Kathleen's Adventures

Yikes! I'm down to three days to go. I'm hopping on my plane in the morning to head to Tempe. Many of the group are already there and I've been getting reports galore. Apparently the weather is awesome right now. Too bad a HEAT WAVE is on its way! Actually I'm not that concerned about the heat. I think we can deal with it just fine. Now to my goals. They are really quite simple on the surface: 1. Swim the same or faster than last year (1:17) 2. Bike faster than last year (7:41, 14.6 mph) 3. Run faster than last year (6:21, 14:32 min/mile) Digging a bit deeper though, there is far more to these goals. 1. Swim - this one has the least room for improvement although I think I have improved. I swam pretty well last year and would be fine with that time again. I think the absolute fastest I expect to go would be 1:10 and I'd be very disappointed with anything slower than 1:20. But I also have to remind myself we're talking about a few minutes here. S...

1. My Family 2. My Friends 3. My Health (I'm not sure what a picture of health looks like...) 4. Pink Spandex The best thing about Ironman Arizona? I get to combine all of the above into one awesome weekend! My family and friends are coming to support me. My friends will be out racing with me. I'm healthy, which I think most of us healthy people take for granted. If I weren't healthly I wouldn't be able to even dream of doing this stuff. And I get to wear pink spandex!

So...the forecasts aren't looking so hot for Tempe. Or rather they are looking VERY hot. We're talking highs around 95-97. Wow. I've never run in temps that hot. I guess there is a first time for everything!! I have developed 5 proven strategies for beating the heat come race day: 1. Wear a full length white monotard (note: not unitard, but monotard). I'm sure we have an old one from ballet somewhere in a closet in Beaumont 2. Pull a Michael Jackson/Sindballe Torbjorn and wear 1 glove (white of course) and put ice down the glove 3. Accidentally fall into Tempe Town Lake a few times on the run. The water temp is running around 68 right now. 4. Spend Friday and Saturday in Flagstaff - apparently it is snowing there. Do people freeze and thaw the same way that water bottles do? I'm going to try it and hope I take over 13 hours to completely thaw. 5. Hire someone to bike and run next to me with an umbrella, like a cabana boy. Everyone has recommended that I stay in the ...

With a little help from my mom ( ok , a HUGE surprise donation), I'm officially over my fundraising goal for the American Cancer Society. I just received a donation from my sister as well, putting me at $5,560 right now. Last year Janus made an additional $750 donation to the ACS on my behalf, so I'm assuming they will do the same this year. I'm assuming I'll be close to $6,500 when all is said and done. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

"Finish Without Regret" is on a pink post-it note on my calendar just under April 13. It has been there for at least two months. How do I plan to finish without regret, you ask? Well, I happen to have 6 steps to execute my plan. What a coincidence that today happens to be 6 days from my race! 1. Have a plan and sticking to it. Unless of course I need to deviate from it (highly likely in a race this long). But I am also flexible and have planned for my plan to fail, so I won't freak out when/if it does happen. I will roll with the punches the day brings me. 2. Be prepared. Mentally and physically, I'm prepared. I am as prepared as I possibly can be heading into this race and there will be no "what if I'd ridden longer on that day, or what if I had done more long swims, or what if I had done that one extra long run?" 3. I made close to 25 of my closest tri -buddies sign up for the race with me. I do not think I will ever have to go long on race...

Team W is 7 members strong this year and I'm ecstatic about it! Here's the team roster: #99 - Ben W (dad) #99 - Sharon W (mom) #99 - Elizabeth W Kiehne (sister) #99 - Dr. Doug (dad's best friend/old grump men partner in crime) #99 - Linda (Doug's wife and Dad's best drinking buddy) #99 - Jill Spang (running friend coming to support) # 99 - Me! I truly am excited and grateful that so many will be wearing the Team Pink next Sunday. I know they all love me and are excited to cheer me along and support me throughout the weekend. We're about worried about keeping Dr. Doug entertained through all of this - hopefully we can find him some dog races to go to or he can figure out a way to gamble on the Ironman athletes. Thanks team! Travel safe and I can't wait to see you all!