I want to tell about a very special woman who will be inspiring me to push on tomorrow.  Somehow, I finally finished college after about 4 schools, at Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA.  I was in the nutrition program with about 20 other people.  Being in a program for 2 year can really make people bond.  We did, over lunches, studying, teachers and life.  It wasn't until after college that a group of us got together for our first of many wine and food evnts, maybe a little too much wine because we ended up with the name of Pigs and Nipples (P and N) for short.  I don't think any of us know the story but our name stuck and so have we.  We are spread out across the country, and Canada now, but are still completely connected.  Our personalities and occupations are diverse as can be but we are connected by an unbelievable amout of love.  Someone could write a novel or make a movie out of us.  With a love like this, when one of us is down, we all swing into action, each in our own special way.

One of my P and N Girls is Jennell.  Jennell is a wife and mom.  She and Brian have two beautiful kids, Freda 6 and Sam, 4.  They also own Blossom grocery on Lopez.  If you have mentioned the Tour De Lopez to me, this is who I have sent you to!  I love Jennell's spirit, determination and passion for her family.  I don't get why her body had to have cancer, and it makes me cry and want to punch something.  It also inspires me and fills me with hope as I watch her move through this.  THIS, it putting it much to lightly, as she has had a mastectomy and lymph nodes removed. THIS is time away from her children and husband, and not just a little moms weekend, but time of pain and surgery and parts of her body being removed.  I make THIS sounds dark because it, to put it lightly and with as little cussing as I can muster, SUCKS.  Now having said all of that, Jennell is awesome and she is going to heal and she is going to live for years and years and watch her children grow and love her husband.  Jennell has amazing doctors and is surrounded by so much love and she is more of an Ironwoman than I could even hope to be tomorrow.  Can  you tell Im crying right now?  I recently had lunch with Jennell and two of our P and N sisters, Erin and Tara.  We met in the lunchroom of Bastyr and made quite the scene!  If I didn't know, I wouldn't have guessed that she just went through surgry.  Her grace, love and positive energy are immeasureable.  Later when we spoke on the phone she told me she couldn't be any other way because she is surrounded by so much LOVE.  I originally was going to mark my body with "Jennell" and asked her what she wanted me to write.  She said please include my family because we are all in this together.  At that exact same moment, each of her children where wrapped around my legs under the cafateria table!  Ok, that is easy, Sam is on my right leg and Freda on my left.! 

As I race tomorrow, I will be praying for Jennell.  So, when people ask how long it's going to take me, I don't know.  I don't know how long God wants me praying.  I'll leave that up to him and do my work.  Although the surgery is done, Jennell and her family with go through more.  She will start chemo and radiation soon and take on her own endurance event, not of her own choosing.  But sooner than later, she will be doing them of her own choosing and  you can bet I'm going to be bugging her to triathlon with me!

I ask a you think of me tommorow, join me in an Ironman amout of prayers for Jennell!  I have wool anklets and braid in my hair.  It will be on my bike.  That one is for Brian.  He recently told me he is going to build his own bike!  The girls have bracelets out of wool braids too.  These were made by Freda, Jennell's daughter!

Thank you!

We made it!  We departed on Tuesday at about 7:30pm, a little behind schedule.  I felt so unorganized and frazzled on Tuesday, despite my neverending lists and organizing bins.  The girls were so excited to road trip, well at least before they realized how uncomfortable it is to sleep in a car.  I can imagine car seats only compound that feeling.  We made it all the way to Cleaview before we stopped for dinner!  We couldn't be more grateful to Mom and Dad C for loaning us their minivan for this trip.  I'm sure it will never quite be the same!  The movies and extra room have been invaluable!  After a few movies, the kids nodded off and then I finally slept a few hours.  Note, Eric has been driving the whole time while I send trucker texts to John and Taladega Theresa.  Well, ok just John, Theresa and Eric pretty much drove this whole trip!

