Cindy Present | Get Out Girl

It was one year ago this morning that I was taken out by a car while riding my bike. Though battered, twisted and bruised, for some reason greater than myself, I was one of the cycling miracle' situations that walked out of ER counting my blessings. It gave me a perspective of not wasting time or letting time waste me. Although I have never taken life for granted, I chose to become a bit more intentional of 'living my years'. I had realized how abruptly life as I knew it could change and instead of having someone assign my fate to me, I committed myself to become more planful and indeed make this 'one year to live.' At 5:30 workout this morning I shared with the group that it was my one year anniversary and I was thankful to be 'enjoying the morning' with them. My girlfriend was silent for a second and then spouted out from the group, "You sure have done a lot in a year." It took me by surprise for a moment while I thought about it. Yes, I guess I ...

The last thing I wanted to do before I left Kona was run. Not for the workout or to get back into training but simply 'run' because I love the movement, the freedom, the fulfillment it offers. Running in Kona is beautiful whether you're feeling the pain of IM or just taking in the sights and sounds. It is a very active environment and its not uncommon to see folks running and biking up and down Ali'i Drive. I asked Steve if he wanted to go out for a quick run together before we left and the cave man grunt and baffled look I got in return pretty much answered that question. Besides, with everything we needed to do to get ready to catch our 9:40pm flight and the questionable feeling of a blister from the event, I was pretty sure that running in Kona one last time was not going to happen. Mark and Justy had left the day before and Beno and Toni had just left to take Kristen and D to the airport. Since the race on Saturday we had done so much on the island that none of us h...

And it is DONE! "CHECK"! It was everything I expected Kona to be. Apprehension about the swim start kept me up most of the night and totally lived up to its daunting expectation; the black lava and wind on the bike course were as ominous and ever-present as rumoured, and the run - well actually, aside from a horrific blister, it was better than expected and the trip down Ali'i Drive up through the blue bannered, tropical finish line stage was the highly anticipated end to a wonderful journey. The Trip The ten days that we were in Kona were a whirlwind of race prep, taper training, adventure water and land activities, laughter, fun and good times, all woven around that ominous Ironman event. There was a wonderful contingency of Austinites at the event plus 6 dear IronSherpa friends and one IronMate husband that made it all possible (poor Leann didn't make it past ABIA after her wallet and ID were stolen even though Obama had given her clearance to travel.) However, Ton...

After a nice little shake out run and short morning swim I wandered over for some Active Release Therapy. Steve and Beno were out enjoying some SUP and self-inflicted Paddle Fit (because they love pain!) As I was standing in line, A-town boy Chris Sellers pops out of the tent to work my kinks out! I had no idea he was here - and was he s sight for sore travel hips. He worked me thru an ART session and off I went feeling awesome. Thank you, Chris. Now its time to pack up tomorrow's bags and go stage my bike in transition! Woo hoo!!

We rested today by getting up at 6 am to get ready to go on a boat outing. There were 14 of us from Austin (6 from our group)that rendezvoused ina little community south of here. We were headed out with Dolphin Discoveries until noon. Denise and Kristen had arrived last night so theu jumped right into the action first thing this morning by walking over to our condo to pack up and go. They got their first dose of Alli Drive, Kona's main thoroughfare for vehicles, bikes and runners. Picture a 2 way paved Barton Springs at its busiest weekend moment with a line of traffic moving down the center and pedestrians, joggers, bikers and runners sharing the space as they move surfside through the Kona Village area. Many are clad on the latest team gear, compression gear and are speaking a different language as they run and bike from industry tent to industry tent, sampling and needing the latest fuels and recoveries that companies have streetside for you to try. Quite the Ironman training ...

