Tri-ing Life and More

So on Mother's Day I took on Kinetic Sprint.  I try to do this race every year and I love it.  I always camp the night before and enjoy the weekend.  I had a goal this year of breaking 1:30 and it was totally possible except for just getting back from London.  I usually come back dehydrated from traveling but I tried to avoid that.  Amanda and I went down on Saturday afternoon with Callie and set up the tent and got a short ride in.  Dinner with Team Z was fun as always and got me ready for the next day.  It was an early to bed so we could wake up at sunrise (because that is when Callie wakes up).  I of course didn't sleep well because it was hot so I was thrilled to get up and start the day. The first race of the season is always fun to try to remember everything.  Set up transition successfully and even remembered to shift into the easy gear on my bike since you start uphill.  Callie was cute because she was super excited to see m...

Hey all, It has been awhile since I wrote but so much has happened.  Somehow I let my life get crazy busy and I usually love it.  So what has happened since Disney. Had Lasik done!  Greatest thing ever to see all the time.  Amazing how many positions Callie sleeps in during the night.  Strangest surgery but so worth it. Also swimming knowing that I won't lose my contacts is pretty great. Ran a 10k in DC for Alum Run and kept around a 9:30 min mile pace.  By the way, that is great considering I hadn't been speed training Hiked Old Rag and Billy Goat trails.  I have finally hit the key hikes in VA and want to keep exploring.  I love it! Decided to sign up for a marathon in November with Jen with the goal of breaking 4 hours.  This will be hard for this normally 10 min miler but I am ready to get "fast" with my hopefully 9:09 pace. Built my first garden.  So much more on this hopefully once it starts producing but I am so excited....

So finishing the wrap up of our fun post half marathon adventures. Day 3: Universal Studios We were all excited to see both Harry Potter worlds. I was very excited to see the new one in Universal Studios since I had been to Hogsmeade before. We had slight issues getting into the park since 4 of us forgot to print tickets.  Despite what their website says, you need a paper copy to get into the park. Good reminder for next time. Once we got into the park, we ran right to the new Harry Potter portion of the park and the new Gringott's bank ride. After 45 minutes of waiting in line, the ride broke down. So we definitely weren't off to a good start. We decided to enjoy the Diagon Alley area and some got their butterbeers (I don't like butterscotch so I passed). I am very impressed that both Harry Potter areas are done so well. It really does feel like you are going into the movies. Sadly they are crazy busy so that does take some of the joy aw...

A lot of my friends raced half or full marathons this weekend and many hit PRs. It made me start thinking about what I want this season. My knee is feeling the best it has in three years so I have high goals. I want to finally achieve the speed I have wanted for years. My swim is getting faster since I have been swimming so much for the Bay Swim. My run is feeling comfortable and thanks to Callie, I am getting faster. I am getting faster each week. I finally went on a bike ride today and enjoyed it. It has been months since I have been biking so it was nice to be smiling while riding through horrible winds. So I finally feel like I can put together a good race.  Kinetic Sprint: remember how to enjoy racing. Also it would be great to run the 5k under 27 minutes  Jamestown International: qualify for age group nationals. I only have to finish in the top third and I think I can do it. Gotta keep training hard Bay Swim: finish under 3 hours This gets me to July and ...

Race is over so time to celebrate!  We had planned ahead on the parks and booked FastPasses.  Post race on Sunday, we went back to the hotel, cleaned up and got some breakfast.  Then off to Hollywood Studios!   This is a park with the least amount of rides and the most shows so we didn't have to worry about the limited time in the park and we had plenty of chances to sit and enjoy the shows. It was also not very crowded which was a huge plus.  Immediately we found the Memory Pass camera guys and got pictures...gotta document this trip.  We also found several characters so we jumped in line for Goofy.  He stole Jo's medal and wore it on his nose.  It was entertaining.  After that we hit several rides, using our Fast Passes well.  I hadn't been to this park in at least 6 years so it was nice to go again.  I still love Tower of Terror (Hiram probably not so much...see picture below).  Rock N' Roller coaster is still great but t...

We did it!  The three of us started together and ended the race together at 2:59:37.  Amazing morning spent with two wonderful girls who have now finished a half marathon! We flew down to Orlando on Saturday morning, just beating the snow.  We made it in plenty of time for the expo although I think we were all worried a little bit.  I even made them run to the expo shuttle which didn't thrill them at all.  The expo was easy and after a fast walk around, we went back to our hotel, All-Star Movies, to grab the rest of the gang and hit Downtown Disney for dinner.  No surprise, Downtown Disney was packed.  We had dinner at the carry out pub but I think we were all happy.  Early night to bed since 2:30 wake up was super early! Expo pic! 2:30am Sunday--Day starts Jo and I amazing made it out of bed easily, amazing what adrenaline does.  Caught the shuttle at 3am and made it to the race site super early.  We had fun taking pictures ...