My LONG road to IRONMAN CDA

2009-08-31T18:13:00.000-07:00

VISIT MY NEW WEBSITE!!!

www.ironkatymoe.com

thanks. :)

2007-07-31T20:51:00.001-07:00

THE FUN RUN!!!!

Off my bike and into the changing tent....I'm feeling alittle "out of it" the tent-ladies are hilarious. I remember T1 my helper (yes you have personal helpers.....that take off clothes for you and put clothes on for you). T1 helpter was in a hurry and I was just sitting there......"hmmm....yeah I guess I want that on too" then she was all frazzled trying to help me hurry up into 900th place! The whole time I was like...ok lady this is my 6 of 20 minutes to chill out all day give me a minute! :) I was VERY thankful for her help though...she scrunched up my armwarmers and put them on (an impossble wet-self-task) It was great, I totally got a kick out of it. Anyways, back to T2. I had an experienced half-ironman helper this time. All I wanted to know was where the port-o was...yes, i had to pee AGAIN! she said they were about 2 miles out on the run course (WHAT?!??!)...or back where I left my bike. MAN! This isn't going to be an efficient T2 I was starting to think. She stripped me down and dressed me up....I put on my sunscreen which BURNED!! my severely chaffed neck (one of the worst pains of the whole IM) ;) I took my tylenol 8hour...and ran back out to the port-o (everyone was looking at my like i was crazy!) "I didn't see them on my way in!". :)

Finally, I was out of T2...and on the run....ok....legs talk to me, how do you feel.....

"we feel good, oh we feel so goood....yeah!"

.....really?? huh?? they do feel good?

well, we'll see it's only within the first mile.....hey, there's Ben's FAMILY!!! HI HI HI>>>smiles....high fives!!! Smile on my face.......running running......and the first aid station......to walk or not to walk??............

(this was the best decision I ever made).....and thanks to MR. SCOTT BOLIN I grabbed some gateraide.......and kept on jogging!!! YEP. I didn't walk. Scott had said to me the night before. You don't have to walk the aid stations...."ha ha ok...i'm doing and Ironman Scott...I'm gonna walk the aid stations". Don't do it! Just get what you need and shuffle if you have to but don't walk......

