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Well, I'm a few weeks late with this report, but the big race of this year's tri season (for me) took place a few weeks ago, on August 8. The Ironman Boulder 70.3. Back in January, it seemed like a really good idea to sign up. :-D The Boulder Reservoir is not my favorite place to race. Oh, the swimming and biking are fine, but the run is always hot. And kind of boring. And hot. No shade. August 8. Do I need to say more? I knew I could do the distance, but it was just a matter of how well I was going to do it...I have to admit that I made contingency plans for Tyler for post-race, just in case I ended up passed out or dead on the run course!
Pre-race activities were pretty uneventful. Right before the transition area closed, I met up with a group
of people from the Beginner Triathlete forums, for a quick round of
introductions and a picture, so that was cool. There was an hour between
transition closing and the start of my wave, so there was a lot of
standing around on the beach. I got to see the pros start (and Andy Potts
come out of the swim with a good 2-3 minute lead, incredible), and that
was the last time I saw them for the day! I did run into one of the BT
guys in the water when I went down to warm-up so I hung out with him and
another guy until they were like "Isn't that your wave getting ready to
go?" and I was like "um, yeah, bye!"
The swim: nothing very exciting. I really wish I understood why I have
gotten so slow. I mean, I've *always* been slow, but it seems like I'm
just exceptionally slow this year. Blah. And they even had the timing
mat right on the beach, so it's not like it even counted the long run to
transition. Sigh.
T1: Less than 5 bikes left on my age group's rack. Good thing there were
3 waves that started behind us or I may very well have been the last
one out of the water...
The bike: This is a pretty good bike course. The hard part is coming
straight out of the reservoir into a 5+ mile climb, then there are a few
ups and downs, then a long downhill section followed by some flats.
It's a 2-loop course, so there were tons of people out there for my
first loop, but actually a lot more than I expected on the second loop. I
was super psyched to be passing guys. I passed one guy on an uphill,
and I don't think he liked it much. I said "on your left" and he looked
over and muttered something in Spanish under his breath. Went flying by
me on the next downhill and took off. Apparently getting chicked was
enough to light a fire under him.  The weather had started off pretty cloudy, which was awesome, but the clouds cleared out during the second loop. Uh oh. Not a good sign.
T2: Pretty fast,
considering I took a potty stop. My one mistake of the race was here,
took a gel on the way out of transition. One swallow would have been
fine, but the second was not good. Minor digestive issues followed.
The run: Hot. Hot hot hot. Brutally hot. Did I mention that it was hot? I
mean, I knew it was going to be hot, but it just seemed kind of unfair.
There were scattered clouds everywhere, I could look up and see them.
Were they ever over me? NO! There were a lot of people out there for the first loop, which was
great. I had to make a potty stop at the second aid station around mile
2.5 (see foreshadowed digestive issues above). Luckily it was quick. Everybody was pretty much in misery, and it really is true, misery
loves company! I made another stop at the mile 4-ish aid station b/c I
was feeling some chafing in my armpit (prob. b/c I didn't think to Body
Glide my armpits...duh, borrowed sleeveless wetsuit...ouch) and some
blisters on my feet. I vaselined them all. Didn't really help much.
Around mile 4.5, some guy tried to be nice and encouraging about how we
were almost there. Um, thanks, but I still had a whole loop to go. At
some point in the first loop, a twitter/dailymile friend found me and gave me some cheers, which helped a ton. Thanks, Leo! Just before the end of the
first loop, a friend from track who had been roped into doing the run
for a relay passed me on her way into the finish (her: you guys are
nuts, this is miserable!).
I was convinced the second loop was going to be lonely, but it really
wasn't. It did pretty much entirely suck running right by the finish
line. I actually felt a little better on the second loop than I did on
the first. I thought by the way that I felt that I may have even
negative split, but I didn't. Maybe it was just that I was passing lots
of people. Almost everybody on the second loop was walking. I was
determined not to walk except for the aid stations, and I didn't.
Admittedly, I stretched the aid stations way out, but I didn't walk
other than that! I picked up a couple of running buddies with around 5k
to go, which was awesome. Ran and chatted with a guy for about 3/4 mile,
then he couldn't keep up and I ran with a girl for about a mile and a
half until she took off after an aid station. Bummer, because she was in
my age group, too. The last mile was actually my second-fastest after the first mile. Not bad!
Post-race was not too exciting. Except for when I took my shoes and socks off and found this: 
Nice, huh?
By FAR, the best blister I've ever gotten. That thing was the size of a
golfball. And honestly felt better before I drained it! Oh well. I had
a smaller one on my other foot, and some serious armpit chafing, too. So, now that I have a little distance from the race, would I do it again? Yeah, probably. If you had asked me during the run, I would have said NO WAY. And the run sucked. Bad. But the bike course was so much more fun than the Harvest Moon course that it kind of made up for it. I mean, I had an 11 minute PR, and that was with a MUCH slower swim, and a slower run than I did at Harvest Moon last year. Will I sign up for the series again next year? Eh, probably not. The savings for the series are really nice, but I accomplished what I wanted to at the Peak this year (i.e. having a decent race and not falling apart, and breaking 3:30 for an oly) and the Sprint just wasn't anything very exciting. And after doing a much smaller race this past weekend, I really enjoyed it. So, I think I may try to do some smaller races next summer. And maybe the Boulder 70.3 again. Just have to share this, I think it's pretty funny (and rumor is they will be sending out corrected race medals): 
Look closely, anybody see the problem? You'd think Ironman would have their act together a little better. :-D
Results:
Swim: 58:06 (sigh)
T1: 3:34
Bike: 3:07:48 (17.9 mph!!! Awesome for me!)
T2: 2:49
Run: 2:39:14 (12:09 pace, blech)
Overall: 6:51:31
1000/1193 finishers
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Because something happened this weekend that I didn't think was possible. I took third in my age group in a race!!! Yep, that's right, ME. Completely average, middle-of-the-pack, some might say slow ME. I placed third in the Female 30-34 age group at the Highlands Ranch Splash-Mash-Dash sprint triathlon. First off, I have to say thank you to Sonja, because I won entry to the race through a contest on her blog. So, without her, it never would have happened!
To be honest, I wasn't overly thrilled about doing this race. I spent most of Friday trying to muster up some enthusiasm, without much success. I just didn't feel ready for it, just two weeks after my half-ironman, and knowing that I also needed to do a long run on Sunday for marathon training. But, it was free, after all, and I'm certainly not going to pass up something free in a sport as expensive as triathlon!
The Splash-Mash-Dash has both an Olympic distance and a sprint distance. I was doing the sprint, which was scheduled to start after the Oly. My scheduled start time was really late (8:57), so I woke up at 6:15, which was just weird. Knowing that the Oly started at 6 and that people were going to be on the bike course before I was even out of bed was bizarre! I got to the race site and found my assigned rack, and I was the first one there. Also weird, but cool because I got the prime end spot. I got my stuff laid out, chatted a bit with some fellow racers, etc. I just felt really scattered, like I was missing something. Hmm. I decided to walk down to the pool with a couple of other people in case they could get us started early. Sure enough, there was no line, and you could go as soon as you had some people of similar pace to swim with, so I got started about 30 minutes early.
