T-minus 14 days

It took me a while to write this. One of the things about the Endurance Community, regardless of running, swimming, biking, tri-ing, we are a big (dysfunctional) family. We encourage each other, we motivate each other, we inspire one another to continue on-even when tired, willing to give up, etc. As of today, I am officially 2 weeks away from the start of Ironman Arizona (tapering SUCKS). This will be my third time starting but will be my second time finishing. I have put it out in the Universe so it must be true. So, what’s different you may ask? I’m not stressed out about the race itself. Surprised? I know I am but I’m not worried about it. I have a lot of other things going on in my life that has me stressed. The past 3 months, I’m not going to lie about it,  have been very challenging for me personally and professionally. Those who know me know what’s going on. When I’m stressed, upset, pissed off, angry, sad, mad, happy-I work out. When I say work out, I mean I work out EXCESSIVELY. I don’t eat my emotions, I work them out which is not a good thing because I end up forgetting to eat and then a day or two late, I realize I haven’t eaten. See, I get a little tunnel vision when it comes to following my training plan. I get uber disciplined like a military sniper (or assassin) and get to work. It’s the one thing that has held me together in addition to my friends, training partners, co-workers and you know who you are because you are effing AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

This has been a completely different journey than in years past. I don’t know what changed but something in my mind snapped. Maybe it was the encouragement from other athletes that I look up to who have seen good things that I don’t see since I am overly critical of myself. Maybe it was going to track practices and finally tapping into that sprinter gene that my family is known for. Or maybe I’m getting better. That’s it...I think.

I’ve had some interesting training days/races that I used as a training barometer.

• ITU was fun except I ended up in the Emergency Room (severe dehydration-won’t make that mistake again)
• Rock n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon was just me having fun wearing purple and chitchatting the whole entire run with 5 Ironman athletes. I learned with that one I could have pushed the pace a little more but it was a training run but also I need to take in more salt than a normal person since I am a salty sweater.
• Chicago Marathon was just me in the role of coach jumping in and out of the course helping out my athletes and friends and random strangers along the way. I realized then and there that I could pace anywhere from a 9:30min/mile to an 11:30min/mile pace and still hold a conversation while looking fierce wearing a pink tutu.
• The Thursday in track practice where I was hitting an average of 4:30 on 9 or 10 sets of 800s. What the what???
• Going to Thursday morning CompuTrainer classes and having Ed push me more and more each week.
• Doing Thursday night CompuTrainer while watching some of Grey’s Anatomy and all of Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder (this show is the SH!T).

It’s been a journey, none the less. Do I have a time in mind? Yes. I do but I’m not going to say what it is. I have a worst case, best case and ideal case scenario. All is dependent on my migraines. They have been getting worse and I am at a loss. Some of it is stress induced. Okay, maybe 76% of the time it is. The rest, weather, smells, sounds, lights, yadda, yadda, yadda. So, I’m going to do my best, smile on the course, make friends and enjoy the race. It’s not my first rodeo nor will it be my last. Come next season, look out Cozumel. I’m gunning for ya! Now, back to work.

It's not about the distance, it's about the community

For those of you who don't know, I'm a music junkie (my B.A. is in music). This past weekend was the peak culmination of marathon training-the 20 miler. Now what does this have to do with music? Well, this particular line in one of my favorite hip hop songs will explain it all:

"One fly tune, that have black and white vibe in one room; No confrontation, parlay all night; It's just the sensation."

This line is from "Music" by Erick Sermon which samples Marvin Gaye's , "Turn on Some Music". Now what does a 20 mile run and this song have in common? Music and athletics brings everyone together. The 20 mile run this past weekend brought everyone together up and down the lakefront path. No matter race, gender, orientation, economic status, sports brings people together, just like music. It's a community, a crazy endurance community at that.

I've been blessed to be a part of the endurance community regardless of it being swimming, running, biking, triathloning (that is a word). Its this community that inspires me and leads me to inspire others. I know that I'm a social butterfly but I would have never met so many amazing, truly amazing people without being in this community. Well, maybe not-I am in the Fitness Industry. : P

I've learned so much, hung out with some awesomely cool people, discovered new things (last year was my first time ever having Nutella) and got out of my comfort zone. So embrace the community, it's really not about the distance. Get off the couch and either walk, run, swim, bike or dance your way to new friendships...

That's it until next time...54 days and counting til IMAZ 2014!

