One Journey Ends as Another One Begins

While on our Thanksgiving cruise in the Caribbean, I got a phone call, the day after Thanksgiving to tell me my Father passed away.  I hate to say that it was sudden, due to he was 90, but he was fine when I left.  It was less than a year ago my Mother died of Alzheimer's and Parkinsons'.  My Dad was in an assisted living facility.  He was not enjoying life to say the least.  He was confined to a wheelchair due to knee issue.  A knee replacement was not an option due to a history of heart attacks and strokes.  His death was very different than my Mothers.  She spent 18 months on hospice and declined at a very slow pace.  I mourned for a very long time before she passed away.  Dad on the other hand, died very suddenly.  We had a Memorial/Celebration of life about a week after his death.  Bryan, my husband did a fantastic job telling stories about my father and made my father smile in heaven by singing the Lords Payer.  My sister made a batch of my Father's famous caramels and we gave them out at the service.  The outpouring of support that I got from friends and family was overwhelming. We thought we may have 50 people at the church, but ended up with over 100.  The cards I received in the mail were all so beautiful, along with special words that came in the form of texts, phone calls, emails and Facebook posts.  My Dad became my buddy.  We took many Walmart trips, went to the symphony and had many ice-cream cones, along with many other adventures  over the past few years. I will miss him everyday, but I know he is with my Mother and she is buttering his toast, ironing his shirts and making him little platters for lunch.  

Eleven years ago, we moved from Richmond, VA to Butler, PA take care of my ageing parents.  My Mother started to show signs of Alzheimer's, which runs in our family.  We are fortunate enough to have our own business that can be located anywhere, so we picked up and moved from Richmond, VA to Butler, PA.  I said I would never move back to Butler....well I ate those words!  For 11 years my life revolved with taking care of my parents, raising Clare and working in the office.  I was able to hire caregivers for my parents, but I handled everything else. I would not have changed a thing (other than selling my parents rental house to a total asshole, who someday will rot in hell - I know, Laura, I have to let it go!!).  About two years ago, I knew in the near future that Clare would be off to college and the journey of taking care of my parents would be over.  I thought that I better start thinking about the large void that I will have in my life, thus the world of triathlon came into my life.   As of Nov. 27, 2015, realization of all of my voids became a reality.  This journey has sadly come to an end and the new journey of Ironman is about to start.  Official spread sheet training starts in January.  I have a few more days to enjoy the rest of the year without beating myself up about missing a workout here and there.  I'm sure a little weight will be gained and one to many cocktails will be drunk, but I will enjoy the Christmas season with family and friends, but missing both of my parents very much. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

50th Birthday - Nothing Changed

Well, my 50th birthday arrived on Nov. 10th. I woke up and I didn't have grey hair, didn't need a hip replacement and no one exchanged my clothes in my closet with an Alfred Dunner wardrobe.  I did have a wonderful week of celebration!  Monday started very early for the 50th Birthday Workout!  Joella decided to start us at 5:45AM in the pool.  5000 yards of fun!  (200 laps/2.75 miles)  It took us about 2 hours and 35 minutes.  Then off to the spinning room for 50 miles on the spin bikes (2 hours sand 15 minutes) and outside for a 5 miles run.  After each mile we did 10 pushups for a total of 50!! (about 1 hour)  We ended the day with a really nice lunch.  Tuesday was a day to sleep in (skipped my run - Happy Birthday to me!) and had lunch with Jude at Off the Hook! Delicious as usually!  The day ended with an hour spin class and dinner at Mad Mex. Wednesday (took an off day...still tired from Monday!)  was dinner at Olives and Pepper with Nancy and John.  The best part as my $200 VISA gift card!  I got to order my 920 Garmin! More about that later.  Thursday was a wonderful lunch with one of my oldest friends, Teresa. What a week and celebration!   The stress of turning 50 is over.  It happen and it was fine.  New attitude is 50 is fabulous, so bring it on!!  Note to self......get on the scale at some point.  Too much celebration!!  Own the weight gain and do something about it! (as I take a sip of my wine)

Starting to get used to 4:30AM alarm going off (not really, but I will stick with that story) on Saturdays. Two hour spinning class and a 2 mile run.  Was supposed to swim, but I forgot my suit...... Came home and took a nap so I could start Saturday "B"

Had a little IronMan Kona party on Saturday to watch the condensed version on NBC.  Shari and Kevin came over and we ate and drank while watching some amazing athletes and inspiring stores of courageous people that have over come major disabilities.  After the broadcast was over, Bryan went to the mailbox and my Garmin came!!!!  How exciting!!  I always think of myself as fairly techno savvy, but with this Garmin, not so much!  I will need a learning curve.  Baby steps.....Took another nap then figured out some more.  I guess this Saturday had a part A, B and C.  

Sunday's long run sucked.....calf and shoulder pain.  I'm sure it is tendonitis in my shoulder and a little tear in my calf.  Was trying to work thought the pain.  Cut if short after 6 miles.  Ice, Ice, Ice  I did use my Garmin for the first time!! Also wore it to bed to try the sleep setting.  Kind of interesting.  Not sure what all the data means, but it is still kind of interesting.

