sorry!

So sorry that it has been forever since I last blogged!!! I promise I haven't given up on triathlons, I am still goin strong! In fact, this weekend I ran 4.5 miles in 48 minutes. This is the farthest I have EVER run, so that was pretty awesome! I also had personal training on Monday and my trainer had me running intervals on the treadmill that got up to 8.5! I'm not sure how fast this is in mph...if anyone knows, let me know, but I do know it's f*#$ing fast! Haha. He then had me doing squats, and today, 2 days later, I can hardly walk. I think I look like a duck. It's pretty hilarious actually! Haha. I have been so busy running around the city having a social life...with my new boyfriend :)  Things are great with him and I am super happy. We are having so much fun getting to know each other better while we explore the city. He's like my personal tour guide..he takes me all these places I haven't explored yet. It's great :) I know some people are worried that now I won't make time for my training or that I will just give up...but fear not doubters! I am in the world of tri for good! I love the sport and I am not going to let my social life take me away from my passion for this sport. This is something I am doing for me...and one thing I like so much about my new guy...he enjoys talking about...well, it's mostly me talking about triathlons. Haha...I think I am slightly obsessed with this sport...it's kinda funny. People who know me know by now that if they get me started I am gonna talk for a long time...it's amazing how interesting wetsuits and running shoelaces can be. Haha! I was reading Brybrarobry's blog and he is collecting money for his beer fund. Haha...I think this is an awesome idea, he just added a paypal spot on his blog and people can donate money. I want to do this too, but not for beer. I really need a wetsuit and I need to start saving for a bike if I am going to stay with this sport...which I plan on doing. I only have 9 followers though...so I don't really think I have enough people reading my blog to actually raise money for anything. So, here is my shameless sales pitch for my blog:

Help out an aspiring triathlete with big dreams and a small wallet! After all, I spend my days shaping the minds of the young people of our society...some may call this being a teaching assistant. I call it a great job that pays shit. If you donate to my blog I will thank you....I don't have much to offer in terms of prizes or anything, but I would be happy to send you a beautiful commemorative photo of me using the equipment I buy with your money! I will even throw in a free bike ride or walk with me and an afternoon filled with laughter and smiles...what could be better than donating your hard earned money to a young triathlete and getting nothing in return? Haha! Donate now...or maybe I should say donate as soon as I can figure out how the hell to get a paypal thing on my blog...and expect your commemorative photo within several years of your donation date! I am accepting cash or check sent to my house...email me for the address, or credit card donations on the blog...again, once I can figure out how that shenanigans works.

Hmm...well, it worked for Bryan Payne...perhaps it will work for me too?

Chugging right along...

Well, as I said in my last post, last week was very crazy. I had an awesome weekend though to end the crazy week, so that was good. After finally getting my cake done, I spent Friday night at my friend's house hanging out while her daughter had her birthday party. That ,fun. On Saturday I slept in a little and then I hung out around the house cleaning and having a kind of "relaxing" day. I also went swimming on Saturday and then I went to a graduation party and out to a movie. Sunday I woke up early for practice with Triumph Triathlon. We were supposed to do a mock tri, but Walden was closed for swimming, so we just did the bike and run legs. I bikes 13 miles then ran about 3 1/2. I was happy with that, seeing as I have never run that much and biked that much all in one day. I went home and took a nice nap, I needed it after getting up early! Then I went out kayaking with someone I have recently starting hanging out with. We had alot of fun and then we had dinner and watched this crazy movie that had an all women cast! I have never seen a movie with all women...although the movie was called "The Women," so I guess that makes sense! Haha...we kept looking to see if anyone was a guy...but they were all women, the cab drivers, waitresses, people walking down the street. It was pretty funny to see that! Anyway, start of a new week today, and I don't have too much planned for the week, which is kind of nice...I have been super busy so it's nice to have a week where I don't have too much to do. Who knows what will crop up for me to do, but it's exciting to think I have some free time to do what I want with.  :)

Busy week...

This week was super crazy, which is why I haven't blogged in a long time. I haven't had any time to sit and collect my thoughts! Monday I had personal training and then I went out to dinner after...Tuesday I went to the Red Sox game...Wednesday I had grad. class and had to bake a cake....Thursday I had tutoring and had to start decorating the cake...and Friday I had to finish decorating the cake and then bring it to my friend's house. Add into that trying to get my training in and going to work every day, and you can probably see why I haven't had a chance to blog!