I woke up to as it was just starting to get light somewhere in Idaho and the pressed on to Utah for breakfast.  Bee's diner was about the greasiest thing we could find.  But we got to stretch our legs and see John, Theresa and Chief for a bit.  I drove through Salt Lake and gave the wheel back to Eric in Provo, I was to tired and Salt Lake was seriously stressful to drive though!  And Eric drove the rest!

We made it to St George at about 2:30 pm.  It was so incredible to see those red rocks are we made our way into town.  Marley and Eric took a nap while Payton and I did some shopping (kids swimsuits didn't make it to my list).  I got a run in and did a little preview of the run course.  I was happy to see trees on this course as I'm hope they provide some brief bits of shade.

I have received several emails, phone calls, facebook posts wishing me well this weekend.  Thank you so very much!  They mean a lot and help to ease my nerves.  To answer a few questions,....yes, I am nervous!  But I'm using the tools I give my clients on myself.  Its great to have support here too.  I still can't believe Mom and Dad G, John Theresa and Chief and SIL Karie, Aaron and Sammy are all joining us in St George!  Whether here or cheering from  home, I am so appreciative! What do I expect my time to be?  Really, I can't say how the totality of the race and the heat will affect me.  My persona philosophy for a new distance is to have fun and see what it's like.  Next time, and yes there will be, I'll focus a bit more on time.

On raceday I will be racing for my good friend, Jennell (tomorrow's post).  Jennell is an Ironwoman in her own way.  Jennell is a mom, wife, natural gocery store owner and amazing woman.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer this year and recently went through a mastectomy.  I'm asking that when you are thinking of on Saturday, think of Jennell, Sam, Freda and Brian.   Send them prayers of all forms.  In a couple of weeks she will start a race of her own as she takes on Chemo and radiation.  But she will take it on with the same grace and poise that she has had with everything else in her life.  Jennell is going to be just fine, she is going to get through this.  I just want to do what I can to get she and her family all of the love they need!  I will be praying too and wearing this wonderful yarn bracelet that Freda has made.  Yeah Freda!

Today we are off to register, and then to Sand Hollow to check out the swim course.  I'll get some swim and bike time in today and then drive the bike couse. 

As I make my final prepareations for Ironman St George, I feel I must tell you about three very special people in our Blue Fire life.  A few years ago I was in charge of planning an event in Snohomish called, National Night Out.  We had this great idea to do a raffle.  People who brought cans of food could enter in the drawing for various prizes.  I also told my friend Theresa that I would help her find a bike mechanic for the bicycles in the kids KlaHaYa Days bike rodeo.  So this lead me to Snohomish Bicycles, a quaint little shop on first street.  I spoke with the owner, Martin Mollat who was more than generous with my requests.  No problem they would have someone at the bike rodeo and no problem they would give us items for the raffle.  Those items ended up being a skateboard and accessories.  Seriously!  Too cool.

A couple of months later I stopped by the bike shop to chat with Martin.  I told him I was planning to start a triathlon training business.  His response was again more than generous.  This interaction was one of the handful of pivotal moments that really helped me to leave a job that wasn't right for me and move to a life that was.  Martin told me I could hold clinics at his shop.  He also helped me get some key equipment to my business and promoted me to it seemed anyone who talked to him about triathlon.


I held my first, Intro to Triathlon clinic in the spring of 2010.  I met Martin's wife Wendy, a Vetrenarian and soon to be Mom of Abby.  Our clinic was a huge success in a small space on a hot day.  As time has gone on, we have held more clinics, and introduced more people to triathlon.  Martin and Wendy have helped me in so many ways.  They have sponsored and promoted and taken great care of Team Blue Fire.  They helped us order and create our tri suits, fixed bikes quickly, rented wetsuits on the fly, led us on adventurous rides and so many more great things.  I have to say though, the friends Eric and I have found in Martin and Wendy have been by far the most important part and most cherished part of knowing them.  I have loved spending holidays and weekend with Martin, Wendy and Abby.  It's as if we have been friends for many many years.

