Mini Race Report #1

Last weekend I raced my first tri of the year, in the form of XTERRA Real in Folsom. It was pretty cool. I got third in my new age group and took a major chunk off my time from last year. I'll take it. I'm tired and want to sleep, so here's my mini race report:

Swim: was cold. I forgot my squid lid, but it wasn't too bad. I got lost a bunch so should probably work on sighting. I felt like I weighed 200 pounds getting out of the water. Racing is fun.

Bike: I felt GOOD. Ass-kicking good. Except I forgot to grab my food so the second lap sucked a little. I passed a girl in my age group and never saw her again. That was sweet. Getting on my mountain bike after not touching it for five months didn't feel weird at all.

Run: I was tired. Probably from not getting any calories in. I pushed myself more than I usually do, so I'm happy about that.

Gold star for me, now getting ready for Oceanside.

Sleepy.....

Birthday Haps

Again with the blogging-under-pressure. I'm supposed to be in a dress ready to go to my own pseudo-party in a half hour. I am also possibly exploding pasta sauce while I blog. Fun!

Ok, so, I had the best birthday EVER. Yes, EVER. It was that awesome.

Usually, my birthdays suck and I'm all alone because my friends were lame or I have a party and someone gets in a fight and I have to break it up, so my "good birthday" standards are pretty low. But still, this one was cool. It went like this:

1. New boy came to my work dressed all cute to build my wheel for me on Wednesday (the day before my birthday). Wheel building turned into a big fiasco. I apologized profusely and new boy told me to stop, he didn't care, he wanted to build my wheel for me for my birthday. New boy also gave me a picture of the track wheels he ordered for me that didn't make it in time. New boy rocks.

2. New boy took me to dinner at my favorite chinese restaurant, then to Chevy's for my requested birthday Sunday.

3. New boy bought me breakfast on my birthday because he wanted to buy me breakfast on my actual birthday.

4. Some regulars of the shop brought me a little cake.

5. My chiropractor called and majorly stepped up, allowing me to continue treatment without going broke.

6. The bosses took me to lunch.

7. The bosses gave me a raise.

8. Another customer of the shop insisted that we have a pseudo-party, which I am going to tonight.

9. I got a bunch of birthday cards and some much-needed birthday cash.

10. Elliott's kids made me cupcakes and got to stay up until I got there are were all snuggly and cute.

I love my people. Thank you for the awesome birthday!

My birthday is in three days.

It is. And that means I will now commence my yearly bug the hell out of everyone sequence because it's almost my birthday.

For some reason I only seem motivated to log into my blog when I have somewhere to be in a short time. I have been thinking about blogging for a week, and only just now logged on when I need to be at the shop on my bike in half an hour. Maybe I just work better under pressure.

My first race is in less than two weeks. Holy effing crap. And, I seem to be freaking out a little more than usual. Stupid. Who cares how I do? It's just training for IM CDA. I'm a little skeptical about my fitness as I have sucked at training because of my stupid leg (which is MUCH better, but still not great). My swim coach has been annoyingly in my face about training, and I'm not sure if it's because I suck right now compared to last year, or because he's feeling threatened (for reasons I will not go into because it's stupid and I hate it). Dumb.

Soooooo, my idea for making the race in two weeks less scary is to see if I can do a race in one week! TOTALLY makes sense, doesn't it?

I want to go to Folsom next weekend to do the XTERRA they have out there for a couple reasons. I am working on my pitch to my coach, so I will list those reasons here for your reading pleasure:

1. I have done this race and like it, so it will let me clear out the racing cobwebs before the bigger race that I haven't done and am scared about.

2. The race will take a couple hours. My coach has be down for a multi-hour ride followed by a couple days of intervals next week, so I could race and do all of that at once.

3. I have to do 2 XTERRA races in my region to qualify for Nationals, and if I do this one and the one in Arizona in May I will have them out of the way so I won't have to do the one 1 WEEK after IM CDA. I think that is a huge plus. Not having to rely on that one would be good. And then I'll still have one more available in August in case I DNF at either of the other two. Insurance is good.

4. It could be my birthday race. Because it's three days after my birthday. :P

And I promise to take it easy and not kill myself or make myself sick so I will still be able to race at the scary race. It will totally work.

Oh, and my favorite customer Lori just raced at the Singapore 70.3 (half IM) race last weekend and got third in her age group and qualified for the 70.3 Worlds!!!!!!! I'm so freaking proud/excited for her!!!!!!!! I hear she had to deal with jellyfish stings on the swim, naughty jumping waterbottles on the bike, and a possibly fractured foot on the run (that she did like a month ago but didn't tell anyone about because she wanted to race so bad)! Bad ass!!!!!! Love her.

Alright, off to layer up to go ride in the wind with Patty.

Later!

Light at the end of the tunnel?

The other day I was complaining to one of my customers about my leg sucking. She told me I really really really should go to her chiro. In a fit of desperation I emailed him with my symptoms, how long it has been going on, what I have tried that helps/doesn't help/etc. I got an email from him and set up an appointment the next day. And it was probably the best thing ever. After hanging out with all the ladies and little kids that were there (he has a family practice thing going on) he examined me and basically told me that what I have going on is not that complicated and should be fixed pretty quickly. I almost started crying out of relief. He took x-rays "just to have a picture of what he thinks is happening" and I'm meeting with him tomorrow. If he fixes me I will give him a kidney or something. After race season of course.

In other news, I'm like an occupational grim reaper. That's all I can say currently.

Last Sunday I went to Menlo Park to watch the Menlo Park Grand Prix. It was a good time. I got to hang out with girls(!) and scream at people and ogle spandex-clad men all day.

My birthday is this month and I'm excited. Not yet sure if I will actually do anything for said birthday other than my usual Thursday wine fun, but maybe something fun will come up.

I have more crap listed on Craigslist. At least it's not a bike. If you are in the market for some road wheels let me know.

I heart Chelsea Lately. So much.

Off to go stuff my face. Night!

Holy Crap

I was just reading Courtenay's blog (over there ------->) and she mentioned that she has a half-iron race in four weeks. I start thinking "hmmmm...wonder which race she is doing?" and look at her schedule and what do you know, her first race is the same as my first race. Crap. Now I'm all freaked out because I have a race in four weeks and that is approaching more quickly than I expected. I feel like I need to go do some little race to deal with the racing jitters since I haven't raced a tri since last October. Crap crap crap!!