IRONDIVA

The power of perception

2012-02-18T18:13:00.000-05:00

I haven't talked much about my workouts lately, but Coach Sharpie is keeping me busy. I'm in a drill phase... learning a lot of things that I probably should have known after 5 years of racing, but never really did (I guess that's the power of a coach. Hum... who would have thought?)

In any event, as I swim and bike and run, I am constantly thinking to myself "I am getting stronger. I'm am getting better". And often during my drills, I think to myself, "wow, I feel so smooth right now". And then it hits me...

It doesn't matter that I'm rocking a sparkly Rev suit that makes me feel like a super hero:

I'm pretty certain I look like this when I'm swimming:

And when I run:

Ah, the power of perception. I guess as long as I think I look good, and fast, and smooth, that's all that matters. Right?

:)

Life's too short

2012-02-16T10:57:00.001-05:00

Some days I feel like my world is crashing in on me and that I'll never get out of the hole that I feel like I'm sinking into. I'm on the rollercoaster of life and most days recently it feels more like a wild ride with some really bad twists and turns. After the many highs, there are so many lows... the continual kicked to the gut feeling. I hope the ride ends soon... as I'm ready to get off and move on.

But then I stop and think about my "problems" and realize they are so so very small in this large world. I have all that I could ever really want and need (except for a permanent place to call home), but really, life's too short to let that eat me alive.

On Monday, we got word that my Uncle's first wife (who is still very close to our family and my mom in particular), lost her only son. She's a single mom who lived every minute of her life for her 18 year old whom she actually named after my Grandpa (even though Tommy wasn't my uncle's son and she had him after she and my uncle got divorced). She loved my grandparents that much. Tommy was a great kid... as Eagle Scout, involved with his church, and had just signed up to serve our country after graduation. He was Liz's world. And her world came crashing down on Monday when his truck wrapped around a tree on the way to school and he was killed instantly. She went from loving life to losing her everything.

Later that night, my mom's cousin passed away. This past November, he was diagnosed with cancer and just a last week was given just months to live by hospice. He made it just one more week.

Life is too short people. Hug those that mean the world to you. Tell the people you love that you love them every single day. And don't take anything, even the wild ride of life, for granted. I'm sure that Liz and Denis's wife would love to be on my wild ride right now instead of the places that they are...

Three things thursday

2012-02-09T17:15:00.000-05:00

I've never participated in three things Thursday (does that count as one thing?). :)

I swam today. It was glorious. I'm enjoying swimming (**gasp I know! Who am I and what is the Carole lady doing to me?**). I was all alone in the pool. I had my music blaring, listening to everything from Sugarland and Adele to Kid Rock and Kanye. I caught myself starting to sing but quickly remembered I was underwater. My arms are killing me, my legs are tired. And when I thought that finally all was right in the world, realized that I was supposed to run today and swim tomorrow. Oye ve!
I talked to four different people today from two different insurance companies and all four said to me "I bet you are up to your ears in boxes getting ready for the move?". Right. About that. I haven't started packing. Anything. I did buy some boxes. And 300 feet of bubble wrap showed up today on my front porch. And I hired the moving people. But the packing? I should probably get one that. Tomorrow.
I'm seriously thinking of opening a Noodles and Company in Georgia. Right now, this is about the only thing that I think Georgia is missing. If you haven't eaten there, you seriously are missing out. Best Macaroni and Cheese ever (better than the blue box Heather!) and their Japanese Pan Noodles are to die for. Then again, maybe this is why I'm not losing weight. Something to ponder I suppose.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

2012-02-06T13:11:00.004-05:00

It's winner time! :) But, before I get to that, I just want to say that I had a fabulous birthday. Thanks to all of you for your super kind comments about how great I look at my age. I celebrated the 11th anniversary of my 21st birthday with a quiet weekend... just the way I like it. Tom and I went to the outlet malls on Saturday and then yesterday, had a great lunch with my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law at Jason's Deli (have you people tried this place yet? Holy yum! And... free soft serve. Love it!). Then Tom and I came home and went for a slow, but enjoyable 10 mile run before being total bums the rest of the night, gorging ourselves on homemade beef and noodles and then enjoying warm brownies topped with walnuts and marshmallows. Yum! It was perfect. Although, I will say, getting old is tough. I work up this morning feeling like I had been hit by a freight train. I used to say that after a long night of drinking. Now it's just because I'm old. :)

Okay, back to the good stuff. So I ended up getting 113 comments from the contest for the Sparkly Soul headband giveaway. Most of you pick four or five colors as your favorite (I'm telling you, you can't go wrong). I would say the glaring majority of you thought that Tom was the highlight of the post. I let him know which affirms what I thought - he doesn't read my blog. I think he was a little mortified that his picture with a pink sparkly headband is making it's way around the internet. Sorry buddy... that's what you get! :) (muah... I love you Brady, you know that).

So I used Random.org to pick the winner and the winner was comment #50 - CHRISTI at Pedestrian Runner! :) Congrats Christi! Shoot me an email and I will give you the information that you'll need to get your two headbands!!!

For those of you that didn't win (especially those boys who were hoping that I'd do your Valentine's Day shopping for you), Sparkly Soul is offering you a 15% discount through March 1st by simply using the code "FitFluential" on their website. Trust me... you'll LOVE these headbands!!

Thanks for playing along everyone!

Sparkly Sparkle

2012-01-31T20:45:00.000-05:00

How about that for a super girly title... one thing I'm totally not is girly. Yes, I like pink, but that's the extent of my girly-ness. I'd pick flats over heels and jeans over skirts any day. But... there are some things every now and then that are totally girly that I love.

**GUYS... DON'T LEAVE JUST YET. I HAVE A GIVEAWAY AT THE END OF THIS AND IF YOU ENTER AND WIN, YOU WILL HAVE A FREE VALENTINE'S DAY GIFT THAT YOUR WIFE-GIRLFRIEND-MOM-SISTER-WHOEVER WILL LOVE! I'M LITERALLY DOING THE SHOPPING FOR YOU. YOU ARE WELCOME! :)**

Okay, thanks for continuing to read. :)

So my new obsession are the no slip headbands from Sparkly Soul. When I got my hair cut ~~back in August~~ way too long ago, the stylist talked me into bangs. They are totally in I guess (uh, yeah. I have no fashion sense at all so I wouldn't know this). I believed her and she chopped away, promising me that they wouldn't be so short that I couldn't put them back in the ponytail that I wear on a daily basis.

She lied.

So I find that I need to wear a headband when I do anything to keep said bangs from plopping themselves in my eyes. Finding one that doesn't make my head feel like it's in a vice was my first problem. The second came when I finally found some that wrapped around and they slipped. Ugh

Sparkly Soul headbands are GREAT. They come in a thick and thin width and have a velvet back so they don't move. And I'm telling you, these bad boys stay in place. I wear them... well all the time. I have a pink one (because see, I do dabble in the girl stuff) and silver. They are awesome.

Lola (the fabulous Jen's adorable daughter) would be so proud. Check out this video when she reminds you all to stay pretty and fix your headband like her.

So you want to join the cool club and get a headband or two? PERFECT

Sparkly Soul has graciously offered to let me give one of my blog readers two headbands (a thick and a thin) in the color of their choice. Here's how you can enter (please leave a separate comment for each)

Become a follower of Irondiva (If someone becomes a follower and tells me that you sent them, I'll give you an extra entry)
Follow me on "The Twitter" (@cbkingery)
Head over to www.sparlysoul.com and tell me what you love
Leave me a comment telling me how good I look considering I'm turning a year older on Sunday :)
Link to this giveaway on your blog

And guys, I said that you should enter so that you can give them to your favorite women, which is great. But maybe you'll love them and you don't have to tell us that you secretly wear them. :)

Winner will be chosen at random on Monday February 6th. I was given these products at no cost from Sparkly Soul and the opinions expressed about the products are truly my opinions. :)

Home is where my heart is...