No. And I apparently don't have any balls either. It was about 6:30 last night and the sun was setting over the pacific. Steve, Beno, Toni and I were headed back in to Kona from Hawi, the 56 mile marker and turnaround point for IM Kona. It is an adorable town. A handful of hundred year old buildings with a few eclectic shops and restaurants and generations of families from days of Hawaiian royalty and founders. It sits in the hills of the northern tip of the big island and is the destination of the 1700 or so IM athletes here. It is also the peak of the bike course, the highest point in elevation and the climax of the notorious tradewinds that this event is notorious for. Yesterday it was my destination for an hour or so bike ride, per Kelly's direction, to get a feel of what one could experience at the upper end of the bike course. After a more than full day of swimming, socializing, retail taper therapy and bopping around town, we headed out to Hawi about 3:30. The fi...

After quite a late night of getting to Kona at 4am CST and getting to bed at 5:30 CST, we slept for about 3 hours and awoke to the vibration of Steve's phone ringing with a boat customer call (not the vibration that I would have had in mind for my first morning in Kona ;-) anywhooo....we rolled over after deciding the customer really shouldn't sell his boat trailer and slept for a couple more hours. I finally rolled out to the deck of our condo and did a little Skype homeschool with Cade while watching the palm trees sway to the thunder of the morning surf rolling in. After a little middle school math and some amazing Kona Mountain Java, my adrenaline was ready to start the day. Toni and I left OSHA 1 and OSHA 2 in charge of putting my bike together and headed for the the parking garage to find the car. 15 minutes later :-) we found it and left for the pier to swim. The water was really rough for the first 800m or so and then opened up so the silt settled down. It was like sw...

We are officially enroute to Kona and I still can't believe it! Well, except for the approximately 150 pounds of gear we checked at the airport and the 3 days of 'trying' to get ready to leave and never really 'quite' being prepared to leave - I really can't believe we are headed to Kona. Steve and I both have been at time warp speed for the past two weeks getting business, classes, teams, kids, co-workers, church groups, nonprofit causes, soccer, homeschooling, and who knows what we forgot..wrapped up to leave. Kelly had once told me that sometimes it is best to get to an out of town event early if for no other reason than to get away from all the hustle and bussle of home and rest. After what we have been doing lately, I totally agree. Rest came once we stepped on the plane in Austin. I manuevered into my window seat, leaving the armrest up for Steve to follow me in. I cozied into my seat while Steve wedged his butt into a seat made for someone half his size...

Steve and I returned from 70.3 Worlds in Vegas on Setember 15. I jumped right back into coaching and teaching then long workouts two days later. Then four days later I offered to assist the kid's swim club by coaching 4-7pm Monday - Friday...starting that same day...Monday! Life was reeling by! Mid-week I received the 'offical' Athlete's Guide for Kona and when I opened up the link I saw the counter..."17 Days" (and blankety blank minutes and seconds) to race start in Kona. Now I was 'officially' nervous. Not about the event itself, per se, but the gazillion things I had to wrap up and put in place before even heading to the airport. I hadn't even made it to the grocery store since returning from Vegas! By fulfilling the coaching needs for youth swim I had now committed my coaching/teaching/client schedule to over 30 hours per week and that didn't include being a wife, mom, homeschool coach, OR getting my own training in! (Thank goodness that w...

It was 5:30 a.m. The fifth week out of six that I (well, "we", which includes my sherpa husband, by default) 'had to" get up on Saturday morning to ride our bikes for five hours or more. This was the ninth month that 'I had to' ride every Saturday and run every Sunday - in addition to the other five days that 'I had to' do a workout or two daily. It has always warmed my soul to wake up and walk in our living room and see the twinkling waters of Lake Austin dancing under the moon and lakeside lights. Just thinking about it I get that sensation in my bones of what it's like to be out on the water at this time, waiting for sunrise to get that first morning ski run or SUP ride in. The lake calls me this time of day. But on bike and run mornings like these have been, instead of turning right and heading to the dock, I'm turning left because 'I have to' go ride my bike, so i head down the hall, grab my gel flasks and water bottles and ventur...

