Race Across America!

So I've actually written this blog several times. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to say and then even longer to figure out HOW to say it. I decided I would make it a detailed state-by-state report. I got as far as Kansas and deleted it. It just wasn't authentic. Yes, it included a lot of actual events that took place, but it wasn't real. It would be impossible for me to recount only the great parts of the race, and difficult to tell the whole truth about what I experienced, so I decided to focus on what I learned from RAAM.

Thank you Elizabeth for supporting my weirdness! 

I LOVE my friends, family, and total strangers who supported us! If we really printed up all our sponsors on our jerseys they would all have to be 5XL! I am STILL in complete and total shock at the outpouring of love and encouragement we received from everyone. I feel so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful people around me everyday. One thing that was a really cool idea was having our friends write letters. Some were funny, some were motivational, but they were all great. Crew member Leslie was reading one to me and she started crying. She said "this is exactly how I felt about you when I first met you!" I kept the letters and read that one in particular when I am feeling crappy. It reminds me that 1)Elizabeth and I are Unicorn blood sisters for life and 2) My friends are really awesome. Like seriously. You don't get any better than this.

To my family that still doesn't quite get me but loves me anyways: thank you for allowing me to do what makes me happy and providing me with unconditional support. And no, I am not a professional athlete and you can stop telling people you are related to a professional cyclist. I pay to do this stuff!

To the people who have come out of the woodworks to make this dream a reality: YOU ROCK! Thank you so much for your encouragement and support. It really meant a lot to me!

The greatest crew you'll ever meet!

The true definition of selflessness: Being selfness means that you put others needs and interests ahead of your own. This is exactly what the 11 crew members did at RAAM. I've never experienced people behave in the way that they did. Everyone was stripped to the absolute core of who they are as humans. All basic necessities were taken away. Not everyone acts pretty in that rawness. But they were all selfless. It's one thing to crew for your spouse/partner and act that way. It's a whole other ballgame when you don't know that person very well or even at all and you can still put your needs aside to help them meet a goal.

My daytime crew on a dance break.

I have a great "circle": I have this small circle of people that I would do anything in the world for. They aren't all people that you would necessarily call "nice" but they are people that would go to bat for me in any situation under any circumstance. My circle grew during RAAM. When I was debriefing with Stan Beecham the sports psychologist we worked with going into the race he said "within five minutes of meeting you I knew you would be fine. You are the kind of person I want to be in a foxhole with." When looking for great crew members think to yourself "would I want to be in a foxhole with this person?" Because at times that is what it really felt like! I am happy to say my circle widened a little bit after the race.

True friends wear unicorn costumes for you! 

I am basically the exact same person I was before I did this....kind of. You think that you will do something like this and cross the finish line and there will be this incredible change that happens. It's just not true. The change happens gradually, from the minute you make the commitment to undertake something of this magnitude. You do not change when you cross the finish line. For me, crossing the finish line made me very overwhelmed with gratitude and love for the people that helped me get there. Yes I was happy with the accomplishment, but I felt (and still feel) like the crew were the ones that made it really happen. Every time someone wanted to talk about the race, all I wanted to do was talk about the crew. I am literally in awe of their awesomeness and words will never be able to explain how much what they did meant to me. When I got home and the dust settled all I wanted to do was crew for people. I literally sat down and thought "how can I even begin to give back to these people the way they gave to me?" I feel humbled by their gracious attitudes and selfless spirits. I don't know that I would have been so kind under the same circumstances.

I spent most of my training visualizing West Virginia and how I wanted to climb those hills!

Hugging my dad at the finish line. Jason's parents surprised us and showed up too!

If you want to test out commitment, do RAAM: This is a particularly hard section to write. Mostly because I am not sappy, but it makes me choke up to think about Jason and what he did to make this race happen. I talked to him before agreeing to do it. He was totally on board. He spent HOURS working on the gear for us. He literally packed everything we needed into the vans and was responsible for making sure we had everything we were going to need for the race-no small task. On top of taking that job, he also had to endure 4:45 am alarm clocks on a regular basis. Rather than complain he would simply nudge me and say "RAAM" until I got out of bed. Once the race was underway Jason was my advocate in many ways. I shutter to think about what the race would have been like without him. He is the most supportive and encouraging partner in the world. I mean who else can you come home to and say "Hey, wanna go to Romania and run 30,000 feet through abandoned castles for 20 hours?" and get an enthusiastic "YES!" from. Jason rocks.

