Cindy Present | Get Out Girl

Ironman Kona 2013...got 'er done!! And it really was quite enjoyable!! The day clipped along at a steady pace, it never felt endless, and I never got miserable! Check!! At 12 midnight the morning of the event I woke up and never returned to sleep. Apprehension. Nerves. Anxiety. I just needed to get this thing going. At 4:15 I officially started getting ready and we left for the pier at 5. I didn't see the Sherpas who had left prior to us (was this a hint of the day to come??) Steve and I parted ways, both teary eyed and emotional. There is something about that moment, all the training, all the sacrifices, all the dedication and determination, that brings out inner rawness. Time to bring it to fruition. Body marking, chip check, bag check, sunscreen, bike prep, bathroom....it was getting close to game time. I realized that once the canons went off and I got in motion the nerves would go away and auto pilot would calm me. And it did. At 7am with helicopters whirling overhead, lou...

Jack is packing up calories, filling flasks, and getting ready for bike check in today! How many calories and how many mg of caffeine will it take??

I see London, I see France, I see most of Kona in their underpants!! Can't beat them, then join them! After a quick swim goggle test and stationary swimming to the espresso barge (current was a tad bit brutal today - like a Lake Austin swim when generating ;-) we quickly climbed into our undies and joined in the crazy Kona Under Pants Run for local charities. Easily the shortest run recorded (around the block, to the pier for group stretching, then back to the other side of the block for group pictures) it was also easily the funnest run ever! Perfect prep for my UnderAchieving Training come Sunday!  Just say in' though, that when you edit pictures of your friends in Under Pants, there is a little more hesitancy when pushing the 'enhance' button :-)

  We all started our first day in Kona at the beach! Dig Me Beach, the official start of the Ironman swim. Some of us because we wanted to swim distance, some because they wanted to beat the hyperventilation blues that occur with open water swimming, one because his wife made him, and several to swim to the famous Ironman espresso bar (see top pics).  After a successful swim by all (meaning we all made it back to dry ground without drowning) we hit the town running....shopping, eating, going to expo, going to bars, and repeating the scenario most of the day!  I had a bike ride to get in, and after the great guys from Felt got my bike fixed up, I was off for a ride out the famous Queen K Hwy. it was as hot, humid and windy as always, but the ride was great. Cyclists running and biking everywhere, getting in last day training sessions. We all wrapped up had about 30' to change and headed out to the marina for a night snorkel with the manta rays. There is a ledge near the ai...

Good Morning, Kona!!  First stop, making sure Frieda's war wounds from dancing at the bar with a local in Los Cabos are not in need of patching!

We flew out of Austin yesterday at 6:20 am! Jen was (kind?) enough to (volunteer?) to take us in at 4:30am. We had picked up her car the night before so she could just mosey to work for an early start after dropping us off, but after trying to pack iall our gear into her car, the bike box would not fit to standards. So OSHA dismantled and repacked everything in my truck. Jen would just have to drive it for the day after delivering us to ABIA. At 4:20 we waddled out to put in the final bags and WOW!! The truck had been 'friend-alized'! There was writing all over the windows AND tires :-) Blinky lights threaded through the door handles, confetti in the air vents and lies tied to door handles. The 'Sherpas left behind' had done it up nicely! (Now I know why the neighborhood skunk was in such a stinking tizzy about 10:15 the night before ;-) Of course, our security cameras caught it all! Nice job, Biddle, Nan, Drew, Lisa, and Jen S. I know it was Jen S and not Jen A because...

After I left coaching a training group this week, I turned left instead of my normal right. I needed gas (as usual :-) and had to run a quick errand. After sitting through the stop light, I turned my blinker on to turn right into the gas station. As I was about to turn in, a homeless man with a cart neatly stacked with two suitcases and a smaller bag strapped down to it, was coming my direction, not quite to the driveway I needed to enter, but close. Instead of rushing to beat him, I simply sat there, with my blinker hypnotizing the moment. The cars behind me were in much more of a hurry, as I heard two different horns honk. I continued to calmly sit there. I wasn't in a hurry and neither was the man I was waiting for. As he moved slowly in front of me, I was reminded that I had seen him a couple times before in this area. It had surprised me then, as this community didn't seem a likely location for homeless activity. However, this man appeared to have everything but a home. He...

L Most of you have heard our 'cramping' stories.  "Couple found clinging to cliff after experiencing simultaneous cramping while swimming in Lake Travis after bike ride." "Sherpa goes down with severe post-Ironman cramping while waiting at bar after standing on street corner all day watching Ironman." "Sherpa nearly expedited from airplane after serious leg cramps curl him into the aisle after Ironman." "Woman's midnight howling from femoral leg cramps confuses children." You get the picture. This Ironman stuff can cause serious muscle cramps whether you are the trainee or the Sherpa. Two weeks ago after a Tuesday Nighter bike workout I was woken up with the most intense leg cramp squeezing into the head of my quad. It just wouldn't let up. Steve kept breezing in and out of the bedroom during the episode, shaking his head chuckling. I am sure he was thinking, "How bout that Ironman," as he continually strolled in and out...