The Reveal II: Mission Miami to Key West!!

As I mentioned recently, I have several exciting things going on and I am ready to share just one of them with you today! It has been taking me some time to gather all the thoughts and emotions surrounding some of these things and get it down on "paper" (blog).

When I finally reached my goal weight and fell in love with running for the sake of running, I started making goals and lists of things that I wanted to do. One of those things on "the list" is to do a Ragnar Relay-

The past 6 months of my life have been filled with so many amazing opportunities and I am yet again, blown away by the adventure that I have been invited to participate in next:

Ragnar Relay Key West.

But, this is not any ordinary Ragnar Relay...no way.

(To quote Runner 12 aka John)

I will be part of a team of strangers, brought together by two people with a simple idea.

What if we put together a team of people that have all been very heavy, lost that weight in a healthy way, and now want to run a 200 mile relay race to promote good health and physical fitness?


This will be done with 11 other outstanding individuals who have changed their lives for the better by overcoming their own battles to win the war against FAT!! Our common bond? We have all lost a staggering amount of weight and become fit, healthy, happy people!

Not only will I get to share this experience with others who know firsthand what it is like to go from fat to fit, this will also be a very personal run for me as well. I have spent a lot of time in Florida over the years and to run from Miami to Key West (a drive I have done many times) and with a new set of HEALTHY eyes with be cathartic and a celebration of all I have overcome to get HERE!!

...and it gets better...

Our entire journey is being turned into a documentary film to chronicle our adventure! Our background, our coming together and the run from Miami to Key West.


Running. Florida. Film crews. 
Hmmm, kind like Road Rules meets The Real World meets The Biggest Loser Finale?

I am really over the moon about this and I cannot wait to meet my new Ragnar cRazies!  We had our first team meeting via conference call recently and it was great to hear everyone's voices and learn just a bit of their own success story.

I owe a huge thank you to my blog buddy, Jen at From Fat to Finish Line. Jen is the Jersey-tastic Jenious (genius and yes, that is a word now- Jen's Unite!!) behind the documentary and the driving force who got me involved in this project to being with! Jen is a weight loss success story, runnerd and all around awesome gal!

Any fans of the show The Biggest Loser out there?
Ada Wong, finalist from Season 10 will be a part of this exciting adventure. Ada is currently training for Ironman Coeur d'Alene!! (alert Katie, Sonja and the rest of my CdA friends please)

Rik (our fearless team captain) has lost a staggering amount of weight and working his way to running a marathon in every state. He is a brave man for heading up this crew of crazies! With experience as a Ragnar Captain, he is already guiding this ship in the right direction. Thank you Rik for everything you are doing to make this project a huge success!

Katie at Runs for Cookies. You must check this gal out. Cute as a button, sassy and I just love her energy. She's famous and hangs out with Dr. Oz...really. Her story is just awesome too.

John (aka Runner 12-I mentioned him above) I already love this guy and cannot wait to hang with him. He lives in San Diego and I have already invited myself to go live visit him for an undisclosed amount of time. yah, that's how I roll. John is also a Ragnar Veteran and the success story Manager for SparkPeople.

Mary at a small loss--but there is nothing small about what this gal has achieved! Mary has accomplished so much so far and is on her way to reaching her list of goals!! DETERMINATION has helped her shed 155lbs. Amazing.

Linda from 'Frickin Fabulous at 40' this gal is frikin' hilarious, we will be in the same van and I'm pretty stoked about that too. We'll have a little New York attitude with us :)

Allison (no blog) has spent most of her adult life battling obesity and now she is winning. Allison is halfway to her goal of losing 100lbs and with her fierce determination, there is no doubt she will get there!

Andrea-Another famous face who is friends with Oprah. really. This gals successful150lb weight loss story is so inspiring, it earned her a spot on Oprah's final weight loss show!

Lealah from 'Lealah on a Mission' was facing the prospect of weight loss surgery to get her health under control but she found the strength to do it all own her own without surgical intervention and has shed over 130lbs to date!

Meredith was hand picked to join the team via contest on Katie's blog. Having lost over 100lbs to date and gaining a love of running makes Meredith the perfect final addition to this team!

Now the fun begins-all the planning and of course, a name for our team!!
I'll keep you all posted :)
But feel free to follow along on Twitter with the Team's Official Twitter page to find out what's going on!

The Reveal

Once upon a time there was a little girl who dreamed of things that were pink, sparkly and fast. 

source

She told her husband on each of the last two Valentine's Days, that the only carbon she wanted was in the form of a beautiful bike-forget diamonds.
The old saying "Diamonds are a girls best friend" did not fly with this girl.
Her best friend was her bike. 





And she longed for a pink Quintana Roo cd0.1 for an eternity
(or so it seemed).
As much as the little girl loved the pink camo Quintana Roo cd0.1, it's majestic beauty was far, far from her (budget) reach.
But the little girl BELIEVED that some day her "prince(ss) would come" so she continued to hold that deep, deep love for the pink QR.

