Holding Back or Moving Forward

Life…it can be over before you know it. As a child, I never wanted to grow up as fast as I could. I never looked forward to my birthdays; not my 13th, sweet 16, 18th or you can drink 21st. But I also never wanted to hold on to what was.
I don’t wish to live in the past, wishing to relive moments over and over again; even the best of times, I choose to cherish. I don’t think those moment would be as special if I could relive as much as I wanted. If you choose to live in the past, you never allow yourself to grow. If you don’t allow growth you might never experience the smells of sandalwood when you walk into a temple or feel the texture of an elephant’s skin or the taste of sitafal fruit or the hear sounds of communication around you in a language so foreign to you that can’t even understand a phrase as simple as thank you.
Every object in a state of uniform motion remains in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. ~Sir Isaac Newton put it best. I choose to be the object in motion. So many places I have traveled, people I have met, new things I have tried and a lot of hard decisions I have had to make this year in order to continue movement in my life and into the new year.
A few years ago, I was at a Buddhist Temple for morning service and when it came time for the dharma lesson, the teacher looked straight at me and said, “All things happen at the right time and for all the right reasons, even though you might think not.” (A defining moment in my life) and with that, I started to even appreciate the challenging times you wished you could flash forward and bypass. Life is a beautiful experience if you allow it to be; the good, the bad and the ugly. Staying present, in the moment and growing from all experiences is all part of staying in motion.
As I take a moment to cherish all the experiences and lessons I have learned throughout the past 365 days, I sum it up with; I have an incredible life. The life that awaits me over the next 366 is going to be so exciting…every moment of it! There are so many challenges ahead and I can only hope I learn as much next year and what I did this year.
So before I move forward, I take a moment to appreciate all the experiences I had this past year…From traveling to the Arab Emirates, Lanzarote and India by myself, to China for the World Championships and back to my Indiana roots and share with my fellow triathletes. I have traveled coast to coast across the US endless times and have flown over 100,000 miles this year throughout the world. 2011 has certainly been an amazing journey.

ROW 1: Riding back home in Indiana, Photo Shoot in Chicago, Riding the Pacific Coast Highway and Stopping at the beach in Miami to have a morning colada.

ROW 2: Ready to run the ING Miami Half Marathon, In from my first blizzard in Chicago, My very first mosque in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Finishing the Abu Dhabi Triathlon

ROW 3: Ironman Lanzarote, One of the Lanzarote course climbs from afar, My new twins.

ROW 4: New friends, Star Trac Coach, My first triathlon with a river swim.

Row 5: Pre-race dinner for Vineman with friends, Andy Potts running in the win and I am going out on my run in Vineman.

ROW 6: Barrel tasting in the Russian River Valley, first time in San Francisco, Working with Star Trac.

ROW 7: Photo shoot week of my 30th birthday, At bike drop-off for Vineman, Setting up campsite for Muncie 70.3.

ROW 8: Hanging out in Muncie with the girls, Dad and Halli joining me for a picnic, Ty making faces and making smores at our camp.

ROW 8: Best apple cider on earth, Taking the front of Muncie Triathlon, The Summer Palace in Beijing, China.

ROW 9: ITU Sprint World Championships, Great Wall of China, Finishing in the Rain at Worlds, and at Bigfoot Triathlon in Wisconsin.

ROW 10: Oldest Buddhist Temple in Tokyo, Japan, Running the Chicago Marathon, and the marathon view from my new home.

ROW 11: Bee sting in the eye the week before the Chicago Marathon, Riding my first Century ride, Ready for glow run!

ROW 12: My very first placing in a 5k, My wonderful run group njoy!, Spectating the New York Marathon, Running the Delhi Half Marathon

ROW 13: Wedding in Ahmedabad, Step Well in Adalaj, Jain Temple and hanging out at the house in India

Another Race…In Another Country…How Can I Resist

Delhi Half Marathon – New Delhi, India November 2011

Be careful if ever ask me to go anywhere out of the country with you, I will probably take you up on the offer; and just like that, I was booking my ticket to India with a two week advance notice. I am a travel junkie. But take me to a country where I can visit some family, do a little work and there just so happens to be a half marathon on the schedule…how can I resist?

India, my most favorite country ever! If I were able to get my husband on board, I would have moved there two years ago. I love the food, the people, the unorganized chaos. There is a long line of history rich in cultural diversity, religion and architecture. Part of that unorganized chaos is the airports; and my flight from Amhedabad to Delhi was delayed…delayed long enough I missed race packet pick-ups. So before my race had ever started, I thought it was over. Then I got a phone call while sitting at the airport from Star Trac. I have always heard it pays know know someone, but I think this might be my first time I actually get to reap the benefits of that. My connections with Star Trac India knew the race directors and had my packet picked up and delivered to me and in no time my race was back on.

There was little to no preparation for this race being very last minute, I didn’t get a preferred start, I barely made registration and barely had the miles in which lead me to the only expectation of having a good time and getting a few pictures along the way. This is why I probably have very little to say about the race other than I had a really good time and I will let my pictures do the rest of the talking.

Even at the start of the race the excitement is almost uncontainable (you might not be able to tell by the “excitement” there on the left pic)! But what you might notice is there are no women in the the entire photo. There was a limit on how many could enter. Beware ladies – on this race there are only port-a-pots at the pre-race meeting points – nothing on the course.

From short shorts to stark white track suits, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see, but I am sure I was 1 of 3 women in actual running shorts on the entire course (minus the pros). The running fashion alone was worth coming to see. (I’m on a mission to bring back the track suit fashion here. Gotta love it – old, young, fit and not, anyone can wear it. But it has to be polyester.)

