Real Quick

This was a busy weekend and I had lots of fun along with a lot of work to finish. That said, I will give a longer post tomorrow with pictures but the highlight of the weekend was that I ran in the Bill Crews Remission Run 5K honoring my good friend Bill who I ran the Goofy Challenge in honor of. I still had the bum knee and right now it is killing me but according to the final results I placed first in my age group and 6th overall out of the women. That NEVER happens when my name and running come up in the same sentence. NEVER!!! I am not sure what happened on Saturday morning but I guess my Bear Naked Chocolate Granola was the secret to all my energy.

Ok, I have work (the PT kind) today and a deadline (Oly tri training plan) that I have to meet by 4:30 this afternoon so I will flesh out all the details later.

Have a great day!

Liz

Goofy Race and a Half Challenge Race Report-Pt. 2

After spending a freezing cold day at Disney Animal Kingdom on Saturday, the kid and I headed back to Coronado Springs to have diner with my sister-in-law who was also staying at Coronado Springs for a pediatric physical therapy conference. After diner I was back at the room getting my stuff ready for the marathon. The kid and I had no trouble falling asleep.

We were up at 2:45 am again and out the door on the shuttle bus at 3:30 am to head to Epcot. I sent a text to my friend Sarah to meet up and she said that she was going to run slower because her leg was bothering her and that I should go ahead. I hoped that she was going to do alright and somewhat sad that I would be running by myself. The kid and I parted ways around 4:15 am as I headed in to drop off my gear bag and he headed off to the monorail. It was so much colder this morning than it was the morning before. As everyone was huddled together waiting to walk to the starting corals I thought that everyone resembled a huge Emperor Penguin colony in their trash bags.

I did not want to leave the port-o-can that I stopped in because it was warmer inside because it blocked the wind. The wind was pretty brisk. As I stood in the coral and waited for the start I took note that very few people were dressed as Disney characters compared to the day before. Popular additions to the running gear were big Mickey Mouse 4-finger gloves and big furry hats that looked like Chip and Dale. I think people were just buying them and wearing them for the warmth. After the national anthem the girl next to me started stripping off her long sleeve shirt and said, "Oooo, I'm going to regret this!" Hon, if you are going to regret tossing away your long sleeve shirt, THEN WHY ARE YOU DOING IT??!!?? I asked her that question and she said she was going to get too hot. Hey, it's 25 degrees! You are not going to get THAT hot!!! So off she went in her racer back tank top. I wonder if she chaffed her nipples.

Once we got going my plan was to block out everyone else and just run my pace. I stayed to the right side of the road and let everyone surge past me. It was fun to see all the spectators along the road on the way to Epcot. There were several waves of starts and the people who started on the other side of the road soon split off from our route and headed a different direction. I still wonder how much longer that they had to run to get to Epcot or where they entered the park. We entered Epcot between Canada and Great Britain and ran around the World Showcase. I thought about hitting the bathroom in Norway, but we exited Epcot at Germany. Oh well, I would hit the bathrooms at Ticket and Transportation. I decided to get rid of my trash bag around mile 3 and briefly wondered if I should not have hung onto it longer. Damn it was cold!

I was happy to get to Ticket & Transportation and hit the bathrooms and warmed my hands in the hand dryer before heading out to look for the kid. I did not see him but I saw one of our TNT coaches. I told him that if he saw my kid, send him off to the Grand Floridian. It was cool having the monorail trains honk their horns at us. As I ran past the Contemporary Resort I kept an eye out for him there because our TNT staff member was there and he said he might hang out there. Well, he saw me and I did not see him. It was still dark as I was running into the Magic Kingdom but it would not be long before the sun would start to rise. I saw another one of my coaches on Main Street USA and he told me that I was the first one in our group to pass by and that I was ahead of my friend Tim by over 3 minutes. I could not believe that because Tim is a very fast runner. As I made my way through Frontier Land, I got my camera ready for this picture.