and I didn't!! Suddenly I was at aid station two......I still don't need to walk!! My legs feel great.....those two mile were sub 9 minutes!! I can't believe this is happening. I'm doing it.....I'm feeling good doing and Ironman! On I went feeling good and FLYING by all the large men who had made me look like i was standing still on the bike course. :) I was heading out of town now.....along the massively fan-lined streets......and there was LEA....oh my friend LEA....my training partner LEA....LEA who pushed me on SO many runs and ran SLOW with me on soooo many runs!!!! "LEA...I JUST RAN THREE SUB 9 minute miles!!! AND I FEEL GOOD" i yelled exstaticlly.....she gave me a quick wave/cheer and lea was gone......I'm so happy running along smiling...then suddenly i think to myself...Katy you only ran three miles you have twenty-three to go. Oh yeah. and then......THERE's SCOTT!! "SCOTT I DIDN'T WALK YET" we high fived he looks good.....he's almost done with loop #1. Man I wish I was on LOOP 2! Oh well...I feel GREAT! I head out onto the highway which takes us along the beautiful lake...there's MIKE....mike yells (surprised!) "hey katy...you look really good?!" I was thinking.....I KNOW and I havn't walked yet! I kept running the miles and aid stations just FLEW by....hey where's my family....I wondered....I hope they aren't stuck in traffic...I wan't them to see me when I still look good! :) The turn around was at the top of this pretty big hill....in the miles leading up I was wondering what would happen to my legs on the hill.....well of course guess where my family was ON THE HILL. DAMN IT....no questions asked I can't walk (not that I would've I hadn't walked yet and I was already around mile 6 plus i still surprisngly enough felt good). My silly family! so, not only can I not walk but i have to prance up the hill and smile and etc...... :) I was SO happy to see them that they gave me the energy to do so with ease! I yelled, "MOM, CHRIS, look....i feel great! i havn't walked yet! not even at the aid stations...!!! I saw scott, and mike, and travis......did you see ben i'm worried about ben!!!" They had seen Ben but said he looked crappy...I didn't know where he was in comparison to the other guys....I saw all of them and not him......then.....at the bottom of the hill....I SAW HIM!!!!!! I was EXSTATIC!!! my BENNY! oooh....he does look like crap....but he only has about a 10k to go...WOW....I looked at my watch and saw we were still in the hour 9....ben was going to be right around 10 hours....I asked him some stupid question and then my next few miles just waited for him to catch me...I wanted to give him a hug and tell him that I hadn't walked yet. (obviously something i was pretty proud of!).....He was about a mile behind me. ....but running FAST! At the next aid station though......i was feeling some bathroom issues coming on.....I thought to myself....I can wait until the next aid station......ben's going to catch me. This went on for 2 more aid stations.......looking back...no ben...I HAVE TO GO NOW....or I will be VERY embarrased. Luckily it was a normal restroom stop (I was worried it was the start of a bad situation! phew!) but as i'm doing my business i can hear the crowd saying GO BEN! "NO!!! it can't be my BEN! do I open the door to see him?!?!?" It was my Ben :( I never saw him again on the course. Oh well....I myself was almost half way done....and still feeling really good. I stopped at the half-way stop and got my long-sleeve shirt as it was starting to cool down and you never know what's going to happen out there. I was just running strong, enjoying my day, and feeling SO happy to be there in this beautiful place with all my close friends, my family, and getting to do WHAT I LOVE!! Around mile 16 I started to get a bit antsy.....my body didn't feel great...but my legs did...I passed my mom....who jogged with me (everytime i passed her she told me to eat!! she's so cute!) That time I needed it.....but oh....it didn't sound good! YUCK! then i rememberd i had RASBERRY CREAM GU in my pocket....I forgot it was THERE! dream come true I think I could get that down with food poisening it tastes so good! GU down....aren't I to mile 20 yet?? oh...there's 17 dang it! ok this sign has to say 20......oh....18...and on that cycle went. Not that I couldn't count, I was just sure I had missed all the other ones.......then AAAAHHH! that mile 20 sign...nothin like it! 10 k to go....anyone can run a 10 k right?? (that's just what i tell myself all the time)......so mile 20 is just before the hill and turnaround. "I WILL NOT WALK THE HILL" "I WILL NOT WALK THE HILL" I said that out loud about 10 times.....got all pumped up.....and there was the FAM. perfect....I RAN THAT HILL.....and it felt good....there was no way after coming this far that a little hill was going to defeat me! On the way down I was telling some guy how my family is always on the hill so I have to run it!! We got to talking and we were eachothers distractors for the next 5 miles!! It was sooooo awesome.....he told me about his kids wife job....i told him about my job/friends/family....our fundraising project for the kids at my hospital.....we talked about our inspirations....he reminded me to take my long sleeve off at mile 25 so my pics would have my CHCC logo in them. :) It was incredible the bonds you can create while doing such and amazing thing. So, mile 25 I take my long sleeve off.......it's basically a finisher's shute from here.....soooo much adrenaline I don't remember a thing really. We ran together....I asked if he wanted to go ahead....he said no....and I was GONE!!! I coudn't really see the finish but I didn't CARE! I DID IT and I DID it better than I thought! AND MY MOM WAS THERE and MY big BROTHER, and BEN! This is AMAZING!! the CLOCK SAYS 12 still........I was just hoping for within 13 hours!!! I HEAR SCOTT YELLING, KATYMOE!!!!!! DON't CRY, DON'T CRY, DON'T CRY...yet! I break the tape.....and the tears come.....Words can't describe the feeling....just reliving it makes me cry everytime! I just want to see ben and my mom......I get my shirt, my water, my photo......and there's my BEN! There's my family....and all my friends.....the moment couldn't have been more perfect and the day couldn't have been more perfect. I can't wait for another year of Ironman!

