Billy the Kid Tombston Tri--> June 9, 2012

Yes, I know it has been a long dry spell with no posting.  Yes, I know I've been remiss.  I'm sad, I'm bad, and I promise to improve my naughty ways.  I was chastised at the race this weekend, so I'm back on track.  If you read to the end, you can see my excuses. I call them excuses, maybe you will be kind and call them reasons. 

The Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon is held at Sumner Lake State Park in beautiful eastern New Mexico.  Because it is in the part of New Mexico where there are frequently only two seasons, hot and windy or cold and windy, I opt to begin the race at 7 AM.  Yes, not only am I a participant, I am the race director.  We started this race three years ago as a fund raiser for the Fort Sumner Municipal Schools' Athletic program.  With the Foxes and the Vixens going to multiple state championship tournaments, the costs to the local district can become overwhelming.  We recognize that it is almost impossible to "tap" the local merchants for more than they are already doing, and with 89% of our students in grades 7-12 participating in extra and co-curricular activities (yes, highest in NM and proud of it), we need A LOT of hotel and meal money.  The students suggested that since I do triathlons, maybe a triathlon would be a good fundraiser.  Three years ago, about 30 people agreed.  Last year 53 people agreed.  This year over 143 people agreed.  I think the Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon is here to stay.

Our local Rotary Club has five members, and one of us is in the hospital recovering from a car accident.  We needed to raise money for scholarships for high school grads heading to college.  We decided to put on a spaghetti dinner.  Since I'm the one with a key to the school, and the one with large group cooking skills (something I neglected to keep secret), I cooked dinner for 200 people for Friday night before the triathlon while juggling the packet pickup.  If my family had not been willing to pick up the slack.....well disaster would have been much to small a word.  Our son came to spend a week of vacation.  He's an engineer in a land far away doing something magical to keep the world safe for democracy.  Our daughter is a speech pathologist in another county, also she is a five hour drive away.  My recently widowed mother-in-law drove seven hours to join in what I am loosely characterizing as "fun" to do the work to make this triathlon and spaghetti dinner come together.  My husband took two days off from work at the local gas company.  Yeah.  I know.  I owe, and I owe in so many ways that I will be paying back for a LLLLOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG time.  I am saying thank you, and it is not ever going to be enough.

Race morning we are up at the darkthirty hour of 4 AM so Stephen and Les can go put out the signs on the road for the run and bike courses at the lake.  I've already given $50 to one of my fellow Rotarians, Bill, and asked him to pick up 20 sacks of ice at Allsups so we can have plenty of ice on the course for sponges, ice water, etc.  I hate it when the water is not cold on races, and I wanted people to be refreshed.  I'd spent the two weekends previous baking homemade cookies, so those I loaded into my car and headed out to the course.  I set up packet pick-up and taught folks how to do body marking (note, I will teach how to do that before 5:30 AM in the future).  Also, to break the suspense, I will NEVER be racing in another race where I'm the race director.  This is it.  I'm done.  I left too many people to pick up pieces that they did not know what to do with, and I'm never doing that again.  I will race out of town.  I'm sad, but I'm starting the grieving now.  I love this course, and I'm going to make sure everyone else gets a great race.  I'm finished on the course during a competitive event.  The good news is that since I've said it publicly, all of you can stop plotting the intervention you were talking about doing. 

The caliber of race participants was staggering.  At one point I looked at a table in the cafeteria and saw one young man who is training at the US Olympic training camp in Colorado, and two under 23 athletes that will be ranked in the top 10 in the USAT national ranking this year.  They were eating spaghetti in our school cafeteria and had a second brownie.  I liked it that I was looking at future Olympians eating in my cafeteria at the school.  That was super nifty neato.  Being on the course with people who are so speedy and swift was amazing too.  You should check out the race results at Chasing3.  Angie and her crew did an insane job of managing the timing, set up, and taking care of all of the stuff necessary that I failed to do. 

My race, oh, am I supposed to talk about MY RACE?  I should tell you that I swam the WRONG swim course and did a 1/2 mile swim instead of the 400 meter everyone else in my division did.  I could feel bad about that since it means I got 4th in the Athena division, except that I did my 1/2 mile in 35 minutes and that is the BEST half mile swim time I've ever had.  I did it almost all free style and I never had to do the backstroke.  I never panicked, and I had no trouble sighting the buoys.  I am stoked.  My bike was not bad.  My run was poky, but it was hot, and I know I drop time significantly in the heat.  I did have a negative split on the run because there were icy cold sponges on the run course at the 5K and 10K turn arounds!  YEAH for ice.  I just packed my bra and went on the way.  I had a great second half of the run because I was not so hot. 

EXCUSES for Why I've not Been Updating
I've had a totally crummy spring with some health problems, and my training has been bitterly poor.  Migraines have never been in my health experience, but this spring semester I've had periods of time where I've had migraines that lasted as long as three weeks.  I had a period of three months where I had only eight days without a migraine.  I can tell you that training of any sort with a migraine is not a good idea.  Not that I did not try it out...... I did, and it was not pretty.  Vomit is never an attractive look on a woman.  When you are not training, it is hard to be competitive and hard to have wonderful, uplifting, and improving tales to tell.  I've not had any of those, and it has made me sad.  I've not wanted to be a downer, or a whiner in the public blogoshere, but here I am sharing my whiner pants to the world.  Sigh. 