The swim format for this race is odd, but it turned out to be pretty fun. It was a 500 yd swim, so 20 lengths, and you swim 11 lengths in the indoor pool, get out and run to the outdoor pool, jump in and swim 9 lengths. I figured for the short distance, I really had nothing to lose, so I tried to actually "race" instead of my normal take my time and survive philosophy. It worked great except for the part where my goggles were not adjusted right and I had to stop at least three times to fix them because they were leaking. I felt pretty good. I did get passed once, but we knew she was faster when we decided to swim together. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't counting and didn't get tapped on the head (your cue from the counters that you have one more length) when she was supposed to get out, so she swam 4 extra lengths. Yikes!
T1 was uneventful, other than finding out that my lane buddy had stayed in the pool too long! Out on the bike...
I knew this course was going to be hilly. I've done another race in this series twice before, so I thought I was prepared, but this was at a different rec center on the other side of town. Where the bike course at the other race was hilly but up and down, this one was pretty much straight up for the first half of the race. I kept waiting for downhills, but they didn't happen! And then we hit the top and I was excited to finally get some downhill, and I got hit with a killer headwind. Pedaling hard against resistance just to go 19 mph DOWNHILL. Oh well. The last part of the course was totally downhill and fast and FUN. I didn't do my research very well for this race (should have driven the course!) and I thought the bike was 12 miles. Turned out it was only 10. Oops. Into transition, where the race photographer got what is probably a stellar shot of me pedaling in while trying to get my feet out of my shoes.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that at some point on the bike it occurred to me that, um, I forgot to put my bike number ON my bike. And not only did I forget to do that, but I forgot to put my race number on my racebelt and lay it out in transition. So, yeah, T2 was pretty slow as I dug through my transition bag for my race belt and wrestled my number on it (dropping it twice in the process ). As I was doing that, a guy at the end of my rack started asking me tons of questions (where does this number go, do I need this number, should I put these shorts on, etc.)...first tri, LOL.
To the run. Once again, I knew it would be hilly, but had NO idea what was in store for me. I always mentally block out the hills in Highlands Ranch because if I didn't, I would probably never sign up for another race there again! I felt pretty good, and I wanted to push the pace and hopefully run sub-10s. I was doing alright and enjoying the nice trail through the park when I rounded a curve to see a mountain in front of me. Ok, maybe it wasn't a mountain, but it was a pretty darn big hill! I thought I could manage to run it, but that didn't last very long, so hiking it was. There were three of those rotten suckers on the course and they were miserable! All I could think was that I was so glad to be doing the sprint and not the oly because the oly turned around at mile 3 and ran the whole length of the course back to the finish whereas we got to peel off and make it a loop. There's no way I wanted to run that course twice! At the mile 3 aid station, I saw a friendly face...a guy from the Beginner Triathlete forums whom I had met at the Boulder 70.3. With some encouraging words and a cup of water, he sent me down the hill to the finish line. The last half mile was great and I felt like I had a pretty good kick to the finish.
I drank some water, packed up my stuff in transition but left it there, and headed over to check the results as they posted them. I could not believe my eyes. I was in THIRD for my age group. I thought that surely the faster racers must have still been out on the course, and once the updated results were posted, I would drop, but I decided to hang around, just in case. So they started the awards ceremony and did the awards for the oly first. The whole time, I'm watching the finish line to see if I see any fast-looking people coming across, but there really weren't. They started up the awards for the sprint, and get to F30-34, and sure enough, they called my name for third place!
I'm still in shock, I think. I've said often that the only way I would ever place in my AG was for there only to be 3 people in it, and I figured that wasn't going to happen until I was in my 60's! I'm really excited, although I don't have any proof yet because someone forgot to bring the sprint medals to the awards ceremony, so I have to wait for them to send it to me!
The funny thing is that I was only a minute out of second place, too, which could have easily been made up by my goggle adjustments, my crappy T2 while putting my number on, and running up the hills instead of walking! But, for a race that I really wasn't very thrilled about doing, this is awesome! Screw those big, uber-competitive Boulder races, I'm sticking to the small races from now on!
Speaking of big, uber-competitive Boulder races, Boulder 70.3 race report coming up later this week, as well as an update on what we've been up to this summer. Just in time for me to start school again on Monday and resume blog silence until Christmas break! :-D
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Monday was my third year in a row running the Bolder Boulder 10K race. I love this race. The spectacle, the course, the ceremonies...it just all combines to make an incredible event. I was really nervous heading in to this race since I
hadn't raced since February...it was like I'd forgotten how to get
ready! Plus I honestly had no idea how I was going to be able to do. I was hoping that I was at least mostly recovered from my post-marathon burnout, but like I said, I hadn't raced since February. I had an idea of what I would like to do, but had no idea if it was even remotely possible. I took the bus up and was at the start a good hour before my wave
started (the race starts in waves, since there are 50,000+
runners...first wave went at 7, the last went around 10!). I wandered
over to the port-o-potties before the lines got long and took care of
business so I could go about pinning myself into my blindingly bright Brooks ID uniform.
As I was sitting on the curb, my friend Lindsay found me (her: You
weren't kidding about how bright that thing is! me: I TOLD you! :-P) and
helped me pin the back part. We chatted as I finished getting ready and
then she went to warm up a bit and I went to go check my bag. Where the
line was already TWO BLOCKS long. At 6:50! Unbelievable. I mean,
the lines are always long, but this was ridiculous. Every one of my
friends that checked a bag either barely made their wave, or missed it
and had to run with a later wave. Luckily, I ran into Erica and Liz
who were in line and let me cut in with them. (Them: BRIGHT Me: I KNOW :-D) As we
were standing there, my friend Shannon and her friend found me...guess
how? LOL) I find it hilarious that in
past years, I've been in the same wave as friends and not been able to
find them, but this year, almost everybody I knew who was running found
me! ID uni, FTW!
I got my bag checked, finally, and we jogged up to the start line. So
much for my planned 5-10 minute warm-up jog. Oh well. I slid into my
wave with about 3 minutes to spare. Next thing I knew, we were off! My
"goal" was to run 9 minute pace, but I
honestly had no idea how realistic that was. I really would have been
happy with 9:30 pace. My goal was to go out at or close to my goal pace,
since I've learned the past two years that if I go out easy and try to
drop my pace later, it's probably not going to happen! The first couple of miles were
tough, my legs felt heavy and like they didn't really want to go, but I
was still right around 9:10 pace. Mile 1 brought us the Blues Brothers,
belly dancers, and Elvis. The first bacon sighting was at mile 2 (with
additional sightings at miles 4 and 5). Mile 3 brought us beer and
doughnuts, a slip n' slide, and a pretty good uphill. My legs were
starting to loosen up and feeling pretty good by this point. For the
rest of the race, it felt like my speed was limited more by my cardio
than by my legs. Somewhere in mile 4, the spectators were handing out
Doritos. That one really cracked me up...They had trays with doritos
spaced so that it was easy to grab just one. I LOVE the Bolder
Boulder! The last two miles hurt pretty bad, but yet I had my fastest
pace of the race. The last mile is uphill and sucks, but there's
something SO special about surviving the last brutal uphill into the
stadium and coming in to all those people cheering. I was so psyched to
see my time under 57 minutes! My official time ended up being 56:52, nearly a minute and a half faster than last year, a new PR! I've never been that wiped out at the end
of a race, so I'm pretty confident that I gave it just about everything I
had. I headed a little bit up toward the fieldhouse (where
they collect the timing tags and you get your snack bag and beer and
stuff) and waited for Shannon and her friend Nicole, who started in
the wave behind me.