Anyway, the week was overall a good one though. I got to have some fun, and I got to get some stuff done. Today I am cleaning...yay....and then going to a graduation party tonight, so that should be fun too. I will go running today and possibly bike too....I haven't done my brick for the week, so I might do that. Tomorrow there is a training session at Walden Pond, so I might go to that, but I don't have a wetsuit, so I don't know if I will do the swim part. Anywho, I better get started on my cleaning before I lose my motivation and go back to bed! Here's a picture of the cake I made. Sorry it's sideways...I'm still learning how to do this blogging thing! Haha!

Personal Training

I had personal training last night...finally! After both of us having to cancel a few times, we finally got it together...and my trainer can be happy (or freaked out..haha) to know that he was the first person I thought of this morning, because I rolled over and sat up to get out of bed, and I felt like aliens had abducted my entire body and replaced with it that of a 90 year old. I'm really sore, but I guess that's good, and kinda the point. Haha. Anyway, once again I'm writing this before work because I don't think I will have time later. This week is super busy. I am taking today as my rest day for the week for 2 reasons. First, I am sore and want to let my muscles properly recover...and second, I am super busy today/tonight and have no time in my schedule anyway to work out.

M.O.M's run 5k road race

Yesterday I ran the M.O.M's run 5k road race. I had set a goal for myself of coming in under 32 minutes. I ran hard the whole time and felt good pretty much the whole time, except when I was running up the big hill! Haha....but...I made my time! My final time was 31:57. Haha...I made it by 3 seconds! I am so happy that I reached my goal, and I am proud of myself because I see a difference between my running a few months ago and my running now. Not only am I faster, but I am also better able to think about how I am feeling during the run and adjust accordingly. In the past I would have just said to myself "I feel tired" and I would have slowed way down or walked...now, if I feel like crap I slow down for a few seconds, catch my breath, regroup and then speed back up, or I just run through it and it usually goes away. It's pretty cool to be able to do that now. Anyway, sorry this is a short post, but I have to get to work!

pissed off running...

I took my MTEL exam today...I think it went ok. After that I sat around for a while and watched the end of Bride Wars and the beginning of Angels and Demons. Then I decided I better get my bum to the gym before it closed.
I went to the gym and got myself really pissed off about a certain someone and I started running. I allowed myself to think about all the things that have been pissing me off and disgusting me, and I ran so fast and so hard the whole time, it was awesome. I guess I have a strategy for the race tomorrow...GET PISSED! My goal for the race is to come in under 32 minutes. Yes, I know this sounds super slow to most runners, but I have never run a race under even 33 minutes, so to be under 32 would be great for me! Ok, gotta run, dinner with a friend!

forgot the important part!!

Wow...how could I forget this important part of my post!?? I had 2 pretty cool things happen to me tonight. First, I was riding along the path, taking in the scenery, and I happened to look down for a second. As I looked down, right in front of me, in white spraypaint on the pavement was the word KONA. I had to giggle and think, could this be a sign of things to come for me? It was pretty neat, totally random, and made me smile. Who knows, maybe even I could make it to Kona someday.

The other thing that happened was I got in the car ride after my ride to go to the Summer Shack, and turned on the radio. The first line of the first song that was on was "my best days are ahead of me..." Now obviously both things that happened to me were complete coincidences, but it was a nice boost to think...yeah, my best days are ahead of me...and I'm going some place. It was pretty cool. I think I'll go back someday soon and ride over that KONA spot on the bike path...who knows, maybe it's a sign. :)

turning anger into productivity

Well, I had some pretty miserable/frustrating/piss-me-off news last night on the boy front. I wont go into details here because I don't like to talk about people in a bad way on my blog. Let's just say I am now an angry, cynical, bitchy woman. And people wonder why women are crazy...it's the damn men, they drive us to be crazy...or to drink, whichever comes first.

SOOO, anyway, after spending all day with a stomach ache...this time emotion-induced instead of stomach bug induced, I came home from work and crashed into bed for a 2 hour nap. I was supposed to go out with work friends for a "first Friday" celebration after work, but I was too emotionally and physically exhausted...after all, I hardly slept last night and woke up an hour early this morning only to lay in bed and pout.