What I can tell you is that I have continued to compete, even in my limited trained fashion.  It gives me hope, it gives me some reason to continue to dream that healing is out there somewhere in my future.  I just could not give up because of the pain. It was not allowed in my "rules", so I've done some races.  I did the following races this spring:

• Presidents' Day Duathlon at White Sands on February 18th;
• Mesilla Valley Triathlon on April 1st;
• organized and ran in a trail run here in Fort Sumner on April 14th (fundraiser for Rotary Scholarships-- those darned kids REALLY like college in Fort Sumner);
• Coyote Carrera Tri on April 21st; did Spring Fling on April 22nd;
• Shiprock 1/2 marathon on May 5th;
• Jay Benson Tri on May 13th:
• Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon on June 9th. 

I'm so NOT setting the world on fire, and my times are not getting better, but I'm a fan of continuing to try.  I don't know what to tell you, but just get out there and keep plugging away.  I am not willing to give up, and if that is all I can give you, then I guess I will give you that today.  Just TRIHARD. 

Hugs,
Patricia

Double Event Weekend--> December 3-4, 2011

Oh, how do I begin to describe the fun.  I have to tell you naysayers, I will absolutely be doing this sort of INSANITY again.  What sort of insanity.... read on.  This was my double event weekend. I had the Polar Bear Triathlon at White Sands Missile Range (7K run, 35K bike, 500M swim) on Saturday the 3rd and then the City of Las Cruces 1/2 Marathon on Sunday. 

Normally weather in southern New Mexico in early December would be in the 40s, not this weekend. The forecast was for severe winter storms all across the state, and the doubters among my friends and family were quite concerned about my pressing on to finish this adventure. Even my local triathlete friends were telling me I was an idiot; hey, I'd paid my entrance fees and unless the race directors were cancelling the events, I was showing up. I did decide that if there was snow on the bike portion of the triathlon I would not do it because I have no idea how to ride a bike in snow and no desire to risk my beloved bike, Grace, to that sort of wreck. I do understand that there are tires that people in the northern climes use for riding bikes in the snow that have little bits of knobby metal on them; I was not purchasing special tires for the triathlon.  It was hard all week hearing gloomy weather forecasts read with a cheerful voice from my husband who thought the whole idea of this was pretty disastrous from the get-go.  It isn't that Les is less than supportive, it is just that when he finds out that even my triathlon friends respond with, "You're doing what?  You're an idiot," he feels vindicated.  Now I did tell him that my Outlaw buddies, and my Ontri buddies all said that I should go for it because you never know what you can do unless you push yourself, which I thought was eminently wise advice. 

The forecast for our County, as I left that afternoon, was for 3-6 inches of snow that evening.  Yeah, snow all over the 5th largest state in the Union.I arrived in Las Cruces to a freezing rain on Friday night, but while it was foggy and freezing on Saturday morning, the was no rain.  I gave myself plenty of time to get a coffee and egg McMuffin (no cheese with a Z please) and get through the base gate on to the White Sands Missile Range.

The snow on the mountains was absolutely lovely and enhanced the beauty of the venue. I was the first one to set up in transition and my timing and getting out of the bathroom was impeccable, so I was also first in line to get my packet picked up.  We got the bonus of an extra t-shirt from another event (cool) and I had plenty of time to use my nebulizer since my asthma is not too happy about running in the cold. We took off on the run, and while it was cold, it was not bitter. The bike course was dry enough, but the wind picked up to have a steady 15 mph with gusts into the 20s on the way back, so the return to transition was tough going directly into the headwind.  Getting into the pool felt like a warm bath once I got back and stripped off my layers to get down to my tri-suit.  They always host a nice luncheon for the athletes after the race and it was good to get a bite and collect some swag.  It was gratifying to get first in the Athena category. It pays to be a big girl who isn't afraid to brave the cold weather :-)


The rest of the day was playing around town and doing errands with my daughter and son-in-law, and we cooked dinner.  I did get a nice warm shower first though because it took a while to get the deep chill out of my bones, and I spent some good time hydrating all the rest of the day, making sure that I had a cup of herbal tea or bottle of water most of the time.  I had a great night of rest and planned on getting up at about 6:15 so I could have a repeat of the previous day's successful breakfast of champions; you've got to love McDonald's skinny latte's and McMuffin's without the cheezzzzze.  I just toss away half the muffin and I am good to go.

Sunday for the City of Las Cruces 1/2 marathon the sky was overcast and it was also freezing (literally) and it was raining. Everyone was staying in their vehicles as long as possible. Frankly, I am a pitiful runner on my best day, so I was pretty sure I would be one of the last ten finishers, but I really didn't want to be the absolute last person to come in on the race. I didn't have rain gear (poor planning on my part) and it was breezy, so the damp and the cold made for less than wonderful conditions to run, but there was no ice on the road. The course is a nice one in that it takes you out into rural Dona Ana so while you are on pavement it is still scenic and bucolic. I was quickly relegated to the back of the pack. When it started raining the second time, and I was getting pretty damp, I was not quite as optimistic.  My internal communication was, "Really, this is the way it is going to be?"  The whinemeter was getting going, and that is not how I usually function, so I was trying to STOP IT RIGHT NOW, when I looked down and there was a beautiful gift from God. You know how they have two pair of gloves for $1.99 at Walmart?  One pair is solid and one pair is striped?  Well, there was a pair of rainbow striped gloves on the side of the road.  I looked at them and knew that the Lord was gifting me a pair of rainbow gloves to give me warmth to make it to the end of the race :-)  I thought for a moment about whether anyone was coming back to get their lost gloves, and decided there was absolutely no way anyone would drive the route looking for their lost gloves.  I put them on under my other gloves and my hands, while not warm, were bearable.  Les could not believe I STOLE gloves and would be telling people about it.  I told him when God give you rainbow gloves to shut the whinemeter up, you had better tell people about it.  So, if I owe you some rainbow gloves, send me a message, and I thank you very much. 