Failure is not an option-just keep TRIing!

“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” – Johnny Cash

It's been a trying couple of weeks filled with a lot of self doubt. Only a few of you who know me very well know what is going on, but I appreciate the friends that I have because they are just absolutely amazing in every sense of the word. Let me clarify a little for you...it's not my training for Ironman Arizona that I have doubts about. I feel surprisingly calm about it even if my bike is not the right size, that I don't have the latest and greatest of electronic gadgetry and I can go on and on. Most of the self doubt is outside of my own individual training and coaching/teaching/training. 

I have been dealt with some very real challenges that is really playing a number with me. When I am out on a run, swimming in the pool or even in CompuTrainer, I can disregard everything and focus on the activity at hand. Perfect example is last week in CompuTrainer, I was by my lonesome because everyone else was getting ready for IMOO (Ironman Wisconsin). It was threshold testing time. I went from 151 Watts to 171 Watts!!!! It did help that I was listening to Metallica to get me there. 

I feel as if I am on track with my training with the addition this year of track workouts (I hate speedwork) but add that to Pilates training, I'm reaping the benefits. I'm not going to say what I my goal is for this year, but let's just say that I am happy with my progress (even if my schedule is very dysfunctional). The only thing I need to do is to transfer all of this into the rest of my life and close the door on all of this self-doubt and just look ahead. It might mean some changes down the road but I do not know that as of yet. I need to just keep TRIing! Just keep doing for myself what I do for my athletes and clients. Then just maybe, just maybe things will have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

The countdown and the saga continues...

60 miles + 4 miles: What's going on?

A little over a week and a half ago, I received some news that was not so good. I could have just shrunk like a violet or rise to the occasion. In this case, I rose like a Phoenix rising from the ashes-cue:X-Men comics. What did I do? I ran and swam and ran some more. When all was said and done, I had did damn near 60 miles of running and 4 miles of running in a week-its what I do when I am upset, mad, stressed, have something on my mind, trying to find a solution to a problem, etc. (Hey, it's a whole lot better than punching a brick wall.) On top of that, I started creating workouts in CompuTrainer and some swim workouts (not for the faint of heart).  It's a way for me to figure things out. But one thing that I have figured out is that I am happy I have fitness as a way to work out my problems (also train for Ironman Arizona). As in any long course endurance training, you will have hiccups and bumps down the road, but don't let it deter you from your ultimate mission. For me, it's crossing the finish line but there are some other things as well that I can go on and on about, but will not. Don't let a hiccup stop you from succeeding.

Peace, Love and Soul! 

A tale of 2 Saturday training runs and a Rock n' Roll

So, this blog post is about running today. I apologize on how long it is. So, let’s talk about 2 of my training runs and then the Chicago Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon that I did (it was just a training day).

On July 5th, I was suppose to fill in for one of our marathon run sites due to a lot of coaches being out for the 4th of July. I only had maybe an hour or 2 of sleep due to everyone shooting off their illegal fireworks. I finally went to sleep around 4:30am and then wake up at 5:30am to get out the door by 6:15am to get to the gym before 7am. I got there right before the club opened and prepared everything for our 8 mile run. I get there and lo and behold, one of our coaches showed up. He indicated that he had everything and I should go home because I looked exhausted, but if I could do the warmup , that would be great. So we did our half mile warmup run to the lakefront (with my big ass backpack on my back) and proceeded with our dynamic running exercises before they left. I went home to actually get some sleep. By the time I made it to my apartment, I got my second wind. I changed tops, filled up my hydration belt and headed out the door for an 8 mile run into Evanston and back.

It was warm when I started, but so what. I started running North and was in my little groove but this is what happens while I run by myself. “Is my running skirt too short? Oh, my butt’s way too big for this shirt. Ooh, a whistle. The skirt is not too short. Ooh, here comes a runner. Am I looking strong or defeated? Oh, I’m a strong runner! Let me do the head nod as acknowledging him. Ooh, he’s cute but sloppy running form. It’s only 3.5 miles…..uggghhhh….it’s hot.” As you can see, I keep myself thoroughly entertained. It was a peaceful run along the lakefront although it was hot and humid. I even ran through a private gated community, saw a bootcamp class going on, a few people swimming in the lake and a couple of rabbits and squirrels. On my turn around back, I ended up speeding up because a raccoon scared the living daylights out of me. They’re cute and evil at the same time. By time I made it back to my place, I was a hot, salty, sweaty mess. 8 miles with an average of an 11 min/mile pace. Not bad with it being hot and humid.