2007-07-31T20:11:00.000-07:00

AND ON TO THE BIKE:

I exited the water with a ton of people! I just smiled and enjoyed the MASSIVE crowd going nuts "just for me" (i imagined) making it a pretty fun swim exit. One fun thing I learned about ironman is, the more "show" you put on for the crowd (ie: a smile, a flashy pink outfit, an arm-pump as you go by)....they go CRAZY! If and when you need a pick-me-up, you just pull out one of these tricks, or all three and you get instant cheers! :) It was totally fun playing with the crowd.

Up the swim ramp I went and ran to the wetsuit strippers!!!!!!! They were so great...you get the first half of your wetsuit off....lay down and you're done!! Much easier than the self-wetsuit-strip. I headed into the changing tent uncertain about what to wear....it had been pretty chilly the last few days...but the morning wasn't sooo bad?? I saw lots of people just wearing their tri suits....I decided I'd wear my vest and armwarmers....i figured they're pretty warm and easy to take off....and my vest gave me LOTS of extra pockets to work with which was really great for my 1/2 pbj sandwich I couldn't get down!! I headed out to my bike and saw my MOMMY and BROTHER for the first time that day....they were soooo excited...just remembering that brings tears to my eyes. Then there were more "Support Crew" tees....our group was EVERYWHERE!! The experience wounldn't have been the same without all the thoughts, and positive energy everyone was sending us that day!

I headed out (still needing to pee) but remembered the port-o's we'd scoped out the day before. I knew there was one at mile 7ish. I knew i could wait! I had jokingly the day before pointed out all the port-o's I would use on the course (that being one of them!) I stopped to pee (probably the only one at that point) because the volunteers didn't know what to think...they were saying things like "you're ok" "keep going".....I just smiled and tried to get my wet tri shorts back on nicely (not easy!). I then really started my journey! I got a powerbar out and started eating it....it took me about 20 miles to get all of it down. I was pretty disappointed in my ability to eat, but knew that I had to be patient and focused about my nutrition. I had set my watch to beep every 20 minutes so that I would be reminded to sip something if I hadn't in a while or eat something if I hadn't. Before I knew it I was at mile 30 ish peeing again.......which made me feel like I was doing a good job of hydrating....it's hard to take your mind off of time and race mode and just let yourself relax and pee. The first 20 or so miles were relatively flat and gorgeous, well the whole course was incredibly beautiful.....but the first 20ish were flat and nice...the middle 30 was all hilly and rolly. I just took it easy knowing I had a long long day ahead. I just sat back and spun my wheels and enjoyed the scenery, the spectators, the weather. Around mile 40 I started wondering about if I should drop my vest and armwarmers at the 1/2 way point. It was nice out, and lots of people were without all the gear....but I was pretty cold on the decents and the back 30 miles were a bit shady. The sun wasn't ALWAYS out, there were some looming dark clouds making me worry about wet weather.....I pictured myself freezing in the rain and decided to keep my gear. At the 1/2 way point, I picked up my pbj, and lea's delicous cookies, and some gels. I stuffed my pbj in my pocket and started eating the delicious cookies. The cookies were the only thing all day that went down smoothly....I was so HAPPY to have calories in my that I didn't have to force down. On my way back out to the hills....I thought I should start on my sandwich....one bite.....two bites....this is not fun!! I made myself eat half and found the other half when I did laundry a few days later. I was REALLY frustrated about not being able to eat as much as I wanted. Everything stayed down, and I luckily had NO stomach "issues" I just didn't want it. I tell everyone that the toughest part of the ironman was eating enough. I knew I needed the calories and my body wanted it my stomach just didn't. I understood now how people get soooo sick from NOT eating. They try to LISTEN to their body, but the stomach isn't always right. Well, the ride truely flew by, it was beautiful and my mom and brother and family friends who live in Coeur d'Alene kept popping up all along the bike course! It seemed everytime there was a sharp u-turn or corner there they WERE....so, I almost crashed a few times trying to smile,wave, brake, avoid riders, etc.! It was AWESOME, they made my day! Before I knew it I looked down and I was at mile 95! WHAT! Only 7 miles unti l my marathon..."I hope my legs are OK"! My butt and neck and shoulders and elbows, and ankles, and everything was ready to be done with the bike....but was a I ready to run....I didn't know. I started to think about what all my experienced house mates said... I had explained to them my plan to run in-between all the aid stations and walk through them......but NO WALKING between....those were my rules! Two experienced Ironmen...gave me the advice of "Just wait.....you'll have to walk way more....that's a lofty goal for a first timer".....i believed them I watched them suffer through there first Ironman marathon......but my goal all year was to not finish like that. I knew that I was in my best marathon shape ever!! I had trained twice as hard for this marathon than for my previous two. But I still didn't know how my legs would feel off the bike.......I pulled onto the final stretch and just enjoyed the moment of the crowd and just how well I had done so far. I was RIGHT on track with my goals I planned a 1:20 swim swam a 1:15....planned a 7 hour bike......and I think it was 7:01 (just think if i didn't pee 4 times!) :) I just enjoyed how good I felt and was so excited to see my friends on the run course....I had glimpses of them on the bike but that was it. I got off my bike and headed for the run tent...I had a pretty bad headache at this point which made me worry about nutrition/hydration etc....but I felt like I had had enough to eat and drink?? Hopefully my headache was just from my bike positioning and nothing more....Luckily I had put tylenol 8 hour in ALL my transition bags!! YES!

