Well as you can see by my daily stats, I am tired and cranky. Boyfriend kept me up half the night with some freak out. It's impossible to calm him down after he gets all amped up too. And he's so negative about everything, there can never be a positive option, ya dig? So I ended up sleeping in a nother room, which got interrupted about every 30 min or less. Ah, sleep's over rated anyway, right? :( *** So, I got 4 other people to run with me today. It's a miracle. My running partner went, then another guy and gal from my dept, and another guy from downstairs. The guy from my department beat me back and was probably about 2 minutes ahead, but he's an athletic 30 yearold african american. go figure. for as much as my joints hurt, it felt so good to run. I havent had fresh legs for almost a week, so I need to go a day off. My run parter, Ronna, caught me about a mile and .10 into it, but i dropped her soon after. She said she was letting off, and I siad I need to step it up. tough run in my head- but steady. had a few surges and overall pretty decent. nothing outstanding, just a good training run. it's amazing how a little running can flip your mood. ;)

Ran with new person. Can't say I enjoye dit so much. First time I've ran witha guy and I felt myself competing ( and I was winning, by the way). I felt like I had to be like, "Yeah I'm a little white girla nd you're 20 year old black guy and I'm out running you." hope that doesn't sound racist, but that's how I felt. I thought I needed to prove something. I don't think it was just with him, but in running and athletics, period. He said he'll go again, but I liked running with my girlfriend from work, she doens't push me as much- she keeps running and doesnt walk much, but she's a slower pace. I know you're supposed to run with faster people because that makes you faster, but I don't like the competetion. even if it is from someone who is not in my age group, gender, or even ethnicity. ** Oh, I almost for got, I've lost 3 more pounds. Yes!

Good strech after run

Race Recap KC Corporate Challenge Triathlon and Shawnee Mission Park June 11, 2006 As I loaded my bike onto the rack of my car at my house I was thinking I was crazy. I knew for sure that the race would be cancelled due to the terrible thunderstorms. I drove the 40 minutes out anyway. Of course, I was late. We had been asked to check in at 6:00. I arrived about 6:30. I didn’t think it would matter since I was sure there would be at least a rain delay, but no. I got in line for body marking after sticking my bike on the first rack available. The line for BM was about 25 minutes long! My heat was at 7:20 am, so it left little time for TA set up and warm up. I was feeling pretty bummed because my boyfriend had planned to come with me, but didn’t, so I was there by myself with no one to talk to or no one to look for in the crowd. I swam over to the beach and talked a little with my wave, but was primarily trying to focus on what I had to do in my swim. The water so nasty! For those of you that have done Heritage Park, it doesn’t even compare! After the strong storms and rain, the lake had been swishing like a washing machine all night, so every possible piece of moss and grass was floating about 6 inches below the water. I had a strong swim, but didn’t go out as hard as I should have the first 200 yards. There was another girl that was hanging right next to me for a while, which frustrated me because I don’t except there to be women swimming with me. I was able to get a decent draft of off on of the guys, but he started going way off the wrong way, and I just went past him. Just before the turn buoys, the girl that had been parallel to me cut way inside, going well inside the buoy course line. I must admit, I smiled a little to myself because I knew she didn’t have a chance any longer. I was really able to get my legs going the last 150 yards, and I finished very strong right to the run out point. I was so excited to get out of the water and hear “Go Court!” I looked up and Monica was right there. When I ran by I gave her a high-five. I also saw Reppe on the way to my bike. Seeing them and hearing them cheer made me feel so great! I didn’t even notice the terrible cut up asphalt I was running on to the TA area because I was finally feeling pumped. The only problem I had getting through T1 was deciding on if I was going to wear my sunglasses. The skies were still overcast, and ordinarily I would have worn them just for eye protection, but they had fogged up in warm ups, so I opted to go without. I was not looking forward to going up the Dam Hill (hey, that’s what it’s called) soaking wet. The first part of Lap One was good, until I started to push through my gears too hard which caused me to drop my chain on the last major climb of the lap. I decided that instead of risking screwing it up again, I ran my bike to the crest of the hill, and then jumped on. It was much easier for me to make adjustments cruising. My second lap went by without incidence, and overall, I was fairly pleased with my ride. I felt like the slowest woman out there, but I was having fun, and my bike computer showed a max speed of 39.3 mph, which is amazingly fast for me. T2 went quickly for me. I was able to rack my bike very quickly and grab my race belt and DFT hat (DUH! just because it’s Corporate Challenge, it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rock the DFT gear). I had a little problem getting my belt to clasp, but it didn’t slow me down any. I had no idea where I was going! I had looked at the course map quite a bit, but still did not understand the route. Luckily, I am a slow runner, so I had plenty of people to follow. We had to go up the Dam Hill again, but not too far, then we made a sharp left that formed a little out and back with an aide station at Mile 1. Next the course headed out onto a paved trail with a long downhill section. This really made me happy as I have been training on similar trails so it was a condition I was used to. This really turned into a pretty trail as about one half mile is completely covered with trees. This was great as by now the sun was shining and not letting up. There was a gradual uphill that put you back out on the park road, but I was just concentrating on running and not walking. I never took a walking step so that worked out pretty well. The last half mile or so is flat then starts back uphill. I could see Jenny and Dawn up ahead cheering which really kept me going. Also, I was almost done, so I was really excited. Jenny said that nobody else was smiling coming up to the finish line, but I don’t see why not. It was a nice day, I was out there racing, and I was having fun, so of course I was smiling! I finished with an official time of 1:16:42. I actually won my Company Division for my age group, finished 13th in my overall age group (18-29. If it were 18-24 like normal, I would have gotten 4th), and 32nd overall. It was a great way to end a race.

I am exhausted. Such a long week. So little sleep. actually, NO sleep. too much partying. too much fun. had a blast though. I hope the doenst hurt me this weekend- kind of a forced taper with no sleep. probably wont work out so well, but hey, it's all for fun, right? :)

So hot out. so little sleep. so much partying.