Time to be a Fish!

Mike and I are 19 weeks away from the big day. I am getting more and more excited, but I get the sense that Mike is getting more and more nervous! Actually, I think that a very healthy dose of being scared out of your mind is exactly what is needed for a first-timer! It gets you up and out the door to your early morning workouts and gives you some extra incentive to tough out the cold, the heat, the fatigue, and the exhaustion of it all!

I've read Mike's training log, and he is doing very well! He's lucky, too, in that he gets to ride his bike outside for some of his training rides. They sound a little cold, but I'm pretty sure they are nothing like my rides here would be (if I was going outside, but I can assure you, I'm not!)! He also seems to be enjoying the caloric benefits of training 10+ hours a week!

Tomorrow starts a new phase in my program. The long-awaited Early Bird Swims start tomorrow. I've really been dragging my feet on going to the pool. I kept telling myself that I would get more intense about the swimming when February rolled around, and here it is! For only 10 weeks of each year, the Ames pool opens at 5:30am. The rest of the year, we are a pathetic town with really, really crappy swimming availability.

My focus for the next few weeks will be on swimming, and this phase was kicked off yesterday with a Zoom Performance swim clinic. Zoom just brought a swim *expert* on board as a coach, so all the Zoom athletes had the chance to meet each other and have a fun workout together! I had a great workout and enjoyed a couple "a-ha!" moments in terms of my stroke and how to put it all together. That is a big mental boost heading into this "Fish Phase." I'll need it when the alarm starts going off at 5 tomorrow morning...

I also stumbled across a great new massage therapist! She was interested in some personal training and shares a lot of my philosophies on wellness, nutrition, fitness, and health. We are a good match! We have been doing a lot of refering back and forth of clients, and we even worked out a little discount for my massages! I had my first one on Friday, and she is great!

Other than all the training, I've been swamped at work! I've got personal training clients coming out of my ears! I even had to break a couple of my cardinal rules and start doing a little training in the evening and on Saturdays! It's okay for a little while (read: I need the money!!), but I won't let it go on like this for too long - soon my weekend start to fill back up, and I'll be needing the evenings to train myself! But for the time being, I'm taking advantage of the opportunity and working my tail off!

I'm an EMT!

Or at least I could be if I wanted to...

I took my final EMT test on Monday and got the results yesterday. I passed the national exam! I had taken the state test back in December, and it took a long time to get cleared to take the national test.

I guess I am excited about the accomplishment, but since I don't have a job where I will use the skills (at least I hope I won't need to), I'm not as wound up about it as I could be. On the other hand, I may be able to use my skills to help some students at DMACC.

The instructor from our class last fall asked if I would come in to help teach skills to this semester's students. You know what that means... another job! My new favorite thing to do these days is see how many W-2s I can collect each January! I think I'm up to five this year!

"Normal"

I feel like things are finally starting to get back to normal - whatever normal is. Crystal is finally married, Christmas is over, and at long last the presidential candidates have moved on from the feeding-frenzy that is Iowa in an election year.

Crystal's wedding went really well. It was a fun weekend of seeing friends and getting to know Dana's family. But I'm not going to lie, I was exhausted when it was all over. I think I literally fell asleep standing up after the brunch on Sunday. Weddings like that go by in such a blur; it's really a shame with all the build up and the expectations. I know Crystal and Dana were worn out, too, but at least they got to go sit on the beach in Aruba for 5 days to recover!

Part of the fun leading up to the wedding was being a "witness" at the courthouse when they filed for their marriage license. Dana couldn't get back to Iowa in order to file early enough to make the mandatory 3-day waiting period, so we had to visit a judge to get him to sign off on the license. As luck would have it, one of Team Vardo's finest members, who just happens to be a district court judge in Story County, was the only judge working that day. Bill is one of the first guys who joined my Dam to Dam training group six years ago, and he has become a good friend since then. I know that he has quite a weakness for chocolate, so on the way to the courthouse, we picked up a little bribe for the judge!

New Years came and went without much ado. I headed out to the Team Vardo party - it was doubling as a going-away-party for one of the founding members who is taking off (no pun intended) for commercial flight school in Virginia for 6 months. I was home and in bed by 11pm.