After my nap, I got myself out of bed, and pulled on my bike clothes. Before I go on, let me just say this, there is something magical about bike shorts and tight spandex shirts. They make you feel like an ironman...even if you are like me and are just becoming athletic...as soon as I put on my spandex, my muscles feel tight and I feel damn good. So anyway, I put on my clothes and (by this time I'm late!) ran out the door to meet up with my triathlon group for a bike ride. I have been nervous about this ride all week...it was 22 miles, which is more than 2 times as long as any of my training rides so far. The longest ride I have done yet is 10 miles, so, needless to say, I was freaking out about possibly not finishing the ride. I didn't want to be that girl waiting at the restaurant when everyone else was out doin their thing...although my group is so great that they would have been totally happy even if I did do that.

Anyway, long story short, the ride was AMAZING, it was super easy, (mostly flat), and I easily finished the whole thing. The biggest problem I had was that by the end it was getting cold and I was wearing a tank top. I met 2 awesome women, and we ended up chatting the whole time we were riding, and all through dinner. After the ride, we all went to the Summer Shack, a yummy seafood place and had dinner and a beer. Let me say this, and I think you can all agree, never does beer taste better than after a good workout. There's just something about the cold, bubbly taste of beer when you are tired and your muscles have been worked hard. Mmm...I wish I had some more beer now. Haha...anyway, I chatted with my 2 new friends all through dinner. I shared a yummy grilled calamari appetizer with one woman, and then I had a broiled fish sandwich for my meal. I topped it all off with a tall Sam's Summer....mmm, delightful. Now it's about 11:30 and I'm ready for bed.

I'm pretty bummed because our open water swim at Walden Pond was cancelled for tomorrow due to a 70% chance of thunderstorms. Booo...I guess that means I will be swimming in the pool tomorrow. In the afternoon I am taking my MTEL (teaching exam for reading specialist)...I am pretty nervous, but I guess there isn't much I can do now other than get a good night's sleep.

Not bad for a sick day...

So....being the new triathlete self that I am these days, by about 2:45 I was bored of being sick, and I was feeling somewhat better...I was at least able to eat lunch and not feel nauseous after, so I took that as an improvement. Judging by the length of this sickness and how I felt, I would say it was a minor case of the 24 hour bug. Anywho, back to 2:45, I was bored with being sick, so I decided I would go running and see how I felt. I was feeling ok, but felt weak, probably since I haven't been eating too much the past day or two. I decided I would run the flats and the downhills and I would walk the uphills. This worked well, and I ran the 5k course I have been running lately in 38 minutes. This is not bad at all considering I probably ended up walking about a mile of it. My walk was very slow too, It was by no means a power walk! Haha. Anyway, time to go relax now.

sick day!

I stayed home from work today. After feeling really nauseous and sick all day yesterday, and not falling asleep until really late because of it, I just decided why torture myself and pop pepto bismol just to get through work when I still have about 5 sick days left for the year? So, I stayed home. I ate a yogurt when I first woke up around 7, then started feeling nauseous again so I went back to bed. I slept until 10, woke up, and felt hungry. I ate an english muffin with peanut butter...felt ok, still kind hungry, so I ate a banana. That was about 20 minutes ago and so far I feel ok..not nauseous yet. Let's hope I am getting better. I really dont want to miss another workout today, so I am hoping this was some sort of 24 hour virus and that I will keep feeling better as the day goes on.

Bryan posted something really inspiring today. His post is all about enjoying the experience of triathlon instead of thinking of the actual race as a destination. He talks about how when he was preparing for Ironman China, he didn't drink beer, he didn't eat crappy foods, he trained a ton, and then he had the worst race of his life because he got a virus/food poisoning and had to DNF. Then he trained for IMSG, and he drank beer, ate some crappy food, trained less and enjoyed the experience, and the race was amazing! He talks about how he feels like this was a good lesson for him to learn, because now he knows to enjoy the experience and not just think of the tri as a destination. If you want to check out his actual post, where this whole thing is written much better, check it out here: http://trainingpayne.blogspot.com. Bryan is probably going to start thinking I am stalking him because I keep mentioning him in my blog and saying to go read his post. I hope you don't mind Bryan, I just find your blog inspiring and want to share it!

Anyway, my plan for the day is to relax for a few more hours...see how I feel. Then if I feel ok I plan to either take a slow jog or slow bike ride. I also have aerobics tonight, so if I don't feel good enough to workout earlier, at least I will get some exercise in aerobics. Let's hope this goes as planned!

bummer....

