"Stuff"

That's what I generally title emails that contain more than one topic! :)

Not too much going on at Le Chateau Mills. But all good overall!

Another busy week of baseball, ballet, school, training, and work. It was a little more hectic than this week than I would have liked. I felt like I was trying to cram in 28 hours worth of stuff into a 24 hour day. But, you know it's Friday, and it's Labor Day Weekend, and all is well! :)

I made it through my week accomplishing most of my to-do-list. Other than the fact that my house is still in desperate need of a dusting and vacuuming, and that I've been saying I was going to clean my car inside and out for the past month... a lot of other more pressing things did get accomplished.

Like I finally completed and turned in my USAT Coaching test! Yippee!! I used to be a GREAT student. Seriously was a nerd and generally had everything in early and done way beyond expectations. As of last year's plans, I'd be in grad-school right now for athletic training, and it's probably a good thing I'm not! Because since college I've completed 3 tests/certifications. I "studied" for and took the GRE, I "studied" for and took my certification test for NASM, and now I've completed my USAT certification materials. Each and everyone turned into a nightmare of procrastination!! I could never find the time to really and truly study or work on my material, and when I did, I was too tired to want to deal with it. So both the GRE and the NASM tests were taken without having completed the study material and with me hitting the send button at the end of the test praying, "Oh God, PLEASE let me pass this test!" And my USAT stuff was due September 1st, and I turned it in today! So great student I am no longer!

But now that that is off of my plate, I can relax a bit, and not worry too much about my house because I'm going to be off racing this weekend anyways. I'm off to take a second shot at the Callaway Gardens International Distance Race. The first time I did it was labor day weekend of 2006, and I skipped last year because of Ironman training. So I'm back this year to see if I've improved any since my very first triathlon!!

I was talking to Coach Jen about it earlier today and discussing my splits. Let's HOPE I do better! :) To prepare for this race I thought, "swim... I know how to swim!" Ugh, gun went off and I was immediately proven WRONG! It is supposed to be a 1k swim. They said that particular year of 2006 that it was short, more like 700m. My time... almost 18 min! HA! Let's hope that comes down a bit this year, even if it turns out to be a 1k! :) At the time I had a road bike. And I think I did well on the bike. It's not the fastest of courses. It has a lot of turns. So even with the top finishers, you see for women top speeds of 20-21mph. It's a 30k bike, and my split that year was right at 1:00. So this year I'm hoping to shave a little bit of time off of that. Surprisingly though, my run wasn't so bad! 8k, roughly 5 miles in 38:25 for a 7:41 pace. Better than any of my races so far this year. And I think it was because I didn't think about it too much. I went and went HARD. And I've got to play with that again this year. I KNOW I'm more fit now than I was then, so I'm hoping to come in at a faster time of course!

*Me on my road bike for my first tri! All Smiles! :)

Oh, and did I mention that at this very first triathlon I CRASHED! Yep, all sweaty on the bike, I decided to go for a water bottle as I was slowing for one of the many sharp turns, my hand slipped on the hood, and down I went. My stinking chain fell off too, and all I could think about was getting that thing back on because, oh my god, what if I didn't finish!! It wasn't until the run that someone asked me if I was ok, and I was like, Uhh? He said, "You're bleeding!" I looked down at my shoulder to see all of my bloody road rash! Didn't really bother me at the time, so oh well. And I thought it was pretty cool afterwards for my "battle scars!" :) I'm hoping though NOT to repeat that part of the race experience this year! Note to self... do not reach for water bottles in turns and keep hands dry!

*This is me with the kiddos after the race! You can see some of my road rash on my arm and yes, I have grease on my face! :) Look at my little people! They were so tiny!

So the race is on Sunday, and Callaway Gardens is an amazing place, so I hope to stay afterwards and enjoy the Labor Day Festivities! I won't want to stay too long though because I'll have to get back to my computer to follow Ironman Louisville! All of you guys are going to do amazing!!

A BIG shout out to!! Danielle, first Ironman, go Danielle!!

Eileen, You have SOOO much strength and speed, you go show them your pro skills!

Kate Monster, I just know you are going to do awesome!! Have a fantastic day!

Of course, BREE!! Go get your spot woman! You deserve it and are going to rock that course!!

And to #1028. I can't remember your name, but I met you in the clinic the other day! It's his first Ironman, he hasn't even done a half, and you are going to have an amazing day! I'll be following you along. Finish that swim, which I know you will, and you're all set!!

Good Luck everyone!!

Happy Labor Day!

K