This is how I slept. Not exactly comfortable but it worked. 

Race Across America was really the experience of a lifetime. I had fun, more fun than I've ever had racing before. I was surrounded by some of the most wonderful people I've ever met who stopped their lives to make sure Kacie and I made it to the finish line in record time. Would I do it again? Absolutely. I'm thrilled to report many of the crew want to do it again too-a good sign that they enjoyed the experience.

Power, Pedals, and Ponytails: 2-person female RAAM record holders! So proud of this!!

The thousands of pedal strokes are what physically got us to Annapolis, but it was the support of the 11 crew and the gazillions of friends and family members back home that made it possible to even show up at the pier in Oceanside. "Thank you" will never be sufficient enough to express how I feel. I can just say that I am honored to have you as my friends and feel blessed beyond belief! Your generosity will never be forgotten and I am striving every day to be as selfless to others as you all were to me. Thank you for teaching me the true definition of what a "crew member" is. Thank you for showing me what it is like to commit to helping others and never give up on them. And most of all, thank you for being you.

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for.....

It is hard to believe that in a few short days I will toe the starting line to the 32nd annual Race Across America. In case you haven't heard (what have you been living under?!?) RAAM is a 3000 mile bike RACE. It is continuous, we will race 24 hours a day. We start in Oceanside California and end in Annapolis Maryland. We have 9 days to complete the race. Only three 2-person female teams have finished it. Ever. 

 It's hard to know exactly how much I will ride, but it's safe to say it will be around 100+ hours in less than 9 days. So how exactly does one train for Race Across America? Honestly I have no clue. I know what I did, and I know what Kacie did and that is about all I know. It involved a tremendous amount of time on the bike. More hours riding than I have ever put in. It also included days that looked like this: 1 hour ride/30 minute break. Repeat 8 times. Those were some of my winter trainer sessions. They were brutal. 1.5 hours total time x 8 = 12 hours. I  remember crawling on my trainer for my last "on" and getting done at 9pm thinking "seriously I have lost my mind" The toughest part about those sessions? Having just enough time to shower, eat dinner, sit in the norma tec boots and pass out because I had to get up the next day and do it all over again.

 

In addition to the training Kacie and I have been putting in, our crew has been putting in work too. Chief Anne has been booking flights, working logistics, putting out fires with her glitter shooting extinguisher. Gear Guru Jason made countless trips to the store buying things to get the 8 page list of items we needed to bring as organized as possible. He kicked me out of the garage to make room for his work, and spent hours separating and organizing. I hate to tell him this, but it will likely all get undone in about 2 days of racing. George is our navigation man. I don't know what he has been doing for RAAM, but I know that he has made us some really great routes that we used for our 24 hour simulation rides. The man can read a map!

 We have tried the best we can to prepare our crew for what they will encounter at RAAM. In early February we had a crew retreat. This was our "this isn't going to be all glitter and butterflies" meeting. Chief Anne laid out the expectations and what our goal was. We asked our crew to make the choice then-you are vested in this journey with us and believe in this goal or bail now. Fortunately they choose to stay. Having your crew believe in your goal is one of the most important aspects of this race. In the event that we want to quit, our crew HAS to make us keep going. They have to want to see the finish line in Annapolis as much as we do. I have full faith in them and their abilities. When my chiropractor was unable to make the trip, we replaced her with a massage therapist from Iowa, Kim and Ben Murphy, whom we met at the Florida Double. Although they are new to the crew, we are still thrilled to have them and have full faith in their abilities as well. So we trained, raced Heart of the South 500 miler as a team and did two 24 hour simulations with our crew. We have faced adversity, cold conditions at Heart of the South. I got hailed on during a 24-hour ride (we packed that one in and had a redo!) I'm used to training in conditions that aren't ideal, and this year Kacie got her share of rain as well. Cold,hot,windy,rainy, dark, light, flat, hilly, we have tried our hardest to spend time in it all.

It's impossible to plan for all the things that can wrong in a race of this duration. We know things are going to happen. It's how we react to them that will affect our outcome. In January I convinced Jason to bundle up with me as I finished a long, super cold day in the saddle. As we finished out last 5 mile loop Jason got hit by a car. We went to Grady because he also had a head injury. I had to coordinate dog care and get someone to pick up our bikes. By the time we left grady trauma center it was 2 am. I had ridden 130 miles, had very little to eat, no shower, and was exhausted. Jason jokingly said "this is great RAAM training. You should go home and get on the trainer".  Sadly, he was right. 
I've been overwhelmed the past week or so. Feeling anxious about whether or not I've forgotten anything. I am not worried about my training, honestly, my body is in the best shape it's ever been in. I feel great about that. But looking out at the 75 people that came out to our send off party it really hit me. There are a LOT of people that support us. They've followed our training and racing. They're counting on us to do well. 