Now on to training run #2: Just 1 week later, I filled in for 2 of our coaches at another location. The forecast called for passing storms. Cool, I can deal with this. While riding the bus to the gym, the skies decided to open up. No problem, we will just delay the start by a bit. No biggie, it might rain on race day. I get to the club, get everything prepared including making the Gatorade (oh, yummy) and gathered all of our runners to the group exercise studio to start our dynamic warmup exercises, listen to a speaker and explained the route. We then proceeded to head out the door. It was only drizzling-no more rain….stop the brakes, it opened on us. What did we do? We ran. I usually lead the rear because I just do. There was a lot of foul language coming from everyone, rain pouring down with everyone trying to dodge puddles. It got to the point where I had everyone go single file. You know that the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line. Our shoes were already wet, a moot point. I can truly say that every group that was out there running were probably thinking, “This is nuts!” There were times that the rain started, stop, thought about it, downpoured, repeat. But you know what, it was wonderful except I have to wear glasses at ALL TIMES (read: I’m blind as a friggin’ bat!). I really wanted my goggles but I can’t see out of those either. However coming back on the lakefront path, I forgot one key thing: The underpass was FLOODED! Yep, we ran through it. The water on me was mid-calf deep. I figured, I was wetter than Lake Michigan and this would be excellent training for the Steeplechase event (umm, no). I was never so happy to be in a scalding hot shower in my life and my Brooks running shoes (Pure Cadence) survived another run.

Now, on to the Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon Chicago on Sunday, July 20th. I treated this race as a training run. As you know, I’m racing LifeTime Fitness Half Iron Distance race in October and Ironman Arizona (again) in November so this is just training. I decided that I was going to have some fun on this course. I, of course, always think of my outfits beforehand. I was completely decked out in PURPLE! Purple running shoes, purple compression sleeves, a black running skirt with a purple tutu over it, a purple top and my purple road ID! Hey, I need to feel good, look good for my photos and have fun.

The weather was overcast which made me happy but a tad bit warm. While waiting in my corral to start, a guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked if my tattoo was indeed an M-Dot. It sure is. We chit chatted about it since he was a tattoo artist. He was running with a lot of his friends who were seriously trash talking. This trash talking was worse than watching an NFL game. So, while waiting, a friend of mine tapped my shoulder. The purple tutu helped to identify me since my signature afro was hidden under a baseball cap-don’t ask how I was able to conceal it. About 15 minutes after the start of the race, my wave finally went off. The longest wait EVER! No, not really but it was still annoying all the same.

And we're off. There's something about running that just makes me so happy. Seeing the multitude of runners in front is just freaking AMAZING! So, back to this training run. I was in my little groove and around mile 3, a guy yelled, "Hey you! In the purple tutu, is that an M-Dot tutu?" I turned around and said, "Yeah." I ended up speaking with him and 4 other Ironman athletes for another 4 miles. We are just chit chatting and running. Meanwhile, there were runners looking at us and trying to figure out how we are running and talking at the same time. It's a training run PEOPLE! Now, we were weaving in and out of the Loop due to all of the construction going on in Chicago. I ended up leaving the guys because I had to find a restroom (aka Portapotty). I get back on the course and I started to pick up the pace because someone was playing "Talk Dirty To Me"-the remix. I don't like the song but the beat was really helping me out. At this point, we are on Michigan Avenue going South. I was like, "YES! Finally no more weaving and bobbing throughout the Loop. Around 24th and Michigan, there were the Japanese drummers. Something about the beat of the drums can get you moving. I knew at this point that we had another mile or so before we turned on 31st Street and head back Downtown! As we are heading towards 31st Street, I saw a friend of mine who I had not seen in about 5 years so I did something that you should never do in a race. The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line. What did I do? I went at a complete diagonal to go to my friend and give him a hug. (Don't do that people!).

Now we are at 31st Street running East. Yes! We are almost done...NOT! At this point, they were starting to hand out Gu (It's a gel). They had Salted Watermelon. Oh God, that stuff is gross which is why I bring my own eGels. Thank you cranksports.com! So, I took my gel and some water and kept going. I see the Lakefront and I think that we are heading back downtown. I read the map wrong. We had to go to 3500 South THEN turn North on the lakefront path. I was not to happy with this but when we hit mile 10, there was a DJ and he was playing some music with a serious base line to it. It helped. A little ways down, not only was there an aid station with water and Gatorade, but cold sponges! Oh, I thanked the volunteer. I almost kissed him because I am usually a hot, salty, sweaty mess when I do any long endurance anything. I wiped myself down and continued on. At this point, we are headed towards the underground passage way of McCormick Place. Umm, it was way too dark to the point that I had to flip the shades of my sunglasses in order to see and not trip over anyone. In particular, the two guys in front of me who were HOT!!!

We get out of the tunnel and I know we are near Soldier Field now and I ran into 2 more friends. I'm still running at this moment but people were walking. I encouraged a few folks to keep it up, you look good, yadda-yadda-yadda. It worked for some but not others. I saw the finish line, but it just seemed so far away so I decided that at mile 12.5, I would pick up the pace. It was the common game called how many runners can you pick off before the finish. I counted over 135. I crossed the finish line, my friend Tina took a finish line photo of me, I took an official finish line photo, got my bananas, ice cold towel, water and walked towards our FFC Tent. It was so far, but I made it. Plopped down on the grass and chilled but then walked back to the club to shower and change. Walking back, I didn't feel sore at all. I felt great but tired because I had to wake up so early. After I showered and changed, I went home to take a nap. I felt remakably refreshed and ready to take on the world or at least a Monday.

That day was a good day!

It is only a training day...ITU Chicago race report

On Sunday, June 29th, I raced ITU Chicago Olympic distance Triathlon. So, what's an Olympic Distance Triathlon? It's a 1.5K swim (1 mile), 40K bike (24.8 miles) and 10K run (6.2 miles). This was my first venture at this distance and I had no real expectations. I was treating this as a training day. Leading into it, I had a feeling that it would be hotter than all hell, and it was! With a start time of 10am, we were going to be in the heat of things.

A lot of things were still up in the air in regards to the venue, race logistics, etc. The one thing that I think floored everyone during the course talk on Friday evening was that we were not able to have our bags in transition. Bags were to be checked into gear check in a clear plastic bag due to security issues. Hold up! Gear check is only in road races. Whatever! I was ok with this since we had a tent. I felt ok at the time about the swim, bike (4 laps) and run (3.5 laps). I like to count. They also indicated that there would be a special needs table at swim exit for glasses, inhalers and insulin pumps. This will only be a training day.

One of the things before racing is that I realized that a lot of my athletes have never seen me race. I'm always on the sidelines coaching. But even while racing, I find myself coaching or giving words of encouragement.

RACE DAY
I woke up at buttcrackassofdawn 2am to get on the train by 3:15am to get to transition by 4:15am'ish. Transition was open from 4-5:45am for Olympic Distance athletes. There is never a dull moment when I ride the CTA Red Line, especially that early in the morning. The car I stepped in was full of folks going to work. So I popped open my Kindle and read. We got to the Addison station and a group of loud, drunk ass girls boarded. Within 10 minutes, one threw up. At the next stop (Belmont), a woman got on, looked in her purse and pulled out a roll of toilet paper. Who does that? Only in Chicago.

Well, anyhoo, I get off the train at Harrison and make the walk (long ass walk) to transition. It's funny when you are walking in downtown Chicago at odarkthirty and there are people STILL in the bars. Really people? I get to transition to get body marked where I run into my favorite hippie, Jacob. He has coffee, I have a gallon of water, the universe is in order. While setting up my transition, it starts to rain....AGAIN!!!!  So what do I do along with my teammate Sally? We start singing Prince's "1999". What? You don't sing in transition. Oh, you poor souls, I digress...

We leave transition and we head to Buckingham Fountain where our tent is...or was suppose to be. Our tent kind of had a slight accident. Apparently it was partying too hard with the other tents in the rain and it broke in 2 pieces. My thought was, "Duct tape. It solves everything!" WRONG!!!!!! My partner in crime in all things endurance had to pick up our boss who was also racing, go to our Corporate office and get another tent. So, we created FRANKENTENT! Since we did not have to go off until 10am (the race started at 6am), I just sat around and ate and drank and stretched and chilled as best as possible.

