Rev3Maine Awesomeness (and a winner)

I don't even know where to start on the chonicle that is Rev3Maine Weekend!

Wednesday night I went down to the race site to get in a swim and several of the Rev3 peeps had arrived and I was getting SOO psyched for the weekend. This race has been on my calendar since last fall when they announced it and it was finally HERE!

Thursday morning while out on my ride, I hit up the bike course for a final ride and the big Rev3 trucks had arrived! WOO HOOO More excitement. I got to chat with a couple Rev3 friends and knew I'd have to bring Lola right down to see her favorite Rev3'er, the beautiful and fabulous Laura!

Thursday when I got to finally pick up the friends arriving at the airport--but there was a small twist to the plan. Mama Bear herself needed a ride to the race site from the airport and I was happy to provide transportation!!

Jason and Scott did not get in for quite a bit so Carole made sure to make good use of the time by teaching Lola some karate.

Scott and his family, Kristine and Laila all arrived safely and then it was Jason's turn. One more Rev3'er needing help, Pat (could listen to that brogue all day long!). With the help of my friend/training partner/coaching-guinea-pig, Marc everyone was well taken care of and made it to the  places they needed to be!

Friday was promising to be a full day so it was time to get home and get to bed!

The first order of business was to get out to the Rev3 swim site and introduce Jason to (not-so) cold Atlantic ocean water. While the rest of us marvelled at how nice the water temps were, Jason was a tad cold but manned-up quite well and was swimming just fine.

At the swim I got to meet up with another team mate I have been dying to meet, Joshua. Who, in my opinion is just freaking awesome sauce. Not just as an athlete (congrats on London!!) but just an all around decent human being who has overcome his own obstacles in life and is living healthy now.

This is team mates Kristen and Joshua on race morning,
picture lovingly hijacked from Facebook :)

So Friday brought more fun at the Rev3 site, getting to see my team mates, friends and just enjoying hanging with some really cool people.

And speaking of cool people, two new cool people rolled into my life this weekend too.
Jen and Angela.
Jen is a fellow blogger and we have been in contact via social media for at least a year or a year and a half. Jen is the gal who invited me to be a part of the From Fat to Finish Line film and the Ragnar Relay team in the first place. Jen is also the Executive VP of Program Development at Media Meld Studios and Angela is the President of Media Meld, the company producing the documentary.

They were able to schedule a visit to Maine to get some footage of the Rev3 Maine race and start getting some back story on my journey (more on that later).

The best part of their visit is Jason had NO IDEA that Jen was coming to Maine for the weekend. They have gotten to know one another through this lovely little thing called social media as well.

I also got to experience THIS awesome bomb!!

with Jason (me) Heather and MATTYOOOOOO!
I seriously don't think I could have been more delighted to spend time with such awesome people. My energy was on EXPLODE and I was SOOO ready to race!!

Dinner was a crew of us at Jimmy The Greeks

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Thanks to all who commented on the Caption Contest!


The winning caption is:

"Um, Mommy? I think you need to add shower to that awesome training plan from Coach Sonja!"

Wendy Nitschke please email me at jsmall14(at)maine.rr.com and I will get you hooked up with some Foggle and TriSlide!!

Many Miles to GO!

When I applied to be on the Rev 3 Team early this fall, I knew I'd be joining a bunch of amazing folks if I made the team...I did not know just how awesome it would be.
The Rev 3 Family started their Run Across America at midnight on March 26th--From California to Washington, DC.
21 Days
3,080 miles

Check out this video from the start of the run!


REV3 RAA Oceanside with Brian from REVOLUTION3 Triathlon on Vimeo.


Here are some pictures from their journey so far!

The RAA "Transition"

Brock Yetso absorbing the morning sun.

Wow...this photo speaks

One of my favorites so far! Carole "Mama Bear" Sharpless in action!



From the Rev 3 Blog-running with Survivor Kelsey!!

Running through the night in the rainy mountains while the sun rose, and now running in the desert while the sun sets has been a serene and rewarding experience. I am so grateful to be part of Rev3′s Run Across America.

I’m running to bring awareness to the Ulman Cancer Fund. I think Rev3′s commitment to supporting and fundraising for the cause is inspirational. They have enabled me to push myself to run longer, harder, and more often.

I’ve become personally involved with UCF through Team Fight because I love everything the foundation stands for. I had skin cancer when I was 16 and didnt reach out to anyone for support. It would have been nice to know that others have gone through what I was going through. I am proud to say that my newly found love of running and involvement in UCF may help change someones cancer experience.

So I run for all those, friends and strangers, that are going through treatment. My next run is for you.

You can view more of pictures here.

Let's support Ulman Cancer Fund and all of those fighting!!
Remember, for every TWO DOLLARS you donate, you earn an entry to my giveaway!!
It is only $2, can you forgo a cup of Dunkin' Donuts this week? I can, no DD for me this week and all the money I would spend on coffee is going into the UCF!

Also, you could win 3 months of FREE COACHING!! Check it out :)

My Life as a TriMommy-3 months of Coaching!!

If you can't help with a donation, please help spread the word about Run Across America. Tweet, share on Facebook, talk about it on your blogs!

Thank you and KEEP RUNNING Rev 3!!

Wordle(ss) Wednesday

Last weeks blogging summed up into one wordle
Hence, Wordle(ss) Wednesday!!
so funny....

I want to know why 
AWESOME 
is not bigger....

TrackTastic!!

I really enjoy track sessions (most of the time) even when they HURT (ummm, last week for example). While it can be boring and monotonous, I find that I like the repetitive nature of running in circles and having a true way to measure my pace lap for lap. Also, when I am on the track I can zone in on what I am doing and not worry about distractions like cars, road conditions, where I am turning next, etc.