I cried today. I don't normally cry. My boss called me. She's known me since I was 19. She's been in my life when I was overweight, when I got hit by the car and broke my leg, and when I took up bike riding. She asked why I was crying. I told her I wasn't sure. I felt overwhelmed. I told her about our crew, who have so selflessly given of themselves, both their time and resources. I worried about letting them down. Martha's insight meant a lot. She told me that I should take that concern totally off the table. Our crew might get to the end of RAAM and say "I'll never do something like that again" or "that wasn't a good use of my vacation time" but that they'll never regret the experience. Because experiences like this can't be bought, or read about, or made up. These experiences are only felt through doing it. I agree, and hope our crew leaves this experience and is glad they did it.

So as I clean my house (because who wants to leave their house dirty before a bike ride!) I am left thinking about how incredibly grateful I am. I am grateful to the people who have encouraged me. Inspired me to do more, be more, try harder, never give up. I am also grateful for the people in my life who could care less about bikes or bike races, but support me because they love me. 

This is an amazing opportunity. Someone asked me at work if I was going to do this again. I told him I doubted it. I likened it to having quadruplets. Sure, you may want more kids, but just one next time. 

Many of you have asked how you can follow our progress. Tracking is available online at www.raceacrossamerica.org under the results tab. Click on our team "Power, Pedals, and Ponytails"

We are still fundraising and will continue to raise money for Camp Twin Lakes. Please consider donating at www.raam2013.org 

Am I scared? Of course I am. I wouldn't have signed up for it if I wasn't. But I am confident in my abilities, Kacie's ability and the amazing people who make up our crew. We WILL make it to Annapolis. We WILL break the 2-person females record. It will not be easy. It will be the hardest thing I have ever done, both physically and mentally. We are Annapolis bound via a million pedal rotations, sweat, tears, pain, and every other emotion that is known to man. But through it all one thing will remain the same- relentless forward motion from Oceanside to Annapolis. 

It's good RAAM training.....

I've been pretty absent lately from a lot of things, and blogging has definitely been one of them! A lot of things have been going on and I thought I'd catch everyone up.

First of all, this is SO belated, but thank you all so much for supporting our silent auction at All 3 Sports in conjunction with the Crowie book signing. It was a huge success, and we raised over $5,000! I MC'd the event, and managed to not say any bad words, which I think was also a HUGE success! I didn't trip and fall off stage either. Bonus!

We rode to Everglades National Park and saw ALLIGATORS!

You can park your bike next to the Bentley's and not worry about it

Kacie and I went down to south Florida for an amazing weekend of training. We rode over 300 miles, spending time off the bike and getting back on and riding more. It is a totally different feeling to take a break and then ride again, one that we need to get used to before RAAM. The weather wasn't on our side the entire time, and we got rained on quite a bit. Jason's new favorite term for everything is "it's good RAAM training!" and it really was. There is a great chance we will get rained on in RAAM too!

This is not ideal biking conditions!

Fast forward a couple of weeks and Kacie, myself and our Crew Chief Anne headed up to Columbus, Ohio for a Race Across America Crew seminar. This was hosted by Fred Boethling, the owner of RAAM. It was a great opportunity for us to learn more about race logistics, rules, gear needs, tips, etc. There is no right way to crew or train for RAAM. but there are many wrong ways of doing things. By learning from others mistakes, we are hoping to make our journey as flawless as possible. It was also decided that Ohio is cold, and no cyclist should ever be subjected to winters like that!

Jason's neck brace...pimp!

