Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page!

I'm training to participate in the Lone Star Triathlon in Galveston TX as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!

11/8/09 Morning after the first work out

Holy Cow, everything hurts! Even the spot between my shoulder blades hurts... how does that even happen?! Yesterday morning I woke up bright and early at 7am on a Saturday to cruise over to my coach Ken's place. We had an hour long gear clinic followed by a 30 minute run. I was totally pumped about getting my A__ in shape that the first loop I was nothing but enthusuastic. The first 10 minutes I was thinking, "Yeah this is awesome! The trees are awesome, my legs are awesome, this down hill is awesome, this up hill is kinda awesome... Yeah!" The next 10 minutes I was thinking, "Humm... I''m kinda winded, but keep your gaze up girl, your back straight and plow through... You can do it!" But then came the last 10 minutes when my lungs were screaming and the old legs were staging a revolt and I'm thinking, "Oh Sh#$! What have I gotten myself into?!" Moral of the story.... I definitly have a long way to ge before I'm ready to throw it down in G-town.

11/10/09 5:15am

That's right, 5:15 am!!! That was the omnious time in the morning when Ang started pounding me on the bottoms of the feet and the threats swirled in and out of my ears. But it was totally worth it to slip into the 85 degree water at the school for the blind off S. Congress this morning. I'd have to say it was really a morning of discoveries. I discovered that yes, there are actually sober people up at that ungodly time... and they're running! That no, the police won't pull you over going 50 mph in front of the capitol as long it seems like you ARE one of those sober people. And my team discovered that no, that's not a wounded moose in the pool, its just Shay working on her breathing.

11/20/09

So today was Friday night swim night but since I always like to drink my Fridays, I needed to get that swimming thing out of the way early. So after my phonetics review session, I headed off to Gregory Gym... in the rain. My legs were absolutely killing me this morning thanks to my coach Ken's brilliant idea to run the hills of Mount Bonnell last night. Which was when I became intimately aquainted to why they call this Austin area, Hill Country. (No, its not just a sweet BBQ joint!) After that lovely session where I was either going to collapse from exhaustion or die on the spot and be eaten by deer, swimming was the last thing I wanted to do.

So I had play lets make a deal with my legs this morning. It went a little something like, "Ok legs. I know you're tired, but if you just do one more lap... its martini time!" And as the rain is coming down this totally hot swimmer dude comes bounding out, and jumps into the lane next to me. This obviously means business. So I grab a kick board and tell the 'ol legs, "That's it legs, you're not the boss of me! We're going from not to hot right now, bitches!"

And then he lapped me.

11/26/09- Turkey day!!

Turkey Trot- Done. Bring on the Bird!

12/19/09- Sprained Ankle day

Woke up this morning had a big bad brick to do geared up, grabbed the bike and tumbled down the stairs. Moments later, I was trying to wiggle out from under the bike and thought I had completely broken my right ankle. Luckily as I was crawling back up the awkward slanted stairs from whence I came, I realised that no, it wasn't broken probably just sprained. So I lied on my floor for a while, Ang iced it down and got me this awesome compression sock. I remember when I was on the mission run last month and this marathon guy comes bounding up next to me and asks me how I was, as I'm huffing and puffing and wanting to die. He says, "Don't worry about it, you'll have your good days and bad days, just keep going."

Well I think today was a very bad day... :(

12/23/09 Hop A-Long Goes Swimming.

First day back in the pool after the sprained ankle. After 3 days of rest, loads of ice, compression socks and a continuous cycle of Advil... I finally got back in the pool today. I mainly used to pull buoy and worked out my arms but I did bounce around a bit on the ankle and let it do its thang. I seem to be recovering pretty fast. The coloring isn't so pretty, but the swellng has gone down. YAY!

12/24/09 Olympic Distance Swim... Check!

Today we got up and went to the pool early and I did the whole 1.5K swim in just under 1 hour. Hizzuh! I was probably dragging the ankle a bit, but Ang gave me some good tips as we were swimming. She did almost double what I did... but then again she's a fish so there's really no compare. But it felt good to see that yes, I can do this swim thang.

I also got on the bike and did 10 minutes very low impact before attacking the pool and I think I'll be ready to hit the road when I get back to Austin on Monday.

Merry X-mas All!!

1/8/10 Happy New Me

After the horrible beating the Longhorns suffered last night... I thought I should get back to work and make sure that my shoulders were working OK today. (Yes, this is my shout out to Colt McCoy!) So I went for a long swim. Once again I did the Olympic Distance swim in 55 minutes, but this time I did it only using the pull bouy. And I totally feel like a Beast!

See I think I tweaked my ankle (AGAIN!!) yesterday during my bike/run. This fact I completely forgot about when I dove into the deep end of the pool. The force of my foot on the water snapped my ankle back & I literally screamed under water immidieatly after. Thanks to Dr. Liu I now know that because water isn't as elastic of a medium as air the sound doesn't travel very far... but I'm prettly sure that the old man in the lane next to me heard as he had a lazy eye on me for the rest of my swim... Another day in the life...

1/9/10 My Honored Team mate Celebrates his 12 year Anniversary Cancer Free!! (see pic!)

So this morning was our bike work out and because it was so freakin' cold (Yes, it does actually get below 32 degrees in Texas!) this morning the bike was moved to 2pm instead of its normal 7:30am spot. It was still pretty cold out but at least the sun was shining and in preparation for the ride I layered waaaay too much and ended up sweating myself into hypothermia. (Not really, but close!)