Last June, we went to San Juan Island for Howard's marathon.  It was an amazing weekend of sailing, horses, food and friends.  After the race, we had lunch with Martin, Wendy, my Mom, John and the kiddos.  When I was about half way through my beer, Martin says, "we would like to increase the Team Blue Fire sponsorship."  This kind of threw me.  I was thinking, what more can you guys possibly do?  Well, there is this bike, that I just happene to love and it just happened to be orange and blue.  It also just happened to be a Focus, which I was riding at the time.  Martin told me that they would like to trade in my bike for the new Blue Focus.  Again, Seriously?? 

As I have prepared for Ironman St George, I get lots of time to think.  I often land on how grateful I am for so many things in my life.  I think about how grateful I am for the bike.  Someone asked me the other day when I decided to do Ironman St George.  I had to say, it all started last June when Martin and Wendy provided this gift.  At that point, I was only running.  I had a lot going on and just needed a little break from the demands of long course IM training.  When I received my new bike, I knew it was Ironman time! 

Now it's really Ironman time!  I hope to make the bike shop proud an their bike look good :)

I know I'm not the only parent who deals with this.  Triathlete magazine's cover features parents and Pro Triathletes Tyler and Nikki Butterfield.  I however do not have a race ready body at any moment! 

Today I had a run, bike, swim, Payton, Marley brick and it went a little like this....
We got settled into the gym with lunches and crafts in hand.  The girls were really excited to make some beaded necklaces.  I was wondering how long into my run the excitement would wear off.  I would say it bought me a good 10 minutes.  Then they came out and ran around the gym for awhile.  Payton informed me I was doing my brick in the wrong order and proceeded to run around the gym backward because I was doing a backwards triathlon.  That was really really funny to her.  Then Marley started climbing to the top of the stack of benches and fortunately didn't fall off.  They seemed to regroup back to the crafting as I switched to the bike.  They took a break though and made me a pretty card with a GU and granola bar attached.  Then disaster struck as the entire bead container got dumped upside down and Payton was yelling at Marley.  A timeout was earned by Payton for yelling at her sister.  In fact she had already yelled at Marley so she was about to get swimming taken away.  The plan was to swim together when I was done.  Yes, I bribe them with swimming.   Payton completed her TO while Marley picked up the beads and I worked my way up the hills of St George.  We were almost there and I switched to the pool.  The girls had their swimsuits on and were ready.  I had Payton work on some homework and yes, I checked it during a brief break.  Things went downhill again when Payton wouldn't listen about where she could sit at the pool edge.  Kind of a huge safety thing here so she lost swimming for the day :(.  Bummer but don't worry she will swim again and bounced back after about 10 min of screaming.  If you've been to the gym, you can understand the echo effect of a 7 year old screaming isn't great.  Fortuantely, church had already let out next door so I didn't think I was going to get any noise complaints.  I finished my swim with Marley throwing her floaty into the water every 5 min.  I guess she was helping me train for open water!  We did a little swim together and Payton learned you must listen near the pool.  Lunch and off to teach swim class :)

If you have kids and work out in any fashon, you get this day and I just want to encourage you to keep going!  Even if it's a bit hectic, it's worth it and your kids get to see an example of a healthy lifestyle.  I have many wonderful friend and family members who offer to watch the girls for me while I train and I do take them up on it often.  But Eric and I love to have them with us whenever possible.  I sometimes think, they are going to have some funny memories of childhood.  As hectic as it may sometimes be, I wouldn't trade it for anything.  My mantra is, if it doesn't work with my family, it o
 

I LOVE pizza.  There you go.  The crust is basically the most important part for me and I do have some favorite places to get my pizza fix.  The only problem is I usually feel like I'm oozing with grease and just need to take a nap when I'm done.  Fortunately, we have found a great crust from, where else, Trader Joe's.  I like their crust because it's just the dough in a little package.  You can make your own very yummy pizza creation with little effort.

