My 1st GIVEAWAY (along with TTT)!!!

Happy Thursday everyone! Hope you are surviving the latter part of the week. We got hit with some massive storms last night. The thunder was so loud, it woke my husband and I up out of a dead sleep at 1am - it sounded like a cannon going off and we were terrified! And somehow, Julia slept RIGHT through it. Amazing - considering usually if you open her door a smidge, she wakes up. Goofball.

via Google images - this would have been us last night if Julia had gotten up!

I have 2 not-so-exciting things for 3 Things Thursday and 1 SUPER exciting thing! Which would you like first?

Ok, the not-so-exciting first it is!

1. I got a 10 mile run in today...but it was on the treadmill due to all the rain. It's better than nothing I suppose. I averaged 8:05 pace and finished in 1:20:58. My legs felt pretty heavy and I had a side stitch I was fighting off but I think it was because I was tired and dehydrated. Damn thunderstorms. But yay for mileage! (Thanks to all of you who gave me some motivation yesterday too - it helped me tremendously!) This is kind of how I felt today:

Via Google images - love the leotard/tights look circa 1985! No, I do not wear that running

2. I may head out tonight to get some scrapbooking done. I'm already a year behind with Julia's book...and she's only 2! My intention was to stay up-to-date with it but yea, that didn't happen. So now I have 425 pictures from the last year to figure out what the hell to do with all of them. A tall task if you ask me. Anyone else out there scrapbook??

And now for the EXCITING item of the day...

3. I'm hosting my first GIVEAWAY!!!! Thank you SO much to Sandy at BIC BANDS for sending an awesome band for me to give to one of YOU! I ordered my first 2 and they arrived today. I love them already and know you will too!

Let me tell you a bit about them -

• They are hand made and come in a variety of different styles, colors, widths
• They are meant to stay put on your head! I have lots of those cheap bands you get at Target that slip off my head after 3 seconds. These do not!
• They will not dig into your head - super soft, stretchy material that won't give you a headache like headbands!
• They are awesome. Plain and simple.

Here are a few pictures for you!

This is the same one the winner will get! Called Thin Black White Argyle Standard 20"

This would work for not only working out, but going out and going to work too!

Close-up of what you'll win (ignore my roots, please!)

Isn't it so cute?!

Here is the other one I bought for myself - it's called Thick Pink Green Dots Standard Size

LOVE it - will wear this all the time!

Here's how to enter:

1) You must be a follower of my blog (1 entry) - check out the left side of the screen and hit "Follow". Leave a comment to let me know you are a follower!

2) "LIKE" Bic Bands on Facebook HERE - leave a comment on their wall telling them "Erika @ This Spartan Will sent me!" Leave a comment here too to let me know (1 entry for the FB "like", plus 1 entry for commenting here)

3) Tell me where you'll wear your Bic Band - in an upcoming race? For work? Other? Leave a comment here (1 entry)

4) If you recruit a "new follower" to my blog, you get 3 extra entries and my new follower gets 1 extra entry! Again, leave me a comment telling me who you "recruited"!

5) If you re-post my blog and giveaway on your blog or Facebook page, you'll get 2 extra entries! Leave me a comment to let me know where you re-posted! (and thank you in advance!)

CONTEST ENDS Monday August 1st at 5pm Eastern time. I'll then randomly pick a winner from all of the entries!

Any questions? Just ask.

Thanks so much again to BIC BANDS - I'm so excited to share!



A plea for motivation and Q&A answers

Hi all - So here we are at Wednesday. I was trying to think of a topic that was not boring witty but still having trouble with that today. I'm also having trouble getting movitated to get out there and run. I did bike this morning for an hour, which is all fine and good, but my 70.3 freak out portion of the evening is starting.

I have 19 days left.

eek.

I feel like I need to be doing more.

I'm not sure I'm prepared.

via Google images - I am this mouse.

I need to run a lot of miles and I just can't seem to muster up the will power or the time to do it. Sure, I can handle the 4, 6 or 8 miles but I should be doing, like, 12 or more. But for some reason, I'm not feeling it.