One of my favorite New Years traditions is to get up early on New Years Day and go shopping. It is the second big markdown on all the Christmas stuff (usually 75%) and I always have every store nearly to myself. This year is was just me and one Asian woman in Target all by ourselves! All you crazy crowd-happy people can have the days after Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love having New Years all to myself!

The following day, I called Cam on my way home from work to see if he wanted to check out Caucus! The Musical with me that night. It was written by Robert Ford, a friend of mine from the ALC. I'd been reading about Robert's show in all the major news magazines and had been seeing him on the all the network TV's evening news programs. He was getting a lot of coverage, so I really wanted to check it out.

The show was a riot! It follows a typical Iowa farmer as he and his family try to make sense of the caucus circus that is Iowa. A news reporter finds this farmer eating in his local cafe and labels him an "Iowan's Iowan." The candidates soon see that if they can win him (and his family), they can win in Iowa. While we laughed at how ridiculous some of the storyline seemed, much of it was funny simply because of how true it is!

Training is really going well. I've been out on some cold runs and then some *really* cold runs this winter. However, much worse than the cold is all the ice and frozen crap on the sidewalks. We've had a lot of precipitation so far but it seems like every time it snows, we get a couple inches of rain and/or freezing rain first. This turns into near concrete on all the roads and sidewalks, but the sidewalks never get cleared. Mostly we've taken to running in the streets. Thanks to some very reflective clothing and a few other safety precautions, sharing the roadway with drivers has been okay for all.

I've been spending a lot of time on my trainer. It hasn't been as bad as I was expecting - in fact, I'll spend 6+ hours on it this week. I do have one thing (besides the obvious) that is keeping me motivated to ride for hours in my living room. We are in the midst of planning a girls' training trip to sunny Arizona in April. My coach is training a few other women for Ironman races later in the summer - and Jenny is doing Wisconsin this fall herself! So, we are planning on heading to Phoenix the day before Ironman Arizona and having 5 days of intensive training in some warm weather. Plus, it will be a lot of fun to see another Ironman race and just hang out with the girls for a while.

I've also started back with some swimming. I really enjoy swimming - it's just that I hate getting all cold and wet! I know I sound like a wimp... but it's a fact! I did a workout with Jenny a couple weeks ago so she could videotape me and give me some help with my form. I guess you could say that jump-started my swimming, but I've only been back at the pool a couple time since then, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration... My *favorite* early bird swims (5:30am) start in a couple weeks, so then I'll have no more excuses!

The same weekend I started back at the pool, Jenny had me down to DM for a VO2 test on the bike. I was really familiar with the program and equipment, but this was my first time as a subject! I was not too surprised with the results - especially the information from the HR (max, my training zones), but it always helps to know for sure what is going on. The biggest lesson I learned is that I have a long way to go on getting myself faster on the bike. I tend to train at too low of an intensity most of the time. That is not a problem I have on the run - in fact, I probably tend to train a little high for that! Either way, that test is not fun, but very helpful with training.

Besides a VERY cold forecast, there is nothing too earth-shattering on the horizon for the next couple of weeks. I would like to just be able to concentrate on work and training and not have the distractions that seemed to be very prevalent over the last few months.

Merry Christmas!

This is just a quick Merry Christmas post... It is also a post to acknowledge the 180 days to go mark for the big race.

Thankfully, Jenny has this as a rest week on the training calendar. It's not that I don't have any workouts, it's just that they are a little more flexible and allow for travel, family, and reflection on the past year and the holidays. It is a great time to have this flexibility since I am already a little stressed out about Crystal's upcoming wedding. There just seems to be so much to get done, and while I know we have plenty of time to do it, it's gonna be a lot of work!

At the last minute I decided to come home to the Quad Cities for Christmas. I rode over with Cam on Monday morning after we decided that the roads were cleared from the previous weekend's ice and snow storms. I was glad to get home in time to go to church with my parents. Mom was a big part of getting this church planted in Davenport, and on previous trips I'd not been able to go with her.

