Cookie Decorating Party!

Happy Holidays!

This weekend folks will gather at my parents house for the 2nd Annual McKee decorating party! The picture posted here is the late night masterpiece we titled "Dog Pooh on Cookie". I probably don't need to explain that there were numerous adult beverages consumed prior to the creation of this particular cookie. To protect the somewhat innocent, the artist will remain anonymous. I can't wait to see what creations emerge from this weekend's festivities!! I only hope I don't suffer too badly on my 4 hour ride the following morning but if I do, I'm pretty sure it will have been well worth it!

Winter Holidays

There seems to be a lot of 'STUFF' going on here! Yesterday I signed up for St Anthony's so that means it's time to get off the couch and start moving again. I have enjoyed the break but I think my liver will be happy to return to a normal training schedule. :)

First up is the unofficial, unsupported Go Tri Sports Ride Across South Carolina (RASC) January 6th and 7th. We leave from the Go Tri shop in Hilton Head and over 2 days make our way to the Greenville shop. I have an entire 5 weeks to prepare. I expect it will be a fantastic adventure!

Hickory Knob

hickory knob is quite simply one of my favorite races. yes, it's typically cold and late in the season when everyone is burnt out and fried but the course is absolutely beautiful and challenging. thanks to jeremy and raly and the whole setup crew for an amazing race and another fun triathlon season!

with the physical roller coaster i've been on, it was probably a little crazy to do this race but i haven't raced since july and i was really itching to get in just one more before the season disappeared. i arrived at hickory knob late friday afternoon and met up with some of my go tri teammates for dinner. friday night pre-race pasta dinner followed up with a couple of beers - perfect! saturday morning it was 39 degrees when i woke up - brrrr! luckily the cabin was about 100 yards from transition so still in my pajamas i rolled my bike out to transition then went back to the cabin to get back under the covers with my coffee. i kept thinking it would warm up enough that i would actually get in a little warm-up but that just didn't happen. finally 10 minutes before the first wave was supposed to start i put on my wetsuit and headed to the swim start.

luckily the sun was shining and the lake was absolutely beautiful. i forced myself into the water to at least get in a little swim warm up (plus the fact they were making us get in to clear the dock). after floating around for about 15 min or so, it was time to start. my swim felt good - long, easy strokes and about 50 yards out i found the feet of the leader of my wave who i am guessing was some young collegiate swimmer. i stayed there until the last turn bouy - she took a wide turn and i cut in and we swam side by side all the way in. one of the toughest elements of this race is the run to T1. by the time i reached the top of the hill i thought my lungs might explode! those pictures should be lovely.

T1 was a disaster - i couldn't get my stupid wetsuit off and my feet were totally numb. ugh! starting off on the bike, i was really just hoping that everything was going to work properly since i hadn't ridden it after putting on the race wheels. oops! i think this is where the lack of warm up really hurt. i finally started feeling some power come into the legs around mile 8... of a 10 mile course. even though it was an out and back course, i wasn't paying any attention to if there were any women ahead of me or even how close any women were behind me - totally oblivious. within the last mile however, a girl FLEW by me... GOING UPHILL. YIKES! putting on my running shoes in T2 i still could not feel my feet and was wondering if this biking superwoman could run and more importantly, could i? in the first mile i had this constant argument going on inside my head... i had just blown up on a 5K a couple weeks prior so i knew i needed to keep myself in check but i was also anxious to close the gap on the girl ahead. the evil side won. i closed the gap fairly quickly - i considered just hanging behind her for a bit but again, the evil side won and i went right on by. amazingly, i felt pretty strong the entire run and was surprised and happy to finish 1st overall! post race i discovered robin aka "superwoman" is actually a professional cyclist which made me feel a smidge better about her crushing me on the bike. overall, my splits were not very impressive but 1st place was a nice way to end a frustrating and inconsistent triathlon season!

St Anthony's

Welcome Back!

