A Not so Happy Camper

A Restless Storyteller It's amazing how the body can quickly go from feeling strong and fit to feeling downright weak and tired. Back at work, today was a major struggle. I went to bed freezing my tail off and awakened in a puddle of sweat. So this is how I spent much of my work day. How did I get sick? Did I overtrain? Maybe it was the alcohol? Was it all the running I did to get to my airline gate? All these questions raced through my feeble mind. Internal inquiries aside, I am sick. Of what, I am not sure. So since today I had to refrain from my scheduled killer bike trainer workout, I think I will write about my most recent race. Buffalo Springs 70.3 Half Ironman MisAdventures Recap My training partner Kelly and I headed out Friday night. Our strategy: drive halfway, spend the night, and get up the next morning to make it to Lubbock. It's about an 8 hour drive from Houston, and we decided breaking it up was not a bad idea. No tell Motel After getting to the tiny town of Comanche, we spotted the Comanche Motel and decided to sleep there for the evening. Of course, all they had available was the workers room. But it was late, and Kelly and I were desperate. We agreed this was about the worst place we both have ever stayed. Even my trekking days in Asia couldn't compare. It was enough to just get through the night and get the hell out! Saturday morning, we happily headed out in the pinkgurugal mobile, stuffed to the rim with all our tri crap. When we got to Lubbock, we picked up our race packets and headed to the course for a little prerace swim, bike and run. Striking a Sugar Mamas pose The hams we are, Kelly was approached by a man who said he was taking pictures from Ironmanlive.com. He happily took photos of us in our "Sugar" finest, and it appeared on the website. Needless to say we were ecstatic. Race Day I've said this many times, but I really mean it. How Kelly and I manage to get our act together and race is short of a miracle. But once again, we made it... barely of course. The wake up call was slated for 5am. Somehow we both slept through it. Good thing Kelly woke up at 5:20am. So once again, here we are, struggling to get everything together. The race is about a 15 mile drive. And when we drive up, there was an "oh s**t!" moment. That's the line of cars heading to the same place we need to be: the frappin' race! So we finally park at 6:30am and roll our bikes uphill to the transition area minutes before the 7am start. Of course, I forgot the all important nutrition powder. This is the crazy part. The previous night, I stared at the ziploc bag full of the powder, that mind you I packed, and wondered what it was. Again, I never professed to be smart. Okay, so we race. It was hot. It was hilly. I made the dumb mistake of ingesting two tylenols during the bike and was delirious getting off the bike. But we both finished, Kelly finishing way strong. Post Race Relaxation Since Kelly and I had never raced in a "sanctioned" Ironman event, the medical tent where athletes can get saline IV's was something new to us. Sounds like a good idea to get hydrated. Why not? Our rationale was this: if we are hydrated, we can drink more! Yes! So there we were, iv's in one arm, a beer in the other hand. Crazy girls. Kelly's BFF There was a nice massage therapist who gave us a free rubdown after our race. Kelly, who can walk into a room and make a million friends, made friends with Derek. Apparently they bonded. Derek imparted words of wisdom to Kelly about life and relationships. He was her yoda. "Derek said...." she would later share with me.

Me: Who?

Kelly: You know, Derek, our masseuse, the one I spoke to for about 5 minutes. He said....

It's become the running "Derek said..." joke. He was nice though.

Kelly's Going to Worlds!

This is Kelly getting an award for placing in our age group. And as fate would have it, the spot was enough for her to get a slot in the 70.3 world championship! You go girl! Florida here you come! Work Hard, Play Hard That's how Kelly and I roll. Sure we race, we do our best, we train. But we also know how to relax and live a little. That evening we joined other triathletes from the race for some post race cocktails. Yeger shots. It's a pattern. To wrap things up, it was a great weekend. Kelly and I laughed incessantly and had so much fun. There were so many moments, so many silly phrases, so much talk about everything and nothing. I would put this among my most memorable gal pal trips. Salud!

Cheers and happy training! "Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance." Bruce Barton