2012-01-30T20:43:00.000-05:00

And as of February 27th, we'll have a new house to call home! :)

I couldn't have been more excited then on Thursday, 4.5 hours into my drive to Atlanta, when our realtors called and said that the bank had accepted our offer on the house we really wanted. We had totally planned our future in this house so I'm glad that I didn't have to go through any heartache! It's been a long journey to get there (I know, I know.. it's only been like 2.5 months and that I'm such a baby, but this is my blog and my life and I can honestly say that it felt like an eternity), but we are happy to know we won't be homeless in a month.

I'm excited to make this house our home. For those of you that have been to our Delaware house, you'll know that we took a run down 1905 house and completely revamped it to be "us". Anyone that came in always said "this house is so Tom and Colleen". And we have big plans to make the new house truly "ours".

If home is where the heart is, I'm in luck... I LOVE this house!!!

11 things tag

2012-01-22T22:06:00.001-05:00

This is going around! :) And Marcia at The Studly Runner tagged me so here we go:

1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!

The 11 things about me:
1. I've totally furnished a guest room of a house that I don't have yet! :)
2. I went shopping today and spent $93, but saved $684!
3. My birthday is in two weeks and I'm celebrating by watching the Super Bowl.
4. I'm addicted to the Bachelor this season and I can't stand him... or the girls.
5. I love J-Lo and Steven Tyler on American Idol.
6. I learned the hard way that the gym at 3:30 in the afternoon is the highschool hangout (like, O.M.G)

7. My sister, who teaches high school, should be sainted.

8. I hate the snow, but was so excited to see it come down on Friday. It can leave any day now.
9. I'm so glad that bathingsuit season never really hits me.
10. Although if I had the chance, I'd don one right now so that I could be at a beach!

11. My hubby is the best! (Let's see if he reads this... um... I don't think so!)

Answers to Marcia's Questions

1. Do you have any pets? - Yep, two dogs, Buddy and Charlie
2. Most embarrassing moment? - Hum... I don't know. It's funny because I honestly can't remember something that totally sticks out to me. I guess I've done so many dumb things in life! :)
3. Favorite brand of running gear? Brooks or C9 from Target!
4. Dream vacation? I'd love to go back to the French Polynesian and stay in a hotel with the huts on the water.
5. Dream race? Any in which I can put my toes in the sand with an umbrella drink the next day! :)
6. Favorite GU flavor? Not a gu fan, but I love Watermelon Gu Chomps!
7. Snow ski or water ski? Snow skiing
8. Do you get a flu shot? Yep
9. Gold, sterling silver or platinum? Ha... on my budget, sterling silver
10. What grade in school did you enjoy most? Least? Hum... I was a total dork and liked school, but probably 5th grade best because I was in a gifted program where I got to leave the school a few days a week and take special classes where we just did all kinds of projects. Least - hum... maybe 2nd grade when I moved in the middle of the school year.
11. How often do you get a haircut? Not nearly often enough - maybe every 4-5 months.

Questions for the people I tagged:

1. Where is one place in the world you'd love to travel?

2. What one food could you eat for every meal?

3. If you were a super hero, what power would you possess?

4. If you won the lottery, would you still work?

5. You are stranded on a deserted island... what three things do you have with you?

6. If you could bring one person to the island, who would it be?

7. What's your favorite holiday?

8. What movie could you watch over and over and over?

9. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

10. Would you rather be really hot or really cold?

11. If you could change just one thing about yourself, what would it be?

And finally here's who I tagged:

Kim

BDD

Molly

Laura

Christi

Jen

Wes

There... now you can't say that you don't have anything to blog about! :) Check back this week for a giveaway! :)

I'll wait

2012-01-20T13:13:00.001-05:00

Patience is something that I'm learning I lack, but generally need in this whole moving process. A lot of people had asked what's going on with our transition to Atlanta and well, I wish I had more to give you. Last Friday, we closed on the house here in Delaware. As of midnight, we were officially renters of our home. Super exciting news in this economy is that we sold our house in less than 60 days and were able to get 98% of our asking price for the house. That was a huge relief.

The not so exciting news is that we have been through the ringer with Atlanta houses. We've put seven (SEVEN PEOPLE) offers in on houses and all have fallen through for reasons that were out of our control. Literally one seller took $15,000 less than we were offering so that she could close 17 days sooner. It's to the point where our realtors actually call and say "we are so sorry that this is happening to you again and again". Awesomesauce!

I know that I need to be patient, but this saying couldn't be more true!

We find things we like. We just find things that other people like faster.

We have an offer in on a house right now and have been countering with a bank for over a week. They aren't so quick to respond - they own it and obviously aren't that concerned with getting rid of it. I don't know how long I have it in me before I walk away and start the process of searching again. I don't know how much energy I have left in me to continue this process though. We have until the end of February to rent our house in Ohio. Then we have to move.

We really want this house. And I'll continue to wait...

My New Naked

2012-01-17T13:50:00.000-05:00

You all know me as Irondiva. Or maybe the girl that started the naked racing craze (ha... right, I totally wish that I could take credit for it but I really just left my watch at home and my bike computer was broke. I'm sure tons of people run without electronics, but let me have my moment). I learned to love racing naked last year - it took some time to get used to. I mean, I didn't have all the data telling me when I was dying and how short or long the course was (it's Ohio people... the courses are NEVER accurate). But I loved learning about my body and what "pushing it" felt like. I went as fast as my legs and arms took me. Most of my races, that was fast enough for a PR or a podium spot in my age group (again, people, it's Ohio... and central Ohio at that, I'm not claiming to be really good here).

But then came training. I literally want to know every detail. How far did I run? How fast did I run? When I ran that same course 3 days ago, and the sun was shining a shade brighter and it was 3:17pm versus 5:46 pm, was I faster or slower (and if I slower this time around, I must surely be getting worse and maybe I should retire from the sport). I logged into MapMyRun religiously after every run. My bike computer was reset before each ride. I counted every lap in the pool (my pool is 19 meters and I've perfected counting up to 200 laps). I had excel charts and graphs in pretty colors and summaries of each discipline, each month, each year.

I was neurotic about it to be quite honest. And honestly, it didn't mean anything to me. I used it to critic myself when in fact, I knew nothing about the data that I was getting from it.

So when I started training with Coach Sharpie and we started this HR stuff (yes! another piece of data that I can meticulously dissect), I was a bit surprised when she told me to try to just wear the HR monitor and not focus on distance or pace.

Say what crazy lady? How am I supposed to fill in my excel chart without the time, distance, and pace of every workout?

But I've been doing it and you know what? It's freeing... I actually have that freeing feeling again. I run for time (and drills). I bike for time (and drills). I swim for time (and drills). And when the workout is done, I know two things - how many minutes I worked out and what my average HR was. And that's it. I don't obsess with how many laps I ran at the gym (remember, that track is 9 laps to a mile and I've counted up to 15 miles so you can imagine how freeing just that aspect of it could be), how many up and backs I did in the pool, or how far I didn't really go on the bike since it's stationary. It doesn't matter right now.

Maybe that's why I don't mind this HR training. It may be slower than I'm used to running and biking, but my mind can just go blank. I'm not thinking about the last workout I did and comparing it. I'm really enjoying every session.

My new naked is just me and my HR monitor. Not really naked in most people's eyes, but extremely naked for a girl who's been obsessed with numbers that really had very little meaning for last few years.

I believe...