Too bad Jack Sparrow was not really Johnny Depp.

On the way towards the Grand Floridian resort I kept my eyes open for the kid. There were lots of people out cheering for us and they were all bundled up. They were real troopers for being out there. Around mile 11 I saw someone ahead of me slide on the pavement going through an aid station. The water being spilled from the cups was freezing on the pavement. By the time I got to mile 13 someone had been out to put down sand in the aid stations to keep anyone from landing on their ass as they tried to grab a cup. I was still feeling good and keeping up with my feeding and drinking schedule. I was still having people pass me, but now I had people that I was passing as well. The sun was up but the temps had not come up. There was a girl running in front of me that had little beads of ice hanging off of her pony tail that had been brushing across the back of her shirt and picking up the sweat and then freezing as her hair swung in the air. Steam was coming off of everyone and we were all fogging the air with out breath.

As we got near Animal Kingdom I had to stop and run back and pick up my camera that had worked it's way out of my pocket. I walked as I undid my Fuel Belt and stuffed the camera deep into my pocket and put my Fuel Belt back on. I got running again. That was around mile 16 and that was the first time and only time that I was going to be walking on that marathon course. I took advantage of a bathroom inside of Animal Kingdom to use a flush toilet rather than a port-o-can, wash my hands, refill my Fuel Belt bottles, and have a Hammer Gel and to warm my hands again under the hand dryer.

I stopped for a picture with Minnie Mouse before leaving Animal Kingdom and heading to the turn-around at mile 20.5 near The Wide World of Sports. I still felt good and was surprised when I saw the mile 19 flag. Somehow I missed mile 18. That was a good feeling. I was holding good to my 10 minute miles. My left knee was getting a little achy but I expected that after all of those miles. It was nice to hit the turn around and see tons of people that I was ahead off because they all looked strong.

I passed a few people just before entering Hollywood Studios and the buses full of park guests going to the parks were waving to us. My only advise on this run is to skip the free chocolate that they hand out at mile 23. It was cold hard chocolate that would not melt in your mouth and it got all stuck in my teeth. In my picture here with Dug I have a stupid smile because I have chocolate all over my teeth and I did not want to look like a hillbilly with a piece of chocolate stuck over one of my teeth like I had a gap from a missing tooth. I did yell "Squirrel!" instead of saying "cheese" for my photo here. No "Cone of Shame" here! I was feeling great and it was still early in the morning. I had not hit "The Wall". Hollywood Studios was just opening up so there were lots of people cheering for us near the entrance.

From there I knew that I was almost done! I ran through the Boardwalk resort area and hung with a gal that was dressed up as Jessie from Toy Story and a gal who was running in a racer back tank top, a running skirt, arm warmers, and calf sleeves. She was also sporting bright red and goose bump covered skin. She admitted she was cold. As we entered Epcot again we got a second chance to run around the World Showcase before it opened up at 11:00 am and then it was past the huge Christmas tree, the big fountain, and Spaceship Earth. Racerback gal was trying to pull off her gloves and arm warmers for her finish line photo. Come on! Leave them on so that people will know that it was cold out there! I had only shed my trash bag at mile three. Everything else had stayed on and I had not thought once of taking anything off. As I came towards the finish I had one last goal that I had to fulfill. I dug out my camera and before I crossed the Finish Line I had to stop for this...

I crossed the line at 10:18 am finising in 4:37:22 which is only six and a half minutes off my PR at the San Antonio Rock n' Roll marathon in 2008. I stuck to my goal of keeping an easy pace I knew I could maintain right from the start. I only had to walk one time and that was for the camera thing. I did not have to walk because I was in pain or because I was fatigued. For me, that was a huge accomplishment. And it was a great finish since I had run 13.1 miles the day before.

I got all of my Goofy goodies and got my gear and found my kid at the Team in Training tent waiting for me. I changed into some dry clothes and ate the most delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We hit the buses and then we hit the Magic Kingdom to celebrate.

