Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Taper Island:  Day 3

Maybe this should read, Struck Speechless Wednesday...

you remember *this* photo from my 20 mile recap?  ---->

This photo of Karasmatic, Biola Bud, Me, Random Guy, T & DeNiece's sleeve and knee was taken at around mile 5...

Yeah. The Illusive Dave is missing these days.
He's been elusive.
A.W.O.L.

We really miss Illusive.

He's having trouble eluding his own illusiveness.

And this showed up on my FB Wall.

and I have to think that he misses us too.

Taper Island... day #3

GO FISH!

Instead of running with MTT on Sunday, I ran long on Saturday (um, and it was DEFINITELY a "blogworthy" event).  I didn't sleep in on Sunday though.  Instead I joined Illusive, and T, and volunteered for the I LOVE THE TAVERN TRIATHLON!

When I do things, I DO THEM.  In this case, I employed the FISH philosophy to my day as a volunteer.  Ever read FISH?  It's a great little read.  Not life changing, but definitely worth reading.  I found it when I read a review online and thought how nicely it applied to running and nursing school and marriage and parenting and... The FISH principle is simple.  Choose to have a great day, Play, Be in the Moment, and Make their Day.

Pretty much, if you're volunteering ~ FISH ~ is the way to go.

1) Volunteering for a triathlon = O'FREAKING EARLY HOUR wake up.

2) T & I are a little "punchy" at 4:55am, and using a camera is a struggle.

3) Body Marking GORGEOUS HARD MALE BODIES isn't really HARD.  just. sayin'... my first job of the day was great.  It's also easy to PLAY when you're kneeling in front of people "inking" their quads (insert 1970's porn music here).  In fact, if you're doing this and NOT playing, you need to find a different job.  Seriously.

4) I had the privilege of marking a girl at her VERY. FIRST. RACE. EVER.  I told her she was going to be great, and that I would see her at the finish when I was removing chips (my other job du jour).

5)  According to the Illusive Dave, there are times when walking a mile in another mans shoes translates into giving another man your shoes at a triathlon... way to go Dave, barefoot volunteering is the next fad in running I'm sure.

6)  Cheerful & Happy goes a LONG way.

7)  I cheered, shouted bib #'s, gave High Fives, and collected chips at the finish line from the first finisher to the last and ALL the finishers in between.  My goal was to make their day, because it WAS THEIR DAY, and they deserved it.  I had the honor of cheering in 2 Yellow SNOW teammates, 1 MTT Coach who didn't recognize me AT ALL when I called him by name (always a fun experience...um...), a guy who nearly passed out and I had to grab onto (did I mention that he was HOT? and sweaty... yeah, it... was a hard job ~yeah~).  And guess what?  I was there when that first time racer finished her first triathlon with tears of pride streaming down her face.

8)  FYI - I will HUG a crying Triathlete.

9)  EVERYTHING is more fun if you're wearing a red shirt... and you have a *thing* about "red shirts".

~savor the run~

Volunteering, Weirdness & Fankle Update

To be clear, Volunteering & Weirdness are TOTALLY unrelated.

Want to have a good time, but are injured or untrained or recovering or not interested in running a hilly 8k?

1) Go to your local race website.
2) Click a race you do not have any interest in running.
3) Click the button that says, "Volunteer".
4) Show up and have fun.

It's just THAT EASY.

So obviously my morning was not a bust.  There is something great about runners, milling around in a room, picking up their packets & race numbers.  Smiles and cheerfulness, with some nerves, some dread, and some encouragement.  Yes, truly, it's good stuff.  It was like a family reunion in some regards, you see your pals long enough to say Hi, How's it Going? and then they move on, and you move on to your next Pal.  Pants Guy, Iron J, 3L, Coach El, Kara... and I made new friends with the really amazing runner seated to my Right (Mandy, can you say AWESOME?).  Yea, it was fun.  Go volunteer, and see what I'm talking about.

Then we had our weird 12+ miles.  We met at a weird time, because of my volunteering duties.  The Illusive Dave joined us, as did Lisa, T, and 3L drove over from the race as well.  We set out, looped the loop, and I made a wrong turn.  Weird for me. We corrected, but now my milage is off... and I was in charge of the route, only I didn't have one because I had adjusted at the last minute for 3L's joining.  I'm such a planner usually.  Thank goodness though, T wasn't feeling well, she's had a stomach bug thingy and we were able to drop her back at the cars w/ 3L.

As we were about to get back to drop T & 3L at their cars, some guy with a Bull Horn type intercom in his Red Neck SUV announces, "Your outfits are weird".

Your outfits are weird?  Really?  That's the best sentence your 8th grade education could produce?  Sure, why not.  Our outfits were hot.  Need proof?

After these photos Dave, Lisa and I took off again... and looped the loop.  And down another road, back up, drop Dave and then... Lisa and I looped the loop again.  Yea, by the end of it I never wanted to see THAT road again.

I had picked the start location based on running up to Twickory and Wyndham for a 10 mile route, but since we had to produce a 6, 4, 2 to get 12... well, a solid 10 mile loop was a bust.  Still it was a good run, we had a nice time, made nice time and the fankle only hurt for the last 3 miles.

Yea, it's like that.  SO, here's the New and Improved CFWP (Complete Fankle Wellness Plan).  I'm going to rest it a little more this week.  Yea.  Forget "Skippable runs, you can only run one".  This week I will run ZERO skippable runs.  I hate that, but it just needs to happen.  Be proud, I came to this on my own.

So T/Th/Su run, with 2 solid Swims and 2 solid Bike adventures, with the possibility if I use selective timing, I can pool some doubles... 7 days of cardio/week with several doubles for the last 17 days is actually starting to produce some results around my midsection, the muffin top breakup has been very successful.  Oh, but don't worry, the body fat % measurement on the scale still says I'm bordering on OBESE, so I still have plenty to be neurotic about over here.

Monday Meanderings

So remember how I said that I had a really busy Sunday on the books?  Well, because it's January, and I've pissed off the Gods who are in charge of PEACE in my life, it so didn't go to plan....   ONE more day of January, and then this Sh*t has got to stop.

... in pictures...  a short recap...

my day started with this:

a FREAKING AWESOME 4 mile run with The Illusive Dave.  Note the button down shirt that he clubbed in, slept in, and then ran in?  He actually pulled it off, and looked really cute.  

Then, Pants Guy dropped off this:

the most delicious banana bread I have ever eaten in my life.  ever.  Pants Guy's awesomeness level is now almost unreachable.

and then we worked on G's car for the pinewood derby:

(the blue & green car with the fish, he won 3rd place)

and while the paint was still drying, C and I went out got new matching bracelets that looked like this:

but no worries, after a 5 hour ER visit that included IV fluids, vomit, lots of tests and an extended period of time without food, it turned out not to be appendicitis.

I got home to an email from Q that made me smile, as it contained a revised "gba-national training plan" that starts like this:

and ends like this:

laughed when I saw that how far or when I run in month of April is clearly not his problem

 And then I finished my BIOLOGY study guide, of which there will be no photo.

How was YOUR Sunday?