Love and Puppies.

I love dogs. I probably love dogs more than people. And this is my love for dogs on crack.

But just to be clear, I don't love all dogs. I love nice, clean, dry, well-behaved dogs. And if it's large and fluffy, it is much more likely to be loved by me...the smaller the dog, the smaller the open space in my heart. Dogs aren't meant to fit in purses. That's what flying squirrels were for.

Week 11 - 178 Miles

In the water: 0 Miles - 0 minutes. Ugh. The pool hates me.
On Rocky: 155 miles - 8 hours 36 minutes
In my Asics: 23.74 miles - 3 hours 57 minutes
On the bosu ball: 2 hours

Total Mileage - 178 miles - 12 hours and 33 minutes

Whoa. I can't believe it. This will probably be one of our longer weeks of training this season...at least in the Top 5. Surprisingly, I felt great. I feel pretty great even today (although, I didn't work out this morning because my stomach hates me...macaroni is NOT a good pre-run meal, FYI).

We did the HotterNHell 100 Mile ride in Wichita Falls on Saturday...it was fun, but also a giant cluster and I will probably never do it again. It just reaffirms my lack of desire to ever do the MS150. I support MS and all, but that ride is a death trap. The ride went well though - I wiped out once at a support station and got a charlie horse in my hip and couldn't unclip...it was pretty funny. But painful. All in all, we averaged about 17mph for the ride...but that includes probably about 30-45 minutes of pit stops and chatting. So, the average speed in the saddle was probably more like 19-19.5mph. I'm shooting for 18-18.5mph at Cozumel, so this seems like a reasonable estimate! My transition run after was pretty quick and felt pretty good - I think I was averaging about a 9:45 pace for about 2 miles. I kept trying to talk to myself like I was actually going to run 26.2 miles (instead of just 2) and it seemed okay. I think I could have done it. OMG. That's crazy talk.

We did a really nice 10 mile run from my parents house on Sunday - turns out my parents live in the mountains?? Dude, it was HILLY. My butt was burning...and not from the mac and cheese. It felt pretty good though.

My friends Laura and Tara did IMCanada and IMLouisville, respectively, yesterday and they both totally conquered the courses. Laura finished in a blazing 12:36 and Tara in a very fast 13:20...my goal is 15 hours for those of you trying to figure out what those numbers mean. I have never in my life been so jealous of another human being...why can't Cozumel be here already?!?!?

That being said, I am feeling great about training. We are trying really hard to do the workouts we enjoy with the people we enjoy instead of just sticking to a regimented routine. I think if we are doing something we love, we are less likely to get burned out. That being said, the laundry, lack of sleep and hunger are started to weigh on me...this blog says it very well (read the comments too). We are very lucky to have such a great group of friends who are so active that we can train with several days a week...so, thanks guys! You make it worth it!!

Fore-a-cast

There is a guy in my office who says the word "forecast"...but he says it like "fore-a-cast". It's driving me nuts. Surprisingly, this is a word he uses a lot.

On another note, I have gone 65 miles this week. 55 cycling and 10 running...I am planing on doing a 100 mile ride this weekend with a transition run after and possible a 6-10 miler on Sunday...ouch. I will defintely be an Ironman this week.

Laura will be competeing in Ironman Canada on Sunday and I couldn't be more jealous. I am actually turning green with envy. Why can't it be me? That being said, the weather is supposed to be 91 degrees...no thanks! Wish her luck.

I found this video (well, actually, the link is to another blog that has embedded the video...i can't get YouTube at work, blah blah blah). It's funny. You need sound, but it's work friendly. Enjoy.

HotterNHell 100 is this weekend. Yeehaw!

Week 10 - 140.36 Miles

10 weeks down...14 weeks to go until the big show.

In the water: 0.7 Miles - 23 minutes.
On Rocky: 113 miles - 5 hours 56 minutes
In my Asics: 26.66 miles - 4 hours 44 minutes
On the bosu ball: 2 hours

Total Mileage - 140.4 miles - 11 hours and 3 minutse

Dude, I totally wish I had walked to the end of my street and back...then I would have done 140.6 miles and then I could say, "Christy, YOU are an Ironman...this week". Darn you!!

