The Birthday Swim

It's kind of a tradition to swim your age in yards on your birthday, skipped it the past couple years, need to get back into the habit. I'm turning 55 in February, so I think I'll do a 55 x 100 Birthday Swim to celebrate... celebrate? Punishment for some is fun for others!

Here is what I'm planning to do:

10 x 100 w.u. @1:45
20 x 100 @ 1:40
10 x 100 @ 1:35
10 x 100 pull @ 1:30
5 x 100 c.d. @ 1:45

Piece of cake, right! Unfortunately I don't think I can convince anyone else to swim this workout with me so I may be going solo. Any takers in Tuscaloosa??

There is a masters swim meet in February in Auburn, too! I think I'll go swim a few events. The plan so far is to swim the 1,650 free, 100 IM, 100 back, 50 fly, and hopefully the 200 Mixed Free Relay on Saturday. There are several other swimmers from the Crimson Tide Masters who are going and I think we can put together a relay. Not sure yet if I will go back and swim Sunday, too. If I do I'm thinking I'll swim the 500 free, 50 breast,  and maybe the 200 IM. There is the Mixed Medley Relay that day too, we shall see!

The last meet I swam was in 2012 when I was living in Hattiesburg. Here is a link to the post I wrote back then about the meet: Living The Tri Life - Hitting The Red Line.

Short post. Later gators!!

Tri Race Recap 2015

What a year...

Bunch of adventures this year. I had a pretty decent triathlon season. Seemed like a lot of 5th overall finishes. Here is a brief recap:

April - WikiWiki Man. 12th Overall Female, 1st AG. Totally sub-par performance in my first race of the season. I had a really bad upper respiratory infection and my training had been pretty pathetic. Even though the doc didn't test for it, I'm pretty sure it was walking pneumonia (Bill had it.) Oh well, brush it off and move on.

Wiki Wiki!

June - Indian Creek Tri. 5th Overall Female, 1st Grandmasters. Felt better at this race, it was supposed to be a trail run, but there had been so much rain in the days leading up to the race that it was changed back to the same run as prior years. Had a really good swim, 4th fastest female swim!

August - River Cities Tri. 11th Overall Female, 1st Grandmasters. My all time favorite race. Exactly the same overall place as the year before... This was the 35th anniversary for RC, and Dave Scott was in town for the race. I went to his clinic on Friday morning - all kinds of great information. One of the best parts for me was the swim portion of the clinic where I found out that what I teach/preach was pretty spot on with what he told us. Great little core session where I knew/discovered how out of shape I am in that respect. All of us that participated were sore for the race in our glutes, hamstrings, and abs, probably didn't hurt my race, but it may have.

River Cities.

August - Lake DeGray Tri. 5th Overall Female, 1st Masters. Talk about hilly! Bill and I went up for this race, brought the kayak. Bill cruised in the water during the swim and even helped out a couple swimmers that needed a little break. I had the 3rd fastest women's swim split, only being beat by a couple teenagers who were swimmers! Only two  men beat my swim time, too. During the summer months I swam with the COSST Varsity kids - it made a nice difference in my swim. The bike course was super hilly, and the run started up a hill. Definitely the most challenging course that I've done in a long time, maybe ever.

Uphill start, downhill finish at DeGray Lake.

September - Rose City Tri. 5th Overall Female, 1st Masters. My second time to do this race, it was good to know the bike course a little better than last year. Lots of quick up and downhills, and turns out of the hills. Decent race, nothing spectacular. My run wasn't anywhere near what I did last year. I could tell that this entire season just didn't have the snap as last year when I was prepping for Worlds. That's okay, I think this next year will be better. The best part of this race was that it is in Tyler, TX. Home of Cobb Cycling, and the Cobb Mobb. Lots of teammates out for this one, it makes a race so much better when you get to see people you know all over the course. We were out in force!