The only real bummer of the day was that I couldn't get anyone to go get
breakfast with me after the race! All my friends were either heading
home right away, in later waves, or just not interested. Oh well. I did a
walk through the expo, hung out with one friend for a little while, and
then met up with some new friends from Twitter. I'd never met them
before, but they turned out to be really, really cool. The Memorial
Day ceremonies were, as always, phenomenal. The pro race was incredible.
They do a team format with each country having three runners for their
team. The mens race was won by Ethiopia, all three runners came into the
stadium together HOLDING HANDS THREE ACROSS. And STAYED that way all
the way through the stadium and across the finish line! I've never seen
anything like it, it was incredible. They did give them official places
and stuff, but they all said that they were sharing the prize money
equally. How cool is that?! Almost as cool was the fact that Team
Colorado (who is kinda the JV team for Team USA for this race) got
second, placing all three runners in the top 10! The women's finish
wasn't quite as impressive but it was really freaking fast. The first
mile was 4:55! I think the
winner's time was 31:06 or something ridiculous like that. The men's
winning time was 29ish!
Overall, another great day at the Bolder Boulder. I really love this race. I mean,
come on...50,000+ racers, a stadium full of people cheering for running,
of all things, awesome elite racing...it just doesn't get much better!
Skydiver bringing in the flag for Memorial Day ceremonies
With my new Twitter friends, Sarah, Lisa, and Ali 
Official race results: Net time: 56:52 Pace: 9:09 (not quite 9:00, but not bad!) Overall place: 11428/50421 Gender place: 3478/22964 Division place: 120/643
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Yeah, yeah, I know. I've been neglecting the blog again. Sorry about that! I finally got around to uploading a bunch of pictures, so it seemed like an appropriate time for a "what we've been doing lately" post. First of all, for those of you who may not know (which probably isn't very many)...I got into nursing school!!! Hooray! School starts in less than a month, so it's been a bit of a whirlwind getting financial aid forms filled out, taking care of checking all my immunizations and getting boosters, registering for classes, hiring a nanny for the summer (we'll still need to find a full time nanny for the fall), and just generally letting it sink in that I'm going back to school. The details...I will be attending the University of Colorado-Denver at the Anschutz Medical Campus (where University Hospital is) to get a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. I got accepted to the accelerated program, which means that I will graduate in December 2011, assuming I survive all my classes and clinicals! I'll only be in class on Tuesday and Thursday for the summer (with an online class as well), which will leave me a teeny bit of time to play this summer before school *really* gets serious in the fall. We took a quick trip back to Ohio in April. Miami made it to the Frozen Four hockey championships again, and conveniently enough, they were in Detroit this year, so I took Tyler along and dropped him at Grandma and Grandpa's house while I was at the games. Unfortunately, Miami took a major beatdown from the evil that is Boston College, but it was still a fun weekend, getting to hang out with friends and family. Friends from Miami: Megan, Mary Lynne and me
Tyler and Kallie with the grandparents
Cleaning grandma's house!
Tyler's preschool had its annual carnival at the beginning of May, and it was a blast! There was a cakewalk, cookie decorating, a fire truck, train rides, wagon rides, bounce houses, games, and much much more. Driving the fire truck
Ready for a train ride
And finally, this past weekend we headed up to A-Basin to meet up with friends for a Mother's Day bash on the Beach. The Beach is the front row of parking right up alongside the bunny slope, and it's party central in the spring. I only got a few "grown-up" runs in, but we had a blast just hanging out and Tyler got a bunch of runs in, too. He totally rocked the Molly Hogan headwall! :-D My friend Shannon and her husband Brett hosted the Beach party. Let me tell ya, the Dilleys know how to tailgate! A bloody mary bar, a mini-keg, lots of food, and lots of great company... Shannon and I (we both have some GREAT hair going here!) 
Shannon's daughter Paige and Tyler were fast friends and had a blast playing in the snow and mud together (making "iced cocoa drinks"...I'm pretty sure that one was Paige's idea)! 
My friend Katy is a ski instructor and was so awesome as to take Tyler on a few runs and give him some tips (among them, how to spear snowboarders with a ski pole!). She also took him on his very first chairlift ride, something mommy was too chicken to attempt! 
She also encouraged an over-eager almost-4-year-old to take her down...and he did! 
It was a wonderful day with some good friends, and my number one little ski buddy! 
What's up next? Well, I have a whole lot of "stuff" to cram in before I start school...a bike fitting, sushi with the girls, some serious housecleaning, Tyler's fourth birthday party, etc. My next race is the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day and then tri season will start up in June. Classes officially start June 7. At some point this summer, we'll be making a quick trip to Kalamazoo to visit Amy and Dan and Kallie and meet my new nephew, Kade. Oh, and did I mention that it's May 11, and we have a major winter storm coming? Sigh. I love Colorado. :-P
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I first heard about the Brooks ID program sometime last year. My superstar, kick-ass, ultra-running triathlete friend, Sonja, was a member, and so was her also kick-ass friend, Michelle. Hmm, that looks kinda cool, I thought. But stuff like that is for the "real" athletes, not the slowpoke wanna-bes like me, right? Well, just for the heck of it, I looked into the program, and I liked what I saw. Hmm, I thought. Why not give it a try? What's the worst they can do, say no? So I filled out the online application, clicked the submit button and sent it away into cyberspace with very little anticipation of success. Imagine my shock and elation when I got an acceptance email just after the first of the year! Wow! Who would have thought that *I* would ever be a sponsored athlete?! Ok, so it's not like I'm getting tons of free stuff or getting paid to train and race, but I get a great discount, and a cool team uniform! 
You sure won't miss me coming in this!
So, you may be asking, what exactly IS the Brooks ID program? Well, ID stands for Inspire Daily. It's a team of athletes who are active in their running communities and are passionate about the Brooks brand. From the ID website, ID members "are runners who are winners in their own right: Winning their age
divisions, accomplishing their personal goals, pushing their own limits,
and, by extension, encouraging others to do the same. They are coaches,
mentors, and leaders." Obviously I don't meet that first criteria, but I'd like to think that I do a pretty a good job with all the others. One of the things that I've tried to do as I've gone through this journey from couch potato to triathlete and marathoner is to encourage others that they can do the same. Heck, if *I* can do it, why can't everybody? I've pushed my limits much farther than I ever dreamed possible, and I continue to do so, and I love to see all the friends that are accompanying me in getting out of our comfort zones and pushing past the boundaries of what we thought we could do. The Brooks mission is to inspire people to run and be active. I can't think of much better than that. I'm still very new to the ID program, but I'm loving the community of athletes that I've become a part of. We're getting to know each other through Twitter and dailymile. It's been amazing to see what everyone is out there doing every day, from the speedsters preparing for Boston to the "average joes" like me who are trying new distances or shooting for PRs. 
Me in my new uniform, blurry iphone photo courtesy of Tyler :-D What's next on the agenda? The Platte River half-marathon, on April 11. Unless I'm out of town, which I'm not going to talk much about for fear of jinxing it, but let's just say that there's a chance I'll be in Detroit. If I'm in Denver, though, I'm hoping for a PR. And no, I haven't heard about nursing school yet. I promise, everyone will know as soon as I do! They said "late March", which I'm assuming will mean that they will mail the letters on the last day of the month. :-p One last side note, my previously mentioned kick-ass, ultrarunning friend Sonja is running her first 100 miler tomorrow in Moab. Yes, 100 miles. At one time. I'm completely in awe. If you're so inclined, head over to her blog and wish her good luck, or give her a follow on Twitter (@goSonja) and send her some love!
