Event: Combat Triathlon 2011

My first sprint triathlon. I learned that sprint doesn't necessarily mean you have to be super fast, but that the distance of each portion is short enough that a prepared and fit triathlete should be able to finish it with good speed. That was not me at all. And when i had initally signed up, there was a questione that asked what my swim time was. I thot that was so ridiculous. How do they not know when the swim time was?!? So i wrote in 7:00am as my swim time because that was when the even started. I am such an IDIOT! It finally dawned on me thirty minutes later what they meant. Basically the time it took for me to complete 300 meters. I hope some of those registration folks had a good laugh at my expense. I don't mind. Haha. I did this triathlon because it was something i've always wanted to do. I wasn't trying for some great time. I had no goal. I just wanted to see if i could do it. And i did it! But not very well. Haha. It wasn't til a few months later that i felt proud of myself for completing my tri. I realized how strong i was for not letting anything stop me from going through with it. Even with the unfortunate events that morning, i swam, i biked, and i barely ran. The swimming part really sucked because there was all this water thrashing in every direction and people with no passing etiquette. The bike part was really sucky cos of the headwind along 45 south. I felt like i was doing so much work and going nowhere. NOWHERE! My leg muscles were burning. I started thinking i was weak sauce cos all these people were passing me like nothing. When it came to the run part, my legs were so tired that i ended up walking most of it. So tired and so out of shape even though i trained for two months for this. I passed up absolutely zero people. I'm currently training but not really training for another this september. Luckily for me, i'm not concerned with time and i don't really care how bad i look in front of people so i think i'm gonna try for the olympic distance. I may drown but that's okay!

My combat triathlon stats:

In my age group, i came in 12th out of 15 people. Oy.
Swim: 300 meter - 7 min 27 sec
Bike: 15 miles - 1 hour 2 min 14 sec
Run: 3 miles - 41 min 51 sec
Total time: 1 hour 55 min 35 sec (that's 41-42 min slower than the 1st person in my age group)

I keep telling people about how bad my times are. So if they're afraid of looking bad, no worries! Just do it with me! Haha. I have no qualms about coming in last place. My cousin came in first in her age group. She's a beast. And my annoying uncle won't stop bragging about it. He brings it up at every family gathering.

Trippin': Cairns - Mackers

If there's one thing australians are known for, it's their love of nicknames. Oz, aussie, land from down under (love that song!). And my fave is that they call mcdonalds MACKERS ... pronounced MACKHUZ cos they have that awesome accent which i still find myself faking from time to time. Before our snorkeling expedition, we walked one block to mackers for some brekkie. It's always interesting to try out something familiar in another country. The meat in my sausage mcmuffin tasted really different. It was almost as if it were more lean perhaps? Or maybe it has a little bit of 'roo in it unbeknownst to us. Eeks! I dunno if that is true or not but i wouldn't be in disbelief if someone had told me that. Their iced coffees were soooooo DELISH. Like creamy milky goodness. I want one NOW! I would drink one every morning. There's this distinct flavor to it that i couldn't make out but it was really what made the coffee. There were a few different things. Most weren't too crazy different. There was this one:

The new Bakehouse Brekkie Roll has two rashers of bacon, a freshly cracked egg, a slice of cheese and a golden potato rosti. With a dollop of onion relish on a sourdough roll.

Wish i had ordered that instead now. But you know, i was trying to make an apples to apples comparison. Wish i could say that this mackers left me with a good impression. Unfortunately, that sausage mcmuffin i had was ultimately my demise. Dun dun dun. To be continued.

Placenter: Black Hole Cafe

4504 Graustark St
Houston, TX 77006

On a rare, errandless Sunday afternoon, big poppa wanted to appease me by having us spend the afternoon at a coffee place so we could get some 'work' done. I quickly picked the Black Hole Cafe, which had just opened a couple of months ago. I love coffee places. I love drinking coffee. Sitting and pretending to read. Unless it's a trash mag then i'm really reading. Playing on my laptop. Having nice heart-to-hearts. Also, spending time at a coffee place is where my a.d.d. is at it's best. Every couple of minutes I'd alternate from taking fotos, blogging, finding music, helping big poppa fill out provider apps, research for the big trip. Repeat. Coffee was decent. Company was great.

Musik Mundi: Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson
Album: Stronger (2011)
Song: Stronger

I love this song! Big poppa doesn't really like it. But when I'm in his car, I keep hoping that it will come on so that i can reenact that camry commercial featuring kelly clarkson in the driver's seat, chris berman in shotgun, and andrew zimmerman and james lipton in the backseat. I love watching them sing her song. So funny to me. Maybe only funny to me. Haha. I wonder where they're going together? Anyone watching Inside the Actors Studio lately? Last week was george clooney, who i found to be a great speaker and storyteller and has a great sense of humor. And this week is brad pitt! Very awesome and cool. Typically while driving, i prefer to listen to morning shows or npr. I find the drive more enjoyable that way. So i never get to hear this song on the radio unless i'm riding in big poppa's car. And lately the only song that seems to come on ALLLL the time is that one with drake and riri. Riri. Awesome. Drake makes me hit my head against the window. Big poppa loves that song. So different we are. To ramble along about something completely different, I went to get a medium iced hazelnut latte with light hazelnut at mickey d's this morning. Every time i order that drink, the worker always stares at me like i'm speaking a totally crazy language. Which to them, i might as well be. Making these types of coffee drinks isn't their forte so capability wise, i don't go in expecting much. So this morning, I repeat my order several times. And when the girl hands me my drink, it was in a hot cup and not an iced cup. I told her that i had wanted my drink 'iced'. She was like oh okay. So she goes away and comes back with the same drink. I look at her with big question eyes and was like, this is iced? She tells me she threw in a couple of ice cubes. I hand her back the drink and with stony eyes and tell her ABSOLUTELY NOT. You need to remake my drink. So of course. Now i prolly have mickey d workers talking shiz about me. Oh well. I must apologize ahead of time for the possible lack of updates. There's a lot going on right now. I used to not be able to sleep until about 2am. These days, I'm conking out around 10:30-11:00pm. Sometimes even without brushing my teeth or taking a shower! Gross right?!? But yeah. I've been THAT tired lately. There's been many times where someone's talking to me and after a while, i have to apologize and tell them that i wasn't paying attention to a single word they were saying. So bad. I need an actual relaxing vacay stat. We met this couple from nyc this weekend and we all started talking about food and sharing favorite restaurants from there. I think i might be able to talk big poppa into a quick weekend getaway.

*photo courtesy of amazon.com*