In the midst of all the craziness of training, we decided to move. House hunting, contracts falling through, drama galore, all seems like it's good RAAM training. I got hit by a rock while riding and bruised my ankle, Jason said it was good RAAM training too. Last weekend we had terrible weather. Cold and windy, I rode 4 hours inside Sunday then we headed out to Stone Mountain so I could get in 60 miles there. 55 miles into the ride a lady pulled smack out in front of us. Jason slowed down, but still went "splat!" right into her minivan. I reacted in a not-so-nice way, using some choice words. Jason ended up with a fracture in his C6, a separated clavicle and some torn ligaments. His bike is totaled. We spent 8 hours in a Grady Trauma unit because he suffered a pretty bad concussion. At 2 am we were still in the hospital. I hadn't showered, or eaten a lot, was tired but thankful Jason was going to be okay. I told him "this is good RAAM training" of course, minus the hospital part! As a result of the concussion Jason's been "fuzzy-headed" ever since. We got in the car and he let me sing a Katy Perry song and didn't change the channel. Then he opened up a second jar on peanut butter before the first one was gone. He's having a hard time focusing on things. So basically, he's acting like me. We are hoping it will clear up soon. There's only room for one Dani-brain in our house!

So I know these rockstars.....

I work with a lot of different people, and come across many different challenges when I am helping someone lose weight, or prepare for an event. More often than not though, my clients are not a challenge at all. They are fun, quirky, interested in learning, and incredible people. I could write several "bragging" blog posts, but I want to tell you about these two rockstars in particular!

Meet Elizabeth and Kimberly. They are awesome!

Elizabeth and Kimberly: BEFORE

Elizabeth: BEFORE

Kimberly: BEFORE

I first met them at the gym with Jason. They were training for their first Olympic triathlon. Super sweet, and energetic about the sport. We happened to be at the race ourselves, and it was great seeing how well they did!

When I started doing nutrition and health coaching, Elizabeth contacted me. She was interested in my services. Several days later I heard from Kimberly. We were off and running!

 In order to be successful working with me, a certain level of dedication is required on the part of my clients. Right off the bat I knew that they would be successful. They were committed, eager to learn, and very dedicated.Within a couple of weeks weight started coming off, then headaches went away. Energy levels were increasing. Then next thing you know, race times are getting faster. It felt like every time I turned around one of them was PR'ing at a race. I was so excited for them! They both signed up for Augusta 70.3, and I knew that they would do great. Questions popped up about race day nutrition, salt intake, cramping, run form, etc, and I answered them the best I could. It was truly invigorating to be around people who were experiencing distances for the first time. I will never forget reading an email from Elizabeth the first time they rode 60 miles. She was proud, and I was too! I had flashbacks from 2006 when I was new to the sport and was in totally uncharted territory.

The week of Augusta we emailed about attitude. It really is the most important element in long distance racing. A bad attitude will ruin you, a great attitude numbs the pain from blisters and puts more spring in your step. Elizabeth sent me a picture of her hand. She had written a smiley face on it with the words "smile!" I knew they would be fine. Jason and I tracked them in our hotel room the day following Texas Tejas bike race. I was anxious for both of them, and when ironman.com crapped out while they were on the run I just about lost it. I started sending off panic texts trying to figure out what happened. "Are you finished?" "The tracker stopped working!" "How are you feeling?" HELLO?!?". I am not psycho when it comes to race tracking. I promise.


Just as I expected, they both totally rocked the race! Finishing at 5:53 (Elizabeth) and 5:42 (Kimberly).  They both trained so hard, and were prepared for this race. I LOVE it when hard work pays off! In addition to growing as triathletes, they both look incredible!

Elizabeth and Kimberly halfway through the season! 

Elizabeth: AFTER 

Kimberley: AFTER

Elizabeth and Kimberly continue to impress me. I hope that by sharing their story, you are inspired too! They are always looking for the next challenge, and they are talking about running a marathon, and I've heard rumors of a 2014 140.6. It's been so much fun working with these ladies! They are proof that hard work does pay off, and if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen. 

Ironically, yesterday we were at Elizabeth's house decorating ninjaman cookies. I was the only person that ate any. Huh. 

Why 2 chicks want to travel 3000 miles by bike....

In Amy Snyder's Book Hell On Two Wheels she describes Race Across America as "the toughest test of endurance in the world". She goes on to compare  the 3,000 miles as the equivalent of 114 marathons, or 21 Ironman triathlons. In the 3,000 miles covered from Oceanside, California to Annapolis Maryland riders will climb more than 100,000 feet. Temperatures can range from 125 in the desert to 30 degrees in the mountains. Solo racers vying for the win do so on as little as one hour of sleep per day. Sleep deprivation can cause riders to hallucinate, become highly suggestible, confused, and angry.