Had a long day in the office at Monday, but I got my stuff together to swim during swim lessons.  Got to the Y, check in, went downstairs......forgot my bathing suit again!! REALLY?????  Is this what turning 50 does to my brain?    Came home and did cross training. 

Moral to my post....Your 50th birthday is just another day.  I was lucky to have wonderful friend and family make it special. My 50th year (or I guess it is my 51st year, as my mother would say) is going to be full of challenges and conquering fears.  Here, here to 50! (take a sip of wine)    

Post New Orleans

Well, the 50th birthday trip is over.  Went 7 days without an ounce of training.  Had a cold most of the time, so I figured I killed 2 birds with one stone (vacation and cold).    Haven't looked at the scale.....maybe next week.  Ate and drank too much, but you only turn 50 once!

I thought yesterday was going to be a nice easy 5 mile hill workout to ease back into things.  Wrong I was!  Spinning started last night....60 minutes of hell...good hell, but hell.  Woke up with a headache this morning, but still made it to the pool for a 2800 yard swim.  Proved to myself that even if I feel like shit, I can make through a workout!  I need to remember that!  Swimming seems to be coming along better.  I'm finally getting a little faster.   I have watched enough swim videos and read a million articles.....I should be a pro at this point.


Signed up for the Half IronMan Ohio last night. Mixed emotions about it.  Always worried about the swim start.  Since it is a new race, there is not too much information out there.  I hope it will be a good rehearsal for my full.  It will give me a chance to try things out.   I guess I have my race schedule in place.....Shamrock Shuffle Half Marathon - March 19, Pittsburgh Half Marathon - May 1,  Mars HS Band Run - May 21 (our company sponsor's it, so I have to run), Mighty Moraine Man Spring Sprint -  May 22, Rev4 Williamsburg Olympic - June 11 (rethinking that one), Half Ironman Ohio - Aug 20 and Ironman Choo - Sept. 25.   Looks pretty scary on paper! 

I wish the stress of selling my father's house would be over.  If the house won't sell, I'm afraid he may have to move in with us, instead of living in assistant living.  He is 90, grumpy and in a wheelchair.  Not sure how I would handle work, training and caretaking.  It may be just too much...........

Ironman Kona 2015 and Suck it up!

It was amazing to watch the Ironman World Championship in Kona this past weekend!  I was lucky enough to be invited to Shari's to watch it on the big screen TV instead of my computer monitor!  The level of athleticism is mind boggling.  Looking forward to seeing the edited version in November with the athletes backgrounds and stories. I did feel for Gordon Ramsey.  One of the celebrity chief that was competing.  Had a DNF due to sickness on the bike portion.  It really sucks to get that far and not finish......one of my worst fears in this whole journey. 

Training the past few days has been hard.  Sunday I had a great 9 mile run on the Freeport Trail with Shari and Kevin.  After that I was totally useless.  Got nothing done around the house that I wanted to. Dining room is still a mess along with the basement.  I guess it will wait.   When are those little Ironman fairies going to come and help with the housework?? I thought they appeared after you paid you registration money to IM.  Mine must be running late! Monday's swim and core/arms workout and todays hill workout felt like some sort of torture.  Took longer than expected and felt every muscle in my body.  Hope I'm not getting sick.  No time for that!  Suck it up buttercup and move on!  Tomorrow is a new day and hope some sort of energy force finds me and gives me kick in the ass!   Won't get any faster or stronger if I don't give 100%. Can't skip any workouts until I go to New Orleans!  That is my deal with myself........Work hard then play hard!

PS....I will try harder to eat healthier tomorrow.

Keeping the life socal, Mexican Food and Training

The past few days have been about catching up at home and in the office while trying to stay on task with training.  (Can you tell I was a teacher?) I did get a fun bike ride in with some of the girls that ended at the Harmony Inn for drinks and dinner.  I am so fortunate to have other women that have taken the ironman journey this year that I can observe and ask questions.  I'm kind of new to the group, so I do more observing than talking at this point.   They are an inspiration. 

I missed Thursdays run workout.  Didn't beat myself up too bad about it.  Walmart took a little longer than planned, but saved $50 in coupons!  Today I thought I was being a good time manager and scheduled work in the morning, lunch with a friend and pool time after that.  The love of Mexican food made me choose the lunch venue.  Not a smart move before a pool workout.  I thought I was going to sink most of the time.  Usually I enjoy pool days, today not so much! Since I have totally ditched the healthy eating today, a glass of red wine and Mary Jane's (peanut butter taffy that you can only get this time of year) is my dinner.  Tomorrow will be better, I hope!

I have been talking to my non triathlete friends about this journey a little bit more.  Mostly are supportive, but I'm sure they think I have gone off the deep end.  I am going to try my hardest to keep that end of my social life active.  I'm sure it will be a struggle in the late spring and summer.  Friendship is important to me, so it needs to be a priority. 

Received a call today from a friend that bikes and he wants me to ride a century with him in a few weeks - 20 loops around North Park.  Not sure if my ADD will allow me to go in a circle that many times! I have never ridden that far.  It was a goal for the year until the back started to give me issues. I guess I will give it the old college try.   I have to remember how important core strengthening is this winter!!! 

