Wake the Fuck Up and do a 1/2 Ironman!

OK, I'm just curious who all else is doing a self-supported 1/2 Ironman today??? Nobody??? Robin thought I may have done too much yesterday, but I am training for Triple T and I am Crackhead, so no worries. I actually skipped the spinning yesterday because I just ran out of time--I needed to make these little margarita pies for this afternoon's family gathering, do laundry, wash the dishes, acquire provisions, try and get the ice off my driveway near the front door, and oh I did do a sprint tri and lifted for 1/2 hour. In the big scheme of things, a :30 spin just wasn't necessary.

Here are the margarita pies/tarts:
The filling is awesome! If anyone wants the recipe, leave a comment, and when I get around to it I'll post it here. Trust me, it tastes like a margarita, and there's a good amount of tequila and Grand Marnier (recipe called for Cointreau; the Grand Marnier tastes better, I think) in there. I got to lick the pan that I made the custard in, and yum, yum, yum!

Just as if I were doing a regular race, I woke up several times during the night feeling a bit excited, knowing I was doing a race today. As soon as I got up and turned on the light, I looked at my toenails and just cracked a huge smile. How can you not smile when your toes are zebra striped? I'm going to drink Ultrafuel in about an hour just so I'm fully carbed up. LGL is on the trainer (as she is all winter long), and I just need to load up some CD's for the bike ride, pack my swim/bike and run bags, do a little stretching and I'm all set to go. I don't feel any worse for the wear considering what I did yesterday, and why should I? The more you do this stuff, the more your body remembers what you've done before, and even if you know it might suck, it's not like there are any concerns about being able to do it.

What is it about these NothingMan's that the weather is always crappy? In 2007, for my first full NothingMan, it was cold as shit in Wisconsin. For this year's full NothingMan, it was raining almost the entire time. This past spring there were a few NothingMan's that I did where it was also raining. And guess what? Today it's going to be raining a lot all day. Since the ground is frozen, there are warnings out for flooding, and I am just hoping I don't get any water in my house. But, the show must go on, and I'll get things done no matter what happens today, and then I'll go and feast with my family who thinks I always eat like a pig since I've usually worked out at least 3 hours, and then I'm going to relax and try to sleep in tomorrow.

I am starting the swim between 6:00 and 6:15AM CST, and should be back home on the bike starting around 7:30, and back at the Y on the treadmill from 11-1. If you have my cell #, feel free to shoot me a txt msg. of encouragement. HTFU is always welcome!

Check back later for pics...not sure I'll have a race report until tomorrow, but you never know!

Here's today's race clothes (on black granite!):

Pre-race nutrition (no it's not beer--it's Ultrafuel):

Today's music selection for the bike:

Bitch, Slut and Whore on Granite

That's the granite that's going in my foyer. I can't say for sure yet, but it may be nicer than the vanity top that will be in the new bathroom upstairs.

Aaaaaaaanyway...the girls are enjoying it...I hope to eventually, too!

One New Bathroom Down

This is my new bathroom downstairs off the family room. It's pretty simple--all white--but it's a huge step up from what was there previously. The guy I have doing all this work for me is wonderful--I told Ken from the beginning that I was not one to go to fifteen different stores shopping for this and that. He picked out windows and exterior doors for me, and they look great on the house. He picked everything for this bathroom--except I did go and look at faucets one day because that is one thing I wanted to choose myself.

I spend a lot of time in bathrooms due to my habit of excessive showering ;) Plus, it's the place I put on Bodyglide and/or sunscreen and change into swimming, biking or running clothes. My downstairs is where I spend a lot of time in the winter since that's where the trainer lives. Sigh--it's starting to be that time already, as we had some frankenprecipitation yesterday--not sure whether it was snow, sleet, hail or that weird stuff called graupel.

Next up on the remodeling front is the laundry room, but that doesn't begin until I'm back from PCB next week. Funny thing is that room is almost as big as my kitchen, and it's going to be nicer than the kitchen! Oh well...kitchen and family room get done next year. I need to get all my space and crap back into position and start training!

If any of you live in my area and need interior remodeling, my guy Ken is with KM Interiors. He does great work at reasonable prices, and like I said, he's been great for me to work with in terms of making a lot of good choices for me. The upstairs bathroom is going to be kick ass, though, and I'm spending a lot of time online trying to locate the exact things I need. It's going to be black and white with a red granite vanity top and waterfall faucets. The tub and toilet will be black. I'm currently searching for someone who can sell me the right size granite (picture of sample below) slab (you pay by the slab). Once that's done, I can get it cut and delivered within a week. If I can't get the type below, I'll settle for something temporary until I can get what I want, since it comes from Bra-zeel!