I read her book and in my mind I thought "this is crazy!" but my heart was totally fascinated. Last year, Kacie rode as part of an 8-person team for RAAM. I tracked her every step of the way. I wanted to know what her riding rotation was, how they rotated crew, everything. The logistics alone of traveling 3,000 miles are tough enough without factoring in having to use a specific route and people on bikes. Once Kacie returned she started planting seeds in my head, and I knew that she wanted us to tackle RAAM as a two-person team.

In one of our first of almost a million e-mail exchanges Kacie said " we need to be on the same page about our goals, and why we are going this." Here is my response:
When I am thinking about taking on something like this I ask myself the following:

 Can I get off the couch and do it tomorrow?
Am I overcoming some type of fear by completing it?
 Does the idea of doing it scare me?
 Will the experience outweigh the sacrifices to get there?
 Can I use this experience to inspire others?
 I saw on your wall where one of your former students posted about how proud she was of you. If I could get one kid to believe in themselves and their abilities by riding my bike, it'd totally be worth it to me. 

And thus, Power, Pedals, and Ponytails was born! 

I have to first of all say that the response that we have had to peoples reactions has been amazing. We are so very blessed to have such an incredible support system in our lives. I talked with Jason at length before committing to doing this. It's a huge sacrifice on his part as well, and I would never be able to do it without his unwavering commitment to me and his support. Everyone should be as lucky as I am to have someone like him! My dad totally rocked too. He said "Wow. 3,000 miles huh? Better make sure you bring some extra tires. And sunscreen." Many people have had questions about how it works, so the basics are that Kacie and I will cover the 3,000 miles as a team, so we will split the riding. Shorter shifts during the day, longer shifts at night. Someone will be on the road riding 24 hours a day. We will have a support crew, made up of 8-10 exceptional people that will care for us the entire time. For 8-9 days we will turn our lives over to them. They will be in charge of everything, when we eat, when we sleep, when we put on a jacket, etc. Our job is very simple. We will ride.

Kacie and I decided early on that we wanted to partner with an organization for fundraising that we really believed in. Camp Twin Lakes was an easy decision for us to make. I first learned of them when I was 18, and volunteered at a Camp they hosted for kids who had lost a sibling or parent to cancer. Camp Twin Lakes puts on multiple of camps and events throughout the year for kids to give them an opportunity to know that they are not alone in their individual struggles. Children with medical conditions like kidney failure can all play together, then camp stops and they can received dialysis treatments on site. The camps regularly puts on family retreat weekends too for everything ranging from  kids with Type 1 diabetes, Lifestyle and Weight Management, Victims of abuse, and wounded warriors and their families.  80% of camp costs are covered by Camp Twin Lakes, the other 20% by sponsors of the individual camps. Thinking about these kids and the challenges that they so bravely face will be motivation for us as we ride across the country. THEY are truly the inspiration!

Camp Twin Lakes wheelchair accessible treehouse! So cool!

Your support of us as we tackle this adventure would mean a lot! We will be hosting several local fundraisers to benefit Camp Twin Lakes, so please make sure that you follow our blog at www.powerpedalsandponytails.blogspot.com You can find updates on our training and progress by liking our facebook page, or following us on twitter @PowerPonytails

Please visit www.raam2013.org to donate to Camp Twin Lakes!

I am excited about Race Across America. I have a team mate that is a strong cyclist, but more importantly, a passionate person. We are ordinary women, with extraordinary dreams, and our vision is being made a reality by people like you. Thank you all in advance for all the ways you support and encourage us! Stay tuned for some really cool news! 

This is SO not your fault!

I either have AWESOME rides where all the stars align and I feel great, perfect weather, pace is fast, or I have HORRIBLE rides. I get lost, flat, rained on for 70 miles, run out of fluids for 20 miles, etc. I don't know why I can't seem to find middle ground in training these days.

Unfortunately, many of my bad days are when I am riding with Jason. I may have a tendency to blame him on occasion for things not going well for me. After all, he rides too fast, he tries to drop me on purpose, makes me work too hard, he always insists that we ride really hilly courses, and he is constantly yelling "quick like a bunny! come on!" when we stop to refuel.

Last night Jason told me that he wasn't sure it was a good idea for us to ride together. He "claimed" that I might blame him if I didn't have a good day. Since I had already rode 91 miles the day before I was supposed to ride 8.5 hours in the gaps, instead of doing the ride Saturday and a 4 hour recovery ride Sunday like my coach had on my plan, I kinda already knew things weren't going to be that awesome. Little did I know......