Then one day, not too long ago, a glimmer of hope sparkled in the distant waters and she thought that maybe--just maybe--she could make yet another dream come true!!
..and with that hope, a new dream started to form.

A dream that was flat black, silver, white with just a dash of pink. 
Could it be that this NEW Quintana Roo would steal the little girls heart?

As fate would have it, she was able to ride this beautiful steed for several weeks and it was LOVE LOVE LOVE. They fit perfectly and the little girl could go so much faster!!
But with a sad and heavy heart, the little girl had to give back the loaner steed and it was back to reality.
No pretty, fast, beautiful Quintana Roo to ride in the weeks that followed.

She rode several other bikes but nothing was like that QR she sooo loved.

Then the little girl's Fairy-Godfather, Fairy-Godmother and Fairy-Uncle (yes-all three. It's my fairy tale!) appeared one day and told the little girl that because she had been very, very good girl they were going to help her make her dream come true.

And so it was meant to be.
A little tweak here and a little more carbon there....and it was perfect.

I am so grateful and thankful for all of the wonderful people who have made it possible for my dreams to come true this year.

First, my Mom and Dad (Rick-O Racing) , I love you and I could not do any of this without you both. Thank you to my husband and my in-laws too! I am so lucky that my entire family supports my crazy triathlon dreams.

To my amazing Coach Sonja- whom I just adore and appreciate so much. Thank you for everything and for  helping me raise the bar on my own dreams. You inspire me daily and I still wonder how I made into your stable :) xo

To Kompetitive Edge and Ryan, thank you for being the dream weaver and artist behind my beloved bike. You will forever be "Uncle Ryan" to my second baby.

To Rev 3 Triathlon, I am so happy and so proud to be a part of the REV3 Family. Being a part of the Rev 3 Team is a giant dream come true!! Thank you for believing in me.

FREEZE!

So seriously, I have so many things going on right now and everytime I sit down to write about it all I have total brain freeze and then something distracts me and POOF! gone...I have about 100 different drafts sitting in blogger and not a single one seems coherent! I promise I'll get my act together and get these posted to share some info with you soon-
I feel like a bad blogger! 

Training is going well -really well, in fact-I just came off a huge training block, happy to report that it went great! But I am starting to get a bit of anxiety about the Quassy and the course. The anxiety is more related to the fact that I have no idea what to expect. I read blog posts like this one (from BadAss 2x Kona chick & Maine triathlete, Ange -- if she thinks it's a killer). I felt the same way about Timberman and heard all kinds of horror stories about how difficult that bike course was THEN I made my little pigramage to ride it myself and all my fears faded away.


I am planning a trip down to Quassy to freeze those fears and show 'em who is in charge here (ME!)



Plus, I'll get to see Rev 3 Team Mate extraordinaire-Laura (who just finished up Run Across America with Ulman Cancer Fund)

Tuesday I had a power session on the bike and then a run later in the day--it was in the 90's here (yes, in Maine and in April) so it was certainly not freezing. I decided to take my run down to the beach and on a dare from GOTRIbal gal, Marison I ended up in the ocean.
The 45* ocean.
FREEZE!!!

Bone chilling cold shot up my legs even though I was hot! hot! hot! I made it up to my knees, twice and dunkin' was NOT happening. But rumor has it that my favorite local pond to OWS is rocking at 50*
Hmmmm.....

 My training partner, Marc was ready to make a dive for it on our long ride Saturday.
I only dated to place my fingertips in the water...it was sunny but a cool, spring day.

But I did strip off my winter layers at the pond. We started in low 40's, clouds and fog. At least the sun came out.

caught with my pants down! 

Hope you enjoyed that risque strip show!! lol

Happy Monday

Wordless Wednesday

...because there are no words to adequately describe my excitement right now.


I wonder what could be in those boxes???

3 Things Thursday

Life has been chocked full of busy lately and sadly, I have not had time to sit down and blog...though I have so much to tell you about!! LOTS of very, very exciting things have been happening-

Thing 1

Training is going well and I have having a lot of "mental" breakthroughs lately. I am currently reading Iron War

(you know, about my good friends Dave Scott and Mark Allen. Yeah, we're friends. More on that later!)

While I am enjoying the story, what I am really getting out of that book is the mental strength required to race Ironman. I find myself tapping into my own psyche and questioning if I am really "done" during some training sessions and lots of times I am finding that it is my mind that wants to stop, not my body. I am having a lot of fun exploring this side of the training.

Thing 2




I am so, so proud of my Rev 3 Team mates that are out there Running Across America to raise funds and awareness of Ulman Cancer Fund.

There is still time to enter my giveaways, for every $2 you donate, you will get a chance towards lots of awesome prizes!!

Make sure you check out the Rev 3 blog and follow along with the team as they run, run, run.
I am really so happy to be a part of the Rev 3 Team!!

Thing 3

I got a new bike.
So did Lola.
I'll let you guess which one this is: