Busy Busy

Life has been so busy lately, and my blogging has suffered because of it. I need to work on that. What's one more thing anyways, right? Work has picked up at MBF, which is exciting and we have some great projects right now! I'm still coaching with CU Triathlon a few times a week, trying to get USA Swimming certified and possibly USA Triathlon as well, I'm helping out D3 Mulitsport with some various projects, still trying to plan a wedding for June, and starting to ramp up the training volume again-Yipee!

I'm realizing that my big race is a mere 4 months away and while that is more than enough time to get myself ready for a half ironman, I want to kill it and be in the best shape of my life for that race so I definitely have my work cut out for me.

The house is coming along and we are loving having our first place together. Problem is... there is ALWAYS something to buy! I'm not allowed to go to Target by myself anymore! Or Pottery Barn, or Dillards, or Overstock.com, or pretty much anywhere for that matter :) We are eager to sell Kevin's house in Colorado Springs as well. We are currently renting it but considering listing it here soon so a new home owner might buy it and take advantage of the tax credits before they are gone. Fingers crossed it goes as well as everything else is going right now!

The wedding is also coming along. There isn't much to do right at this moment but when I think about how much there will be to do the last 4-6 weeks I get a bit overwhelmed. I did get my dress back from the seamstress today and I love it even more than the day I bought it! My parents and Kevin's mom are coming out the first weekend of March and we have a list of wedding activities planned, the major one being...assemble the invitations. My SIL made them and they rock! However, they require a bit of assembly which will take a team to do in a timely manor.

We are looking at the last weekend in February for a little get together at the new casa so if you're around, please come by. Details to come!

I think I found it....

My MOTIVATION that is! Man, it's been missing for a while and although I've searched for it for weeks it just didn't want to show itself. This week I think I finally found it again and am so thankful.

Last year was such a long year for me. I started Jan 1st with a marathon program of 70-80 mile weeks and I literally didn't give myself a break until November 8th, after Ironman Florida. I was tired, mentally & physically, and I was simply burnt out. Post Ironman usually brings a bit of depression with it but not for me last year. I was loving November and December. It was the holidays, we were traveling, and I was just enjoying doing whatever the hell I wanted. I was thinking 2 months of that and I'd be fired up to go again come January 2010. Nope! January came and went and I still didn't have much to give. Although I've stayed active all winter and actually maintained my weight since Ironman (which was kind of shocking!) I was just doing what I wanted each day... I didn't track a single workout in my log, I hardly wore a watch when I ran, I didn't count my meters in the pool, NOTHING! I think halfway through January the Ironman depression caught up with me. Maybe it wasn't IM depression as much as winter depression. I wasn't bumming IM was over like usual but I was bummed I didn't have the same drive as I did last year at this time. I was lucky to get in 20 miles a week, swim once, and maybe log 5-6 hours total. This time last year I was logging 70+ miles a week, swimming 10k a week, and totaling closer to 18 hours of training, in Jan & Feb (yep, I was crazy). I have a love hate relationship with my training logs because it's really nice to look back and see what I was doing this time last year but it's also not so fun to look back and see what I was doing this time last year and feeling so far behind :)

I was originally planning a spring marathon to kick start my year since it worked wonders for my running last year but January came and went and I just didn't have the fire to start training seriously yet. With the purchase of our house, the icky weather, my back bugging me, etc...I decided to listen to my body and mind and just let it dictate when I was ready. My runs had felt slow and it was all I could do sometimes to even get a workout in.

Finally, this week I feel like I bridged that gap a bit. I ran every day and had 2 solid speed runs and the speed is finally coming back. Last year, even my fast runs felt effortless. The rhythm was there and it felt smooth. I feel like I'm clomping along still but at least I'm cranking out some faster splits. The rhythm will come back with more miles. I did some repeats this week and was able to hold a solid 6:35 pace for a bit, faster than I was running this time last year. After 3 solid runs this week and a long run today (my longest since Ironman) I finally feel like I'm getting the desire to pick it up again and I'm getting excited about the races I've picked and racing with the Trisports.com team.

