Race Week?!?!

And just like that, vacation over and it's race week!  I signed up for CB&I Triathlon this year, a sprint tri in The Woodlands.  I've volunteered the past few years and am finally getting to do this hometown race!  #157 will be taking to the glorious waves of Lake Woodlands around 7:30am on Saturday morning. I  just picked up my packet and realized they gave me a mens shirt! Sons of b's!  I'm hoping they will let me trade it at another packet pickup location.  We'll see!

So what's new you ask?  Wellllllll.  I'm back from Disney World and had an amazing time with my sisters, niece & nephew!!!  What a great, great trip.  I swear, if I had kids, we would go twice a year.  If they allowed dogs in the park, I would take Leia.  No, I'm not kidding you.  Why shouldn't my furry, 4-legged friend get to experience the happiest place on Earth?  Exactly!

After a great dinner at Chef Mickey's!

Getting ready for fun at Hollywood Studios!

I was sick for my vacation thanks to a germ infested person at work who shall remain nameless.  :)  I'm finally kicking this funky stuff and just in time...as I mentioned, it is race week!!!!  So this past Sunday was our March of Dimes walk.  Money is still coming in but so far, my team has raised nearly $5,500!!!!! That is the most I've ever raised and I couldn't be more excited.  As you all know, MoD is near & dear to my heart given Cristian's early arrival 5 years ago.  Thank you MoD!  We had a face painter at out tent again and for the first time, I got my face painted.  I asked for something simple yet elegant.  :)

Yes, I am turning 38 this year.  So???

So there you have it....a really quick update!  I'll post one more time before the race this weekend so stay tuned.  Oh, I almost forgot...I was rejected from the NYC Marathon for the 3rd time.  I wish I could say I was sad but I'm not b/c all this means is that I'm guaranteed for next year.  YIPPPPPEEEE SKIPPPPPPEEEEE!


With that, I'm off like a cheap dress on prom night.  :)

The Slacker is Back!

I know, I know, I know.  I've been a slacker.  I won't bore you with the excuses though.  :)   When I'm training for something BIG, I know I'll be on here more.  The good news is that in just a few weeks, we'll know what that something BIG is.  More on that later. 


Ok, I'm not going to try to recount everything missed since my last blog entry so let me summarize the high points.  ;)

• My angel of a niece turned 1 in February!  Oh my goodness.  A year has gone by?  How?  Avery has a funny little personality without a doubt.  I'm so excited to see how she continues to change. Lucky for me, I will get 5 days straight with my niece (and nephew) as I'm getting ready to go on vacation with all 3 of my sisters and those two little angels!  Woo hoo!!!!!
• Keith's grandbaby, Addison, also turned 1....a short month after Avery.  We were lucky enough to have Mike, Heather & Addie in town for her bday.  It never feels like enough time with them but you take what you can get!  Addie is absolutely adorable.  She LOVES her mommy & daddy and definitely prefer them to pretty much everyone.  :)  Keith & I are planning our next visit to Chicago to see them all.  
• Luke & I signed up for Angie's Half Crazy Half Marathon.  The original plan was for Luke to PR and get a time in the 1:30 range.  I didn't necessarily have a goal as I signed up on a whim at the last minute.  Well, my "goal" was to do my 10th half-marathon.  The day before the race, Luke & I hatched a plan to just not give a crap about the race (for some legit reasons) and go out for drinks and just have fun.  Well, let me say that we achieved our new goals VERY well!  We've decided that from this point forward, one race a year (at least) will be dedicated to fun and not a care in the world to results.  That gasping noise you hear right now is probably from my coach. :)
• Sophie has been going to A&M every 6 weeks due to her illness from last year. At the most recent visit, we got the news that she's pretty much stable (finally) and they don't need to see us for 8 weeks!  YAYYYYYY!
• Keith started riding bicycles about 9 months ago and has had the goal to ride 100 miles in one day (century ride).  Well, Keith achieved his goal yesterday!  My absolutely AWESOME training group organized the "GOT 112?" ride, a community ride on the Ironman Texas course.  Keith rode a century + 12!  Let me tell you, the conditions out there were B-R-U-T-A-L.  Winds were 20+ mph pretty much all day.  We heard rider after rider say they would take hills over wind any day of the week.  A to the MEN.  Regardless, Keith hung in there and biked the entire Ironman Texas bike course!!!!!  Now, I was hoping that achieving this goal would make him realize he too could be an Ironman but it hasn't.  In fact, he told me that anyone who runs 26.2 miles after riding 112 is a complete psycho.  Hi, have we met?  I'm psycho.  :)

Addison Irene!