2011-12-29T13:31:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday I did my first training test for Coach Sharpie... my HR test. After what seemed like a plethora of mishaps leading up to it (I won't tell you about all the things that should have pointed me in the direction of doing it another day), I found myself at the track doing my prescribed workout. In the pouring down rain.

But it went well, despite some technological mishaps (I'm telling you, someone must have been doing voodoo on me somewhere in the world...) but I was able to get the numbers that Sharpie wanted. Success.

After giving her my data, Sharpie very calmly explained (in a great way that incorporated pizza... I knew she was the perfect coach) that I've been cooking the edges of my crust and not letting my insides cook properly. It made sense... that's what I've always done. She said "heart rate training is hard. You are going to be running and biking slow. You will get frustrated. You will question what I'm doing. Believe in the process". Fitting that she says this... if you remember this post, I got an Endorphin Warrior Training Bracelet recently with my chosen word and new motto for 2012... BELIEVE.

And I do believe in the process. Even after getting my HR zones and being told where I will be training for the next few weeks, I didn't freak out (okay, I kind of freaked out a little, but it wasn't bad). I believe that Sharpie knows her stuff. I believe that she's going to make me a better athlete. I believe that she will teach me a million things in the process.

And after talking to Tom about it all over lunch, today's "aha" moment came (I think I'm going to have a lot of these working with Sharpie). So for the last three or four years, I've done no heart rate training. None. I have a great watch with all the functions of HR training, but I don't use it. Our training has always been together, with me going hard in hopes of "getting better" and Tom along side of me, never seeming to put out as much effort. I always said to him "you are holding back to train with me and you'd be so much better if you just went at your pace", but he never left my side. Come race day, I've not had the ability to go hard without dying. Tom gets faster with what seems like little effort in training. It baffled my mind for so long. And yet, after one conversation with Carole and it all makes sense. You see, he's been cooking his crust at a slow, even pace. He's building his aerobic engine every time we train together.

And now it's my turn to make my crust better. I haven't even really full on started training with my coach (that "officially starts" on Monday), but I already see what I've been missing. It's going to be a great year.

I do believe.

And yes Sharpie, game on!

Seven Atlanta "things"

2011-12-26T13:21:00.000-05:00

Kevin at Ironman by Thirty knows that I've been kind of in a blogging funk lately (aka, I don't do anything but ramble when I do actually post and my brain just can't think of anything exciting to write about). So he tagged me in a post in which I have to list 7 things that I'm looking forward to in Atlanta. This should be easy!!!

1.) Roads with undulations. I love the fact that I live in the country and can get to an empty road in 3 miles, but... there aren't any hills. This is a typical road in Delaware and while pretty, just doesn't do anything for making me a better biker!

2.) The sports teams... just think of all the new things Tom and I can do on "date" night. As a matter of fact, we're going to see the Atlanta Hawks play the Chicago Bulls when we are there in two weeks! YAY for professional sports teams!

3.) Chick-fil-a on every corner. I love me some Chick-fil-a. I love the way the company is run. I love the people that work there. I love their chicken sandwiches and their waffle fries. I probably won't love the amount of weight I will gain from having one on every corner though.

4.) The history. The south has so much rich history and I'm excited to learn more about it. Tom and I love that Delaware is an old town... by that I mean the main street has most of the original buildings, many of which just by looking at, you can imagine what is looked like in the 1800's. There's something really cool about what makes a city and I know that Atlanta has an amazingly extensive history that we get to explore.

5.) Learning all of the Peachtree streets and whatnot. hehehe... I swear, every road you turn on is a Peachtree, or every shopping center is a Peachtree. Should make things fun when giving directions - "turn left on Peachtree and then pass the Peachtree mall and then make a slight right on Peachtree, past Peachtree Church."

6.) The close proximity to other cities - In Delaware, we are 2 hours from Cincinnati and 2 hours from Cleveland. And while those two cities are fun, after 31 years, there isn't a whole lot new to see. Within just a few hours drive from Atlanta, I can go to Athens, Chattanooga, Augusta, Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery, Knoxville, Nashville, Charlotte and Savannah. Hello lots of things to do!!!

7.) People want to come visit. I've lived for 10 years in Delaware and although it's a lovely town, people aren't really quick to say "hey, I'd love to come visit". When we tell people that we are moving to Atlanta, most of them say "I can't wait to come visit". I am so excited to have people come here, be it to actually visit me or as a stop over on another trip, to come train with us or to escape the cold. It will be fun to show all of my friends and family our new town!

Sometimes I get sad about leaving (for instance, yesterday, when I burst into tears at my family Christmas), but I realize that there are so many great things that lie ahead of me in Atlanta. The possibilities are endless. The adventures will be fun!

And luckily plane tickets are easy to buy if I miss my small town!

Holiday baking and other randomness

2011-12-20T13:23:00.000-05:00

I love holiday cookies. Sugar cookies with icing... probably one of my favorite things in the whole world. But I don't do nearly as much holiday baking as I'd like. Mainly because if I bake it, I eat it and well, that never works out well for me in the end. They always taste so good going down though... hum...

Anyway, last Thursday we celebrated Christmas with my in-laws since they are going to be gone for the holidays. I made Santa hat cupcakes which I thought turned out really cute.

Then on Saturday we had dinner with some friends and I decided to make reindeer cake pops (Hey Nicole... if you are reading this, they weren't too hard, but man... I have a long way to go to make mine look as amazing as yours!!!). Fun little holiday treat and I was pretty darn impressed with myself because my baking skills usually including breaking apart the squares of cookie dough and placing them on a cookie sheet! :)

Our family has started a tradition of getting together at the Columbus Zoo before the holidays and going to the WildLights. Basically, our amazing zoo transforms for the holidays with nearly 3 million led lights. It's pretty amazing and we always have fun getting a hot chocolate and walking around the zoo at dark, and then going out for dinner as a group. It's things like this that I'm really going to miss when I move, although I might have to make a special trip back in December to keep this tradition going (that is, unless I'm home for the holidays!!!)

Speaking of Atlanta. We put an offer in on a house last week. It didn't work out. We think that the lady selling the house was using the offer against another buyer as leverage. I feel like we got played. Guess it wasn't meant to me. Our search continues. As of 1/20, we're going to be homeless unless we find something so keep us in your thoughts.

Lastly, I have decided not to do the Goofy Challenge. I actually decided a little while ago just based on the busy time of year for us. We never imagined that we'd be moving when we signed up. The race is the weekend of 1/7 and we are closing on our house here in Delaware on 1/13. We had already shortened the trip from six days to three a few months back, but the more we thought about it, the more we realized the timing couldn't be worse. Tom's coming off an amazing running year, but I think he's a bit burnt out (he ran six full marathons this season, PRing by over 25 minutes, did a full 140.6, and then ran across the country in 16 days!), I never really got my groove back after my accident and we know that 2012 will give us a lot of opportunity to do new things. Coach Sharpie has a lot in store for me so she was happy with my decision! It's not to say I will never do it, but 2012 just isn't my year.

Hope you all have a fabulous holiday. Remember what this time of year is all about...

Picking a leader

2011-12-11T13:23:00.000-05:00

I've not hid the fact that I've been a self coached triathlete for the last 5+ years. There were a lot of reasons for my decision, and we all know that there have been tons of talks both ways on which is better. It's definitely a personal preference in my opinion... all depending on so many factors - your goals, your objectives, your financial situation, your willingness to have someone else dictate your ass kicking sessions. Being self coached has worked for me in the past. I'm lucky to have an amazingly talented husband to train with and we have the flexibility to workout when we want.

But I'll admit when there is something missing and lately I've felt it. It's not the "off-season-I-don't-want-to-do-anything" feeling (yep, I have that too). For me, I've been missing the structure. I feel like a lot of my workouts don't have purpose. Kind of like I'm winging it and definitely not pushing myself to my potential. Looking at my race schedule the last few years, I've gotten by, but I am ready for a change. And what's a girl to do when she wants to get better, have more structure and have more purpose?