Wednesday was another MAF test on the track. Basically, this is running at a specific heart rate and holding it for X amount of time or distance. The track allows consistency in terrain so we can see how my pace compares to previous sessions. I don't mind MAF tests and since numbers really turn me on, I like the data it provides (though Coach Awesome probably knows more about what to DO with this data than I...)

The weather in Maine has been crazy lately and the schools do not maintain the tracks during the winter months-
meaning if there is snow, there is no track for me.

The last couple sessions of "track work" have been done outside on a mile stretch of road or on the TM (not the same!!) so I was happy to literally get ON TRACK with my MAF test this week.

I usually run at one of two tracks locally at the high schools-one has a brand new rubber track and the other is an older, not so fancy and nice track (but where I went to high school many, many years ago...in a galaxy far, far away) so I opted for my alma mater.




The weather has been fantastic this week-70's and 80's-and I have been superpumped to be outside training! I donned my Pink*Star tri top (ala Hillary Biscay) and my favorite Kinvara's and hit the track.
Round and round and round.....and something strange started to happen.

The more I ran-the stronger I felt. My pace picked up and my HR stayed steady. My legs were strong, my form was good and my smile was getting bigger and bigger. WOOT!!!
Round and round and round we go...where she stops nobody knows.

Then high school students started filling the field and I recognised Mrs. G from MY DAYS at the high school and Mr. D, whom I graduated with 20 years ago. It was a typical high school gym class and they too were taking advantage of the weather by bringing the students outside. As much as I wanted to stop and say hello to both of them, I need to go go go and execute this run. I am sure they were wondering just how long this lady would be running on their track! (I'd been there a while already...)

As I was running, I really had to laugh at the irony. 20+ years ago when I was a student at this high school, my gym teacher Mr. H would have to fight with me to get me to run around that track during PE. I hated running, I hated gym and I would find any excuse in the world to skip running. Now here I was, in 80* weather, running miles and miles around and around this little track that I so despised in my youth. And I was doing this willingly and with a smile.
Round and round and round and round....How things change!

Then I saw a familiar face-my best buddy, Dawn (who teaches English at the high school). We exchanged hellos quickly and she said she'd return.
Round and round and round and round I go....

My MAF miles were done and it was time to cooldown. I then see a bunch of students sitting on the track with Dawn. As I ran by all of a sudden, they all broke out in super loud cheers!!

It was soooo cool and made me laugh! I cheered right back at 'em, threw my hands in the air Finish Line Style and gave 'em a woot! I kept on going, cool down in full effect and on Lap 2 and as I rounded the corner all these signs go up in the air!!

The signs were hilarious and packed with awesome! These were some of my favorites (though I loved each and every one of them!!)

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING...THE BEAST ZONE!

WARNING: Beast Running By

Run Forest Run!!

Unleash the Beast Girlfriend!

The Heat has NOTHING on you!

Just Keep Running, Just Keep Running 

~Jen the Jellyfish~

You're Still Jenny from the Block

GO HARD JEN

Finis and happy! Surrounded by motivational signs

thumbs up!!

All smiles and feeling great!

I was so touched that they would do this and it made me remember just how lucky I am to have such positive, supportive and awesome friends in my life. I can not think of a better way to end one of my best track sessions this season than with the encouraging cheers and motivational signs from Dawn and her class.

A big GIANT thank you to Dawn, Desiree, Justine, Victoria, Autumn, Stephen, Emma, Lydia, Anna, Vie, Christina, Cassandra, Thomas, Allison, Oliva H, Oliva J, Elyse, Kaitlyn, Katelyn, Amber Rose and every student who was there yesterday!!! You made my day just a little bit (ok A LOT) brighter!!

Awesome Stuff & A 400 Celebration Giveaway

Lots of awesome stuff from the weekend to share

Hillary tweeted me. How cool is THAT?

A couple weeks ago I won a super sweet Canari Pink*Star kit from Hillary Biscay.
I was actually spinning away on my trainer when I read her blog announcement that I had won and wow! was I super,duper psyched!!

This beautiful kit arrived over the weekend and I could not wait to try it out. Lucky for me, it fit perfect and Coach had a nice little 3 hour grind-n-climb session planned for me on Sunday giving me the perfect opportunity to try it out. Oh-my-comfortable bike shorts Batman!! Longer rides can beat up the old HooHa, especially when you add in copious amounts of sweat but these shorts were a dream.
Not sure if it was the total badassness that Hillary put in 'em
(hello, I've done 50 IM's, Leadman 250, Ultraman, etc.)
or that my booty had BISCAY writtin across it
or that Canari just makes a really comfy short

Don't know and don't care. What I do know is that I am on a mission to find more of these.

In other AWESOME news, Lola started swim lessons this weekend. 
She is already lapping me and putting out 1:30 100's. Yeah, she's awesome sauce.

Over the weekend, I finally hit the 400 followers mark. I have been promising a celebration when we hit that epic number so.....wanna win some cool stuff??

I have a SECRET AWESOME GOODIE BAG for the first giveaway-there will be several!!

The giveaway, as usual, is open to all followers of Miles, Muscles & Mommyhood.

Are you a new reader and you want in on the action? That's cool! Just click the FOLLOW tab on the right side of the screen and you're in. 

To be entered into this giveaway:

• Leave a comment telling me what you would like to see MORE of on this blog!!

or

• Leave a comment telling me something cool you liked!

Did you read my review on the Omron Heart Rate Monitor? If not, check it out!!