I have a lot on my mind lately - namely Julia's 2nd birthday and the party that looms next weekend. Was supposed to be a "small gathering" at our house and has turned into a big bash. Yikes.

Ever have this feeling of overwhelmingness? (is that even a word?)

via Google images - this kid is hilarious

I know I need to attack this head-on but just not sure how. Any thoughts??

Anyway...onto other items. Megan @watchmegorun was the only one who submitted questions to me! Well, I take that back...Matt @ Go, Smitty, Go asked me if I'd tried McDonald's 59 cent cones..to which I reply - ours here are 79 cents! We're getting jipped! :) But yes, I do like them!

Here are Megan's questions and my answers:

• What's been your favorite race you've done and why?

This is a tough one - I've done quite a few of them, including 4 marathons, several half marathons, 5ks, 10ks, and 10+ triathlons among others. I'd have to say, though, my favorite so far was my Half Iron triathlon just this past June. I think it was my favorite because it was my biggest challenge so far. I was so happy that I was able to get through the training and go faster than my goal time by 16 minutes! But my other favorites are races where I run with my friends or with my husband - I always enjoy getting to share the experience with other people!  

• Any other races you feel you HAVE to do someday? Do you think you'll ever do a full ironman?

As much as I would love to do a full Ironman, I'm just not sure I have the time or the mental stamina to train for a full. It seems completely daunting to me. We'll see if my mind changes after my next 70.3 but as of now, it's doubtful. As for others I HAVE to do, I'm not sure if there is one I can think of in particular! Kona would be one, but it's not a HAVE to, it's more of a "wow, that would be amazing"... If I hadn't unofficially "retired" from marathons, maybe the NYC or Boston Marathon would be cool. We'll see...

• If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Spaghetti with meat sauce. It is my standard pre-race meal and I could live on pasta every day for sure! Yummo.

Thanks for the questions, and thanks again for any motivation you can throw my way!!

Have a great rest of your day!

Top 10 Tuesday

Hi all -

So it's Tuesday. Kind of one of those days that just sits there. It's not as bad as Monday, but then you know you still have 4 more days until the weekend. It's kind of blah.

I did, however, get a great run in this morning. Yea, it was on the dreadmill, but hey, that counts too. And Julia got to play with her best buddy Jack while I was running so really, it was a win-win. I ended up having time for 6.2 miles and finished in 48:20 - about a 7:47 pace. Felt great and finally my neck/shoulder didn't hurt - yahoo!

Anyway, back to the topic...

I thought maybe it would be fun to do a Top 10 list on Tuesdays! Maybe just 10 things I'm thinking about, 10 things about my training, 10 fun activities I like to do, or post 10 pictures or something. Who knows. We'll see what happens week to week, or if I can even remember to keep this theme up!

So here goes. Since our Julia's 2nd birthday is on Saturday, I thought I'd share 10 things about her that make me smile.

10. Her laugh is absolutely contageous. No matter how bad your day is, hearing her giggle is the best sound on earth.

9. She is a water baby - loves swimming just like her mommy!

8. She loves Ke$ha's song "We R Who We R" and dances like a maniac to it

7. She is always on the move - running, jumping, skipping. She often says "1,2,3, GO!" and then takes off running. Adorable.  

6. Her creative mind blows me away - she makes up songs, plays with her toys, makes up stories, knows how to use the iPad and the computer...and her little brain is always working.

5. She's already very motherly. She hugs her dolls and stuffed animals all the time and then puts her little Mickey Mouse figurines to "night night" using a washcloth as a blanket. Love it.

4. Although it's not 100%, she's usually very good at saying "please" when requesting things! (however, recently it's been "NOW!" instead which we need to put a stop to...)

3. She says  "GO GREEN! GO WHITE!" every time she sees Sparty or anything Michigan State related. That's our girl!!

2. She can count to 20 (no, really...she can)

And the #1 reason Julia makes me smile:

1. Her smile. She lights up the room and makes my heart melt.

Enjoy your day and I hope someone in your life makes you smile today!

Monday Motivator: celebrating life

Happy start of a new week! Hope you all had a great weekend and did something fun.