5:54 am I see blue lights flashing behind me on 400. REALLY? Again? Cops love to pull me over. There must be something about the way I drive that just attracts them to me, because I get more tickets than anyone I know. I looked down at my phone and see a text from Jason "theres a cop shooting radar at 400 & 285". Well, can't blame the ticket on him, he tried to warn me!

I just wanna go fast! 

I normally eat super clean, pretty normal food. Of course, I choose last night to eat things I don't normally do. I offered some of these said foods to Jason as well and he responded "I'm not eating that crap the day before the gaps." Suite yourself. More for me.

My food decisions came back to haunt me right before we started to ride. I've been VERY fortunate in both training and racing that I've never really had many GI issues. There was one time when Jason left all our nutrition at home and I rode 165 miles fueled by convenience store bought honey buns and pay days and it didn't sit well, but other than that, I've been lucky.

We climbed Woody's and I didn't feel that great. We started up Wolfpen and I thought I was going to vomit. Then it started raining. Lots and lots of rain. Of course, we kept riding, and making that descent down wolfpen in the rain was SCARY.

I told Jason I needed to stop because I thought I was going to be sick. We pulled over and I told him I couldn't get anything down without feeling like it was coming right back up. My stomach was in a full on revolt. Jason suggested that I turn around because continuing would just put me further and further away from the car. He said that without food I would start cramping and bonk. "I want to go that way" I said, pointed up Jack's and away from the car. So we starting climbing. I decided to stop trying to take fuel in and just sip on water. By the time we got to the top I knew continuing would be impossible. Jason was right. I needed calories and since my stomach wasn't feeling better I should probably head back to the car which was still at least 1.5 hours away.

The irony of the situation was how fantastic my legs felt! I was climbing with Jason and not putting out much effort. I felt surprisingly fresh which made bailing on the ride that much more depressing.

Pro tip: riding for more than 2 hours with no fuel will cause you to BONK. Just an FYI.

I made it back to the car, slightly delirious, still unable to eat, and tried to text Jason only to find out that my phone was totally fried. For that I blame weather.com for showing a 20% chance of rain, otter box for being a complete and total FAILURE, and the two ziploc bags I used for sucking as well. This just SUCKS. Guess I am making a trip to the dreaded Apple Store.

I decided to drive straight to the Apple store because I have to have a phone ya know? Without a clean sports bra to change into my shirt was getting really wet. I decided to take the shirt off and let it dry on the dash of my car. Changing while driving isn't my strong suite, and my shirt got caught on my hat, causing me to swerve. Apparently swerving caught the eye of a police officer, and next thing you know I am pulled over.

"Good afterno-----" It took about that long for Officer Wide Eyes to realize I didn't have a top on. And I was freezing.

Let the rambling begin.....
"I know why you pulled me over. I was taking my top off and I couldn't see for a minute. I had to take it off because I got rained on while I was riding my bike and it ruined my phone and I am going to the Apple store. I already got a speeding ticket this morning and my boyfriend is a cop and he's going to be pissed. So I am sorry. Please don't give me a ticket."

He started laughing, told me to have a good day and walked off.

I would like to publicly say that none of the days mishaps are in any way directly related to, or a result of Jason. This was so not your fault. Clearly, todays events were the conspiracy of multiple people.

Confessions of a 1406.2 mile couple.....

So this blogpost is WAY past due, I have been kind of busy training, watching Breaking Bad, researching races in far away places, and trying to convince Jason to get me a platypus.

During our "peak" season Jason and I raced one thousand four hundred and six point two miles. In 12 weeks. That is an average of 117 miles of racing a week. The 12 weeks in between racing doesn't even begin to compare to the countless weeks spent preparing for such big events. I actually think it is EASIER for us to both be training for long stuff. That way neither of us are to blame for our house looking like this.....

Athletes need fuel. We need LOTS of fuel! And his and her blenders. Double smoothie time!

Dining Rooms are for people who sit down for dinner. Training rooms are for people who train for dinner!

You never know when the world is going to end and you will need 500 water bottles! 

2 people. 1 run. Lots of bottles! 

No true triathlete couple is complete without a garage full of bikes. Road, tri, mountain, track, we have it all....and sadly this isn't the entire collection! 

A rare occasion where we are out after dark!

It's definitely a unique life. One that might not work for everyone, but it definitely works for us! And now that I have finally gotten all the bottles clean we are both back to 20+ hour training weeks. I could complain about it but who am I kidding? I love it. Now please remind me of that in 10 weeks!