So when do you eat pizza?  A good time is post workout.  In the 2 hours following a workout your body is ready to replinish it's glycogen stores.  This means if your are moderate in your consumption, you can eat some yummy crust and train your body to store glycogen for your next adventure.

Tonight we had two things calling my name from the fridge - pizza dough and collard greens.  Yup - sounds a bit strange but that was it. 

Crust:
Follow the directions on the package.  Let the dough rest at room temp, out of the package for about 20 min then roll it out press it as I do, onto a baking sheet.  I bake it for about 15 minutes then brush on a little olive oil.

Mean Green Toppings:
Chop 1 bunch of greens and dice 2 cloves of garlic. Wash about 20 mini tomatoes.  Saute the garlic and tomatoes in about 1Tbs olive oil for about 3 minutes.  Add the greens and saute until they just begin to get soft.

Assembly:
Top your crust with your wonderful yummy greens and tomatoes.  A little shredded mozzarella or parm is optional at this point.  We went for it tonight.

** note - I didn't add any extra salt to this meal.  If it was a pre race meal, I might add some extra salt.  We were eating late and light tonight so I didn't add a protein.  I would probably serve with some grilled salmon.  The kids were ok with this pizza but I LOVED it! 

Shopping List:
1 pkg pizza dough - Trader Joes
1 bunch greens
20 mini tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
olive oil

Enjoy!!!

I keep promising I will post recipes and in the spirit of reality TV programming, I decided I would just start posting what we are realling eating at the Gandee house.  We just eat what we eat here and do our best to maximize vegetables, minimize processed foods and eat lean protein.  We are mostly vegetarian - well I am and the family kindly goes along with me.  I think Eric gets his red meat every three days at the fire department.  Maybe he should start his own blog - that would be interesting!  We eat fish and some meat.  I don't mind eating it, I just don't like the texture so I pretty much stay away.

So here is what we have in store for today:
Pan Fried Cod Fillet
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Roasted Mixed Veggies
Raw Fruit - Apples/Blueberries

Cod (use any white fish):
I bought this wild Cod from Costco the other night and separated into a few packages.  I seasoned the fish with some salt, pepper and lemon juice.  I usually cook with olive oil but I'm out tonight so I'm pan frying in just a little butter (about 1/2 Tbs)  I heated the pan to med high and placed the fish seasoned side down on the hot pan.  It will fry about 5 minutes on each side or until the fish is flaky.  Don't forget to season it again before flipping it over. 

Roasted Sweet Potatoes:
I peeld and did a large dice on two sweet potatoes.  I roast mine in a light amout of oil and salt.  Roast uncovered at 350 until potatoes are browned on the outside and fork tender.

Roasted Mixed Veggies: 
We do this a lot.  Tonight's mix was brussel sprouts, bell peppers and carrots.  We basically roast whatever we have, try to mix colors so it's more interesting for the girls and roast them in a light amout of oil and salt.  A note on the brussel sprouts - if you don't like them - try them roasted.  They aren't so hot boiled or steamed, but I could eat a bowl full of roasted brussels.  Roast at 350 - you can roast at the same time you roast the potatoes.  I usually put the potatoes in first and then prep and roast the veggies. 

Raw Fruit:
I like to add something else to the plate each night so we have one or two vegetable items, or one vegetable and one fruits, lean protein and grains or starch.  The raw fruit is just easy and fun for the kids.  I alwasy know they will eat at least that!

Shopping List:
Cod or white fish
Sweet Potatoes
Vegetable Mix (Brussels, carrots, peppers)
Fruit (Apples, Blueberries)
Olive Oil or Butter
Salt and Pepper

Oh and yes we are going to eat dessert.  Today we made Monkey Surprise cookies.  I'm still working on the recipe so I'll have to post it later.

