C'est Fini!! (It is done)

Hard to believe that 15 or so months after deciding I wanted to complete this race, it's over :)

Somehow I was talked into the idea of camping the night before. We had to drive down friday night anyways to check in, and this way we'd already be there saturday morning. Sounded good ;) This tripled prep/packing. Thanks R and C for lending us camping gear! Of course due to quality planning we didn't get on the road til 5 on friday, complete with two bikes and canoe on board. (pic soon) (So glad I got those long bars for my Yakima ;)) By the time we checked in, unloaded the canoe, and set up the tent we were starting the fire and cooking in the dark :)

The camp site was actually pretty sweet. Right on the river. Picnic Table, Fire Ring, Lantern Hook (note to self, buy lantern). 25 cub scouts at the nieghboring sites :) Cooking spaghetti on the camp stove and clean-up was actually quite easy. Then J and I tried KK Smores. (Stuff the hole in a KK donut with a marshmellow, skewer and toast, let glaze sizzle, top with chocolate and let cool a bit) Yummy!

We made it to bed around 10 and set the alarm for 6. (Had to be at the race check in at 7:45) Of course I didn't sleep great. Tossed and turned some. Looked at the clock at 1.. ugg! I guess I finally got some sleep cause I had another crazy dream... it was pretty long and I don't remember all the details. I do remember my bike was messed up. The rim was bent and all the spokes were broken. On top of that it was the realization I only had one week til the race and would have to take the bike into East Coasters to get fixed. (I'm not an EC fan, in fact just last week was reminded how much I don't like them :)) Then my alarm went off and I woke up :)

Morning consisted of making coffee and oatmeal, rolling sleeping bags/mats, taking down the tent, packing up everything at the site. My goal was to be at the car by 7 filling water bottles/blatters, changing clothes and head over to the canoes by 7:25 or so... well yeah... didn't quite work that way. Made it to the car by 7:15.. started freaking out more and more as I watched the minutes tick by and realized how unready we were. ACK!! Very intense!! Made it over to the canoes by 7:45... put our food in them, shoes on, got the bikes off the car... biked over to the start line and made it just in time to check in and start. So much adenaline I didn't have time to worry about the race :)

And we're off :) J and I had no problem starting at the back of the pack. We set into a nice spinnin pace of about 15 mph. Passed our first guy.. he was prob 60 years old. About 3 miles in we came up on another guy and rode with him for a couple miles. Turns out he's got a blocked artery and his doctor said he could do the race as long as he kept his heart rate below a certain number. We passed two guys with flats tires. Kinda like beating a 5 year old at soccer.. not very fulfilling :) We did end up passing a handful of folks during the last 25 miles. We spent lots of time chatting and joking. It was nice to have the course marked every 5 miles and mentally know how much further. It did start to seem like forever but really wasn't bad. We must have seen 7 people with flat tires and I'm soooo thankful we didn't have to deal with that. You realize while you're racing that you're at the mercy of the trail and you have no control or power over getting a flat... and just pray it doesn't happen to you! The bike portion was an out and back.. so the leaders started passing us around mile 16... in packs! Apparently drafting isn't illegal during this race!! Good to know :) So we practice riding in a pack this year so we can draft next year! We finished the 40 miles in 2:45. The race support was awesome! At about mile 35 they start radioing ahead so your canoe is in the water and ready to go. A volunteer takes your bike and helmet for you. She even followed me to the water to take my bikes shoes! This was also my first pee stop :)

Canoeing down the river was beautiful. Some of the leaves had started to change colors. The water was pretty low so there were many more rapids then I remembered last time we were there. Thank goodness I'd practiced at least once and was less scared of the rapids!! The biggest challenge was reading the rocks and avoiding getting hung up on them. Some were sticking out and easy to see, some you could tell by the flow of the water, others seem to goose you out of the middle of no where. I got spun in a couple of rapids, pretty much freakin out when I had to go over them backwards!! Even did a full 360 in one of them :) Ok so it was slow motion cause that included a couple minutes of trying to figure out how to get out of the sideways position my canoe got lodged in! Unfortuantley we had no way of knowing how far we'd been and how far we had left. J was wearing a watch but we avoided knowing how long we'd been out there. We passed under a bridge which we thought was close to the end.. apparently not. About an hour later we finally saw the Allisonia boat launch and J must have turned on his engine, cause he took off! This section definitly seemed to take forever, it was also about 2:45. We passed 3 or 4 people? (2 of which pass us back on the run!) My source pac that was filled with Gatorade Endurance mix lasted through the entire bike/canoe, it was nice to be able to drink without slowing down.

