WOW!!!

I have pages and pages of notes about UMC that I will get around to writing up, but I still need time to just savor in the good feelings. Besides, despite not having a bunch of training to do this weekend, it seems I have a million things to do, not the least of which is putting away all the crap (after doing laundry) I took with me, and s-l-o-w-l-y reassembling Skull Kingdom (the bars are back on and this afternoon I'll put the cages back on behind the seat post).

Backup: Don't think I ever posted a pic of Skull Kingdom here, so finally I am putting one here.


I managed to cook up a bunch of meat last night--chicken, steak and turkey burgers--that should last me through the week. I tend to eat a lot of protein right after these big events (and while training, I guess), and since I won't be training so much for awhile (famous last words, I know!), the protein will keep my mind off of constant snacks and the items which are currently banned from my cupboard: Twinkies, candy and Pepperidge Farm cookies. There is a Pepperidge Farm factory about 1.5 miles from my house, and on the right day, I can ride right by it and smell whatever they are baking. When it's something with cinnamon, it makes me nuts! These are my current favorite cookies of theirs. I looked at them yesterday in the grocery store, and somehow was able to resist their sweet pull.

Lee left me with a whole bunch of snacks from Japan, and I wolfed down a bunch of them Wednesday and Thursday, when I was still allowing myself to indulge a little bit. I have a Black Thunder Bar that I will eat today because I plan on riding maybe 3 hours, but the rest of the stuff, some of it I am not sure whether I am supposed to eat it or do something else with it! I will have to ask her, but I won't even be able to say what is on the labels!

Speaking of training, on Friday morning I went and swam. I purposely slacked on the time I got to the pool so I wouldn't do something silly like swim 3,000 yards. Besides, I am in a chatty, social mood right now, so I figured that if I swam 1/2 hour it would be good enough. When I first started, I felt like a brick, but after 300 yards, it felt great. You know what? I really like swimming. It is so quiet in the water, my body is gently supported, gliding along feels wonderful. It's funny that I was swimming sets of 1500's and 2000's just a few weeks ago, right? 500 feels like nothing. Surprisingly, my speed picked up as I went, and I even tried "racing" a guy next to me, but when I really tried to pick it up, my body told me that I'm recovering and should take it easy. He probably thought I suck, but hey, I don't care what anyone thinks!

Yesterday I woke up at 3:30AM, because my internal clock is messed up. I had slept what I thought enough, but I should have stayed in for more, but I was awake. I laid in bed for another hour and then got up and started doing things. By 7AM I was back at the pool, and put in an easy 2,000 yards. I could have done more, but I had to jabber. I wore my swim cap from UMC just like yesterday. I don't usually wear my race caps to the pool, but this is a bit different for me. Maybe it seems obnoxious, but for now I am basking in the good feelings I have and a slight sense of pride. I know--pride is one of the 7 deadly sins, but I never said I wasn't a sinner!

About 1.5 hours later I got on LGL to go for a 2-hour ride. I figured that would be the most I should ride, and if it was less, fine. Not like I NEEDED to go for a ride. But I have to tell you, it felt FANTASTIC!!! Almost like I had extra power in my legs! That is the beauty of doing big things--it gives you such a fitness boost that even if you went slowly (and I didn't ride hard at all in UMC--that would have been a poor strategy for a first-timer--except for on Day 2 the last 30K where we were going downhill with a tailwind), within 1 or 2 weeks you can feel the "pop."

I wore the black/white pirate singlet that I wore last year during IMLP, and I think I had the biggest smile on my face the whole way, because everyone was smiling back at me (maybe because I wore low cut DSS shorts and my muffin top was hanging out). While I can't say it's hilly near home for biking (although they are good for running), I stood up on the ups and was loving it. When I finished, I could feel my left knee (the one with no ACL) was a bit sore, so I stored that information up.

I had to go grocery shopping, then cook, grabbed a few parts from the garage for Skull Kingdom, did some stretching while cooking, finished eating my salad while cooking, then did a bit more stretching before finally sitting down to eat. I was in bed at 7:30PM and read for about 1/2 hour (still working on "Secrets of the Peaceful Warrior" and it's still excellent) before crashing. I slept 10 hours last night and it was sorely needed. I will try and do the same tonight.

This morning I am going to head out on Bitchie!!! It will be odd to ride her as the position is so different from Skull Kingdom, but I do love her. Once I get Skull Kingdom put back together (maybe tonight), I am going to give LGL, SK and Bitchie all good cleanings and get a photo of them all together. I am so blessed to have 3 beautiful, awesome bikes. Nothing against Clipless Fuck, but she needs to be cleaned up, too, since I do like trail riding in the fall, and she's been in the garage without that rear tire changed for several months! I know, I know--BAD bike owner. CF is a pretty nice bike, too. I never thought I'd have 4 nice bikes, and I do like riding them all!

