Pilot Girl!

Before this week, I was a huge fan of Pilot Flying J...but now - what a thrilling honor to be sponsored by them, and partner with them in their push towards health and fitness!

Pilot Flying J has raised the bar in terms of caring for its employees and customers in so many ways, including adding fitness facilities to truck stops for the truck drivers and offering healthier options to eat inside!

I'm excited to join up with their Truckers to Triathletes team (although I have no idea how to drive an 18-wheeler!) this year and can't wait to see what lies ahead. When I arrived for the interview, everyone I saw at the corporate office was friendly and went out of their way to say hello with a genuine smile! It really put me at ease right before my first real interview as a professional triathlete.

I am beyond delighted and feel uniquely blessed that they are taking me into their tidal wave of success! I'll be talking about Pilot a lot, but for now will just post a couple pics....GO Team Pilot!! :)

First run :)

Highway to health! :)

Little Bit o' Life

Speed Bumps...
My off-season has been chugging along with a few+ speed bumps along the way.
I took a couple weeks off after the half ironman because of my deep blister wounds and the inability to wear shoes other than generic brand of crocs.
We closed on our new house on Nov 1st, and then all our stuff came on Nov 3rd. In between those dates, we planned to rip all the carpet up, and move in/live on plywood until we sold our house in Tulsa.
As we all know, Plan A doesn't always pan out as we predict. In our case, Plan A (literally) bit the dust on day #2...and then from that point on, we kept uncovering extreme mold, rotten wood, unusable/unlivable conditions to the point that our handyman fell through the floor under where the shower had rotted out the base floor. Unfortunately, the two professional inspectors that we paid to inspect the house (who are publically known to be ultra picky) completely missed all the major problems in the house and gave us a huge vote of confidence what a great house we were about to buy. (Where's Holmes on Homes when you need him?!) The unexpected guttage of the new house would definitely have been more fun if we didn't have to pay 2 mortgages starting in January!
Our house in Tulsa that we have been trying to sell since last May has given us various problems to deal with, and we've been depending on our neighbors, friends, and realtor to help us survive as we're 13 hours away. It's been an immense challenge in many ways. I think the hardest part is that we sold it to the first couple who looked at it. 3 weeks later, we moved to Knoxville. 2 weeks after we were in Knoxville, our (first) realtor told us the contract fell through because the buyers' financing fell through (unbeknownst to us, their financing was based on them selling their house, which fell through)....and our realtor either kept this from us, or she didn't realize (either way it's bad). Sigh. She had taken our house off the market & put a sold sign in our yard for one month. Double sigh. And then when we fired her after the contract was expired, she lied to us about the contract. Stephen had to take time off work to deal with her, and we finally got free from her because of the contract she signed!
We got a new realtor and have reduced the price almost $20K from our almost-sold contract. We've had lots of showings, but no more offers. Oh, the gift of waiting - things we grow and learn that we would never experienced without the trial. We've had to do some maintenance of the house - and doing maintenance on a house 13 hours away is not the easiest endeavor. We are definitely blessed by the people who've helped us!
A few weeks ago, we bought a range from Best Buy. It was delivered damaged, and the next 10 days, I spent hours on the phone with various people, managers, 2 different stores...finally we returned it and bought the same thing (at a better price, and newer) from Lowe's! Moral of the story: avoid Best Buy!
Aaaaand 2+ weeks ago, I caught the horrid virus head cold-that-never-dies. After about 10 days, I felt better except weak when I started to exercise. Just yesterday was the first day that I felt decent on a run. 
Most of the reason I'm typing this out is to remember how faithful the Lord is when things seem tough, and to get a good laugh out of it later! And maybe it would encourage someone else to persevere :)
These types of trials are never fun! But as John Piper says, "Anything that brings you closer to God is good." Definitely! Seeing these trials as good is not my first thought (sometimes doesn't make the top 10)! But knowing that Jesus is with us every step is the ultimate comfort! ...Especially during this season, when we specifically remember and celebrate that God gave His only Son to me (!!), to substitute His perfect life for my hopelessly lost one.