These were by far the coldest races that I have ever done. These were not the fastest races that I have done, but these were the ones that I felt the best on. It was great to have my friend Coach Bill out there on both days. Coach Bill is a Lymphoma survivor and you may have seen his picture in this M.D. Anderson ad in Time or on one of the pop up ads on a web page.

Thank you to all of my supporters. You know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I postponed this entry until after they got their thank you notes because the picture of Goofy and me was on the front of their thank you card.

Now that is some hardware!!!

My left knee is still a little angry with me, but we are working on that. I have enjoyed my recovery time, but now I am ready to get back into the mix of training again.

Have a great day!

Liz

Goofy Race and a Half Challenge Race Report-Pt. 1

Some of you readers know that I can get carried away on my race reports and for 2010 I resolved that I would be more concise and I would ramble less. I don't know if I can live up to that. So, since you have been waiting a whole week for this and because now I finally have the time to get it done, here is the race report of the coldest events I have ever done.

The Thursday after the new year was the day that Buds and I would jet off to the Magic Kingdom. As with every trip that I take, I was up way too late the night before trying to pack everything that I might need. I had been looking at the weather reports and I knew that the cold weather that was on its way to Houston was also headed to Florida as well. I wanted to make sure that I was not cussing myself out that I had left extra warm clothes or my Hammer Gels at home. Speaking of those Hammer Gels I had to make my kid carry them in his quart size zipper bag because my bag was almost full. I had 14 gels to carry with me for two races.

Why is it my kid can be up and ready to go at 5:30 in the morning and waiting on me to go to the airport but he is late almost every morning to go to school? This must be normal kid behavior now that he is in Middle School. We had a 7:20 flight so that meant we had to be at the airport no later than 6:15 am. We made it in time and met up with the rest of the group and agreed to swap some seats so the kids of similar age could all sit together. The flight had the monitors in the back of the headrest of each seat. It was nice because we could pick which movie or television show we wanted. I should have picked better. FAME was lame. I'm glad I did not have to pay for my headphones.

Once we got to Orlando we had to spend some time getting our passes for the Magical Express to our resort. It would have gone faster, but we were booked as a group and there were other big groups waiting for their passes. We got checked in to the Coronado Springs Resort, had some lunch, and then hopped the shuttle to go to the Wide World of Sports Complex to go do packet pick-up.

Packet pick-up was HUGE. It was spread over two indoor stadiums. The first stadium was where we picked up our bibs and D-tags. I also had to stand in line to see if I could get moved into the appropriate start corral. My start corral was G for the half marathon and J for the marathon. Uh, NO WAY!!! I had my print out with my race times from races in the past year to verify that I did not deserve to be in the second to the last corral for the marathon. The event volunteer was nice enough to get me into corral B for both events, YES! Then it was time to head over to the second stadium to get our goodie bags and see the expo. I did buy a track jacket and a short sleeve run shirt since I got three long sleeve shirts for the races I was running. I only stopped by the Polar booth to ask the guy a technical question and then we were out of there.

Pretty good Goods in the Goodie Bags!

Back in the room I sorted through my bag and tossed the handouts I did not need and set out the important stuff. Our goodie bags were pretty good. We got disposable cameras, shoe laces with the event name on them, the shirts, kinesio tape, and some Clif goodies. Once that was taken care of Bud and I hopped the bus to Downtown Disney. We did not want to use up a park ticket to get in around 5 pm so we decided to do some shopping instead. We hit all the places that we wanted to and then met up with the rest of the group to go to an ESPN sports bar to watch the Texas vs. Alabama game. When we got there the line was out the door and there was no way were getting in so we grabbed diner someplace else and headed back to Downtown Disney. At this point, my foot was starting to hurt. It felt like a stake was being driven through the top of my right foot by my ankle. It had been fine earlier in the day but now it hurt to walk. This is not what I needed! I hobbled back though Downtown Disney and stopped at a store that has some great bath products and I purchased a few bath bombs made with Epsom salts and sea salts. We got back to the room and drew a hot bath and threw the bath bomb in and hoped that it would help my foot. Before bed I slathered on some Traumeel and sent a cry for help to my sports doc, Dr. Hasenbank, and hoped for the best.

