When life gives you rotten lemons...give thanks:)

More-than-gutting a house is the most challenging thing we've ever accidentally signed up for! We're truly thankful for it...and PS: not every moment has been a giving-thanks-type moment! That refining fire has singed a few hairs! ha;)

Hey, when life gives you rotten lemons, throw 'em out in the compost, mix it around, plant some seeds, water it and you'll get some juicy fruit [eventually]!

...thankful for my parents' generosity since we've been livin' the dream in their basement (hahaha. Well...one thang's fer sure: inside jokes will last through eternity after 1.5 yrs in the basement!)

...thankful for reaping the grandiose benefits of having them on our work crew! ...they've renovated [a few] houses;)

Here's a pic of our front yard...I love how Kaitlyn is looking at "Uncle Steebin" & Andrew has his feet up as they all laugh at Pappy being silly. :)

2013 race season: 4 pro races: Check!

Lifetime Fitness Oceanside, CA
Swim: 65 deg water temp, delayed ~10 mins in the water at the start which numbed my hands & feet to the point of no return; there's nuthin' good about a pre-race ice bath, but everyone had the same conditions to deal with; had a decent wetsuit swim
T1: Not swift - couldn't feel hands, so had trouble clipping bike helmet & taking off wetsuit
Bike: So cool literally; not so much figuratively! Thick marine layer fog; freezing; no function in hands...close to not being able to brake/shift; fog felt like a constant ice-water mist room...the cold cloud layer was a complete surprise to some others as well. I felt like I belonged in DumbnDumber with snot freezing down my face - I couldn't wipe it off though because my hands couldn't squeeze my nose - haha. (Sorry, too much info) ;) Every once in a while I'd put my hands in my mouth to try to regain feeling, which didn't really help my aero position. Another bummer for the non-functioning hands on the bike was that I couldn't grasp my water bottle, so I didn't drink a sip of it but rather carried it as cargo for the whole 40K.
T2: Not swift but I was so thankful to get my helmet off and running shoes on! I'm still not sure how I did that! This was a huge answered prayer going into T2.
Run: I felt like I could run off the bike for the first time! Fun stuff. Every other race, I've felt like death after biking. This time I felt decent & it's always fun to catch & pass someone!
Overall: 11th out of 14 girls who started, 13 finished. No part of it was incredible, but I made good progress.

That's a wrap!
I haven't had an impressive first-year pro season with my race results, although I have made steady progress that isn't necessarily immediately fruitful. It's been a goal to reduce the amount of mistakes each race weekend rather than being upset if I make a mistake! Hanging out in the lower tier of all 4 races is the reality of where I'm at right now. And that's fine; I won't stay there, but I knew going into this season it was going to be about managing expectations. I'll target weaknesses & build on strengths this off-season & am excited to continue my momentum into 2014.

It's absolutely true to say that I wouldn't have been able to be a pro if it wasn't for my sponsors. THANK YOU!!! And what an unexpected gift to be able to meet and work with such amazing people and companies! It's so easy to get excited about my sponsors (check 'em out on the right!!).

By far the most tender & meaningful take-away this year for me is how the Lord has gone before me and been with me through the details...Clearly, (if you've checked any results), I don't mean that the Lord went before me and I beat all my competitors! I mean that my relationship with the Most High God has become more intimate through this year's chaos, quiet, & everything in between. It's the sweet, secret moments in relationships that are the most special - the ones I can't fully describe that grasp the total multi-dimensional packed beauty that exists. Do you know Him?! Isaiah 55:6 says, "Seek Him while He may be found; call on Him while He is near."

Friday: After we drove the course, ended w/ a gorgeous sunset - perfect timing!

Oceanside harbor: swim start...no sign of fog yet, but...it's a comin'!

Just out of T2; this fog was nuthin' compared to the bike!

The run!

Succulents = so pretty & unique

Went to a cute outdoor coffee shop after the race & succulents lined the entire space.

I swam with the seals! So cute, fat, & friendly. ARRR, ARRR!

Post-race chillaxin' w/ the best massage therapist in the wooaarrald! (& ma) ;)

Wetsuit: 1 Me: 0

Forgot to use lube for my neck... Doh! I'm pretty sure (from the looks I got) that more than a few people on the day-long trip home from Cali thought I had been involved in some extra-curricular activities...ie, they probably didn't guess wetsuit chaffing...aNyhoo...
:) bethany

Zoomin' in Dallas

The weekend started off a tad bit more swift than expected when I was escorted to my options for a rental car, & this one proved to have the largest trunk. OH yea. This thing has a couple “blowers” (nephew's term) and looked exactly like a few of his favorite toy cars that he zooms around the house...I felt like it was missing some eyes on the windshield though. ;) The correct driving swagger doesn't really mesh with slow driving around a big city & on the brink of getting lost at every turn...hmm....but every time I merged onto the interstate, I did it with confidence & some killer pickup!