2007-06-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

THE SWIM:

The swim start seems like a bit of a blur. I remember standing in the middle of a mass of people not sure where I was in comparason to the course or the crowd. Probably smack dab in the middle of everything (not the best place, duh). I was a little "out of it" at this point. Someone sang the national anthem, there was a countdown, I think....and then bang the cannon fired. Everyone around me slowly made their way to the water...and I was worried about being trampled?! There was definately no turning around now! There were people EVERYWHERE. I just got in and started basically dodging feet, arms, body parts, and tried to find air anywhere I could to breath. I was pretty calm because I went into the situation thinking the worst and then experienced just that :). Luckily when we reached the turn around there was a massive pack of people so we kinda had to stop and tread for a while...I was able to get the water out of my goggles.....and check out the best way to escape the crowd. I ended up swiming WAY out of the way but at least got a bit of clear water. The way in on the first loop was much nicer than the way out, still LOTS of people but not nearly as crowded, and the massive waves seemed to pull you to the shore rather than slap you in the face. At the end of the first loop we had to exit the water and run across some timing mats, and reenter the water. I ran WAY down the beach and entered as far away from everyone as I could but still ended up running into some pretty busy water. My goggles continued to fill up with water and I was REALLY worried about my contacts being washed out of my eyes. Luckily that didn't happen. At the turn around I suddenly realized I only had about 12 more minutes of swimming until my IRONMAN swim was over. I started thinking about the bike and about what I needed to do in transition. I then also realized I really needed to pee. I was thinking if I could pee in the water it would save me a couple of minutes out on the course. To no avail I spent the last portion of my IRONMAN swim attempting to swim and pee. The constant attempts kept me pretty occupied and the swim flew by. I only got kicked in the face once (no bruise to show for it!), I only felt like people were trying to drowned me for about an 1/8 of the swim, and I only inhaled so much water that I had to cough and swim on my back about 3 times. Not so bad for an Ironman swim!

2007-06-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Our journey to beautiful Coeur d'Alene began June 19th a mere 5 days before the Ironman. Ben and I caravaned with our friend Travis from Fresno up to Bend, Oregon (a very beautiful town). We arrived in Bend around 7:30 pm went for a quick 30 minute run on a great road (lots of cyclists and runners) and then had a great dinner and off to bed. In the morning we headed out on a nice 20 mile spin, we enjoyed beautiful views of mt. bachelor and the surrounding mts. :) We left Bend and continued north to Idaho arriving at Post Falls, ID (just minutes from Coeur d'Alene) Wednesday evening. We checked into our hotel and headed out for the movies, we watched Oceans 13 in a tiny theater Ben, Travis, and I were the only people in the place!

