Tuesday, October 8, 2013

18- I've been busy

I've forgotten about my blog for five days straight. That's good, I guess.  Means I've been busy! 

This past week I've been slowly getting better and trying to log some miles. I haven't really gotten too far with that, but I have some miles under my belt this month. I'll try to log some more... I've also been working some. While my new "real" job isn't crazy amazing, it's quite flexible and it pays the bills, so I may hang on to that. My side job though... yeah, that one's awesome!

I worked the Oktoberfest tri last Saturday and it was cold. I was actually in awe that people jumped in the 58 degree water while it was 34 degrees outside. While it must've felt warmer to be in the water, that's still SUPER COLD WATER and I don't even want to imagine how cold it must've felt to come out to the warmth of 34 degrees after swimming... brrrr.  

It was a lot of work, as usual. But fun, as usual. And this time, I got to see a bunch of friend race and close out an amazing triathlon season. 

This weekend, we're headed to Durango. We're timing the Duango Double. It's a 25k and 50k trail race on Saturday and a road half marathon and marathon on Sunday. I'm somewhat bummed I have to work this event since running 50k to redeem myself sounds a million times better, but my soon-to-be-hubby will be giving the 25k a shot and maybe I'll come back next year to tackle that. Besides, I've never been to Durango and what better way to go than going for free and to get paid. 

In the meantime today, I'll bore you with wedding stuff as I head out to my last dress fitting and to drop off my engagement ring and Chuck's cuff links to get polished so they look nice and shiny during our wedding day... in 18 days. 

Thursday, October 3, 2013

23- Start NOW


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

24- Looking for inspiration?

The Bear Chase pictures are up! I will be posting a race report before the end of the week, I'm working on it.

But in the meantime, as I count the days down to my wedding, I got to sit back and "enjoy" going back to my race in images. I love Bear Chase photographers cause they get a million pics. I found 40 pictures of me... some with smiles, some without them. And it was "fun" to see how my race went from the comfort of my living room. From high spirits and smiles, to tough times that challenged my brain, to a disappointing finish that made me feel incredibly accomplished. And yes, the pictures show all emotions.

I'll talk about it in detail in my race report,  but while I ran this race with a cold and tried to push through it as much as I could, my body called it quits at mile 17ish. Mentally it was tough, since I knew I had basically half way to go... and I guess you question yourself what I think of when I say I dig deep.

I've had to dig deep in races in the past, and most times, I toe the start line with a list of "happy thoughts" that are just there... ready for me to use when things get tough. This time, with a cold and with 14 miles to go, my "happy thoughts" were not enough. Not only did I need happy thoughts, but I needed inspiration.

Most the times I talk myself into walking even if my heart tells me I should give it my all and run. My brain overrides my heart and says it's okay to walk. This way, I can think clearer. I pushed through to mile 21 where I ran into Woody. While he may not know it, I think I was trying to find it in my heart to find some words of encouragement, but it's hard to talk yourself up when you feel defeated. This is when my crew usually comes in handy, but I didn't have anyone... so having someone randomly say: "Hey Gaby, how can I help you? Do you need anything?"  Poor guy, I think all I did was point at a huge pile of bags and said: "I want my bag". All I heard was: "Uhh, yeah... which one is it?"  Oops. Delirious state of mind. My apologies.

As I was seating there trying to find my inspiration, he came back with my water bottle and a piece of watermelon and stretched out his hand to say: "Hey, I'm Woody!" I'm gonna say, that was pretty awesome. I am ALMOST positive he got a smile out of me. It was impressive he recognized me from nothing but what I've posted in this blog. That was enough to clear my mind and realize I only had 10 miles to go.

I can push through 10 miles. My coach pushed through the last few miles of his Ironman with a busted ankle. I remember "following" him when he was racing and just as he hit one of the splits, I saw his pace had significantly slowed down and while it kept slowing down more and more, he kept going and finished. It truly blows my mind when people just call it quits and decide that a DNF is better than pushing through pain and digging deep when things get hard. So off I go.

Two and a half hours later, I finished my race. So thanks Woody for being my support crew and for giving me clarity, and thanks to coach Eric for the inspiration... because inspiration is one of those few things I look for in a coach. Who do you look up to? Who inspires you when things get tough out there?

And now, for giggles... this is how hitting the wall looks like (Lindsay will LOVE this):

You can tell I was trying to focus on what my Plan B should be

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

25- Road to improvement...

I do have a cold still, but it is getting better. I am sore still, but that's also getting better. Did I mention I have swollen ankles and those are not quite getting better?  Maybe I should ice and elevate them, but I don't seem to find an activity that allows me to lay on the floor for extended periods of time with my legs up on the couch. 

I would like to talk about running, but I haven't been running much... mostly because of what I just mentioned above.  I will be running a couple miles tomorrow to see how the legs feel and start up the "winter conditioning". I'm also researching races to do this fall, but haven't found any just yet... at least not any that would only require a short drive. I am working at the Durango Double on Oct 12 and 13 and I'm somewhat bummed cause I'd never heard of the races, and they seem AWESOME. But sometimes it's ok to just make some money. Chuck is taking the opportunity to run the trail 25k so if you find yourself bored, make sure you stalk him on RaceRite.com  I will redeem myself after that "sick" 50k and worst comes to worst, I can always go back to Bear Creek State Park and run the loop... 3 times. And time myself.  Am I being a nut-job?  Most likely. I do not care, I needed that race to be a good one. 

I am still waiting to see the pictures for Bear Chase to share with you all. Unfortunately, I'm sure they're gonna show my true pain and my sick self, but I'll be able to entertain you for a bit. In the meantime, I'll leave another embarrassing running pic. 

Totally and completely unaware