The transition to the run was a little slower. I took my time changing shoes, putting my hair up, getting my fuel belt on, changed into my skirt, and ate a luna bar. My arse was in pain from sitting on the cooler for 3 hours (even though I'd left my padded shorts on!). We had to run one block to the left around a cone before turning around and heading back to Foster Falls. Kinda funny. Running on the trail was nice. The outside of my calves were instantly burning from having to stablize my ankles on the uneven ground. The hip/knee/foot thing started to be an issue. Couldn't feel my foot at all during miles 4 and 5. They had water/powerade stops about every 2 miles which was really nice. I felt decent during the run but definitly tired. We took a short (30 sec - 1 min) stop at every mile (after 5) to grab water from the air station, down a gel, or just catch my breath some. I didn't have to use the restroom at the transition, but right when I started running I regretted it. And the restroom wasn't til 7.2!!! My shins didn't bother me at all and my ailments settled down. I felt better during this run then I did at Va Beach. Even passed a couple folks during mile 12. The very end of the run had us run down this crazy hill... came up out of no where. Other then that the race was a gradual uphill the whole way.. but wasn't too bad.

It really felt like J and I were just out for a day at the park. Having fun, riding bikes, canoeing. Didn't feel like we were in a race. The bike and canoe physically were a breeze and were fun. The run, we've done it before, it's long and grueling but doable :) Overall it really wasn't that bad. I could see getting bored because it is so long, but luckily J and I planned to compete together, which made it a lot more fun. I know for sure I wouldn't have done as well in the run without him! Even if I was getting really cranky by the end and was pretty mean when he was being encouraging :)

The finish line wasn't quite as crowded as Va Beach but it was music to my ears to hear the cheers from our other friends who had finished before us and hung around to watch us finish. I think we came in around 8:30? I'll post the actually splits when they put them online. I was pretty darn spent. A park guy came over to tell me I placed in my age group. There were 3 women 18-29 that entered. Then they said I finished first. I was a bit confused cause I found out at the canoe transition one girl was ahead of me. So needless to say in the state I was in I got all choked up :) Reality the other girl in my age group got an overall award.. so I got the first place. Whatever :) I was excited!!! They took my picture.. not sure where it will be posted.

17 weeks of training really paid off. I finished under my goal times for each section. I feel like I ate/drank enough to stay energized for all 8+ hours. I'm really happy to have completed this goal I set for myself!! I'm looking forward to more triathons in my future and maybe even doing this one again!

Thanks Joel for being crazy and doing this with me! I had a blast!

Congrats also to Rocky (I think he finished 2nd in his age group? maybe 3rd) and Candance, Jess, Leslie, and Michelle who finshed 2nd among the ladies teams!

Dreams

You know the dreams... where it's the first day of school.. and in your dream you suddenly realize you aren't wearing any clothes? So maybe you don't have this dream... but I've had it more then once on the eve of the first day of school.

I don't have the first day of school anymore... but the dream is back with a twist. I forget the details.. but the weekend before the Nashville 1/2 (not sure which year) I remember dreaming that for some reason the morning of race my mom and I went off to do soemthing and I missed the whole race. Of course I was devestated I'd done all the training and them missed the race!

So last night... I dreamt about the challenge. (Which was in fairfax?) Something happened and they stopped the race in the middle. While we were waiting to find when they'd start the run portion I decided to go home real quick. (I think I took a nap) Well by the time I made it back everyone else had finished the race!! I was kinda happy I didn't have to run, but then I was really bummed I couldn't say I'd finished the race!! And I was being a brat and argueing with the organizers that it was unfair. (Who for some reason happened to be the facilitators of Leadership NRV) It was horrible. Then I woke up and realized the race was still a day away!!

65.1

Miles :) Wow... can't believe this weekend is here already! So tomorrow I embark on the biggest physical challenge thus far in my life. The New River Trail Challenge. I'm pretty excited, a little bit scared, and kinda ready for it to be over :) Luckily I won't be on my own. My good friend J took the bait and signed up for the race also... we're planning to stick together so we can encourage and help each other through the day. Should be interesting to see how well we stick together while canoeing the 12 mile stretch of the New River.