The race had entertainment all the way through, just like the Rock n Roll Series. There was even an 80′s cover band that was playing Guns n Roses Sweet Child of Mine…so entertaining.

The course design allowed you to see the pros run by you a couple times, which is always exciting as they blow by you. There was even a man in about 30th place who was running completely barefoot.

No that isn’t fog…I have never had so much fun while my lungs felt like they were on fire from the smog and I couldn’t help but stop for a photag moment at India Gate.

I didn’t expect big crowds, and there weren’t. The enthusiasm was there in places and not in others…

A happy finish, and even happier to get some Parle G’s. (As I sit here and write, have a cup of tea and eat my Parle G’s)

Unlike a lot of races I do, I had a lot of other runners talk to me. By the end of the race, I had about 7 or 8 people yelling for me at the finish line by my name. Friendly runners…I like that.

Rarely do I ever listen to music during races, but I made a playlist for this one; and I went a little Bollywood:
Twist – Pritam
Singh is Kinng – Snoop, RDB, Manjeet Rai…
Who Killed Bangra – TJ Rehmi
Ranjha – Bally Jagpal
Mauja Hi Mauja – Mika Singh
Yeh Ishq Hai (remix) – Shreya Ghoshal
(and I sang while I ran – I had a blast!)

I hear Mumbai is even a better race. Too bad it is in my 60 day window where I cannot come back into the country, I will have to pick another one for next year.
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दिल्ली आधा मैराथन – नई दिल्ली, भारत नवम्बर +२,०११

सावधान रहो अगर कभी मुझे पूछने के लिए कहीं बाहर आप के साथ देश के, मैं शायद आप प्रस्ताव पर ले जाओ, और बस ऐसे ही, मैं एक दो सप्ताह की अग्रिम सूचना के साथ मेरा टिकट भारत बुकिंग था. मैं एक यात्रा नशेड़ी हूँ. लेकिन मुझे एक देश है जहाँ मैं कुछ परिवार की यात्रा कर सकते हैं लेने के लिए, एक छोटे से काम करते हैं और वहाँ सिर्फ इतना समय पर एक आधा मैराथन के लिए होता है … मैं कैसे विरोध कर सकते हैं?

भारत, मेरी सबसे पसंदीदा कभी देश! यदि मैं बोर्ड पर मेरे पति को प्राप्त करने में सक्षम थे, मैं वहाँ चले गए दो साल पहले. मैं भोजन, लोग, असंगठित अराजकता से प्यार है. सांस्कृतिक विविधता, धर्म और वास्तुकला में समृद्ध इतिहास की एक लंबी लाइन है. कि असंगठित अराजकता के हवाई अड्डों का भाग है, और मेरी Amhedabad से दिल्ली के लिए उड़ान में देरी किया गया था … काफी लंबे समय में देरी मैं मेरे पैकेट लेने अप याद करने के लिए जा रहा हूँ. तो इससे पहले कि मेरी दौड़ कभी शुरू किया था, मैंने सोचा कि यह पहले से ही जब तक मैं एक फोन कॉल मिला है जबकि हवाई अड्डे पर बैठे पर था. मैं हमेशा से सुना है भुगतान करता है यह पता है किसी को पता है, लेकिन मुझे लगता है कि यह मेरी पहली बार मैं वास्तव में उस का लाभ लेने के लिए हो सकता है. STAR TRAC भारत के साथ मेरा कनेक्शन दौड़ निर्देशकों को पता था और था मेरे पैकेट उठाया और मुझे दिया और कोई समय में मेरी दौड़ वापस आ गया था पर.

इस दौड़ बहुत आखिरी मिनट में किया जा रहा है के लिए कोई तैयारी करने के लिए छोटा था, मैं एक पसंदीदा शुरू नहीं मिला, मैं मुश्किल से पंजीकरण बनाया और मुश्किल मील में जो मुझे एक अच्छा समय होने और कुछ तस्वीरें प्राप्त करने का एकमात्र उम्मीद के लिए नेतृत्व किया था रास्ते. यह है क्यों मैं शायद अन्य जाति की तुलना में मैं एक बहुत अच्छा समय था और मैं दूँगी मेरे चित्रों की बात कर के बाकी है के बारे में कहना बहुत छोटी है.

उत्साह लगभग uncontainable है दौड़ के शुरू में भी (आप बाईं तस्वीर पर वहाँ “उत्तेजना” से बताने में सक्षम नहीं किया जा सकता है)! लेकिन क्या आप पाएँगे वहाँ पूरी तस्वीर में नहीं महिलाओं हैं. कितने प्रविष्ट कर सकते हैं पर एक सीमा थी. महिलाओं के खबरदार – इस दौड़ पर केवल पूर्व दौड़ की बैठक बिंदुओं पर बंदरगाह एक बर्तन हैं – पाठ्यक्रम पर कुछ भी नहीं

छोटे शॉर्ट्स से निरा सफेद ट्रैक सूट, मुझे यकीन है कि मैं क्या देखने के लिए उम्मीद कर रहा था, नहीं था लेकिन मुझे यकीन है कि मैं एक पूरे पाठ्यक्रम पर वास्तविक चल शॉर्ट्स में 3 महिलाओं पेशेवरों (शून्य) के था. चल अकेले फैशन को देखने आ रहा लायक था. (मैं वापस ट्रैक सूट फैशन यहाँ लाने के मिशन पर हूँ होगा इसे प्यार करता हूँ. बूढ़े, युवा, फिट और किसी को भी यह नहीं पहन कर सकते हैं, लेकिन यह करने के लिए पॉलिएस्टर हो गया है.)