On Sunday night, I went to church with Cam and Michelle in Des Moines for a Christmas Eve Eve service. That was quite an experience as they were worshiping in their brand new, not-yet-finished auditorium. They figured that it would be a good dry-run with a couple hundred worshipers since this was a special service held in addition to all the other weekend services they usually hold. Instead, a couple thousand people showed up and packed the place to near over-flowing!

Both were really good services held by candle-light. What was great for me was to get the chance to experience the Christmas Story from a couple different perspectives - and they were even different from my own church. But regardless of how the story is told, the gift of Christmas still amazes me:

That God loves us enough to leave His throne and become one of us...
That He was born as a baby into a dirty, smelly barn rather than a triumphant entrance fit for a king...
That Jesus willingly came to earth, knowing that only persecution, torture, and death awaited Him...
That He did it for all of humanity, believers and unbelievers alike, but He would have done it just the same for me alone...

Merry Christmas.

Not to be Out-Done...

Not to be out-done by my cousins, I figured I'd better get on updating my blog.

It is only a few days until Crystal's wedding. There are a lot of fires to put out before then, and I am glad that I can act as a firefighter on her behalf. I'm sure she's feeling a little overwhelmed right now, but she really has everything under control; she just doesn't know it yet...

I went to North Carolina a couple weeks ago to check out Crystal's new digs in Salisbury and experience a little of the south. After taking off and touching down at the St. Louis twice in one day, I finally made it to Charlotte, where Crystal and Dana picked me up at the airport. We had a quick dinner, then headed north to get some rest before the half marathon that we were doing in the morning.

Sunday was shopping-palooza with Crystal's friend Heather. We did our share to strengthen the economy, and ate some pretty good chow while we were at it.

Around 9am on Monday we headed south again to rent some mountain bikes and hit the trails at the US National Whitewater Training Center. Although we were very much beginners on a more intermediate course, we still did well and no one broke anything during the ride. After a little investigating, we found the locker rooms and showers at the Center, then a great little place to have lunch. This looked like quite the spot. I think I could come back and spend at couple of days at this one place trying out all the activities. It certainly didn't hurt that the temps were into the upper 70's and lower 80's all weekend, too!

Of course, we followed that up with some more shopping...

The weather back home in Iowa was freezing rain/snow/sleet/crap on Tuesday, so rather than spend the day and night in the St. Louis airport, I called the airline and switched my flight to Wednesday. That meant another glorious day in 80 degrees and my flip-flops rather than sliding through the ice.

Right before I left for the south, Team Vardo held its annual end-of-season banquet. We ate, drank, and had a very merry time recalling all the adventures of the team in 2007. Between the photo slideshow, the white elephant gift exchange, and the pre-recorded message from Stephen Hawkin, I was left nearly speechless. Alas, I did end up making a little speech about the history of the team and how much it meant to me, but it is hard to put into words what this strange little compilation of folks has meant to me.

I was also celebrating the fact that five days previous I had completed my EMT class. We ended with our practical exam. Practicals always cause me to break out into a cold sweat, and this one was no different. As it turns out, I had little to be nervous about. But it sure does feel good to be done!!

I am looking so forward to having all many of my girlfriends in town for the wedding next week. We welcomed a new baby (Harrison Burkhardt) into "the Clique," and I've got to tell you, this is one very cute kid. Poor guy doesn't know what he is in for when the girls get their hands on him!

Fall Update

This has been a crazy busy fall. Between work, class, and training, I haven't found much time to blog. Let's see... some updates:

1. I had another birthday. Nothing too noteable about this one. I didn't age up, so there is no real value in getting another year older. Dottie and I threw ourselves our traditional "surprise party" - where the surprise is on the people we invite at the last minute.

2. To celebrate my birthday, I ran the Des Moines Half Marathon. The post-race festivities were great. Team Vardo celebrated with me in the most traditional of ways: beer and cupcakes.

3. I took a quick trip to Chicago to visit Grandma Klein. At 101.5 years old, she's doing GREAT!! She still kicks my butt in crosswords, but now I can finally beat her in a sprint down the hall! She moved into the new building right after I left, but mom and I broke the rules and sneaked in to check it out first.