Find someone to lead her, to guide her... aka hire a coach.

Welcome Sharpie into my life! I'm so excited to introduce you all to my new coach, Carole Sharpless.

I got to know her last year when I joined Team Trakkers. She's who our team calls "Momma Bear" for so many reasons. She the most caring, amazingly supportive woman, with the kind of personality that makes you think "is there anything I don't love about her?". But what a lot of people don't know is that she's a kick ass triathlete. (click HERE if you want to see some of her results... I mean, hello... lots of podium finishes!!!) And when looking for a coach, those were two qualities I wanted... someone who knew they stuff (she has all the important coaching certifications, as well as a ton of experience) and someone who genuinely cared about the people they surround themselves with.

I started talking to Carole about some options of her coaching me, something I knew that she did, but didn't talk about much. I wanted to make sure it was a good fit on my end and on hers. I mean, this is a year long relationship. And I wouldn't trust my season to just anyone. Or my ass kickings.

After many heart to hearts (I'm telling you, I love her honesty and candidness with me about anything I throw at her), we both agreed that this will work. I'm super excited. I feel like my love for triathlon and for getting better is higher than ever. I'm anxious to see what Carole throws at me and hope she knows that I'm going to work my butt off for her. And like I told her... I can't wait to see what she does to me!

If you are looking for a coach and want to see if Carole might be a good fit for you, visit her website HERE. And if you want a good laugh, make sure you stop by her blog and give her some love. She's funny people... like snort out loud when you read kind of funny!

You know, coaching IS a very personal decision. And I'm confident that I picked the right person to lead me through this year.

Moving on up...

2011-12-06T13:35:00.000-05:00

Things are looking up for the Kingery's. I buried a Saint Joseph statue on Tuesday of last week, upside-down, facing our house as instructed on the packaging (don't mock me for buying a kit for this... yes they sell them and you would have too if you saw the gleaming reviews on Amazon and the small $5 price tag). You see, I've heard far too many stories of people burying said statue and getting an offer on their house. Our home had been on the market just shy of two months and although we've had showings, we've had no interest. What did we have to lose? We were super serious throughout the whole burying processes (besides the hot pink buff that Tom was wearing on his head the whole night, and me practically crying from laughter through the prayer as we stood, holding hands in our entry way, reciting the words that the kit sent with us, Tom, still in his pink buff). But other than that, it was totally serious...

Low and behold, we got a call on Wednesday that someone wanted to see our house on Thursday. By Friday our realtor called with some questions from the buyer. Saturday and Sunday, Tom and I were cautiously optimistic that their person was interested, while not getting our hopes up too much.

Monday we got the call... the lady made us an offer on the house. We countered. She accepted.

WE ARE IN CONTRACT!!!!

I am so excited. I know that a lot can happen between now and the closing date (which happens to be 1/13/12), but we're moving (literally) forward with things. I never imagined that we'd get an offer within two months of our house being listed. Or what we'd sell for 98.9% of our listing price. But, it's all coming together for us. We fly our Sunday to look for houses in Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday. And hopefully bu Christmas, we've found our new house.

Holy smokes... I could be sitting in a huge bathtub (that's one of my requirements of the new house) with a glass of wine on my birthday (which happens to be February 5th... don't worry, you have time to shop).

My beginning...

2011-12-04T15:18:00.000-05:00

I recently found out that I was selected to be a FitFluential Ambassador. This was really a cool thing for me because the ladies who have founded and grown FitFluential saw me as not only passionate about living a healthy, fitness oriented lifestyle, but also influential in the online and offline community in which I associate. That's pretty cool.

The FitFluential concept stems from a balance of four ideas - Eat, Sleep, Move and Enjoy. It's about fitting fitness into your life (aka... you don't have to be obsessed, you just need to make it work). As I'm finding out more and more about what being a FitFluential Ambassador will mean for me in 2012, I'm getting more and more exciting. I'm really part of an extraordinary group of men and women who share the same passion as me... living a balanced, healthy lifestyle.

One of the topics that we've started talking about as a group is the concept of just getting started. It's a perfect time of year to start living this balanced life. We all have a ":my beginning" story... and I don't know that I've ever shared mine.

Throughout my childhood, I was always active. I played basketball, softball, and soccer. I took dance classes. I ran track (briefly... in middle school). I loved spending my days running around the neighborhood, riding my bike and rollerblading. When I went got to middle school and high school, I focused on basketball and soccer. I was the captain of our freshman and jv basketball team for two years and a three year varsity letter recipient in soccer. I ended up quitting my senior year due to some conflicts with the coach (aka, he was a jerk and I was a 17 year old who thought she knew better... which I probably did). I continued playing club soccer for the next year. When I went to college, I ended up playing soccer for our school's team my freshman year. But going into my sophomore year, we had a coaching change which scared me away, as well as a full class load as a bio-chem major. See, at my school, you missed games and practices for classes, not the other way around. I would have missed most of my season. And that's when I stopped being active. Completely stopped.

By the time I graduated in 2002, I had gained about 35 pounds. At the time, my mom was going through an amazing transformation of her body through weight watchers and one afternoon, while at their house, my dad told me I looked chunky.

That's all it took.

I know that he loved me unconditionally, but his always tall, lanky, athletic little girl had let herself go and it was showing. So I joined weight watchers. I learned about portions, and the value of eating more balanced food (I loved weight watchers in that I could eat what I wanted, but I know that I had more points to spend, the better I ate). By January of 2003, I had lost about 25 of those pounds that I had gained in college and decided I needed something else to keep me going.

I signed up for a half marathon - I just wanted to walk it. This wasn't anything that anyone in my family had ever done. But my mom had been walking with her weight watcher partner and they had signed up to walk a half that April. She was my inspiration. She had changed her life and I was on the way to doing the same. So I slowly started training.

I lived with my sister in a condo that had a gym. So I went to the treadmill. I was always alone in the gym so I'd put on MTV and walk. I eventually decided to try to run. I remember the first time, setting the treadmill to maybe 5.5 and "jogging". I was gasping for air, convinced that I had asthma or something because of the burning in my lungs. That lasted about a minute. I walked some more. Each day I added more and more running, increasing not only the distance, but also the speed. Before I knew it, I was running at a constant 10:00/mile pace for a mile... then two... then three. My mind started to change and I decided that I wouldn't just walk my first half marathon, but that I would do a run/walk program.

Then I met my Tom. He was a football player turned marathon runner. I told him about my goals to run/walk the half and he totally supported me. He didn't know the "old" me, the overweight me. He only knew what I told him I had worked through, and saw my potential. He challenged me to run the half. And I did just that in April (totally to impress him). I crossed the finish line in 2:11:00 - exactly a 10:00 mile. I was over the moon.

I called Tom that night and told him what I had accomplished. Instead of telling me how great it was (well he did that too of course), but he simply said "let's run a marathon together". A what? There was no way that I could double what I had just done that day. But he reminded me that it takes baby steps, exactly like it did to go from gasping for air when I first started training to running the half. I was on board.

For the next 6 months, we trained together and in October 2003, we crossed the finish line together, holding hands, of the Chicago Marathon. I cried and said "I will never do that again".

Ironman distance races. I've won races, and my age group, and I've joined a team. I tell everyone I can about my passion because it's not just a hobby, it's who I am, it's what I love. It's become my LIFESTLYE.

People have questioned my love of triathlon. I've lost friends over it. They didn't "get" why I would choose a hundred mile bike ride over "pool days" with the girls and margarita nights. They didn't see that I balanced that... I could do those things AND the things I loved. My family has come to learn that I need to get a workout in to feel good, to be happy, to get my day going. You might want to be cuddled up on the couch (and I most likely want to do that too), but I'll do it after a swim, or a bike, or a run. That's just me.