दौड़ मनोरंजन सभी तरह के माध्यम से सिर्फ रॉक एन रोल श्रृंखला की तरह. वहाँ भी एक 80 कवर बैंड है कि बंदूकें n गुलाब खेल रहा था मेरा प्यारा बच्चा … इतना मनोरंजक था.

पाठ्यक्रम डिजाइन आप को देखने के लिए पेशेवरों आपके द्वारा एक दो बार, जो हमेशा रोमांचक के रूप में वे आपके द्वारा उड़ा चलाने की अनुमति दी. वहाँ भी है जो पूरी तरह नंगे पांव चल रहा था के बारे में 30 जगह में एक आदमी था.

नहीं है कि कोहरे … नहीं है कि मैं इतना मज़ा कभी नहीं था जबकि मेरे फेफड़ों को लगा जैसे वे smog से आग पर थे और लेकिन मैं मदद नहीं कर इंडिया गेट पर एक photag पल के लिए रोक सकता है.

मैं बड़ी भीड़ की उम्मीद नहीं था, और नहीं थे वहाँ. वहाँ स्थानों और नहीं दूसरों में उत्साह था …

एक खुश खत्म, और यहां तक ​​कि कुछ पार्ले जी मिल खुश है. (जैसा कि मैं यहाँ बैठो और लिखने, एक कप चाय और मेरे पार्ले जी खाने)

दौड़ मैं का एक बहुत विपरीत, मैं अन्य धावकों के एक बहुत कुछ मुझसे बात की थी. दौड़ के अंत तक, मैं के बारे में 7 या 8 लोगों को मेरे नाम से खत्म कर लाइन में था मेरे लिए चिल्ला. मित्रतापूर्ण धावक … मैं उस तरह.

मैं शायद ही कभी कभी करते हैं दौड़ के दौरान संगीत सुनने के लिए, लेकिन मैं इस एक के लिए एक Playlist बनाया, और मैं एक छोटे से बॉलीवुड चला गया:
ट्विस्ट – प्रीतम
सिंह इज किंग – जासूसी, RDB, मंजीत राय है …
कौन Bangra को मार डाला – TJ Rehmi
रांझा – बल्ली Jagpal
मौजा ही मौजा – मिका सिंह
ये इश्क है (रीमिक्स) – श्रेया घोषाल
(और मैं जब मैं भागा गाया था – मैं एक विस्फोट था!)

मैंने सुना है मुंबई भी एक बेहतर दौड़ है. बहुत बुरा यह मेरी 60 दिन विंडो में है, जहां मैं देश में वापस नहीं आ सकता, मैं अगले वर्ष के लिए एक दूसरे को लेने के लिए होगा.

I HEART NY

New York City Marathon, November 2011

It is the morning of Sunday, November 06, 2011 and I wake up with butterflies in my stomach. I double check the weather and finalize my outfit. Today I choose tights. There is nothing worse to me than being cold for a couple hours before the race starts for the sake of wearing shorts this time of year.

The New York Marathon; people can wait years to get in. It is a lottery, luck of the draw. I guess it is all perception, fore how lucky are you to win an entry to pay for the opportunity to travel 26.2 miles by foot.

• Hat…check
• Garmin…check
• Gloves…check
• Bright red Saucony Kinvara running shoes…check
• iPod, with an awesome playlist to keep me entertained…check
• sunglasses…check
• camera…check
• bell…check
• vuvulizza…check
• map and game plan…check

I am ready to go! ING New York City Marathon – I am ready to be a spectator! A point to point race, so it isn’t as easy to see as many points as you would hope to, but I made the best of it. You think you have seen a marathon until you see NY. I started my first viewing point in Brooklyn. So from my TriBeCa apartment a friend lent me for the weekend, I hopped on the train and decided I would get off at Lexington. Lexington sounded like a good plan until I was about three stops away and it dawned on me I had no idea what type of neighborhood I was gone to emerge in. But to much of my surprise it was absolutely lovely.

Fort Green, the 8 mile ING cheering station, so the streets were lit with bright orange hats, gloves, bells, vuvuzelas, megaphones, sunglasses and more. I couldn’t be left out; and it matched my ViziPro shirt and jacket, so it was perfect. Today, I was not only a spectator, but a spectator with no intention of seeing anyone special. There was no clock to watch, no timely bouncing around or anything of the sort. (Just a plane to catch at 1:45)
With the waves starting quite a ways apart from each other, this race goes on all day. From the wheelchairs and hand-cycles pushing off in waves from 8:30-9:00, the Pro Women start their run at 9:10 and the men following 30 minutes thereafter. The last wave doesn’t even start until 10:30, which leaves you with a long day.

I watched from Brooklyn until all the pro women went by, and then headed off to the crossover from Queens to Manhattan where I have never seen crowds like such at any race. Crowds 6 deep, with people sitting on mail boxes, standing on posts and doing anything they could to get their glimpse of a runner…just any runner. The bars were open as people sat in the windows entertaining themselves as they would if there were watching Sunday football.

As it grew closer to my flight time, I hopped on the train and headed toward LaGuardia, but not before stopping in Queens for a few minutes to watch the runners make their way toward the bridge. It was so much fun.

I love watching marathons. But I have never had so much fun watching a race where the spectators get into the excitement so much. NYC is normally electrifying, but this event just topped it above and beyond anything I had ever seen before. I was excited when I was informed I had to go to the city for work on the marathon weekend. How could I not be? I LOVE New York! This city is one of the best and there is nothing like it, but add a race like this and it is a perfect city. I am not much for racing marathons and seek out checklist marathons, but after spectating this one, now I want to sign up for next year’s “lottery”.

The Selfless Mile?