Avery Elizabeth :)

Hannah Taylor - My SAG partner!

Me & Luke post- Angie's Half Crazy Half (Ass) Marathon

My baby towards the end of his 1st Century+ Ride

Exhibit A

Ok, so those are the bulleted high points.  Let me get back to the experience yesterday though.  I'm sure more than a few of you would've guessed the next story would be here in the blog.  Hannah & I volunteered at the ride yesterday.  In the morning we were responsible for going to the riders and giving them important info for the day as well as maps.  Most riders were taking off between 6:50 - 7:00am.  Being the AWESOME volunteers we are, Hannah & I noticed a small group of more "mature" ladies had arrived and were still prepping for the ride.  I would say 99% of the riders were gone and they were the 1% who remained.  Hannah & I were decked out in ORR (Outrival Racing) gear.  We walked over, greeted them and began our speech.  One of the ladies looked at me and said, "Oooooooh, can I see your skirt?  We have the same thighs."  Now, I was taken aback by this b/c I've never had someone say we had the same thighs. I mean, I've heard people comment on my curls before but that's about it.  Thighs?  I looked at this woman and immediately thought, "Please tell me my thighs don't look like that".  I felt bad thinking this but hey, she is the one who drew attention to them (and mine as well).  As she's comparing our thighs (very loudly) she walks over to me and LIFTS UP MY RUNNING SKIRT.  Yes, the skirt does have attached shorts but they are mesh, short and somewhat see through in the right light.  She then pulled on the mesh shorts and asked me if they stayed put or if they rode up.  She asked if they chafed.  As she asked this, she was rubbing her inner thighs, squatting and making a really gross face.  I just thank 8lb 6oz baby Jesus that she didn't rub my inner thighs or she probably wouldn't have made it on the ride.  I handled myself very well mainly b/c I was wearing ORR gear and did not want to embarrass my team.  I smiled, told her the skirt was Athleta and worked really well for walking around and shorter distance running but not as well for 10 or more miles.  We walked away, still smiling and Hannah looked at me and said, "Jenny, you do NOT have her thighs".  Thank you Hannah!  I tried to pretend it didn't bother me but you know what, it did.  I am VERY self-conscious of my thighs.  I have never been skinny (except when I starved myself after breakups).  In high school, I always was told I was "thick" but was always assured that was a compliment.  I don't look as good in my triathlon shorts as others do but I've accepted it.  Obviously my thighs were a topic of conversation most of the day yesterday and I even took pictures of them.  I think I'll probably post the pics on my mirror as motivation.  I got on Google last night to look for quick ways to make your thighs more muscular. I'm fairly confident the lady didn't mean to insult me or anything and I'm kind of embarrassed that at 37 years old, something like this still gets to me but hey, I'm human and I'm still female even if I am older and know better!  So what does this mean?  Well, it means that anyone around me is going to hear me make cracks about my thick, ample, thunderous thighs for the next several weeks.  It means that in every workout, I'm going to ask my thighs (very nicely) to please tone up faster.  It means that I'm going to buy Suzanne Sommers book b/c she loved the Thigh Master and I must too.  :)  All joking aside, this just motivates me to work a little harder.  I will never have long, lean legs and I really do think I'm ok with that (mainly b/c I have no choice). I will just use this for motivation in my workouts.  The chant of yesteryear was "I must, I must, I must increase my bust" (and that worked out quite well for me).  My new mantra will be, "I'll try, I'll try, I'll try to reduce my thigh"!  

Exhibit B

Ok, so on to the something BIG on the horizon.  I will find out in just a couple of weeks if I have made it into the NYC Marathon!!!!  I'm so excited!!! I have entered the lottery for years and really want this to be my first marathon (1st stand alone marathon).  Either way, I need to know if I'm in or not so I can plan the rest of my race season.  Right now, I have a bunch of sprints on my schedule and am holding out until I know more.  Wish me luck!!!!  And wish for smaller thighs.  :)



Talk soon!!!