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The three saddest letters in a racer's vocabulary. DNF. Did Not Finish. I guess I've been somewhat lucky that it's taken me this long to encounter them, but unfortunately my luck ran out on Saturday. Saturday was the third and final installment of this season's Chilly Cheeks winter duathlon series, and it lived up to its name. It started snowing Thursday and didn't really let up, so I was already not too thrilled about racing. Nonetheless, I got up and headed down to Cherry Creek to freeze my tush off for a couple of hours. A few hundred hardy (or
stupid) racers showed up, although many of those made the decision to switch
from the 10 mile bike/4 mile run duathlon to the run-only option. The racers
started in waves of 5-10, and I was in the second wave. Due to the icy road
conditions, I opted to ride my mountain bike rather than my road bike, which made for a long, slow ride. The bike ride was absolutely miserable,
between the freezing cold and the icy roads. My hands, especially my
fingers, were so cold that I could barely work my shifters, and thank goodness I never needed to brake, since I don't know how well I would have
been able to. I spent most of the ride fantasizing about taking a DNF and
skipping the run, all the while knowing that I'm far too stubborn to
actually do such a thing. I came into transition dreading the four mile run
ahead of me. My feet and hands were both numb. I got my bike up on the rack
and was promptly dropped to the ground with excruciating hand pain like I've
never felt before. I spent a minute or so crouched there, crying, before
another racer noticed and asked if I was ok. She escorted me over to the
ambulance, where the paramedics thought I had fallen and smashed my hands, I
was in so much pain. They kept me in the ambulance for about half an hour,
warming my hands up. I feel kind of silly that my first ever DNF was a
result of cold hands, but I know that my hands were in pretty bad shape.
They remained painful and swollen for several hours after the race, even
after getting warmed up. As I've been reassured by many friends since,
frostbite (or worse) is nothing to fool around with. I was wearing
full-finger cycling gloves, but obviously should have been wearing something
*much* warmer. The pain of the DNF has faded a bit over the past couple of days, but it's still disappointing. And of course, I wish I had a better story to tell. You know, where I wiped out on ice and injured myself or something. Not badly, of course, it just sounds better than "frozen hands"!
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Wow, what a weekend! I flew to Phoenix Thursday night, and Valerie, the friend I was staying with, picked me up at the airport. First stop....In-n-Out Burger. Mmmm. Valerie had to work on Friday, so I took the opportunity to just hang out and relax a little. I also had one last training run to get in, a quick 2 miles. Since it was dark when I arrived the night before, this was my first chance to get a look at my surroundings. We're not in Denver anymore! 
After Val got off work, we headed downtown to pick up my packet and check out the race expo. I found a couple of shirts that I really liked.... My new motto
I had this thought frequently during the weekend! :-D
After the expo, we met up with my Aunt Judy and cousins Chris and Andi for dinner. It was great to have a margarita, relax a little, and get caught up with family that I hadn't seen for about 12 years. Saturday was another relaxing day. We slept in a little and then went out for some shopping. Back to Val's house to relax some more before heading down for a pre-race pasta dinner with friends. When I signed up for the race back in October, I did it because I knew I had a couple of friends in the area, as well as some family, so I wouldn't be totally alone. Well, I kept finding out that more and more people I knew were headed down to Arizona, which was really cool. We had nearly 30 people for dinner Saturday night! I got to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in awhile, including my friend Mike, who I grew up with, and his wife and family. Some yummy pasta, and a glass of wine to take the edge off my nerves, and I was a happy girl. Sonja, Randi, and me 
I was good and went to bed early, but slept pretty badly. I think I tossed and turned until at least 1, and then the alarm went off at 4:45. Valerie took me downtown, and we had planned for lots of
extra time because we had heard that traffic was ridiculously crazy.
Well, there was NO traffic and we were there WAY early. Ready to go, cheesy grin and all! 
Val hung out
with me for awhile until I met up with friends Cody, Josh, Randi, and
Michelle, at which point it was time to head for the corrals. They were
all in much lower numbered corrals, so we wished each other good luck
and split. Before I knew it, it was time to go and we started walking
up toward the start line. I couldn't figure out why everybody was
cheering, and then I looked up and realized that John McCain was up on
the stand (and apparently the mayor of Phoenix, not that I would have
any clue who that was). I was really conscious of not going out too
fast and let everyone else just go flowing past me. The first three or
four miles sucked. For some weird reason, even though I was really
watching my pace, I was having some minor side stitches. Nothing too
bad, just really annoying, and messing with my mind because I knew I
had a LONG way to go. What was even worse was that the 5 hour pace
group had started at the front of my corral, and they went out really
fast, and I almost even lost sight of them, which freaked me out! This
was around the point that I tossed the 4:45 goal out the window and
just started hoping for under 5. Around mile 5, I met my
twin...seriously, she was wearing the matching tank top to my skirt,
and a hot pink skirt, so pretty much the same as me, just opposite. :-D
She was great. She was a great pace for me, and we ran together,
chatting up a storm for 8 miles. We caught up with the pace group and
ran with them for a little while before they started making me feel
claustrophobic, so we decided to go around them and get out in front.
That was the last I saw of them!
My running partner was unfortunately suffering from shin splints and
decided to drop out at the half, which was a major bummer since we ran
so well together. I kind of felt like I was running in no-mans land the
next several miles. The crowd had thinned out a bit and there was
nobody running my pace. Anyone that was close was run/walking. I felt
ok, but not great. I was running right around my goal pace and feeling
pretty good through mile 22 or so. Valerie was there, cheering for me right before 22, and I
was running strong. Why do I always look goofy in pictures of me running? 
And then I hit the wall at 23. It kind of snuck up
on me, because everybody had said it would be around 21 or 22. Those
last 3 miles were SO hard. My quads tightened up, then my hamstrings
tightened up. I walked the aid stations, but walking almost felt worse
than running. The last two miles were a shuffle, but I just kept
telling myself that it was only x more miles, I could walk the last bit and
still go under 5 hours. I channeled my dingo sisters ("don't think, just run") and
my friend Amy (kicking breast cancer's a$$). And even though it felt
like fooooreeevvveer, before I knew it, I was coming around the corner
and could see the finish line. I picked it up, and finished really
strong, with a smile. (You can see me cross the finish line here.)
As I was working my way through the water/fruit/etc., I saw Cody and
Josh. Josh had finished not far ahead of me, Cody ran 3:47! And we found out a little later that Michelle ran 3:41 and
qualified for Boston and Randi had a great race and ran 4:07! We headed over to gear check where Valerie met up
with us and ran into my friend Mike and his wife Marisa, who
walked the half-marathon.
We hung out with them and listened to the post-race concert for awhile, talking
and getting caught up some more. I finished! 
Mike and me 
Cody, Josh, and me 
Later that night, we decided to go meet up with Randi and her friend Jessie for some Mexican food. Oh, and maybe some margaritas. Randi and I really enjoyed our margaritas! 
Official finishing time: 4:53:54. I'm pretty happy with that. My main goals were just to finish, and to go under 5 hours. I knew I could go 4:45 if I had a good day, but knew pretty early on that it wasn't going to happen, and that was fine. Some parts were much harder than I expected (the beginning), some parts were a lot easier (miles 18-23). I'm still kind of in shock that it's over with already. It all went by so fast! And it's hard to believe that *I'm* a marathoner!
