Wonderful News from Judy!!!

Our dear friend, honoree, trustee and Ironwoman Lesley Mansford met with her oncologist this morning for her 6-month checkup. She was given a perfect report and, in fact, her counts are down from her last visit.

Here's to Lesley's good health and our continued mission to find a cure. Go Team !!! Here's a photo of Mary, Lesley and I during the 2004 WF practice weekend.

Graduation

Graduation has come and gone. I can't believe three years of grad school at Michigan went by so fast. I will greatly miss the close friends and the community of Ann Arbor. I never would have imagined that I'd have two masters degrees. There are so many opportunities that await my future. I can only imagine the places I will go and the dreams and accomplishments that await me!

Wildflower 2007

The Wildflower Half Ironman on Saturday, May 5th was the most difficult of the 4 years that I have raced this course. WF is my favorite event because of the beauty of the California hills, the festival experience and the fabulous friends to share it with. Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day, but the headwinds of 20+ mph were brutal.

During the first half of the 1.2 mile swim I felt like a dolphin riding through the waves, but in the second half the waves were against us which made each stroke very tough. Usually there is a sailboat at the swim turnaround. I didn't see a sailboat, but I saw a large power boat so I kept swimming. All of a sudden I heard a kayaker yelling "turn, turn, turn". I looked up confused and realized that I had swum at least 50 meters past the last mark. I shook my head and laughed at myself when I saw 30 people passing me on the inside of the mark, a sailor's worst mistake. I ended up having my longest swim time, which I attribute to the conditions and my lack of paying attention.

The coveted 56 mile bike course consists of rolling hills for the first 20 miles, a long flat middle section and steep climbs at the end. With my new bike, I was nervous because of the fall I took two weeks prior and because I'm still getting used to the quick responsiveness of a tri bike. I missed my "granny gear" (third chain ring) which usually allows me to fly up hills and fly pass the competition. But this was a training race to get used to my new bike, the Red Fox, and I know that in the next two months of training we'll be able to become much faster on the hills. I couldn't believe how strong the wind was. There were times when I was in my lowest gears and pedaling down hill. How is that possible?

I swear, they have added more hills on the 13.1 mile run course!!! Training in Michigan all winter in the snow running hill repeats in the Arb still does not prepare me for the hills on the trail run at WF. I walked most of the hills in the first half and then turned the power on for the second half of the run. My average time does not show how fast I was actually running the last half of the run. I know my training for Ironman is going well, since the run is a true fitness level test.

I played the day conservatively, I got my PR on the course but I'm still convinced I can get faster. Next year, I will push the pedal to the floor and definitely break 7 hours!

Wildflower is a reunion of old friends and a welcoming of new friends. This year was a first for many who have already declared that they will return next year. It was such a thrill to see Meg, Carrie and Kevin on the course! Kevin Kinkor has been at every WF finish line for me, and I can't wait to be at the finish line for him at Ironman this year! Special thanks to our Team Z sponsors: Timex, Zym and Trek!

Having taken advantage of WF recovery week, my Ironman training is now in full throttle. This coming weekend my training consists of two swims, a 100+ bike and a 15 mile run.

Dizzy for Izzy

On Saturday, Cory Costley shaved his head for his daughter Izzy. She was a little nervous at first watching her dad, but afterwards she laughed. Doesn't he look a little like Lance Armstrong!

On Sunday, I rode my bike 77.7 miles and I thought of Izzy often during the ride. She inspired me to push myself harder, no matter how much it hurt when I fell for the first time or when the wind was slowing me down. Izzy and her family are reaching deep into their hearts and finding that inner strength to make it through to the finish line.

This week is graduation week. I have one more final exam to go, it is for my Epidemiology of Cancer class.

Triathlete leaves us with reasons to live

This Contra Costa Times article about one of the TNT honorees gives me another reason to get on my bike and train harder. We are all so fortunate to be given the chances to race triathlons. I will ride 5 hours this Sunday in honor of Brenda.

Brenda Donato, battled leukemia and then months later finished a marathon and triathlon, died Saturday night at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek from complications of a bone marrow transplant. She was 36. Donato developed acute myeloid leukemia in 2005 and was in remission at the time she finished the Wildflower Triathlon in May. For the race, she joined Team in Training, a group of athletes that competes while raising research money for leukemia and other blood cancers.