Fuel Your Fire!!
Mary

It's snowing out right now.  I wish I were in Arizona.  I like the snow - I like to look at the snow and run in the snow and snowshoe.  But I prefer to be warm and I would prefer to be warm today!  It's beautiful and the girls just played outside.  Well, it was an experience.  Payton can pretty much get herself out the door but Marley takes about 2o minutes and a little wrestling to get into her snow clothes.  It kind of reminds me of the little brother from the Christmas Story.  After all of that work and her telling me she wished Daddy was home because he would go out and play in the snow with her, she came in 5 minutes later.  Payton stayed out for awhile and made several mini personal-sized snowpoeple.  I just want to thank my mom here and seriously, thank her.  I don't remember her playing out in the snow with my brother and I when we were little.  I don't have any scars from her staying inside.  In fact I was always happy to go in and get some cocoa.  Therefore, my guilt can be released for not getting out and making a "magic moment" with my girls this morning!  They will be ok, no quarters in the counseling jar!
MY plans for today were to go into the gym and swim and then bring home my bike for an indoor spin.  On some days I know it's important to give the whole day to the girls.  Yes, I will get out in the snow later.  This has been a long week of training.  According to plans, I'm supposed to complete 21 hours of training.  That isn't going to happen quite how I planned.  It will probably end up being around 19 which is just fine.  Its much more important they get some time with mommy today.  Right now I'm enjoying a little peaceful Barbie/Food Network time (well they are).  When I look back I want to say I worked hard and did my best and found the best balance I could with family, work, me, spirituality and everything else in life!

Special thanks this week:  Payton and Marley for your patience, Eric for always telling me I'm doing great, Mom for always ajusting your schedule, John H for reminding me that I need people to encourage me too.  Howard for a great run yesterday, Bri for joining me for part of my long Saturday ride, Wendy for offering to watch the girls for us for a few hours, Sheryl for reminding me yes, the gym really need to be cleaned ;), Martin for the Powerbar!!

Best Workout this week: Saturday 5 miler with Howard
Toughest Workout this week: Wednesday tempo - tired tired legs
Workout Highlight: Making it through my 5hr training ride in the gym - mentally tough
Toughtest Part of Training this week: Nutrition - making good choices with an increased caloric need.

...and we did go play in the snow later :)

2011 has been a wonderful year and I feel at Blue Fire Fitness, we have so much to be grateful for.  The absolute highlight of this year, though, was the Fire Prevention 5k.  And I was so proud of our committee and community on Thursday when I took a check for $1000.00 to the Northwest Burn Foundation. 

It felt great to give this monetary gift to the Burn Foundation.  I look at this sense of completion and connection with my community as just the start of something great which grew out of the ashes of a very sad day.  I'm writing this to share because my experience after this fire was nothing unique to first responders, but I feel we often push aside our feelings and forget to take care of ourselves.  I hope that sharing my experience can help somone else, maybe tomorrow, maybe 10 or 20 years from now.

This is a link if you wish to read about the fire: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20081009/NEWS01/710099828

When I was called to the fire in September of 2008, I was in disbelief.  When my Sergeant told me four people preished, all I could think was, "no, I can't do this today".  Just a couple of weeks prior I had another case involving the death of a child and  I knew two kids had perished in this fire.  My kids were 2 and 4 years old at the time.  I remember in the academy they told us we were going to experience calls that hit home.  These calls were hitting home hard.  In addition, I had already decided I wanted to leave Law Enforcement.  I collected myself and drove to the call.  I wasn't going to let any of that get to me this day.  When I arrived, my emotions were in check.  I was asked to be on the initial walk through which I said I would do.  The thing  about these jobs. you might be upset, but when it's time to do the job, you do it.  I won't talk about any of the case or the fire.  Besides being professional, I feel it's important to respect the victims and their families.