I'm actually not feeling too horribly bad today. My quads are ridiculously sore, the ends of a couple of toes hurt, and there are various other aches and pains, but nothing major. I even wore my boots with 3 inch heels home on the plane. Ok, mostly because they wouldn't fit in my suitcase, and I kind of shuffled a lot, but still. :-D The weirdest thing is that my skin hurts. As in, I was in the shower this morning and when I went to wash my arms...OUCH! Hopefully it's a fairly quick recovery, since I have a race on Saturday! Ok, I'm really not planning on racing, but I'm signed up, so I'll go out and bike 10 miles and run 4. Slowly. Oh, and in a moment of taper-inspired insanity last week, I did something a little nuts (shocking, I know)...and signed up for my second marathon. Rock n' Roll Denver, October 17! I'm sooooo glad that I have 9 months before I have to do this again!
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Goodbye 2009, hello 2010! 2009 was full of highs and lows, as well as lots of firsts, both for myself and for Tyler. Preschool and a half-ironman were just a couple of the new challenges we tackled this year.  
2009 was spent hanging out with friends, at the zoo, on a run or bike ride, at Monkey Bizness, and lots of other fun places.  
2009 was the year that Tyler officially stopped being a baby or even a toddler and turned into a little boy. Sniff.  2009 was the year that I pushed myself physically way beyond where I ever thought I could go. Year-end totals: nearly 1900 miles...almost evenly split between running and biking (with not nearly enough swimming in there, too). 14 races. 6 running races, from 4 miles to half-marathons. 3 duathlons. 5 triathlons (2 sprints, 2 Olympics, and a half-ironman). One 60+ mile organized bike ride. One bike ride up (and down!) Vail Pass.  2009 was the year that I registered for my first marathon. Which is in (GULP) 16 days. 2009 was the year that I went back to school (re)taking pre-requisites so that I could (and did) apply to nursing school. Hopefully 2010 will be the year that I find out that I got accepted and begin the next stage of my life. 2009 found me incredibly blessed by the love and support of my family and friends. I am unbelievably fortunate to be friends with some amazing people. People who go out of their way to help me...by watching Tyler when I needed to do "grown-up" things...by listening and offering a hug whenever needed...by pushing me out of my comfort zone and encouraging me to do things I never dreamed I could...by running and biking and swimming and skiing with me. I love all of you so very much. Thank you for being in my life.
So long, 2009. Let's make 2010 even better.
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My journey towards full-blown insanity just keeps on going, and today I took the next logical step. I signed up for a marathon! I've got 12 weeks until the Rock n' Roll Arizona Marathon on January 17. The scary part is that the heaviest week of training will be while we're in Ohio for Christmas. Nothing like busting out a short 20 miler in Ohio in December!
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I'm racing the Denver half-marathon this Sunday, and a few weeks ago I got an email from my friend Sonja that one of her sponsors, Trakkers, was doing some beta testing at the race and was looking for volunteers. Since I know how much all of you love to follow my racing (yes, I'm kidding), I jumped on the chance! Trakkers is a company that is developing a real-time GPS-based athlete tracking system so that you can follow your favorite athlete during their race, even from far away. If you've got nothing better to do at 7 AM mountain time on Sunday, you can "watch" me run, however slowly it may be. I've copied the email from Carole at Trakkers below. Just click the link on race morning, and make sure to take the online survey so they can get some honest feedback on how the device is working and how they can improve it! Below is the link you can send
to your loved ones to use to follow you on race day. At this point I don’t
think our application is compatible with iPhone but we are moving in that
direction. I think (but am not 100% certain) this test is only viewable from a
computer – and I have heard MAC causes problems. ?
(Feel free to forward this email
to your friends and family if you’d rather not take the time to explain
everything I am below.)
When sending the link to your
friends and family, please ask them to fill out the online user survey they’ll
find on race day. We are specifically not giving online user instructions how
to navigate the system as this is part of our test (frankly, it’s the primary
purpose). We realize not every person who wants to follow their loved one will
be computer savvy and we are trying to create a system that is fairly intuitive
to navigate. Our online user feedback has been critical to improvements and we
truly appreciate everyone’s time they’ve taken to give feedback on their
experience.
I thank you (and your friends
and family) in advance for any feedback they offer. Ultimately, we are
creating this device and website for THEM so they can follow you during your
training and racing. Knowing how to make this better for them is our primary
objective.
We are continuing to make
modifications to URL page until race day, so know the final version will not be
ready until the morning of the race. Also, if you have difficulty getting to
this page, try copying and pasting the URL directly.
Here is the link they will go to
on race day.
http://www.trakkersgps.com/trackevents/event-test.aspx?eventid=16&subeventid=19
Thanks again for your help! We
are excited for this test and eager for your loved ones to have an intimate
connection to your progress!
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This past weekend, I raced in my first half-ironman, the Harvest Moon Long Course at Aurora Reservoir. I'd done a pretty good job of keeping myself in denial that it was so close, but by the time Friday and packet pick-up rolled around, I was doing a pretty good job of freaking out. Surprisingly, I slept ok Friday night. Well, maybe there was some Tylenol PM involved. :-) I arrived at the Reservoir Saturday morning apparently at entirely the
wrong time...there was a loooong line of cars waiting to get in. From
what I understand, people who got there earlier and later didn't have
any wait at all, but I sat there for about 20 minutes before being able
to park. I got my bike down off the rack and went to pump up my tires.
Got the front one pumped up, and then my pump decided to eat the end
off the valve stem of my tube. Doh.
Yeah, you kind of need that or the tube won't hold air. I grabbed a
spare tube out of the back of the car and the rest of my stuff,
figuring I would figure it out and/or find someone to help me in
transition. I found a decent spot, plopped my stuff down, and went off
to get my timing chip and body marking. Fortunately, on my way back, I
ran into my friend Hillary's husband, Ben, who was doing the duathlon and
knows a lot about bikes, so I commandeered him to help me change my
tire.
We got it changed, went to pump it up, and the freaking pump ate the
end off the valve stem again! Luckily, Ben had a spare tube and a floor
pump, so he grabbed those and changed the tire for me AGAIN.
So, by this time, it's less than half an hour till the race starts and
I am totally unprepared. The good thing about this was that it didn't
give me time to freak out too much! By the time I got my stuff laid
out, it was time to head down to the water. I met up with a friend that was doing the race as well, and we walked down to the beach and got our wetsuits on and
warmed up a bit. Before I knew it, it was time to go.
The swim was much better than I anticipated. This race was small
enough, and the waves spaced out far enough that there really wasn't
much crazy stuff going on. I tried to set a pace that was comfortable,
but where I was still working hard. The first buoy was a LONG way out.
It took forever to get to it! Out by the turnaround and on the way back
in, the waves started picking up a bit, resulting in a few inadvertent
mouthfuls of water. Before I knew it, I was done with the swim, and
heading up the beach to transition.
T1 felt like it took forever, but my time really wasn't that bad. The
water temperature was warmer than the air at that point, and it was
COLD. There was a relay team on the rack next to me, waiting for their
swimmer, and they were nice enough to help me put on my arm warmers
since I was shaking and I couldn't get them on my wet arms. I grabbed a
lunabar and headed out for the bike.
I stuffed the lunabar down while trying not to crash, since I had
forgotten to eat all my breakfast with all the tire drama pre-race.