Driving around made me smile more than a few times...The stereo was amazing and the car handled really well! One time I came back to my parked car to witness some people drooling over it, looking inside, and one of them sort of jumped back when I unlocked the car and said, “Ooooh girl is this your car?! It's niiiice! Is it so smooth? It looks so good, uh!?” hehehe.

The Dallas Lifetime Fitness Triathlon was a great experience! I am so very thankful for the opportunity to compete and glorify the Lord with all that He has given me!

Shortnsweet: Made progress in all 3 sports. I still have a lot of work to put in, exclamation points, and need to get faster in everything, exclamation points, but definitely encouraged by the progress and excited to keep on chuggin'! A big Thank You!! to all my sponsors (located on the right side of this blog :) - check 'em out!! :) 3^rd pro race: complete! Taking today off and ready to put in some work and race again at Oceanside in 2 weeks!

Details, details...(or not so much, actually...)

Swim: I was in the mix on the swim!

Bike: My average power was a bit better than the last couple races – I'll take the progress, for sure!

Run: Hilly hilly! (and that's coming from an East TN girl...)
And making good progress on the experience side of racing.  Although I have an undergrad major in logistics and transportation, I've definitely had my fair share of fail moments in all the logistics of everything being race-ready the moment the blow horn sounds! ...gettin' better though :)

Post race band was so good! Super fun to zone out, pig out, & chill out as they entertained us.

Next up, and last hurrah for this year: Oceanside, CA on October 20th. Should be another stacked field, especially since it's the finale for the series!

Godspeed!

bethany

I'm thankful for the church bells ringing praise hymns to the Lord this Monday morn..."Oh praise Him, Alleluia!" Yes!

Psalm 113:3 "From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!"

 

a Pacific Grove sunset

Clipless coupons: I'm a fan

Just a thought: 
Although it's sort of creepy that Kroger knows everything we buy at the grocery store, the coupons that come in the mail are actually useful! Last time I went to the store, I used them & saved $35! Yes, I was the crazy coupon lady...& I admit it was slightly awkward for a minute with the line of people staring at my wad of coupons as they were getting scanned...but it was worth it.

The only prep I did was get the mail, and...I think most people do that on a regular basis anyways. The great part was that I bought things that were already on my list.

Flashback:
It reminds me of when I shopped in China. Since my teammate & I were the only 2 foreigners in the district, people always watched us closely...to the point that the shop owners would actually hand us items in the store that we frequently bought! haha.

Let's see...what is the moral of the story? Options include:

• Use your Kroger Plus card!
• Check your mail!
• Coupons in the mail shouldn't immediately be thrown into the recycle bin.
• They're watching you...
• Just like we have so many time-saving mechanisms these days, the clipless coupons are keeping up with the times!

Cheers,
bethany

XC workout added: 2 enthusiastic thumbs up!

Yesterday, Coach Clark let me run with the UT XC team. We drove to a trail at Norris Dam and did some quality interval work - super fun stuff & I'm so thankful to tag along!

I might've also discovered a new open water swimming option at Norris Lake. That's 2 in a week! Fort Dickerson park has a quarry that is also open to the public. Its water is turquoise & feels like an exotic getaway...almost...haha. Check it out if you live close to Knoxville.

UT is gaining momentum - had a great 2nd meet & tied for the win with Florida! Here's their schedule if you want to cheer them on & follow their upcoming races...Go Lady Vols & Vols!

From Gollum to Einstein, of course...

My theme from the last race report was Gollum/LOTR, so obviously the next logical parallel to a triathlon race is...Einstein. Physicists can be extremely insightful and/yet/but in a different way than a creepy hairless corrupted hobbit...

Short version: Some of my Gollum feelings still resonate with my wetsuit experience (i.e. we [still] hates them) but I have not lost hope that I will conquer the wetsuit swim. I really enjoy open water swimming, & I am going to figure this out. Went a little faster in all 3 sports. Makin' progress in the right direction, but still have a ways to go...definitely!!! Skip to the pics or read more of the juicy triathlon/physicist parallels... (um...spoiler alert: it's a stretch but hey, it works!)