At this point in the race, I was not seeing anyone but volunteers at the water stations, and some of those were now unmanned.  They were all quite encouraging and solicitous.  I was fairly confident that I was securely in last place.  I tried not to get too grim about that and just kept reminding myself that I was doing things that I NEVER imagined would be possible even three years ago when I did my first triathlon, when that seemed like a huge accomplishment. 

The last four miles, I found I had to give up on my "Galloway Gallop" method and just walk. My thighs were pretty seized with the cold and effort, and pain was with me as my companion, so we chatted. Some friends (Marcy and Grady Oxford) who'd done the race came by and offered to just take me back as a DNF, but I told them I wanted to finish. I am pretty much a "plug away" kind of person, and while my pace was stupidly slow, I wanted to finish. Of course as soon as they drove away and I could smell the lingering aroma of the heat from their car, I wished momentarily that I was more of a quitter.  They were going to get coffee.... Hmm coffee.  I would get some when I finished.   I ran the last 1/2 mile because I have enough pride that I didn't want the anonymous timer guys to see me trudge across the finish line. You would of course wonder why I care about the anonymous timer guys unless you've done a race, and then you would understand.   My dear treasured friends had come back, and they cheered me across the line. I apologized to the timer guys for being so incredibly slow and pokey.  I thrilled to discover that there were still people on the course, so I was third from the last in the 1/2 marathon. Yes, I know you would like to drum me out of the athletic corps that I am celebrating how far I am from the last, but that is just what I have to do since I am such a lame runner at this point in my life. The timer guys needed my timing chip, which I'd cleverly laced INTO my shoe laces.  I no longer had the ability to bend over, or sit down and get up, so Grady ever so graciously sat down and unlaced my shoes for me so he could take my timing chip off and then relaced my shoe.  Then he and Marcy shared snacks, I was famished from running four hours in the rain and cold, and drove me around to my car.  Yes, I was too worn out to walk to my car.  How stupidly tired does that sound?

I headed to Mary and Dave's for a shower and then we were able to go get lunch.  I had to "celebrate" when we got back with a thirty minute nap.  Oh, my, the exhaustion.  Then it was off to Target.  I told Mary I needed to use the cart as my "walker".  She asked if I wanted to use one of the electric carts.  I told her, to my shame, I was actually considering it and the only thing keeping me from doing so was that there might be someone who genuinely needed it who had not self-inflicted their pain.  I'd had to borrow flip flops from Mary because I could not get my feet into my boots.  My toes, feet and calves were so swollen that there was just no way to put my boots on my feet and zip them up.  Who wears flip flops in the rain and snow?  Me after a 1/2 marathon.


After shopping at Target, I felt pretty good, so I packed up my gear and got on the road to head back to Fort Sumner.  Of course when I got on the road, just past Ruidoso, it was clear I was driving into a nice winter storm.  By the time I left Roswell, it was a serious snow storm with white out conditions, and when I made the turn on to Highway 20, there were no other cars on the road.  I was going 20 mph and it was truly winter driving conditions.  I just called Les and told him it would take me two hours to cover the 45 miles. Excellent planning for me.  Here I was exhausted, and driving in a snow storm.  I did have a sleeping bag and I really sort of wanted to just pull over and go to sleep, but it was 22 degrees.  I kept thinking how VERY cold that van would get and how fast it would get that VERY cold.  I kept driving and got home at a little after midnight.

I am telling you that I would definitely do a double event again. It is so worth pushing myself this hard. I like it. I kept telling myself how blessed I was to be able to do something I would never have even fantasized this was possible years ago when I weighed 405 pounds. Shucks, I would not have believe it was possible to do two events back-to-back even three years ago when I did my first triathlon.  The only more amazing thing that my body has done was maintain the pregnancies that brought Stephen and Mary into the world, and in those cases that felt more "automatic" because I think God set my body up to know what to do along the way.  Here I have to be much more involved and must train and learn how to be an athlete.  All of this is new.  In this case I feel more participatory, and I know that sounds funny since you are REALLY involved as the pregnant woman, but so much of pregnancy is just magic.  These endurance events amaze me because I can do more than I ever dreamed or imagined.  I keep thinking, "Well, can I do XXXXX" and then I try to fill in the blank. What if I really can live a life where I keep growing and expanding the limits of what my body can do?  It is working so far, and I am so very happy.  Thank you all for being with me and sharing in my adventures.  I know some of them may seem crazy to you, but sometimes joy is sort of on the edge of crazy.