The first half of the bike was a lot of fun. It was
fast, and I felt really good, so I pushed hard, maybe faster than I
should have. We did a short out and back and then went into a BIG loop.
There was a car of people who were leapfrogging the course cheering for
their friend, who was not far behind me. I joked with them, and they
kind of adopted me for the rest of the race, which was fun. They even
offered me a donut at one point, which I probably would have taken if it had been a jelly donut instead of powdered. :-D
The bike course was really not very interesting, out in the middle of
nowhere, practically in Kansas. With the weather and the clouds, we
couldn't even see the mountains, so it was just farmland with lots of
big long rolling hills. My legs started feeling a bit tired around mile
30, and little did I know that the worst was yet to come. Around mile
42 or so, there was a BIG hill that completely wiped me out, but there was still 15 miles or so back to the finish, pretty much all uphill. Ouch. I did a lot of
out-of-the-saddle climbing just to try to keep moving forward. I knew
the last part of the course was uphill, but didn't think it would be as
bad as it was! My adopted friends, as well as Hillary and my friend
Shannon were at the bottom of the hill outside of transition, cheering
away.
T2 was pretty uneventful. The relay team was there, having just sent
their runner out, so I chatted with them while I got changed over. I
got to say hi to Shannon on my way out of transition, and got a quick
hug, and I was off.
My legs felt really good to start the run, but I tried to keep things
under control, since I knew I had a long way to go. It was slightly
disheartening to see guys coming in to the finish as I was heading out,
knowing that they were done and I still had 13 miles to run! My friend
Sonja had written in her ironman race report about keeping a smile on her
face the whole race and how good it made her feel, so I was going to
try to do the same thing. It was amazing, I felt good, I loved smiling
at people (lots of people coming back in on the out and back course),
exchanged lots of comments with people, it was fun! I passed my friend Cody on
his way back in around 3.5 miles and then saw Ben around 4.5. I hit the
turnaround, still feeling pretty good. It started drizzling just a
little around that point, which actually felt a little nice. But then
it really started raining around 8. Which wasn't so fun. I kept
smiling, though! By this point, there wasn't much traffic out on the
course (all the normal people had already finished!) so it was getting
harder to stay motivated and positive. I was still feeling pretty
decent, though, which lasted till probably around 11.5, at which point
my legs decided that they were DONE. The last mile had a lot more
walking than I had hoped for, and my smile definitely slipped a bit.
I came around the last corner into the finish area, and I could see Tyler, and my smile came back! I ran over and grabbed Tyler's hand, and
he ran across the finish line with me. He did AWESOME! They were pretty far
out from the finish line, so it was a long way for little legs to go. Hillary was there, as
well as Amy and Becky (my #1 fan!) and they were
all cheering like crazy. To be honest, the finish is a little blurry. I
remember hearing some comments about how cute Tyler was, and vaguely
remember the announcer saying my name, and that's about it. I got
across the finish, and scooped Tyler up for a big hug, and then my friends
were there, hugging me. Amazingly, I don't think I even cried! 
The weird thing has been how anti-climactic it's all been. I didn't
really expect to get hit this hard by the blahs afterward, and I really
thought the high would last longer! By Sunday afternoon, I was in the middle of a major post-race letdown, with a big feeling of "now what?" I'm thinking about signing up for the Denver half-marathon next month (after seriously contemplating signing up for a half-marathon THIS weekend, I've since gotten over that little bit of insanity), and then who knows...
Results:
Swim 44:48
T1 3:42
Bike 3:38:06 (15.4 mph)
T2 3:19
Run 2:32:13 (11:38 pace)
Overall 7:02:06
I was expecting much closer to 8 hours, so to be just over 7 is
awesome. I think the swim may have been a bit short, or maybe I just
kicked butt. :-p The bike was about 20 minutes faster than I was expecting, and my run
was just about what I thought. I'm really happy with how it went, but if I had
to do it over, I would try to get my run distance up a bit further
beforehand, so maybe I wouldn't crash between 11 and 12. And I think I
probably will do it again, just not too soon. :-D A huge thanks to Ben, for helping me change my tires, and to Hillary for the pictures, and to Shannon, Becky, and Amy for coming out and cheering. Amy came out on a pretty crappy weather day, just over two weeks after a double mastectomy. To cheer for me. That's pretty humbling. I wish I had a picture, but I had "For Amy" marked on my arm, and thought of her frequently during the time I was out on the course (and there was a LOT of time to think!). 7 measly hours on a race course is nothing compared to what she's going through, but she's doing it with strength and courage and grace, and she inspires me on a daily basis. Thank you, Amy. Love ya, sister! Here is the link to the rest of the pictures from the race!
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So, um, yeah. It was brought to my attention last week that I've been neglecting the blog. Oops. Sorry about that. Things have been a bit busy in these parts, mostly due to the fact that I'm going back to school. Those two little pre-requisite classes that I took this summer just completely took over my life! I literally didn't even turn on the tv for weeks, and if you know me, that's a big deal. :-D With that in mind, here's a (not-so) little recap of what we've been up to this summer, with pictures...
I went whitewater rafting for Myka's 30th birthday 
We went to the pool 
And the zoo... 
I introduced another friend, Jenn, to the addiction that is triathlon at Danskin. And had an awful race at Boulder Peak. 
I joined my friend Sonja and her training partners for part of a 17 hour training day as they prepare for Ironman Canada (which is this weekend).
I biked 50 miles, my longest distance to date. 
And then ran 10.5 miles with Andrea. And felt really good, like I could keep going. So I signed up for a half-ironman. 
We went to Ohio for my 15th high school reunion, which I forgot to take any pictures at, but we also got some good visiting in with family. Tyler learned to eat corn on the cob 
He had a great time at Grandpa's car shows 
He took lots of pictures with the camera he got for his birthday 
Cousin Kallie taught him how to jump on Grandma's bed 
Tyler got to feed the lorakeets with Grandpa and Judy  And a giraffe! 
He got some quality time in with Uncle Kevin 
And Aunt Amy 
And Grandma Lois, too, although somehow I didn't get any pictures of that. We rode bikes. We went running. I raced the Rattlesnake Olympic triathlon, and felt good, although I was pretty slow. We ran some more and biked some more. I biked to Myka's house in Parker for a playdate and back. 40 miles, roundtrip, pulling the trailer. I finished my summer classes, microbiology and anatomy & physiology I, and got A's in both.
Tyler got into the preschool that I fell in love with in the spring. We tackled potty-training, and so far it's been mostly successful. I took the front off of Tyler's crib so that now he's in a "big boy bed". And turned his carseat around to face forward, since he finally hit the weight limit for rear-facing.
