Diva Half, Good Nutrition and 10%

It's been a great few weeks here in MS triathlon training land.  A good friend of mine and I competed in the Wahine Diva Half Marathon the first weekend in April.  We joined up with a new work friend at the start and tried to clear the cobwebs out for the 6am start.  It seemed a bit too early for a run only race until I passed about 7:30 and the sweat was rolling off of me.  I joked with a fellow racer that we could probably walk the whole thing and still end up drenched.  It was super muggy!  It is a rather crazy event with women running in all shades of pink, often including tutus.  About a 1/4 mile from the finish line, they hand every woman a tiara and hot pink feather boa to carry across the finish line.  Let me tell you how much I didn't want to have a hot, fake boa around my neck at that point, but what the heck, it was all in good fun!

Although I am still traveling at a much slower pace than my goals, I was able to cut about 1 1/2 minutes per mile off my overall pace from January.  I'm pleased that I am making progress however the competitor in me wants the pace to increase much more rapidly.  My legs felt really good after the race, which was a pleasant surprise although they were darn sore on Monday at work.  I'm convinced I'm just allergic to the office and my body will try any excuse to make me want to work from home ;)

Justin and I have also embarked on a revamped nutrition plan in an effort to better regulate our caloric intake as well as the caloric timing.  The first 6 days of "weeds" for lunch was less than optimal and my stomach was loudly protesting at times.  Of course one of my co-workers had to tell me about this great filet mignon he had just to make my mouth water even more!  I survived the week and we are now back to eating carbs.  My training definitely took a dip during our carb-free ramp up but overall I think I feel better.  It never hurts to retrain the palette to eat a little less bread and butter - even if mine goes kicking and screaming.

I also sailed past 10% of my donation goal!  Thank you so very much to all of my incredibly generous family and friends out there.  I am using your support to buoy me when I feel tired and tempted to skip a session.  Every day I get a little closer to both my donation and athletic goals.  7 weeks until race day...

>hugs<

A whole lot of ... H.U.R.T.

Signs of spring are popping up throughout most of the country which means that trail running becomes more fun!  Of course here in Hawai'i we can't really tell when spring comes although we have been getting a lot of rain lately; perhaps that is meant to be our sign.  I was doing a bit of searching to see if I could find a short St. Patty's Day run to use for my training when I came across H.U.R.T. Hawai'i. 

Of course I just had to click the link and find out what that was all about.  What I found was the Hawaiian Ultra Running Team's website and racing series.   All of their trail races are designed to increase miles starting at 6 and culminating in a 100K race at the end of October.  They are staged on local Oahu trails and are quite cheap to enter, so I thought what the heck!  The first race is this Saturday and will likely be a bit slow for me, however it will be a nice change from my pavement training around Mililani and the treadmill grind.  Now if I can just kick this budding cold so I can breathe!

I have added their race schedule to my Race Calendar and we'll see how I feel about doing a 50K and 100K when the time comes around but it might be a fun challenge.  A bucket list kind of accomplishment for sure!

• March 17 ~ Moanalua 6 Mile
• April 7 ~ Vi's Top of Tantalus Memorial 7 mile
• May 5 ~ Run with a View 8+ mile
• June 9 ~ Mango Madness 10+ mile
• July 7 ~ Kaena Point Firecracker 10 mile
• August 11 ~ Maunawili Out & Back 22 mile & Relay
• September 1 ~ Tantalus Triple Trek 50k
• October 27 ~ Peacock 100K

http://hurthawaii.blogs.com/2012HURTTrailSeriesSchedule2-3-12.pdf

A Bitter Pitcher

"When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."  It is a statement that I try to remember when things are particularly difficult or frustrating.  This past month has been incredibly difficult for one of my honorees and I can't help but think her pitcher of lemonade must be quite bitter at this point.  Some days and weeks make it much harder to look on the bright side of things and test our faith on all levels.

My cousin has been fighting MS her entire life - first as she watched her father battle, and ultimately lose to, the disease.  She was then diagnosed with MS herself and although medicines are much better than when my uncle was first diagnosed, there is still no cure.  Now in February, she and her husband buried their youngest son.  It feels like a lot of lemons for one life, one pitcher.

As I renew my training with a passion this weekend, I remind myself that working many hours of overtime and being tired at the end of a day/week are tiny excuses compared to the struggle of others.  I am more committed than ever to do my part to find a cure for this disease.  While I can't take away my cousin's lemons, perhaps I can add a cup of sugar to the mix.  Help me by donating to this important cause and let's find a cure, together!