I've known for a while what my race schedule would be for 2010 (with a few TBD) so I know I still have time. Although, unlike last year, my A race this year is in June not November. I'm thankful it's only half ironman rather than a full. Training for a half doesn't require as much time so even with a bit of a "late" start, I know I have the time to prepare. Instead of a full marathon this spring I'm going to do the longer training but race halfs instead. I don't want to trash my legs in a full marathon in May with Lubbock 1 month later. I need to work on the speed component for a half marathon. I'll start with the Colorado Half and I'm hoping to break my PR of 1:39. It shouldn't be too tough since it's a down hill race. I would love to crack 1:30 and then try for 1:35-1:40 in Lubbock. This year will be interesting in my running. I always seem to run better off the bike in a triathlon than I do in pure running races. Hell, if I'm going to try for Boston, why not just do it in an Ironman marathon instead? Sounds better to me anyway, pure marathons hurt!

Here is a glimpse of what I have planned for 2010. A few post-June are up in the air and will be determined in Lubbock. I'm not sure if I'll do IM Canada if I don't qualify for Kona or stick with Half Ironman races instead, maybe Clearwater? We shall see how it all shakes out. Fingers are crossed for a slot to Kona (since it'll also be our honeymoon if we get it!!!!) but I will sure have my work cut out for me and I'm excited for the test! I hope it's a hot day down there on June 27, I love to race in the heat and love to watch everyone else melt! Muah ha ha ha!

May 9 Colorado Half Marathon

May 31 Bolder Boulder 10k

Jun-Aug Stroke & Stride Series (1500m swim/5k)

June 13 WEDDING

June 20 5420 Sprint

June 27 Lubbock 70.3 (To Determine Kona)

July 11 Boulder Peak Olympic

Aug 8 Boulder 70.3

Aug 20 IM Canada (If I don't get Kona and can still get in?)

Sept 11 Harvest Moon Half Ironman

Oct 10 KONA-IM World Championships (TBD)

Oct 17 Longhorn 70.3 (TBD)

Nov 14 Clearwater-Half Ironman World Champs (TBD)

I'm tired just thinking about. Better get going!

House Tour

Here are some pictures of the new house with some of our touches on it. We still have allot to do but it's starting to feel like ours and we absolutely love it, and so do the hounds...

Living Room. I love my orange couch (thanks Katie!) and we wanted to get it down in the basement to lounge on, except our stairwell is super narrow and the huge heavy sucker wouldn't make it. So, it's home is now in the front room with a comfy recliner. In hindsight I like it up here better, it's the focal point of the room. We weren't going to put a TV up here and use it more for reading but we changed our mind and hid one in the armoir. It's nice to have it on the main floor. There is a really cool fireplace/heater in the corner. It's attached to the thermostat so it goes on it off depending how you have it set. It puts out great heat which I love when sitting in that room. There is a great large window in here with views of the mountains to the west and lots of natural light filtering in! I'm anxious to get the blinds up though.

Kitchen/Dining. I also wasn't sure if my tall table and 6 chairs would fit in here but it did and we were able to put Kevin's bistro table downstairs and my glass table in the sunroom. My huge painting fit nicely on this wall as well. Not many places this sucker will fit!

Sunroom. AKA the dogs room. This room doesn't hold heat well but during the day when the sun is shining it's amazing. I can't wait for summer when we can open all the doors and windows and live in this space more often. We installed a dog door and the dogs are loving it. Lucy knows how to use a dog door but my guys never had. Teaching has been quite funny. Campi figured it pretty quick but Peanut still won't go on his own unless we hold it open a bit. We're working on it! Even peporoni bribes haven't worked too well for him :)

Hall Bath. Love the sink!

Guest Room/Office #1. This room is a spare upstairs which will one day (but not too soon) house a little one, I hope! For now, it's a spare guest room and a little office space for me. It was a hideous blue when we moved in and we painted it this calming green mint, I really love it!

Office #2. Don't have a pic of this room yet. This room was dark dark brown so we chose a light yellow and placed the desk in front of the window. A view of the Indian Peaks while you work? Doesn't get much better than that!

Master Bedroom/Bath. We loved the color in here. It's a deep rich yellow which matched our brown furniture and bedding perfectly. The bath is a bit small but it's really nice and it works for us. Besides, there is another one right outside in the hall so we can spread out if needed. All the rooms are a bit small but atleast we have 4 to grow into.

Basement. This is one of my favorite spots. It's huge. We splurged on a massive 46" TV and we are waiting on a swivel wall mount so we can turn it any direction. We got a new comfy couch for downstairs when the other wouldn't fit. Treadmill & bikes reside on one end and a small bistro table on the other. There is also a huge laundry area with lots of storage and brand new washer/dryer...Whew-glad we didn't have to spend more money on those stinking things! They ain't cheap! We housed all of our medals & awards on one end as well. Didn't realize we had so much crap, I mean... nice stuff!