Chicago Marathon – Chicago, IL

Is there truly such a thing as selfless good deed? And if so, can you run a selfless marathon? Even if you are raising money for a charity or running for a “cause” most people set some type of personal goal for themselves. Selfless – [self-lis] adjective: having little or no concern for oneself, especially with regard to fame, position, money, etc.; unselfish.

Yesterday I ran a marathon. I was told by many that it was very selfless of me and remarkable to do such a thing. Men running by me with tears saying what an incredible thing I was doing, hundreds of thumbs ups, fist hits and sheepish nods of the most sincere expression that they were at a loss of what else to say. The night before the race, I went to bed early like all the other runners and put one running shoe on at a time just like everyone else with the same pre-race jitters the morning of. It was just another beautiful Sunday morning is the fabulous city of Chicago and today we were going to run 26.2 miles through the streets and neighborhoods of it.

I love this day. It is like a holiday to me. If I weren’t running it, I would have been checking my air in my tires and getting myself ready to ride all over town to watch as much of this exciting race as I could. I will never forget watching my first one; ten Chicago Marathons ago, and I have loved watching them ever since. In fact, I love watching this exciting sport more than I enjoy being part of the action.

On my way to the race with my running partner, he told what he needed to run to make a qualifying time for Boston and thought it would be a good carrot to have in front of him. Casually I told him that if wanted to make it to Boston, I would make sure that happened. My longest run before this week was 10 miles the week before. We made the walk to the race site, ran into a few fellow runners and headed to the start line.

It was unlike any start I had ever experienced as we made our way to the corral, I look behind us to see the elite runners filing into their area, then looked to the right to see twenty of the best runners in the world filing into their coral next to us. I felt like a little kid a Christmas filled with excitement and anxiousness – the butterflies in my stomach immediately doubled. Some might call it a disability start, I like to call it a preferred start. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to start in front of Ryan Hall and get to see him and the pack of the front 15 blow by you as you make your turn off State street?

7:20 the wheelchair group started, 7:21 the hand-cycles and other disabled runners hit the pavement. 1 partial amputee, and 4 visually impaired and 5 guides were the first to run down Columbus and Grand then onto State Street as the crowds were at their height. The race had started! People hanging over bridges, lining the streets yelling and cheering for you. We ran down the streets of downtown Chicago, with my running partner next to me, I described everything around us and at one point when it was just him and I on the block I told him we needed to milk this moment, and we did as we waved, the crowds only cheered louder. For 14 minutes we had the Chicago Marathon to ourselves and it was the most incredible race start I had ever had.

A couple months ago I had a runner named Israel contact me from the charity group I was working with and asked me if I knew of anyone who could possibly guide him for the marathon. A runner and triathlete, a man who just wants to race like the rest of us do, he is fit and has time goals, nothing to hold him back except he needs someone to be his eyes for him. As I asked around I got the same response from everyone, “Wow, that amazing, but I don’t think I could do it,” or “I would like to some day, but not until after I’ve gotten all my racing goals.” Well, since I have no marathon goals and I know my left from my right how hard can it be!?

It is hard. At least for your first few training runs. There are a lot of “I’m sorry’s”…a lot, mentally exhausting, bumping, tripping and very slow paced miles. But there are also a lot of laughs and stories and trust building. To build trust have someone trust you is a very big responsibility to live up to. There are many lessons in life that can help you learn that lesson, but none so profound to me as getting to help someone live his dream by trusting me to be his eyes as I lead him through the streets with 45,000 other people at a 9:00/mile pace.

The first 13 miles were a breeze, with a few bumps and only 1 trip. At times I felt like he didn’t even need me as we flowed effortlessly with the crowd of runners on both sides of us. But like any marathon, as the miles continued, the congestion and walkers start piling up. THANK YOU for having our second guide come in and run with us, as she took over the tether (as we are tied together) and I flanked the right side as we made our way through the slowing bodies. We had a goal – we were going to make it to Boston and we were going to make it come hell or high water.

Like most runners, there is a wall at some point. And the wall was hit. The other guide, Jen was phenomenal as the two of us became the “blonde bitches” (our joke) on the course as we yelled, cheered, prodded and pulled our fellow mate on his 26.2 mile victory lap. As a coach to an athlete who has a goal, who has trained to reach their goal, you show no mercy on game day. Today was game day and it was time for no mercy. Boston is what he wanted and we were going to make sure that was going to happen. With Jen as the sled dog and me with the whip we worked away at every mile until the last.

Anyone who has worked to make their way to a Boston qualifying time usually wants it so badly they can’t see straight…it is the same for someone who can’t see. The emotions are the same, the pain feels the same. One foot in front of the other, that is how we get there. We are all the same…we are runners. And in 4:50:38 we crossed the finish line with 9 minutes to spare, qualifying Israel for the Boston Marathon. But even more exciting, breaking his previous PR by 45 minutes!

Is there such thing as a selfless good deed? I didn’t do anything different from what I would do for my other runners. Every runner who wanted to qualify for Boston and I paced, has made it. I wanted to keep a perfect record. I think I may have enjoyed our preferred start start more than Israel; getting to have the crowds cheer for only us was pure elation, it was incredible! I want a start like that every year! Isn’t helping people who need help something we as humans should do? Wouldn’t that make the world a better place? And shouldn’t we treat others how we want to be treated? If something were to happen to me and I need help fulfilling my dreams, I would hope someone would want to help me.

If I can end with one thing, is that you don’t have to guide a blind runners through a marathon to be a good person. But have a little compassion as a person, maybe next time you see someone standing at the corner trying to cross you help them. It can be scary living in this big world in the dark. (Did you ever sleep with the lights because you were scared? I did. Still to this day I sleep with the lights on when I am in a hotel by myself.)