Thursday morning we met up with the rest of our group at our cute little rental house (that we had for the rest of the week!). We headed out early to the expo/transition area for a quick swim. The water was pretty cold but not too bad, and was REALLY REALLY ROUGH it felt more like and ocean swim than a lake swim. I could see the panic on the other swimmers faces as i was recalculating what I thought my swim time would be. We finished our swim, tried to warm up walking around the expo and getting registered. We at lunch at the Pita Pit (which turned into a daily ritual!!) The next few days were spent organizing gear into the multiple gear bags, purchasing WAY too much ironman gear, worrying about not resting enough, and trying to spend time with all of our family and friends that had come sooo far to support us!

Race morning our little household (five of us racing) were up and at 'em at 4 am coffee was brewing, oatmeal was being forced down, sunscreen was on and we were out the door. Once at the transition area I didn't see much of the "team". I checked in my special needs bags, and headed to my bike. Loaded all my nutrition, re-applied sunscreen, went through my bike making sure for the 100th time that I had everything I needed, kissed my bike and headed out looking for someone trusting to leave my backpack with :). Luckily for our 5 person team, we had about 30 "support crew" family and friends and I found a willing person. I squeezed into my wetsuit, kissed Ben hugged EVERYONE, started walking towards the beach and the tears started rolling. I was standing in a massive line headed towards the beach, wiping away tears when I noticed I was standing beside Faron (a Fresno triathlete and multiple Ironman finisher) he patted me on the back and gave some encouraging words. With that I felt calm and started to think about the swim ahead. Just as I was crossing over the timing chip mats, an announcement was made. "Due to the increasingly dangerous conditions of the cold and VERY rough water, we are making an optional duathlon. Athletes may choose to start the duathlon at 9:40 am or do a partial swim and continue as a duathlon". GREAT! I thought of all the mornings I got up at 4:15 to swim before work, or the nights I stayed at the pool until 9:30 or 10:00 pm after a 12.5 hour shift, there's no way I'm not doing that swim!! I did get very worried about my friends who are not strong swimmers that were out there competing.

2007-04-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

Ben and I just got home from our Half Ironman adventure! After 15 hours of total driving, hanging out in a few beautiful beach towns, hanging out with old-friends and relatives, and racing our asses off, we are home...and it feels really good. We walked in to a welcoming-large-pile of cat barf in the doorway and our two cats anxiously awaiting the outdoors (I guess we should've had Chris let them out this morning, as the vomit was relatively fresh). We have unloaded all of our stuff, and I thought I should write my blog while the excitement from the trip is still fresh in my head.

We started off our adventure Friday morning heading down to Oceanside, CA (about 20-30 minutes north of San Diego). We arrived in San Juan Capsitrano to pick up our newly printed TRI GEAR!! around 2pm (after A LOT of LA traffic!). We arrived in Oceanside around 3 pm and checked into the hotel....no time for relaxation as we still needed to register for the race. Registration/expos always have excitement looming in the air, and always seem to get me really excited for race day. We bumped into a few pro athletes Hillary Biscay www.hillarybiscay.com and luke bell (last years champion). These and the many other athletes are soooo tuff, everyone looks so ultra-fit it's really really inspiring. We had a nice dinner at Olive Garden with Lea and Scott and then it was off to bed.