4. Steve was at SWAT school in California for two weeks, so Tina brought the girls to her mom's in Chicago. We had a blast with them - they are talking, talking, talking! So, funny! Sophie won my love by being the first to say "Aunt Julie." I'm in awe at how smart they are!! Lauren recited the colors of all the M&M's we spilled on the floor, and counted to ten with her mom. The cutest is the squeeling for Elmo, Cookie Monster, and (Sophie's favorite) Big Bird. I also learned another favorite for them is "poop," which they repeated over and over as we walked by the geese in the pond.

They were dressed as a monkey and a leopard for Halloween. A little cruel, but awfully cute!!

5. I went to a women's mountain bike clinic last weekend, and I think I'm hooked! All twelve of us were beginners, and the guys who lead the clinic were very patient and helpful. They even served as spotters while we tackled some of the more challenging (to us) obstacles. Let's just say they are pretty brave because we used their help numerous times! Great. That's one more sport. That means one more bike!

6. I hired a coach. I decided that I would like a little personal help training for this next Ironman. I think I was decently trained for Wisconsin, but I also think I can knock a couple hours off my time. Jenny was actually a BIG help to me training for Wisconsin in 2006, but this time I'm gonna pay her!

7. I am almost done with EMT class. I've been spending time in some Des Moines Hospitals and with the Des Moines Fire Department. I am really enjoying it, but secretly, I can't wait for it to be over. I am really looking forward to having my Monday and Thursday nights back.

8. More pictures of the girls from Mom's trip last week:

Trying Something New...

So, I'm taking an EMT-B class at DMACC. I guess I'm doing it for a few reasons:

1. I want to do it for my own knowledge and growth.

2. Never hurts to have it on a resume.

3. I like a challenge!

I started class at the end of August, and we take our state exam on December 1. It's 2 nights a week for 3 1/2 hours, plus four Saturdays for 7 1/2 hours each. So far I am really enjoying it. I've learned that I know a lot more than I thought, thanks to my ISU education and those couple of years working in cardiac rehab. I've also learned that there is a lot to learn, too!

Thankfully, they've thrown us right in to the hands-on stuff. I think that is the best way to learn. Next week, we start our clinicals. We'll spend a total of 20 hours at Mercy, Methodist, and Broadlawns. Then we'll do some ride alongs with the Des Moines Fire and Rescue.

I'm not sure that this is something I want to persue as a career, but it will never hurt me to have the knowledge and skills. On the other hand, I could love it!

It is working out very well with my job at DMACC; I can go to work during the day, take a little time for a run and dinner, then head straight to class. Getting home close to 11pm isn't great. but I can do it for a couple months.

The Girls Grow Up!

I haven't seen these two little monkeys since May, but it's been so much fun to watch them grow so big, even if it is through pictures...

I haven't seen them since May, but I've heard a rumor that they are coming back to Chicago in October, so you can bet I'll be making that trip!

Ironman Wisconsin Revisited

I headed back up to Madison again for the Ironman, but not to compete this time. I had a couple of friends competing, and I wanted to volunteer as a way to give back from all the help I got last year.

I met up with Terri on Friday night, and we headed to the Great Dane for dinner and to meet up with two of my college friends: Renae and Tom Scroggins. This would be Tom's first Ironman, and I know Renae was hoping to have a little help navigating Madison and the surrounding areas to cheer on her husband. We ended the evening with a trip to the Chocolate Factory for some ice cream - turtle sundae, I believe.

Saturday morning Terri and I drove up to Devil's Lake State Park for a triathlon clinic held by her friend, Cindi. We worked on transitions for quite some time (mine still need a little work), then headed out to ride the course (the Devil's Lake Triathlon was being held the following weekend). It was a PERFECT day for a ride, and the course was great, though hilly. After a quick transition run, we headed back to Madison.

Terri went out to the course to write some words of encouragement in sidewalk chalk, and I went in search of Roehr. Her friends from work just bought a condo about 2 blocks from the finish line, and I was lucky enough to be invited to stay there for the rest of the weekend. After a quick stop by the expo to look at grossly over-priced race merchandise, we went out for some great Italian food downtown. Then, of course, we went to the Chocolate Factory for more ice cream - caramel overload, I think was the name.