A Not-So Fresh Breath of Air

I have always found myself open to new cultures and different experiences and adventures. In fact, I have always welcomed them with open arms. That’s what living is all about, isn’t it; I have filled one passport book and my second one is almost full after only two years. China…I was excited to go and explore this mysterious land and hoped it would be a breath of fresh air being something so different and new to me. I have heard stories of all sorts from people of many kinds, but the one thing I gathered was you either loved it or hated it. What was I going to be? Before stepping onto the plane I would have said, loved it. But after my arriving after my delayed flight and our driver charging us extra for waiting, my opinion quickly changed. (Don’t driving companies check the flight status?) But it was hard to argue with someone who can’t understand a word you are saying at 2:00 in the morning, all I wanted to do was get some sleep so paid the extra $10 and left it at that.

Second impression left even more of an influence on my experience of the city of Beijing more so than the country itself…pollution. Nothing can begin to prepare you for the amount of smog and air pollution there is in this city. From the moment you walk out the door, you spend five minutes trying to get used to breathing in the thick smoggy air and the next five adjusting the smell that will linger with you throughout the day and the taste in your mouth gum can’t take away. No place on earth is like it.

Then you get out of the city limits and you see one of the most amazing structures man has ever built. With construction beginning in the 5th Century BC and when finished, almost 4,000 miles of actual stone wall, 220 miles of trenches and about 1,400 miles of natural barriers. Over time and as Dynasties changed, so did the Wall, sections were torn down, re-directed, rebuilt. It is simply impressive and worth flying half way around the world to spend a day hiking; a piece of history that has lasted centuries. The Great Wall is worth making a trip to China, if just to see only it. The Juyongguan Pass was the section we took, less restored than the tourist famed Badaling, but if you are will to make the hike to the highest point here you will be rewarded with an expansive view of the Chinese countryside that showcases miles of the winding Wall as it travels through the hillside.

With limited time in this massive country, we unfortunately only had time to stay in the Beijing area so we made the best of it and traveled to historical areas such as Tian’ anmen, Forbidden City, Summer Palace and Yonghegong Tibetan Buddhist Lama Temple and the Silk Market. Each place was its own adventure. We stayed near Hutong, the “Old Beijing” where the alleyways are lined with street food and little markets. Here it is very difficult to get a cab, but here you are able to find a piece of culture you won’t get if you stay in the downtown area. If you aren’t on a retail alley, you will find long walls where the lives of the locals are hidden from the streets. Menus don’t have English subtitles and even a word as simple as hello is not understood. But if you are lucky you will walk across an open air food market where you can see fruits and meats that were a mystery to me. As an occasional cab would pass, it wouldn’t even stop for us so we had to find our way back to our hotel by foot which was about two miles away.

Maps aren’t necessarily to ‘scale’ if you pick one up there, so when looking at the distance from a main road to the next – it isn’t what you would think as you would an American city block, it could be a mile between with little alleyways between. So when I said lets walk to Tian’ anmen Square, I didn’t realize it would be almost eight kilometers away. We definitely got to see a lot of the city, but even once we arrived to the Square and Forbidden City we didn’t know we were actually there because it is surrounded by a nine hundred meter long wall. You start from the south and worked your way north through a maze of monuments from Tian’ anmen to the Forbidden City; I felt like I was on a conveyer belt being moved forward with the continuous flow of people giving little time to take in all the things to see. Once we made it to the gates of the Forbidden City we decided to have a guide show us though the Forbidden City which was found to be a smart decision. Our guide gave us a lot of information and historic background on the area and the buildings, giving us a much better education on China then what we had before we started the day.

The Summer Palace was beautiful while covering 2.9 square kilometers of land which includes Longevity Hill, Temple of Buddhist Virtue, Kunming Lake, Tower of Buddhist Incense; the building space alone is 70,000 sqm. Locals play hacky sac and dance for their morning workouts in the courtyard where you enter. Unfortunately, even on a clear day the pollution takes over the potential of its true beauty. It is one of the few places in the city where it is easy to travel via subway, walk above ground and know exactly where you need to go.

Besides the Great Wall, the one place in the inner circles of Beijing we found to be well worth making the trip to was Yonghegong Tibetan Buddhist Lama Temple. Here you will find a lot of (censored) history on the Lama and where he studied. Easy to get to, simple yet expansive and even with many tourist and pilgrims it was a place peace and beauty.

While there were many places traveled that were enjoying, there were also downfalls. Communication is near impossible and takes a lot of patience, but it can be done. I spent a good twenty minutes with my driver trying to find a translator to tell him to take me back to my hotel. And speaking of hotels – ALWAYS keep your hotel address written in Mandarin with you. The hotels will give you cards with typical tourist places written in Mandarin and all you have to do is point where you want to go…the driver actually taking you there all the way isn’t a guarantee. We had a rickshaw driver scamming my husband giving him Rubles instead of Yuan as change (not to mention dropping us off two miles away from our destination). I won’t even address the thirty minute foot massage that turned into a two hour fiasco my husband will never let me live down. However, leaving this on a positive note the street food is great and the little local noodles shops are very cheap (we are talking $4 for two people to eat and $6 if you want a beer). Needless to say, Beijing was an adventure. Would I go back? Yes. But I would like to see something more than just Beijing. I would like to see the countryside and spend a few days hiking the Wall in other areas. Maybe if I go to an area where the air is fresher, I will have a fresher perspective.

Year of the Hare

ITU World Championships – Beijing, China

Maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea I have ever had, deciding to hike the Great Wall of China the day before the ITU Sprint World Championships, but it was something I had always wanted to do and Friday before the race was my only good opportunity to go.