What is True...(Thanks, Lord!)

• Joy to the World! The Lord is Come!
• Living in the basement is fun & amazing compared to our new house!
• We are so excited to (eventually) move in next door to my parents!
• Knoxvillians are so welcoming in biking groups, UT XC, and UT Masters Swimming!
• Stephen and I have been married 4 years!
• We're excited to sell our house sometime!
• The weather here has been beyond fantastic for December!
• Stephen absolutely loves his new job at UT Med Ctr - what a massive blessing!
• We're loved, warm, healthy & safe!
• We cry, laugh, pray, look & listen for God's voice!
• Stephen is developing into quite the handyman - what a guy!

Here's a pic of our new house, taken on day #36 of owning it....it doesn't look any different (although we've been doing some things that you can't necessarily see) right now and we're on day #45! It gives us legitimate reasons to realize we're not in total control of our lives as we wait & keep on chuggin'.

Cross-training!

Merry Christmas!!
bethany
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13

Anderson, SC...70.3 first-timer

Although the thankfulness of the big picture was present after gettting hypothermia in MD, it was disappointing knowing that my next triathlon would be in March...The only 2 options for racing were 70.3 races. I wrote them off until Stephen suggested that I jump in another well-organized, hoppin' Rev3 race in SC the next weekend, encouraging me with "C'mon, you can do it!"... I thought about it for the next 4 days alternating extreme fear with optimism...and finally Thursday night, I registered. At that point I accepted that it was going to be a huge challenge, but I knew I would regret if I didn't at least try.

We got there Friday night. Saturday was completely full - I feel like I'm still in the stage that there are (more than a few) things new that go wrong the day before the race. We left the room at 10am, and by 6pm we were finally back in the hotel.

Swim: Fine...Will I ever enjoy a wetsuit swim? hmmm...not yet but soon perhaps!
Bike: Long! The last 6 miles I was like, get-me-off-this-crazy-saddle! I drank 2 waterbottles with EFS along with half a waterbottle that a wonderful volunteer handed me, ate 3 Gu's, & carried an entire big, full waterbottle on the back of my seat the entire ride. Ohhh, first-timer.
Run: Before this race, my longest run since foot surgery was 6.5 miles. Of course you're supposed to be able to go in a race double what your longest training run is....and that would get me collapsing ~100m before the finish line...awesome! haha. Not to mention biking in aero position 56 miles right before that. ;) I never felt like I was going hard on the run, I was just trying to keep chuggin'. Within the first half mile, my legs felt like they were about to cramp at any moment which sort of put a damper on the fun of running. I knew I needed to be careful! I walked and drank at every aid station which felt wrong and odd yet it was also a little treat - I'd never walked in a race before. (PS: I probably wouldn't have been as cramp-prone if I drank that other waterbottle on my bike!)

And last but not least I need to figure out how to protect my feet! In the past I have always painted them on race morning with Newskin, and I haven't gotten blisters....not so in a 70.3! At the end of the race, my feet looked like hamburger meat. It took a full 10 days of babying them 24/7 to heal enough to put normal shoes on, no jokin'. I'm not sure if the race itself was more painful, or the first shower I took post-race...or perhaps a 3-way tie with the first time I soaked my feet in Epsom salt and could feel each heartbeat in them...

The exciting result was that I finished first amateur, requalifying me as a pro triathlete. Yahoo! So thankful!!! I had a lot of fun! It was a great way to kick off a base for the winter. Oly distance races will feel so speedy compared to that madness...but excited to know that I can do it. Maybe more in the future, but I will continue to focus main goals with the Oly races. My mom couldn't make it but it was fun to have Stephen & my dad there! Here're some pics...

Trying to hike up my wetsuit to make it 3/4 length sleeves & capris! ha

Readddddddy.....