Friday morning our group was to do a short 20-30 minute run and to see what the temps were like. My foot was really hurting. I had trouble putting weight on it. I checked my email and saw a response from Dr. H and instructions on how to try to do a self adjustment on my foot and ankle. I gave it a try and heard a big pop and felt a momentary sharp pain. Oooch! I put on my run gear and went out to test things out. It still hurt to walk but when I started running it hurt less. It was very strange. The temperatures were hovering around 40 degrees and it felt really good when I was running. When I quit running and walked back to my room my foot was hurting again. I could not understand how it hurt to walk but not to run. I got the kid up and we got ready to hit the parks. Our destination for the day way was Epcot.

Getting a short run in with Goofy before the race.

We got to Epcot just after it opened so we had a whole day to enjoy the park. We did all the things we wanted to and some of them twice. We rode Test Track at least three times and took the less barf inducing option on Mission Space. We had lunch in France and did shopping in Japan and bumped into our Houston friends Geoff and Sarah in Norway. It was one of those needle in a haystack moments. We did not plan to meet up or event text each other. Sarah and I firmed up our plans to try to meet up in the morning so that we could run together. Frankly I was concerned about my foot and that I would not be able to keep up with Sarah. I had to keep reigning in Bud so that he did not walk too fast as we made our way though the park. I got to go and see the dolphins and manatees at The Sea pavilion and then I treated Bud to a good supper at The Garden Grill in The Land pavilion. The salad is from the hydroponic gardens a the pavilion and tastes so fresh. I was served a huge plate of Grilled Flat Iron Steak with mashed golden russet potatoes, turkey with cranberries and apple and raisin stuffing, and grilled cod with mixed vegetable of carrots, brussel sprouts, and yellow squash. It was topped off with a desert of blueberry pie with vanilla whipped cream. YUM!!! After that it was back to the room and off to bed.

Bud on the Test Track

Test Track making me look like a wrinkly shar-pei dog.

The alarm clock rang at 2:45 am. That is 1:45 am Central Time Zone! I felt sorry for those people from the west coast. I checked the temps and got dressed and got Bud up. After I got all my gear and grabbed my bag with dry clothes I texted a few people to let them know I was headed to the shuttle buses. Shuttles were running from 3 to 4 am and I walked right up to a shuttle near my room at 3:30 am. We got to Epcot around 3:45 and I met up with my buddy Tim and with Sarah. We wandered into the athlete and spectator venue and found our tents to drop off our gear bags. It was an athlete only area and you walked through the tent to get to the area which would lead to the start line. I hugged Bud and we went over our plan and he set off for the monorails. If CPS knew that I let my 11 year-old roam around the WDW at 4:15 am in the morning without supervision I am sure that they would have issues with me. Oh well, he has been to Disney so many times and he knows his way around. He had a cell phone and I had mine. Everyone was out to see the race and he was doing the same. I had faith I would see him at our first meet up point.

Sarah, Tim, and I huddled in our trash bags with everyone else for a few minutes until they opened up the road to start walking toward the start line. I checked my iPhone for the temps and I saw 37 degrees but it sure felt colder than that. There had been a forecast of rain and we were hoping it would wait until after the race. We started our long walk out the back of Epcot and out towards the start. We stopped at the bank of Port-o-cans and were happy that they were fresh and clean and that they were warm on the inside. The wind was really picking up and making thing cold. Sarah and I headed to corral B and Tim headed off to corral A. As we were huddling in with more people entering the corral we started to feel and hear rain hitting our trash bags, but the bags had no rain drops on them. It was ice. It was beginning to sleet! It started to come down heavier and it was swirling and blowing around in the light of the street lamps. I felt so sorry for these people standing around in shorts and who did not have a trash bag. When the race started it was really sleeting and snowing hard. The sleet hurt as it hit our cheeks and I vowed to keep my trash bag on as long as I could stand it.