I woke around 3:45 the next morning to what sounded like dripping water, and dripping water it was, but dripping from the sky and a lot of it. A creature of habit, I never like to change my diet the day before or of a big race but since the this wasn’t that long I thought I would go for something different. I made this decision because getting a bagel in China, I thought it would be a difficult task and I didn’t want to stress about my breakfast. So when Gatorade sent me a box of their G Series FIT to try and give to my athletes and gym members, I thought I would bring some to China with me. BEST DECISION EVER! I now have my new favorite pre-race breakfast for traveling (and when doing races that last less than 1 1/2 hours. I ate the Banana Nut Chocolate PRIME (each bite is a 25 cal piece) with a packet of peanut butter. It is an irresistible combination, but also easy to get your pre-race fuel and know how many calories you have. (I even used on my bike the PERFORM on my bike and RECOVER’ed with the Mango Pinapple) It was the perfect for this type of race!

The rain in downtown Beijing it wasn’t that bad and looked like it might clear in time for the race, but as our driver took us to Changping where the course was, the rain only fell harder. It only took about five minutes of being outside before you were completely soaked through and chilled to the bone. Chilled is an understatement as the girls in my age group stood huddled like little puppies trying to keep warm as we stood in our bathing suits and bare feet in water to our ankles with lips turning blue and body shivering, on a race day like this at home I would have quickly chosen to have stayed in bed. But this was the World Championships and opting out was not an option.

As our frozen bodies hit the water we found the reservoir to be twenty degrees warmer than the air and after the first four hundred meters and your body getting too hot in the water. I had my slowest swim ever; however it didn’t get into my head because I was about to ride and the legs were feeling good. The warmth didn’t last long as the wind picked up along with the rain and I made my way through transition and onto the bike. Even though I came out of the water close to the back of the pack, I had already passed more than five girls by the time I had got out of transition.

Take a moment to close your eyes and picture what you would imagine an Olympic course to be like. Take that picture and make it ten times better. I have NEVER been on a course that was so perfectly laid out. The roads were in perfect condition. The scenery was mind-blowing, from the swim to the bike and on the run. The course could only have been more perfect had it not been raining. If I had called up China and said to build my dream course, I could not have made it better. The swim – easy to site, a perfect counter-clockwise rectangle. The bike – hilly, technical, engaging, but designed to allow you to be aggressive around every corner. And the run – flat, fast and multiple out and backs. It was a DREAM!

Exhilarating, fun, fast, yet taking the first lap a little cautiously with all the rain and not knowing how slick the nice black-top road was going to be, no since in taking yourself out on the first round, but I quickly starting making ground on the girls who had taken me out in the swim. As the first lap was coming to a close, I was ready to take the next round more aggressively and open up a can of whoop-ass (as one of my friend’s would call it). Then the unthinkable happened…I followed the flag. I was slightly confused, thinking I needed to go right, but the man with the flag was pointing me left so I followed. Next I found myself being forced to dismount my bike and run into transition. Stunned and even more confused, I tried to work backwards to make my way back out on the course, but I was forced to go forward, running through transition and rolling my bike, I could see from afar bike after bike going by me. Everyone I had worked so hard to pass were now passing me up as I was losing precious time. Two to three minutes passed by the time I get myself back onto the bike course to take on the second lap. I felt like I was at square one again but mentally I refused to let it destroy me.

One by one, I passed all those girls over again and tried to make up any ground I could. By the time I made it to the run my legs were not cooperating with my will and not moving as fast I would have liked them, but still held my ground by not letting any girls pass me. Running onto the course there is a grandstand where you get to parade up and down, which makes for a good time, where at all times see where people are and what is happening on the course. As the rain continued to fall, the turn-around point became flooded so you found yourself dodging men with bamboo branches who were trying to sweep as much water away as possible as others called out numbers to mark your laps because (they) couldn’t put down the timing mat. One lap, two lap, three lap and a half; as I made my final turn I went for the two hundred meter sprint putting all that was left in me out on the finish line.

And as quickly as the race had started, it was all over. I loved the course, I loved the race, I love the distance. Even with the ups and downs, altogether my race was once again an experience of a lifetime. I celebrated with my husband back in the city at a little hole in the wall restaurant in the middle of “Old Beijing” with noodles and a beer. After we couldn’t get a cab driver to pick us up we decided to walk toward our hotel (a few miles away and) wondered into a traditional open air food market and saw food I had never before seen.

The crowd…not so much, who could blame them for not wanting to sit in the cold rain. But to those who were there were amazing with every few hundred meters I would hear “go USA” or “SHAH”. I was impressed with the Team USA Coaches who where there cheering you on the entire way, yelling “GO KIMBERLY” every time I passed and coaching me through the final push down the straight away with runners behind me that I didn’t let pass.

Impressive time…not so much, in fact it was my slowest Sprint time since the first year I took up triathlons but there are no excuses. I tell all my athletes over and over to know the course, know where you are going at all times and there is reason for it.

Disappointed…not so much, I did the best I could at the time. I had the time of my life and loved every minute of it good and bad. I also tell all my athletes that – to enjoy every minute of your race. I still walked away with 13th in my age division and top American for the 30-34 year olds. The only disappointing part of the race is I lost my race metal that day, one of a few that I wish I had.

