Turkey Trot

Thanksgiving is by far our biggest family holiday. My brother and sister-in-law fly in from New York city, my boyfriend and I fly in from Honolulu and we have had Thanksgiving dinner with the same family for the past 32 years. My family has two kids and the other family has three and only twice has anyone been absent from this dinner. I look forward to it the entire year. What other holiday is your sole job to eat as much as possible without being tasked with giving any gifts?! I love it! Another big tradition is the Thanksgiving day turkey trot. My family is extremely competitive and we always have it out for who will come in first in the 10K run. Since my boyfriend is a former cross country runner, he has it in the bag, so this year we are coming out in costumes for the run. I have just finished designing ours...

This splish bathing suit along with black compression socks and a Thanksgiving inspired turtleneck will for sure get us the prize! I will definitely post pictures when we finish the race. Not of me of course, but of my skinny chicken boyfriend.

Goals and stuff

Tomorrow is my last day to run before the NYC marathon. I am leaving on a red-eye to fly for over 10 hours. I hate flying. I hate flying more than I hate running and this trip will be solo so I fear for the person sitting next to me because I have the bad habit of grabbing people's hands and screaming. On an overnight flight this probably wont get me many friends. I also dont sleep on planes so when I land at 1 on Thursday I will head straight to the hotel and take a nap while I wait for my mom to arrive.

People have asked me about my goals, and since it is my first marathon my goal is to finish. However, being as competitive as I am, I do have some minor goals:
1) Finish with no walking (I have a stress fracture, so this may be hard)
2) Beat Katie Holmes: 5:29
3) Beat Oprah: 4:29
4) Beat PDiddy: 3:58
5) I cant tell this last one, but let's just say if i accomplish it I will start to call myself a runner

In all sincerity I hope to have a great time and forget about how much I dislike running. I have a feeling when I cross the finish line I will be thinking about how i can improve at the Honolulu Marathon in December. I am all packed with my gear - Texas shorts, lucky visor and awesome orange shoes

and have my last chiropractor appointment tomorrow to get all aligned before Sunday. I am going to stay positive, think my positive thoughts and have fun! And if that all fails, I will think about my post race beer and pizza!

My favorite Splish

I love Splish bathing suits. I have tons and I spend way too much time designing them. Here are some below. Some are "borrowed" designs from others and some I created on my own.

This one however has to be my absolute favorite. The boyfriend was getting jealous that he didnt have one, so I decided to make him one....

Taper time

So I have decided that I want to do an ironman in 2010. I know this is a ways away, but my life is a little unstable right now with where I will be living, so I dont know that I will have time to train for one in 2009. That being said, I decided to run a couple of marathons this year to see if my body is even able to run 26.2 miles. NYC on November 2nd and Honolulu on December 14th. Yes 6 weeks apart. I think I might have a screw loose. I hate running, so the past few months have been hell for me. I have tried to whittle away my man shoulders (from a life growing up as a swimmer) so that I dont have to carry as much weight during the marathon. I have not been on a surfboard, in a pool or swimming in the ocean in weeks. I try to tell myself all day that I love running (which I dont) and that I will have a great workout (which is usually not the case). Sometimes it works, but it usually takes me downloading at least six new songs before each workout to have something to look forward to.
14 weeks after starting this training, I am finally in taper mode! And what do I do in taper mode (besides catch up on my dvr and old People magazines)? I torture my dog Nola

This is my rescued black lab from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (hence the name Nola). This was Tuesday night. I have been asked if she was dressed up for any reason and the answer is no. Well, other than to entertain her really bored mother. I must find new things to do with my time....

It's all about the outfits

I moved to Hawaii about 3 years ago and started a blog to let people know back home what I was up to. I was tired of writing the same old "Im great and loving life" emails, so i decided to make everyone jealous with posting pictures of all the fun things I was doing. I stopped updating it since there wasnt anything really new to report. But now that I am starting to plan for my 2009 season, I figure what better way to do that than on a blog for the whole world to see? And the reason I called it "it's all about the outfits" is because I really started racing so that I could wear the cool tri suits and shoes that triathletes wear. I mean you have to look good racing right? I have to say I AM NOT FAST. I grew up swimming and usually do well in that part of the race, but I am a slow runner and didnt learn how to ride a bike until a few days before my first triathlon. I guess I was a deprived child. Once the swimming part of a triathlon is over I start to slowly lose my position. I constantly hear "on your left" until T2 and then I just try to get through the run.
These are pictures from Honu....

My favorite part of the race



The part where I start to fall back


The point where I seriously question my sanity and try my hardest not to quit


This is where I start planning my next race - go figure