So, I had to cancel my training session today. I just feel sick. My stomach has been bothering me since last night...I have been able to eat a little, but I pretty much feel constantly nauseous, and I didn't wanna toss my cookies in front of the trainer! Haha...but I was totally bummed that I couldn't train. I guess this will force me to take a day off this week though, as the rest of my week is pretty jam packed with exercise...tomorrow is either a bike or run and aerobics, friday is a long bike, saturday is early morning swim at walden pond, sunday is the MOM's run 5k road race....so I guess perhaps this is a good thing??

Eeek...I have to present tonight in class and I am FREAKING OUT...I have no clue what to say about this stupid paper I wrote. Ugh!

BRICKS!!

Well, the water boil order was finally lifted...yay for clean water! I mean come on...I live in Boston, I love that dirty water..haha...but clean water is nice! So, today was my first BRICK workout...it was awesome! Unfortunately I spent the ENTIRE afternoon after work online looking for bikes on craigs list...haha...so by the time I was ready to work out it was about 5:15 and as I was putting on my shorts the clouds rolled in and it started thundering. Sweet. So much for a nice outside brick workout. I was kind of dreading going to the gym, yesterday it was so hot in there and I was really looking forward to working out outside today. I guess that will teach me not to spend all afternoon searching craigslist :( But anyway, triathletes must persevere...so I headed to the gym to cycle and run on the machines.

I started feeling kind of nauseous when I was cycling..I ate a Luna bar about 20 minutes before the gym...not sure if this is the culprit or not, but I just kept on going, taking deep breaths whenever I felt nauseous. The ride was actually awesome despite feeling kind of sick the whole time. I was sweating like crazy, working my legs hard, but still keeping my heart rate totally aerobic. It was great! I rode 8 miles in 30 minutes...not bad for me.

Then I hopped off the bike and headed to the treadmill. I ran for 10 minutes like my training schedule said, then I walked for 20 minutes. I wasn't so nauseous anymore, but I was having stitches in my sides while I was running and walking. I don't know why, probably gas...haha...but I realized something while I was walking. My mentality has COMPLETELY changed. Two months ago I would have said "ugh, I don't feel good, I'm going home to nap." Tonight I said, "shut the hell up Lauren, a few cramps is not the end of the world, keep moving your ass!" It's pretty crazy that someone's mind can transform like that so quickly...pretty awesome too!

I also noticed how much my running ability has improved. I have gotten to the point where I can monitor myself while running. By that I mean that it used to be that when I was running, all I could think about was how much this sucked. I have noticed lately though that I am thinking about my heart rate...is it stil aerobic? Do I need to control my breathing? I'm also thinking about my form...are my shoulders relaxed? Am I trying to keep my feet hopping off the ground as quickly as possible? Am I "sticking my butt out" and relaxing my back? It's pretty neat to be able to think about all this stuff while running...definitely an improvement.

I also am able to push myself to run harder. Despite my cramps today I pushed myself to run a few intervals at 6.0 (which is the pace of a 10 minute mile...fast for me), and I ran the last 30 seconds at 6.2. I was proud of that.

During the walk I got super bored. My music just wasn't keeping me occupied, so I started playing with the incline on the treadmill, increasing it by .5 every 30 seconds. I got up to an incline of 9 before my time was up. It kept me occupied and gave my glutes a nice workout. This is another change in my psyche...the fact that I am bored walking is pretty cool.

My stomach is still not feeling perfect tonight...just kinda crampy, but I am proud of myself for still getting a hard workout in. I was soaked with sweat after my workout, and that felt damn good! Tomorrow I have personal training...yay!!

I am actually excited about a running race....

....which is weird since I usually hate running. I am actually enjoying running lately..well, not today because for some reason my legs felt like they had lead in them. I think it is from A) being tired because yesterday I put all three events together in a hard workout, and B) it was a billion degrees today and my body isn't used to the heat yet. Every step of my run today felt like I had to tell myself "step" "step" "step". Even just walking, which I eventually ended up doing, was hard. I just had no strength in my legs. I guess it's to be expected, I am training hard 6 days a week and yesterday was a super hard workout. I am really getting sick of this water boil order...it's just an extra problem to deal with. Making dinner tonight was difficult, and doing the dishes is even worse. Anywho, I'm tired tonight and I don't really feel like writing too much...more tomorrow!

I "tri"ed today!!

Ok, I know the "tri" jokes are getting old, but I just think it's hilarious...more proof of my turning into a complete dork. Haha. Anyway, I wanted to update about my early morning training this morning.