*So one funny thing that happened at this race... I was goofing around in the water before my wave started. Leaped up like a dolphin and lost my goggles... my wave started in just a couple minutes. Debated for a moment about just swimming without them, and then thought better of that. Raced out of the water, sprinted to my transition bag where I keep a spare pair of goggles (I always have one smoke pair, and one clear pair in my bag to use depending on the weather. Cloudy - clear. Sunny - smoke). People got out of the way quickly as I blew by them to my bag. So... tip of the post - keep spare goggles, just in case, in your transition bag. And put it at the edge of the transition area so you can access it even after the race has started!)

Bill captured this picture - the move that lost my goggles!

Cobb Mobb out in force at Rose City!

I had one more race scheduled for September, the Meat Pie Tri. Last year was the fiasco of not making a turn on the bike course, getting a flat, and having to hitch back to transition. I was hoping for a redemption race but something major came up.

Big time major. We moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama at the end of September. It's been quite a new transition. So far things are going okay. I joined the Druid City Bike Club and have been on a few of their rides. For the most part there are some nice people in the group, and I've been lucky enough to meet the "core" group, who are welcoming and friendly. I would like to get a new road bike, it is so hilly here!

First ride with the DRBC.

I've been swimming at the University, they have an amazing pool. I met one of the Masters Swim Coaches, Ed Reed. He's been really nice, and I've even done a few workouts with him when he happened to be at the pool at the same time. I'm going to join the Crimson Tide Masters, as a matter of fact, I'm going to my first practice with them tomorrow morning.

Started working at the local run specialty store, Wagner's RunWalk a couple weeks ago. It's a lot smaller than Sportspectrum, but the other employees have been really great, and it's good to continue working in this field. I really love helping the runners that come in for shoes. I do have to say, the training that I got working at Sportspectrum has made this transition really easy.

Ran a local Turkey Trot earlier in the month. Wagner's puts on 2 mile race in the same shopping center where the store is located. I won the women's division. Went out a too hard with the first mile at a 7:20, but managed to hold on for the win. That was definitely a fun way to start off the racing scene here. Your entry also paid for your annual Tuscaloosa Track Club membership - bonus!

1st Overall Female!

I've already signed up for 5 triathlons for next year! Need that carrot of motivation to keep me honest over the winter. Here is my 2016 Schedule so far:

May 7 - Lake Guntersville, Guntersville, AL. 

May 21 - Mountain Lakes Tri, Guntersville, AL.

June 11 - Buster Britton Tri, Pelham, AL.

July 9 - Sunfish Tri, Meridian, MS.

July 16 - Capital of Dreams Tri, Montgomery AL.

July 24 - Music City Tri, Nashville TN.

August 7 - River Cities Tri, Shreveport, AL.

Maybe I will see some of you at these new (for me) races! 

Prelim on USAT Rankings Triathlon 2015:

National:  132 / 1347 in AG. All American - just snuck into the bracket!  

Regional:  9th / 143 in AG. 

State:        2nd / 19 in AG. 

Duathlon:

National:  20th / 103 in AG.

Regional:  2nd / 7 in AG.

State:        1st / 3 in AG.

Moving into a new age group next year,  55-59 - sheesh, I'm getting old!! 

Here are a few photos from the season!

Cobb Mobb Girls at Rose City.

Rose City coming into T2.

Rose City run start.

DeGray Lake run finish.

DeGray Lake bike finish.

DeGray Lake swim.

WikiWiki Cobb Mobb Goofy Pic!

River Cities. That's all folks!

Summer 5Ks

Okay, let's see if I can get through a quick post and get the ball rolling on keeping this blog a little more up to date!

It's fall, the time for running! Looking forward to finding some local races in Tuscaloosa.

I ran three 5k's this past summer. The New Balance Uptown Run, Mudbug Madness, and the Firecracker 5k. All three were Sportspectrum races, all three were great races. Sportspectrum never fails at putting on quality races, whether it be a local 5k, or the famous River Cities Triathlon!

