NC State Fair Pictures (and pig racing video!)

Marty won me a rose at balloon darts

More fried food then you could ever want.

The fried cheeseburger gang

Me eating a fried milky way

This ride was fun...but I honestly felt SO sick to my stomach after it since I just wolfed down the fried milky way. Makes me nauseous just thinking about it.

The BMX show was quite impressive. Don't try this one at home on your tribike!

And the highlight of the night - the pig races!!

Off to the Fair

Ever since we moved to North Carolina (2 years ago) we have always been told, "You have got to go to the fair!" I'm not sure what the big deal is, but we are about to find out. I think it has something to do with the fact that they will fry anything, have a pig who paints, and all walks of life will be there (this isn't Cary anymore!) The fairgrounds are only about 10-15min from our house so we really have no excuse. It was rainy and gloomy all morning but now it's sunny and nice and definitely has the potential for big crowds. Something I'm not a fan of, so I'm really not sure how long we'll stay (at least admission is cheap). We'll bring the camera and I'll post any good pictures. Definitely one of me eating a fried milkyway -- it's kind of one of those lifelong items I want to check off the list.

I Guess I Made Fall Mad

So much for me complaining about where was Fall last week. It is here! Our mornings have been super cold recently. The afternoons have been warming up nicely but the days of 80 degrees seem to be gone. I did my bi-annual clothes switch where I break out my sweaters and put my tank tops away. I’m always amazed at how many clothes I have and also amazed at how I seem to be disgusted with them all. I guess that’s a girl thing. Closet full of clothes – nothing to wear.

Yesterday the Price sisters were nice enough to meet me at Umstead for a run. They were very nice to do my workout with me and wait for me at the end. I’m huffing and puffing like a freight train and the two of them are dancing ahead practically doing cartwheels up the hills. They really made me go harder than I would’ve on my own and I was very happy they were there.

In other news, we’re not spectating at the B2B anymore (sorry Rebecca, I was planning on being your superfan that day, too!). I’ve been coaching two ladies for over a year now in preparation for IM Florida which is the same day. We weren’t planning on driving to Panama City (11+ hours) but I really wanted to go down there and support them. So we’ve decided to drive all day on Friday, watch the race on Saturday and drive back all day Sunday. It will be exhausting but so worth it. It’s been very fun working with these two and seeing their progress over the year has been very fulfilling. Marty has helped me out since he is a wealth of knowledge and has coached so many to an Ironman, and these were my first. I can’t wait to see them put all their hardwork to use on Nov 1.

I just wanted to make sure no one got the wrong idea on my last post. I didn’t write “I’m not skinny” because I wanted people to tell me that I was skinny, I seriously don’t have any issue with my weight or any of that stuff. I never have and I count myself in the minority of that group since I was a collegiate runner. Anyways, I enjoyed the comments…but no takers on doing the challenge with me?! :) Let me just say that I was sore for OVER A DAY after doing just 12 pushups. I’m going to try and stick with the plan and see how far I can get.

Puny Arms

I have skinny arms. I'm not saying I'm skinny, because I'm not, but my arms are. It's a good thing swimming does not depend on how big your arms are or I would be the slowest one out there. So when someone posted this website on one of my facebook groups, I thought, "I am so in!" Supposedly in just 6 weeks, if I follow a specific training plan I will be able to do 100 consecutive pushups! Stop laughing.

Tonight was my test night. I did 12 consecutive pushups. Again, please stop laughing. You are hurting my feelings.

We'll see how it goes. I am going to try and stick to the plan and see if I can get any stronger. I'd also like to get out of my x-small arm warmers.

Long Run

I know it's all relative because some people reading this may think, "She thinks that is a long run?" While others may think "I don't even like driving that far!" But for me, 12 miles is long, and that's what I did this afternoon at Umstead. To be really honest, I have no idea how far I went, but it took me 1:50+ on single track trails, bridle trails, and steep hills so I'll just be conservative and call it 12. I felt pretty strong until the very end where Marty wanted to go back in one of the single track trails and my legs were pretty tired -- and having to navigate roots and rocks was tough. But at least I didn't do a face plant. Oops, I said I wouldn't tell anyone, so forget I said that.

Yesterday we had another successful swim clinic. After running so many of these, we've really gotten the schedule and planning down. There does always seem to be a little blip (like double booking the room we were doing presentations in) but we always handle them well and everyone walks away with a lot more knowledge than they came in with.

Better get to that laundry pile I have...

F-L-O-R-I-D-A S-T-A-T-E!!!

What a night yesterday! We got tickets through the FSU Alumni Club for the NC State/FSU game held (obviously) at NC State. This Thursday night game was shown live on ESPN and I tried not to make any silly faces just in case I happened to get on tv again! Unfortunately, the game coincided with the opening night of the NC State Fair which is a HUGE deal and right next to the stadium.