But her leukemia returned two months after the triathlon, sending her back to the hospital for a fourth round of chemotherapy. Donato received new bone marrow last summer but contracted chronic graft-versus-host disease, allowing the donor's immune cells to attack her healthy tissue.
She kept a positive attitude throughout her fight and inspired others along the way. In her final MySpace blog entry last week, she wrote about how leukemia changed her life. "Not only would it instantly humble me and make me feel invincible, it would subtract years from my life, scare friends away, add new compassionate ones into my life and inspire and motivate new people like no other," she wrote.

More than 100 of Donato's friends and relatives attended a fundraiser in Brentwood earlier this month to help pay her medical bills and make donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Her friends set up a webcam so she could interact with attendees from her hospital bedside.
In her final blog, Donato said she had no regrets about her life and knew her purpose.

"I always knew in my life that I was here for a reason. My reason was always to help others."

Auntie Liemonta

I was fortunate to spend time with Daisy and her Mom in Houston after my race. They flew 20 hours from Jakarta, Indonesia for Daisy’s Mom’s checkup at MD Anderson. She has myeloma which is a form of cancer in the bone marrow. Her first treatments over two years ago included a very painful bone marrow transplant. Everything was looking good, but the myeloma came back last year. Luckily, after spending a few months at MD Anderson where they have two specialists in myeloma, she was able to continue her treatments at home and in Singapore. This was a stressful visit because it was a test to see if her new treatments were working. The blood work results came on Monday, and the doctor said the ratios were looking good so she can continue with the current medications and go home! This is a very good sign because the longer she can be on one medication, the more options she’ll have for future treatments.

It was a unique experience spending two days at MD Anderson’s Cancer Center. It made me think of all the emotions that the patients and families must have when they are there. I saw a business man making arrangements for his treatments as if it were his client. I saw a husband holding up his wife as she tried to steady herself, order her breakfast and walk to her table. I saw patients alone thinking and families talking together. I also realized that not everyone fighting cancer has these resources and access to specialized care in their local communities. No matter how different all these people are, everyone is there for the same reasons: to fight cancer and to have another chance to live. Daisy’s mom is a source of strength. She has a strong support system in her family and especially Daisy, who has been with her throughout all her treatments. She also has remarkable inner peace and determination that is going to help her reach her next milestones in life.

Fire It Up! 3/31/07 Race Report

I’m sure that I was the only person from Michigan who flew all the way to San Diego to race in the Ford Ironman California 70.3 (formerly known as Ralph’s). Originally I picked this race thinking it would be a good training day and a great opportunity to check in with my training for my A race, Ironman USA Lake Placid. The night before the race I realized, “hey, why can’t I push myself, why do I always save my energy and race conservatively?” My friend Caroline told me more about where the hills were on the bike course and that I should really try to push it. My race strategy changed and I was Fired Up! to test myself and see what my limits are.

Saturday morning we woke up at 4:00 am for our pre-race ritual. The first most difficult part of a triathlon that I have yet to master is eating oatmeal and drinking vanilla Boost for breakfast at 4:00 am or whatever ungodly hour it is to allow for 3 hours of digestion before my start. I’m convinced that humans are not supposed to eat that early in the morning! We’d packed the car the night before and my friend Matt and I drove 35 miles from PB to Oceanside rockin’ out to the Rose Bowl pump up mix. After parking the car and pumping up our tires, we rode in the dark to the transition area. We were Fired Up! This morning ride was magical; the semi-full moon lit the way and the spray of the rolling waves glistened along the beach. The pre-race ritual continued with the setting up of transition and getting body marked (when your race number and age are written on your body with a permanent marker). A Marine sang the national anthem and the pros started the race swimming like flying fish over the top of the water surface. The sun slowly peaked its way over the hills, and the intensity of the swim start and the day ahead grew in my stomach.

