Considering the racing season has arrived, and all of my body parts are in good working order, I decided to do a race. I weighed my options and decided that a local half marathon that ends at a local brewery would fit the bill…especially since it was my birthday week! I know what you are thinking, “well, that is a recipe for disaster,” but actually, no. If the race had started at the brewery, that would have been a recipe for disaster.

So anyway, I got up early, did the thing, and set off on the hour drive to the race site. I was about half way there when I thought, “I wonder if that gas station has slurpees.” So, I stopped, walked in the gas station, and lo and behold, it was not one, but TWO mullets. Maybe when they got married they decided to skip the rings and get mutual mullets of eternal love instead.

After the completely unnecessary stop, I forged on towards the race. I rocked out in my car, and ignored the voicemail message beeping coming from my phone. I already knew it was my running partner wondering what my excuse was for being late this time. Slurpees, duh.

I made it to the race site in time, ran the HARDEST half marathon of my life (seriously, 1,000 feet of climbing in the first 2 miles), finished 2nd overall, and had an excellent birthday afternoon complete with friends, burritos, beer and an afternoon nap on my friend Brandon’s enormous bean bag chair thingy.

“He’s making a list and checking it twice”

I should have done that! I always make lists. Always! Saturday night as I was packing for my race and getting my bottles together, making dinner and watching De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7 (very cool series on HBO). Something got overlooked because I didn’t make a list. And more importantly I didn’t check my bag race morning. The race is a duathlon 2-14-2 and then we were going to ride 60 more miles. (love that ironman training!)

Fast forward to Sunday morning in the house, I’m asking my husband if he has everything, helmet, check, shoes, check, water, check, running shoes, check. Now in the parking lot at 8 am, I am getting my bike and bag to bring into transition. I look around the car, hmm…look again….#&^*! Look in the bag, tear everythig out of the bag and the car. #&^*! #%&*@!

I can’t find my cycling shoes! Panic sets in, frustration sets in. My friend Mary lives close and she has LOOK pedals. I call her and she runs her shoes over to me. Sigh, relief, get bike ready, set out helmet, glasses, go to the porto pottie line. Relax.

The thought creeps over me, I should check the cleats/pedals just to make sure. #&^*! #%&*@! They don’t fit. Maybe its just me. I call over my hubby, “They don’t fit!” He tries to get them in. Somehow they are a different size. (insert more profanity here)

I decide that the ride is really important and go back home to get my shoes. Its a 45 minute drive each way. I come back to the race and see that I just missed my hubby crossing the finish line. The ride was really nice, but everyone was pretty tired from racing, except me!

So, what is the moral of the story? Make a list, check your gear. Do it again!

I love Vermont!  Ok let me change that, I love Vermont when it is sunny and warm!  Now that there is no more snow and it’s getting warmer the past few weeks I have been able to get in some great training, however, as with spring comes rain and mud season here in good old VT.  Let me share a recent experience with spring…

I was out for an 18 mile run (~29km for our Canadians and Europeans friends!) and having a short attention spam I decided to do one big loop, instead of several smaller loops/routes thrown together.  Now I also tend to take random turns and make up the loop as I go (the beauty of the Timex body link is I can always know exactly how far I have gone and where I went once I upload the workout the my computer!).   I was running along at about when, on a whim, I decided to take a turn and run about 3 miles on dirt trail alongside a river and some farms, normally a very scenic route.

About 2 miles in, the trail began to get a little muddy…no worries I’m tough.  Shortly after there was about a ten foot section of trail which was covered in about 6 inches of water, no problem, I’m water proof.  I continued to run along, now with the lovely sound and sensation of water squishing in my shoes.

I turn another corner and the river had totally flooded into the adjacent farm field, no problem, I can wash my shoes later.  I decided to run around the edge of the water through the field, however, the farmer must have recently fertilized…it didn’t smell very good and now the mud up over my ankles, Ummmm this was getting to be a problem.  I had thought about turning around, but I knew the trail ended and I could get back on the pavement in less that half a mile, so I continued to  trudge (it wasn’t so much running anymore) through the mud and…agricultural fertilizer, no problem, I’ll just shower really well after this run.    

