Let's Talk about Pee

Well all pee--some of us more than others and some of us while racing and training.
A couple weeks ago I did a review and giveaway on the blog with Triathon Rocks-who are the makers of this amazing tee shirt!!

I wear it with pride

This weekend, I peed in my wetsuit pre-race more times than I care to admit (at least I was well hydrated right?) and we had some pretty interesting conversations among my team mates as we all stood there in the water or on the shore of the lake talking about PEE. I actually peed on the run portion of the race a little bit-oh well! I was already soaked from the swim and the rain!!

One of the ways to earn an entry into the contest was to share your best pee story. I also said that there would be a bonus prize for the best pee story. I know I have mine -- but which is yours??

Here are some of the entries-

1-I got sprayed pretty good by someone at a race a few years ago. We were going fast and I could feel myself getting sprayed all over and tried to figure out if the girl in front of me was doing something with her water bottle or WHAT! Shortly after, I realized I was being peed on and I immediately backed off to give her some room. Nothing like being covered in SOMEONE ELSE'S PEE!
My own? I'm fine with :D

2-At 70.3 IMCA I am riding with a guy and we are going about 24 mph on the first half of the ride. This guy flies by us and we laugh b/c he will burn out. All the sudden the guy pulls to the left and I ask if he is ok and he says yes but there is a porto up there. I then tell him to forget that and just pee while riding and he gives me this look of 'WTF?' Well he stopped and I kept right on going and about 5 minutes later the GOLDEN WARRIOR flexed his muscles and let 'er fly.

3-This week I was to go on a run off the bike. I rode the trainer and then stood outside my house waiting for my watch to find the satellite. Right then I felt like I had to pee but was not willing to go back inside the house and risk losing the satellite again. While standing there I just started peeing on myself. Then bam satellite found and off on the run I go.

4-Best Pee story - It's actually a pee and poop story. I was running my usual morning run with my crew when I knew I couldn't go any further. To avoid a skirtastrophe, I literally hung from a tree, think monkey with hands and feet around a branch and did my business. Total success, both me and the skirt were able to finish the run.


5-Ugh, best pee story? Well, I may or may not have pee'd during the run portion of one of my tri's....LOL! Sh! I didn't even put that on my own blog.


6-I have peed on the bike many, many times. When I did an IM I swore I would take the time to get off and peed. I did, once. After that, it was just so much faster to keep going and peeing!


7-My pee story is on the run, not the bike. BUT during my HIM last year I peed myself multiple times on the run, I was proud of it! But also I timed it with this one station that had BIG water glasses - think keg cups. So I could rinse. I was smiling and waving to people and peeing. It was awesome.


8-My best pee story.
I've never had to pee on the swim before, but at Cedar point I had to go and thought "what the hell, maybe I'll see if I can let it go before I get into T1 and the portopotties...." And it worked?! Who knew? It was actually easier going while swimming than biking.
It was the first time I peed in my wetsuit when I wasn't standing waiting for the gun to go off and trying to stay warm.


9-Pee story: I have to admit, I don't pee on my bike, or even while I'm running. My pee / poo story is actually about my daughter. I was IM training and kiddos were out for the summer so I had to fit training in whenever I could. I took the kids to their school playground and ran circles around the school yard while they played. Daughter (age 9 at the time) came to me and said she had to GO (you know with kids that means #2) I only had a mile to go and it was a 1/2 mile walk home, so I made her GO in the woods outside her school. Three words: saving for therapy.



10-I just got pulled over for doing 43 in a 30 (not the funny part) but as the officer approached me
he says: 'so it says you pee on your bike. and do you?'
I respond: 'yes I do'
he says: 'well to each his own I guess'
I say: 'it saves me time on my competition and I will do anything within the rules to my advantage'
he says: 'do you clean your bike?'
I say: 'yes, I do'
We then discuss triathlon and the such and it was a funny conversation.
He ends with 'keep cleaning that bike ok?'
Still gave me a ticket. So it draws attention but won't get you out of traffic violations.

___________________________________________________________________

Thank you everyone for your great pee stories. I laugh to myself some days while I am out on a long training run or bike and the mind is just going. We endurance athletes can be pretty gross sometimes huh? Snot rockets, peeing on yourself, puking...all for the love of the sport.

Tell me which PEE STORY deserves to be #1!!
(yes, pun totally intented)

Go for it!

Competition.

I recently had a conversation with a friend about being competitive and racing. We shared our different views on the subject-She is ultra competitive, on top of all her race stats and those in her direct (and indirect) "line of fire". The goals of winning and/or beating certain individuals is what gives my friend one big dose of motivation.

My perspective on competition thus far really has more to do with beating myself. Setting goals, meeting them and then raising the bar a bit higher is what has been my motivating factor. Getting faster, going longer and seeing consistent improvement with my performance has been my reward.

Winning.

My friend wants to win. It is not the end all be all of her existence but it is something she strives for~her goals are set on AG wins and overall wins. She knows what she wants and has a plan to do just that!