Hopefully my race schedule will  be finalized soon.  Mighty Moraine Man Spring Sprint in May (hope the water is not too cold), maybe off to Williamsburg for an Rav3 Olympic race in June and looking at the new Ironman 70.3 in Columbus, Ohio in Aug. Seems like many of the girls are interested at that race.  Could be a fun event if everyone can get registered. 

Looking forward to watch some of the Kona race tomorrow!  Talk about some inspiration!! 

Best Run Ever!! Getting out of Turtle Mode!!

Since it was a beautiful day, I decided to get my long run day out of the way.  This weekends weather could be nasty with the threats of a hurricane coming up the coast. On a side note, I feel terrible that the ironman in MD was canceled/postponed this weekend.  Hopefully they can get it rescheduled!!  Back to my run, I had  7 miles to do.  I decided that it is time to step up the pace.  I have had it in my head all summer that I had to pace myself so I don't die at the half ironman race.  Goal was to finish in 8 hours and I did that by the skin of my teeth!  (7:58)  Today, my first mile was at a 10:39 pace.  Not too bad for me!  My last mile was a 9:52 pace!  That was great for me!!! Thus, my average was 10:20.  It was great to run with fairly fresh legs and run just to run.  No bike or swim to go along with it!  Plus, I got everything off my desk at work, so it was a guilt free workout!  That doesn't happen too often.   Hoping I have more run days like today.  This winters goals is to work on core strength (for my back and to get my six pack abs at 50 - HAHA) and to speed myself out of turtle mode! 

Rain, rain go away!!

Raining all day but got out there to do my hill workout + 100 push ups. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  It was nice to have "fresh legs".  I know work and life are going to get in the way....goal is not to cut a workout short.  We will see how that goes!  Learning how to blog may take awhile!  Someday I will figure out why pictures won't add.  Spent to much time tonight trying to figure it out! 

The Jouney Begins!

Just a note, incase anyone reads my blog.  I was NOT an English Major in college.  I was a Music Education major.  Yes, I'm sure there will be mistakes in my grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.  Thus, you don't need to point it out!  I get more than my share, everyday!  THANKS!!  The journey is mine....one mistake at a time!

Today was the day.....I did it!  I signed up to race Ironman Chattanooga 2016.  I will be 50 when I get to the starting line.  Before last year, I never in my life had a coach or was on an athletic team of any sort!  I worked out on and off my adult life, but, I never wanted to sweat too much!   Approaching 50, I decided that it was now or never!  I didn't like how I looked or felt.  It was time to do something about it!
My partners in crime are Shari and Laura.  (Shari in the middle - our cheerleader, Laura on the right- the voice of reason and me on the left thinking - WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SPEND $685 TO DO??? THAT IS A LOT OF SHOPPING!) Shari thought it was a good idea that I join them for this journey.  Both of them have more experience doing triathlons, but I guess I'm along for the ride!  The journey starts today....well tomorrow.  We have a 10 hour drive home back to PA.

Our adventure to Ironman Chattooga started early Friday morning.  We made many stops and ate most of way during the 10 hour drive.  Some healthy, some not so much!  On Saturday, the three musketeer's road 56 miles of the bike course. It rained the entire day and around mile 47 my back started to bother me. Nothing new, but at least I can ride longer and longer without pain!  More core strength for me during off season! We met a large group from the Pittsburgh area for an early dinner then off to bed! The day of the race we were up at 4:30AM, excited for the day to begin. After arriving at Rosses Landing, we took a bus to the swim start to check it out and wish the ladies good luck.  We road the bus back to Rosses Landing to watch the swimmer come out of the water.  One highlight from the race day was when we volunteered as sunscreen appliers.  It was amazing  to watch the pro's come out of the changing tents from T2 and start the run!  I have a new respect for these athletes! The rest of the day we watched and cheered as people ran the 26.2 miles. Deciding we needed to have some appetizers and a drink, we found a great bar that would fulfill out needs!  Agreeing that we were not too hungry, we would just share two appetizers.  Wrong we were!  Two more orders of crab cakes and one order of smoked salmon were needed.  It is hard work cheering all day!  We then moved to watch the athletes cross the finish line around 10:00PM.  Listening to announcer say YOU ARE AN IRONMAN was emotional.  Most of the finishers were just ordinary people, with ordinary jobs, trying to see how far they can push their limits.  They all worked incredibly hard and achieved their goal. One thing that I did learn that Ironmen come in every age, size, shape and form!  They were all inspirations!
The ladies we went to cheer on at Ironman Choo had an amazing race. All finished and became Ironman.  Much to learn from their experience.  Some good, some bad and some ugly! All of them are roll models for me and I am so proud of everyone of them!!
This journey is going be a roll-a-coaster ride like I have never been on before!  There will be a lot of room for failure!  My goals will be to get stronger and faster. Hopefully I will be a little leaner and ready to sports a two piece bathing suit with some confidence at 50!  I'm going to think of the distance in hours, not miles.  My count down on my phone says 11 months and 27days to Ironman Choo!  Let the journey begin!