The rest of my weekend was busy, but fun...for the most part. Sunday I woke up and was supposed to run with Megan (go HERE for her blog) but I had a so much pain in my neck/shoulder that I could barely move. Not sure if I slept funny or it's something else. I opted to take some Advil and see if the pain would go away. It subsided enough by about 11am so I headed to the gym. Ended up doing a 6.2 mile run on the dreadmill in 49:42. Not too bad. The pain started to return though pretty quickly. And it's even worse today which sucks. I sure hope I don't have this happen before my 70.3 in 3 weeks or I won't be able to race.

My sister-in-law, brother-in-law and our 3 nieces came over to watch the Blue Angels at our house, and Rob took an earlier flight home so we had an impromptu party at our house! The girls just adore each other and Julia loved playing in her pool most of the afternoon to stay cool. We all wanted to jump in too!

Luckily Julia gets her stitches out today and I'm hoping for good results. Will not be fun to go to this appointment by myself with her but they tell me it won't be painful for her. I hope not.

And today marks the start of Julia's 2nd birthday week! She turns 2 on Saturday and neither of us can believe it. Here is the first picture of us as a family:

How is it she's already 2?

It's amazing to see her growth and progress and what a delightful (most of the time!) little girl she is. I'm in awe of her every day.

But as I look at her and realize that Rob and I are 100% responsible for her well-being, I get a little nervous! Can we really do this for the next 16+ years? There are times when I question that I'm doing what is right or what is best for her. There is no manual, no instructions, no homework or tests to make sure you know what you're doing. Parenthood to me is all about winging it and a lot of trial and error.

Through it all, though, we are doing our best to enjoy every moment, event the challenging ones, and laugh as much as we can. On days when I'm discouraged about training or had a bad run, I realize it doesn't really matter - Julia is what matters. (I know, that sounds a bit cheesy but hey) I think one of the main reasons I push myself with my triathlons and training is to ensure I'm as healthy as I can be so I live a long time for Julia.

And although my neck is still killing me (need to get this looked at), I still couldn't help but laugh this morning.  As I went to get Julia after she woke up, she looked up at me with the biggest smile on her face and proceeded to ask:

"Where'd Daddy go?"

Gotta love it.

Anyway... I also have a favor to ask! My friend Bri is having a Cutest Kids contest on her blog and Julia is part of it! Please go HERE and check out the photos. "Like" her page on Facebook and then "Like" Julia's picture - look for this one:

Thank you in advance!

• What amazes you about your kids (or for those without kids, maybe your nieces, or just kids in general)?
• What motivates you to keep training?
• What kind of cake should we get for Julia: Max & Ruby, Dora, SpongeBob or Mickey Mouse?  

Blue Angels, a Droid, and a Q&A

Hope you have enjoyed the weekend so far - it has been a super long day but at the same time, I can't believe it's already basically Sunday. Where does the time go!?

Guess I should back up to yesterday quickly - a few things worth mentioning:

My lovely friend Megan (her blog HERE) tagged me in the Q&A portion of the blog world.

 I wasn't familiar with it, but as I'm told, you can ask me any question you'd like and I'll do my best to respond! So fire away! I'm supposed to tag more people but since I'm still new to this, I'll just wait and see if anyone is interested in doing this themselves!  

Ok moving on...

Last night, our niece Krystal was able to babysit Julia so I could go out with my friend Nancy to dinner and a movie! It was such a fun girls' night out and I was very thankful to have a break! Since Rob has been out of town, it's been pretty much Julia 24/7. Not that it's a bad thing, but she hasn't been napping, been staying up late, etc. I definitely needed a bit of adult time and conversation!

We had a great dinner, chatted about everything and went to see Horrible Bosses. LOVE THIS MOVIE. If you haven't seen it, go now. Right now. I have a new/old crush on Jason Bateman now - he was fantastic in this movie and I laughed pretty much non-stop!

Even better, I had a LivingSocial voucher so we had "free" tickets, popcorn and pop - score!