Race morning was really exciting as there was NO RAIN! and clear skies! We rode our bikes down to the transition area around 5:50 am, and set up our stuff. All I could think about is how much nicer the day was than last years wind and rain!! Getting ready I felt unusually calm. I lined up with my age group, and before I knew it we were next to get in the water. Here came the anxiety all I could think (and I think I said it out loud a few times) was, "i really don't want to get in the water...." and "guess there's no turning back now...." and on that note we got in. We swam to the start and there were a bunch of girls around me floating with their fluorescent green caps.....next thing I knew I the alarm sounded and we were off. There were feet, arms, elbows, flying EVERYWHERE!! This is by far is the most dreaded part of the race for me. I got out about 50 yards and I still had packs of girls around me and one "big kicker girl" as I named her....I couldn't get away from her....I was literally swimming out away from the pack and no matter what move I made I had "Big Kicker Girl's" feet pumping away at my face grrrr. Things smoothed out around 500 yards and I almost found my rhythm. The final stretch home we were directly facing the sun for about 400 yds....it was so blinding I couldn't see a thing. I just put my head down and hoped I wouldn't run into a volunteer or something! Before I knew it I was out of the water and running on my numb feet to my new amazing bike. The bike portion WAS sooooo great. The first 30 miles are nice flat beautiful tailwinded miles I was just cruzing no slower than 22 mph...and then the hills came. Mile 30 to 46 are rolly-hilly with a couple of big climbs.......I love blowing by the big-guys on the hills...after the second large climb I started to worry that I had blown-up my legs with the lovely tailwind and I really started to worry about my run time. I was watching the miles tick S-L-O-W-L-Y by thinking I'd never make it back! Then suddenly I was at mile 50...the miles were picking up...and my legs had actually recovered from the climbing and were feeling pretty good. Out of transition and onto the run I was really really surprised at how great I felt. I had told Ben the day before that I just needed to run tough, and that's exactly what I did. Last year I was so worried about bonking I stopped at every aid station and ate and drank. This year I ran through almost ALL of them, just grabbing what I needed and going. I had my game face on, (usually I'm miss smiley...not this time!) at the first turn around my split was 26 minutes (that was about 3 miles and a pee break) I was four minutes faster than last year! I felt so great, but knew my legs would start feeling tired. I just kept running so excited about how well I was doing. I had a few moments of negativity....but they each passed very quickly (usually some water or calories did the trick)....I could tell I still had legs left and that's all I needed really. All the other stuff I could fix, as long as I had energy in those legs I'd be fine! Within the last 1.5 miles (a long long strip down by the beach) my friends Rachel and Luca spotted me, and cheered me on giving me the last boost I needed to get to the finish line. I crossed the line with my watch saying 5:36!! I couldn't believe it 26 minutes faster than last year!!! I started to cry and quickly realized that no body there cared about my time and that I looked and sounded very ridiculous sobbing with my heaving deep breaths. So I sucked it up....but every time I looked at my watch I would well-up...."where's ben, where's ben" i was thinking, "he'll understand why I'm crying!!!" I couldn't find ben, so....I couldn't cry.....so I just walked back to my bike and waited for Ben and Rachel!

Bonuses to getting faster:

1. they have small shirts available to finishers.
2. they have a lot more food, and it's a bit fresher.
3. ben doesn't have to wait as long for me.

Ben and Scott also had GREAT races. Ben finishing just 30 seconds-ish behind Scott both around 4:39 is PRs for the two of them! Check out the race website.

www.ironmancalifornia.com

www.chccironmanteam.com

thanks for checking in. next week we only have 11 weeks left of training for the ironman. most of the team members will be riding in Visalia on April 14th, Millerton Triathlon (sprint) is April 21st. Lots of miles and yards to go, thanks for checking in!!

2007-03-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

i decided that maybe my goal should be to post blogs monthly rather than bi-monthly. things are moving along here as usual. work, workout, eat, sleep, repeat. yup, that's my life!! i have been having a lot of fun running with the sierra challenge express running club. because of work, i have only been able to make it to a few of their workouts. but at those workouts i've had a lot of fun meeting new runners and challenging myself with a group of runners to push me.

as far as the ironman team goes, we just got all of our triathlon gear sent to the printers Face First Inc. and they are working hard to insure that we have our tri-gear for our upcoming half-ironman distance tri in Oceanside,CA. this is all very exciting after having soooooo many set backs with regards to our gear. we all hoped to have them printed months ago!

