Ford Ironman Arizona Full to General Entry

November 25, 2008
Tempe, AZ - The 2009 edition of Ford Ironman Arizona to be held on Sunday, November 22, 2009 is full to general entry. Information regarding Community Fund spots will be made available in the near future, please check back at the www.ironmanarizona.com for further details.

That message greeted me this morning when I went to check on my registration status. Yes, I AM IN! For proof, see image below.

I've been told that registering for a slot is harder than the actual event. Not sure how true that is, but registration really had me freaking out. It took almost an hour. Every time I got to the actual registration page on Active, it would time out and tell me the "server is busy" -- believe me, I was ready to cry. Then, I finally got to the page where I needed to input my credit card number and it kept denying it! I put my debit card number in and that, too, was denied! Thankfully, my savior, Julie was on her computer at the same time and knew how crazy I was getting -- she registered me with her credit card and I was in! Later, I went to my bank where they informed me that there was nothing wrong with my cards and they couldn't understand why they didn't go through. I guess it must've been the busy servers.

Anyway, keep reading -- for the next year, not only will I continue with my running and biking, but I will also be getting over my body image so that I can learn to swim!

Macca Mania

Last Friday, our tri team had its annual carb-loading dinner in preparation for the Nautica Malibu Triathlon. This event also serves as a rally for the team and we typically have guest speakers, awards, and recognition.

This year we were lucky to have Chris "Macca" McCormack, the 2007 Ironman World Champion, as our speaker. Not only is he inspirational and fit, he is HOT (and very married - sigh).  After talking to us about his journey to Ironman success and answering questions, he spent a lot of time signing autographs and posing for pictures.  When it was my turn, I asked him to provide me with some inspiration for my upcoming training in hopes of completing the Florida Ironman next year.  Check it out (special thanks to Wedgie for taking the photos)!

Asking Macca for some inspiration

This will be hung where I can see it every day

Me and Macca

We saw Macca again on Sunday -- cheering him on in the transition area as he killed the competition in the triathlon.

Who's Crying Now?

Unbeknownst to Jon Cryer*, he and my Disney Tri Team buddy, favorite Ironman and all around inspiration, Wedgie, have been immersed in rivalry for years. Well, today that may have ended -- we are still awaiting the final race results from the annual Nautica Malibu Triathlon**. However, even if Jon bested Wedgie this year, Wedgie still wins. Wedgie's an Ironman and has more fans than Jon Cryer! 

I like Jon Cryer, but...

...my heart belongs to Wedgie

*Jon Cryer is a really nice guy

**Race report coming soon!

Weekend of Labor - Literally (but it was so much fun!)

Before I begin, here's the tally from the weekend:

Runs = 3

Medals = 3

Blisters = 1.5

Lost Toenails = almost 2

Well, I woke up on Saturday morning and met some new friends for a trail run in Tarzana. It was awesome and reminded me how much I miss my old Hong Kong hikes.  We ran/hiked about three or four miles and then I drove home to shower and pack for Disneyland.  The exciting thing about this half marathon is that I would get TWO medals upon completion -- the Disneyland Half Marathon medal and the Disney Coast to Coast Challenge medal, which I would get because I also completed the Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando earlier this year.

After sitting in traffic for two and a half hours, I finally arrived at Disneyland, where I proceeded to the expo to pick up my race number and other goodies.  Met some Florida friends at California Adventure and hung out for a while before checking into the hotel with a friend from the tri team. Once checked in, I started to unpack and realized that I left my iPod at home -- darn!  No music for the entire race.  I figured this would make for some good Ironman training.

Woke up at 4 am and we made our way to the bus that would bring us to the half marathon starting festivities.  As soon as we walked outside, the humidity hit us head on.  I was worried because this time last year, it was actually cold outside!  Once we got to the meeting point, we ran into some other folks from the tri team and got into our starting "corals". 

The first few miles were fine -- I believe I averaged about 9 1/2 minute miles.  Then I started sweating.  Typically in a race, I skip the first couple of water stops and use that to pick up some speed.  Not today -- I had to stop at every water stop to grab two cups.  By mile 6, I grabbed water and Powerade (and I hate Powerade!).  Also around mile 6, I felt the formation of a blister on the big toe of my left foot (and I never get blisters!).