We left the house early so we would have plenty of time to park, walk, and tailgate a bit before kickoff. We ended up parking in a lot (cow pasture) that had free shuttles running to the stadium. This would’ve worked out great except the shuttles all got stuck with everyone else in game/fair/rush hour traffic. And our bus DIDN’T HAVE AC! It was straight out of 1972. Don’t let me fail to mention that it was almost 90 degrees yesterday (I have no idea what is taking Fall so long to arrive this year). So we are all stuffed on this bus, with some drunk but loveable FSU fans, who were from Lexington, NC (try and find that one on the map). After sitting on the bus for about 30min and making it 1.5 miles, everyone just up and left – I think the bus driver knew he was about to have a major mutiny on his hands! We quickly found the FSU Alumni tailgate and had some beer and made some friends before the game. We also ran into our triathlon friends, Tim and Angela Gautreau – Tim’s a huge FSU fan, but Angela went to NC State – they still sat in the FSU section. She’s a good sport.

We sat in the FSU section and everyone was pretty pumped – we stood a lot during the game. I felt like we were in the student section! There were some FSU superfans (probably college students who drove up here) that never seemed to tire of doing the tomahawk chop or jumping up and down for their team. It was a close game and in the end the FSU kicker was the hero, making a 53 yard field goal with less than 2 minutes to go (right near us!) It’s so fun to go to someone else’s stadium and beat their team ;) Now, I didn’t go to FSU, but Marty did so I cheer for them by default.

Marty wanted to leave after the 3rd quarter so we wouldn’t hit any traffic but Bill and I (Bill flew up from Orlando to go the game) were like, No Way! But he had it in his head and wasn’t budging. So we finally compromised and he was going to walk back to the car and come and get us along the way once we left. So Bill and I stayed and got to see the exciting finish and then left to start our walk back. We saw the line for the shuttles which was a million miles long, and all the shuttles were stuck in traffic and said, screw it, we’re hoofing it. I couldn’t get a hold of Marty and then all of the sudden I get a call from an odd number. I answer and it’s Marty – he had gotten lost trying to find our car and ended up who knows where before deciding to just go back to the stadium and get on a shuttle! He was luckily already on a shuttle and didn’t have to wait in that line we saw. In the end, he still got to the car before us and picked us up along the street and we got out of there before hitting any backups!

At one point during the game I went to the bathroom and had to laugh at what was painted behind every toilet – “Please do not throw liquor bottles down the toilet.” Ha! Only in North Cackalacky!!

Totally on a different topic – the Philly half marathon and marathon are sold out! I had sent my entry in through the mail because I didn’t want to pay the Active fee (which is such a ripoff) but I didn’t know if my stuff got there in time (I’m not sure when exactly it sold out). When I checked, I wasn’t on the confirmation list. I emailed them and a few days went by before I finally got confirmation that I was in – probably just barely. Pheww!

Non-Triathlon Related Sports

It’s the off season! Time for a new topic!

Wow, can anyone believe that the Rays are so close to being in the World Series? Does anyone who reads this blog pay attention to sports other than triathlon, swimming, biking and running? ;) My family are sports connoisseurs – 11pm news at night? P-Shaw, it was Sports Center! So here we are on the cusp of something very neat; a scrappy low-payed team almost in the Championship.

10 years ago, the Rays (or the Devil Rays as they used to be known) were atrocious. I know because I went to many games that summer while I was home from college (they play in St. Pete). My parents had season tickets so we sat with a few other people to cheer on this expansion team in purple and green in the huge cavern that is Tropicana Field. Under 10,000 fans was the norm (and this count included season ticket holders that might not have even been there). So I am not jumping on any bandwagon. We’ve been there since Day 1. And it’s very neat to see this team do so well. The payroll for the Rays is roughly $44 million. Compare that to the Yankees who have a payroll of $209 million, or the Red Sox (who they’re playing right now) at $133 million. MLB Salaries
You can pay for players, but you can’t pay for a team. Instead of trying to bring ‘stars’ to the team, the Rays management have worked on making their farm system top notch. Good on them.

The Tampa Bay area suffered from many bad teams over the years – but we’ve finally grown out of that. The Bucs have won a Super Bowl. The Lightening have won a Stanley Cup, and now…just maybe? Even if the Rays don’t win it all, what a great season!

And just to tie this all into triathlon so I don’t lose any readers (haha), if you ever are near me in transition, check out my transition towel. It’s always a Rays towel (okay, there have been a few occasions when I couldn’t find it and I resorted to Scooby-Doo), but for the most part you will either see a weathered towel with the mascot Raymond on it or the old Tampa Bay Devil Rays logo. Told ya I’ve been a fan for a long time :)