This lifestyle has changed me. I've grown to be more confident in my skin (and I'll be the first to admit that I'm not 100% there, but I'm working on it). I love challenges and pushing my own limits. I know that my body can do things that most people doubt. I have learned that the words "I'll never do that again" are usually replaced with "when can I do that again".

Thinking back to when I started, here are my 7 things that changed my life:

Start small - don't make a goal that might be attainable, but will frustrate you if you don't hit right away. I started with losing 5 pounds. Then 10 pounds. Then 10%. Then 20 pounds. I ran for 1 minute, than 2, then upped my speed to 5.6, and 5.7. If you start and say "I'm going to run 5 miles today", you won't.
Reward yourself when you hit small milestones, but with things other than food - if you ran more in a 30 minute workout that you walked, splurge one something like a new running top or maybe a pedicure. Something that is going to motivate you to keep moving. Food rewards only sets you back.
Tell people about your goals. Everyone that I knew, knew that I was on weight watchers. They knew that I was signed up for the half. And I asked them to check on me so that I was accountable. No need to be embarrassed of where you are starting... we all have to have a "beginning".
Don't worry about looking funny. I remember being so happy that my gym was empty because I was a big girl trying to run and I'm sure it wasn't pretty. But thinking back, I would have done it if the gym was busy. I had every right to be there. I still look funny when I run (I run with my thumbs up). But whatever... I'm telling everyone that I'm awesome... that's why I do it!
Be patient. It took me a long time for my lungs to stop burning. And it took me a long time before I could run a mile. And then before I could run two miles. It took me months to lose 35 pounds. It's not a fast process...
Along with #5, don't compare yourself to others. It's hard to do when someone in a similar situation to you (or so you think) is skinnier, faster, stronger, etc. than you. You don't know their story, their "beginning" and you don't know how hard they've worked to get there. Just focus on you, your accomplishments and remember that's all that matters.
Keep smiling... even when it gets hard, and it will, fake it till you can make it. There are days when I wanted to give up. There are days I still want to give up. But I choose to do these things. If I do them with a scowl, it's because I'm not enjoying it. And if you don't enjoy it, why do it? Find something that makes you smile and stick with that!

What is you "my beginning" story and what tips would you give to someone just starting to write their story?

If you want to be involved with the FitFluential community, come join as a FitFluential Enthusiast - FitFluential is open to everyone who is passionate about fitness and living a healthy lifestyle.

Running in the rain

2011-11-29T14:06:00.001-05:00

I had two options yesterday - run in the pouring down rain, or hop on my trainer for a little while. All day I went back and forth. I had a funeral in the morning that had my mind racing, then a day consisting of a sick husband and a ton of orders for work. By 3:30, I knew the rain would wash away the stress.

But it was literally pouring. And cold. And getting dark fast. I got dressed, laced up the shoes, put on some reflective gear, came downstairs, stood in front of Tom and said "I'm going to run to your mom's. Pick me up in an hour and fifteen minutes". He thought I was nuts. He has to drag me out to run some days and beg me to run in the rain. But not yesterday.

I opened the door and walked outside. I immediately smiled. Yep, the puddles were calling me.

I had 8.15 glorious miles to myself. My mind wandered through the obstacles of my life right now - the impending move, the holidays, the Goofy Challenge, some new opportunities that I've yet to make public. I sang along to Lady Gaga, Sugarland, Aerosmith and thought about all the songs that need to be added to my MP3 before my next long run. I made sure I hit as many puddles as I could. I smiled the entire way.

You see, running in the rain was just what I needed yesterday to escape. It didn't matter that I was soaking wet. It didn't matter that I was alone. It didn't matter that it was dark and probably a bit dumb of me to be running alone on country roads. I felt invincible, like I could run forever. I just opened up and ran. And the usual hour and fifteen minute run only took me an hour and ten minutes. I ended up with the biggest smile on my face, and my the obstacles in my head figured out.

Today, I'll jump on the bike trainer. But yesterday, I loved every minute of my run in the rain.

**Don't forget to get me questions for Tom's guest post about Run Across America. They are coming in and some good ones!!!**

Questions for Tom

2011-11-26T18:29:00.001-05:00

Hey all - many of you have said that you'd like a guest blog from Tom about Run Across America (how are you not sick of hearing about this from me yet??? :) You are all too kind). And I kind of nominated him to do that and then told him the format last night - questions from my readers that YOU would like to know. I warned him that some might include questions about bodily functions while on the run (yes, Jason, I have yours saved), but list your questions here and we'll get Tom answering them! He'll answer anything (yikes, are we opening up a can of worms with that one???) - training, race logistics, diabetes questions, nutrition, why's, how's, etc. - the sky's the limit.

I'm not sure how long it will take for the guest blog to be written - guess that depends on the number of questions.

So, 10 runners, 3000 miles, 1 goal - what do you want to know???

GO!

All over the place...

2011-11-21T18:59:00.001-05:00

This blog will be all over the place... just the way I like it.

How come every time I try to take a picture of my dog, he has his tongue out? Or he looks possessed? Or like this picture, both? Seriously, how am I supposed to get a good picture? Maybe I need to invest in an SLR camera just to capture him. For those of you with kids, I don't know how you do it.

Sunday, we cooked the big bird. Yes, there are two of us and according to the Butterball website, with 2 adults and 2 kids (well... we do have two, see the picture above), wanting left overs (the best part) and being big eaters (see... proof again that the scrawny little twerp at the local restaurant was maybe right) we needed a 6 pound turkey. HA. I laugh at 6 pound turkeys. We made a 21 pounder. Go big or go home people. And these pictures prove that Tom's much more mature than I am...

I love great products. I love winning products even more. I recently won an Endorphin Warrior Training Bracelet from a giveaway on the Women's Endurance Gear Blog. Endorphin Warrior has some super great items (hint hint... Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are all coming up). From their website, each bracelet features a positive and powerful keyword or phrase to help you train, perform and live with greater strength of body and mind. I had so many to choose from. I decided to pick "BELIEVE". Something you might not know about me is that I had a hard time believing in myself. I'm full of self doubt. But I'm working on it. This bracelet was perfect. I got it in the mail a few days ago and I love it. They would be great for men or women (mine's the smallest they come and fits perfect). Thank you Laima and thank you Endorphin Warrior!!!

Do you visit Etsy? I forget it's there, but have recently found some great things there. Check it out! So I bought two "no-slip" headbands (very similar to sweaty bands) but for a fraction of the cost and tons of super cute designs. The lady custom made me two of them in the ribbon of my choice. I got my hair did a few weeks ago and my bangs are just a teeeeeeeny bit too short so the bands work great. No moving or slipping when I run and bike! And I scored two, shipped to my house for $14! NICE!

Also from Etsy was this cute sign that my committee got me as a thank you for chairing the fundraiser. You can barely see the holes in the bottom, but those are for 9 hooks that came with it (I haven't put them in yet). I love it. And Nicole who ordered it for me knows me all too well - she requesting Malibu Barbie Pink as the color! Love it!

I haven't been writing much about my training. That's because ~~I'm not training~~, ~~my training is boring~~, ~~it's off-season~~, I've been kind of blah about it. I'm running. I spin occasionally. That's the recap. :) Anyway, a while back, Zensah sent me one of their new racerback tank to try out. I actually wore it during the Chicago Marathon for the first time - you know, because it's always smart to try new things on race day. Anyway, it was a super smart choice because I LOVED it right away. It's long, not clingy, deep arm holes, seamless and super comfy. I've been wearing it a lot when I ride inside because I sweat like a pig at a luau, and this thing just sucks up the sweat. Super big fan and I've added another to my Christmas list. You should too.