Duke City 1/2 Marathon--> October 23, 2011

Duke City 1/2 Marathon
A year ago I did my first 1/2 marathon in Albuquerque, so I was nurturing some fantasy that I would have a faster than light transition and become a runner in the past year and do this repeat race in less than three hours.  Last year it took me 3 hours and 47 minutes, this year it took me 3 hours and 48 minutes.  Yes, you read that right.... I ADDED a minute to the 13.1 miles.  Grrrr.  Now I realized at about the five mile mark, because there is plenty of time to think while you are running at an incredibly slow place (my excruciatingly slow pace) that the IT bands I've been working so diligently to stretch were not just murmuring, they were actually arguing across my pelvis with each other.  There was an actual IT band shouting match as they vied for which one would get the most attention for most painful on this run.  The pain escalated with each step, and it was one of those pains that actually increased if I walked.  You would think this would spur me to an enhanced pace and thus a better time, no such luck.  You see, the pain just shortened my stride, altered my gait, and reinforced that I need a much more intimate relationship with my foam roller. 

It was a beautiful day, and I had a wonderful time.  I also realized that this was an absolute case of "training fail" on my part.  I spent a lot of time getting ready for Elephant Man, so I did not log very many long runs getting geared up and prepped for this 1/2 marathon.  My longest run going into the 1/2 was 8 miles, and I should have had several runs of 10 miles going into this race.  Another possible, okay, probable issue is that on Friday I had synthetic cartilage injected in both knees.  The doc said I was okay to run, but I do know both knees were 'stiff' feeling and it probably would have been a bit better if I'd had a week more to let everything get settled.  I am pretty bullheaded, and the nice thing is that now there is only greater success ahead :-)

We had our Halloween carnival at school on Saturday, and I went as Hit Girl.  How can you go wrong with a super hero who has purple hair and a purple skirt? When I saw the movie Kick A** I knew I wanted to be Hit Girl when I grew up!  She has an awesome facility with weapons and takes care of the criminal elements.  Hit Girl was a great costume too because so many of the kids didn't recognize me until I called them by name and then only because they recognized my voice or they heard me laugh. It was an delightful costume, and it was a terrific carnival and the dance afterward was so much fun for the kids too. 

My next athletic adventure is the Aggie Autumn Triathlon in Las Cruces at NMSU on November 13th.  I am jazzed about that tri.  After that I've got a double-header weekend planned.  Now what is a double-header weekend, you may ask?  Well, on December 3rd there is the Polar Bear Triathlon at White Sands and on December 4th there is the City of Las Cruces 1/2 Marathon.  I am planning on doing both events.  A smart friend told me to think of it as "a catered training weekend with t-shirts" and I love that thought.  Yes, I know it will be some serious endurance work, but it will be a load of fun.  I will make sure and hydrate extremely well the week going into the double events, and will have to do some good hydration on Saturday afternoon to try to make sure I am as prepped as I can be for Sunday's 1/2 marathon.  I've not done the Las Cruces 1/2 before, but I know it is a well supported race, so there will be plenty of water stations along the way.  I always used G-2 when I run, and take the powder with me so I can fill my water bottle with me along the way and mix my own.  Regular Gatorade has too much sugar for me to tolerate it. 

Running events fill the gap before the triathlon season begins again, so I've got the Pecos Valley Stampede 1/2 at the end of February.  On the 5th February there is the El Paso Marathon, and I am considering doing the full distance..... yikes.  They've changed the course so that runners start at the top of Tramway, and this will make it a super fast course.  I will see how training goes between now and Christmas and make my decision.  The half was great last year.  I am also thinking about doing the Bataan Memorial Death March on March 25th too, but just the 15 mile, not the full distance due to the rigors of the terrain. 

So you know I was truly scared about the Elephant Man Triathlon.  I wrote verses on the palms of my hands because I knew I needed every reminder that I was not alone on the journey.  It was a tough tri, and I had such a good time doing it.  My friends made such a difference encouraging me along the way.  Having people to encourage me was just a lovely gift from God along the way.  I am thankful. 

Marcy Oxford and Patricia Miller before Live, Love Tri

Elephant Man-->September 25, 2011

I have been eagerly anticipating this event, and even dreading it as the time grew closer.  Much of my anxiety revolved around the discovery that the swim would have a limiting time; we would be allowed in at some time after 8 AM based on our scheduled waves and put out of the water at 9:15.  For an accomplished swimmer this should not be an issue since a mile swim should really only take around 30 minutes.  Let me clue you in.... I am not an accomplished swimmer.  I know that in a pool, where I can push off on the ends of the pool, I can do a mile in just over an hour.  In the open water, where I am zig-zagging all around the place and getting scared when people swim over me, it will take me about an hour and 20 minutes to do a mile.  Those are just the swimming facts for me.  I sent a frantic email to the race director asking if there was any way for me to start the swim with the long course (1/2 iron distance) athletes at 7 AM, but she said no way.  I understand why, but it was a desperate situation, so I thought I would ask.  Frequently I figure it is best to ask because not asking is always a "no" and asking might get you a yes.  Sigh.  She sent me an encouraging email that I just needed to swim hard and she was sure I could do it.  That made one of us. 