All in all, it was a great week of training. Mon-Wed were really, really, really hard, so Thursday was painful and I took Friday off. I did my first un-painful swim in awhile. I had to force myself to get out of the pool after 23 minutes. Siiigh.

I think Tommy and I have decided to move Turbo Tuesdays to Thursdays so that we have 3 key workouts in a row, 1 day off, then 2 key workouts...instead of trying to do 5 key workouts back to back. I'm tired just thinking of it!

My long run this weekend blew, like, totally blew. Every single step I took was irritating and miserable. I'd say that I had fun for approximately 3 seconds out of the 2 hours we were out there. Eh, everyone has off days...let's hope things are back in track!

In other news, Laura has IM Canada this weekend!! She is #2147, so track her online! She is going to be great!! Much luck to you my friend!! Canada is the hat of our country.

Pinot and Picasso

A few weekends ago, I convinced my wonderful, loving, sweet, caring husband to accompany me to a Pinot and Picasso. You go to a painting class, bring your own wine and snacks, pay like $40 and they provide canvases and paints...and then teach you to paint something.

I was excited because I loooove painting and hadn't found the time or the inspiration to paint lately. Pretty much since Tommy and I moved in together, my inspiration to paint has been about zilch. Essplain that one to me Lucy! I have had a half finished painting intended for my sister's Christmas present (in 2006) sitting in my living room since 2006 (duh.). And I was also excited because it's fun to show the people you love the things that you love...and it seemed pretty easy because really, the more wine you drink, the better painter you become!

Us before the painting begins.
It was a lot of fun and a great place for a date.

Tommy pretending to paint...we were very thankful that the outline had already been drawn on our canvii.

Us, with aprons, and all our pretty pretty paints!

Tommy attempting to repaint the scary neon orange porch he started with...

Tommy is not looking so happy with his brown porch. Ah, the struggle of the arteest.


Us with the final paintings...they look surprisingly good. And yes, we did them all by ourselves. I was impressed too.

Week 9 - 88 Miles

In the water: 0 miles - 0 minutes. Ooops.
On Rocky: 63 miles - 3 hours 24 minutes
In my Asics: 25.12 miles - 4 hours 17 minutes
On the bosu ball: 4 hours


Total Mileage - 88 miles - 7 hours and 41 minutse

Yeah, that's right. That averages out to 1 hour and 6 minutes everyday. Slacker!

In my defense, it WAS a recovery week AND the miles that I put in were hard miles, not chillin'. AND I only worked out 5 days, so, really, I averaged an hour and half each day. But still, I know I know. Slacker!!

I took time off of swimming...my shoulder has REALLY been bothering me so I figured total rest might help. Biking aggrevates it a little, but overall, it was much better this week. AND I possibly broke my pinky finger at some point in the night last week...which makes swimming tough.

I did 2 pretty tough running workouts - Monday I did 400x400's and Wednesday I did 8-60x60s. I did both at a pretty full out pace and felt decent. Tuesday, we did a Turbo Tuesday Transition workout that was a lot of fun - 10 minutes hard on the bike, 10 minute hard run, 8 minutes hard on the bike, 8 minute hard run, etc...it was fun. Don liked getting to go on multiple walks. Ha. Friday was long (but was short since it was recovery week) run, we did 10 miles at about a 10:10 pace and I felt pretty good. Focusing on increasing my turnover has REALLY helped. Long(ish) bike on Saturday - 43 miles - and I FINALLY felt my legs come back.

I've been pushing my run so hard lately that I knew SOMETHING would have to give and my biking ha sbeen suffering in silence. I'm going to try a more balanced approach from now on...we will see. If my workout today is any indication, I'm totally screwed. GST's...running sets of 400 with weights in between...1st set - 1:38, 2nd set - 1:48, 3rd set - 1:49, 4th set - 1:52 (ouch), 5th set - 1:48...and a 2 mile cool down. I ran with a guy named Tommy who does triathlons who is not my husband. Kind of creepy.