Afterwards, Ang and I went to my Honored Team mate Mikey's celebration of his 12 years being cancer free. He found out he had cancer when he was only 10 years old. After a while the cancer infected his lower jaw (the mandible) and his jaw started deteriorating. So they removed his lower jaw and replaced it with the bone from his now finely toned calf. So he virtually speaks with his leg which to an aspiring speech therapist is pretty darn amazing. What's even more amazing about my team mate Mikey is that he's now training for a 1/2 Iron Man!! Whoa... for those of you who don't know, thats over a mile swim, a 52 mile bike ride topped off with a 13 mile run! Craaazy!

And for all that I give you, Mikey Thompson, the honored photo spot on my page!

1/12/10 Recommitment Time! Plus, my own LJDQ QUIZ! OMG!

So I guess we've reached the part in the training program where I have to belly up and say, YES! I an dedicated to this program and I will raise the $4,000 smackers to do it! Oh yeah and do an entire triathlon to boot! (knees knocking...) This is something that I've been going back and forth with over the past week. Not only is that almost what I paid for this semester's worth of Tuition, but that's a sh#% load of miles to traverse... Geez..

But during these times of emotional turmoil is when the people around you really help to prop you up.. and boy did they turn out in spades this week. As of last Saturday, I still hadn't reached the fundraising level that I needed to recommit to the program. So my awesome girlfriend sent out a request on her blog and BOOM! There the money was chillin' in my account... smugly lookin' at me like , "What you were worried... Pshaw..."

And then my awesome pal Hans say's that he'll do a promo quiz on the LJDQ (that's Live Journal Daily Quiz for you laymen) and that he'll personally write a pun for every LJDQer who donates on this very website! HOLY INTERNET GODS, how did I get so Lucky?

I mean with all this savvy mojo working for me how can I not recommit to the program?!

P.S. To all the LJDQers, make sure to put your handle either in the name box (ie: Shannon 'HotPantsGalore' Ward) or leave it in the comments box. MANY THANKS!

1/21/10 CEDAR FEVER!!!

To those who haven't experienced the joys of Central Texas in January, this is the time of year when the cedar trees start to shake thier booties and begin their pollinating mating dance. While the rest of the country slumbers in their icy snow-topped dens... down here its Spring Time! In an attempt to spread its seed far and wide, much like Gov. Sanford, the pollinating 'seed' is swept for miles upon the Texas winds. The end result has the rest of us, would-be triathletes, choking on the sex of trees. This abomination of all things sexy leaves most of us with moist eyes, burning throats, snotty noses and agitated lungs. This last part affects this triathlete the most often.

Let it be know on this blog and forever that Asthma Sucks!

So after the Cedar Fever set in and I spent the entire weekend wheezing on my back, I finally felt good enough to join my team for a romp around the track tonight. Not expecting a stellar perfomance especially with the cedar count soaring into the 'Get a Room' level, I figured I should at least walk for my 45 minute work out. Especially since I sat on my unshaking booty all weekend long. Which is why I was astonished when by the fortunes of the name game, I ran for a full 45 minutes tonight! I still can't believe it!!

Like we used to say on team Split Fire in good old NYC...

IN THE FACE, CEDAR FEVER!

2/20/10 Accosted by Rain

Woke up bright and early this Sat morning, BEFORE my alarm went off, energized and ready to attack my Saturday ride. When I got to the Radisson Hotel where my friend (and donor!) Kirsten stayed, it was a bit cloudy and misty. I realized that I didn't have my sunglasses only when my mentor Cat was all like "Where's your eye protection?" and I was all like "Wha?, but its not sunny." and she was all like "Dumbass, you have to wear eye protection at all times!" Sometimes, I really hate being one of those people who ONLY learns from experience...

So as we took off down the hill onto Hwy. 360 at a very rapid speed, the weather changed from kinda misty to actually raining. Plus, not only was it coming down and into my eyes from above but also up and into my eyes from my front tire. This is the point when any sane person would turn around and seek shelter in the nearest Starbucks or at least the warmth of their car. But I've already told all of my friends that I'm doing this triathlon and if my honored team-mate Mikey can run a marathon after having survived cancer 4 times, then I would be a total pussy for letting a wee little bit water stand in my way... So onward I pedaled.... and I pedaled... and I pedaled... and I....

3/23/10 One Month 'till Tri day

It's hard to believe that the triathlon is only a month away! I just can't believe that I'll actually be doing a triathlon in just 4 short weeks... whoa... ::knees knocking::

Even though I still hobble out of bed every morning, I've noticed that my posture has improved and I'm filled with a calmer confidence that I didn't really have before. I attribute this completetly to the triathlon and the fact that I just feel darn good. I've also noticed a real change in my attitude and outlook when I attack the pool at 6am morning or go for an awesome 2 hr bike ride through the Austin hills. When I started this whole thing I had hoped to make a change in my physical appearance, (which if you haven't seen me lately... let's just say, I've got my swagger back!) but it's the internal changes that have happened that has been the best aspect of this whole experience. Not to mention the awesome people that I've met and chatted with along the way. The daily training has helped me enormously with my studies and helped to keep me focused and master time management so that I can maximize my study and training time.... I guess now that I'm a month out, I'm realizing that its really not just about competing in a race, its about a lifestyle that I never thought I could live.