Basement Guestroom/Bath. We love that the basement houses the guest room and bath. It's at the end of the basement and away from the main living areas upstairs. It's nice for guests to have their privacy and with the window it acutally gets really good natural light from above. This room is still a work in progress as we have yet to find the hardware for the bed...oops!

Backyard. I need to get out and get a pic of the yard. I can not wait until Spring and Summer. We plan to get the grill up here from Kevin's house in the Springs and get another chimnea. We live outside in the summer time. The dogs have plenty of room to run and there is a really cool pond/fountain feature I'm excited to turn on. We might also give a garden another go. The last time we tried we didn't do so well :)

Front. We love that we are on a corner lot and only have neighbors to one side. It makes the lot feel bigger, albeit more yard work-boo! We want to spend some decent time and money relandscaping it this spring to add some mature tress, bushes, split-rail fence, etc. It needs some depth. Right now it's a blank, kinda boring, canvas.

It feels good to be in a house before the wedding and to have a space we love so much to start our lives together in AND in a town I thought I could never afford to buy in!!! It's ending up to be a big year and it's not even the end of January yet!

That's the tour, for now! For you CO friends, we plan to have a party sometime soon so please come over for a drink. For you "foreigners" please know you're invited anytime, we have plenty of space and would love to share it with you!

Lost

I promised to post updated photos and I swear I took some the other night. Problem is I can't find my camera cord to download them. Darn boxes!

My mission this weekend is to unpack every last box!

Have a great weekend friends!

We Bought a House!!!!

Kevin & I bought a house! We didn't say anything for close to a month and it's been killing me! We wanted to make sure everything went through before we made the big announcement!

Yep, it went through and we are in!!! The house is in Gunbarrel just a bit N/E of downtown Boulder. We love love love the location. This neighborhood backs up to miles and miles of open space that connects to all the miles and miles of trails through Boulder County. And it's right across the street from the Boulder Res, were we spend lots of time. It's also a quick hop onto all of the best road biking in Northern Colorado! It's 4 bed/3 bath, 2100 sq ft, so plenty of room to grow our future family in to. The backyard is huge, so plenty of room for our "current family" to run and romp in!

Man, it feels good to be a homeowner again! And I'm not sure we could have timed the market any better than we did!

Here are a few pics!!! We've only been in a few days but we've done allot. I plan to get some pictures tonight and post those as well.

Outside! We have big plans to change the front of the house. Not sure when but we want to overhaul the landscaping, it's so bare up on that little hill. Mature trees and maybe a porch?

Compassion

Compassion is not sentiment but is making justice and doing works of mercy. Compassion is not a moral commandment but a flow and overflow of the fullest human and divine energies. --Matthew Fox

I started thinking about Compassion yesterday. I found this quote and I think it's so true.

My mom had to go visit a friend that is dying in the hospital yesterday. What a hard trip to make?! We knew him for years through our church but he had sort of lived a second life that no body really knew about and it was really shocking when that came out but my parents never turned their back on him, unlike so many others. He didn't have anyone in his life and still doesn't as takes his final breaths. It makes me so sad to think he is dying and has no body to be with and when he's gone there will be no one to notify. Can you imagine?

My mom is one of the most compassionate and kindest people I know. I may be a bit biased but I have been told that by many many people as well and I truly believe it.

This man is really out of it because of the drugs to help with the pain and he is truly on his final days of life here on this earth. She wasn't sure if he would know who she was or even if he would recognize that someone was there. Sure enough he didn't and he barely opened his eyes for a brief moment. As I imagine her sitting next to his bed, holding his hand, talking with him, praying with him, I can't help but think of the compassion he had to be feeling in that room. Cognitively he may not have understood and certainly wasn't able to express it but I truly believe it's in our nature and DNA to know and feel kindness and compassion. It's energy and I like to think that he felt the energy in that room as she was there. I hope that when he passes that he passes in peace and that deep down knows that there are people out here that love him and will miss him!

This resonates even more with me as I see how much people are giving to the people in Haiti through this horrific disaster they are in the midst of. Some of the poorest people in the world and have had so much more taken away from them. As so many people in our country have lost jobs and have very little themselves, they still find a way to give and show that it really is our human nature to show compassion to our worldly brothers and sisters! It's times like these that I am reminded that there are still people of character among us and am so thankful!