GROUP PICTURE TIME
So we all got together to do our prerequisite class, I mean team photo. OK. I'm ready. After pictures, I was on sunscreen duty...basically spraying everyone assembly style, including my girl Emily hair part and all my bald fellas. I did good deed #1: I gave a girl my spare pair of goggles for her very first Sprint Distance triathlon. Good Karma comes back!

SWIM START
By this time, it is hot as F$%&! I had my wetsuit partly on, walking over to see the other competitors. I ended up getting called by a friend of mine to see if I could help her with her wetsuit: I did the best that I could but her wetsuit had seen its last days. But, I did another good deed. The wave before me, I helped a guy with his wetsuit. Did I mention he was a hot cutie young thing? I digress again...

Now at this same time, my vision is getting worse. I lost vision (temporarily) in my right eye. I was having an occular migraine and this has NEVER  happened. It was freaking me out. On top of that, I put my phone in my sports bra because I needed them after the swim. It was time for us to jump in the water and I sat until it was almost time. I have to get in my calm place before race day, but that was not the case. Once I jumped in, I could only see with my left eye only and I couldn't see the buoys. Panic set in! Holy F$%&!!!! The air gun went off and I couldn't calm down. I couldn't fucking see! I had to breathe to my left-I can but it is not pretty. I got on my back to get my breathing under control but then settled down when I heard my friends Fred, Becky and KD encouraging me on. Quitting was never an option. One of the things that I will say is that there was not enough buoys (large ones) AT ALL!!! I kept swimming one stroke at a time singing in my head, "Girls & Boys" by Prince and the Revolution over and over again. Finally, I was out of that damn lake! I really love swimming though, so this sucked monkey balls! Finally got out of the water, stripped my wetsuit halfway down and took my glasses out of my boobs. Hey, they were secured!
Time:  52:46 seconds
Feeling: Defeated and NOT HAPPY!

TRANSITION TO BIKE
That was the longest ass transition EVER!!!!!! Can they improve that? I finally got to Beeker, my bike. Took off my wetsuit and quickly got to my helmet, sunglasses and cycling shoes and took off. This bike course was a 4 loop course up Columbus drive, down lower Wacker Drive and back again and again and again. Did I tell you how much I hate to bike? Yeah, I do. It was hot and I took the first loop conservatively! I had so many people cheering me on which gave me some confidence. As soon as we hit lower Wacker Drive, it was game on! OH.MY.GOD! That course was FAST I tell you. It was FUN! I will never say that again. But every time you came back onto Columbus, it was hot ass Hell! But I was hydrating with water, eFuel (cranksports.com) mixed with base amino (baseperformance.com). The second loop, I started to get confident. I picked up a little speed. The third loop, more speed. The final loop, 30 km/hour. What the hell>?????? I don't go that fast. Hot damn! But unfortunately somewhere between lap 2 and 4, I lost feeling in my hands. I think it was due to gripping my handlebars too hard.
Time: Loop 1: 22min 22secs; Loop2: 21min 13secs; Loop 3: 21 min 10secs; Loop 4: 21min 12secs: TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 25 minutes 58 seconds
Transition 1: 8 min 15 secs
Transition 2: 6 min 45 secs

TRANSITION TO RUN
So I dismounted my bike (without falling y'all) and ran, well actually a slow jog, no..it was more like a slow pathetic trot with my bike back to transition. Have you ever tried to run in cycling shoes? Oh, it sucks. By this time, it was gradually getting hotter. I finally made it back to my spot on the rack and changed to my running shoes (Hello Newton Gravity's in...PINK newtonrunning.com), hydration belt and Visor. My whole thinking on the run was to NOT WALK! Even though it was hot, I was not going to walk. One of the things that I noticed on this 3 1/2 lap run was that it was not shady. Sun, sun and sun. Oh boy! So, I'm running and I'm singing in my head "Controversy. Oh yeah, I had to dig deep. I was seeing so many people that I knew on the run and in the crowds. It made me so happy even though I was in the pain cave and I know some of them were too. Deep in the pain cave and running with a blister on my foot. Never, ever happened in my life but it was due to having water doused on me. It was that damn hot. Did I say how hot it was. On my last lap, I went straight game face. Some of y'all have seen this look on me. Fierce determination, no expression or as my best friend have told me, "You look like you're gonna take someone out." I started to pick up the pace and just went for it. I crossed the finish line in 3:49:55. Not bad. I'll take it.
Run time: 1:16:13