I had a pretty bad upper respiratory infection in late spring and it took a long time to get over it. I raced the New Balance Uptown Run mostly for fun. Ran it in my Hoka One One shoes instead of the Saucony Kinvaras just to keep the speed more reasonable. Decent race, won my age group even running at a controlled somewhat easy pace. It was hilly. Finished in 23:54 / 7:43 pace. Here is a link for the Sky Pixel LA drone video! Very cool, take a few minutes to watch it!!!

Next up was the Mudbug Madness 5k. Now this one was fun! One of my swimmers was running it and I decided to run with Harrisen. He rode over from the pool with me to the race. His little sister Evangeline, and their mom were coming to the race a little later. What a fun experience, I will never forget how hard this little guy ran, and how much heart he put into the race. Let me tell you, he is 9 years old. Ran 25:55, an 8:22 pace! Yeah... lets see, when I was 9 I never would have dreamed of running 3 miles! H won his age group! I was 2nd in mine. Here is the link for the Sky Pixel LA video of this race! At one point you can see Evangeline holding up a sign that says Go Harrisen and Coach Ginger! Will never forget this one!

Results!

My last 5k of the summer was the Firecracker! Third time to run this one. Sportspectrum has been putting on this race for 31 years! So awesome! Firecracker doesn't do age group awards. It is a run for the MUG! The coveted, treasured Firecracker mug!! The top (if I remember correctly) 100 men and 75 women get a mug! I finished 50th among the women 23:50, nothing stellar but got my third Firecracker mug! Sky Pixel LA Firecracker video! What a great way to celebrate our nation!

Next blog post will be on the triathlons that I did this past summer. Slowly but surely I'll get caught up!

Want to close this post with this photo of Evangeline running her first 5k. Harrisen had already finished and went back out to run her in to the finish. Great kiddos! Is this not one of the best pictures?

Keep Me Posted!

I received a message on my last post from Kelly about my lack of attention to  my blog... I am guilty!
I've got a bunch of posts to write! Be on the lookout!

- Mudbug Madness 5K

- Indian Creek Tri Race Report

- Dave Scott Clinic

- River Cities Tri Race Report

- Lake DeGray Tri Race Report

- Rose City Tri Race Report

- Moving to Tuscaloosa!

The Dreaded Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis - that ugly monster that rares it's head and makes your foot miserable. I can't tell you the number of people who come into Sportspectrum (running specialty store) where I work complaining about their foot pain.

"Plantar fasciitis (also known as plantar fasciopathy or jogger's heel) is a common painful disorder affecting the heel and underside of the foot. It is a disorder of the insertion site of ligament on the bone and is characterized by scarring, inflammation, or structural breakdown of the foot's plantar fascia. It is often caused by overuse injury of the plantar fascia, increases in exercise, weight, or age." - Wikipeida 

The thing that amazes me is just how long most of them have been suffering with PF and it's pain. "I've had this for 2 years, it's chronic". Some of them tell me that they have a custom orthotic from their podiatrist. Beyond that there are only a very few who are doing any thing else to recover from this injury. I don't know how they do it... living with that kind of pain for so long.

"If your first few steps out of bed in the morning cause severe pain in the heel of your foot, you may have plantar fasciitis (fashee-EYE-tiss), an overuse injury that affects the sole of the foot. A diagnosis of plantar fasciitis means you have inflamed the tough, fibrous band of tissue (fascia) connecting your heel bone to the base of your toes."