Off to Tejas for Christmas

Tomorrow Kevin and I leave for Texas to celebrate Christmas with my family. It's been a long time since I've been home and I'm really excited to get back and see everyone together, although I will miss the snow on Christmas Day. It just doesn't feel like Christmas when it's 80 degrees out :( Although if I get to eat lots of REAL Mexican food I'll be one happy (and fat) girl! OK it's Tex-Mex but that's better than anything in my opinion!

I have so much to be thankful for this year! Each year I usually don't look forward to the next year coming up because it just makes it seem like life is flying by. This year has certainly flown by faster than most but for once I can't wait to escape 2009 and start 2010. There are so many fun things planned for us next year that I can hardly wait.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and even more blessed New Year in 2010!

Reflections of a Year Gone By

It's been a while since I posted and it's mostly because life is pretty status quot right now. I figured since it's my birthday I'd do a little reflecting on how amazing the past year has been and how so many more great things are yet to come as I progress into my 29th year of life.

I can't believe how much I've accomplished and how much Kevin & I as a couple have accomplished this past year.

Training and racing have been a huge priority for me this year and it's nice to see all of my hard work really pay off. I've improved in all 3 disciplines but mostly really seemed to work out the kinks in my running, which was my weakest link, although my fav of the 3. I raced hard all year and did really well in every race I did. But, the real test came in November at Ironman FL. You can go back and read that race report here if you missed it, or if you even care :). I was hoping to really "race" an IM this year since the 2 last year were new experiences and I didn't really know what to expect. Although I missed my slot to Hawaii I couldn't be happier with how the season wrapped up in Florida. I ended the season with solidifying a few sponsors for 2010 and am so excited to see how much faster I can get next year. I'm planning to start with a spring marathon and hope to qualify for Boston and run a 3:20ish race. I know I'm capable of doing it, just gotta start piling on the running miles again. Besides my personal race accomplishments I also got USAT All American this year, an award acknowledging the top 5% per division in Triathlon. And, I was chosen as "Athlete of the Year" in the Boulder Triathlon Club!

I have also really enjoyed taking on a new role as Assistant Coach to the CU Triathlon Team with a good friend and colleague of mine, Mike Ricci. It’s nice to be working with young kids, the future athletes of the sport, and providing some mentorship to the girls of the team. The other assistant coach, Melissa, is great as well and I've really enjoyed becoming friends with her as well.

Kevin & I have had a great year too. We had set a deadline of Dec 31st to get in the same town. It was so hard being a part and there were so many factors to figure out to close the gap between us. It was strange but things just fell into place in September. Kevin got his job moved to Boulder, we rented his house, and now we're here! It's been fantastic and I can't even fathom how we did that for close to 2 years! Are we insane? I miss him like crazy when he works out of state for a week. I'm honestly not sure how we did it? But alas, we are together and life couldn't be better. Just weeks before he made the move, we got engaged and are now busy planning a summer wedding in Boulder.

We are also looking at buying a house. If this happens the wedding will be scaled way back as well! We are sick of renting and need more space for the family of dogs we are raising. If you live in Boulder, you know how pricey it is. It ain't a cheap endeavor and we simply weren't even sure we could make it work. But with interest rates so low and good loan options right now we think it's a possibility and are having fun looking at homes! Fingers crossed we find the perfect house for our future and that it just all falls into place like we hope. Next step will be to some day sell Kevin's house in Colorado Springs as well.

As I reflect back on the last few years of my life, it's really hard to believe how far I've come and what I've already been through at a ripe young age of 28, hehe! I struggled through allot of 2006 & 2007 and at the time it was hard to believe that life would one day be so great. Today, I couldn't be happier and I'm thankful for the lessons I learned during those difficult times and I'm even more thankful for the people that walked into my life when I needed them most, including Kevin. If you're interested in a quick recap, you can start here! Sad thing is I'm discovering more and more gray hairs each day. Apparently my grandmother was gray by 30 so I'm not sure I have much hope. I'll keep telling myself it's because I'm wiser!

It seems like there is nothing holding us back right now. We are young with good careers and enjoying being DINKS! Our path is being laid out before us and the excitement of what's to come in the next few years is incredible. I'm looking forward to marrying my best friend & love of my life in June, buying a house, racing, working, making new friends, and having a family! The sky is the limit and I'm happy to be on this journey with such an amazing man!