This morning, I got up early and Julia and I headed downtown Detroit to meet up with Nancy and our friend Melissa to run in a 5k. It was Melissa's first EVER 5k (she is a rockstar for doing a 9 week training program to get to today!) so we were there to support her and run with her. The race was on Belle Isle and was a great, flat course for Melissa's first race.

She did an awesome job and I had a great time running with 2 of my mommy friends! Here we are after we finished:

I got home after the race and did a quick 1 hour bike ride on the trainer (about 19 miles) and then went to get my new toy: a Droid Fascinate phone! I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing and it's a bit overwhelming but I'm so excited to finally have a Smart Phone!

via Google images - yea, I pretty much feel like this!

My parents came over to watch the Blue Angels fly over our house - which was SWEET (yes, I used the word SWEET and yes, I realize it's 2011!). I took some video of them flying over but couldn't get decent pictures today. I did get pictures of my mom and dad with Julia though...on my new Droid! At least I know how to do this so far!

 Blowing bubbles!



Chalk drawings!

We enjoyed some Chinese food and a trip to Dairy Queen for my favorite treat, a peanut buster parfait. Heaven.

via Google images - YUMMMMM

I'm exhausted and luckily Julia was asleep at 8:30 tonight - yay! I, however, may not make it to 11pm.
Hoping to run with Megan tomorrow but weather will be the determining factor!

I leave you with these questions:

1. What questions do you have for me?
2. Do you have a Droid? How the hell do I use it?!
3. What is your favorite DQ treat?

Have a good night!

Re-living high school for the day

TGIF everyone! This week seems to have flown by - maybe the heat made me lose track of time! Luckily it looks like a bit of relief is on the way starting tomorrow. I hope it's the same where you are!

I saw this sign on my friend Jen's Facebook today and thought it was funny:

Anyway... so yesterday I felt like I threw myself back into my high school days, but without all the awkwardness of bad hair, rolled jeans with thick socks, baggy shirts and overalls. (yes, I was in high school from 1989-1993).

I was feeling the effects from my triathlon on Wednesday night and just didn't fell well yesterday morning - tired, dehydrated, sore, hungry. I debated about taking a day off, but then thought a swim might help loosen me up (and cool me down). So we headed to the gym and I did a 1.2 mile swim in about 36 minutes - drills, kicking, pulling, etc. (High school throw back #1) It felt good and was just enough for me for the day. And I rewarded myself with Jimmy John's - yummy.

Then I opted to take Julia to the pool too, even though I'm not "supposed" to with her stitches. Well I figure it wasn't that different than a bath (which they told me was ok). She had a great time...until some kids there borrowed stole her 2 favorite toys ("Applesauce" - translation: her blue octopus and "fishy" - a fish that looks like Nemo) and "lost them". Nice. I was so irritated and she was melting down, so we left. Still didn't find the toys - grr. She keeps asking "Applesauce and fishy, mommy?" Oy.  

Julia napped well and I got some stuff done around the house and watched the amazing Blue Angels fly over my house during their practice runs! Absolutely incredible - they're here for an air show down the street. They shook our house, they were so close!

Julia slept through all of it. After she woke up, I decided to take her to the Ann Arbor Art Fair (High school throw back #2). It's been a staple in my hometown forever and it's always a good time. We used to go there as kids and wander around so I figured, hey, it's only 104*, let's go with a 2 year old!

Yes this says 104 at 6:12pm...

My mom decided to come with us too (High school throw back #3) and we headed to the fair to go hear her favorite band play before we toured the fair. Here is Julia enjoying some kettle corn and the music!

We wandered around a bit more and I actually bought 2 pieces! They are re-prints (since I couldn't really justify $2,000 for each of the originals of these!!) but I love them...now to find places for them!

Then we ended up at a restaurant downtown where the 2 high schools in Ann Arbor were having a reunion (High school throw back #4). We walked in and there was my high school coach, Denny Hill! (High school throw back #5). So thrilled to see him - he just recently retired from coaching after a billion years. He is a legend in the swimming world and helped me so much throughout my years swimming for him. I told him I was doing triathlons now and thanks to my strong swims, I do quite well in the races! He just smiled and laughed.

