. Shouldn't be so bad, but I was hitting a mid-training slump. Then as I was getting ready to meet Becca for the running portion of the workout, I realized I was missing something.

I would say 4 out of the 7 days of the week something is missing. Yesterday I couldn't find my knee strap. The day before that I forgot one of my flip flops for the gym shower. Then the day before that I forgot my Penn Card that lets me into the gym. It's always something. My mind's on other things and the only thing I care about it is that my running shoes and bathing suit are packed. All else is expendable for some reason (which is not true which I discovered when I tried to run in a regular bra).

But as I rummaged through my bag I realized that my swimming cap and goggles were missing. Then I realized that i had left them in the gym shower the night before. Instantaneously I was sad. Then I was relieved. Oh well, can't swim today... right???? right??? I needed someone else to validate that thought.

In the Team and Training video one of the coaches poignantly remarked, "What we're doing is so much easier than what the patients we're swimming for goes through." So I stopped in Philly Runner and got my second (but probably not final) pair of goggles and swim cap.

I visited the gym's Lost and Found on my way to the pool. A super cute tall, probably barely 21, muscular handsome --what other adjectives can I use?-- guy helped me rummage through the surprising number of snorkeling gear (who uses snorkeling gear at the gym? and why am I not in that club??). As he picked apart several gross looking pairs of spandex he asked, "what did it look like? your cap?" ... and I paused, then laughed out loud and said "it was black and white and it said 'Rock N' Roll.'" He laughed and stood up. Clearly such a cap was not in this pile. "I know, it's a little cheesy," I admitted. "But I didn't really think it would be here." He laughed again and said "Well, if I see a cheesy cap, I'll put it aside for you. Rock n' Roll!"

Run 6, swim 30. Sure. Why not? Could be worse. Rock n' roll, baby.

there was a bandaid at the bottom of the pool when Talia and I were swimming the other day. I got so grossed out because it was in my lane and I would stare at it as I swam above it. I kept thinking about what it was originally covering (bacteria infested scab? papercut? nipple?). And it was hard for me to swim because I kept thinking about how I was swallowing the pool water + whatever bacteria was on the bandaid. Luckily after 30 mins the bandaid migrated to the next lane over.

thank God the river we're swimming in is so so dirty--i mean, murky that you're left only to your imagination what's on the bottom of the pool (versus it staring directly at you as you swim over it).