It was easy to fall asleep after all that food, and we knew it would be an early morning. We were up around 5-ish and walked a couple blocks to the swim. The weather was GORGEOUS! Perfect for race day. We reminisced about the horrible weather last year. Mostly we were very excited for this year's athletes, but deep down we were pretty jealous...

Roehr and I couldn't find a good place to watch the race outside, so we went inside Monona Terrace and watched out the windows. Not long into the swim, we needed to report to T1 - our volunteer post for the day. Basically, it involves helping the athletes get out of their swim clothes and into their bike clothes, then dealing with all the gear after they leave. I enjoyed being there as the pro women came through. They have next to nothing in their transition bags compared to the age groupers who brought everything but the kitchen sink. It was crazy for about 90 minutes, then it was all over.

On our way to meet Renae and go cheer on the cyclists, I ran into another friend, Tom Hamilton. He was supposed to be racing but woke up sick. I was pretty bummed for him. It's too bad that a whole year (or more) of training can basically go to waste if you have one bad day.

After a quick stop at Starbucks, we loaded up and headed to the top of the third big hill of the course. We ran into many fans from Des Moines. We were there for at least 3-4 hours before getting back downtown for the run.

The weather was still amazing, so being a fan was a lot of fun. We ate and made numerous trips to and from State Street and the finish line. Renae got to see a lot of Tom, and I got to cheer for a bunch of friends who were competing. It was fun to watch nearly everyone have great days - my friend Bob even PR'd by over an hour! And this was his fifth IM Wisconsin! He finally had a good weather day and took advantage of it!

(I had to take a picture of this guy. If you look carefully, he is wearing a cotton Faith Hill concert t-shirt. Not only was he one of the very few people who wore a non-technical fabric for a warm weather IM, but of all the shirts he owned, he picked the Faith Hill one... Other interesting clothing options I saw included a full (removeable) boot cast (I heard she biked and ran in it), running the marathon in Crocs, and running barefoot.)

As the night wore on, I hung out with Terri, her friend Cam, and her dad. Roehr went to the finish line to "catch" the finishers as the cross the line. We must have walked 10 miles all over the place to see everyone! One more trip to Starbucks (my second of the day and second of my lifetime) for beverages, then back down to State Street for, what else, ice cream! This time it was Ben & Jerry's Heath Bar Crunch!

Terri, Cam, and her dad left to go home at about 15:30:00 race time. I wanted to go home very badly at that time, too, but I thought that it might be bad karma to not stay and cheer on the finishers who finished at 16:30:00 (my finish time last year). I wandered back to the stands at the finish line and clapped and cheered and had a great time by myself thinking about last year and watching the clock approach midnight. I went home after the final athletes crossed the finish line, and my legs felt like I had just done an Ironman!

I awoke the next morning to rain, 50 degree temps, and wind... boy were they lucky!

Summer Revisited

With Labor Day being the unofficial end of summer, the time seems right for a recap of the summer's events...

Memorial Day Weekend - Tampa, Florida:
In January and February, I took the SCUBA certification class, but I still needed to do two certification dives. My options were to dive in Big Blue in Mason City in May (BRRR!!) or go dive somewhere else. I did NOT want to dive in an Iowa lake, so Laura and I decided to head to Florida and take care of it there. Laura was already going to Tampa for a conference the week after Memorial Day, so we just pushed the trip ahead a few days.

The plan was to arrive on Friday evening and dive on Saturday and Sunday mornings, then I would head home on Monday. The best laid plans... Laura's plane (we were on separate flights out of Des Moines) was delayed leaving DSM, missed her connection in Memphis (which happened to be the last flight out of Memphis that night), so she didn't get to Tampa until after my first dive was over. For reasons I still don't understand, she opted not to do her dives that weekend, but I finished my certification! And, we had a great time in Tampa, too!

June - Races and more races:
Dam to Dam is always one of my favorite races. It happens the first weekend in June and is the largest 20K race in the US. I ended up having a great race and PR'd. A really good way to start out the racing season.