The man, the myth, the legend: Hill

I loved spending a few minutes with him and truly I admire, respect and adore him as a coach and person. Remind me to tell you some Hill stories sometimes...that would be a whole separate post!

We headed back to the car, dropped my mom off and got home after 10pm. I was exhausted and after Julia fell asleep, I think I was out cold within an hour and slept in this morning a bit too! (High school throw back #6)

All in all, a fun throw back Thursday!

1. How was your Thursday?
2. Do you have a coach or teacher that you still look back, 20+ years later for example, and admire?
3. Do you have an art fair near you? Do you go and buy anything or just browse?

Have a great day and weekend! Stay cool!

Pterodactyl Triathlon Race Recap

Yes, there is a triathlon on a Wednesday night (it is part of a series of 3, all dinosaur themed in June/July/August)

Yes, they still went ahead with the race even with 99 degree temperatures and a heat index of over 105.

Yes, I was dreading it and not sure how I would feel as I am normally not good in the heat

Yes, I did finish! Here's how everything went:

I arrived at Island Lake State Park about 2 hours before the start of the race. Still had to pick up my number and traffic getting there is always a crapshoot (BTW, anyone know where that phrase came from?) so I like to get there early. It was 99 degrees on my car temperature guage. 

I decided to switch to the Elite Wave when I picked up my number (#184). I got all of my gear from my car and headed over to the transition area to set up. I was super early so my poor bike looks lonely.

The good thing is I was on the end of the row, close to the "Swim In" and "Run Out" areas.

Here are some random pictures of the area:

The bikes did fill up! There were almost 450 racers

I love all the dinosaurs all over the place!

 The swim course - although hard to see

Cheesy timer self-photo

 Can't wait to see this after the race!



 Waiting in the shade for my dad to arrive

 My dad setting up his transition

More peeps!

I had a chance to sit with my dad for a while before they called us to the start. We love people watching and it helps take my mind off of the race for a few minutes.

So around 5:45 we headed into transition to grab our stuff and get to the beach. They start the waves 5 minutes apart according to age after the elite wave, so my dad didn't start until about 30 minutes after me.

The Swim

The water temperature was 86+ but it wasn't too bad - there were cool spots here and there. The start is always annoying while people try to get situated and turn left at the first buoy. I started at the front, since my swim is my strength, and tried to get into an empty space. I found a good spot, got into a rhythm and was doing just fine.

Then he appeared.

A large man on my right, basically on top of me. I couldn't take a full stroke because I would have smacked his head every time. Looking back on it, I probably should have done that because then maybe he would have backed OFF! He would not leave my side as much as I tried for 3/4 of the swim. Twice I actually stopped, did a breaststroke kick and yelled to him "DAMMIT. MOVE!!" He didn't hear me. I was so frustrated and upset. Then I proceeded to get kicked in the stomach and crawled over (seriously, people, it's a big lake and there were less than 50 people in my wave - find your own space!!) so I was miserable.

We finally got out of the swim and I was not happy overall or with my time - 14:45 for 1/2 mile. Way slower than last time but I felt like the course was long. (others said the same thing).

Transition 1

No wetsuits (obviously) so it was fairly quick to get my swim cap/goggles off and get my bike stuff on. I got out of transition and chose to run my bike up the grass hill to the path before getting on. But for some reason, I could not get clipped in and my gear was too high. I must have looked like a fumbling idiot who just learned how to ride a bike. Sheesh. I finally got going but felt like I wasted a lot of time.

The Bike

I thought I was going at a pretty good pace and the breeze was nice too - didn't notice the heat and the route is really shaded. I felt good and then started to get passed by the fast people - which is always a bit frustrating. I'm super strong in the swim and notsomuch with the bike. I got passed by several men and quite a few women - most of whom were age 40+. Women seem to get faster as they get older in the triathlon world!

Made the turn and headed back and continued to try to keep a good candence and save my legs a bit on the downhills. Meanwhile, the water in my bottles was about 95 degrees so didn't drink as much as I should have. They had 1 water stop so I did take a cup from there which helped but man, was my mouth dry.