I took tylenol PM last night at around 8:30 because I didn't feel tired but I knew I needed some sleep if I was going to be able to drag my butt out of bed at 5:15. Well, in what seemed like 5 minutes, my alarm went off. Let's just say the tylenol PM was still pumping through my body...it was kind of a hazy wake up. After getting dressed and eating a bagel with PB, I headed out to Walden Pond. I brough along my bottled water, since I couldn't prepare my own bottled water because of the boil water order I just had to make sure the water bottle I bought fit in my cage on the bike. Luckily it did. I got to Walden around 6:30, thinking other people would be early to set up too. Turns out this wasn't the case.

I was the only one there for about 10 minutes, then this other guy came, and we chatted a bit while we waited. After driving around to about 3 different parking lots while adding more people to our group, we finally found the right parking lot and headed down to the swim start. Luckily the leader of the group, Barry, had an extra wetsuit that I managed to pull onto my body. Barry is much thinner than me, so it was kind of a struggle to get the suit on, but once it was on it felt very comfy, and it kept me warm on the swim so I was happy about that!

So after I got the suit on and had Ruben help me set out my transition area, Barry explained what we were going to do. He had set up bouys to make a short course...only about 200 yards. The plan was to do the swim three times...the first 2 would be practice and to get used to the cold water...the third was going to be the "real" thing...well, as real as you get when it's just practice.

We all put on our double layers of caps and headed into the water. Barry yelled go, and we all went running. This was my first mistake. I dove forward and started swimming. No sooner had I put my face in the water and taken 2 strokes than I started feeling like I was hyperventilating. I wasn't expecting this...when I swim in a pool I am completely calm, in fact I love the swim so much because I feel so relaxed during it. I knew open water swimming in a group would be different, but this scared me. I struggled through the first swim, stopping to tread water several times, and focusing much more on just breathing than on my stroke. I ended up near the back of the back, and when I climbed out of the water it took a few minutes to get my breathing back to normal. I talked to a couple people about this sensation, and the consensus was that this is normal, it happens to most people most of the time, and the cold water certainly doesn't help. It also didn't help that that was my first open water swim and my first time swimming in a wetsuit. Let me just say I am SO GLAD I had the chance to feel that before the race. I think I would have freaked out if that happened in a race and it had never happened before. Now I know to expect that feeling.

The second swim was a bit better. Some people gave me suggestions for things to do if I feel panicky or short of breath. They suggested rolling over on my side or back and looking at the clouds for a few strokes, this is supposed to be calming. They also said I should sight for 4 or so strokes, which is good to know, I was only sighting for 1 or 2 strokes. One person gave me the best suggestion, she said to go when I was ready. Since my goal in the triathlon is to finish, the 20 or 30 seconds I might wait while the pack thins out is not going to be a big deal. I did this on the second and third swims and it was much better. When Barry said we could go, I just kind of started to slowly wade into the water. I took a deep breath and then started swimming when most people had already gone and I felt comfortable. This was MUCH better. I still felt a bit panicky and short of breath, but I rolled to my side and looked up at the clouds, taking long, slow breaths and letting my stroke extend. This time I practiced taking my wetsuit down to my waist when coming out of the water. Getting it back on while still wet was NOT easy!!!

The third swim was great...I still had that nervous, panicky feeling a bit, but now I knew to expect it and I knew what to do about it. Just knowing that I could deal with it made it feel less scary. The swim was 200 yds....so about 600 yds all together.

I practiced everything I remembered from reading about the swim and I talked to myself (silently in my head! Don't worry, I'm not that crazy girl chatting with herself!) ....swim until your fingers brush the ground...pull on the neck of the wetsuit before standing up to let in water...stand up and start run/walking to the shore...while you walk/run, pull the cord on the wetsuit and start working your arms out and pull the suit down to your waist. Pull off goggles....pull off cap...run to T1 area and throw down goggles/cap. Pull off wetsuit (which, by the way is hard to do because when you come out of the water you are dizzy...so standing on one foot is NOT easy!)....throw wetsuit down (not on towel!)....step on towel to dry feet...grab other towel and quickly dry legs and body...pull on bike shorts....decide not to wear shirt, throw shirt on ground...pull on socks and shoes...tie shoes...put on helmet, decide not to wear sunglasses, take quick sip of gatorade....pull bike off rack and run up the HUGE hill to get to the road!