Our race start was at 5:40 am. As we ran past all the fireworks and start line hoopla we ventured out into the dark with 24,000 of our other running friends. Sarah and I kept a good, comfortable pace and we let people pass us if they wanted to move on up. I decided to let the trash bag go around mile 2 and a half. I had a moment of regret when I tossed it to the side and the cold air hit my sweaty body but I had to keep moving. We passed a poor group of high school band members and cheer leaders that were bundled up. I hoped the horn players lips would not freeze to their instruments. It was so windy that a cool Epcot hot air balloon was having trouble staying up. We got close to the Ticket and Transportation area and I started to keep my eyes open for Bud. Sarah and I dodged into a bathroom and took a little time to warm our hands under the hand dryer and headed out again. Bud saw me and shouted out from the crowds as he was ringing his cow bells. I gave him a quick hug and we were on our way again towards the Contemporary Resort. When we hit Mainstreet USA in the Magic Kingdom, it was still dark out but all the lights were on and the park was crowded with spectators. I decided that if I saw characters I was only stopping if it was Mickey or Goofy. We ran around Tomorrow Land and through Cinderella's Castle. There were plenty of characters out but I did not want to stop and get cold. After running through Frontier Land we ran out the back of the Magic Kingdom and I noted where the Pirates of the Caribbean were so I could stop the next day for a picture.

You can see little bits of sleet in the picture if you look close.

We ran in the dark from the Magic Kingdom past the Grand Floridian Resort and we spotted Goofy. Sarah and I had to stop for pictures and then we were off again. It was still sleeting and I could feel it on my face. I could also detect rain as well. It started to get a little light out around mile 10 but it was still dark out. Around mile 11 I was glad I only had two miles left. We ran in through the side of the front entrance of Epcot by Spaceship Earth and down to the huge Christmas tree at the entrance to the World Showcase and then turned around to run out the front of the park to the finish line. The weather was still poor so I just focused on finding one of those foil blankets rather than my finish time. After gather medals, checking in at the Goofy tent, and getting some food Sarah and I parted ways to grab our gear bags. I was glad to have had someone to run with and I was glad that I was able to keep a good pace with Sarah. She is fast and I would have a hard time keeping up with her the next day.

There was a breakdown in effectiveness in the F-J gear bag tent. There were 50 or 60 runners stuffed in the tent about 5 rows deep with many more waiting outside and the bags were not being found fast enough. The race numbers were 5-digit numbers and the volunteers did not have notepads to jot down numbers. Runners had to finally pull off their bibs and hand them over to the volunteers to help them find the gear bags. It took close to 30 minutes to get my bag and by the time I got my dry clothes I was shivering uncontrollably and my fingernails were purple. I found the Team in Training tent and checked in there and then started to strip off my wet clothes and get into my dry clothes. I did my best to keep my foil blanket around me when I was stripping off my bra top and my compression shorts but once I got undies on everyone in the tent (women and men) got a look at the goods. I did not care, I was getting into dry, warm clothes.

I found Buds right outside waiting under an awning to stay out of the rain and sleet. We made a bee-line to the buses to head back to Coronado Springs with a small detour to get our pictures with Pluto. It was time to get an ice bath in and get some hot coffee in me before we hit Animal Kingdom.

Running with the big dogs!

Tomorrow I will recap the marathon.

Have a great day,

Liz

Tuesday Training Tip is now up!

The Tuesday Training Tip was posted as a Wednesday Training Tip. Being out of town for the weekend had gotten me behind. Look below for this week's Training Tip.