So hope you followed along with my crazy all over the place post! :)

Return to normalcy

2011-11-17T11:09:00.001-05:00

"Normal" is all relative. I feel like my life is easing back into normalcy, but really, who can say that my life is normal? Heck, who can say that I'm normal?! :) Tom's home, our family of 4 is back together, I eat dinner at night with my best friend, I wake up next to him each morning. I guess that's our "normal". Thank you all so much for your emails, calls, facebook messages and blog comments about Tom and the Run Across America. It'll take months for him to process the enormity of everything that he and those other 9 guys experienced in the last 18 days. I'm thinking of having him do a guest post on here (if you'd be interested) and if you have any questions for him to answer, let me know. Then, I promise I'll stop talking about it.

Coming home was such a joy because one of my favorite holidays is right around the corner. I absolutely love Thanksgiving. I don't know why. There's something about going for a run that morning and then totally gorging yourself with food so that you feel like total crap the rest of the day that we just love. :) I'm a little sad that I won't be hosting dinner at our house... I love to cook a bird (again, define "normal"). But we're heading to my sisters and I'm excited to be with the family. We're running the Columbus Turkey Trot which is 5 miles and hopefully will score me a pie! I might even have a crazy hair and run the course twice (10 miles means double the food right?)

Since I'm not cooking a meal at home which means that I don't get any left overs, I decided to pick up a ~~small~~ 21 pound bird to cook this weekend for Tom and I. If you saw my post on Facebook yesterday, you'll know why I got such a big bird. According to the guy at the restaurant that we ate at, I eat a lot and set records. We don't do things small in the Kingery house! So this weekend I am going to make our version of Thanksgiving so that we can have the leftovers and make all the fun stuff that comes with extra turkey.

And I will leave you all with a recipe that I just found in our local coupon section of the weekly Sunday paper. I will not be making this for our meal this weekend or to bring to my sister's on Thanksgiving. I'm sure you'll understand why.

White Castle Holiday Stuffing
10 White Castle Hamburgers, no pickles (sorry EMZ)
1.5 cups celery, diced
1.25 tsp. ground thyme
1.5 tsp. ground sage
.75 tsp. ground black pepper
.25 cups chicken broth

In a large mixing bowl, tear the burgers into pieces and add celery and seasonings. Toss and add chicken broth. Toss well. Stuff cavity of turkey just before roasting. Makes about 9 cups (enough for a 10-12 pound turkey). Note: allow 1 hamburger for each pound of turkey, which will be the equivalent to .75 cups of stuffing per pound.

Yep, awesome. They need to add one more line that says "if you didn't already feel like shit from eating the Thanksgiving meal, then we're going to absolutely ensure that you will after eating this stuffing".

I love America...

Cherished Time

2011-11-10T10:46:00.002-05:00

You know the saying "you don't know how much something means until it's gone"? Holy heck is that statement so true.

I'll be honest - I've been missing my hubby something fierce. You have to understand that I spend 99% of my day in the same room with him. We wake up next to each other, eat breakfast together, hit the office together, have lunch together, work some more together, workout together, cook dinner together, eat and relax at night together and then go to bed together. I know, I know... how do we do it? Most people who hear about our lifestyle respond with "there's no way I could spend that much time with my spouse" to which I respond "yeah, it works for us" (while I'm secretly sad that they don't share that bond that Tom and I have, but I digress). In any event, so to go from that to possibly getting to talk to a sleep deprived version of him maybe 6-10 minutes TOTAL in a day, on a good day, is really really tough.

They've been gone since 10/28. And while I'm making it through each day just fine (I think it's a little harder for the spouse sitting at home waiting for the calls that the spouse busy with stuff away from home), I was super excited to get to meet the RV's last night just southeast of Columbus to bring them dinner and get a much needed hug from the hubster.

It was fabulous!

I asked all week what they would want to eat and I got a resounding "salad". Weird, right? So I made a big salad, but I also made pulled pork, homemade mac and cheese and two pans of brownies (I know the way to a man's heart is through their stomachs - hello.. that's how I keep Tom happy. I'm no dummy!)

When I got there, the three overnight guys were just waking up. I caught up with Dave, Karen and Michael (the amazing crew), and a few Sanofi reps had come out so we caught up with them. We got the overnight guys fed and waited patiently for the day crew of 7 to come in.

I was like a kid at Christmas waiting for my present, a hug from Tom, to arrive.

They got in around 6:30 and when I saw him, I just held on. We both needed that. I know that he's really struggled out on the road and well, I have struggled with him out on the road.

The guys quickly got their stuff transitioned, put some warm clothes on and piled in the RV. You would have thought that I brought them piles of $100 bills the way they smiled when they saw the food. I know that Karen is feeding them well, but maybe this was a nice treat (momma got a night off and the boys got a full belly!). They are all so skinny... and scruffy... and a tad slappy, but morale is high and they are pushing toward NYC at a blazing pace. It's been a tough journey, but they are tough guys. Amazing guys really.

When they loaded the RV's up to get on the road, I asked Crew Chief Dave if I could drive Tom to the next stop. He said as long as I didn't kidnap him and bring him home!! I wanted those extra minutes with him (which turned out to be nearly two more hours). We just sat in the car and talked. We smiled. It was like we had a lifetime of catching up to do.

And really, we did. Two weeks apart leaves a lot to be discussed. :)

I didn't take Tom home last night - I brought him to the RV's where he got another broken night's sleep I'm sure. Selfishly I would have loved to, but I know how far they have some as a team and they will finish this journey as a team. Plus, I only have three more full days until I see him again. And I'll cherish that time with him even more.

PCB and RAA

2011-11-08T11:51:00.000-05:00

Before I get to my trip to PCB, a quick update on the guys with Run Across America. They are booking it. Right now they are in Illinois and I just got word from Tom that they are going to be in Indiana by dinner time! That's awesome - especially since that means I get to see them either tomorrow or Thursday for dinner!!! They seem to be in good spirits and excited to be moving forward to rapidly.

Tom hit 100 miles on the 3rd - that's 7 days into his journey, but said that now they are averaging more like 25 miles a shift since their shifts run from 6am - 6pm. They are doing 1 mile intervals and covering a lot of miles! Then three guys take over and run over night. Last night they covered 70 miles in about 9 hours. They are amazing. I asked if he's sick of running and he was very quick to respond with "yep"! I've been loving the pictures (which Tom is posting on the side of the Team Type 1 webpage if you haven't noticed). This one just cracked me up..

At least I know that they are having fun. It's interesting because there is so much to this journey that you don't get to hear about (and I, of course do, being the wife of the team manager!) They make this seem like it's been an easy going, super fun journey of 10 guys, just running across the country with no worries. Let me tell you... it's so much more than running and recovering. They have had some serious low spots, times when they missed home, were annoyed with each other (how can you not be... you are with the same people 24/7 in close corners), have been injured both physically and mentally, wanted to quit and have questioned why they are doing this. But they have always come together, hugged it out, and remembered the goal - to show that they, everyday people with Type 1 Diabetes, can do anything. And they will finish strong, as a unified group, having done something that just the 10 of them (and the 3 crew members) will never forget, and never really be able to explain to us watching from afar. What a journey!!!

So, what's a girl to do when her hubby leaves for 3 weeks - go on a girls trip, of course. To summarize my weekend:

I got to see one of my besties Kristin and got to meet the infamous Mandy

I ended up meeting Laura, KC, John, Andy, and Wes, as well as getting to spend time with Matty-O, Heather, Frank and Sophie

I ate a lot of peanut butter M&M's, rice krispie treats, and doritos

Learned that Mellow Mushroom has the most fantastic pizza ever (and yeah, I kind of already knew that but sharing it with new people was too much fun!)

