Down Time with Shackleton

Lately, I have been hanging out with my kitten a lot lately. That may sound pathetic, but I am ok with it. It has finally gotten colder here, actully upon our return from Indiana, we heard rumor it had snowed that morning. It was probably upper 30's on Saturday after Thanksgiving (in Austin!) and rainy. Gloomy, but lovely! Feels like winter. Almost. Derick and I had a WONDERFUL trip back to Indiana for Thanksgiving, we stayed at my parents place in the country the majority of the time. I pushed and pulled him to do the Tuxbro's race the Drumstick Dash on Thanksgiving morning. Tuxbro (Tuxedo Brothers, local race organization in Indy) puts on excellent events, the owner Don Carr just loves it and it shows. It was a 4.5 mile race in Broadripple, near Indianapolis. And even there it was cold and nasty, but perfect race weather....about 35 and misty. I had done a 26:05 last year for 2nd place, so this year I wanted to better it and well, of course, win too. :) We saw some chick with a Duke shirt on prior, so I knew she'd be fast. Skinny runner type. I need to learn to pace myself, so Derick said 'Go out with her.' I thought he meant 'go out w/ the lead woman and stay with her', so of course being all controlled, I went out in about a 5:25 mile. Idiot. But, I did 'feel controlled'. Duke was nowhere to be seen. Until the mile 2 mark, when she so swiftly cruised by me. That's ok, I have more left, too. hehe. I felt very strong until the mile 4 mark when some other little girl (looked about 15) ran past me. What the HELL? Who was she? Ah whatever, I finally saw the clock and I was approaching 25:30! Wa Hoo! I finished 3rd and about 30 seconds faster and on the same course! Good for a 5:41 average pace. I'll take it! Derick had a great run as well, 4th or 5th overall but he has been running so little compared to last year, he was happy with it. Best part was, my dad and Breana (my step-niece?) came out to watch! I think that this stuff is so good for Breana to see. Bad part was, they were watching the 2.9 mile option finish...so, they missed us. I came up yelling his name after we finished! Ah well, fun had by all.

Outside of that race, it was a lot of relaxing, fishing and eating. I actually caught 3 fish in Lake Barbara (my parents' pond) in 40-degree weather on Wednesday. We all went to a place called the Story Inn on Friday for breakfast, out in Story, Indiana. Check it out!! Such a cool place and supposedly haunted! It was about 45 degrees in there but I guess that added to the victorian, rustic feeling eh?

Anyhoo all else is good, I am thoroughly enjoying the 'break' from training, doing a lot of yoga, pilates, and easy running and such. Rode outside for 1.5 hours yesterday, very hilly Austin route and seriously almost got off and pushed the bike a few times. I am so glad I was alone so noone had to see my pathetic self struggling up these hills! It was pretty humorous, actually. I have tentatively decided to train for a marathon. We'll see if that happens, esp. when the training 'begins' next week. It'd be something new, and early enough in 2008 that I could still put in a big cycling block afterwards and have a decent tri season too.

That is about it here...I need some new pictures, dad, will you send me some from when I was home? :) Hope everyone is doing well and enoying this time of year. I love it, football games (well, some are coming to an end...), colder weather, shorter days, taco soup, thinking about Christmas gifts, and yoga. And enjoying some good winter beers, too. It's all the little things.

El Season Finale

Well, the season has come and gone. I finished it up in Florida on Saturday, Nov 10th in the 70.3 World Champs...the season finale. It was a good race, I have written about in emails to people and also in my race story on my website so you can see all the details there. I was 16th overall, which I hate to say because I was SO confident I would be Top 10 and I was very focused on this goal. However things do not always go according to plan, this is life, and we deal with it. I gave it 110% so much that I struggled the last half of the run, like I have not struggled in a long time. Of course I am a bit disappointed, but to think of it like that only brings me 'down'...in reality, I have had a great season, I stayed healthy, I have enjoyed it all from start to finish and I have a lot to be very thankful for. Having my parents and sister Robin and 4-year old nephew William there was so great, I waved to them halfway through my run and then it all started going downhill. I so wish I could have had a great finish whereby I raised my arms up in victory (or at least a personal one!) but I think that they understood, I seemed to 'crack' at the end and finish in a lot of pain. But hey, that's racing...and I have not yet done that in a 1/2 Ironman so there is a first! Additionally I was able to get a best time, not by much but I'll take it, finishing in a 4:26. I have some GREAT pictures that I will get up here as soon as I can, such as William 'trying on' my racing aero helmet. We stayed until Monday morning to unwind, which was nice, it kind of made it really feel like the end of the season. Now I am all anxious to get started staying fit 'playing', that is doing whatever sounds enticing each day! I am sure it will be yoga, swimming and running...maybe some climbing and also I need to get my old mountain bike in working order, that'll be fun to do as well. And of course I'll enjoy some socializing and drinking yet as ya'll know, if you know me, I don't exclude these 'too' much even during the season...it's a LONG season! I hope you are all well and looking forward to Thanksgiving.

And also....GO ILLINI!! I am a University of Illinoi alumni and while I am also an Ohio State fan, who would have ever imagined...E-V-E-R...that Illinois could pull off a victory over OSU? Unbelievable. See, miracles DO happen... :)