I'm BACK!

It's been a long and eventful year for me. I put the blogging down and experienced some of the most amazing and horrible things in my entire life. I ran my first marathon, ran the Disney Glass Slipper Challenge, competed in several triathlons with age group placing, and am currently going through a divorce. To say I have experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows is an understatement.

Marathon training was pretty much the longest 20 weeks of my life. Every weekend waking up early, driving to the lakes to run for hours with my best friends. Sounds terrible right? Thank goodness for that group of ladies because I would have never survived alone. Matter of fact, I really don't know how I get through much of anything in life without those girls!

The marathon both sucked and rocked all at the same time. We ran, we walked, we laughed, I cried, we ate, I pooped (a lot), it was eventful. I am so thankful for my mom for being on the course in 4 different places with a backpack full of things we needed! Seeing my son every stop holding a different inspirational poster was the icing on the cake.  There are a lot of other details I've left out but that day has been cut down to mostly the good stuff in my mind. I really don't want to remember the agonizing pain.

So here are some things I’ve learned about life in that past year:

1. Don't plan for it to go any certain way. It will not turn out the way you planned.

and that’s pretty much all.

With the marathon behind me I got really excited to begin triathlon training. TRIATHLON is my favorite sport. I love everything about it. The training, the racing, the pain, the accomplishment, ALL OF IT. I decided to be all in this season and spent a lot of money on the things I needed to be a "real" triathlete. So I found myself a tri bike and started training. I picked up 2 new tri buddies along the way and I am so excited they have fallen in love with triathlon as well.

The first tri on my calendar was Rocketchix Triathlon in April. It was a super sprint tri, 300 meter swim, 12 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. I did the same exact course for my first ever tri 2 years prior. It was an amazing accomplishment and I finished in 1:45. This years race was AMAZING. I did not suck at all and executed the exact plan I created. ( I know I said before don't plan on anything going the way you planned.) I was 3rd in my age group with a time of 1:08. The finish of that race was just the boost I needed to know that everything was going to be okay. Just a few weeks prior on a Monday morning my (ex) husband of 11 years,  woke up and simply said, I had to go, he didn't want to be married anymore. I'll leave all the crappy details out, but will tell you this, I am thankful that he did that because I have become a better version of me.

                                                            That's MM, My tri bestie!

May 9th comes around and it's time to take on open water swimming for the first time since I failed at it last season. This year I got in several practice swims and felt much more comfortable. Louisiana Triathlon is a sprint tri, 800 meter swim, 18.75 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. I was not nervous at all and was ready to take it on. The swim was great, the bike even better and I really surprised myself on the run. I rode a swift 18 mph average on my bike which is a big change from last year. I was happy with a 4th place age group finish for this race. These age group finishes are a drastic change from my first season of triathlon when I just raced to finish. I am quite the monster now and crave those fast times and good finishes..

 Next up was Tri New Roads, another super sprint tri. I felt great on the swim and had a sub 10:00 pace on the run but was a little slower than I would have liked on the bike. It was only 12 miles but I just didn't have the power in my legs that day. I remember saying in my head, go legs go, but they just wouldn't. I still finished 3rd in my age group and was happy about that! 

Sometime after that tri I decided I needed to complete a half iron man, 70.3 miles. WHAT?!? Who am I?? I knew that I couldn't train for it on my own and began to seek out a coach. I asked around the community and decided to go with the AWESOMEST (not a word I know) team, Freshjunkie Racing. I am confident that the badassery (another made up word) that is my coach, Pat Fellows, will not only get me through my first 70.3, but he will get me there with a respectable time.

~Swimbikerunfuel