i just went on the longest toughest bike ride of my life last sunday! i rode from home and road up auberry rd. through prather and to the top of the 4-lanes and back. i have gone up to prather many times and this is by far one of my favorite rides, and i have also separately gone from the bottom of the 4-lanes to the top. i knew that i could do it, but i also knew it'd be a long hard day. thank goodness for my new carbon fiber orbea ora making for a very comfortable ride and a nice light climb. the climb to prather took about and hour and a half, and then the 4-lane climb itself (an 8 mile stretch) took over and hour....hmmm yeah my average up the 4 lanes was only about 7.5 mph!! but i made, it! i had 25 miles of down hill and luckily a wonderful tail wind that pushed me home! all in all it was an awesome ride minus the aweful sunburn on my right side!!

scott, ben, and i are competing at the Oceanside half ironman in 9 days. March 31st. we will all be heading down south friday, and racing saturday. i'm excited as i'm feeling really strong, last years time was a 6:02 and i'd love to break 6 hours this year. i'm hoping for great weather, as it rained a lot last year and was really really cold! ok, well that's my update for now, stay tuned as i promise to update more frequently!

TO DATE:
swim: 65,400 yds.
bike: 1057 miles
run: 284.2 miles

2007-02-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

so the last couple of weeks have been very frustrating training-wise, and it really boils down to the weather and health! for the two weeks before these last two (is that confusing enough?) i had hit EVERY workout in my plan to a T. i was so proud of myself! then last week rolled around and i was just REALLY tired (from the previous two weeks) so i took a recovery day and relaxed with some friends....and then the RAIN came!! dang it-! luckily rachel and i made it home from our "run-home-from-work-night" dry as whistles but the rest of the week was a wash. saturday ben and i had planned a long 60-75 mile bike ride together (awe, fun!) but it rained like crazy so instead we each took turns on the trainer watching spinnervals! :) sunday was luckily a beautiful day, and ben and i raced in the valentines day run put on by sierra multisport productions (www.sierramultisport.com). it was a small race and luckily a lot of our fast friends were out of town and ben and i took the couples division. it was a 3.1 mile race, so we had to run fast fast. i ran one of my better times for that distance with a 22:10ish time! which is a good time for me since i'm not a speedy lady. ben ran about a 17:20 (obviously the reason we won!!) :) we won a $50 gift certificate to Tahoe Joe's so we celebrated that night with dinner and a movie!! :). monday morning looked to be a beautiful day and ben and i again were planning our long ride...but i woke up with a terrible sore throat, congested/constantly sneezing nose, and SUPER sleepy feeling...and decided to sit the long ride out. i ended up once again taking the day off, and can tell this will be another week that i'll miss some workouts! FRUSTRATING!! i'm drinking tons of water, lots of ecchinecia (sp?) tea, and resting resting, so hopefully i can get some great workouts in by the end of the week!! well thanks for checking in, we just got $100 from Oakhurst Physical Therapy, and a $395 check from our website donations YEAH!! our zoot triathlon suits are still in progress, and i've learned A LOT about LOGOs......and formats that logos come in.......as i've been working with Face First Printing on all of our LOGOs! AGH! but everything's coming together, i have a feeling they're going to look great and we're all going to be super fast in them!! thanks for checking in, take care!!

TO DATE:

yards swam: 45,400
miles biked: 760
miles ran: 179

2007-01-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

i really really will get better at this whole blog posting thing i promise!! i decided when i started it that i would post every two weeks, just to keep it real, but it's tough and honestly i forget all about it.

there have been some exciting recent developments for our ironman team. our uniforms were delayed, because the company we are using is in-between seasons right now, but their new stuff should be coming to us the end of January!! phew! so we should definately HAVE our jerseys by MARCH for our half-ironman! yeah! I finished the website, and i think everything works on it now check it out....www.chccironmanteam.com.

i took a trip last week down to san diego to visit my very very very very good friend rachel. i also BOUGHT A NEW TRI BIKE!!! can you believe it?!?! it was an awesome experience, if you're ever in San Diego you need to visit B & L bikes they're AWESOME!! so...i got a new full carbon orbea ora, she's beautiful!! i also got some really good training in while i was down there, it's just the perfect place to work out! Every where you go people are movin' and shakin'.