Dam to Dam

The following weekend, I drove back up to Madison for the annual Ironman Epic Camp. This year the participation was sparse, but my good friend Terri had just moved to Madison, so we just turned it into a a fun time for the two of us. We rode 56 miles on Saturday and ran about 12 miles on Sunday. In between we ate some great food and just really enjoyed hanging out together.

Next up was the big event: the Hy-Vee Triathlon. It was one of the premier triathlons in the country this year and was held right in Des Moines. Besides the great age-group race, there were also ITU World Cup races for the pros that afternoon. This was roughly equal to having the Super Bowl in Des Moines. It was a VERY big deal. It was incredibly hot that day, and even the pros were going down. There is so much to tell about this great event, but the end result is that it went so well that next year the race will be an Olympic qualifier for Team USA! Too bad I'll be in Couer d'Alene...

My wave at the swim start of Hy-Vee

A couple pics of the Des Moines Tri Club after the race

Then, the following weekend was the Dutchman triathlon. Roehr was coming to town to participate, so I signed up at the last minute. A few days before the race, they announced that the water in the lake was too high (and contaminated) to swim in, so they changed it to a duathlon. The format was 5K run, 40K bike, and 10K run. I can honestly say it was one of the hardest races I've ever done. I was sore for a couple days after that. But, I did enjoy it enough to say I'll try another one next year!

The last weekend in June I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything (except lots of laundry to gear up for July!!

Fourth of July - the start of the travels:
Really, I didn't leave until the 5th of July, but whatever... I flew to San Diego for a conference for work. Let me just say that I loved San Diego! The weather is amazing and the part of town we were in was a ton of fun. The conference was great, and I managed to learn a lot, get some decent runs in, and eat lots of fish tacos!!

That Saturday, my good friend Danielle and her husband and 13 others from their church in Minnesota showed up in San Diego. I left the conference and joined up with them to prepare for our trip to Mexico the next day. There is a whole post on that trip, but let me just say again what a blessing to me it was to get to hang out with that amazing group of people and to serve that wonderful family in Mexico.

We spent a week in Mexico, then I came home to Iowa for some more serious laundry and more packing. Crystal came back to Iowa in the middle of that week and we set to packing for RAGBRAI. This was one of the best RAGBRAIs we've had yet - fun, relaxing, flat, you name it!

Again,the following week was spent cleaning, washing, drying, and re-packing again! The first weekend in August Crystal, Betsy, and I drove to Minneapolis to meet up with Sondra and Cara. The five of us (six, if you count baby Burkhart in Betsy's belly) climbed aboard a plane to South Carolina. We met up with Robin in Charleston and caravaned to Pawley's Island where Robin had rented a condo for the week. We spent four days going to the beach, reading books, shopping, eating, and generally trying to stay out of that oppressive heat and humidity! I'm a life-long Iowa girl, and I could not believe the heat and humidity of that place! Whoa!!

Crystal's Unofficial Bachelorette Party at the House of Blues

Back home in Iowa, we went to the State Fair on Thursday night (Gary Allan concert - VERY good!), Friday night (East-sider night), and again on Tuesday night (Dierks Bentley concert - also very good). It was another fun fair, but three nights was plenty for me.

Gary Allan

Sid and I at the Dierks Concert

No good pictures of Dierks on stage, but the truck was cool...

I finished my 2007 tri season with the 27th annual Big Creek Tri. It turned out to be a very hot day with most finishers' times a bit slower from last year. I can't be sure why no one thought of this earlier, but they had snow cones at the finish line this year. They were the perfect recovery treat right after crossing the finish line. So good, I had two! Another great way to recover after a hot race was in a tall, cold one. No, no beer at this event; the ice baths however looked quite refreshing!

Heading out for the run...

Post-race ice baths... ahh!

Since the fair ended, I have just been trying to get back in the swing of working again! This was a great summer - I got to travel so much and see so many great people and places, but it was exhausting, both physically and financially. I didn't do much of anything over Labor Day weekend and that was just fine with me!