Saturday morning I headed off to Elephant Butte, NM.  It is a long drive from Fort Sumner, about four hours, so I got to Marcy and Grady Oxfords about 3:30 that afternoon.  That meant I missed the first of the packet pick up opportunities, so Marcy had to stand in line with me at 5, and it was a LONG, wait.  Fortunately we have the ability to stand and chat at the same time, so fun was had.  It was also a great time to visit with other friends all around.  I got to meet Dave S, an online triathlon friend from Colorado, and his wife Michelle, and that was fun.  Once packet pick up was done, we headed back to Marcy's for sandwiches and a great evening on the porch; it was so beautiful and I was in awe of the world God created for us to enjoy.  A host of the NMSU triathlon club athletes were there too, so all of the available floor space was taken up by college-aged athletes, and as I've mentioned before, nobody knows quite how to party like triathletes:  we were in bed by 9:30 and up the next morning by 5 AM.

Transition had assigned racking, and that worked out okay for me.  I got an end spot, and you know how I am about my end spots because I need room to spread my gear.  It was good and I got my stuff organized and set up.  I waited until 7 to go find the ambulance to use their electricity to get my nebulizer going.  It was the same crew that I'd bugged for Dam It Man, so that was nice since the EMT's mom is an asthmatic and he is always so encouraging.  I got my gear stowed back in transition and met up with some more of the NM Outlaws, and that was fun too.  This was my first race wearing my Outlaw tri jersey, and I am so thankful to my friend Deb for sending it to me so I can proudly race as an Outlaw.  The race officials did decide that this would be a wetsuit legal race once they checked the water temperature, and I was so glad because I needed the security of the wet suit for the long time in the water.  I was drinking lots in order to hydrate, so a couple of trips to the port-o-potties were needed, but the lines were non-existant for me and they were not stinky and were equipped with TP.  YEAH for the necessities of life.  Grady was capturing the moments on digital "film" and I'm glad since I didn't think to get the cameral out of my tri bag, and then we were off on the swim.

You may remember that last year I DNF'd at the 12.5 mile mark on the bike course due to dehydration, so I was highly motivated to make it this year. I am an extremely slow triathlete, but I plug away very well, and I see myself making improvements between years that do bring me joy.

It took me 1:18 to slog through my mile swim. I usually alternate between the breast stroke and the freestyle, but whenever I started to freestyle I would be called down by the kayak folks that I was getting off course, so I ended up doing the entire race in the breaststroke. There was one other woman behind me getting out of the water.

I had not been feeling well for a couple of days before the race and had put it off as pre-race digestive upset. I was nauseated the entire bike race, and figured it was the heat. Looking back, and seeing that I was sick the entire week following the race, I think I had the stomach flu. Usually I rock the bike portion of the race, but I was only mediocre, and that surprised me, but I plugged along. In the last four miles I was really stunned to realize that I could not look forward on my bike and apply my brakes at the same time. My trapezius muscles were completely locked up. I am assuming that the long breaststroke and then the long bike, something I'd never done before (can you say training failure?) were impacting me. The bike course finshed with a steep incline back down the boat ramp into transition. I knew that unchecked I would come screaming into transition at 25-28 mph, and that was not going to work. I just got off my bike at the upper parking area and ran my bike into transition. Of course my friends who had finished the race at that point and were cheering me on thought I'd lost my mind. My friend Marcy knows my dehydration accuity check is to do multiplication in my head, so she asked me to multiply for her, so I did. She was eating a snow cone, and it was HOT, and I really wanted to snatch it from her, but I needed both hands to change shoes to get out on the run. She did give me a bottle of cold water to dump on my head, and off I went.

The first 1/2 mile on the dirt trail felt good, even if it was churned and sandy, then the hills started. That was when the heat really hit me. I used the old fall back advice of walk up the hills and run down them. The heat was bad, about 95 at this point, so I did the best I could and kept plugging away. At the 3 mile mark I started seeing snakes on the road. I was pretty sure there were no snakes, so I cleverly constructed a question of one of the high school volunteers, "Are you guys having much problems with snakes on the road?"
"No, m'am," he replied, "We haven't seen any today." I figured that if they were just heat related snakes, I really didn't have much of a problem. I was not throwing up, I was only dizzy when I ran, and I would just get hosed down at the next water station. I got to the next station and there were two little boys with weed sprayers full of water. I told them to spray me down like they had sprayed nobody down all day. The look of joy in their eyes was completely worth it. I was soaked, much cooler, and did much better on the way back. Once I finished the race, I asked Marcy to help me find some ice, and I packed my bra with ice, and in five minutes I felt much more myself. I was the last person to finish the Oly course. I did get third place in the Athena category. At this race they also have a drawing for a male and female winner of a beach cruiser bike. I won the female bike and a friend from my triathlon club the NM Outlaws, Carl (won his age group in the long course) won the men's beach cruiser.

