Kathleen's Adventures

I'm trying to be the best girlfriend, aunt, sister, triathlete, MADD advocate, tri club president, employee and friend that I can be right now. I think I'm doing okay at some of those roles, but failing miserably at others. I think the emotional roller coaster we call Ironman is about to take off on its fastest and final ride before the race - an 8 day ride! I have not slept well in 10+ nights (but who is counting?). I needed to swim, run, and get my oil changed/car wash today but I think the rain is going to have other ideas. I woke up this morning to see Kristi's best friend donated $500 to RADD . Wow. That made me cry. Then I got on the trainer to ride my bike for a bit (only my 2 nd workout this week....not okay) and started watching the 2006 Ironman World Championships on DVR . That made me cry too! I have always said it is hard to cry and run at the same time...you end up not really being able to breathe...I don't recommend it. I learned the same goes for the...

Years ago when my sister danced the lead role in Cinderella (three years in a row, but who was counting?), her pictures graced the cover of the Weekend section of the Beaumont Enterprise. I was so proud of her and would always take the paper to school to show all my friends that my sister was essentially a total badass. At the same time though, I knew in the back of my head that my roles as a mouse, a bird, and Cinderella's ugly stepsister were most likely never going to land me the same kind of spread that playing Cinderella landed my sister. Well, here we are some 15 or so years later, and watch out Beaumont, today, I "grace" the cover of the sports section. I say grace loosely as there is nothing graceful about it and I'm not exactly sure they got my best side, but oh well. It is all for an awesome cause and I am beyond flattered they even wanted to do an article on my Race Against Drunk Driving at all. The online version of the article was posted last night. I ...

Ironman Florida bib numbers were just posted a few hours ago. I'm lucky #88. I think I quite like it! I was #99 in IMAZ in 2009, but 99 was closer to the air temp that day than anything else. I really wouldn't enjoy 88 air temp either, but we shall see what happens there. I have 11 days left until the race, but just a week left until I leave. I'm just a little stressed out right now, and we're also going out of town this weekend, so busy is certainly an understatement. I haven't slept well in about a week either, so that is not helping anything. I'm on the verge of sick but really think (and hope) I just need sleep. My to-do list is growing by the second but I think I will be able to get everything done that I need to. The good thing is that once I actually get to Florida, there will not be a whole lot of things to do. Since we are staying basically at the race site, much of the pre -race stress should be eliminated because everything I need to do will just b...

I picked the perfect Friday to take off work and have a three day weekend. I picked that Friday a while back to take off and go home to Beaumont to take my car in. The 5 year warranty conveniently expires while I am in Florida and I had no time between now and then to take it in to get worked on. I had to call in the troops (Mom and Dad) for help for this one as taking a car to get worked on as a single, working person in Houston is anything but easy. Friday morning was crisp and bright...and WINDY. I met up with Richard and Amie, a couple from Beaumont who I had only briefly met in person, but who I had recently started communicating with regarding The Gusher Marathon (Beaumont's first marathon, next May!), and my Race Against Drunk Driving. It turns out we have several friends/family friends in common, but it is Beaumont, so no one should have been surprised. They wanted to come out and help me with my last semi-long ride for Ironman Florida. How awesome is that? We were also j...

Apparently this is possible when there are only 12 people in it! I switched things up last week so I could do a long open water swim which included a 1/2 mile race and a 1 mile race on Saturday morning. It was so odd to not wake up early and do a long run on a Saturday! Sleeping in a bit was nice though. Tri On the Run hosted the swim race and it was a great idea for everyone doing fall half or full ironman races. I got in before the 1/2 mile race and swam 13 minutes (I kept doing out-and-backs to make sure I wasn't missing the race start!), then I waited about 2 minutes and started that race. I realized soon there weren't many other girls around me but knew some guys were still ahead. This race was just 1 loop on the course they had set up. Towards the back and all the way back, they were even able to give us some "realistic" training - as in the wind was howling and it actually managed to get choppy in a small neighborhood lake. I also picked it up a bit on the w...

Can I do it? We will see. We have raised $8,500 in less than a month. That is absolutely incredible. My goal started at $1,000, then $2,500, then $5,000, then $7,500, and now $10,000. I promise I'll stop there once we reach it...(maybe). Monday marked the one month anniversary since Kristi's death. In some ways it seems like forever ago and in others it seems like yesterday. I know the pain has not even begun to subside from her family's hearts but I also know they have found at least a small bit of joy as well in my little race against drunk driving . They have found joy because my little race has turned into something huge - a portrait of Kristi and her family and how much they are and always will be loved. We have received donations from 132 people - 132 - my hand already hurts thinking about the thank-you notes, but my heart is also filled with joy when I see that number...and the joy in my heart pales in comparison to the joy in the hearts of Kristi's friends and f...

I am selling my 2006 Quintana Roo Tequilo . Please forward this along to anyone who might be interested. Below is a brief description from Slowtwitch : TEQUILO Here is another riddle: What is the second lowest priced bike in which one can find the "Big Four" frame features? (Well, big 3 1/2). Yup, it's this one, at $2300, and you get a fifth frame feature for the extra $400: a carbon rear-end.While carbon bikes that cost a thousand dollars more than the Tequilo are getting most of the press, this bike quietly sits at a price point roughly similar to Felt’s S22 and Cervelo ’s P2 SL , and its mission pretty much mimics that of these other two aluminum bikes. Simply put, the Tequilo is a bike atop which you can ride, and not wonder if you’re giving any time up. This mid-$2000s price point is the sleeper in this year’s tri bike lineup, not just in QR’s product range, but throughout. This bike is as good an example as any. As stated, the frame has aero tubes, a rear w...

