It's Getting HOT in Heeeere

~Summer has arrived in Hawaii. It's hot. The other night we were watching the evening news and the weatherman said that current humidity was at 90% (at 10PM). Awesome. It isn't too often that I pine for air conditioning, but I will say that it would have been nice the last few days. Two words: ice water.

~I woke up this morning to text messages coming through about one of my athletes who ran Boston this morning (what a cool service). It said she ran 7:51 pace for the first 10K. Then 7:52 pace at the 1/2. Hmmm. I was pretty sure we had agreed on 8:10's for the first half? Getting this info I figured either I really underestimated her abilities, or else she got caught up in the cool temps and downhills and tailwind and Boston energy and threw out the plan... time would tell... so I waited for the text messages to keep coming... I was really hoping that I had just misjudged her and that she was going to shock us all with a 3:27, but alas, apparently it was a tough 2nd half. Physiology catches up in the back half of a marathon, no? Grrrr. She crossed the line in 3:37 so it wasn't the end of the world or anything, just a good lesson. She could have gone faster with better race tactics. Sounds like Boston is a tough course to judge, especially your first time there.

~Last Friday morning I got a call at 6:15AM from another athlete in Kentucky. He apologized for waking me... except I was already awake and on my way to the ocean to swim so no worries there. Then he said, "Michelle, I GOT IN." I yelped out loud. WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? My newbie athlete, Scott, entered the lottery for Kona and got selected. Oh my gosh. He was in complete shock. Last year at this time he weighed 235 lbs and was sitting on the couch eating potato chips. Then he decided to make a change. He called me. He did a couple of sprint triathlons last summer. Then he entered the lottery. HE WON. Now he's making travel plans to Kona! He's never been to Hawaii. He's never done a 1/2 IM. We've been on the phone 3 times in the past 4 days. He's still in shock. As am I. What a journey Scott is going to have this summer!!! I told him that I was so happy... mostly b/c I am so selfish... Scott was one of my best friends in high school and now I get to help him finish Ironman Hawaii and I will be there to hug him at the finish line. Man, that is going to be awesome. Even better would be if I get to jump in the water and start with him too... :)

~I found this picture on Facebook. The wife of another one of my athletes took it of me yesterday at the end of the race. I like it. Mostly because looking at it makes me feel like a runner. I decided today that part of my problem with the run is that I don't believe I'm a good runner. I have confidence in my swim. I have confidence in my bike. But I do not have confidence in my run. That needs to change. My friend Mike has a saying... Conceive, Believe, Achieve. I've conceived some goals this year. Now I need to believe. Then I can achieve.

~Of course there's no achieving just because you go believing... there's still work to be done. And to that end the email I got from coach yesterday said something like This is going to be your hardest week yet... Excellent. So if you don't hear from me for a few days it's likely because I'm curled up in a little ball on the couch. But who knows... he has tried to kill me in the past and I've rebounded like a cat with 9 lives... so bring it on. I believe I can do it.