As the miles went on, so did I -- only walking through the water stops; however, I probably could've walked faster than I was running by mile 10.  At this point, I knew I would finish, but I also knew that it would not be anywhere near my time from last year (2:12:58). 

Crossing the finish line approximately 2 1/2 hours after I started was a relief, especially after I had two medals hanging on my neck (those Disney medals are freakin' heavy!).  Most of my friends who also ran the race mentioned that their time was also 15 or more minutes off of where it should have been.  Auugggghhhhh!

After showering and enjoying a Starbucks, I drove home, ate something, popped the blister, and took a nap.  At 6:30, I took a couple of Advil and drove downtown for the Nike Human Race 10K.  The 10K started at exactly 8:31:08 p.m. (get it, on August 31, 2008).  I felt great at the start of that race. I also believe that I could've PRd in that 10K had there not been 11,999 people also running with me.  I was caught up in so many bottlenecks that I couldn't break away -- but I felt great!  I finished and got my third medal of the day.

So, my two races were like day and night -- ironic since one took place in the morning and the other in the evening.

Here's the final results:

Disneyland Half Marathon - 6:00 a.m.:  2:30:18

Nike Human Race 10K - 8:30 p.m.:  1:06:03

A Fun Day Away from the Office

Once a year I get to channel my inner geek and participate in a conference as an "honorary" member of the conference team. My peeps are some very cool folks that manage the training and communications for our company's SAP application. Not only do I get to help them out with some things, but I also assist with working a booth to communicate and market the great work that my team is doing - so it is win-win all the way around.

This year's conference was the best yet, with an increase of approximately 200 participants over last year! It was so much fun and such a success that I had to mention it here.

Early in the day, still looking fresh

Totally beat at the end of the day

No More Excuses!

The stress of travel (lots of it), increased job responsibilities, a breakup, my first century ride, and three marathons -- all since January -- have taken their toll on my body, which just gave up on me this summer. Other than riding my bike to work and forcing at least one weekly run, I've done NOTHING related to training since June.

Well, no more -- according to my calendar, I have less than two weeks until the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon, which means that I need to get off my ass. I also did a really stupid thing and registered for the Nike Human Race 10K on the same day as the 1/2 marathon. So, I run 13.1 miles at 6:00 a.m. and then another 6.2 miles at 8:30 p.m. I barely made two miles on the treadmill tonight -- but my excuse is that my legs were heavy from all the bike riding this week ;)

I'll be going to the beach this weekend to train with the Disney Tri Team -- they are deep into Nautica Triathlon training. I am also committing to doing an Ironman next year -- I've been inspired to do so by some awesome people and I can't wait!

So, no more excuses -- it's back to strict diet and training for me.

I'm just sayin'...

There's lazy and then there's LAZY. There's nothing wrong with taking, say, one to two days a month, to do nothing -- I'm guilty of this every once in a while. But what I don't get is people that are not only lazy, but make up excuses for their laziness. This is probably my biggest pet peeve!

I was APPALLED while watching Clean House this week. They did their "messiest home in America 2" and part of me thought that these people had to be kidding for the sake of show business. The house was disgusting - I could not believe that those people actually lived there . . . and, they wanted to have a baby!!!!!! Now, I try not to be judgmental, but with this couple, I could not help it. There was even a mountain of petrified cat shit in one of their closets! And they want kids????!!!! Thank God for Niecy Nash -- she saw through the "foolishness" right away and told these people that they were so not ready to have children -- I mean these people were sleeping on a bedspread that had dog urine and drool all over it!

So, I ask . . . is this for real, or was this just exaggerated for entertainment? Every time they tried to get the husband to do something, he had to take a break after like 10 minutes because of his back. Apparently, he had an injury and that was his excuse for everything. They even showed the idiot lying on his bed whenever the going got tough. The Clean House team did wonders for these people, but I am not sure they will be able to keep it up. Am I the only one who thinks that it is really unfair that the lazy people in this country are rewarded, while the hard-working, responsible people are not? Case in point -- the mortgage crisis (I will spare you my rant on that)!

I'm just sayin'...