THE AFTERSHOW
I really wanted to pass out at the finish line. My friends Shelley and Cristina were at the finish line taking pictures. I walked through the finish line but was not really feeling great but convinced myself that I was ok. I somehow made it to the tent and felt like SH&*. Thank you to my hippie Jacob, my girl Jenn S. (a lot of my friends are named Jennifer of some sort) and Perla for looking out for me, because I am stubborn and hard headed. Instead of going home, I stayed at the race to see the Men's pro race but also to sit in more sun (read: Joy is a dumbass when racing) and helped to break down our tent (read: I'm too responsible and I should have taken my ass home). I finally left to make it to the Harrison "L" stop. Bikes were not to ride on the trains due to Pride parade. I'm sorry, Pride parade ended at 3pm. It was 6:45pm at this point (do the math on how long I was up). I was going to put my bike on the train. Yep, I made it by lifting my bike up and over the turnstyle (oh, sooooo classy). I made it to FFC Lincoln Park to drop off my bike and shower/change in a span of 12 minutes flat.. Since I was hungry, I went to That Little Mexican Cafe down the street from my place and ate. I was eating a recovery meal (black bean and goat cheese empanadas, chips and salsa, chicken tacos, water, water, water and a margarita-it has salt in it!). After that, I finally went home. This is now 9:30pm. I fed my cat, dumped my bag and crashed.

Around 1ish, I called my friend (AKA ex whose dad is an emergency room doctor) and went to the emergency room. Well friends, I was SEVERELY DEHYDRATED. 3 IV bags later, I was feeling somewhat normal. No, not really. I had to get the speech on dehydration and racing in the heat. Oh yeah, I got reamed but it was good. I have an appointment next week with an opthamologist (boo!) since My ex's father was concerned about my vision. He did ask about Ironman, which I told him all about and asked about what happened with me and his son (sorry, none of your business). I finally went home at around 4ish and ended up going into work a few hours later. Yes, I was a hot mess wreck, but hey I did it.

TAKEAWAYS

1. Hydrate
2. Try to take it easy leading up to a race. Don't work an expo for 3 days
3. Still have tons of fun
4. Listen to your body
5. Stop being stubborn

So, it was just a training day. That is all. Until next time....

5 Days: This is only a test...

It's been a while. In 5 days I race in ITU Chicago. Am I worried? To be quite honest...not really. It's a training day, except that pothole that is on the bike course which is when we come back onto Columbus Drive for the first of 4 loops on the Olympic distance, oh and the potential heatwave (Thank you Mother Nature...not). To be real, I have so much on my plate now that I'm lucky that I know the day of the week.

So, what have I been up to? Well, you know the usual: Teaching, training, coaching, working out, dealing with a lot of my own personal annoyances, working out some more, drinking copious amounts coffee...you know, the usual. The not so usual: well I became a USATF (USA Track & Field) Level 1 Certified Coach and a USAT (USA Triathlon) Level 1 Certified Coach. Getting back on track....

Now as I reflect on racing this weekend (not including the clients that I am coaching, my athletes that I am training, my Pilates Clients that I am training), I'm using this as a training day. I'm in a very competitive age group (go figure, but the men have it worse) and I'm just seeing how thing are going to pan out. I have a race plan in effect (A, B and C), I can still fit in my wetsuit and I'm just going to have fun. Anyhoo, I have IMAZ in November.

I have used all of my workouts as my stress reliever. See, I don't eat when I am stressed, upset or anxious. I work out. Sometimes, a little too much. Today, for instance-I had a very bad case of insomnia. What did I do about it? I ran 10 miles before I did some work before I had my last performance review. Did I forget to say that the run happened at 3am and that I am a Fitness Professional? Yeah. I have a fitness problem, but I'm looking at Sunday's race as cheering on my friends who are racing, having fun with my teammates, cheering random folks on and making more friends. What? You don't make friends when you race? Shame on you. But, I also get to work the expo and network.Who wouldn't want to work in at an outdoor expo by Buckingham Fountain.

So bring on the sunshine, humidity and race day. Hey, if you aren't doing anything on Sunday, come to Grant Park in Chicago and check out ITU Chicago. You might be inspired to do something EXTRAORDINARY. I'm going to sign off so I can go home to do laundry (the struggle is real y'all).

I will let you know how Sunday goes.

Peace out to you and you and yours! Later!