Lack of Posting, but No Lack of Excitement

I do apologize for not posting more lately. Things have been hectic in all aspects of life - at home, at school (for Chad) and at work. I am getting more and comfortable with my responsibilites at my new job, so that is good. Things have been so busy that I feel like I have been there for a long time, but I've only been there a couple of months.

One thing that I am really, really, really excited about is this little thing that came in the mail on Thursday...A Specialized Allez road bike. My super generous, loving, sweet kind, beautiful (we are identical twins after all) and did I say generous sister Megan mailed her bike all the way to Kentucky. She bought it a few years ago and did several duathlons and road races, but when she moved out to L.A., she realized that she wasn't using it and that I would probably love to use it for triathlons and duathlons. And by "realized," I mean that I hinted at this fact for years. But to make a long story short, I ended up paying her peanuts for this really nice road bike that I am so grateful to have.

On Friday, Chad and I ventured into Lexington to a local bike shop to pick up some road bike shoes. I ended up buying a pair of Shimano SH-RO85's. Walking out with those shoes made me feel like a real road biker, but let's be honest - I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to cycling.

So this afternoon, Chad talked me into taking the bike outside for some street experience. I was pretty terrified, because I imagined that I would be able to practice clipping in and unclipping the shoes from the pedals for at least a good week before ever actually riding the bike. But Chad (who also got a new bike this week) wanted to take a quick ride through the neighborhood. So I got out into our driveway and clipped into one pedal and headed for the street...right as a car turned the corner onto our street and headed in my direction. So I slammed on the front brake and fell to one side - of course it was the side I was clipped into. So, down I went and somehow my free foot/leg got stuck in the spokes of the back tire - so Chad had to free me from the contorted, tangled mess that I had created. I got back up, made sure the coast was clear, clipped into one side and headed down the street. It took me a good three blocks before I got the courage to attempt to clip into the other pedal, which I was able to do with surprising ease. The rest of the ride was uneventful, but really really fun. Now, if I could just figure out how to shift the gears...

Now that I have the sweet ride, I am looking forward to training for some triathlons and duathlons in the Spring.

Triathalons and Anna Nicole Smith

A few weeks ago, Chad and I went to the new 1/2 Price Books in Lexington with some friends. I didn't really expect to find anything - but while browsing in the running section, I came across Becoming An Ironman: First Encounters With the Ultimate Endurance Event. It was one of those situations where I picked the book up, thought it looked interesting, but then I put it back. I walked around a little bit, browsed a little more, and then went back and picked up the book again. This time, I held onto it. Chad was so sweet - he put back one of the books he had picked out so that my book wouldn't put us over our pre-set "book budget."

This book is so motivating and inspiring. It contains about 20 or so stories of people's first experience with the Ironman. I've watched the Ironman several times on NBC, had two professors (a husband and wife) in college who completed the Ironman Florida together, and have talked with my twin sister for years about how we would love to compete in an Ironman competition some day. It seems like an insane event: a 2.4 mile open-water swim, a 112 mile bike race, and after all of that...a 26.2 mile marathon.

If I had access to a pool and was a decent swimmer, and if I had a road bike, I would love to compete in triathalons and duathalons. But for now - I will master the cheapest leg of the triathalon - running.

When my sister and I were freshmen in high school, we would spend our summer days practicing lacrosse or competing against one another. One day, we got the bright idea to create our own triathalon course. We established the course: first we would run a mile loop around the neighborhood, then we would bike the same loop, then finish with a swim in our pool. We decided that it would be best if we started at the same spot, but ran and biked in opposite directions so that we wouldn't kill each other along the way. We got to the starting line at the end of our driveway and started the run. We finished the mile pretty quickly, and reached our house at exactly the same time. Megan reached the bikes a few seconds before me - taking this time to kick over my bike. I laughed as I picked up the bike and started on my way. We finished the second leg at the same time, dropping our bikes in the yard as we scrambled towards the pool. Neither of us are very good swimmers, and as we thrashed along, we realized why the swimming leg is always first in triathalon competitions - it is so people don't get exhausted and drown during the swim. I don't even know who won that day (it was probably Megan) but I will always remember how much fun we had.

On a completely different note, I was sad to hear about Anna Nicole Smith's passing today. I am a total glutton for B-List celebrity reality shows, such as Growing Up Gotti, Breaking Bonaduce, Hogan Knows Best, and of course...The Anna Nicole Show on E!.