TO DATE:

yards swam: 32,800
miles biked: 489
miles ran: 116.5

thanks for checking in!

2006-12-23T04:46:00.000-08:00

so the not-so-funny part of this whole blog thing is definately when you spend a very long (undesignated amount) time typing a very important and special blog, and then your internet server is busy or something like that and you loose everything. well, that's what has happened to me twice now making me unmotivated to get back on and post another blog! :) i am, however, back now and ready to go....cuz' my story must be told! :)

so, it's been quite some time since my last blog. it's now the end of december i'm finishing my 4th week of training (i think??) i'm starting to feel really strong....i'm definately getting back into everything, working out 6 days a week. i added some weight training which is something i've never really done before, and it's definately fun and making me feel strong.

as far as the CHCC Oncology Ironman Team goes....WOW! we are definatly raising some money!!! i'm not sure if we'll reach our goal of raising $10,000, but right now we have about $3,200! which is no small feat! we just ordered sample jerseys from ZOOT sports (a triathlon company) and we should have them printed in the next few weeks!

it's been a long and tiring road....i never thought fundrasing would be such a challenge! i'm just hoping that throughout our journey of training we will be able to inspire more people to donate to the hospital, even if it's not through our team! these children and their families really deserve the best! they are more inspiring than anything i've ever been around!!

i found myself running on the treadmill the other night (something i hate doing, but am getting used to) i was totally bummed out not enjoying myself at all, then i started to envision myself finishing the ironman and thinking about how AWEFUL i would be feeling in that moment or in the hours leading up to that moment! how hard it would be to keep running and how EVERYTHING would be hurting. my thoughts at that point are, ok this treadmill thing isn't so bad! i'm smiling running a long.....then i starting thinking about my kids in the hospital and how sick they are and i got really mad at myself for "hating the treadmill" when they are lying in bed fighting cancer everyday! what's wrong with me......no ironman is as hard as fighting cancer, and they do it everyday. i then put the two ideas together and i'm thinking about finishing the ironman and how i'll be thinking about my kiddos and how they NEVER give up and I KNOW that's what will drive me to finish!!! just like on this day it was driving me just to finish my measly little 5 mile jaunt on the treadmill.....so then i'm welling up with tears and crying on the treadmill!!!! how embarrasing! so, i made it through that workout and i plan to make it through lots more! maybe with tears, maybe with smiles, but what matters is that finishline in Coeur d'Alene and me proudly wearing my CHCC Oncology Ironman Team jersey and my HOPE necklace!

thanks for checking in....i'll be more consistent so you all can keep close tabs on me!!

katy

TO DATE:

yards swam: 11,300
miles biked: 176
miles ran: 60
hours lifting: 2.5

2006-07-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

so, here i am embarking on the journey of ironmandom. wow....a whole year in advance you must be thinking....well. not exactly. my pals and i have decided to make our training and racing a little bit more meaningful, by turning our training into a fundraiser for my hospital. you see, i'm an RN at a children's hospital in the onlcology unit. i love what i do, and i can't wait to help out a little bit more. but, of course these things take time and energy! oh, that time and energy part.....ah ha. our group's goal is to raise $10,000 for my department in the hospital. this money will go towards things like toys for kids without them, educational books for parents, special events for these kids and families, etc, etc. we plan on raising this money through sponsorships or through selling add space on our training and racing jerseys. so, today has been filled with phone calls, emails, web surfing,talking, planning, and thinking. hopefully all of this sponsorship, and money stuff will be wrapped up before my real training starts in november! well, just an update as to where i am write know....stay posted to hear about how the sponsorships and training goes...it should be very exciting!!!