"You're more likely to develop the condition if you're female, overweight or have a job that requires a lot of walking or standing on hard surfaces. You're also at risk if you walk or run for exercise, especially if you have tight calf muscles that limit how far you can flex your ankles. People with very flat feet or very high arches also are more prone to plantar fasciitis." - American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society

I've had bouts of plantar fasciitis over the years. The quicker you do something about it the sooner you can get through it. The Internet is filled with great information and videos on self treatment of PF, "New Techniques for Treating Plantar Fasciitis" is just one of many good ones that I have found. It frustrates me that most of them have not taken the time to find out anything about what they can personally do to treat the pain, and most of them can't even pronounce it properly. I sit with them and explain that in order to recover from this they have to be pro-active. Wearing a "custom orthotic" is rarely going to fix the problem. Pretty much without fail after giving them a list of things to do and "not do" I get the wide eyed response of "I had no idea.......". Now, how many go home and actually put anything I've told them into action is another thing altogether. Sometimes it's easier to just complain about something than rather do something about it.

So just what do I tell them to do? Well here is a list:

1. NEVER walk barefoot. You must keep support of the fascia all the time. This even means when you get out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom you must put on some kind of supportive shoe or sandal. (This always gets me the look of are you kidding me?). 
2. Stretch your calf muscle before taking one step out of bed. Put a hand towel by the side of your bed and stretch your gastrocnemius and soleus muscles prior to standing up. The gastrocnemius is stretched by pulling your toes back with the towel wrapped around the forefoot with your knee straight. The soleus is stretched with the knee slightly bent. Here is a great blog post that I found: "A Little Soleus Stretch Goes a Long Way!" by Allyson Sunderman, DPT.
3. Body work on your lower leg. This may be by using a foam roller, or actually putting your hands on you leg and doing some deep tissue massage. Concentrate on the soleus muscle more than the gastrocnemius. The soleus is exposed below the gastroc, use cross fiber work on it to spread out the muscle and allow for increased blood flow into the muscle. You can also get to the belly of the soleus, you'll have to brace your fingers together, and work in between the heads of the gastrocnemius. In this picture I have weight on my foot (I had to prop up the camera), you will want to work on your leg with it non-weight bearing. Dig around and you will find a very tender spot, the trigger point, work on this in a cross fiber direction for 6-8 strokes in about a 1 inch size, then leave it alone and go back several times during the day and repeat. You will find that each time you go back and work on it there will be less tenderness. 
   
4. Body work on your foot. Don't forget to do some work on the bottom of your foot itself. A simple way to do this is with a little hard rubber ball on the floor under your desk. Some people recommend a golf ball, but you want something with a little flex in it. 
5. Taping. This is what I personally do immediately when I feel any hints of PF. I use Rock Tape H2O, I've tried several other brands but this one stays adhered much better and lasts longer. Taping you arch will hold the fascia up and allow it to heal and not get re-stretched with every step. Here is a Rock Tape video with instructions on taping for Plantar Fasciitis.
6. Arch sleeves. There are products on the market that are compression arch sleeves, I know that Feetures makes one. I've used these before and had moderate success, you can't wear them in the shower, and I've found that it really doesn't do as good a job as the taping.

Catching this early and doing some self treatment will help you tremendously in your recovery of PF and not allow it to become a chronic problem. Waiting until you've been hobbling around for weeks "hoping" that with just a little rest and time off of training will make it go away is not going to work.

I hope this sheds some light on this common problem with runners and non-runners. Good luck and keep training! See you at the races!!

http://running.competitor.com/2014/06/photos/new-techniques-treating-plantar-fasciitis_96398

Wiki Wiki Man

Ugh Wiki Wiki Man....

I got sick back in February and missed a ton of workouts. It wasn't flu, it wasn't strep, but my husband came down with walking pneumonia about 3 weeks after I got sick. Our doc didn't test me for that but I have been coughing for over 2 months now.

I almost bailed on the race this weekend.

Bogey, our younger Golden had surgery on Thursday to remove a mass from his left front leg. When the doc did the initial aspiration he said there were all kinds of cells in there, some of which looked like mast cells. I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave him, but he's bounced back like he didn't have anything done. Now we just have to wait for the results from pathology.

My being sick and then The Bogue's surgery. It was a last minute decision to go race. And as it turns out, not a great one at that.