I need to get my biking back on track...my running has always been slow, it won't be terribly upsetting if it continues to be slow. No need to worry about that now!

2 weeks till Hotter N Hell and then 2 more weeks till PrairieMan!!

Oh, Erik.

I have a friend from college named Erik. He is known for many things: his photographic memory, scary haircuts, his ability to engage in drunken debates that no one can recall the next day, and being such a nice, patient person, he even attemped to teach me how to throw a ball. He was not succesful in this last endeavor.

But above all of these amazing qualities, when I think of Erik, I think of the Shit-vic - his beat up, old as dirt, 2-door, black Honda Civic that he drove through most of our formative years. (Yeah, Erik, that's what I think of when I think of you. You might want to work on a new gimmick.)

Everytime I would hang with Erik, he would show me the new "features" of the Shit-vic. And by "features", I mean...you know those empty buttons in your car that would be something if you bought the top end model? But since you just bought the bottom of the line model, you now have all these empty buttons that serve no purpose? Well, Erik would take those buttons and make them do things. For example: he installed a mechanism that would beep everytime he put the car in reverse (like a "wide load"). There were no empty, worthless buttons by the time Erik was done with it.

I think he finally sold the Shit-vic for a grand total of $7.

But alas, this brings me to my point. I stumbled upon this website today and I immediately thought of Erik.

Childbirth = Ironman

I was reading my Ironman updates today or something and came across an article about a guy who did Kona with someone else's heart (I mean, now it's his, but you know, he is a heart transplant patient...cool?). Anyway, in the article was a quote that just furthers my quest to prove that Ironmans (and the training) are exactly the same thing as being pregnant and then having a child. (Disclaimer: I tend to exaggerate...)

From the mouth of Dwight Kroening, the first heart transplant recipient to complete an Ironman:

I relate [the Ironman] to what I guess would be like childbirth," Kroening said. "In the process, you're thinking, 'I'll never do this again in my whole life. This is absolutely crazy.' But I think probably about three days later that I started thinking, 'Now this might be something that I might want to do again.'

I maintain this is why they have the athletes who are participating in the races sign up for the following years race BEFORE they race the current year. Ain't no way they'd sign up the next day. And Dwight is also a dude, so he obviously has no idea what he is talking about...we will assume that he has a wife or a woman with whom he shares an illegimate child and she has told him this is how it goes.

In other news, my mom says its okay to think "crotch parasite" is funny AND have children. This is because she A.) really thinks it's okay, B.) is trying to justify why she almost died laughing, or C.) really wants grandbabies and will lie to my face to get them.

List of the Day.

Somehow, someway, I injured my pinky finger while sleeping last night. It's quite swollen and I'd say there is a good chance that I broke it. What? The good news is that now I have an excuse to not swim. Muuuhahahaha.

I have XM radio in my car, with about 9 million radio stations, and yet this morning, the best song that was playing was Taylor Swift. Are you kidding me?

Hot pink is my new favorite color. I've accepted it.

Beavers eat all sorts of tree bark, not just aspens.

Our new house has started falling apart. We knew it would happen, but were hoping it would hold out a little longer. On Sunday the garbage disposal broke and today the toilet broke...it's only a matter of time before the roof caves in.

I kicked my dog in the head this morning. No, I'm not a dog hater...he is just an idiot. I was on my bike trainer, biking away and he wanted to lick my toe...the same toe that was moving in rapid circles. Soooo, I kicked him. Totally on accident.

I have 37 weddings to go to this year. All of which are in towns that no one has heard of. Gilmer, Texas. Richmond, Texas. Cayuga, North Dakota. Wichita Falls, Texas. All Population 3.

I love Mexican food. Love it. I love it more than I love hot pink. But dam gina, I feel like crap the next day. It's like being hungover, but grosser, and in my belly. Ugh.