That is the email I received from Coach Dirk after I gave him the recap on my day at St Anthony's and let me tell ya, it feels so good to have a solid race once again! On the long solo drive down to St Petersburg I had a lot of time to think about the few days that were ahead of me. Yes, I had done the work and had not had a back flare up in 4 months but I still had many lingering thoughts and doubts... the toll that taking almost an entire year off had on my endurance and speed, wondering if there were issues with my back that would prevent my body and muscles from functioning properly and just what was my body capable of and going to give me on race day. All things I knew I couldn't control so I tried to put all of those doubts aside the best I could.

It is amazing to me how smoothly St Anthony's is run with 4000 participants. Race morning I made my way over to transition to get things all set up. I was in and out of there pretty quickly and back at my hotel room to stretch and relax a bit before heading to the swim start. Ahhh... the joys of staying so close to the race site! Before I knew it I was standing on the start line and anxiously awaiting the sound of the horn to get us started. Starting out on the swim I quickly wondered if I had made the right decision to race age group instead of elite amateur... the start was a mad house and I was catching the wave ahead of me before I even hit the second sighting buoy. Well, this is where I was so I was going to have to make the best of it! The first third of the swim is protected by the Pier so it wasn't too bad but by the time I made it to the first turn buoy the waves had started to get a little big. The good thing about the second part of the swim is that the waves were coming behind us so if you timed it right you could actually ride the waves a bit. While I was trying to take advantage of this, I knew it was going to be bad news for the final portion of the swim. Sure enough, after the second turn bouy the waves were coming at us sideways. After just a few breaths I realized I would have to stop breathing to my left because I was getting more water than air! This also meant more sighting because I knew it would be easy to get pulled off course with the side current we were experiencing. I was really happy to finally make it to the stairs and up into Vinoy Park... T1 at last.

I purposely have my front water bottle covering my speedometer so that all I can see easily is my cadence. I can see the speed but I have to lean my head to the side in order to see it which I am not likely to do often during a race. A few miles in I was curious though so I tilted my head over and all I was was 0 then realized that my distance said 0. Guess I forgot to check that the magnet on my race wheels was properly lined up with the sensor. OOPS! Oh well. I know that I am better off riding cadence anyway and I certainly wasn't going to stop to make the adjustment! The bike course was WINDY but unbelievably, I felt really good. For the first time in a long, long time I felt like my legs were capable of generating a little bit of power. I knew that regardless of how the run went, I was going to be satisfied with my race because I just FELT GOOD. I also have to mention that my bike felt SO SMOOTH so a HUGE thanks to Jose for taking such good care of my bike!!

Back into T2 I racked my bike and took notice that there appeared to be 4 or 5 girls already out on the run course from my age group. I threw on my new racing flats (yes, flats I had bought the day before! ha!!), grabbed my race belt and headed out onto the run course. While my head was saying "we've got to start out strong but not too fast... let's build into this thing" apparently my legs weren't listening. I hit the first mile marker in 6:14. I was briefly concerned so I tried to back off a bit. The run course was getting warm and I just kept hoping that I wasn't going to fall apart. I kept checking the ages on the calves of women I was passing on the run course. Early on I passed one in my AG but at the turn around (21:12), I had still only caught one. The run was proving to be physically and mentally tough but I just focused on keeping my stride and trying to pick out runners ahead that I could catch. Finally, I started seeing some women from my age group. Motivation. At least three down and I had no idea if there were more ahead and how far ahead they might be so I kept pressing on. Finally I was in the finish chutes and I picked up the pace - if I was winning my age group I did not want to be beat to the line! When I looked at my watch, it told me I had just run a 42:12. WOW! For a run that seemed filled with constant doubt, I was extremely pleased with my split.



This was a good day for me and I am so excited to be back into racing. I had a PR race for the course and an age group win. Great start to hopefully a great and really fun season! Thanks to Coach Dirk for whipping me into shape, Jose for working on my bike, Savannah for letting Jose work on my bike, Gerry and Tommy at Spa Adagio for always taking such great care of me, Mark Rutledge at Rehabilitation Centers of Charleston (RCC) for helping me get my back strong again, and my SMRT Masters swim coaches for being on deck and providing me with quality swim workouts every day.