The Course

View from the stands, overlooking the swim and run course

Year of the Hare – “The hare loves beauty, luxury or artifice. Take time to appreciate the small pleasures of this Hare Year 2011 as superb and somewhat rare opportunities to heal, relax, entertain, mend fences, because Dragon Year 2012 will be very powerful, shamanic, a wild, exhausting time.” My Year of Racing 2011 wasn’t my best year. It was a year that even though I traveled more extensively over-seas than any other year, going to unique and beautiful places, it was a lot more subdued than others and not as competitive. Broken bike, getting sick on a course, one hundred and five plus degree weather, thirty mph winds and making wrong turns doesn’t really set you up for a very successful season. As my triathlon season comes to an end for the year, I do look forward to what lies ahead for next spring as I take on my most FAVORITE RACES IN THE WORLD – Oceanside 70.3, one of the very few races I repeat as often as I can. Like Beijing, the course is a dream come true an engaging hilly bike course and a flat fast run. Hopefully my season for 2012 follows suit to the Year of the Dragon, just as this year followed character of the Hare Year.

going for the last lap

it really was as cold as I said it was, and the water as warm

new race breakfast: G Series Fit banana chocolate and peanut butter...LOVE

making a pass

making a move the the finish line

celebratory meal

venturing into an open market

enjoying the moment

Bitten by the Bug

I read a story once in an Antique Engine Magazine call Bitten by the Bug. It was a story about a man’s epic journey of falling into the world of collecting old hit and miss antique engines. It was a hobby, a passion and brought joy and pleasure to him as he traveled to shows lugging his engines around to meet with other people of his kind, talking about things such as; types of engines each person had, where they had found it and the stories behind the engines. And every engine had a story that could last for hours, as the conversations sometimes lasted that long.
As a kid I didn’t get it. I really didn’t understand why the author, my dad, had this crazy little hobby as I was taken all over the state to auctions and shows in search of a New Holland or a prized Foose and all the other engines that passed through our hands throughout the years, and didn’t really get “it” until I had been Bitten by the Bug.
From the first race I ever did, I knew my life was changed forever. At the time I didn’t think much about how different my life would be as a result of triathlons, and never expected racing to take me all over the world to enjoy amazing adventures as I do today, but is amazing what the Bug does to you.
In the beginning, you start your racing with the basics for fear that once you survive your first race; you might never want to do it again, so you spend as little money as possible and buy all the low end gear. However, once you have been Bitten all you can do is think about your training and what races you will do next. You start dreaming about racing, begin swimming and running in your sleep. Then you start upgrading to everything you had already bought, but only better since triathletes are known gear junkies. Once you have the Bug it is all over for you.
1 race a year turns into 3,4,5,6 and more as you decide next season it is time to take the show on the road so you have to buy a travel case for your bike and plane tickets and hotels and the list gets longer and longer. Before you know it, you look in your closet and see that 1 wetsuit now has become 2. The 2 pairs of running shoes as turned into 15-20. You don’t have 1 bike, you have 5. There are countless swim caps and sticks of Body Glide everywhere and you start to think that maybe when you are Bitten by the Bug that this Bug was carrying a virus that is non-curable.
I can’t help myself from wanting to travel and race and have amazing adventures! Every destination I go to I meet interesting people where we talk about our bikes, training, what other races we have done…I have become everything I didn’t understand my father to be all those years ago.
Saturday mornings we used to get up at 6:00 to go to these shows and auctions. I get up at 4:30 to make my way to a race. Dad would spark up conversations with strangers and always find a common ground with them…so do I. Dad would spend hours tinkering with his toys…so do I.
I always loved to read my dad’s story in the magazine over and over again and mainly because I was so proud of him to have a story published. Today, I love dad’s story because I have become his story. I never thought I was much like him until recent years, but a lot of who I am and why I am is because of him. I love my dad. I love that both have been Bitten by some king of Bug, it gives us something to enjoy with each other. Who knows, maybe even one day we will get the same type of Bug.
Tonight I take off on my next journey. It will be epic. I go to a place of many mysteries. It is a place where eras were once known as Dynasties. It is a country that built a wall along its border that is large enough you can see from space. A land where you can feel like you have traveled back in time as you scour the countryside yet still have the modern novelties like anywhere else on earth in the city. Its language is beyond foreign to me and so will be the food…which could be a bad combination with seafood allergies.

I travel to Beijing, China for the Sprint World Championships. This time I will be traveling with a guest, my husband; unusual for me to have him travel with me to races, but how can I say no on this trip. It should be fun, as long as we survive the flight together (he is not to keen on sitting on a plane for 14 hours…but I surprised him with a business class upgrade). Not only will my adventure take me to my first world championship race, but also to a land filled with mystery and intrigue. It sounds like my perfect place!

Sponsor Us

With so many products that are used in races such as Hood to Coast; our team took on the liberty to do a little product placement during our race this past weekend. Who knows, maybe we will even get one of them to sponsor us in the race next year!

Chrysler Town and Country - not just for mom's anymore

Gatorade - to keep us hydrated

Neutragena - keeping our faces clean

Altoids - keeps our breath fresh between runs

Saucony - this is my strong

Emergen-C - helping us stay healthy while we are up all night

Snuggie - one of the greatest things ever! (next to the running shoe, of course)

