Speaking Engagement at Monterey High School

On Friday October 28 at 9am I will be speaking to a class at Monterey High School, my alma mater. This will be the 4th time I've been asked to come and speak about triathlons. I enjoy telling people what I do and how I started into the sport. I hope that I inspire people to try triathlons or any healthy activity.

If you or your company is interested in having me come and speak, please feel free to contact me at trigirlcali@hotmail.com.

On the Radio

I will be a guest on David Waite's Can't Get Enough Sports show on KNRY 1240 Am radio today at 4pm. This will be my first radio show. If you are able to, please listen as I know it'll be a good time.

Fun at Tinleys

Tinley's Toughest Triathlon
October 1, 2005

This is one of the races that I look forward to each year. Why, you ask? Because it is a low key race with camping, s'mores and friends. Jay, Sprocket and I drove down on friday afternoon and we were able to get a great camping spot in our usual Camp Obello spot. After pitching the tent and having some lunch I did a short ride and run. After the pro meeting, dinner and conversations I went to bed.

I was up at 6am getting the coffee ready as this race is an early one! It's great because all athletes, pro and amatuer, men and women start at 8am. The tranisition area is first come, first serve as far as getting a spot on the rack. I found one just in front of the bike out. It was pretty chilly to start and I'm always glad for a wetsuit swim!

The swim is two loops where after the first loop you get out of the water run around one piece of the omni structure while trying not to slip on the concrete and moss boat ramp and then jump/dive/belly flop back into the water for the final loop. I was able to draft two of the men and exited the water in a time of 21:49 only 1:38 minutes down from the lead! I had a smooth transition as I decided to put my shoes on first and then get on the bike as there was a hill to climb straight out of T1. I was able to pass a few people on the hill as a result of this tactic. It took me a few miles to get in the groove of this "short" race. This was going to be my last hard effort before Ironman Hawaii. The bike course has rolling hills through farm land with the course being mostly closed to vehicular traffic. I was able to pass a few of the slower cyclists who had exited the water before me. I kept pushing and felt very strong throughout the bike portion. I had the third fastest bike split at 1:08:19. I still need to work a bit on my transitions, but I was able to get out of T2 quickly and start the hilly 10k run. The run course is also two loops that include a particularly tough climb. My pace for the run was okay considering I've been training for much longer distances, but it wasn't fast enough as Belinder Granger from Australia comes flying by me on the uphill like I was standing still! Although she did confess that the second time up the hill she was practically walking and that I would have laughed if I saw her! No worries, as I think we all felt like that the second time around. My run split was 40:22. Ouch! That's alright though as I felt good and pushed as hard as I could for the day. My final time was 2:11:50 and 5th place.

I leave in three days to go to Kona, Hawaii and get ready to race my first Ironman Hawaii! Stay tuned.

Doing the Hula

I arrived in Kona on tuesday October 4th in the afternoon. I have been here only one time before when I was 12 (1986) to watch my parents compete in the Ironman; I forgot about the open air airline terminal! I gathered my belongings and hailed a taxi to take me to my friend's house who happens to live only 4 miles from the pier. No one was home, but there was a nice note waiting on the door for me. After having lunch I put my bike together and set it aside...I wanted to go for a run instead as it was getting late. I only ran for 30 minutes, but I was completely drenched after that. The humidity is very strange and I'm glad I'm here 10 days before the race in hopes of getting at least somewhat acclimated.

I've been here for 4 days now and am getting used to the humidity as I really don't think it's that hot here, it's just the humidity that's weird. I got into the ocean yesterday for some play time...the fish are so beautiful and huge!! When Jay arrives and we get a chance to do more sightseeing, I'd like to get one of the underwater disposable cameras.

My second day here, Allie took me to Pololu, one of the valley's that extends to the ocean where there is a black sand beach. Very beautiful and serene. Yestereday, Noah (Allie's boyfriend) took me to Kahalu'u Beach which is only a mile south of their house. I mostly dipped in the water with my goggles on and took a look around underneath the water! I didn't stay in because believe it or not I was getting a bit cold! Noah told me that this is a great beach to see Sea Turtles as they often hang out in the "lava wading pools." As we were walking over, he happend to see a turtle all the way up on the beach! It was amazing...so big and just lying there in the sand sunning itself. I took a few photos of it before we left.
Allie and Noah also took me to The End of the World. This is where a war was fought many years ago and there is actually an old burial ground there. Across from that is a cliff where when the waves crash against the cliff, a sort of blow hole is there which allows the waves to sky rocket into the air.

I'm trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible and drinking tons of water. The folks and Erin arrive this wednesday the 12 of October and I rented a car for the drive over to Hilo. After 2 1/2 hours I finally arrive at the airport (Hilo is on the east side of the island). We stop by my great Aunt's house who happens to live in Hilo for a breif visit before driving back to the west side of the island to Captain Cook. This is where our hotel is and we'll be staying here until we leave to come home.

Friday October 14, Jay arrives in the afternoon and shortly after that Serena (my cousin who goes to school in Honolulu) arrives. We drive around trying to find a place to eat that 1. has hamburgers and 2. isn't too busy. We ended up at the Kona Brewing Company and as luck would

Noah, Allie, Me, Mike

have it, they didn't have burgers! We didn't want to keep driving around so I settled for a French Dip! Should do the trick though.
As it's the night before the race, I wanted to get back to our hotel as quickly as possible; traffic dictated otherwise! There is always traffic in

Parade of Nations Hula Dancers

Kona. We eventually made it back and I proceeded to get my food and nutrition together for the big day. I was pretty organized and was able to be in bed by 9pm.