Liz

Tuesday Training Tip

Ankle Mobility is the topic of today's post. Last week I pointed out that there were certain areas of the body that needed mobility and other areas that needed stability. Having good ankle mobility is important because the muscles in the lower leg do a lot of work supporting the body. If these muscles get too tight they can cause a decrease in the range of motion of the ankle. When this happens, other muscle groups try to compensate by working overtime to fill in the gaps where other muscles are not working. This in turn can cause injuries and muscle imbalances.

Your ankle has a variety of movements that it can do. Plantarflexion and Dorsiflexion is the movement at your ankle as if you were pressing down on the gas pedal of your car. Plantarflexion is the movement of the ankle where the toes move away from the front of the leg. Dorsiflexion is bending the foot back at the ankle so that the toes move closer to the front of the leg. The ankle is also able to perform Adduction and Abduction. These terms refer to the movement of the foot out and away from the mid-line of the body and movement in towards the mid-line of the body at the ankle joint. The ankle joint can also perform Inversion and Eversion. Just think of Inversion as the action of turning the bottom of the foot in as if you wanted to see if you stepped on gum. Eversion is turning the bottom of the foot out away from the mid-line of the body.

Your toes have several ways to move as well. The toes can be flexed down or extended up as well as fanned apart, sometimes called abduction. The toes need to be stretched as well because they are connected to the smaller anterior and posterior muscles of the lower leg.

You might want to have a yoga strap, a small towel, a chair, and either a step box or the last step on a flight of stairs to assist you with your stretching. Stretching can be done with a partner but make sure your partner is familiar with the stretches and understands your range of motion.

Stretches to include in your repertoire:

1. Gastrocnemius Stretch--This stretch can be done standing, with a yoga strap or towel, or off the edge of a step. The important thing to remember is to keep the knee joint extended. This stretch will be felt higher in the back of the lower leg and just below the knee joint.
2. Soleus Stretch--This stretch is similar to the Gastrocnemius Stretch however the knee joint will need to be slightly bent so that the stretch can be felt lower in the leg and more towards the Achilles Tendon.
3. Gastroc and Soleus Stretches with Inversion and Eversion--Aiming the toes in to the mid line of the body and away from the mid line of the body will provide stretch to the Anterior and Posterior Tibialis muscles as well as the Peroneus Tertius, Peroneus Longus, and Peroneus Brevis which are located along the outer side of the lower leg.
4. Seated Foot Stretches for Foot Inversion and Eversion--This is another method of targeting muscles noted in #3. Remember you will want to turn the bottom of the foot up for the Inversion Stretch and then turn the foot so that the bottom of the foot aims more towards the floor.
5. Toe Flexion Stretch--By curling the toes under the foot, this stretch targets the Flexor Digitorum Longus and the Flexor Hallucus Longus.
6. Toe Extension Stretch--When the toes are pulled back, this stretch focuses on the Extensor Digitorum Longus and the Extensor Hallucus Longus. This stretch can also relieve tightness in the bottom of the foot.

You will find it helpful to practice these stretches on a regular basis to increase range of motion and flexibility of the ankle joint. For more ideas on how to gain ankle mobility there are a few books that you can refer to:

Stretching Anatomy by Arnold G. Nelson and Jouko Kokkonen

The Whartons' Stretch Book by Jim and Phil Wharton

Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain

Next week we will look at some strengthening exercises for the knee joint.

Enjoy!

Liz

Flava Flav and Mr. T are going to be jealous!

I just got home from a very cold and exciting time at the Disney World Marathon Weekend. It is late and I have early class in the morning. Stay tuned to this blog for this week's Tuesday Training Tip and a full race report of the Goofy Challenge!

Later Gators,

Liz

Tuesday Training Tip

Ok, I am rolling out a new feature of my blog for 2010. Each Tuesday I will put out a great little tip that you can use to help you get a better or more effective workout. You may wonder if the information is coming from a credible source. I hope that working in the fitness industry for over 12 years, having several group fitness, personal training, and coaching certifications, coaching for 6 years, and having racing experience will make me a credible source. With that being said, I rely heavily on other great coaches and trainers. I will pass along what I have learned from them and what experiences that I have had both good and bad with the methods that I have used.