66 degree water, so I took the full sleeve wetsuit. No issues in warm up - they gave us a few minutes between the time the last wave of the Olympic distance race went off and ours to get in the water. I swam 4 times since February, so I took the swim easy. It wasn't a great feeling seeing so many pink caps out in front of me in the water. I swam really easy so I wouldn't have one of my wetsuit panic attacks.

This is the race that I did last year that has an Olympic distance bike even for the Sprint race. Last year a storm came in and the wind was horrible, today was much better with just about an 8 mile South wind, which meant the last 4 miles were tailwind. 20.47 mph average.

Got off the bike to run and felt like I was walking. I remember even groaning out loud as I climbed the first hill. 24:04 was my split - if the distance was right that is a 7:45 pace. I'll bet it was short because I sure didn't feel like I was running that fast.

Managed to pull of a first in my age group. Completely out of the Masters category. 7th overall female for the Age Group race. Even though it sounds pretty good, it was really a pretty bad race.

The Cobb Mobb was out in force. Everyone that raced this morning placed!

By far the best part of today was seeing so many people from Dallas! Susie and her husband used to be my clients when I worked at the North Dallas Athletic Club. I ran with her when she was trying to qualify for the 100th Boston. (And yes, she did qualify!) One of the things we talked about was the bombing at Boston. She said when she was listening to the news the time that the bomb went off sounded familiar, and she checked her time from when she ran it.... exactly the same. Scary. 

Got to catch up with Ann and Stephanie too. The only time I ever see these girls is at a few races each year. It was nice to have a chance to visit with them.

I also got to see Amanda Melo, she was the Massage Therapist at the North Dallas Athletic Club when I first started working there back in 1992. I hadn't seen her in years either. Wish I had snapped a picture with her too. 

I have the Tri Tyler Sprint in two weeks...... better get busy with the training.....

Relentless Responsibility

I belong to a group on Facebook for Swim Coaches. Can't even begin to tell you how many great ideas we use from things that the coaches on this page post. Hallie and I are always talking about what we've read and how we can incorporate it into our JV workouts.

The other day a coach posted a short article that he wrote about swimmers and their responsibility in the pool. How they need to own it. Not too long ago we had a parent complain that it was our fault that her daughter did a flip turn in an IM on back to breast in her event in a meet. Do we teach that? Of course not, did the swimmer know that she isn't supposed to do a flip turn there? Yes, she did. But the mom felt it was our fault, not her daughters. So whose responsibility is it? Is it the Coach's or the Swimmer's?

I asked Coach Berry Schipper if I could publish his article on my blog and he graciously said yes. I think it is spot on, and worth sharing. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Here is what he had to say about swimmers and their responsibility:

"What swimmers need to understand is that a coach needs to divide his/her attention, focus and –mostly- energy over an X amount of swimmers. The swimmer only needs to invest all this in one swimmer: in him or herself. No matter how good and engaged the coach, it simply doesn't match up.

So motivation and accountability can eventually not come from the coach, it has to grow from inside of the swimmer self.

In order for a coach to help in that process of the swimmer owning responsibility, there needs to be enough distance between the coach and the swimmer. It is why I insist my swimmers not call me by my first name. When we’re at the pool I am not your buddy, I am your coach.
In my years of coaching I have met young swimmers that I would easily take in our home and treat as family. But when we enter the pool there is nothing of that left: I tell you what to do and you do it, and I am not interested in reasons why you can’t.

Yes, if your shoulder hurts, or you feel dizzy, I need to know. But I do not want to hear (other) reasons why you can’t train hard, why times aren't met. Because that way the swimmer is putting the end responsibility in the coaches hands. And the coach simply can not carry the end responsibility of an X amount of swimmers in the same way a swimmer can do (or could possibly do) this for her/himself. The math is quite simple.

I heard Phelps say in an interview ‘he swims for Bowman.’ I disagree with that. You don’t swim for your coach or your club, you don’t even swim for your country and you definitely don’t swim for your parents. You swim for you.