Energy spent getting a wetsuit off >energy saved wearing it...(!?)

That didn't work...grrr

Putting on a shirt when wet while taking off a wetsuit is harder than rubbing my tummy and patting my head ;)

Dismounting...(thanks, Eric, for letting me borrow your aero helmet since mine is back in Tulsa!)

Start of run, telling Stephen & dad that I think I'm still in first...

Always nice to have fans! :)

Bloody achilles and 19 blisters...but almost finished!

Met some fun new friends!

Ellicott City, MD

The next triathlon was the Rev3 MD - the race I was gearing up for and wanted to requalify to be a pro triathlete. Stephen and I drove up to Ellicott City on Thursday. (Next time we will be sure to avoid DC at rush hour! ha.) The drive was gorgeous, as was the weather...until race morning! 80 degrees on Friday, but 40 degrees & raining by the time we entered the bike course. At the briefing on Saturday, the director mentioned we might want to take the time in T1 to put on arm warmers. Check! I put on arm warmers and had booties on my cycling shoes...yet I still literally froze on the bike. I felt like Lloyd & Harry in Dumb & Dumber, with my snot freezing down my face - ha.
A guy crashed right in front of me and I was so thankful to avoid him! I went down the next steep hill & at that point, my hands didn't work so I couldn't brake nor shift. At mile 15, I wasn't even half way (this Olympic bike course was 32 miles) and had a lot more hills to go down in the rain. I rode up to a policeman and asked him to stop me and hold my bike so I could get off. Ain't nuthin fun about quitting a race(!!!). I knew there was no way I could finish safely, so I told him I was done for the day. He told me to sit in his truck and turned on the heat. I shivered uncontrollably for 30 mins...and was soon joined by another lady. We stayed in his truck for 1:45 & and munched on my 2 Gu gels I taped to my bike (civilians, hotel shuttles, and rev3 vehicles were all picking up the serious hypothermia cases first). I felt bad for Stephen - I knew he'd be worried about me but there was no way to contact him. After 2 hours, a van with other shivering athletes made it back to the start line and I got some warm hugs from Stephen. Lessons learned for me: 40 deg + rain = full clothing including gloves next time. The big picture was that I was so thankful to return without injury/crash...and time spent with Stephen during the long weekend was fun and adventurous. Also, it was neat to be part of a race that so many cancer survivors were racing! Constant reminder of how thankful we all are to be able to just show up at the start line! Pics of Rev3 MD...



Warming my hands...

Yes my hands are in my armpits to stay warm! haha. I think she was telling me how crazy we all were! ha

Louisville, KY

The middle of September, I did the Louisville Landshark triathlon. It boiled down to a really good workout and a long, hilly course. I might've been the only person who wasn't in the LL Tri Club, yet everyone was very welcoming and cheered for me, even offering "more cowbell!" haha.
Here are a few pics:

Getting ready

Swim course - 2 laps! Any course with laps is a great thing!

Dad of course has the right shirt on! ;)



 

Sighting the finish

Should have slithered up to the water's edge - so slick!

Love the TYR Sayonara speed suit!



The TYR race suit feels great with compression down to my knees!

Oh boy!

I'm so thankful to have raced last Sunday at the Fall Creek Falls Triathlon! It was ultra fun, and I'm thrilled that my body is feeling healthy post-race :D
My race report will be pictures and captions. Thanks (!!!) to Stephen for being an amazing hubby, cheerleader, support groupie, photographer, and chauffeur (we woke up at 4am and drove 2.25 hrs to get to the race)!

checking out the transition

I hear Stephen & look back...



chit chatting with fellow pink-cappers

I was informed that the avg T1 time is 4:30. Yikes!

Swim...check!

First time to wear my TYR speed suit - felt great!

Oh T1, I'm grateful we get to wear shoes!

Not much aero about this action! Oh well...here I go.

Bike...check!

Socks & training shoes aren't ideal, but good precaution for the 1st race after foot surgery.