We got to introduce Mandy to the Wally World of PCB... yep, they have airbrusing there!!!

I made signs for the racers, many of which included "that's what she said" phrases and bought a race spectating necessity... a cooler on wheels.

I made an Irondiva cup which may or may not have come in handy when cheering along the course and holding cold beverages...

I met some totally great glowing people from the Boca Tri Club who you would have thought we'd known our own lives
I saw a record get broken (hello sub8 hour US Ironman record) and witness my new friends have amazing days!
I laughed until I cried and smiled nonstop
And... I signed up for another Ironman!

Couldn't have been a better weekend!

An update and an award

2011-11-02T11:27:00.001-04:00

Okay people - this is where they stand...

They are in New Mexico. They are still running. They are still tired.

Hahaha - that's about as good of an update as I've gotten. I went 26 or so hours without talking to him yesterday because they have had no cell signal and when they finally did get it, he was just starting a shift. So I talked to him for about 6 minutes. He sounded good, tired, but good and said that they were doing fine. I know he had a long shift in front of him (it was 10pm our time and they were just starting the 8 hour shift so they'd be running through the night) and he was already yawning! I have a feeling that when I get home home on the 15th, he's just going to sleep for a few days! Here's a great little blog that one of the crew members is keeping. And the official writer for the Run Across America is one of Tom's teammates, Marcus and his blog is here Tom is trying to post Marcus's blogs to the Team Type 1 website, but without Internet access, that's just not always possible! Thanks for the thoughts and well wishes... keep them coming for these ~~crazy~~ amazing guys!

Okay, so on to me. I'm leaving tomorrow for Panama City Beach.

I'M SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!

And yesterday, Melissa from Double Jogger Diaries nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award.

Thanks Melissa... so now I'm supposed to give you 7 facts about myself.

I was born in Queens New York. I wasn't there long (10 months) and I haven't been back since, but I know that my life would have been very different had we stayed there and not moved to Westerville, OH. My parents and I are going back next weekend for the finish of Run Across America and on Saturday, we're renting a car and driving through all of the old neighborhoods. I was told that some of them will be very quick visits - guess they might not be the best parts of town! :)
I talk to my mom every day, at least twice a day (it's 11am and I've already talked to her 4 times today). I can literally call her and not have anything to say, yet we can talk for 30 minutes nonstop. The hardest time I had with this was when I went to Europe for 4 months, but I still talked to her 3-4 times a week!
My husband's name is Thomas Brady Kingery III, but since I've known him, I've called him Brady. No one else does this and it often catches people by surprise when they hear me say it. You see, my dad is Tom, my grandpa is Tom, my father-in-law is Tom... so when I first started dating him and we were with our families, it just got too confusing. I can't remember the last time that I've called him Tom though, except for when I'm talking about him to someone else. So if you hear me talking about Brady, that's my hubby.
I'm totally obsessed with reality tv. I know that it's trash and rots my brain, but even yesterday, when talking to Tom (see... I didn't want to throw you off with the Brady thing), he asked what was new in the world since they haven't had access to the news and my responses was "Kim Kardashian is getting a divorce". That's sad...
I love making homemade sandwiches and panini's. I worked in a sub shop (Jersey Mike's) for about 6 years (high school and college). It was a piece of cake job, all my friends worked there, I got free subs... you know, everything was perfect (except for me slicing off part of my middle finger on the meat slicer, but that's another story). When I quit, it took me years to walk back in and order a sub because I had eaten there every day for years. Their subs are really great, but I just couldn't eat them. Now I can though and I can still rattle off what comes on each sub. I use a lot of their ideas when cooking at home and Tom often says that I should open a sandwich shop at some point. Maybe...
I love to bake, but don't do it very often. I do cook dinner at least 5 or 6 nights a week. And I'm not afraid to try some new recipe. I don't measure things though and many times make the recipe my own by adding something or taking something out of it. I would say 98% of the time it works out great.
I have a rule that I must not think about future holidays until the next one is over. I'm so not a fan of the fact that right after Halloween, Christmas season starts. I take that back... BEFORE Halloween, Christmas season starts. What happened to Thanksgiving (which is one of my favorite holidays) and why must we always rush to the next one? I love love love Christmas, but I honestly think it's a tad ridiculous that in October, the trees and ornaments are out. It makes my head spin. Bah-humbug.

So that's all... I had a hard time coming up with 7 things about me. Hope you enjoyed them. I'm supposed to tag people, but my mind is on my girl's vacation right now and I must go pack. I know, not playing by the rules, but just call me ~~lazy~~ a rebel!

A little running shenanigans

2011-10-31T11:24:00.003-04:00

So I'm holding down the fort while Tom is out running. The guys started running on Thursday night and have been going 24/7 since. Right now I think that they are somewhere in Arizona (at least that's what the map says). I haven't talked to Tom all that much... maybe 3-5 minutes each day. From what I know - they are doing well, keeping strong, very sleep deprived already, climbingclimbingclimbing, good control of their diabetes and just moving forward. Great update huh? :) They don't have much cell signal so our chats are very brief, mainly to see how he's holding up mentally through all of this because I worry... He just has so much on his plate right now that he's dealing with - throwing 15 days of little Internet access, little sleep and running 14-28 miles every 24 hour period is going to do a number on him. :( Keep sending him messages at www.teamtype1.org/run - he said that he is reading those and loves reading what people are writing. And if I get any more updates, I'll let you know. Oh... one thing that was cool. Last night he was interviewed on a live radio show by "Paul friggen Huddle and Bob Babbitt" (his words via text). If you are a triathlete, you'll know how cool that was for him!

So what have I been doing while Tom's gone? Working, shopping, sleeping, shopping, visiting with my friends and family, shopping, catching up on reality tv and working out. Priorities people...

I ran a half marathon on Saturday. It was one of those "I'll wait to see how the weather is on Saturday morning before I sign up" kind of runs. I woke up to sunny and low 30 temps (okay, that's a lie... it was still dark, but the forecast said sun). I decided to make the trip (2 hours northwest) to this tiiiiiiiiiny little town called Elida for the Meals 'til Monday half marathon - great little organization that gives kids meals for the weekend who might otherwise not be able to eat between heading home on Friday after school and getting back to school on Monday. Anyway, I paid my dues (I think the lady was a little surprised that I registered for the half on the day of the race) and just waited until the start. It was announced that the start would be at the crosswalk to the school. Awesome small races.

The half lined up and there were 45 of us. That's it. :) I wasn't running for a goal time or anything... heck, I'm still wrapping up my bike accident wounds when I run because they are still painful (yeah, I know... it's been 9 weeks and I'm not healed) and I am slowly getting back into any sort of training. I took off at a nice pace. First mile was 8:16 - whoa nelly... that's a tad too fast. But I quickly settled in. Nothing but cornfields. And headwinds. In any event, it wasn't a very action packed race. I was running third female for the first 8 miles, passed the second place woman and then was passed by the now third place woman. I dug hard to keep that third place spot. I ended up running behind a guy in cargo swim trunks and vibrams (yeah... no need to say anything). The finish was literally a spot in the parking lot that you crossed and they said "you're done, great job". hehehe - I went inside where they were serving hamburgers and hot dogs (the race started at 10am so it wasn't one of those weird finish line food option / time of day things (you know...for instance when you finish a race at 9:30am and they are serving beer and you have to question if that's alright). I waited around for awards and ended up snagging 1st in my AG and 3rd Overall Woman. Gotta love small races.

