72 hours and eating

T-Minus 72 hours until I embark on my first Ultra Marathon experience.  I'm starting to get nervous, butterflies showing up in my tummy. And I'm completely ravenous.  If I had absolutely no self control, I'd be elbows deep in the 2 gallon bucket of cheese balls that are tighly placed away in our pantry.  Instead, I've tried to tether my longing for cheeseballs, cheese cake (which I did have today), cheese pizza (see a pattern here), etc.  Instead I just scarfed a grilled chicken salad but splurged with a small fry (hey...they're carbs...). Anyways, I'm hungry, and I think my internal clock knows that I'm about to put it through it's toughest test thus far.

This past weekend, my husband and I traveled to Austin so that he could compete in his 2nd Olympic Triathlon.  He did so well AND raised over $1100 for The Livestrong Foundation.  It was great seeing him finish strong and also help a teammate that was struggling towards the last leg of the race.  Multi-Sport racing is an entirely different animal from what I can tell, and it seems to be much more testosterone charged (see large muscular men finishing and making loud yells and grunting sounds).  For goodness sakes, my husband got kicked in the face in the first 5 minutes of the swim and has a small shiner.  He had to swim a mile after that...then bike 25...then run 6.  That's insane.  Soooo....Kristofor, I love you and I'm very proud of you!

ALSO this past weekend (before the Austin trip), Kristofor and I ran a 10k....ANNDDDDDDDDD....
I WON A TROPHY!  2nd PLACE!  Please excuse my excitement, I have not won a trophy since 4th grade UIL.  Seriously.  I'm so dang proud of that trophy, you'd think I won the gold medal at the Olympics.  Seriously, I'm stoked.  Who knows if I'll ever win another, but bygod, I won that one, and I'm one happy camper.  :)

So back to Austin...I knew I couldn't just take the long weekend off, so I was "that girl" and ran in the hotel gym.  I was not a fan of their treadmill, mine is much better.  And on Monday morning, I had a nice run from our hotel to the site of the Triathlon finish line.  I counted that as my "hill run" because well...Austin has hills.  And downtown Austin goes up and down up and down.  It was strange to be running at 8 am past all the bars that were packed to the brim a few hours before.  But it was a beautiful morning, and a nice change of scenery.

Overall this week, I will be taking it easy-er than normal in preparation.  Tonight, I ran 3 miles with my beautiful friend, Klaudia-Lou, and it was great to have girl chat while getting in a run.  Tomorrow I train with Renea (WAHOO!), and Friday I'll probably do an hour long stretch session and a light walk.  Going into Saturday, I want my legs fresh, my mind clear, and my spirit ready.  I absolutely cannot wait!

Please let me know if you have someone that you'd like me to run a mile for.  I'm honored and happy to do so.  And thank you everyone for the song suggestions.  You will be happy to know that I downloaded a TON of new tunes and I firmly believe they helped with my big win Saturday.  So Muchas Gracias!

Keep us in your thoughts over the next few days.  I know that I've been trying to reflect on the reason we are doing this event; to remember those that perished and survived that tragic day in American History, and to honor those that have fought and are fighting for our country in it's aftermath.  I'm so pumped to get to that track.  I know it's going to be a life changing experience!

Thanks for cheering me on!

Lacy