I figure that now I have to do a 1/2 iron distance race next year. The difference between a mile and a 1.2 mile swim is not that much, and since that is the part that terrifies me I can do that and enjoy the rest. Of course the bike portion will be 54 miles instead of 26.5 and the run will be 13.1 miles instead of 6.2, but who is counting.  Marcy has said she is in too :-)  It is good to have friends who are crazy right with you.  Of course we also have decided we want to go beyond the 1/2 marathon distance, so we are looking for a good destination to do our full marathon.  We think we would like to go to a place with LOTS of oxygen and not much hill, so right now San Diego sounds fun.  Another reason San Diego would be good is that Southwest flies there for $49 each way, so it could be a fun girl's weekend.  Another wickedly fun thing we are thinking could be a blast is one of the major relays where you get a team and do one of the ultra marathons and you take turns running through the night to cover 122 miles or something absurd like that.  Uh huh, I know what you are thinking, and you are right....... you want in on  this fun....... yep, that is what you are thinking.  I know it <grin>  You are as insane as we are.  That is what the voices are telling me anyway. 

I work hard, I just have so much ground to cover since I am coming from a place with absolutely no physical skills or ability. I like seeing the growth though. Participation in triathlon does bring me a great deal of joy.

Next up I've got the Duke City 1/2 Marathon on 10/23/11 and then the Candyman Triathlon on the 30th of October.   On November 13th we have the Aggie Autum Triathlon at NMSU, and you should plan on joining us.  It will be a great race, and you will have so much fun.  Registration is available online at www.nmsportsonline.com.

Patricia

September 10, 2011--> Yucca Triathlon

This Saturday I did the Yucca Triathlon at White Sands Missile Range. It was an odd distance race with an 8K run, 45K bike, and 400M swim. I wanted to do it for a couple of reasons: it was my birthday, it was a great tune up distance for the Olympic race Elephant Man in a couple of weeks, and the base is just 30 minutes from my daughter and son-in-law's house so I could spend the rest of the weekend visiting them in Las Cruces.

I left Fort Sumner on Friday afternoon at 4 and went to the school football game at Capitan and stayed until halftime (I had to do my duty as the school superintendent). The Foxes were winning, so I didn't feel to bad about being a ditcher, and I still had an hour and a half drive to Alamogordo (NM is a big state). I got up at 4 AM in order to make the next leg of the journey to get to the military base and was at the transition area and set up by 5:45 AM. I visited around transition and that was fun. There were a lot of college students from NMSU's triathlon team there, and I am helping them organize a triathlon for November 13th (put it on your calendars), so it was fun to chat about that race too.

We took off at 7:30, and I was really pleased with my 8K time of 58 minutes. I know most of you runners are much speedier than I am, but for me, this 12 minute mile pace is a SIGNIFICANT improvement and really surprised me. Frankly, I didn't know I could do five miles that fast. I guess it must be the gift of birthday magic and my new birthday orange Newtons. I was only three minutes behind this other Athena that ALWAYS beats me. I kid you not, she always comes in ahead of me. She went to nationals in Athena last year, and she is a great competitor.

I jumped on the bike, and took off, and the first four miles of the bike are an gradual decline, so I knew I would be crying on the way back to transition, but I cranked it pretty hard. At the six mile point, I passed her, and I know that caught her quite by surprise. I realize I am a pretty aggressive cyclist, and I know from looking at my bike splits in races this year that I am usually in the top third on bike times in races. I just pushed it hard because the swim is her best portion in triathlon. I saw her once more after the turnaround, and then beat it back to the transition point, and yes, that long slow incline was a beast. I did the bike in 1:33 and then my usual pitiful swim of 17 minutes. The great news was I still beat her by 11 minutes overall, and it feels AWESOME.

I have had other wins this season, but not over someone who is a recognized, regular winner. When they were giving out the medals, the race director just started to hand her the first place medal, and she had to say, "No, I got second, she got first." Yes, that is the sound of my head swelling. Yes, I am being little miss braggy pants. Yes, I have stapled my medal on my bulletin board in my office with all of my bib numbers. Yes, I wore my medal to lunch with my daughter and son-in-law. Yes, I know it is silly, and yes, I don't even care. I realize this is unseemly in a 52 year-old woman.

This strong competitor and I will both be in the same sprint race on Saturday, and I am sure she will be looking to redeem herself. I am going to try to keep her from doing so :-) She is not doing Elephant Man and that will be the last one I am doing in the Southwest Challenge Series. Right now I am third in that series and she is second. I don't know that I can unseat her from that position given the current points, but there is always next year <grin>

Patricia

Live, Love Tri-->August 27, 2011

Live Well, Love More, Tri Harder.  So say the women who organized the Live, Love Tri held this weekend in Rio Rancho, NM.  The race filled and we had a WONDERFUL time.  I've not done any other women only events.  When I saw that they were organizing this early in the spring I signed up online right away, as evidenced by my bib number 3.  I sent an email and a text, no reason to trust only one form of electronic communication, to my dear friend and fellow triathlete Marcy Oxford, and she also signed up immediately and she was #5.  Now this matters because we ended up with assigned racking and we were assigned by bib number, so we were rack buddies :-)  and now I am waaaaay ahead of myself in the story.

I arrived in Albuquerque in time to go to REI on Friday night to get my packet about 6:45 and ended up waiting in line until 7:30.  Now I know people usually gripe about waiting in line, but this was just a lovely time to visit with fellow triathletes and get to meet new friends.  It was really fun when I got up to the check in station and the organizers said, "Oh, you are Patricia Miller, the AMAZING Patricia Miller that we've heard so much about." and we all had a great giggle about that.  I guess Angie from Chasing3 Race Productions had been telling them about our Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon that we had in Fort Sumner, so that means we may get some more good entries next year.  Of course now I will owe Angie some payment for the good publicity <grin>.  After packet pick up  it was off to VietQ Grill to meet Marcy, Lisa and Lisa's daughter for supper and great conversation. 