The bike was pretty good, it was challenging to get my heart rate down after running with my bike up the big hill to the road...we were down by the swimming area of the lake and there is a big ramp to take you up to the road...it was actually a relief to get on the bike and start pedaling, it felt at least like I could get in a rhythm then. The hills on the bike felt huge...and they really weren't huge..but I think that since my heartrate was so high to begin with and I had a little trouble bringing it back down, that the hills felt huge. Right before the turn around there was a huge downhill though, so that was really nice. I made sure to remember to drink water on the bike. Even though today's ride was short, and I would have been fine even if I hadn't had anything to drink the whole time, I want to get in the habit of drinking while I'm riding so when the real thing comes I will be ready. The bike was about 5 miles.

I hopped off the bike at the bottom of the hill, where Barry had drawn a dismount line. This is really important because in the real tri, if you pass the dismout line while still on your bike you can be disqualified. I jogged/tripped/shuffled my bike over to the rack and started T2.

T2 was super quick..I racked my bike...took off helmet....sip of gatorade...grab my visor, and I was off....I jogged/walked up the huge hill again to the road, and then started jogging off on the run. I put my visor on while I was running to save a little time. The run was hard...even though it was only 1 mile. I got a cramp in my right side again...I don't know what is causing this, but it has happened in the same spot the last 2 times I have run...not fun! Anyway, I walked a few times...but only 5-6 steps each time....I think it was the slowest mile I have ever run...it took me about 16 minutes, but that's ok, I finished it and that was my goal. I felt so good when I ran back down that bastard of a hill and into the transition area. Everyone in the group was so supportive and they were all saying I did a great job. I felt awesome afterwards!

The whole thing was a great experience, and I am really looking forward to our training ride/social on Friday night. I'm really glad I joined this group. I am proud of myself for doing that today, because I haven't even done a brick workout yet. A brick is when you do two events or three events together...so far I have just been training each exercise separately...so it's pretty good that I put them all together and managed it without feeling too horrible!

I came home and took a nap....and now I am gonna put in my AC and then get to work on some homework and job search stuff. I think I need to go to the store too at some point...boo.

Contaminated water...and a practice Tri

Before I start talking about my training...let me just say I make a damn good date...I buy snacks at the movies...I let myself watch the movie without worrying about trying to hold my hand or makeout during the good parts...Don'tcha hate that?...and it wasn't awkward at the end of the night...I just took myself home :) Hahah..anyway...I stuck to my goal of getting up early this morning to go swimming...ok, so it wasn't THAT early, but 9:00 is early after being up past midnight on a hot date! So I got up, and went to the pool. I ended up doing my whole swim in the morning because I just didn't feel like going back later in the day...it was so beautiful I wanted to be outside. So I did my swim, and then I heard this guy in the next lane talking about something to do with triathlons...and seeing as I am now obsessed, I asked him what he was talking about....talk about nosy, huh!? Haha...he told me about this club online called meetup...its like an online place where you can join clubs for things you are interested in near you. The one that he was talking about was called Triumph Triathletes...and it's a place where triathletes near Boston talk and meet up to train together. I was super excited, so when I got home I joined the group! Turns out, tomorrow there is a training for the whole sprint triathlon experience at Walden Pond at 7 AM. We will practice swimming, transition 1, biking, transition 2, and running...so basically the whole tri. I might not do the swim if I can't find anyone to lend me a wetsuit, because the water in Walden is about 57-60F right now, which is waaaaayy too chilly for not having a wetsuit! But that's ok, if I don't swim I will still do the rest. It will be good experience to get up super early and go through the whole process. I'm pretty excited. Now let me move onto the not so exciting news...there was a huge water main break in Weston, and so all of the surrounding areas are in a boil order for their water because of possible contamination. Of course the water main broke around 11 this morning, and I heard about it around 4:30. This is after I had been drinking tons of tap water that I had packed in my water bottles for the day....awesome. Let's hope I don't get sick...that would just suck. I'm trying not to think about it...I'm trying to focus on the excitement for the practice tomorrow...and also I have been watching Bryan Payne on Ironman St. George everytime I was home today..now I'm excitedly watching the finish line because I saw that he passed the 20 mile point...so I think he should be crossing the line within the next hour or hour and a half! Exciting! Anyway...I'm gonna go pack my bag...then watch Bryan finish the IM and then head to bed!! I'll blog more tomorrow about how the practice went.