I finished the 12.4 mile bike in 38:09 which was ok for me - about 19.5mph pace.

Transition 2

Quick change into my running shoes and visor and I was off on the run. It was less than a minute here which was great for me!

The Run

This is where I was most concerned about the heat. We start the run going around the parking lot, then up the pretty long obnoxious hill which isn't really shaded. They had water right at the start of the hill so I walked through to make sure I got enough to drink. Started back running up said hill and felt alright, but not great. I passed a few people as I went along and then around 1.5 miles in, I got passed by a 27 year old woman who was flying. I'm not sure how the hell she was going so fast, but it was a bit disheartening for me. The next water station was at about 1.7 so I walked through it, grabbed 2 cups of water, drank one and dumped the other over me. My dad told me to put ice or cold water on the insides of my wrists to help cool my blood temperature down more quickly. I did that too and it did seem to help a bit! (note to all of you doing a race in the heat - ice your wrists!)

The turn around was just before mile 2 and we headed back - a couple of other small hills but nothing too bad, and mostly shaded. I passed a few more people who were walking and as I got closer to about 1/2 mile to go, I sped up as much as I could. The last .3 is downhill so I just booked it to the finish. My run time was 24:12, which computes to 7:48 pace. I'll take it.

Whew!

The Finish

I finished with an overall time of 1:19:19, which was 3 1/2 minutes slower than my time in June for the same course. I was disappointed at first but considering the heat, the possible long swim course, and oh the heat, I'm ok with that!

About 30 minutes after I finished

cute finisher's medal

My Dad

Since my dad's wave started 30 minutes later than mine, I was able to go watch him finish on the bike. He looked strong which was great to see. I waited for him to come onto the run and handed him the rest of my bottle of water. He looked great on the run!

I walked back onto the run course and ran with him for the last 1/2 mile. He told me he passed quite a few people on the run and asked if he was running "upright" which I said he was.

Note: my dad is 62 and had his right hip replaced in November. He is in incredible shape and is back to being better than he was before the surgery. He continues to amaze me and I can only hope to be in half the shape he's in when I'm 62.

I pushed him to finish strong, and his time was about 1:38, a minute faster than his June time thanks to a super strong run.

 

finishing strong! (ignore the clock time - that was the time from the start of my wave)

Post-Race and The Results

They did the awards quickly and originally they said I got 5th in my age group, as did my dad. Here we are with my dad's buddy Wally, who won his age group!

 And with my age group award - a cool bike chain bottle opener thingy - unique for sure!

Here is a close up of the award

Nice shirt, medal and award!

Revised Results!

So I woke up this morning to check the official results and low and behold, I was actually 3rd in my age group (out of 27) and 15th overall female (out of 158). My dad was actually 4th in his age group, not 5th!  

The race wasn't as bad as it could have been. Thank goodness there was a breeze, and that my tri suit stayed wet from the swim so it cooled me down a bit too.

The most disappointing thing about yesterday? I stopped for my normal post-race ice cream treat and they were OUT of vanilla!! What?! I almost cried.

Now to see if I can find motivation today (even hotter) to do a recovery workout of any kind. Not feeling it right now but maybe later!

Thanks for reading my re-cap and for all of your support!!



Here goes nothing...

Happy Heat Wave  - er, Wednesday everyone!

I'm getting ready to head out to my triathlon shortly. As of now, it's still a go, even though many communities in the area are canceling outdoor activities for today and tomorrow. Hmm.

My bag is packed:

My water bottles are filled (all with ice, although I'm sure it will all melt in 1.2 seconds)

My bike is ready:

Will grab some G2 on my way up there (it's about a 45 minute drive)

Now the question is, am I ready? Dunno about that one - do I LOOK ready?? That's up for debate.

 (I love that Mickey Mouse sitting in Julia's high chair...)

Well here goes nothing. Heat index is well over 100 and I hear the water temperature is 86+. Geez, maybe I should bring some bubble bath and a book and hang out for a bit instead of racing.

I'll be back later tonight or tomorrow morning with a race report...assuming I make it through in 1 piece! 

WISH ME LUCK!!