More Scoop:

Swim: It's true that I came out of the water an unacceptable 3+ minutes behind the leaders....again....but I changed my wetsuit which means I'm taking Einstein's advice and keeping out of the "Insane" category... (Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~Einstein)

Last race, I wore a full wetsuit size W Sm, and this time I wore a sleeveless one, unisex size 6... Although my arms enjoy the freedom ("don't clip my wings!!"), they actually never warmed up since the water was in the upper 50s....It was like a 10 minute pre-race ice bath and then sprint a mile swim out of the gate. Literally "cool"...but definitely not figuratively! The swim at Pacific Grove is called the "Kelp Crawl"....and my raw arms had bruises on them from wrangling with the kelp. It feels as if you're swimming in a pool with 100 pool vacuum cleaner hoses (the rough plastic tubes). If you hit the tube, it hurts and is somewhat stiff, but if you try to grab it to give you momentum, it just floats with you and ends up being worthless. Moral of the story = the shortest TIME between buoys on the race course is not a straight line. It's following someone who previewed the course and knows where to avoid the kelp. Doh! My course preview was cut way short due to the icy take-your-breath-away-but-not-the-romantic-type feeling I was getting from that cold water. Maybe sleeves aren't such a bad thing...

Bike: At the race, I took my bike to the local bike shop and asked them to look at a couple things, one being my shifting. They couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I ended up riding a bike that had a shifting mind of its own. #notgood. A girl in our bike group told me after the race, "I was thinking, 'Gosh, she's shifting a whole lot!'...But then I realized you weren't trying to shift!" Well let's just call that not ideal during a race. Now, I know that I attached the derailleur incorrectly. Grrr. Does it make me feel better or worse that the 3 bike mechanics at that store couldn't figure out my shifting problem? ....not sure.

Run: First 2 miles were conservative...Second 2 miles I had a horrendous gut/lung cramp & had to go slug pace...Last 2 miles I could finally go semi-strong but it was too late to catch anyone.

That particular swim-bike-run landed me 7th place out of 10 pro ladies, with a fun check from the wonderful Tri-Cal, who put on an amazing race! I hope I get to race many more TriCal events! I'm a huge fan of TriCal! Thanks!!!

I'm going in the right direction, even if it is by smaller steps than the leaps I was hoping for. I knew that I wouldn't be performing like I did before I had the downward spiral of 3+ yrs of injuries...but every time I race, I don't go into a race thinking that I'm going to have a poor race! So it's kind of a mini battle of the will/mind/heart for a couple days post race....which is normal, I'd say, for competitors! We race to win, right?! I always have a post-race list of what to fix & focus on next time, and start chuggin' at it! I'm a list girl & love crossing items off. The theme of patience came up a few times in my discussion with my coach, Jamie, at HUB Endurance. :)

This week I get to add a UT XC workout to my training! I love trying to keep up with people. Woohoo! And UT Masters swimming is picking up, with more & more former Vols who can still kick some tail! So much fun to be in that mix...as well as the many good group rides around here. I'm really thankful for the opportunity to be with people and work hard. What a gift.

Also - I'm still healthy! This is largely because of Steve Bailey, who owns and works at PROMPT Physical Therapy. And neat that we originally met because he and his wife invited a bunch of random 30-somethings over to their house for a Bible Study last year. He should seriously be a famous guru of body work sorts. I had a neck/back injury on and off since 2009, (mostly ON), and he is the only person who has gotten to the bottom of the problem and nixed it, and maintained an effective nixing! I even ride a bike that has a seat higher than the handlebars. This is good! He is very talented and has a gift of understanding of the body & how it works.

Whew, so thankful to be healthy!

Other Random Highlights:

• Lover's Point Inn - stay there! Perfecto.
• Pacific Grove, CA is gorgeous!
• What's there not to love about a place where you enter & instantly get 3 hrs of extra life?!
• 2 loop swim, 4 loop bike, 3 loop run. Fun stuff!

Next race = Dallas on October 6th! Thanks for being curious, caring, praying, &/or cheering for me!
THANK YOU (!) to my amazing sponsors!
God bless you,
bethany
PS: Einstein has many more great quotes! If you also like him, we should chat more sometime...

Lap 1 of swim w/ purple-red arms...check!

Our little bike pack. I'm leading here, but wasn't always leading.

Cramp...grrrrrr

Probably good to not see my facial expression at this moment in my life ;)

Go Team Pilot & Truckers to Triathletes (T2T)!

Gettin' ready for a bike warm-up :) 

Love all the Cali trees, crazy beautiful aloe plants, vegetation, sunsets & more! Puuurty purty.