And that's about where it stands at the end of August. It's been a crazy, busy, but fun summer. I'm doing a 65 mile group bike ride this Sunday, and my half-ironman, Harvest Moon, is in just over two weeks. I'm a little freaked out, but I'm just out to finish, so as long as I beat the course cut-off time (a little over 8 hours), I'll be happy. Tyler starts preschool on the 10th, two afternoons a week. And I start up with classes again on Monday, statistics and A&P II. Just one more note, before I wrap things up for this ridiculously long catch-up post. My good friend Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer three weeks ago, at 36 weeks pregnant with her second son, Ty. Her son, Drew, will be four in about a month. I met Amy through the hiking group that Tyler and I spent so much time with, and she has become a good friend. Sonja said it much better than I ever could in her blog (here), but Amy has been such a wonderful addition to my life. She helped bring me into the whole triathlon thing, and I've had the joy of racing with her several times. From my very first tri, Danskin (she's the one on the far left) 
To the Highlands Ranch sprint tri last year
 At the Fans on the Field 10k last fall 
And even the Cherry Creek Sneak this year, pregnant and all 
Amy has been an incredible friend to me through everything I've gone through over the past couple of years. I know I can always count on her to listen, offer a few choice words (but no advice unless asked for, which is SO refreshing!), and love unconditionally. She is, quite honestly, one of the strongest, most amazing women I know. If anyone has the right attitude to kick breast cancer's ass, it's Amy. Her son, Ty, was born last Monday, and Amy will go in for double mastectomy surgery tomorrow afternoon. The outlook is very hopeful, but she has a long road ahead of her, and tomorrow is just the beginning. As soon as Amy is sufficiently recovered from the surgery, she gets to start chemo, which will last several months. Her upbeat, optimistic attitude has been a huge inspiration to me, and I know she's going to come through this with flying colors. Please keep Amy and her family (husband Brian, and sons Drew and Ty) in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow and as she goes through this process. Love you, Amy!
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My first tri of the season was last weekend, the Highlands Ranch Tune-Up.
It went pretty well! Overall, I'm happy with how I did, about 10 seconds faster than last year. My run was a bit slower, but my bike was a
bit faster to make up for it. We had absolutely perfect
weather. It was a bit cooler this year, but I also started about 45
minutes later, which meant that it was warm enough on the bike course
that my feet didn't go numb, but it still wasn't blazing hot on the run. A side note...I totalled my bike two weeks ago (stupidly drove it into the garage on top of the car), so my friend Sonja loaned me one of her bikes for the race. A very expensive carbon frame bike. Which was very exciting and terrifying at the same time! Thanks, Son, you're the best!
The swim was a big mess, unfortunately. Last year, it was very specific
about what lane you were assigned to and at what time. This year was
supposed to be the same, but when I got down to the pool, everyone was
just standing in a big line. At first they were saying that it was just
wait in the line and when you get to the front, you go. Then a few
minutes later they walked through and said no, wait...line up by bib
number. So we did, which put us approximately where we should have been for our
assigned waves, at least, but I didn't get started until 15 minutes
after my assigned time. Anyways...I got up there, got with three guys,
and we seeded ourselves according to how fast we thought we'd go. I was third out of the four. They started us off every 5 seconds. I got going, and was trying
hard not to go out too fast so that I didn't burn myself out. The guy behind me tapped me and passed
after about 4 or 5 lengths, which was fine. All three of the guys were
at least a half a length ahead of me at one point. Then all of a
sudden, I was caught up. And they were all right in a row, too. I
re-passed the guy who had passed me, and then spent three or four
lengths trying to pass the next guy. By this point, there were about 4
lengths left to go, and I couldn't get around the guy in the lead. I
tapped his foot *several* times, and even asked at the wall at least
three times to "pass, please" and he wasn't paying any attention. I was
irritated. It wasn't that it was slowing me down that annoyed me so
much (it probably amounted to maybe 30 seconds or so overall, big deal)
but it was that I wasn't able to swim a comfortable, correct stroke
since I kept running into the guy in front of me. I felt like I was
flailing around. We all ended up finishing at the same time and running up to transition
together, where I got a little snippy and the lead guy apologized and
played dumb. Whether he was dumb or not, I'm not sure. It may have been
his first tri, but regardless, it was in all the information that if
you get tapped on the foot, you're supposed to let the person pass you
at the turn. (For the record, I did apologize after the race for
getting snippy and explained that it wasn't the delay that made me mad,
it was the fact that I couldn't SWIM.)
Anyways...onto transition. We were all on the same rack, and seriously
crammed in, but I felt like I had a good transition. My feet were still
surprisingly wet considering the long run up to transition, and I don't
think I had enough baby powder in my socks, but other than that, it was
nice and smooth. I had trouble getting out of transition on the slight
hill since I hadn't checked my gearing and it was a bit too hard, but
immediately out of transition you go down a nice hill, and I was
flying! The bike course was tough, but fun. Most of the first mile is
downhill, then two and three are almost entirely uphill, then a few
more ups and downs until mile six (two loop course), which is a fun, fast
downhill with a really fun curve. I felt pretty good about my ride. I
didn't crash Sonja's bike!
My legs felt pretty tired, but I still think I put a good effort out. I
got passed a few times, but not by any girls (first time ever!) and no
guys on mountain bikes, either! My friend Amy was volunteering and she was
at the bike aid station. I was kinda annoyed because she completely missed
me the first time I went through even though I waved at her and yelled
her name. So on the second loop, I yelled LOUDLY "Dammit, McDowell,
cheer for me!" She did.
I had a pretty good T2, although not as good as T1. I got my shoes off
before the dismount line without slowing down or killing myself. And then out on the run. Which was really, really hard. My legs just
felt dead. And more so than the typical bike to run dead. Which is
weird, since I hadn't run since Wednesday's track workout, and I wouldn't hae thought they would still be that tired. The run course is tough. The first half mile is downhill, then it
flattens out and then there's a slow gradual uphill to the turnaround.
It really really sucks that the last half mile is uphill. I was kind of
hoping to be close to 9 minute pace for the run, but it just wasn't
happening. I revised that after the first mile to hoping for
9:30, but would have been happy to be under 10. I ended up with a 9:22 pace.
Not bad, but not great, considering that's the same pace I ran the
Bolder Boulder at, and that's double the distance.
So, it was a good race, although not fantastic. It was kind of weird, I
felt really alone for most of the race. There just wasn't as much
traffic out on the course as there was last year. Last year, I ran with
another girl for about 1/2 of the 5k, which was nice. Even though we
didn't really talk, it was good to have the silent company! Official race results:
Overall place 182/383
Sex place 52/180
Div place 16/40
Swim 11:31 (includes the looong run up to transition)
T1 1:17
Bike 46:57
Bike mph 15.3 (not sure how this works out, my Garmin says 16.0 mph)
T2 1:01
Run 29:03
Run pace 9:22
Overall 1:29:46
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We were fortunate to spend a week in Hilton Head, SC, a couple of weeks ago for Brian's sister Amy's wedding. It was a fantastic, much needed vacation! Tyler had a blast in both the beach and the pool, played his first round of putt-putt, got spoiled rotten by grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends, and just had an overall great time. We have lots and lots of pictures from the trip (of course), but I'll try to sum up the trip with a few of my favorites! You can find all of the pictures in the Hilton Head album and Amy & Brian's Wedding album. Tyler spent at least an hour of our layover in Atlanta standing in the window and watching the planes. 
Ready for a bike ride around the island 
Shooting Aunt Amy with a water cannon! 
Snuggling with Grandma 
With Aunt Amy at the welcome dinner 
Stick 'em up, Uncle Kevin! 
A beautiful setting for a wedding! 
My little man, so grown up! 
Here comes the bride! 
Running off some energy after the wedding 
The happy couple 
Tyler and Great Grandpa 
Snuggling up to Aunt Amy
The beautiful bride and I (and Tyler!)
The gang on the beach the morning after the wedding 
In Harbourtown 
Ready for some Putt-putt! 
Putting with Mommy 
Telling Aunt Amy to "get the ball in the hole!" 