Finally it was 7:40 am, time for my wave. Since we weren’t allowed to warm up, our swim out to the start buoy was the only warm up opportunity. The count down began and we were off! My first open water swim of the year. I wore a neoprene cap and wax earplugs since I wasn’t used to the 60 degree cold water. My goal was to focus on my stroke and to not swallow too much salt water. Since the swim is my weakest event, I’ve really been working on my stroke all year and I have become more confident and efficient in the water. You can’t tell by my time, because I haven’t gotten any faster, but I was not tired at all after the swim which I believe is a new training breakthrough. Another lesson learned is to always try your equipment before racing. My new swim goggles were filling up my right eye for the first 8 minutes of the swim. Luckily I’d had experience swimming with poor visibility with Justin in the CCRB pool, so I wasn’t bothered and was able to fix them during a break in the madness. For the entire course of the swim, the guys in the two waves behind me proceeded to swim over and on top of me more than any in other race. This does not make focusing on your stroke easy when you’re worried about getting hit in the face. The bright sun was like a fireball each time I looked up to sight and the water was quite salty when I gulped it by mistake while trying to breathe. I swam very straight and was right on track with the buoys. I was so happy to be in the open water where I could just keep swimming and not have to stop at the wall every 25 yards. For someone who’s afraid of sharks in the swimming pool, I never had any shark or jellyfish fears during the swim and actually enjoyed the buoyancy of the salt water. Finishing up the swim, I kicked very fast the last 150 meters to get the blood flowing into my legs since I barely use them in the swim. I ran up the boat ramp and looked at my watch: 36 minutes!!! Holy cow, this was a personal record, I’d never swum less than 43 minutes before. I was fired up and ran all the way through transition. Now, I’ve never been fast at transition. I was freezing and hadn’t had to do a transition since last September, so I took some time preparing for the next few hours that I would spend biking 56 miles. Bodygliding my feet, putting sun block on my face etc… Back to that record swim time, I checked my watch leaving Transition 1, it still showed 36 minutes – Bummer! The stop button must have been hit in the madness of the swim. My total swim time was really 45 minutes.

The second event, the 56 mile bike, was spent in harmony with my yellow Vela Lightspeed. Vela means sail in Italian, and I rode like the wind. My strategy on the bike was to leave all my energy out on the course. The first part of the course is windy, flat and smooth along the Pacific coast of Camp Pendleton U.S. Marine Base. The Marines were outstanding controlling the traffic and cheering for racers throughout the day. It was an honor to ride on these roads that are typically closed to civilians. I was cruising on the bike and I maintained my cadence between 90 and 100 rpms. Mile markers 10, 15, 20 and 25 flew by. The first of three hills hit at mile 30. I was cranking and passed everyone on the hill in front of me. The second and third hills at mile 35 and 40 were just as rewarding; I continued to pass everyone that I spotted ahead in the distance. This was the first time in a race that I played chase. I knew I was on record track for the bike; I felt strong after the hills and was prepared for any headwinds while riding west towards the ocean. With 16 miles to go, I remained committed to test how hard I could physically push it to the transition all the while determined to give it 110%. 56 miles down in record time of 13:18.

Transition 2 came and went. I contemplated putting on additional sun block, but figured it was probably already a lost cause. I racked my bike and helmet, changed my shoes, put on my visor and ran off through transition to start the 13.1 mile run. I wasn’t certain of the outlook of the remainder of the race, since I’d pushed so hard on the bike. I didn’t have the typical “jell-o” legs. This is when lactic acid builds up during the bike and your legs feel wobbly and barely move while trying to run. It is quite funny to watch triathletes run, they wobble like penguins. The breeze from the ocean felt nice, but it was still really hot on the course. I didn’t eat anything on the run; I only drank flat Coke and poured water on my head to try to cool down, because it was hot! I was on track, each mile ticked by on the double out and back course. I ran the entire course and walked through the aid stations. This was my fastest half marathon run ever, 2:05! When you finish a triathlon with a strong run, this means you’re in great shape. The fact that I pushed it on the bike and still got my PR on the run shows that training in the winter in Michigan indoors on a trainer watching Grey’s Anatomy isn’t so bad!

Results:
1.2 mile swim: 45:32
56 mile bike: 3:18:49
13.1 mile run: 2:05:28
Total: 6:26:06, my PR!

I have a long way to go to be prepared for Wildflower in May and the full Ironman in July, but this PR is a great way to kick off the 2007 season! Fire it Up!