As Steve and I were hustling and bustling while hauling three bags and a bike box through McCarran airport today I was was jolted to a slower pace when I realized that five days ago I was walking the opposite direction heading to one of the events that I thought was just a dream for me - one I had always aspired to do but I never thought I would be able to qualify for. Now, five days later it's over. I did it. I lived a dream. Walking through the airport following Steve as he zigged, sagged and jockeyed the rolling bike box around innocent toes, I remembered how excited I was the first time I got a spot to the 2010 70.3 World Championships. It was fall 2009 and Denise Ray and I sat in the bleachers at the Heritage Center HOURS after we had crossed the finish line and when my name was called out we whooped and hollered. I specifically remember Adam, who was announcing at that time, comment "Now that's the kind of excitement I'm looking for." I remember thinking it ...

The 70.3 World Championships brought the best of the best from around the world. There were some amazing pros, ex-pros and age grouper athletes. It was a beautiful day in Henderson, NV...if you had been training in 100 plus temperatures. It definitely wasn't as hot as we have been training in or as humid as The Woodlands IM so game on. The course had 5200 feet of climbing and was amazingly beautiful. Lake Mead was in the distance and we climbed into the mountains wrapping around it. The run was 3 loops basically 2.3 miles up and 2.3 miles down. Unfortunately the ups loaded up your legs so much that the downs took a long time to get rolling. Based on the course, terrain and the fact that I haven't been training for this distance, it was probably my best 70.3 to date...not based on time of completion but based on paces held in that terrain and rate of exertion to maintain them - not to mention I felt like I could keep going after with an adjustment to speed. Steve, Jami an...

A nice, sweet out and back.

Nope. Lake Mead National Park hosts 36 miles of the 70.3 World Championship bike course...and 5200 feet of climbing. Bring it!!!

A few months ago, many of us got a laugh over the "I Am Training For An Ironman" YouTube cartoon . You remember, the "you're 38 years old, you haven't had sex in 6 months, you pay big $$ for that torture, its 6 o'clock, and why the hell do you have to go home now to get some sleep?" cartoon. Well, with less than 4 weeks until the 70.3 World Championships and about 8 weeks until the Full Ironman World Championships in Kona, the cartoon continues to echo through the house, sometimes silently in our own heads and sometimes verbalized tongue-in-cheek with a resounding echo of truth and a tad of frustration. The workouts are getting longer, the days are getting shorter, and exhaustion is more frequent. Steve and I still giggle about the one liners, but sometimes the one liners are "jabs of love" as our way of staying sane - and 'happily' married - through times of rather "insane" training. Two weeks ago one of our dogs startin...

*Last Week Ironman.com requested my "story" for qualifying for Kona at IMTx. Here it is... Thanks for asking about my journey! I'm still pinching myself, not quite believing that I've achieved an accomplishment that was truly in my "wildest dreams" - and so close to "little incident" I had by getting KO'd by a car! Three years ago I traveled to Kona with friends as they worked the Ford Ironman World Championships and we helped, spectated, and cheered local Austinites that were there competing. Every year prior to that and since then, for truly as long as I can remember, I would sit on my couch every December to watch my "super bowl", with TV blaring, family staring, I would watch, with a catch in my throat and tears in my eyes as "others" achieved their dreams in Kona. Their feats were amazing - those it took to get there and those that they were accomplishing there - and I knew that particular journey was pushing their pers...

The 70.3 Ironman in Galveston was hot and humid...very hot and humid. And monotonous. Four laps on the run course through Moody Gardens (and for those of you that remember, no sign of Emily for the entire run!) Anyway, it was tough..to keep moving through the hot, thick air and keep spinning those laps thru Moody and Schlitterbahn. It was somewhere during the third lap that this fiesty, cute little blonde gal zipped up beside me through the crowded sidewalk course and said "Come on. Let's do this thing together." My immediate thought was that it sounded like a definite way to bonk. I didn't want any part of it. "Go ahead, girl," I said. You're killin it!" Well, wasn't too long before I had slipped back up to her, then her behind me then we swapped again and again...throughout the last 6 miles or so..till I lead her in. She killed it, all right. And just about killed me. But it took me to a PR half ironman course time. Well, fast forward about...