I once had a landlord who thought that the word "debris" was actually "dupree" and now everytime I see debris, I say "dupree". That man is STILL haunting me and is making me dumbererer.

Weekend of Champions

This was just one of those weekends where everything was wonderful and the weather was wonderful and my husband was wonderful and the wine was wonderful and my friends were wonderful and my workouts were wonderful and siiiigh, it's over.

Friday was my day off, so I caught up on some sleep...oh, let's start with Thursday.

Thursday was Melissa's birthday...she is 24 now. See? They CAN get younger than me. We went to Collina's and then the Drinkery where we arm wrestled (I won, but Jenn's arms are waaaay awesome-r) and everyone but me took j-ello shots. It was one of those nights. Somehow, they kept me out till 2am. Hence the catching up on sleep on Friday afternoon.

Friday eve, I met Janelle and Jodie to check out a wedding dress at Janelley's favorite store, J Crew. The three of us had a delicious dinner and went out for a drink at McElroy's, Jodie's favorite bar.

Tommy and I woke up early for a 15 mile run with our group, we all went to breakfast at Buffalo Grill and then we went swimming. The run was okay, the swim was meh...

We took a glorious nap and woke up in time to go to Pinot and Picasso...we took wine and painted. It was really fun and definitely a great date place. The only problem is that the really hard part is at the end when you have to outline all this stuff...and you are a bottle into the wind. Ouch.

Sunday, we slept in a little and headed to Santa Fe, Texas for a 60 mile bike ride. The ride was meh...my shoulder was hurting and I was quite the whine-y baby. But all's well that ends well, and since we had parked at a winery (Yeah, who knew there were wineries in Santa Fe, Texas? Heck, who knew there was a Santa Fe, Texas?), we were able to do a wine tasting, buy a bottle and some cheese, and relax amongst the vineyard.

Bike rides don't get much better than that.

We bought some champagne on the way home...because what goes better with Sunday afternoons than champagne? Nothing! And busted out the boiled crabs Tommy caught earlier this week. Champagne and crabs. It was a Sunday of Champions.

And since we don't have a live-in maid, at some point in the weekend, chores had to be done. I folded a mountain, seriously, a mountain of clothes, and Tommy vacuumed up about 37 small dogs from our carpet. We broke our garbage disposal, made sushi and went to bed.

It's tough to start back to work after such a fun weekend, but it makes you appreciate those weekends that much more!

This Is My Confession.

Just when I thought I said all I could say my chick on the side said she's got one on the way.

Okay. No, I'm not pregnant. Tommy has said that for as long as I think "crotch parasite" is hysterical, we aren't allowed to have them. But dear lord, if you haven't added that blog to your list, you should. She makes me laugh so I hard I cry almost everyday.

But in bigger news, I have finally accepted the fact that hot pink is my favorite color.

I know. I know. Who knew?

I mean, I knew I liked to purchase hot pink things, but I always said that it was just because they went with everything (what?!?). I never considered the fact that hot pink might have an edge over brown, or, heaven forbid, gold.

But if I take a moment to really think about it, I own next to zero brown clothes and about eleventy billion hot pink things.

I have a hot pink coat. A hot pink water bottle. I only eat hot pink gum. I'm wearing a hot pink shirt right now. A hot pink gym bag. A hot pink bike. I look like a freaking zit when I leave work wearing my hot pink shirt and coat, my hot pink gym bag, and carrying my hot pink water bottle and my brand-spanking-new hot pink clutch (read: purse/wallet for the men in the room).

It was the purse that put me over the edge and made me realize what a lie I have been living. Paige got one of these semi-recently and I have secretly coveted it ever since. When we were on vacation my coveting-ness grew to proportions so great, that I could wait no longer. To Nordstrom I went.

They had quite an array of colors over which I deliberated for a solid 20 minutes. I finally gave in when I realized that no matter what, I knew I was going to buy the hot pink one...even though my self-respect could get no lower.