Saturday night I will (even if I can't walk.. I've already had volunteers willing to carry me) be downtown celebrating.. so if you're in town give my cell a ring.

Leadership NRV

PURPOSE: The objective of Leadership New River Valley is to assist in the development of community leaders by providing participants from diverse backgrounds with an understanding of the problems, opportunities and issues facing the community. The program will also foster the development of leadership skills and techniques in an environment that encourages the establishment of new relationships and communication networks between the participants.

A friend participated in this program though the MCCC last year and encouraged me to apply. Since I've officially decided that Blacksburg really is home and I plan to stay awhile the promise this program offers of learning about the town and county, meeting key people, honing some buisness skills, and making new friends made it a no brainer for me. The more (or in this case less) I found out about the group, the more I wondered what I'd signed up for :) This past weekend was the kick-off retreat and all those doubts were squelched. I'm very excited about the activities in the coming year.

The group consists of about 25 professionals, all ages, marrital statuses, years in the area, and careers. Some loud and boisterous, others more subdued. I didn't count, but pretty even across genders. Most from Blacksburg/Christiansburg, 2 from Radford, 2 from Roanoke (these two work close by). The weekend retreat really helped jumpstart relationships, I really felt like they were all friends by the time we left. I'm looking forward to building on these friendships throughout the year.

The main event this weekend was SIMSOC. This is a society simulation game. Hard to really go into details. Basically we were broken into different groups of a society and assigned different jobs, then based on 'complex' rules left to fend for ourselves. I was a bit skeptical reading the rules prior to the retreat, it was fun though. Definitely a good activity to jumpstart this group.

Some things outside of 'class' I'll be required to do is attend a town meeting, attend a school board meeting, and participate in a police ride along. I'm really excited to expand my knowledge of what goes on in this place! I'll let you know what I find out :)

VB - Good Times

The trip to VA Beach this past weekend was chock full of good memories :)

~ adventurous ride involving a AAA phone call and unplanned lodging with a pal in Richmond
~ excitement of pre-race expo and lots of cool running gear (I only window shopped!)
~ the beach! sand castles - waves - frisbee - boogie boarding
~ hanging out with old friends and new friends
~ three very adorable littles girls I don't get to see often enough!
~ US vs Mexico soccer
~ the half marathon (thanks J for keeping me company and letting me walk!)
~ the finish line (amazing experience... very addictive!)
~ VT vs NCSU with a huge group of Hokie fans :)
~ J scaling the balconies to break into our hotel room since the door lock was broken
~ perfect weather!
~ chaos!
~ laughs!
~ fun!

Congrats to all the finishers!! A special congrats to all the first timers! YOU ROCK!

Let's do it again soon :)

HASH

As I was reading the latest edition of Blue Ridge Outdoors last night I ran across an article that instantly made me think of J and R. Unfortunately it's not posted on the web so you'll have to pick up your own copy of the magazine to read the whole article, here's the basics though.

HASH
byline: Follow in the inebriated footsteps of foul-mouthed runners chasing a 'hare' through the woods

"It's Sunday, and a mix of a dozen Charlottesville twenty- and thirty- somethings are exactly where their mothers want them to be -- church. Actually they're just in the parking lot of a Baptist house if worship, getting ready for their weekly run by pretending to stretch. At first glance, the Charlottesvilly Hash House Harriers seem like an average jogging clan. But suddenly a spunky browned-haired woman cracks a can of Natural Light and says, "It's time to get started!""

"Every hash pack from Charlotte to Bangkok carries the ubiquitous nickname, "A drinking group with a running problem.""

"The focus here is not fitness. This is about having fun. The laid-back, short-distance running is always spiced up with booze and the thrill of the hunt"

So these comments might give it a negative spin.. but I'm too lazy to type more.. the article is great and covers the history of Hashing.. the fraternityness of it.. etc. Apparently there are groups worldwide. It's interesting. You should read it :)
(The Charlotte group has a nice description of hashing on their site)

Other local (kinda) hashing groups:
Washington D.C. Hashes
Richmond Hash House Harriers
Lynchburg-Seven Hills Hash House Harriers
Southern Comfort Hash House Harriers (Atlanta)

I just started reading this Magazine this summer and have been very impressed. It does a good job covering the range of outdoor activites and events through-out WV, VA, NC, and GA. I'm learning all sorts of stuff :)