Feel free to ask questions in the COMMENT section and I will answer back as best I can. You might bring up a question that someone else has about the topic I am posting about or you may prompt me to address you question in another Tuesday Training Tip. No question is a bad question.

So with that I give you Tuesday Training Tip #1!

Strive to have both mobility and stability in the body. Mobility refers not just to flexibility but also range of motion.

ROM: Range of Motion

Stability refers not only to strength but also balance. A person may be able to lace their fingers together behind their back but then only raise their arms up a few inches. Other people might be able to do 150 lbs. on the leg sled machine but they have trouble standing on one leg for more than 15 seconds. without putting the other foot down to keep from falling over.

Starting from the ground and going up...

1. Work on ankle mobility
2. Work on knee stability
3. Work on hip mobility
4. Work on lumbar spine (low back) stability
5. Work on thoracic spine (mid back) mobility
6. Work on shoulder stability

As you go through your off-season strength training workouts be thinking to yourself, "Does this exercise help me improve my mobility or stability?" If you have doubts, ask questions and look for exercises that do provide you with the mobility or stability that you are trying to gain.

Over the next few weeks I will be highlighting some great mobility and stability exercise that you may want to add to your workouts. You may already be doing these exercises and thought that they were great and yet you did not even know that they were providing you with mobility and stability.

Have a great day!

Liz

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year's celebration. I have had some pretty amazing adventures over the past year and over the past week. I ran the Houston Marathon. I ran the Houston Rockets 5k Fun Run with my son. I coached a new group of 26 Team in Training participants to finish their first Olympic distance triathlon. I rode the MS 150...er, MS 70 with Greyhound, Carrie-Tri to be Funny, and her Hubbster-Shawn. I survived an embarrassing bike crash to finish the Buffalo Springs 70.3 triathlon. I put on another kid's triathlon for Kiwanis. I rode my bike over the Continental Divide with Greyhound and turned around and did a century ride over the Aspen pass to Glenwood Springs with him the next day. I PR'ed at Ironman Cozumel. I have swam, rode, and run more than any normal person should have to and the best part was that I wanted to.

And today is my USA Triathlon Birthday!!! Today I turn 40 years old!!! When other people are lying about their age and taking drastic measures to make themselves appear younger than they really are through medical intervention and Spanxs, I am embracing my completion of four decades of life and I am excited about what the next four decades will bring. Today I move up an age group and hopefully I may have a shot to move out of the back of the pack to the middle of the pack. Today I have been racing long enough to have been in three different age groups. Today I will throw my name into the Kona lottery. Today I will start my new training plan with my coach that will focus on running so that I can bring my running up to par with my swimming and my biking. Today is exciting!

So what are my goals for 2010? They are not what you might think.

1. Race local--unless I get a Kona slot in the lottery I may not be racing outside of Houston.
2. Overcome my fear of baking bread. I will master it!
3. Become a better runner and hit a 4:00 marathon goal. That is taking 30 minutes off!
4. Become SCUBA certified with my son--FUN!!!
5. Apply for and complete a USA Triathlon Level II Coaching Certification and a NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist Certification.

You may notice that there are no named races on that goal list. I am running the Goofy Challenge next weekend at the Disney World Marathon Weekend with my Team in Training buddies and the only goal there is to have fun and finish before they shut down the course. Other than that, I have NO races on my race calendar. It is kinda weird and kinda liberating. The plan is to stick with some local 5K and sprint races that I can do with my son. His swimming is awesome, I have a 10-speed bike he can ride now that he is only two inches shorter than me, and we only have to work on some running.

I have some plans for this blog as well. I want to be more consistent with my posting and I will be adding some special features that some of you may enjoy checking in on. I am not letting the cat out of the bag just yet on what those features are but be looking for them in the upcoming days and weeks.

Until my next post, have a great day and you stay classy San Diego,

Liz :0)