So, my fabulous new clutch and I are starting a new life together. Hand in hand.

Hot pink is the new brown.

Week 8 - 107 Miles

In the water: 0.5 miles - 20 minutes. Pretty worthless.
On Rocky: 78 miles - 4 hours 19 minutes
In my Asics: 29 miles - 5 hours 2 minutes
On the bosu ball: 4 hours


Total Mileage - 107.5 miles - 9 hours and 42 minutse

It was a good week. My long ride really sucked but since we parked at winery, all's well that ends well and I got to spend my afternoon sipping wine with the Tommy and reading the Santa Fe local newspaper. It's not a rumor anymore - the local church now has TWO (count them, TWO!) recycling locations!! (This is an actual quote from the newspaper. Seriously. No, seriously.)

Swimming and I still aren't getting along, which means that I am not letting my legs rest as much...but eh, I'll make it up later. I'm really working on running faster. The only way to get faster is to actually run faster...I've gotten way to good at running slow. It's tough, but I can do it!

Colorful Colorado!

I realized I haven't blogged in a week...mon dieu...and since nothing has happened to me in the last few days (I mean, I've been semi-sick and the highlight of my day was watching American Pie, 4, 5 and 6. Yes, there is an American Pie 4,5, and 6. They are American Pie - Band Camp, American Pie - The Naked Mile, and American Pie - Beta House. All terrible, but a good watch when you are full of snot. There is also a Cutting Edge 3, but I wasn't desperate enough to watch that.), I though I would just finally publish some blogs that never got finished. So, enjoy a recap of my summer vacation with Paige and Zach in Colorado.

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Tommy and I met Paige and Zach for a long weekend in Colorado. And it was awesome.

We all landed in Denver around the same time and picked up our rental car for the 3 hour drive to Steamboat (ugh!). We finally got to the resort around 11pm (Houston time) and I passed out. We got an awesome upgrade to our room - we had a separate living area with a sectional couch, microwave, etc, which was perfect for vacations with friends.

View of the ski mountain!


Friday we ate breakfast, wandered the town, went to the timeshare presentation (which is how we got the awesome upgrade - totally worth the 45 minutes), drank wine in our spacious living room while it rained, and then hit up the hot springs. They were hot. Idiotically, I was surprised by this.

Saturday, Tommy and I ran around the mountain village - i.e. it was hilly and I almost died. Then we went on a rafting trip down the Colorado. I would say rafting when it's cold outside, in cold water, is probably my least favorite thing in the world. We stopped in Yampa for one of the grosser meals I have eaten in awhile at the Royal Hotel Restaurant, where our waitress was also the cook. Yum.



The next day, we rented bikes and cycled up the mountains...which was quite challenging to us sea level dwellers. Altitude just about killed me...nevermind that I suck at biking hills. I needed about 4 more granny gears and a motor to get up most of the mountains. Fun times. Paige got stunk by a wasp which she wasn't happy about but she kept trucking along. For the record, I would have taken my ball and gone at that point...or rather, I would have sat by the edge of the road and waited for a ride, but she is hardcore and powered through it. We then got some tasty mexican (I was surprised too!) and relaxed.

Then it was time to head home. Siiigh. I miss my friends but am thankful they will be moving here in a few months!

Learnings:

I will not be buying a Dodge Charger anytime in the near future.
Someone was genius enough to name a Gas Station "Kum N Go". Seriously.
Beavers do not need aspen. Surprise!
I do not tolerate cold well. At all.
Wine and hotsprings are a dangerous match.

Week 7 - 85 miles

In the water: 0 miles. Zilch time in the water. Ooops.
On Rocky: 65 miles - 4 hours 30 minutes
In my Asics: 20 - Unknown...
On the bosu ball: 1 hour


Total Mileage - 85 miles miles and who knows how many minutes.

It was a rough week. My legs were REALLY feeling the previous weeks workouts and then we went on vacation and I was kind of a slacker.

85 miles won't get me across the finish line...gotta step it up this week!!