Because this is the only path that can lead to relentless responsibility, or what Rasmus Ankersen called ‘ruthless accountability.’  You are responsible for your swimming, for giving everything you've got on an insane amount of occasions. You are responsible for not taking an easy way out, over and over again. Otherwise you will fail in reaching your end goal.
In the end those numbers are exactly the same: the swimmer only has one swimmer who can fail: you. The coach has new opportunities with every new swimmer that walks in.

Sounds mean and detached? No. Sounds like reality.

So what does this mean for the development of a swimmer?

One rule only: no external excuses. Never.

The pool is too cold, there is noise from other lanes, the set is just too hard, etc. You have to shut these thoughts down. It will take you away from reaching relentless responsibility. Do not expect a short cut to your goal, do not think you will not have rough times where nothing seems to work. Do not think there is anything that can take the place of unbelievable hard work on an endless amount of small details.

But rather see the training, see the hard work as a given. It is there as the baseline of your thought process. You build your life around that given: training is there, how do I accommodate?

And the coach? He or she is there to help you become ruthless. Ruthless to yourself and the rest of the squad. Nice swimmers don’t win races, nice coaches don’t make champions."

Berry Schipper has been coaching for 15 years, he has worked with swimmers in The Netherlands, Cambodia, China and currently is in Namibia. He and his wife lead a nomad lifestyle as his wife works for UNICEF. He usually works as a technique coach with age groupers and triathletes.  "I'm actually an Iron Man finisher (Amsterdam/Almere in 2010) as well. Not too shabby for a 6'8"giant!
-Berry Schipper

Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon 2015 - Déjà Vu.

Another "Way Past Due" post. Get with it girl!

Sportspectrum and Shreveport were once again hosts to the USAT South Midwest Duathlon Championship. The race was Sunday, February 4th in Downtown Shreveport. The forecast called for rain and so the race organizers moved the transition area under Festival Plaza!

I've never had a race set up under cover, and it was great! Fortunately the rain held off and we had a relatively dry race. But just as the awards finished and the crew started breaking down the bike racks the sky opened up and it poured! Bet they were very happy at this point to have moved transition so that they didn't have to get soaked loading up everything.

I wasn't expecting a stellar race, since I haven't been on the bike much. The run should be okay though.

Lots of teammates out for this race! The Sunrise Triathlon Club, The Cobb Mobb, and Team Cambridge all in attendance! I'll tell you what, I've never heard more "Go Ginger!" in my life, that was a lot of team support, it was very cool!

Held back as usual on the first 2 mile run, Garmin had it a tad over 2 miles and my pace was 7:16.  I'm pretty sure I was about 6th at the end of the first run.

ICEdot Band Sighting!!!! 

We had a south wind for the bike and it was a double out and back with each loop being 8+ miles, I averaged 19.8 - was trying to get it to 20 but I eased up a little just before coming into T2.

Here is the Déjà Vu part.....
I think I passed 3 girls on the bike, and headed out onto the run in 3rd or 4th, but then...... da da.... da da.... da da da da da da.... (jaws music insert) made the turn at the half way point and low and behold all three of the girls were right there.... can I hold them off? NO. Dang it. Passed by all three. Rats. Ended up finishing 6th overall female and won the Grand Masters. One of the girls who passed me was over 40 and took the Masters. Looked her up, big time Duathlete, Worlds and all that, very fast! (bet she can't swim.. heh, heh!).

Was really hoping to hang onto that 3rd place. Rachel and Denise were running 1st and 2nd and I thought it would be cool to have all 3 of us taking the top 3 spots. That thought exited my mind when the 3 women passed me. Dang it.

Have to say I'm pretty happy with my race, better times in all 3 segments than last year. I'll take that!

Rachel, Denise, and me!

Team Cambridge!!

The Cobb Mobb!