A couple of very important things happened for me personally in the weeks after the fire.  I was pretty upset by what I saw and investigated that day.  A debrief was held at the fire department.  I wasn't going to go, even though deep inside I knew I should.  About a 1/2 hour before the debrief was over, I decided to go.  When I arrived, there was a circle of firefighters who were there the day of the fire.  The leaders of the debrief said they were just about done and in order for me to participate all of the firefighters would have to go through it again.  Not a second went by before I heard, "No problem, let's do it".  I don't remember everyone who was there that day but all I can say is, THANK YOU!  That was such a gift.  I'm sure they were relieved when one of the police peer counselors said he would talk to me.  Having that conversation was one of the most helpful things.  We talked about the call and dealing with tough calls.  He reinforced that I should keep exercising (to help me process) and to talk to someone if I started experiencing changes in my mood, apetite, energy level, etc.  It felt good to be able to talk about how I felt and know it was ok to feel what I was feeling even though I was just doing my job that day.  I think all too often we forget that we are human too.  This affect us.  In my seven years in Law Enforcement, I saw some pretty disturbing things that didn't really bother me.  Why this?  Probably because it hit to close to home.  What I investigated in a month's period was my worst nightmare as a mother.

In the weeks and months that followed, I was fortunate to find another career.  I left Law Enforcement in good standing but I don't miss it.  Before leaving though. I started to experience a lot of anger feelings.  I didn't really understand where they were coming from.  So, I went to a counselor who reassured me that I was going through stages of grief and feeling anger was normal.  I just love hearing I'm normal.  Well, maybe not normal but at least going through something normal.  Those sessions helped and I went on with life.  I began my business and was loving working as a personal trainer and coach, focusing on the positive in life now.

I have been fotunate to have several people in my life including, my husband and mom who have constatnly listened to me and been there as I cried on several occassions.  It has helped so much that Eric is a firefighter and got what I wa going through while being so supportive and loving.   I look at all of my athletes as gifts and two special gift were John Henchcliffe and Howard Lewis.  Although they are definitely my troublemakers, they have also helped me immnsiely in this experience.  In the spring of 2010, I started experiencing some other physical reactions from the fire.  I shared this with John (retired Fire Chief) and Howard (Chaplin at Snohomish Fire Dist 4).  Howard encouraged me to connect with the Snohomish County Critical Incident Stress Management Team.  After some proding, I finally called and was helped so much.  The man I spoke with encouraged me to do something to mourn the loss of the people in the cases I worked.  He helped me to understand that it's ok to feel what I was feeling.  I said I just needed to do SOMETHING but I didn't quite know what that was.

Then!  We went to the Monkey Run with many of my Team Blue Fire members at that time, including Kurt Bartelheimer dressed as a Banana!  When we came home, Eric and I talked about the race and the fire.  I was telling Eric how much I loved seeing people finish the 5k.  I don't know how we came to the point of deciding to put on a 5k, but it was born out of that conversation.  It would be the Fire Prevention 5k to benefit a Burn Foundation.  One thing that really bothered me was not being able to attend the funeral service for the burn victims.  This would be my memorial for them.  I told Howard who thought that was a great idea and really encouraged to do it.  One problem was that I had time until I actually wanted to put on the race.  I knew I wanted it to be in October of 2011 which was just after the fire anniversary and would coordinate with National Fire Prevention Week.  Howard and Eric had to continue to encourage, remind and get me moving to make the race happen. 

