Awesome 40/10 final pre-race brick!

Saturday I did my final pre-race brick, a 40mi ride followed by a 10mi run in the Circle C neighbourhood. Gordon was my awesome support crew and created a mobile water stop for me along the run route. He even beeped the horn and shouted encouragement... thanks Gordon! It meant a lot to have you out there supporting me.

The weather was humid and cloudy and not too hot. The ride was awesome and I actually had a really good run - not awesome - but really good. Although my legs took about 20min to get into the running groove, they did loosen up and I managed to feel good. Circle C isn't a really hilly neighbourhood but there are definitely some gradual inclines that can make it a little tough.

A great final big workout for me, and huge confidence boost leading into LP. Only 13 days to go!

Update on attack of the Ponzu

Last week Gordon and I decided to go to Uchi for dinner. It is one of our favourite sushi restaurants in town. Expensive, but the food is delicious. We enjoyed a cocktail out on the patio in the lovely evening weather and caught up on our day, then about an hour later sauntered into the restaurant, ordered some green tea and some food. We had a delicious seaweed and cucumber salad, then some oak smoked escolar. It was really good.

Then the waiter brought out our two pieces of shrimp tempura with ponzu sauce in a ramikin. Here is where it all went south, literally! Instead of asking the couple with the baby who had stopped at the adjacent table to chat and who were oblivious to the fact that they were in the way, decided to do a shimmy around them, and of course as the plate made its way down to the table, the ramikin decided to slide off and douse me with ponzu sauce! All over my brand new blouse, eeek, but thankfully not all over my white jeans (I never wear white jeans because I'm normally too messy!).

Anyway, the waiter was obviously sorry and apologized several times, the manager also came out and made sure I knew that they would take care of the dry-cleaning cost. I also made sure to check that if for some reason the dry-cleaning didn't fix it, that they would reimburse me for my brand new blouse. I was a little surprised that they didn't offer a round of drinks or some kind of discount on the bill which I would be expecting in this type of situation.

I took the blouse to the dry-cleaners but they were unfortunately unable to remove the stains. So I sent off an email to the manager today requesting compensation for the blouse and the dry-cleaning. She replied back within 3 hours and said that the check has already been filled out and is ready for me to pick up. I was very impressed with the speed of response and the overall outcome of the situation.

I would go back. Maybe not order the tempura next time though!

Life is very very bizarre

When Gordon and I did Ironman Arizona last year, Gordon's brother Andy just happened to have a business trip to the US at the same time - very last minute trip - and so he ended up coming to Arizona and cheering us on in his very British style, heh. It was awesome to have him there.

Anyway, so today we found out that Andy is going to be in Houston July 16th and then needs to be in Boston July 21st... so he's coming to Lake Placid to watch me do another Ironman. Crazy! It's going to be cool having Gordon, Kate and Andy all there cheering me on. Gordon can do a hybrid British/Texas cheering thing, and Kate can channel our Mum with her cheering style! I can't wait.

WTF is FTF?

So hopefully you've noticed the YouTube link on the sidebar of my blog. Perhaps you've even watched a few seconds. While I'm not going to be wowing Hollywood any time soon, and it wasn't rehearsed at all and there are moments when I cringe, I think it's pretty cool to have a video up on YouTube and I'm pretty excited to show off the product I have been working on these past six months. It was taken at my company's annual customer event in Orlando - no expense spared, private concert at Hard Rock Cafe with Barenaked Ladies, staying at the Ritz Carlton for four nights, open bar, catered surprisingly delicious food, awesome geeky badge that Gordon is now programming, and just a really fun event.

However, do I really sound like that?

IM back

Gordon sent me this cartoon strip on Friday. I thought it would be a fitting way to re-start this blog. Especially considering that I will be participating in "Australian Rules football in a washing machine" in slightly less than 3 weeks! It's a good thing my Dad is an Australian Rules football coach and that I grew up around football, learning how to use my elbows, etc. Good skills to have come July 20th in Lake Placid.

The training has been quite different this time around. To start with, I don't know of anyone else in Austin who is doing this race. Very different from the 30+ people that I went to Arizona with last year! So the training has been very solitary this time - I've had people to train with but never anyone doing my exact long ride and long run combination over the weekend, and no-one else to gauge my progress against. But I feel strong and ready and excited to do this race. Training through the heat, while very very tough, has only made me stronger, and I can't wait for cooler temperatures on race day! The very best part is that Gordon and Kate will both be in Lake Placid cheering me on! I can't wait.