Depending on how I feel, I want to ride about 3 hours today. I'm not training, but I can't run just yet, and it's still summer, so why not? I do want to ride Bike Psychos 200k, which is on August 29, and it's a nice, mostly flat ride (my definition of "flat" includes rolling hills) that I can knock out in 7 hours. It will be nice to have a change in perspective that a 7-hour ride is really not that long, eh? And then I plan on going up to Ironman Wisconsin to cheer for everyone I know (and those I don't know) that is racing, and plan on riding some bike (I haven't decided which one yet) from the stick out to the loop, loop in reverse direction of the racers so I can see them and they can see me (I'm told I'm quite popular out there) then back on the stick ahead of the race so I can put the bike away and get out on the run course. Geez, by that time I could probably run the marathon, right?

So today I'm thinking about some of my fellow UMC finishers are doing an Ironman soon, and I feel like I should be doing one. As it turns out, Ironman Cozumel still has spots available, at least according to Active.com. That would be a nice race to do, and would qualify as my "beach vacation" that I think I need. Or, I could just do a NothingMan, which I traditionally do the weekend after Ironman Wisconsin. It just feels like such a waste to me to have only done one long-distance race this year, when for the last 3 years I have done 2 Ironman's. OK so I just did more than 2 at once, but it was just one race, right?

I remember several years ago telling a close friend that I was going to retire from long-distance training/racing, and he assured me I was lying. I said the same thing before UMC that I was going to take time after the race to ponder the next year and probably not do anything long. There have been a few people who told me that they KNEW I would want to do Ultraman Hawaii if I finished UMC. Um...they were right!

As long as I find some more money, I am going to apply for entry to Ultraman Hawaii 2011. Lee is going to be on my crew as Captain, and I am looking for 2 others. The gig is the same as I described it before, only this time I can't cover land expenses (hotel/condo/food) for crew. I will still pick up all the supplies for during the race and take care of the crew as is customary, but the plan is to find and rent a large condo that will be split amongst the occupants. I plan on staying after the race for 4-5 days, too. Race information is here. I don't see the 2011 dates posted yet, but it is always the weekend of Thanksgiving.

Remember how I used to go to Kona on vacation every year for a long time? The last time I went on "just vacation" was in 2003, and at that time I decided that it was too expensive for me to make that trip and also fund my Ironman habit. So I decided that I would not go again until I qualified for Ironman Hawaii. And then the universe smiled on me and I got a lottery slot for Hawaii in 2004 (same year I did Ironman Canada). And then I told myself I would not go back again until I qualified, nor would I enter the lottery again. So, WOW, I didn't qualify for Ironman Hawaii--I qualified for ULTRAMAN Hawaii!!! Isn't that just fucking awesome?

If you were reading my sparse posts here over the last 6 months, you know how much I was struggling in my head about UMC to manage the training--how much, was it enough--and then I had that injury--but when I got on my way to Penticton, the stress began melting away, replaced with a new stress of getting the crew and provisions all set up, only that was quite manageable as we had all done a lot of planning beforehand. And then finally starting the race itself felt like an ugly coat that had been suffocating me for many months had fallen off--like a snake shedding its skin--replaced by fresh, new skin--and a constant migraine headache had been replaced by just the aura that comes with them--and I knew that everything I had gone through, including having no social life--was COMPLETELY WORTH IT! Most of the time while I was racing, I had this sense of it all being surreal, and there were definitely some out-of-body experiences. I kept feeling this confidence, that I had had before, rising up in me, only I didn't speak it aloud much except during the swim to Steve when he would ask me how I felt, and my response was, "This is all so surreal." I don't know if Ultraman Hawaii will feel the same way, but since I consider it my sacred place, I know those feelings will arise at some level. I remember during UMC on the rides and run that a number of times I read on the road, "WOW." That was the best thing anyone could write on the road, and I did have a sense of WOW the entire time. Not "Wow I am so fucking cool for doing this," but "WOW it is so fucking unbelievable that I GET to do this!" And also, "WOW I have this fantastic crew taking care of me while I GET to do this!"

And so I will stop writing for today leaving you with just WOW. Everyone should have as much WOW in their life as possible. Sometimes WOW is serendipitous--coming upon a beautiful vision--but creating your own WOW is even better. I am beginning to listen to a pile of CD's that Lee cut for me, and listening to WOW!