I began to think this trail run may not have been a good idea.  On this little adventure the best was definitely saved for last.  I could see the end of the trail and pavement ahead, however, between it and me was what is normally a little trickle of a stream, only it had become a river!!  I’m serious, normally I could clear the stream in one small stride, however, this time I had to wade across about 10 feet (9 meters) with very cold water above my knee, normally I wouldn’t have cored too much, but that agricultural fertilizer smell was a little too strong for my comfort!  Houston, I think we have a problem!!

I made it home and considered burning my clothes and shoes, but decided to just take a shower first!  I have since decided that I need a new pair of shoes because my fiancé has made me leave them outside due to a rather unpleasant smell. 

Ahhhh! Spring in Vermont!  I figure as long as I don’t get into too many problems I should be ok!  Oh and for those who are interested as side from the above mentioned snafu’s it was a great run!! J

Swim Fast. Bike Strong. Run Hard.

-Alex

Yesterday I was out on a loooong ride, 205 hilly km’s to be exact.  Anyway, since I stopped using my I-pod while training(I get in a better zone…mentally, not HR HR zone:) I find that I think about ALL KINDS of things.  Well yesterday, at a point at around the 5:30 mark of the ride I passed a spot that triggered this post.

 I ask everyone “Why did you choose Timex?”  Now, I have a lot of reasons that I love this team, but this reason surpasses them all.  In 2003 or 4 I was out training on the IMWI bike course and saw a triathlete riding up the road.  But this wasn’t just any triathlete.  This triathlete had a car following behind them.  First thought, “Lance?”  Second, “I have to meet this person!!” 

 So I pushed a little harder and closed the gap, I passed the car and was hoping to see Johan driving and Lance riding.  To my suprise it was a VERY attractive younger woman(still older than I was) and a rider that resembled Lance, but he wasn’t on a Trek at the time. 

Anyway, I rode up the rider and started talking.  I asked all kinds of questions, “What do you do?”  “Where are you from?”  ”Who is that in the car?”  “Does she have a friend?”  Well, here are the answers that I got from the rider.  “I am a CEO or a company.  I am from Mexico City.  That is my girlfriend!”  There was no talk of a friend, :(  

The rider’s name, you ask?  Non-other than our very own Luis Alvarez! His girlfriend was driving sag-wagon around the entire IMWI course, now THAT is LOVE.  ARe you two still together Luis?

I thought WOW, I need to be like this guy someday.  So after finding out that he was on Team Timex, I thought the best way to find out everything I could about Luis and his ability to get women to follow him around on the bike, would be to get on the team with him.  After two years of missing the boat, I finally made the cut this year.

So to answer the question at the beginning of the post; Luis Alvarez is the reason that I am on the team today! Thanks Luis, you are a stud!

BB

This is a question I get fairly frequently when people find out I travel for most of the year in a 40ft beauty.  Most of you don’t know, but I’m actually training and rehearsing for the remake of “Over the Top.”  I’m going for the bad guy role, the rival of Lincoln Hawk, who’s played by Stallone.  So, in the truck I’m bulking up to play Kid Falcon and the plot of the sequel is that Kid’s there to whoop Lincoln in arm wrestling.  I mean Stallone’s gotta go down in the 2nd movie, for there to be more movies in the future…you’ve seen it before.  But between muscle-building arm work-outs I have a plethora of gadgets to play with- satellite radio, GPS, and cell phone.  Satellite radio has saved my sanity and the ability to listen to bands like New Kids on the block, Debbie Gibson, Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice, and Keith’s favorite- MC Hammer, make the long days turn into a bad soundtrack of my youth.  With all this stuff going on in the truck, time flies by as state lines and time zones come and go.  Until next time.

Falcon & Kid