A full weekend

Somehow my schedule went from being in town most of the summer to being in town one of 8 weekends in a row. Well I guess I'll be in town 2 of the weekends, but one is my race.. so I'm not really countin it :)

So this is weekend 3 of the stretch, my in town weekend, really it should be my recovery/relax weekend... haha! It's my only chance to get things done around the house. Here's my TODO list:

- My weekly house chores
- Floyd tonight for the Jamboree
- Bike for 3 hrs (hopefully 40 miles) on the trail sat morning
- Canoe from Foster Falls to Allisonia (12 miles) after biking
- Clean up my tornado of a room/bathroom
- Unpack my boxes of books finally
- Arrange the garage so we can start using it :)
- Weed flower beds/Plant flowers
- Mow/Weedwack
- Pay bills/Review Budget
- Write a letter to Raines PMD telling them just what I think :)
- Run 10 miles on sunday
- Rest

Should be fun!

The smells of early morning SWVA

Nothing beats a bike ride at sunrise through the back roads of the burg.

The smells had me gagging, smiling, craving and laughing this morning...

Out in the country it's a mix of road kill, manure, and if you're lucky blooming flowers. Once back to town the smell of Starbucks and Carol Lee donuts had me wishing I had cash on me!!

Changing Pains

Last week I renewed my cell phone plan and picked up a new phone. I LOVED my old phone, so it was kinda hard to say bye to it. The battery and signal were starting to become and an issue and I knew I should take advantage of the verizon offers for renewing my plan, plus as much as all the features phones have now annoy me - I was kinda excited about getting a camera phone and one with an external display. Why I stress so much about new phones I'll never know, maybe I'm overwhelmed with all my choices, or the fact I'll be stuck with this phone for 2 years!, I make way to big a deal about picking the 'wrong' phone. It was ridiculous how I acted two years ago during this process, I flipped out way too much!!

I'm happy to say I'm acting a little more mature this time around :) haha. So I ended up going with a Samsung SCH-a670. Took a chance going with an all digital phone, so far haven't had any signal problems. I love the size of it. Very disappointed with the wallpaper selections and ringtones. I guess since the cool thing now is to download this stuff they don't bother giving you decent options. (The site with the good Gary ringtones doesn't work with zerizon!! :() Other then the fact there are WAY to many options I've been pretty happy with it. Realizing I just need to get used to all those options.

I did find one big flaw that's been driving me insane all week! I was all excited to have an external display, but I couldn't figure out how to activate the backlight without opening the phone. Ok what's the point of having the external display if I can't see what time it is without opening the phone anyways!! Most phones you hit any of the side buttons and they light up. I flipped through the manual, went back to the Verizon store to ask them (bad idea... they are idiots!), looked online, emailed Samsung technical support. I was pretty much ready to track down the designer and call him/her an idiot, and contimplating trading in the phone :) The email back from Samsung said 'This would be something that you should call in for assistance to troubleshoot.', so I gave them a call. (Was impressed not to be put on hold for hours.) Tech Support - hit both buttons at once. Me - nope. Tech Support - hold them down. Me - That turns on the camera. Tech Support - hold on. Me - (light bulb goes off) I hold down just the volume button. SWEET! :) I'm happy. It works. When tech support came back I told her I'd figured it out. (And why could this not be said over email??)

So now I'm excited again about my new phone. Just need to learn all the features :) Moral of the story - the brown hair doesn't make me any smarter :)

Where are you?

Interesting concept that's been mentioned twice in the past week to me in two totally different areas of my life. (at a bible study and while reading a fitness magazine)

Someone asks you for directions to point B, what piece of information are you missing? Where are they starting from?

Not a hard concept, but when applying it to life... makes you think. We all have some idea of where we want to be and what our goals are. But how often do you actually sit down and assess where you are right now. Maybe you do. I don't really.

And to combine with this I have a fear of living life but when I look back not having much to show for it. I feel like life is just moving along.. and I'm just going along with it. Sure I'm loving life, but I wonder if I'll look back and think I've wasted any of it. I don't want that to happen.

This concept caught my attention and I'm thinking it's time I do some thinking about where I am, in all areas of my life, and where I'm going. Not really something I enjoy or that's natural for me.. but something that I'm sure will do me good. Wish me luck.