Inflated Expectations

Hood to Coast Relay, Portland, Oregon
You might say traveling across the country to spend 28 straight hours in a mini van with 5 strangers while sweaty, sleepless and hungry sounds a little crazy. But I say it sounds like a recipe for a good time…no, a great time. Getting a leg in the infamous Hood to Coast Relay is a near impossible feat. And if you don’t know someone, you need to know someone who knows someone or be willing to do whatever it takes to get on a team. For me, it was both.
I always love it when my husband goes to networking get-together’s and somehow comes home with work for me (thankfully I love my job). This time it was more like fate. Fate because this guy asked my husband for my phone number to possibly coach him for this race he was invited to; and the race was one of the very few checklist races I have. As I had my first talk with him and listened to him telling me he works with this group and was invited to this race, but doesn’t know if he should do it or not, but has always wanted to do a marathon, but doesn’t have the time to train, I quickly interjected with, “No one says no to an invitation to Hood to Coast – NO ONE. If you don’t take the slot, tell them I will do it and I will take any leg they have open – ANY LEG. In fact, if you do it and get me a spot on the team, I will coach you for free.” He needed me and I needed him and less than 24 hours we were both registered team-mates of Inflated Expectations. I had 6 weeks to get him ready and 6 weeks until I get to run the greatest relay race there is.
After couple small meetings with this guy, a conference call with the rest of the team, a few miles of running and a $450 non-direct flight to PDX and I soon found myself at a pre-race pasta dinner with the team I was about to sit through 28 hours in a Town and Country (dream car) to run 200 miles across the state. At this point, I didn’t care I was on a team of a bunch of people working in the finance world and probably had nothing in common, I was on a HtC Team and that is all that mattered!
I took no shame in being a free-loader on this team; fore I knew I was about to be part of something special. Those members who had done this race before understood why I was so passionate; because every year they keep returning for the same reason – this race is something special. It wasn’t until the next morning as we were loading our van before I got to meet all my Van 1 (V1) members and immediately we hit it off. With one other girl in the van, and SO HAPPY to have her with me, we didn’t get outside the Portland limits before the “comments” quickly following by many laughs began.
I was full of excitement and anticipation as we traveled to the top of Mount Hood. Was it going to be as exciting as they say it is? Is the course as hard as it is described (or at least my leg)? Was the down-grade going to kill my quads like everyone says it will? And most importantly – will the good spirits of my team last through the night and into the next day?
Having experienced running the MC200 (Madison to Chicago) for the previous 2 years in a row, I had a good understanding of race logistics. I have raced on a competitive team and on a lets-run-hard-and-have-fun team. Having fun on a relay race is really the only way to go. I had a 7 year veteran in V1 who loved the race, ran the short leg, loved to drive and had a house for us to eat, shower and sleep in Portland and on the Coast. Not only were we to race and have fun, but we were going to be clean too!
The gun goes off and there are really no words to describe the beauty of the course (good thing I have pictures!). Leg 1 carried us down to the Government Camp that took you off the steepest part of the mountain. Then I took on Leg 2 with a 5.3 mile 6% downgrade run. I LOVE running downhill…or at least until I ran this leg. As I sit here 2 days later, I can barely walk down a flight of stairs. Mile 1-3 wasn’t so bad and then 3.1 hit me and I literally said a prayer over and over again for the next 2.2 miles to keep my mind from convincing myself that my quads were going to explode out the front of my thighs.
It was 86 degrees hot at the top of the mountain and the pavement was even hotter and like any relay race, you are responsible for fueling and watering your own runners. I have never in my history of relay racing had such an amazing and well put-together SAG Wagon Team! My mates were incredible! As a result there wasn’t much time spent at transitions or warming-up, but there was more time on spent on the course cheering on the runner and helping them through the leg from start to finish. I simply LOVED my team. In fact, before you knew it everyone on the team loved everyone, as we would ride by our runners on the course yelling we loved them, honking and hanging out the windows cheering them on every mile along the way.
The experience they created for me is beyond appreciated as I ran my 2nd leg down the industrial roads of the outskirts of Portland where all the trains park and down the dark busy highway as the semi-trucks buzzed by you at 60 mph at midnight. They stopped every mile for me, cheering, fueling and taking pictures…they were simply amazing. And they didn’t do it for just me; we did it for everyone. We were a Team.
Even in the final legs after being stuck in traffic jam and arriving to our sleep check point the sun rose, and our expectations of this race changed. In my state of delirium I had people in eye shot and decided I must go hunting. Hunt or Go Hungry became our creed of our final round. I must feed first before water – and I wouldn’t take water until had taken down another runner. I don’t know what came over me, but as I continued to race the need to hunt down more grew bigger as I took down 4 runners in my final 5.77 miles, and taking down 11 in all legs combined.
There are three legs you run. The first is all on adrenaline. The second is run on skill and determination. Final leg is all spirit. It is amazing how quickly a race like this goes. At the cross of the finish line the previous 20+ hours seem like a blur, but that might be from the lack of sleep or from just having such a great time. Either way, it was worth it. There are very few races I like to repeat, but once again I took no shame in telling my new team I would be more than happy to take a leg, any leg next year. And if they were willing to let me in, I would create a training plan for all of them! Maybe I have Inflated Expectations on making the team again next year, but it never hurts to hope.

Get It Together

South Shore Triathlon – Chicago, IL
I could call this once again “Second Place is First Loser” and that would sum it up as to how my day went, but that would just be me giving myself a pity party. I could also give you every reason in the book as to why my training has basically not been up to par, but I will spare you.
Simply my running sucked lately and I need to put in the time if what I do in Beijing is going to amount to anything. I need to work on more speed in all three events and have no excuses.
Times: I don’t even know; I have seen the results yet, but can tell you my run was wicked slow. The bike was my first ride on a time trial bike (broke in my new one today) since IM Lanzarote. Swimming to me the first 3/4 to warm up, but that is normal. Don’t know my averages, but do know it took me 1:09 to finish…not good enough.
On a happy note, my triathlete’s were AMAZING! They are the prime example to why I love doing what I do. I feel like their success is my success as well and helps take the pain of my personal performance expectations away. RAM Racing threw a fun race today and the weather could not have been more perfect. I probably should not have ridden my bike to the race 11 miles away, but the company was good. Ironically, my two riding buddies down to the race both placed 2nd in their age groups too!
A day of being second best…it doesn’t make me feel good. But you get out what you put into your training and that is exactly what I deserved. Success is something you aren’t entitled to; it is something you earn.
Three of my triathlete’s of whom I am so very proud of