My Sunrise peeps brought me this!

And a fried of mine picked this up for me at the Regional Banquet
the night before the race! I finished 2nd in my AG in the region! 

The Trail Run

The Trail Run!!!

It says The Monkey Trails, but Chimp Haven which is where this event is held will be quick to inform you that Chimpanzees are NOT monkeys. Then I was told that the trail was named first. Then I was told that it was named that because the haven was coming. Nevertheless, what a great event!!

I have only done one trail race before, in Hattiesburg. The Tuffburg 5K Trail Run. That was the one where I broke my finger when I fell. Thank goodness nothing like that happened Sunday.

It rained all day long on Thursday, and drizzled some on Friday morning. It was going to be a hot mess on the trail. Chilly temperatures, that's a good thing. The 10 mile run started first, and those of us doing the 3.5 miler started 5 minutes back. Next year they are going to give it 15 minutes. Within the first mile we were catching the back of the pack of the 10 mile runners. It was single track and very technical with lots of punchy ups and downs and switchbacks. It made trying to pass people very difficult. Added to the difficulty were the runners wearing headphones and listening to their (quite loud?) music. Really? You're running in nature in the woods and you can't leave your music at home? More than once I had to physically touch the person I had caught so they would know someone was trying to pass them. I was calling out On Your Left (or Right) and some of them couldn't hear me. And it's not like I was leading the group, so  numerous others had to have already passed them.

Race Tip: If you are going to do a trail run on single track leave your headphones and music at home. Or at least... wear ONE earbud so you know what is going on around you. Please.

The trail was really challenging. I ran my guts out and it was a 10 minute pace. Way to make you feel like you're out of shape! I should have worn a heart rate monitor to see what max I hit. There was a lot of slippery sections, I ran on the leaves and moss to the sides of the trail a lot to try and avoid the mud. I'm sure it slowed me down but I just didn't want to slip. Towards the very end there was one little place where you had to get your feet wet, but I leapt over it and only got a tiny bit of water in my shoe.

Two girls finished ahead of me, one was 18 and the other was my friend, Denise, who is 27. I passed two guys who were ahead of me at the beginning of the race. So I placed 3rd Overall Female and 5th Overall!!

Volunteered after the race to help out, went to where the 10 milers were finishing and were having some confusion about where to go. So I cheered them on and directed them to the finish line. Told one group of 3 to just stay between the little flags and veer to the left and up to the finish. One guy had his EARBUDS in and said "What?"........ grrrrrrrrr......

Never to disappoint, Sportspectrum put on a great event! The shirts are really cool! 

And the awards are my personal favorite, the sweatshirt blankets!!!

Clark's Tailgate Catering was out grilling up hamburgers! Clark is the same guy who runs Running Dog Sportswear, he is the one who printed my Team USA uniform!

After I got home from the race I was looking on Facebook and I saw this post on Reshareworthy. It was about Chimp Haven!  More than 100 government-owned chimpanzees from research laboratories have started a new life at Chimp Haven sanctuary in Louisiana. Hope you take a minute to watch the video, I pretty much guarantee that it will touch your heart to see these guys get to experience freedom for the first time in their lives. How ironic it was that it was posted the same day where I had just been? Meant to be.

Click of Video

 "The chimps (some of them nearly 50 years old!) get to socialize with each, 

          feel the ground under their feet and see the sky for the first time!

  One the rescuers sums it up nicely, “It’s absolutely phenomenal to witness.”

This morning when I woke up I realized I AM SORE! Like, REALLY sore! Mostly hip flexors from lifting my knees to make it up the sharp inclines, and calves and glutes have jumped on the pain wagon too. It's getting worse as the day goes on. I spun on the bike for a while this afternoon and did some stretching to see if that would help.... nope.

Next Up:
Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon is next weekend! The Cobb Mobb has made it an early season team event! And Team Cambridge has it as one of it's team events too! Get to see a bunch of teammates at the race!