Happy Tears

A very special donation just came through my email from TNT.

"Finish your goal, follow your wishes and do your best. We will stay by your side and encourage you.

Love, Mom and Dad"

No words, only some happy tears, can express what this means to me.

PS - the cardiologist cleared me of any heart conditions!

[Jason, I am sure you had something to do with this. Thank you for always believing in me and helping turn our parents around too.]

TNT Love

Since I'm in Richmond VA now, and will be until June 28, I am going to hook up with TNT down here to continue my training!

There is a crew training for the Nation's Triathlon and for the half Ironman, both of these races are in September.. therefore, I am somewhere kind of in between their training schedules. That being said, I'll figure out tomorrow morning, at 7:30am, 40 minutes away from Vincent's house, which team I'll train with.

Wish me luck - it'll either be a 24mi bike or a 120minute one!

FINISHED MY FIRST TRIATHLON!

Keeping this post super short because I am packing, cleaning, getting birth certificates last minute, and many other random things while I'm on vacation these next two weeks.

I FINISHED MY FIRST TRIATHLON ON SATURDAY!

The swim KICKED MY BUTT... not only because the waves were super choppy (and salty!), but because I swam perpendicular AWAY from the shore, twice when we were supposed to swim parallel. I finished the swim in about 18 minutes (including transitions).

The next part, the bike, was on road that was flat as a pancake, and I could not believe how my thighs were burning by mile 5.

The last part, the run, I am happy to say I completed within 26 minutes; that's the fastest I've ever run. Honestly, all I could think of was hurrying up to finish this race that was beating me up. That and pancakes.

This sprint triathlon was a reality check - I have a lot of work to do over the next four weeks. I have no idea how I'm going to do the NYC one, which is more than twice these distances.... wish me luck kids.

Preparing for Pancakes

Tomorrow is pancake race day! Sarah (x2), Catherine, Jodie, a few other Yahoos and I are doing a sprint distance triathlon to get a feel for race day - the soginess and grogginess of it all.

Leaving my apartment at 5am to take the 5:30am State Island Ferry. At 8:15am, I will be jumping into the waters of the Lower Bay off the east side of Staten Island. I hope to finish in 1.5 hours (a very aggressive goal). At this point, I do feel ready and I would have never thought so if you asked me three months ago. Also, there is a very big motivator at the end of the race.

Here is the rundown:

1. .25 mile swim
2. 12 mile bike
3. 3 mile run
4. PANCAKES!

We all get pancakes afterward! The race itself is called "Flat as a Pancake," my favorite kind of course. Maybe I can skip right to the pancakes.

Extra Extra, watch all about it!

Irony of Yahoo posting videos on YouTube aside, Yahoo created a great clip about our Yahoo team's triathlon training.

After the initial intro, fast forward to the 7 min mark to see our segment. Doug, our team captain, does a nice voiceover and you can hear Catherine first hand.

Click on the photo to watch:

If you need the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED0oBuOqY5c&feature=player_embedded

BIKING

Because of some awesomely exhausting events this weekend, I didn't do the Brick on Saturday morning. I am proud of myself to have hauled my butt out of my comfortably encompassing couch at 5pm today to do 16 miles up and down the west side.

At about the 10 mile mark, my body was drained. Not having much of a lunch was probably the reason... but I had to stop. Fortunately, I had some Gu (mint chocolate flavor) and as I started to bike home, decided to turn back around and finish the rest of the journey.

I did it because I thought of the people who read my blog and who support me, and how much they would have wanted me to keep going.

Furthest I have ever run

I have never run more than 4 miles before.

Three months ago, 3 miles was my limit. Running always sucked.

One month ago, I ran 4 miles and my ankles hurt like heck.

This week, I ran 5.5 miles; the furthest I have ever run. I never thought I could do it.

Now, I am doing it for so many reasons.

Before the start of some of our group training sessions, TNT invites special individuals to lead a "mission moment," where they share why they are doing this and for whom. I am so amazed and touched by these people who open themselves up to strangers, talking about something that would generally make most people cry or fall apart. These people are survivors, fathers who are proud of their survivor daughters, daughters that are proud of their fighting fathers, with so many other stories and reasons. It reminds me of how much bigger training and racing is. And why 5.5 miles is just a small, yet critical, step in a much much larger journey.