Thanks to all my friends and family who have offered their friendship and support this past year. I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life!

Hooper/Houghton Wedding Date is Set!!!

We have a date!

June 13, 2010

We finally did some wedding planning. It's nice to have Ironman behind us and have some free time back. We've been pretty busy figuring out things that got pushed to the back burner during race season, i.e: wedding, moving, holiday plans, etc.

The wedding will be held outside at the Chautauqua Green lawn at the base of the beautiful Flatirons here in Boulder, CO. Lets just hope that this remains the truth...."The city boasts more than 300 sunny or mostly sunny days each year". The reception will be a Champagne Brunch Buffet at the Greenbriar Inn nestled in the foothills north of Boulder. We have some really fun ideas and are excited to share this incredible day with our dearest friends and family. Save the dates will be going out in January!

Ironman Florida 2009

There was one point in the year that I didn't think the race would ever get here, it was such a long season for me. Now, I can hardly believe it's come and gone. However, every time I try to sit on the toilet to pee I'm instantly reminded that it has come and gone because everything hurts. If it wasn't such a weird thing to do I'd get a picture of how pathetic I look doing that and post it but sorry, it's up to your imagination.

The race was awesome! Before I get to the race report I'll share a quick story about visiting the amazing Redneck Riviera, Panama City Beach-FL! Kevin & I decided to go out on Thursday and drive the course. We wanted to see just how flat it really was. We are driving along and come up on a big truck. We stay back for a while and then realize he's just poking along and that we'd like to pass him. We speed up and go around, not doing anything aggressive, just a simple pass on a long country road. Well, he decided he didn't like that to much and that it would be fun to ride our bumper for a few miles. He wasn't dangerously close, just messing with us! After 4-5 miles he speeds up to go around us. I look over and see something similar to this sticking out the passenger window....
OK, really it was more like this, except sticking about 6 inches out the window...
It was like a train wreck. I couldn't look away and I couldn't stop laughing. It only solidified that, Yes indeed we were about to race in the Redneck Riviera!

Anyway, on to the race.

Swim
The swim was the gnarliest, choppiest, most aggressive, swim I have ever done. It was a mass start of 2800 people and a run in from the beach. Kevin and I decided to line up a couple rows back knowing that the first few people would likely swim 50-56 minutes and we'd be around 58-60 minutes. The gun goes off and it's madness. The gulf is interesting down there because there are allot sandbars out in the water. We all ran out into the water but it was to shallow to really dive in and swim yet because of the sandbars so for a good distance it was high knees and dolphin dives to get some distance. Imagine 2800 people doing this at once! Yep, not cool. Then once it got deep enough the elbows started flying, feet started kicking and I was getting clobbered. Luckily I am a strong swimmer and I'm confident in the water so it didn't really freak me out it was just annoying. I could see how many people would panic in these conditions. It didn't help that the water was also very choppy. I was getting smacked in the face with waves, swallowing gulps of water as I breathed, inhaling the wave rather than air. I couldn't see the buoys because every time I looked up I saw waves or arms. I decided to just put my head down and follow the crowd, I couldn't have moved anyway. Luckily I stayed very straight and hit all the buoys without going off course. The corner buoys were even crazier but I stayed close and literally swam under them. The course was 2 loops with a short run out and back in at an angle to start lap 2. Coming to shore we hit another sandbar. I swam until my hands were brushing the floor and then stood up to run out but realized I still had about 100m to go. We had to high knee it again for a good ways then dive back in and swim to the "next shore". Definitely an interesting dynamic and slowing it down a bit. I looked at the clock and had swam lap 1 in 29 minutes, wahoo! (I was shooting for 60 minutes). The second lap wasn't as bad as the packs had spread a little bit. I found someones feet and sat in. I felt good. At one point I stuck my hand straight into a jelly fish. Luckily, it was the top "jelly" part and I didn't get stung but it freaked me out and took me a second to get back into my rhythm. My total swim time was 1:02 including the run out up the beach so I am really happy with that, considering the conditions especially!
Bike
The transition was really long when you looked it. Not only did we have to run up the beach, we took a right and ran along a boardwalk for a good ways, then into a parking lot to get our swim to bike gear, then we had to run the length of the parking lot into the hotel to change, run back out and back down the length of the parking lot, then back around to find our bikes before heading out. I was sure I'd lose some good time here but at least it was fair. Everyone had to cover the same distance so knowing that I am good at quick transitions I realized maybe I could gain some time.