Click it or ticket!

 

Off to run!

 

Up-n-over the big, long crazy hill.

And down a hill...

...to the finish.

My love!

Thanks to the wonderful race director, volunteers, park officials, and others who put on such a fun, beautiful, and safe race!

Waiting & Grateful

Mild & wild outdoor "winter"...There were only a few days that I had to train inside on my bike this "winter"! Mr. Groundhog can prolong that winter any year and I will be excited. Building a base on my trainer was not something that I was looking forward to, especially since there are so many speedy people in Tulsa to try to keep up with! Usually I ride with some tri/cycling friends or with the Tom's Bicycles Team. Fun times!
My neck held up during many-a-miles on my bike (thanks Lord!). One fun thing that I discovered is that I really enjoy climbing. I've been learning how to descend better, so that's also becoming more fun and less scary.
The bike position is slowly getting more aero, although I still sit noticably more upright than... everyone else. ha. I have made friends that way though - everyone likes biking behind me!

A rekindled flame for the black line...
Swimming with the Tulsa Masters has been so much fun! Other than waking up at 5:20am, it's been the perfect way toget back into swimming while meeting lots of great new friends! The Lord has given me a feel for the water and it's been neat to enjoy it again in the midst of great company.

My favorite: running
The lack of running is what the Lord has used to remind me that training hard & racing are gifts and opportunities! Since January 1, 2011, my foot has given me off/on troubles....mostly 'on' troubles - ha. I could run for a couple months this summer...but other than that, I haven't been able to run - I've missed it!

2 days after surgery - sorry for the blurry phone camera pic!

1 week after surgery...ouch!

One of my new cycling friends (who used to play in the LPGA!), Suzie, told me about Dr. Willard who had successful foot surgeries and is an accomplished athlete. I went to her and she sent me to an athletic foot specialist, Dr. Baxter, at Athletic & Orthopedics & Knee Center. Although I had seen 6 doctors in Tulsa (including podiatrist) over the past 14 months, Dr. Baxter identified my problem and said that it was a classic case - an angry little nerve that needed to be released or plucked out. While relieved that it wasn't still a(nother) mystery injury, I wasn't excited about the knife on my foot!  I feel soo thankful that I had the opportunity to see him - he is ultra famous, and has helped out many-an-olympian including Carl Lewis and the list goes on and on...and on....one of the fun things about seeing him was that he's friends with (and has operated on or helped) many of my parents' friends since my dad was a top-caliber runner in the 1970s.

Tessa loves the extra playtime & naps!

Seeing him was a true gift that I didn't deserve...Needless to say, if anyone used a knife on my foot, he's my first choice! Two weeks after I saw him, I went back to get that nerve plucked out. That was a week ago, and it's still pretty sore. I'm logging lots of couch hours and I'm prrrrrretty sure that my cat is the only one hoping that my foot never recovers! haha. I bet she thinks I finally realized that playing with her + being a slug on the couch = fulfillment. (I don't think she's read Don't Waste Your Life by Piper.)  ;o)

Sophia & I both had a bum right foot! Her
stubbed toe didn't stop her from playing
outside, though! :o)

Thanks (!!!) to my Ma, the Pellas, Stephen, Amy, Beth, Kim & Suzie!
My mom met me in Houston to help and take care of me! My friends Teresa (I swam at UT with her) & her husband, Tyler, graciously opened their house to us and we also got to see and play with their two little beauties, Sophia & Madison! When I came home, I wasn't very autonomous...and Stephen has been so sweet and loved me so well - I'm beyond blessed to have a better half like him! Good friends in town have given me food & flowers and taken me places since my right foot is out of commission. I've been so encouraged by everyone's words & prayers - thanks!

I'll continue to close with...
I don't have a schedule planned out for 2012, but plan to fully train & race as a pro triathlete, keeping in mind Proverbs 16:9...
"A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure."
Hope everyone is enjoying the gorgeous spring weather! Cheers!