As per our usual athlete ethic, we were in bed by 10 and up at 4:30 AM so we could hit Starbucks for skinny lattes and be at the race venue by 5:45 AM.  We even got to park in the parking lot and had no problem getting everything set up in transition.  The body marking and race organization were great.  The event was held at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center and was set up as a reverse sprint triathlon.  We started with the run and went off in waves separated by three minutes.  Marcy and I were in the first wave.  The course is the same as the Patriot Triathlon and we start of going uphill and then we go off the paved path and go into the desert and run more uphill in the sand.  I don't really mind the sandy trail running because it is easier on my knees, but the sand is challenging.  I did love the downhill portions though, I felt so FAST.  My pace was nice for this run and while it was not my best 5K time, it was not bad at 42:41. Last year when I did the Patriot Triathlon on the same route my time was 52:53, so that is a 10 minute improvement.  Of course in the Patriot the run comes at the end, so a direct comparison is not very fair. 

T1 was great, as always in a reverse sprint, and then it was off on the bike for a great hilly 12 mile ride.  I passed so many people and it was hugely rewarding.  I got to say, "On your left" to so many people.  There were a number of folks who had not done triathlons before, so there were some folks who didn't know basic things like not riding two abreast or not to pass when someone is already passing someone.  Since I am a fairly aggressive cyclist, I paid close attention to everyone else and did really well and was extremely happy with my bike split time of 43:15.  The bike route does not compare to Patriot's route, but Chili Harvest has a 12 mile bike route and is much less hilly and it took me 45:45, so I am happy.  I should be happy because I am really sore today, so my legs worked hard yesterday.

T2 went really fast too since it is just a matter of stripping excess items off and running to the pool.  I did forget to take my inhaler out of my short pocket, and lost in the pool.  The pool was a bit of a battle zone.  I did a combination of backstroke and breaststroke and my time was 14:08, again an improvement and I passed some folks in the pool, and that is a novel experience for me.  I am still a super poor swimmer and I am freaking out the closer we get to Elephant Man.  That mile swim at Elephant Butte is making me tense, but I will just plug away because I know that I am a good plug away person.  Frankly, the kayak people are always great about shadowing the last person in the water, and since I have LOTS of experience being that person, it will be okay.  That is the positive self-talk I am using every time I begin screaming in my head anyway.

Overall, my time was 1:43:53 and that is 10 minutes faster than the similar distanced race in Socorro held just a few weeks ago.  I was 202 out of 265, so that means I can in ahead of 63 other competitors, and that is the most people I've come in ahead of in any triathlon.  Dance of joy moment!   We all got great necklaces as we finished.   My triathlon friend Paula gave me this really cool (operative word) neck bandana that I can use when I do the Yucca Triathlon and Elephant Man.  It has gel crystals in it and it will help me not to get overheated.

Next up on the fun list:

• Hearts on Fire Youth Retreat with our FCA students on Sunday/Monday of Labor Day weekend
• Yucca Triathlon at White Sands on 9/10.  This will be a different distance because it is a 7K run, a 45K bike, and a 400M swim.  After the triathlon I'll head to Las Cruces and spend the rest of the weekend with our daughter and son-in-law.  It will be great to see our friends in Las Cruces at the church there too. 
• Cotton County Triathlon at Levelland on 9/17.  I will drive over to Clovis and ride to Levelland with some of the Clovis triathletes.  They tell me that this is a great triathlon, and I am looking forward to it and have never done this one before.
• Elephant Man at Elephant Butte on 9/25.  This is an Olympic distance race, so that means a 1 mile swim, 26 mile bike, and 10K run.  At the recent clinic they told the attendees to power walk the first mile in the sand up the hill on the run rather than to try to run it, and then when we get to the paved road surface we can start running.  So glad they gave me permission to walk, giggle.  Heat can be an issue for the slow pokes like me.  Now the good news for me this year is that they are also having a 1/2 iron distance race, so my finishing time will be about the time that the finishers of the 1/2 iron distance folks are finishing--- yeah, I am truly that slow.  Oh well, it will be my race and it will be in my time. 

School has started, and I am so glad.  We are having a great time with the kids back on the campus.  My schedule of races is set up around the schedule of games, so there are relatively few conflicts.  Some of the triathlons are even set BECAUSE of the game schedule.  For example, the Yucca Triathlon follows a game at Capitan on the 9th, so I can drive to Alamogordo after the game and spend the night there and then be up at 4:15 the next morning so I can be at the White Sands gate by 5 AM for entrance to the base for the triathlon.  Training is early in the morning, and I'm logging lots of time in the weight room and have been getting in significant time on the elliptical or on the stationery bike.  For long runs I've been going out on the weekends that I don't race and leave the van parked at the top of seven mile hill and then I run home.  Later I have Les drive me out to pick up the van.  It always amazes me how far it seems when we drive out there.  It never seems that far when I am running, but when we drive, it seems like a long way.  That always seems like it should be reversed. 

October will bring a duathlon at Santa Rosa, the Candy Land Triathlon in Albuquerque, and the Duke City Marathon, so it has some fun ahead too.