Aaaarrrr, matey! (It was a pirate themed putt-putt course) 
BOOM! 
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A little over two weeks ago, I sat in my living room and watched the Miami hockey team win the NCAA West Regional final to advance to college hockey's version of the Final Four, the Frozen Four. I was elated and excited but it never even crossed my mind that I might be able to go. Then the next morning, I had my last training run before my half-marathon, and you know what? There's a lot of time to think when you're running 10 miles. And then I took a nice long shower after my run, and I kept thinking. And the more I thought, the more I thought maybe, just maybe, I might be able to go. So I did some preliminary investigation, and within an hour, the stars had aligned for me. I had a free place to stay, an in on game tickets, and Brian agreed to use some of his miles to get me a plane ticket. I was going to Washington D.C. for the Frozen Four! So last Wednesday afternoon, I boarded a plane for our nation's capital and the experience of a lifetime. Well, if you're a hockey fan, anyway! :-p And ok, so I actually flew to Baltimore, but close enough! My "free lodging" came in the form of my best friend growing up, Loni, and she and her kids were at the airport to pick me up. I hadn't seen them in two years, so it was a fantastic way to start the weekend. Loni and I spent the evening catching up, which was great, since most of you know how much I like to talk! Thursday was game day, so Loni and the kids dropped me off at the metro station for the short trip down to D.C. Once in the city, I met up with a friend from Miami, Mary Lynne, and we headed to the pregame alumni gathering at Penn Quarter. We got there early enough to score the last table and the last free t-shirts and rally towels. As we sat there, we watched the place fill up with Miami fans, and the vibe was incredible. We had the pleasure of meeting Miami's president, Dr. David Hodge, and chatting with him for a few minutes. I was really impressed by him and his obvious passion for all things Miami. He even gave each of us a scarf made by his wife since we had come so far (me from Denver, Mary Lynne from San Diego). Me and President Hodge 
We also met some rather odd, but entertaining, fans from Northern Michigan. They came in with a one man band, the lyrics to our fight song printed out (which they used to lead the bar in a couple rounds), and tons of enthusiasm...they were awesome! 
After the pregame, it was time for the big show. We made a stop-over to meet up with Becky from the miamihawktalk message board (who is an incredible woman...hooked us up with tickets and hotel rooms for after the games) and pick up our game tickets and then it was over to the Verizon Center to watch the first-ever team from Miami play in a national semifinal game. Miami was very well-represented but our opponent, Bemidji State, was wearing the Cinderella crown and therefore every unaffiliated fan in the building was cheering for them. Fortunately, we only really had to hear them cheering one time, as we dominated the game. Honestly, most of the game is a blur to me. I remember seeing the puck in the back of the net, with little memory of how it got there. All I know is that it was absolutely incredible to be in the middle of the Miami section, screaming my head off as we sent the Bemidji Beavers back to Minnesota. Me and Swoop (who I must admit is a better mascot than the old and worn Tom-O-Hawk we had back in the day)
After not-nearly-enough sleep, I got up the next morning to take advantage of being in D.C. and go for a really memorable run. Our hotel was less than half a mile from the Capitol building, so I ran out the front door, past the Capitol, along the Mall, around the Washington Monument, and back. I had really hoped to go down past the Lincoln Memorial and out around the Tidal Basin (under the cherry trees) past the Jefferson Memorial as well, but the cherry blossoms were well past their prime and I just couldn't get myself out of bed early enough to have time for a longer run. It was still an incredible run, though! Next up was a trip on the Metro back up to Maryland, where Loni and Rachel and Garrett picked me up. I had asked if we could go somewhere with some good crab for lunch (seeing as how we're land-locked and all here in Colorado), so Loni got a recommendation for a restaurant, and we had a delicious meal. Mmm...crabcakes. Next up, we headed to Ellicott City to walk around and take advantage of the beautiful day and do some window shopping. Loni and I in Ellicott City (as taken by Rachel, age 5...not bad, huh?!) 
I had great plans to go for a nice run through Loni's neighborhood on Saturday morning, but it was pouring rain so I wussed out. Luckily the rain was letting up by the time I was on the Metro heading back down for the game. I dropped my suitcase at our hotel for the night, and Mary Lynne and I headed over to the unofficial pre-game gathering at a local Irish pub. It was amazing. It had been organized just that morning, and advertised through the hawktalk message board and by word of mouth only, and it was jam-packed wall-to-wall with Miami fans. I talked to tons of hawktalkers, and met lots of people who had just gotten into town after driving in from Cincinnati or other locales. The vibe was incredible. There was cheering, fight-song singing, and (in true Miami fashion) a good bit of drinking. :-p From the pre-pre-game gathering, it was on to the "official" alumni gathering in the Verizon Center. We met back up with Becky (who had just flown back from Providence and her oldest son's college lacrosse game) and got fired up some more. Before I knew it, it was game time! 
Mary Lynne and I were approached by an usher just after getting to our seats. He told us that they wanted one of US to go out on the ice at intermission for a race. I kind of wanted to do it, and we couldn't decide who should, so we rock/paper/scissor'd for it. Mary Lynne totally cheated, but I'm glad she did. I am SO glad I lost that one. She ended up missing over half of the second period! Not to mention that she kind of got her butt kicked in the race! :-) Mary Lynne (in yellow) gets smoked in the puck race 
Most of you may know what happened in the game, but I guess I should sum it up for those who don't. In a nutshell, we were up two goals with less than a minute to go. An insurmountable lead, right? Well, not in hockey. There's a saying that a two goal lead is the worst lead in hockey, and it certainly proved true for us.
BU pulled their goalie and scored with just under a minute to go. We still had a one goal lead, so all was well. Then they scored again with 17.4 seconds left. We were 17.4 seconds from a national championship. 
The rest of the game is history. Overtime was a very back and forth affair, with opportunities for both teams. It ended on a totally fluke-y goal that went off our diving defenseman and knuckleballed over our goalie's shoulder. Game over. We lose. I think I'm still stunned at the turn of events. We were so close, but yet so far away. In a lot of ways, it would have hurt less to get blown out. Nobody really gave us a chance against BU, so to not only be IN the game, but in control of it for most of the game, was a surprise. I am incredibly proud to be a Miami alum, and a Miami hockey fan. Our team did an amazing thing last weekend. A little over a month ago, we weren't even expecting to be in the tournament. To be so close to winning the whole darn thing... After the loss, it was a short night before heading back up to Maryland once again. Loni and her husband are very active in their church, which was putting on a huge Easter celebration in a local park, so I got the opportunity to earn my keep a little by helping out. It was a crazy and busy day, but fun. Keeping so busy actually kept me from totally crashing, I think. It was a beautiful day, although a little cold and windy, and nice to get to spend a last little bit of time with my good friend and her family. What a great experience. I wouldn't have missed Miami's first Frozen Four appearance for anything, and the fact that I got to spend some time with Loni was a huge bonus. The only problem is that now that I've been there once, I think I *have* to go back. At the VERY least, I have to be there when (yes, WHEN) Miami wins their first national championship. Luckily, next year's Frozen Four is in Detroit so it could definitely be feasible! Huge thanks to the Penners for allowing me to stay in their home and shuttling me back and forth to and from the airport and the metro station, all while organizing a massive community Easter celebration. Also, huge thanks to Becky, encourager of road trips, purveyor of game tickets and hotel rooms, and all-around awesome new friend! Many more pictures from the weekend are in my Frozen Four album, so check them out!
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