The bike was pretty uneventful. It was 1 loop and very flat except for some small rollers in the first half. They weren't hard but they definitely made it more difficult to get in a steady rhythm. It was quite windy on the way out and along the "hillier" section so I felt like I was crawling but I knew as soon as we turned we'd have a tail wind. Sure enough, as soon as we turned south again we had the smoothest road I've ever ridden on and a decent tail wind. I picked up the pace to 23-25 mph and hammered home to make up some lost time from the beginning. I felt great most of the bike. About half way through my neck and back started bugging me from the aero position so I took some vitamin I and it instantly felt better. I thought I might be making a big mistake by picking up the pace so much for the last 40 miles but I knew if I wanted to be in contention for the podium I had to ride around 5:30 or less. I finished in 5:33.
I have to vent for a minute....The one thing I hated about this course was all the drafting. It's not a surprise, everyone knows that it's a big problem in Florida but it truly was INSANE. Huge Tour de France like packs just flying by. Maybe I noticed it more since my swim time put me out with the rest of these clowns. Now, I don't really care if people make the choice to cheat, it's their race and they have to live with it but when it could potentially knock me out of contention for a Kona slot, that pisses me off. I'd see huge packs of age group men flying by and girls (of all ages) would jump in and just ride it. I know the marshals were doing the best they could but it's impossible to catch everyone. And some people don't care, they are just cheaters, plain and simple. They'd rather take a 4 minute penalty and gain 15-20 minutes by drafting. The consequences aren't great enough. I personally think that they should raise the stakes. If you draft and get caught, you're out of contention for Kona. Simple! Then I guarantee people wouldn't do it as much. Some guy got crafty and had a camera on his bike and caught some of it, I think it's pretty funny. Check it out....


OK, off my soap box!

Run
The run was what I was looking forward too the most. I have worked so hard on my running this year and I've really improved so I wanted to see what I could do and sometimes I think I run better off the bike than alone. Getting off the bike my hamstrings were tight and my psoas was bugging me a bit. They warmed up quickly and the IBprofin that I took on the bike helped. My goal was a 3:45 marathon so I new if I could run average 8:30mm pace I had it. I was running faster than this in my long runs and allot faster in my shorter runs in training so at sea level on a flat course I was confident I could do it. The first few miles I felt great, it was all I could do to make myself slow to 8:30. My average pace for the first few miles was closer to 7:55-8:05 and I worked on really slowing it down through the first half, coming through the 13 mile marker right at 8:28 pace. I caught up to a girl in my AG about mile 5 and ran just off her left shoulder so she couldn't see my calf. I knew I could probably run a bit faster but I figured why bother and make her pick up the pace and then potentially cause me to blow up later. We came into the start of lap 2 together averaging just under 8:30 and I had a bit of a slow down while she got ahead. I just felt like I was getting tired, I didn't feel bad just a little more sluggish. After some red bull, a few more gels, and some more IBprofin I came around and picked up the pace. I eventually caught her again and ran off her shoulder for a few more miles before I put the hammer down to drop her. It worked because she couldn't hang. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was catching me in the last 10k. I thought at the time I was in 2nd (a friend earlier in the run had told me she thought I was 3rd so by passing this chick I thought I was now in 2nd). Overall I finished in 3:47 so I was really happy with that.

Total time 10:30:15 and 3rd Place Age Group. I guess I was in 3rd still after all. Bummer because there were only 2 slots to Hawaii and they were both claimed so I missed out by 8 minutes and by 1 place. Oh well, it's more incentive to get faster.
People keep asking if I'm happy with it and I really am. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed I didn't secure a slot to Kona. It's bitter-sweet. But I raced the race all the way to the finish line. I don't think I could have shaved 8 minutes knowing how hard I worked out there (unless I drafted/cheated, which I would never do) and I feel like I executed my race plan perfectly so to me it was a huge success. And a top 3 finish and 45 minute PR (especially shaving close to 30 minutes off my marathon) isn't too shabby if you ask me.


We are taking a little time to relax and process it all before we decide on our next plan. Right now it's looking like I'll go after a win at Buffalo Springs 70.3 in Lubbock this June. I'm not going to spend allot of time, money, and energy chasing Hawaii. I have plenty of other goals and I am A-OK with that one not happening again right away. For now, it's wedding planning time!

I have some more trip highlights and photos I'll post later outside of the race report but I'll leave you with this gorgeous sunset!