I don't go into a race with thoughts of winning. The one time I went into a race with thoughts of an age group placement did not come to fruition. Lesson learned. I have been lucky enough to have some good races this season and won or placed in my age group several times. Getting second in my age group at my first triathlon was amazing and a totally unexpected treat.

Don't get me wrong-placing in my AG at any race is great/fun/exciting and now that I have had a small taste of it, I want to continue to improve as an athlete. It is tangible proof to me that I have come SO far.

Two years ago I could not even fathom doing a triathlon. Two years ago I could only dream about running a 1/2 marathon-never mind setting my sights on Boston "someday". Two years ago my goal was to lose fat, get my body healthy and fit enough to run a mile or two without stopping. Mission accomplished.

To me, racing is issuing a challenge to myself. Complete this race in XX:XX amount of time. Improve on this or don't do that. It is a learning experience and a way for me to measure my own success. I try not to get all caught up in the winning.

In the last few days, the conversation with my friend has been replayed and thought of several times. I am afraid that she may have awoken a sleeping tiger. A bit of drive hidden deep within. The desire to pursue bigger goals.

Being so new to running (and even newer to triathlon) I still have so much to learn, so much training, smaller goals to accomplish and so much more room to grow as an athlete.

I mean really--I finally got off the treadmill in Jan 2010 and started running outside. I have only just begun dipping my toes in the waters of swimming in July. I started cranking out some cycling miles this summer~on a beast of a bike to boot!

But why can't I dream big? Why can't I have expectations of winning?

I can and I will. I truly believe you can do anything you set your mind to do. If you have the passion and the drive, you can make those dreams a reality. I am living proof of that. I have achieved each goal I have set for myself and then some.

I just think right now is the time to continue learning, striving to better myself and making new goals. The time will come soon enough when I will allow my focus to shift into a more competitive mode. Then I will change my focus and put my eyes on the prize-the medal, the golden cup, the win.

So watch out Ms.MastersWinner, I am behind you now and getting closer and closer each race. One of these days I am going to catch you. And maybe, just maybe one day I am going to beat YOU and win.

The Early Bird Gets the...POSTER!

My running is finally paying off big! cha-ching!

Last week I took part in a fun challenge on dailymile.com coordinated by Greg S. (brilliant blogger and positive voice on DM) The Predawn Runner Challenge. The challenge? Be the the first to finish 5 miles after 3am "wherein the goal is to demonstrate your commitment to getting out the door early by being the first one to complete your run for the day".

I love to get up and out early and could not wait for this challenge~I was hoping and praying that Lola would stay sleeping so I could run. I woke up at about 2:40 am and after downing a cup of coffee and a glass of water, I got ready to run. Since I interpreted the rules as "starting" at 3am, I was going to be ready to go!! The night before I was planning on running OUTSIDE but I did not really think about how dark and scary it really is at 3am. I was quite sure that there were lots of bogeymen out there ready to scoop me up and eat me. I considered just running around my 1/2 mile block 10 times but I think there are werewolves that live at the end of the street so that was out!

I decided to tough out the five miles on the treadmill instead. In my well lit, bogeyman and werewolf free home gym!

The first two miles were slow and I was still kind of shaking out the cobwebs from the old cranium but I found my groove and finished at 3:43:29, quite proud of myself for getting in a 5-er before 4:oo am!

I guess if I had read the rules a little closer (this line "The run must finish after 3:00 AM, and be submitted as your local time) I could have beat the running shorts off of Flyin' Brian from Chicago, but Brian won this challenge and beat me by two minutes. Brain snuck up on me because I was really expecting Brendan (a fellow Maine runnah) to be my biggest competition. However, I guess if I am going to lose to anyone, losing to Brian is cool with me. Brian is another awesome DM friend (who just PR'd at SanFran Marathon!! WOOO HOOOO!). But more on Flying Brian in a minute.

I didn't win this challenge, I was second to finish and second place is FIRST TO LOSE but guess what. Greg was so cool about it that he decided that I could win some cool Predawn Runner stuff too!

I won this very cool THE RUNNING MANIFESTO poster!

Proudly displayed in my home gym next to my treadmill with other motivational items and some of my favorite race bibs. I really love this poster and it's many positive running messages.

A big thank you to Greg S. for including second place :)

Now remember I mentioned earlier that we would get back to Brian in a minute? Well, back in May Brian coordinated another cool Dailymile challenge, The Jet Challenge where everyone ran 3.1 miles in honor of Jet and his amazing accomplishment of running 31 miles! Lucky me!! Brian got to pick 3 DM'ers to win a DM sticker and lo and behold! I had been selected to get one of the coveted DM stickers I had been drooling over for a couple weeks ~Another score!

Just the other day I found a dollar on the ground while running! $$$

And I know if I start bringing a giant trash bag with me on long runs I can easily make $1.oo or so picking up empties on the side of the road (if I am willing to let these stops interfere with my pacing! LOL).

While I will never win any races or get any cash prizes for my running, it has made me rich in many ways!

I have met some amazing people, I placed 3rd in my age division recently (and that medal is like GOLD to me!!) and I feel great when I run! THAT is what makes me so happy.

And yes, winning a poster and a sticker is pretty dang cool too!