So here are the stats:
Finish Time - 1:54:31
3 of 23 women
1 of 6 in 30-39 age group
12 of 45 overall

It definitely wasn't about what place I came in. It was about getting a run in, supporting a good cause, and knowing that if it hurt a little, that was okay - at least I wasn't running across the country like my crazy husband! :)

So now I'm counting down the days until I get to participate in some shenanigans with Mandy, Kristin, Matty-O, and Heather, cheering on all the people at IMFL. Oh.. it's gonna be a good time! Are you going to be in PCB? Let me know...

Run Across America

2011-10-25T12:11:00.002-04:00

I've talked a few times about Run Across America and that Tom, along with 9 other Type 1 diabetics from Team Type 1 Sanofi will run from California to New York in 16 days. The run starts Thursday. Holy smokes.

I've added a banner to my sidebar. Once the race starts, you'll be able to track where the guys are. I'll be updating things along the way as much as possible too. Please keep these guys (and their families) in your thoughts as they embark on this amazing journey!!!

Marcus Grimm, one of the TT1-Sanofi members wrote a great kick off story about the adventure. Enjoy...

A Recipe for Success - Marcus Grimm

Assuming you wanted to send a bunch of diabetic runners across the United States in sixteen days, here’s what could be called an approximate recipe for success. “Approximate” because the journey doesn’t actually begin until Friday, October 28th. Whether or not the results will be as stellar as those anticipated by the management, sponsors and supporters of Team Type 1 remains to be seen, but most great accomplishments start with a plan, so let’s begin there.

The first move is to start with a field of some of the top diabetic runners in the country. Truth be told, this is the “gimme” in our recipe, something the team has had for some time now. Many of the squad descended on rural New Jersey in March for an “Ultra-Fest,” which consisted of five races ranging from marathon distance to one hundred miles. By the time the runners left, Team Type 1 had representatives finishing no lower than 7th in any of the races, including a victory in the in the 100k (62.5 miles) and a second place finish in the marathon.

But because 3,000 miles is very far and because 16 days is very long, the runners have been chosen as much for what makes them different as for what makes them similar. In order to maintain steady pace, there are a few speedsters on the crew; guys like New York’s Matt Patrick, who hasn’t run a marathon slower than three hours in more than ten years. Patrick, Casey Boren, Kevin Powell, and Kona Ironman participant Ben Semeyn are certainly here because of their ability to pound out miles quickly.

But there’s more to the recipe than speed. There’s endurance, too. That’s why ultra-specialists like Jon Obst and Ryan Jones are on the team. Jones, from Morrisville PA, won a twelve-hour race on a very hot and humid Labor Day a little more than a year ago, covering seventy sweat-soaked miles along the way. Meanwhile Obst is looking forward to his birthday in January, at which time he’ll run one hour for each year of his life, just as he did last year (when he turned 28) and for the two years prior to that.

Experience is critical, of course, because no man on this team has ever run across the country before, but team manager Tom Kingery has raced across the country two times on his bicycle with Team Type 1, setting a world record in the process. Kingery was indispensable in this entire process, and if he’s only one cog in the wheel once the run starts, he was pretty much the whole engine in getting the run to this point.

You might look at a guy like Eric Tozer and feel that with just two marathons under his belt he’s a little green for this journey. But know this: his marathon a few weeks ago in Chicago was around three and a half hours, a full one hour faster than the one he ran in March. Plus, he’s young – barely 27 - and when you’re running 18 miles per day, young muscles recover faster.

Of course, we won’t mention young muscles to Tom Grossman and Brian Foster, both of whom have had diabetes about as long as Eric Tozer has been alive. These men will serve as the diabetic sages for the squad, simply because there probably isn’t a technique they haven’t tried in their own relentless pursuits to control a disease that for the most part, has little interest in being controlled.

Many cross country runs strive to have a doctor on the support crew, but with space at a premium, Team Type 1 upped the ante by including a diabetic runner who also happens to be a doctor. Dr. Chris Zenker’s duties, one could expect, might involve a bit more than delivering the requisite miles.

But the runners are just the beginning. The next move is to divide the roster into two units. Certainly, running ability is part of the recipe, but so is personality, as each of the groups will spend more than two weeks together, of which their time will be spent mostly running, or trying to be comfortable in the van.

With the squads divided up, the next move is to divide the country into more than 60 more or less equal chunks. Team A eats up miles for about 8 hours, and then Team B does the same. Rinse and repeat until California eventually gives way to New York. An RV also follows along, providing the runners with the comforts that can’t be found in the van.

With the runners and logistics taken care of, there’s still the matter of financing this dream, and for that Team Type 1 has their sponsors to thank. Drug company SANOFI is the team’s title sponsor and don’t think for a moment this run would happen without them, but they’re not the only ones. From the Newton shoes on the runners’ feet to the hundreds of Clif Bars they’ll consume and the sleek sunglasses courtesy of VSP VisionCare, if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes more than a few companies to get a team of diabetic runners across the country.

If there’s a secret ingredient in our recipe, it’s the spouses and loved ones of the athletes waiting at home. While a supportive wife might be a prerequisite, it wouldn’t hurt if you were lucky enough to be married to someone who qualifies for wings and a halo. From Jennifer Semeyn and Tricia Foster, looking after Ben and Brian’s young babies at home to Colleen Kingery, who’ll be watching over the family business while Tom is out, the sacrifices endured during these two weeks stretches far further than the soles and shins of the athletes.

Ironically, what our recipe doesn’t need is a nurse or an endocrinologist to monitor the blood sugars and insulin requirements of the runners. These athletes learned long ago that they each hold the greatest responsibility in controlling their diabetes. They’ll be their own guardians, even as they’re watching out for each other, counting carbohydrates, doing blood sugar tests and adjusting insulin intake as their bodies adjust to the pounding of each mile.

There is a joke among diabetics that used blood sugar testing strips – barely one inch long and only a quarter of that wide – have a habit of clinging to clothing and falling in the strangest of places. Expect that by the time the vans reach the East Coast, the floorboards of both vans will be littered with these strips, much like confetti, celebrating an incredible journey that has been years in the making.

About the Run Across America and Team Type 1:

Team Type 1 is made up of 100 of some of the finest professional and diabetic athletes in the world. Their mission is to promote wellness and achievement among diabetics worldwide. The Run Across America, a journey of more 3,000 miles, culminates on November 14, World Diabetes Day, in New York City.

"Georgia On My Mind"

2011-10-23T22:58:00.002-04:00

So, what do the following things have in common???

71 streets with the name "Peachtree" in it
The largest 10k race in the world
Headquarters to The Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot, and Delta Air Lines
Birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr.
Home of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games
Home of the Braves, Falcons and Hawks

If you guessed Atlanta, you are right. And if you guessed that we are moving there, bonus points to you!!!

So that's why I've been a little M.I.A lately in bloggy land (okay, one of the reasons). Our house is for sale and as soon as it sells, we're relocated. I'm so freaking excited!!!!

Tom got offered a new job with his team, a job that fits him perfect, but one stipulation was that they needed him to be at the team headquarters. So, Atlanta it is.

I've always wanted to live in the south but never really had a reason (or the guts) to move. I mean, my my family is here, my friends are here, I love my house, my business is settled here, it's flat, etc. So to up and relocate with no real reason other than it's gotta be better weather than Ohio from November to May couldn't really be justified.

Now we have a good reason... a very good reason!

I'm excited, albeit a bit overwhelmed with everything. We spent Friday and Saturday of this past weekend in Atlanta, just driving around, looking at different areas, houses for sale, commute times for Tom, etc. It definitely helped with my comfort in the fact that I'm moving.

Now we just need good vibes that we sell this house in Delaware before the winter hits!!! We have two showings tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed!!!

Oh... and Run Across America starts on Thursday - I'll get more information about that this week. My hubby is leaving for 20 days to run across the USA. And I wonder why I keep having little freak outs. :)