Once the planning started happening, I was really emotional.  Sometimes when I was working on the race, I would just start crying.  But I let it out as I had been told several times to do.  I kept planning and was joined by a group of fabulous people.  Darlene Gibson, my right hand woman.  She was amazing, taking on timing and registration - no easy task.   The rest of our hard working committee included; Howard Lewis, John Hinclcliffe, Theresa Dennis, Eric Gandee, John Oftebro, Margaret Carson, Jason and Kim Hodkinson.  We also had a slough of people who helped us us before and on race day - Darlene Gibson, Jim Gibson, John Hinchcliffe, Theresa Dennis, Eric Gandee, John Oftebro, Howard Lewis, Aason Maxwell, Margaret Carson, Sheryl Perales, Bri Gibson, Kim Hodkinson, Jason Hodkinson, Katie Hodkinson, Brad Hodkinson, Randy Crookshank, John Carson, Dave  Kiersti, Cindy Sommers, Nancy Gandee, Rick Gandee, Deborah Oftebro many from the Snohomish Fire Department, I hope I didn't forget anyone!!!  Thank you to our generous sponsors - Snohomish Bicycles, 4th Dimension Racing, South Lake Family Dentistry, Countryman Signs, L and B Auto, Kelley-Ross Pharmacy, QFC, R and R Specialists, Snohomish Post Net, Snohomish Fire Local 2694, Sayeh Marie Photography, Farmer's Insurance - Brandon Simeon, Fran and Rod Richardson, Margaret and John Carson, John and Deborah Oftebro, Eric and Mary Sommers, Dan and Laurie Stevens.

The race was such a beautiful tribute to the victims of the September 2008 Fire:  Sandra Maria Montano, Claudia Petra Montano Reynaga, Yareli Montano, and  Ashley Montano.  I often thought of Sandra, mother of Yareli and Ashley and wondered if she would have liked the race.  I thought if it was me, the one thing I would wish for was no other family have to experience this.  Our race might not put and end to accidental fires but I hope it did bring attention to the issue and maybe just one extra person check their smoke detectors that day.  I look forward to our 2012 race and the years to follow as the Fire Prevention 5k grows and brings  more attention to fire prevention.

To my friends out there working as first responders, I encourage you to care for yourselves.  Your path through a tough call or a a series of tough calls will be different than mine.  But you will have a path to choose and there are people in place to help you.  Alwasy feel free to call me.  I will listen and encourage you.  I want to see you continute to serve your communities as you do so well!

A year ago, I wouldn't have imagined I would be getting ready for my first Ironman today.  Well, here I am getting ready for IM St George in just over 4 months.  After signing up, I had a bit of a panic and wasn't even going to do it.  Training just seemed to take up way too much time and I felt I was pressing my family too hard.  Then I realized I could do it if I just changed my mindset.  Training is now fun and, (so far so good) fitting in with life.  When I told Eric, I can do it if I just let go of my plans a little and my time goal a lot!  He told me he'd been tying to find a way to tell me that.  I kind of have to find things like that for myself.

So how has training changed?  I used to train by myself pretty much all the time.  Running a new business and having a family doesn't mix well with 15-20 hours a week of training.  My solution was to train with my team more.  And it's been a blast.  I train at different paces than I might have originally planned but it's totally worth it.  Two weeks ago, I got to run with my friend Howard and have a great chat about life, life and life.  I don't get the feeling that my indoor cycling classes always loves me when we hit the hills and I remind them they are training for St George with me.  I look at this race as not only my own but my team's too.

My targets and goals have changed a bit.  Instead of locking in on the big, "Kona Qualify", I want to experience every Ironman in the US that I can.  I am so excited for St George!  I feel like I'm a little kid going to Disneyland.  I'm sure the pain will shake those Disneyland feelings a bit on race day.  

Here are some rules that are working for me:
Stick to one workout at a time
Plan each week - realistically
Be flexible - it's not a big crisis if workouts have to switch around a bit, if I miss one, it's ok!
Have fun - enjoy as many steps as possible!
It's going to hurt - It's an IRONMAN!!  
Do the workouts even if you aren't inspired - sometimes, it's just work.  Get to it!
Although I am one racer, I cannot do this without the help of many people

I'm sure I'll add to this list as I go along.  I promise to share:)  I have a lot more to share about this jouney.  So far, so good.  I hope this inspires you if you have ever dreamed of Ironman!