Kathleen's Adventures

Click here for more pictures! Wow. What a day. I wish I could bottle up the awesome high you get during an Ironman to make it last just a little bit longer. Pre -Race Team W (my parents, Dr. Doug and Linda, Jon, and myself) did not arrive in CDA until about 1am Friday morning. You just don't realize (at least I don't...) how far across the country northern Idaho is from Houston! It takes a long time to get there no matter how you do it. Friday morning I did a quick swim before standing in line 1.5 hours to register. Note to self: get in line before 9:45am or after noon to register (opens at 10am). I got in line around 10:15 and stood in the cold windy rain for way too long - I guess it was good practice for braving similar elements that were to come on race day! Saturday was actually a fairly pretty day - the calm before the storm. Jill, Jon, and I did a quick 30 minute spin along the lake before our group met for a big group picture. After that I did a quick 15 min...

I woke up this morning and could not go back to sleep so I decided to get out of bed and pulled out the suitcase...guess this is really happening! The sun is coming up earlier and earlier and I think I really am a true child of the sun - when it is up I am awake. That will be very interesting when we get to CDA and the sun comes up at 4:30. I hope the hotel room has good curtains! I have been asked by several people over the last few days "how's the ticker?" Seriously - the term "ticker" was used over and over again. It was kind of funny. I haven't blogged about the POTS stuff lately mostly because it has not really been on my mind, which is a good thing. I did sit down and read back about 6 months on my blog the other day and I am blown away at how sick I was then and how healthy I seem to be today. I say seem because I have learned that you just never know. Over the past few months, things have seemed to be okay health-wise. I have not been cons...

Was a total success! Jon and I left wondering why in the world we don't go there more often. Despite lovely traffic to and from it just really isn't that hard to get to for a weekend. Add that to the fact that my company has 2 corporate units there (one on South Congress and one a Mopac and 360), and hopefully we'll be showing up there quite a bit more often. Saturday morning I had the fastest 21 mile run I have ever done. Yes, my 20 mile run for IMAZ last year was run at a faster pace than this one, but I said 21 mile run, not 20, so it is comparing apples to oranges, so I still get to claim this one as my fastest. And possibly close to my hottest too (at least compared to Houston/IMAZ training...Chicago and St. George training most likely brought similar weather conditions). I rolled out of bed at 5 Saturday morning after a whopping 4 hours of sleep (need to talk to Camden about the lovely day glow lights they put outside each bedroom window...) and headed over to Rogue. ...

I am soooo excited about my little weekend adventure in Austin. It will be a change of scenery at just the right time. The only issue now is I am afraid I planned waaaaay too much in way too short of a time frame. Jon and I are driving up later tonight, enjoying a lovely picnic dinner in the car (Zoe's, of course). Tomorrow morning, I'm running 14 miles with the Rogue training group around campus and Hyde Park, some of my old stomping grounds. The lady I spoke with said "we're running here and here, which won't be hilly." Ha! I looked at the route...there are indeed many many hills. For you Austinites, you might not call them hills, but this Houstonian calls them hills for sure. After my run with the group, Jon is going to meet up with me and we'll finish up my run on the Town Lake trail - probably one of my favorite places to run. After that, Jon and I are heading to Gruene to meet up with my sister's family for lunch. Whohoo! I haven't seen the ...