Gees - October certainly is the birthday month...and it seems mid-October is even crazier! Monday was Jon's birthday. We went out to celebrate on Saturday. We saw Couples' Retreat and ate at Farrargo's - I'd call it a real date! Jon's present I am excited about still isn't here, but I also gave him a roundtrip Southwest flight voucher to fly wherever he wants (presumably somewhere with me, but maybe I shouldn't hold my breath). Thursday was dad's birthday. He just isn't easy to shop for these days...at the ripe old age of 77 there just isn't much else he needs. Mom did, however, get him the gift of a lifetime yesterday in San Antonio. He went for a little ride in this: The World War II-vintage Boeing B-17 bomber Liberty Belle Mom had seen it in the San Antonio paper the day before while they were visiting and signed him right up. He just thought they were going to "look at it" and had no idea he was riding on it until they got there...

I'm done running!! * * * * * Well, not really, but it makes me feel better to think so. I did my last official long run for Ironman Florida last night. Next weekend I will run 10-13 or so and then just 6-8 the weekend after that. It is sick and somewhat nice at the same time to say I only have to run 10-13 next weekend. I am so thankful to have been through this before because if I had not, I could see some serious freakouts on my part going on right now. It is soooooooo nice to not have the fear of God in me anymore like I did before my first ironman . I do think that fear makes that first experience that much more special, but at the same time, once you have even just one finish under your belt, things are a lot easier - if you let them be. Doing a long run after work on a Thursday night was definitely out of the norm for me. I was worried by about mile 2 that it was the worst idea I had ever had...not to mention the heat index was over 100 when we started, on a day that tied...

...I keep telling myself that anyway. I know next week when my "taper" will have started on paper it still will feel like I'm in full training because I still have to workout as frequently, just not quite as long. It will feel more like a taper after the next weekend. Jon and I met my parents in Austin this weekend to play and go to the UT/Colorado game. We had nice techno music so loud below us that the walls were shaking both nights we were there, so we didn't quite sleep as much as we had hoped for. Saturday morning I did my longest training run for the race, 21 miles. I ran with an Austin training group on a route they called "flat." Ha! The first half was almost entirely uphill and the second was almost entirely downhill. My mile splits were very even throughout the whole run, with my last 2 miles being a tiny bit faster than all my others. I also ran a little bit faster than my great 18 mile run the weekend before, so I'm satisfied with my running....

Jon and I are going back to Austin again this weekend to play and go to a UT football game with my family. I am doing my longest run while I am there on Saturday but also want to bike a bit on Sunday. I am looking for flat options...and of course coming up empty handed. But, when I was looking for routes, I came across this , and I thought it was hilarious. Basically people are talking about avoiding going down this hill on 2222, because you can get up to 50-60 mph going down it, because it is huge, etc. Um, ya. Jon and I CLIMBED UP that hill over Labor Day. Apparently it has its own little reputation that us out-of- towners knew NOTHING about!

Thank goodness I made it out of that alive!!! On Saturday, several of us rode the Pineywoods Purgatory ride in Lufkin . Wow. That was 101 miles of straight hills. I'm not sure I ever need to go back to Lufkin again. Around mile 75 or so I texted Jon to say I was alive and where I was. He wrote back and said he was sleeping in the back of the car, with no energy to talk, because "that was a tough ace ride." He did the 70 mile route...so I felt a bit better about how awful I felt at that point! After approximately 6.5 hours of riding, I made it back to the car. We were at McDonald's in no time and I was hungry less than an hour after scarfing down a quarter pounder meal. Hmmm ..... I will say that the ride was pretty and well organized, but he road surface was awful from about mile 10-55, and that just takes a lot out of you. There were 1-2 twenty plus mile sections that were almost all up and no down. By the time we finally go to go down, the headwind was blowing r...

Wow. Knowing, without a doubt, you are doing a good thing or helping someone else is one of the best feelings in the world. I think this email is going to get me through more than a few of my toughest training days I have coming up: I think I can honestly say that there have been very few moments in my life that have made me feel as good as I do when I click on the link and continue to see more money being donated. It breaks me down to know that there are people out there who care. I can not thank you enough for everything you have done and continue to do for my family and I. You are absolutely amazing and I couldn ’t have asked God for a better best friend. So far 57 people have donated in memory of Kristi, in honor of the McCarthy family, or in support of my fight. Wow. THANK YOU EVERYONE, I AM SO BLESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think Mike and Katie are both going to come watch IMFL now. I am very excited. It will be great to have their support, and it will also be great to give them a mini beach vacation in the process. Adding them to the team of Mom, Dad, Jon, Mrs. Clark, and Dr. Doug and Linda just means the sea of pink will be bigger than ever! Now, I just need some sleep and emotional and physical focus to bang out these last 2.5 weeks of major training before I taper. In these next 2.5 weeks I will need to swim 15,000-20,000 yds , bike close to 350 miles, and run somewhere around 75 miles. That is a lot...but my " Ironman audience" has increased exponentially since Kristi's death, and I do not want to let anyone down. Yikes! that is a scary thought. I just need to figure out a way to take off work entirely between now and November 7 because it is really getting in the way of training and sleeping!