Living Well, Loving More, and DEFINITELY Tring Harder,
Patricia

Chili Harvest Triathlon--> August 6, 2011

Oh, this was as GREAT triathlon in Socorro.  I had so much fun and improved my time by 12 minutes over last year.  I have to do the celebration part right at the beginning.  Three years ago I was the last person to finish this triathlon by 30 seconds.  It took me 2 hours and 24 minutes and 34 seconds to do this course that year.  This year it took me 1 hour and 53 minutes, so I've cut 31 minutes off my overall time in those three years.  It feels so great. My swim time was pitiful at 15 minutes and my run as sadly slow at 47 minutes (I'm not sure why either), but I was thrilled with the bike time of 45 minutes.   I finished the race ahead of seven people and was 8th in the Athena division.

Details of the Race

There was really no incentive to do packet pick-up on Friday evening or to come particularly early on Saturday since racking in transition was assigned.  Transition opened at 5:30, so I had a wake-up call for 5:00 and was at McDonald's for a big coffee and an egg McMuffin (no disgusting cheese with a 'z').  I toss half the muffin away and it is "just right" as Goldilocks would say.  There has been such a lot of dialog on some of the web blogs about the evils of caffeine in endurance events, with the recommendation that athletes limit themselves to only 200 mg of caffeine before competition or long training events.  I have decided that this is based on spurious and anecdotal evidence. Bring on the caffeine. Evidently they have three national cases of marathoners that had cardiac incidents in the last few miles of a marathon that they were able to revive.  All three had significant caffeine intake. There have been numerous others who have not been revived and they were not able to determine caffeine intake or any other reason for the cardiac incident.  I have determined that three is a mighty small number for this sort of recommendation, just my opinion and if you die, well I will be sad. Ranting will now cease. 

Well, even though assigned racking usually makes me want to growl a bit, I got a spot I liked just fine on the end of a rack and I was a happy triathlete.  I was able to hook up with some of the Outlaws and that was great fun and then the Oxfords from Las Cruces were all racing too, as were a whole host of folks from the Las Cruces triathlon scene, so it was fun visiting around prior to the race.  We lined up based on our pre-entered swim time.  I turned in 15 minutes, but ended up with people who turned in 12 and ahead of people who turned in 10, so I don't understand how that worked out.  I can tell you that the pool ended up being okay.  I had to do the back broadstroke most of the way, and so I hugged the lane line and stayed out of the way so folks could pass easily, so it was not a huge issue.

Once I was off on the bike, I was a passing maniac.  I LOVE the bike portion of the triathlon.  I may need to sign up for some bike races.  They'd paved some portions of the road recently and Grace (my bike) and I fairly flew along the way.  It was a dream bike ride.  Right after I made the turn on the way towards the first turnaround I was passed by a 12 year old boy.  My first thought was, "What!  How can that happen?  I'm having a great ride and no 12 year old boy can pass ME, no today."  Well, I calmed myself and reminded myself that I was doing my race, not his race, and that he was not my competition anyway...... chattering monkeys in my head continued to converse.  Well, he slowed down, so I had to say, "On your left," and pass him.  He could not stand it, and he immediately passed me.  I guess he had his own chattering monkeys in his head telling him that the 52 year old woman (ages on our legs in triathlon) could not pass HIM.  He almost immediately slowed though, and  I am really good at maintaining a consistent cadence, so I knew I needed o pass him back; yeah, you can see where this is going, can't you?  Anyway, we were close to the first turnaround, and that is a poor place to pass, so I hung back until we finished the turn, and then it was a slight downhill.  Well, my "superior mass" (shall we say weight) meant that gravity was certainly my friend and I blew past him.  After the next turn though, I knew he would have his chance because there was a long uphill and he would almost certainly pass me.  All along the way I was passing a good number of people.  The bike was good to me and  made great time.  Going up the hill my 12 year old nemesis did pass me, but that was okay because after the last turnaround, I passed him and he stayed passed.  It was 30-35 mph all the way back to transition and it was AWESOME.  I love the bike portion of this triathlon.

Okay, the run was not hideously hot, so I  have no explanation for my slowpoke time. I like the route, we get to run on an irrigation ditch for part of the way and that feels good on my legs, so I can't really tell you why it was slow.  No asthma issues, so it was just me having no gas and no go.  It was only 2 minutes faster than last year and I should have been 45 minutes or faster this year.  If it had been really hot...... oh well, it is done.  I just hated being passed by EVERYONE that I passed on the bike.  That made me sad to lose the lead I built up. Grady Oxford got second in his age group, Jeffery got 4th in his, and Marcy got 4th in hers, and the NM Outlaws were second in the team division.  

F1 Triathlon was cancelled this weekend because the fish have died in Bottomless Lake.  Mary was mocking me and said she is surprised they didn't just say, "Hey, this is an endurance sport, keep your mouth closed."  Evidently the Health Department takes a dim view on people swimming in decaying fish.  That makes the next event the Live, Love Tri at Rio Rancho, NM on August 27th.  After that I've got a 1/2 marathon in Roswell, NM on Sept. 5th and three triathlons in Sept., so the season is rolling along well into the fall.

Tri-ing Harder Every Day,
Patricia